dharma

25
Jul
2014

Refuge Tree: Triple Gem and the Triple Root


Last time I talked about the purpose of Taking Refuge, and the Triple Gem, now I want to go a bit farther. In Vajrayana Buddhism Refuge often includes four, or six figures, rather than the three I introduced last time. No matter what happens those three will always be present, but because Vajrayana Buddhism is a lineage-focused initiation tradition you will often Take Refuge in your personal guru, your teacher. Now if you don’t have a teacher, or don’t feel that your teacher is worthy of Refuge (admittedly a dicey idea in Vajrayana, usually it’s better to understand they are inherently Enlightened and that is the part you Take Refuge in) you can use one of the major historical gurus, such as Padmasambhava or Lama Tsongkapa, I’ve also seen it suggested people use Vajradhara or Kuntuzangpo in this position, but have not been told that through my lineage. In Vajrayana the guru is of the utmost importance, in fact it’s often said that your guru is more important than the Buddha, because it is your guru who introduces you to Buddhism, without the guru you couldn’t encounter the Buddha. If you’re Taking Refuge and including the guru you just Take Refuge in them first, so it becomes “I Take Refuge in the Guru, the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.”
Now the more complicated Refuge involves six figures, the Triple Gem, and the Triple Root. The Triple Gem is the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, as covered before. The Triple Root is the Lama/Guru, the Yidam, and the Dakinis. Your lama or guru is the teacher who initiates you and guides your practice. Your Yidam is your personal meditation tutelary deity. The Dakinis are…complicated, but they’re fierce female spirits who help bring on enlightenment, perhaps by any means necessary. When Refuge includes all six it tends to be broken into two parts, Gem then Root. “I Take Refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, the Lama, the Yidam, and the Dakinis.”
If you’re using Refuge in another system your guru, would obviously be your teacher, or a great teacher of your tradition, again much like the Buddha last time, you can visual an idealized teacher rather than a specific one. For the Yidam think about your practice, if you’re an occultist you might have a Patron/Matron deity of some sort, that’s the person you’d use as the Yidam to Refuge. Now if your personal deity is also the transcendent deity you use as a Buddha (as mentioned last post) that’s fine, see them in their different forms. Kali as Yidam could be the Wrathful Mother dancing on Shiva, while Kali as Buddha is the Force and Fabric that makes up the Universe and the Fire on the Edge of Time. For Dakinis you can use helpful and sacred spirits. While I’m not majorly found of the comparison sometimes the easiest way to explain Dakinis is to say “Buddhist Angels,” it’s not right, but it’s close enough that you get an idea. So picture here the angels or messengers or sacred helper spirits of your Path.
The Three Roots and Three Gems are reflections of each other. You can parallel the Buddha and the Lama, they’re both the teacher and guide. You can parallel the Dharma and the Yidam, the Yidam is your main practice, and Dharma is your practice, the Yidam is the focus of your teachings. Lastly the Sangha and the Dakinis are paralleled; they’re the community that is working on supporting you and uplifting you to Enlightenment.

You would be the central blue figure on this Tree

You would be the central blue figure on this Tree

Now in Varjayana it’s taught that when you Take Refuge you visualize/generate a Refuge Tree. This is a visual representation of the Three Roots and Three Gems. Depending on the practice, and the sect and tradition they’re laid out in different ways, but they’ll always contain the Buddha, and Lamas or the lineage, a variety of Yidams, generally a text is hidden in the image (the Dharma), and then dakinis, dharma protectors and people. You visualize this in front of you when you Take Refuge.
My lama has taught me to do it differently, instead of projecting the Tree in front of yourself you build it around yourself, so rather than having the Tree as something separate you’re making yourself a part of it, in fact, you are the Tree itself. I really like this method, Vajrayana practices take the external work of other systems and make it internal, instead of summoning a figure outside of yourself, you Become them, so why should the Tree be different? I also like it because many traditions around the world have something where you connect yourself to the Tree of the World, the Axis Mundi, and this slight change makes a Buddhist version of just that, with you as the Axis.
I’ll give a simplified English version of the practice first, and include the Tibetan after. I’ve never done it in English so I have to think through it as I go.
Sitting in a meditative posture know that you are the Centre of Reality, the World as you know it revolves around you.
With your right hand in the position of preparing to snap touch the Crown of your head. “To the glorious Lama I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing upwards visualizing the lama springing from your head into the space above you. When you say “Refuge” snap your fingers and see that snap Creating the image of the guru, making it solid and real, not just your imagination.
With your right hand in the position of preparing to snap touch your Third Eye. “To the glorious mandala of the Yidam I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing forward a foot from your face visualizing the Yidam springing from your Third Eye and standing in front of you. Again when you say “Refuge” snap your finger and solidify the image.
With your hand in the preparing to snap position touch your right temple. “To the Buddha I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing to the right while seeing the image of the Buddha leaving your temple to float off to your right, again when you say “Refuge” snap your finger and make the Buddha real.
With your hand in the snap position touch the back of your head, that bump on the other side of your skull from your eyes. “To all the sacred Dharma I go for Refuge.” Saying this move your hand to point backwards seeing a collection of Holy Texts flowing from your skull and piling up to become a solid foundation you can lean against. Again with saying “Refuge” snap to make it solid.
Touch your left temple in the same hand position. “To the great Sangha I go for Refuge” Saying this move your hand out to point to the left, seeing a collection of Bodhisattvas springing from your left temple to stand to your left, and again while saying “Refuge” snap to make the image solid.
With your hand in the position of preparing to snap, with your pointer finger pointing up say the following while moving your hand in a clockwise circle in front of your body, so that when you finish your hand is back where it started. “To all the Dakinis, Guardians, and Dharma Protectors I go for Refuge.” As you’re saying this and moving your hand see a collection of Dakinis, and Guardian figures leaving your heart to stand in a circle around you, to protect you, and your efforts, then when you say “Refuge” snap and make them solid.
This entire process should be done three times, when you get used to it the entire thing can take 45 seconds, though obviously it can take more depending on how much you want to put into it.
Take a moment to reaffirm the presence of all of them, I personally like to reconnect to all of them, so I see ethereal threads flowing from each of them back to the place that they emerged from. Don’t worry about holding the image the entire time you’re practicing, you’re just to make them clear and solid at the beginning to connect with the current, also these are not figures you banish, just leave them be and they will fade back into Emptiness and your Mind.
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This is the Tibetan, the phrasing is a bit more complex. You’d do it the same way, except “Chio” is when you would snap each time.
Palden Lama Dampa Namla Chap Sou Chio
Yidam Chilkor Gyi Lhatsog Namla Chap Sou Chio
Sangye Chomdende Namla Chap Sou Chio
Dampe Cho Namla Chap Sou Chio
Phape Gendun Namla Chap Sou Chio
Pawo Kandro Cho Kyong Srungme Tsog Yeshe Khi Chyen Dang Denpa Namla Chap Sou Chio

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
22
Jul
2014

Taking Refuge


Taking Refuge is probably one of the most common Buddhist practices there is. Arguably it should be the most common practice, but we all know not everyone lives by the book. I say it should be the most common because it is done before pretty much everything in Buddhism. Doing a meditation, Take Refuge first, going to give offerings, Take Refuge first, going to perform a ritual, Take Refuge first, going to do Buddhist mantras in calligraphy, Take Refuge first. So what is Taking Refuge?
three-jewels[1]On the simplest level if is a recitation of a simple phrase/idea, there are hundreds of variations, one of the most basic is “I go for Refuge in the Triple Gem” but more clearly, listing the Gems it would be “I go for refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.” Who the Buddha is should be somewhat obvious, Dharma refers to the teachings of the Buddha (simplistically), and the Sangha refers to the spiritual community, to the temple, to other Buddhists. But why Refuge?
Well, Refuge means a couple of things; first and foremost we could understand it as aligning yourself with the Buddhist current. Just as many other traditions have some form of opening prayer or such that refocuses the person on the tradition, this is what Refuge is, you say this is what I am doing, this is the Path, and I am connecting myself to it. “This is the teacher, this is the teaching, this is the tradition, I am a part of it.”
Along with the alignment, it is a request for help, support, and encouragement, either from the figures and forces involved or the current itself. “I ask for assistance from the Buddha, I ask for assistance from the Dharma, I ask for assistance from the Sangha, I am on the Path and seek aid.”
Tied to the notion alignment, it’s also a recognition, in some forms of Buddhism it’s understood that we’re inherently Pure and Interdependent, and the act of becoming Enlightened is recognizing and revealing that, so Refuge is a reminder in that case. “I am Buddha, I am Dharma, I am Sangha, I am Primordially Pure.”
It’s also a declaration of intent. “I aspire to become like the Buddha, I aspire to follow the Dharma, I aspire to support the Sangha, I will become Enlightened.”
While not discussed nearly as much, it’s also a form of protective magick. When you reconnect to the Purity, or Align yourself with a tradition, you tap into the strength of it, and that gives you a form of protection and authority. That is why in chöd (a specific school of practice within Vajrayana Buddhism) originally you did not go for Refuge, because the point of the practice was to be open and be willing to give up your attachment to everything, and asking for protection is an attachment to the status quo in that ritual context. (Sometime into the 14th century or so it looks like Refuge became part of chöd as it was incorporated into the monastic scene more)
Now just because Taking Refuge is a Buddhist practice, doesn’t mean it isn’t something that could be used by someone of another tradition. The first two things that come to mind are Sam Webster’s Tantric Thelema, where he gives ways of giving Refuge that are more “generic” and more Thelemic, as well as the magickal order I owe a lot of my initial training too, for we had Refuge inspired by Buddhism, but not in a strictly Buddhist way.
Our Refuge was more inspired by Crowley’s understanding of Refuge back when he was a Buddhist, before receiving the Liber AL vel Legis. In 1903 he wrote Science and Buddhism and explained Refuge as such:

I take my refuge in the Buddha. That there was once a man who found the Way is my encouragement.
I take my refuge in the Dhamma. The Law under-lying phenomena and its unchanging certainty; the Law given by the Buddha to show us the Way, the inevitable tendency to Persistence in Motion or Rest—and
Persistence, even in Motion, negates change in consciousness—these observed orders of fact are our bases.
I take my refuge in the Sangha. These are not isolated efforts on my part; although in one sense isolation is eternally perfect and can never be overcome, in another sense associates are possible and desirable.

For us we took Refuge in the Three Spheres, which in this case translated as the teacher, reality, and community, essentially the same as Buddhism, but without Buddha directly. The teacher was any great sage, any gnostic saint, any wise person who is Enlightened (however your tradition understands that), so it could be Buddha, it could be Jesus or St. Francis, it could be Crowley, or Lao Tzu. Whoever saw the Beauty Beyond could be the teacher, we also believed in an idealized teacher, not necessarily a real or objective person, but a symbolic person, Wisdom made Manifest. For Dharma, we focused less on direct teachings, and more Reality itself, which is actually how Refuge is understood occasionally in Tantra. Like Crowley it was the “Law under-lying phenomena,” the Universe works a certain way, and we took Refuge in that, not to fight or impose a misguided understanding, but accept Reality. Lastly the community, this was our order, but it was also any person in the current of wisdom and enlightenment, anyone who is trying to Become, this can be the great sages of the past, but the ones who didn’t quite make it. John Dee for instance, a brilliant man, but I might argue not on the same spiritual level as someone like Lao Tzu. (For a completely mixed cultural example)
So in reality you can Take Refuge regardless of tradition, you just need to figure out who and what the Three Jewels would be for you. Also, when you look at what Refuge is for, it’s not a bad little ritual to include as a way of centring and connecting to tradition or current before you begin your work.
Who is the enlightened teacher that inspires you? This can be a real person, a founder of your tradition if they’re understood to be enlightened, or it could be a god within the tradition. I recommend it not be a person you know physically, unless they’re recognized as Enlightened. Earthly personal teachers, are people too, and flawed, and you don’t want to take Refuge in someone like that. (Though more on that idea later)
What are the teachings of the tradition? Do you have a set of rules to obey that you dedicate yourself to, or do you dedicate yourself to the Laws of the Cosmos?
Who is the community? The saints, the protectors, those who work with you, and walk with you? Physical people, deceased people, spirits and angels.

Not sure if I'd Take Refuge or not from him.

Not sure if I’d Take Refuge or not from him.

While a strict Buddhist might argue against Taking Refuge in a god, that is one way to do it. (Arguably even within Buddhism it depends on what type of god, as there are gods in Samsara, reality as we understand it, and gods who are Enlightened, the latter being acceptable sources of Refuge.) If you’re considering Taking Refuge in a god, consider a few things, like enlightenment and scope. With the model of Taking Refuge the Object of Refuge can never take you beyond themselves, so if you use a deity in this way they are the best you can aspire to. Now, becoming a god sounds pretty sweet (*Insert a lazy Koetting joke here?*), but think about the mythologies, some gods are almost always wise and noble, Jesus and Krishna, other gods can be petty and foolish, Zeus and Set, and whomever you Take Refuge in, you work towards. Along with that is the idea of scope, some gods are small in scope and scale, and that isn’t a judgment against them, but ideally when going for Refuge you want to approach a deity who is transcendent, and many gods are both. In the Greek tradition Hekate is both a personal deity, and in some forms a transcendent deity, in some forms of Hinduism Kali is both personal and transcendent underlying all reality. Those transcendent deities are the best focus for this.
Some quick examples I have come across are in my training and work with the order:
I go for Refuge in Kali
I go for Refuge in Dharma and Karma
I go for Refuge in all who are Returning
I go for Refuge in Nut
I go for Refuge in Ma’at
I go for Refuge in the Priesthood
I go for Refuge in Our Lady of Darkness
I go for Refuge in the Nameless Path
I go for Refuge in the Mighty Dead
The advantage of using a system where you have “simplified” the naming conventions is it allows a group to work together, without conflict. So if everyone says Teacher, Teaching, Community, they can do it together, but have their own understanding of it. (The group I was in phrased it as Sun, Pluto, and Moon)
So you can see how people have intelligently (we hope) replaced the Triple Gem with appropriate equivalent for their system. Admittedly this only works with some of the simpler understandings of Refuge, to take Refuge Vows for instance is a big thing, and this is nothing like it.
Whelp, this post was actually supposed to be about how my specific Buddhist lineage does Refuge a bit differently, but the explanation of Refuge became its own post. Join me later this week when I expand on Refuge beyond Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and talk about how to invoke and evoke them.
Though I would be curious who and what others make Take Refuge in? If folks want to share I’d be interested in hearing.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
28
Jun
2014

Dharma and Karma: As It Is


Due to my post on sponsorships I got asked a question about karma/merit on twitter. I was asked if there is a difference between merit that affects this life, and what affects another life. Anyways, even though this doesn’t completely answer the question it had me dig out an essay I wrote for a magickal order nine years ago (!) on karma. I feel the need to clarify two things about the essay which might not be evident right away. First, this essay was a study of the textual tradition of karma within Hinduism. Buddhist and Hindu karma can be pretty different, so not everything translates (for instance Dharma means something completely different in Hinduism from Buddhism). Second, this was about the texts and the traditions, this isn’t necessarily what I personally believe, though there are parts of that. So without further ado here is Dharma and Karma: As It Is, and be gentle, like I said, I wrote it nine years ago, heh.
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Karma has become an unfortunate buzz word in the occult world. You see it used by New Agers and Neo-Wiccans, by Recons and people from all walks of spirituality, regardless of how applicable karma is to their theology. It’s not unfortunate that the concept has spread into all these groups, but it is unfortunate how it has become bastardized, most often to fit a White Light worldview. The trouble arises from people using the basic concept of karma out of context, without including dharma. It is the spiritual equivalent of talking about terminal velocity without mentioning gravity. You are talking of the effect but disregarding the cause. When karma is viewed completely removed of dharma you have to balance the equation. Since this balancing is done by people who tend to view the Wheel of Life as a semicircle, what you end up with is the abstract concept of Goodness being the opposing force. Now this implies that there is a Universal Law of Good/Bad, which is a concept that does not appear (as far as I’ve seen) in Hinduism before the arrival of Thomas the Apostle and his Christian influence. Thus karma becomes the sickening sweet and simple White Light concept of “If I do good, I get good back; if I do bad, I get bad back.” In fact this has nothing to do with Karma.
So what does Karma actually mean, and what is Dharma? Karma is a Sanskrit word, which means, in the most simple form, “action,” also easily translated to “effort,” “work” and “deed,” from the root word kr (pronounced the same as the “Kri” of Krishna) meaning “to do” or “to make.” Karma as the concept applies would be much better understood by the English phrase “action/reaction,” for in many ways, it is a reactionary concept, but this is not understood by most people in the Western world today. Newton’s Third Law comes to mind: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This is not a perfect analogy, for most people would not see the system of karma working with opposite reactions; but the reactions are definitely equal, even if it is in a way that is not understood by those still trapped in Maya. Now if karma is Action/Reaction, then the question next need to be answered is: What is Karma acting upon and reacting to?
The simple answer is dharma. Dharma is a Sanskrit word which is hard to translate to a simple meaning. The closest word would be “duty,” but that may sound a bit mundane. Understanding the root of dharma sheds some light, for dharma comes from the root word dhr (pronounced “dhri”) which means “to carry,” “to bear,” “to hold up,” “to sustain.” This root word helps show how significant the “duty” in dharma is to be taken, for dharma is what is used to uphold and sustain the universe on a profound level. This cosmic duty covers your essential reason for being. We are given Dharma by Krshna, by the Godhead, by the Divine, by the Source, by our Higher Self – by any of these. It doesn’t matter what your view is, since in the end all those Emanations come from a single Source, and in the long run they all return to a single Source. It is our obligation, to our self, to others, and to everything to follow our dharma, no matter what it is. If we follow our dharma, it affects our karma, or rather, has no effect upon it. The Purusarthas (the goal of life) is to release yourself from karma, so you can be Liberated. Lack of karma is the reward of dharma. When you do not follow your dharmic path, you begin to form karma, there is no good or bad karma. Some karma is more disruptive than others, but all karma is an obstacle on the path to Liberation. For a Brahman to act impiously, for a Ksatriya to refuse to fight the right battle, for a Vaisya to act unfairly, for a Sudra refusing to harvest, all these things will create karma for an individual. When you act contrary to your dharma, you develop Karma, and it depends on your current karma how your karma will form.

Castes as part of the Body of Brahma

Castes as part of the Body of Brahma

So what Action/Reactions are there to be taken as dharma? Dharma in Hinduism is classically split between the Castes – Brahman, Ksatriya, Vaisya, and Sudra. The castes dictate what field of ’employment’ you are to take up. Simply put the castes and the dharma break up as follows: the Brahman (Of Brahma) are the Priests, the Teachers, and similar ‘thinking’ jobs; the Ksatriya are the warriors, the military, the nobles, and others in a ruling position; the Vaisya were the business people, the merchants; and the Sudra were the more traditional working class, farmers, artisans and the like. Outside of the caste system all together were the Untouchables (now called Harijan, the Children of God), whose role was to do the Unclean tasks (which compounded their nature as ‘untouchable’). They would handle the dead and the ashes, clean the sewers, and so on. The castes also functioned as a hierarchy that was maintained by karma, for as one worked towards Enlightenment/Liberation/Moksha, one would be born into a Higher Caste (Brahman being at the highest, Sudra at the lowest, and Untouchable outside of the system, but technically even lower than Sudra). Dharma is far more complex than five basic roles in life, and it is understood that within each one, hundreds of “sub-Castes” or rather “sub-Dharmas.” The castes mentioned above are simply the most common divisions. This is loosely analogous to astrological signs, granted one might be a Libra and that influences the personality, but there is so much more in the person, and their chart, that makes them more than a cookie cutter Libra description. There are more than twelve types of people in the world, there are more than five dharmas.
Karma exists in three states: Prarabadha, Samchita, and Agami. Each of these karmas can form from the same Dharmic Transgression, but they are manifest in your lives in different ways. Prarabadha Karma is the karma that creates the ‘foundation’ for your next life: it is the karma that dictates a person’s caste, their family, body, time of death, and the like. It is karma that cannot be changed within the span of a single life; it is the framework that is created for a certain incarnation. Samchita Karma is the karma that creates the personality for your next life: it carries personality traits, talents, likes/dislikes and abilities. Agami Karma is the karma of the present incarnation: it acts as punishment for the transgressions in the here and now, though if Agami Karma remains unfulfilled at the time of death it can become another form of Karma (usually Prarabadha Karma).
Arjuna's "Say what?" facepalm.

Arjuna’s “Say what?” facepalm.

Now that karma and dharma are explained, the problem still stands of the White Light conception of karma, and the problems that arise there. As karma has been explained, you may not see much of a difference from “Do good, get good, do bad, get bad”, for most people will agree you are to do your job, but what if your job is something considered “bad?” What if your dharma was to fight? Or worse, to fight and kill your entire family – to take your sword, and end the life of most of the people you hold dear? This is precisely the scenario that Arjuna finds himself in during an epic battle in the Bhagavad-Gita (to over-simplify the background scenario). As a Ksatriya, refusing to fight would make him gain karma, but he is being asked to kill his family, which is something most people today can barely fathom. Krshna, as his best friend, and the Godhead, convinces him things are all right, because he must understand that the body is temporary, but the Soul is eternal: he is releasing them from one form so they can grow in another, and in return he fulfills his dharma and comes closer to Liberation.
Now even the above scenario can be considered a straight-cut dharma. But what if someone’s dharma involved a violent transgression; murder, assault, or stealing, for example? These cause physical, and emotion trauma, which in the broad view of Wheel of Life, is something that, according to some understandings of reincarnation, needs to be understood, and overcome by every individual to help further themselves towards Liberation. As mind-boggling as it may sound, especially in a world view that is not based around dharma and karma, there are times when such things are the ‘right’ thing to do on a cosmic scale. It doesn’t make it pleasant, but it is necessary. Death is needed for life, light is needed for dark, and violation is need for security. There are theoretically people out there whose Dharma relates to the “Dark” side of life, and as bizarre as it may seem, these people are only doing their job when they murder, violate and steal. As it may be in their Dharma they are in their “right” to do these actions, but it must be noted that this does not mean they should be allowed or accepted, for if your dharma is on the more “Light” side of life, and you allow these events to happen without trying to stop them, then you are not fulfilling your dharma either, for “evil” unchecked is “evil” supported. It may be their dharma to try to act that way, but perhaps not to succeed, it may be in someone else’s dharma to prevent the atrocities they set out to accomplish.
In the end, the truth of karma bears little resemblance to the Karma of the Western world. Gone are the quasi-scientific use of a three-fold return concept, erased are the Abstract Concept of Good and Evil – all that remains is our Duty, and our growth towards Perfection.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
12
Mar
2011

Goetia Flow – Tao To Summon Demons


The circles slightly distort my vision as the preliminary evocation comes to a close. My body stands up straight while my mind is present, yet above and beyond me. My mind is a thread in a cosmic spider web stretched far past my little self. I am me and I am more. Attention is turned to my triangle with the seal of Raum drawn red on the black mirror. My mindstream and voice as one dance along the spider web “Raum, mighty Earl, take your place in the triangle.” The spider web thrums as a crow sitting on a dying tree branch forms amidst the smoke and the darkness in the triangle. Raum is told to harm no one in the process of this working, to speak only the truth, and to stay within the triangle for the working. He agrees and I give him his charge, he agrees and I give him license to depart. Slowly I sit down and pull my mind back into me, into a peaceful and empty glowing self.
I know some Goetic magickians have an issue with my style of evocation but the above pretty much sums it up. No long winded preambles on why the spirit should show itself, no threatening and torturing if it is late, no binding and threatening the spirit into service, just a natural flow of myself and the spirit.
I can’t always invoke this way, I assume it is a me thing, just sometimes I can’t get my mind where it should be, but this is the method I always strive for. Now for the horrible puns in the title; Goetia Flow is a poor play on Go With The Flow, and Tao to Summon Demons is a poor play linguistically and spiritually on How to Summon Demons. Yet in a loose way they describe what I feel I do.
As mentioned briefly in my Secrets of the Summoning Circle post I view the circle style I use less about protection and more about connection. Within the circle I’m reaching far beyond Kalagni the university student, occultist, sex-god, whatever, and I’m reaching up into the highest aspect of the divine that I can access. I find at that level there is less effort and more flow. Abstract but that’s the way it seems. I erroneously call my summoning style Taoist, not because it has any connection to Taoism -because it doesn’t- but most people who are familiar with Taoism understand what I mean there. Taoism can be translated as Path, Way, and Natural Order, and that’s what I find relevant to my evocations. When I use the traditional Goetic methods or variations of such, there is a feeling of a battle, my will against the demon, the forces I can wield against the spirit. Yet in my preferred method there is no such battle, it is just the way of things, the natural order.
When in my circle, connected to the highest divine I can reach, the entire process seems natural, normal, just the way the universe works. When I reach out and call the spirit there is no sense of command or ordering, and I don’t feel the spirit is threatened or forced to appear. Instead the spirit appears because that’s the way the universe works. When I spill my cup of tea the tea flows out of the cup across the table and if it finds an unlevel section it rolls down the incline. Not because the tea is forced, coerced, or threatened, but water flows downhill and that’s the way the universe works – at least in sections of the universe with enough mass to create sufficient gravity to cause water to flow toward the focal point of the gravity, but let us not nitpick. To me this is much the same as my summoning. I’d call it Effortless Evocation, but that term has problems too, and yet it does feel effortless as long as I reach this mind state. Once I’m in the “flow” of the universe, the spirit just comes because that is what it does, when I tell it to stay and be honest it does because that is what it does, when I give it a command and have it depart it does as I request because that is what it does. In this flow the universe just works; hot air rises, water flows downhill, entropy increases in closed system, and Goetic spirits respond and obey to divine forces without pressure or struggle.
Part of me thinks this is so clear in concept and explanation, yet another part of me feels this is something that I’m not explaining right. While sometimes summoning and dealing with spirits is a battle of wits and wills, I find sometimes it is a peaceful and effortless exchange that occurs simply because I am part of the Divine and when in that flow the spirit responds to that because that is the natural order of thing.
I know some Goetic magickians love pointing out why I’m wrong, or endangering myself, or even deluding myself. So far this process has worked for me with no horrible backlashes, and I feel –simply put– to quote dear old Uncle Al, “Success be thy proof.”

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick