kalagni

08
Jan
2011

Saturday's Spooky Spirit Census and Psychotherapy


Whom do we call now?It looks like you aren’t to call Ghostbusters anymore. This is fine by me, as much as I love the movies and theme song I tend to be a bit nicer with people who lack bodies than Egon and the rest. Two stories from different sources have recently come across my desktop and engaged me, both for different reasons, so time to share.
First off there is an undertaker in Medellin, Colombia who has decided to launch a “ghostly census.” He calls it a census but from the description it sounds like he’s just documenting cases and mild investigations, sadly I can’t find much more information on this yet. What I’m curious about is down the line is the book and the explanation of their project and why they aren’t doing it as documentaries or anything like that. I wonder what he hopes to get out of it. He sounds like he thinks he is doing something different, but I wonder if he is. I especially like my mental image of undertakers in uniforms with clipboards walking around apparently haunted places ticking off checkboxes for the census. “How many deceased in this household? How many under the age of 18 at the time of death? How many have been haunting for less than 18 years?” Here is the question for the census, if you died a minor are you always a minor? Perpetual puberty seems as good of a hell as any.
The second story I found really curious. A spiritualist group in Havana, Cuba is performing therapy for the dead. As someone who has half-jokingly called part of my spirit work as talk-therapy for the otherside I enjoyed reading the story.
What has me fascinated me is the two birds with one stone approach. By inducing some form of medium trance possession (it isn’t my system so I don’t feel I can properly label it without observing it) and then offering their counselling to the deceased they believe they are helping both the disincarnate and the host. I can actually see the merit there, it ties into some of the Buddhist practices I have regarding assumption of suffering (literally compassion) and joint healing this makes possible. Fortunately my university library gives me access to the article but without such privileges it will cost you $34. I do not understand pricing with academic journals at all. I’m saying this so people understand where my information is coming from that isn’t on mindhacks.
I enjoy seeing a group that holds the same (silly?) idea I do that just because you don’t have a body doesn’t mean you’re not a person…or with slightly less of a triple negative- dead people are people too and if they are a conscious entity they can and most likely will have most of the same issues as anyone else. If you’re angry and scared in life it can easily transition to the otherside. Often there is a mellowing-out I find, but the issues and personality are still there. My grandmother became far more agreeable when she passed on, but she’s still cranky and paranoid. The full article introduces some interesting ideas that I disagree with, but enjoy entertaining as hypothetical.
An example is that the protective spirits are part of your identity, they aren’t you, they were living people, but they compose a part of you, so in order for you to maintain health you must maintain theirs. I have my own personal issues with protective/guardian spirits, I don’t deny their potential existence but have seen no evidence of them within my life, with the exception of spirits I put into my service which is different. While I disagree with the idea of them being a part of you (unless you take a loose or expanded idea of what “you” are, which is fine), the idea that guardian spirits should be maintained for your health is something I can get behind. The spirit environment around you tends to “bleed” into you so if you have dead things around you it is possible to pick up a lot from them. So helping them out benefits you, plus if they are protective spirits if they’re at their best they’re more efficient, a security guard is no good if he’s drunk or afraid of confrontation.
One of the group’s leaders, Servando Agramonte, said “often to solve your own conflicts you must attend those of your spirits first” ((251)) Yet in contrast to this the mediums aren’t necessarily working on their spirits, but someone else’s. This I find a curious turn of events. Why? Well if I were to model this all as psychological (1) my first instinct would be to assume that someone’s “spirit” is really a mental projection and reframing of a personal issue and when possessed by the spirit/issue you can work on it. Having someone else host your issue though makes less sense here. How would your fear of the dark trauma work itself out when someone else is housing the spirit that represents the issue? I can see some merit from having other people roleplay your problems but I wouldn’t have considered it as affective.
Now let me add another issue into this. I’m taking a very literal one-for-one language of problems here, but I understand it isn’t probably one-for-one and more complex and subtle. Assuming either the spiritual or psychological model enter the assumption that the spirit causes or represents an issue like fear of the dark. Now if you are possessed by your own protective spirit, and work on their problem, it helps you too, either by actually helping the guardian out if they’re an objective spirit (whatever that would be) or helping yourself by dealing with an issue through projection, or a bit of both. Now someone else plays host to the spirit and this helps you out apparently, what about the host? If said host also has a fear of the dark, by being possessed by your afraid of the dark spirit and helping them out, will they be helped too?
My mind is having fun running circles with this, but I currently have no need or time to explore this in any practical way, it is just something I find interesting. I’m sure it will come up in a post somewhere but I do psychological spirit work, treating mental processes as I would spirits, so it’s an idea I’m used to. I just wonder if this group is doing that, actually helping disincarnates, a bit of both, or even neither. My take is assuming they’re doing one and not the other is a mistake. It’s probably a complex combination of self-created “demons” and spirit’s with problems.
Part of their objective is something I would never have thought of, but it is to help people “metabolize” their own issues when they’re alive, so that when they die they are better functioning ghosts. Pre-emptive ghost therapy! Sometimes this world is just fascinating. From the article it appears like this organization seems to keep records and is very professional, I would love to see follow-ups and how effective this practice this.
Sorry for the ramble there, but the idea of an organization tackling this is just neat to me.
(1)I don’t necessarily believe it is, but I believe there is a value from interpreting magickal phenomena from different models

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Jan
2011

Forecasting: Years, Months, and Smarties


Welcome to 2011. So far it feels like 2010 but for me just a little more organized. Due to an extended Christmas holiday on the family farm my secular New Year’s planning was a bit delayed. So yesterday I spent much of the day organizing my resolutions and working on my forecasts both I want to touch on but I’ll focus on forecasts.
While I think reasonable planning and goals are some of the best tools for a successful magickian I cannot deny the role that forecasting has. Anyone, magickian or not, can learn how to set strategic and reasonable goals, so the advantage we have here is divination. We can glance ahead in ways other people can’t, so why not take advantage of it?
When I talk about my forecasts some people ask “Why don’t you just do a forecast when you need the information?” It is a good question and while I’ve dialled back on my divination in the last two years I still do random divinations when the need arises but I find forecasts have a different feel. Usually when you “need the information” it means you’re already knee deep in a situation but forecasts give you a greater look ahead so you get some information and time to plan before you’re engulfed in the situation. Generally the sooner you’re aware of the something the sooner you can start to work with it and the more you can do.
Personally my forecasting is done in multiple systems because I find there are different strengths. My only true yearly forecast is astrological. I’ve spent quite a time studying astrology (and have multiple posts or one huge post about astrology in the process) and I find it makes the best forecast. Astrology is very predictable and time specific, so in my forecast I can generally place an influence within a week of it occurring, to do that with a system like the tarot would be harder and require far more work. So I use my chart and my transits for the year and write out a month by month forecast of the year. Some people are content with using more generic horoscopes, but I have a lot of issues with them and figure even if they do work (I have issues with that assumption) why not use one that is extremely personalized? This forecast probably takes more time than all the other forecasting I do for the rest of the year but it is by far the best to set goals with.
Once astrology has given me insight to the forces that will be at play throughout the year I bring out the second forecasting tool, the tarot. Now with the tarot I do monthly forecasts. While the astrological forecast can’t change (and if it did somehow we should be worried) the way the themes and influences play out can. For example with my life the way it is now most of my Jupiter influences relate to university so that’s the way I interpreted most Jupiter transits and this year is full of Jupiter for me. Though say during the transit that indicates Jupiter being afflicted and reworked I drop out or get expelled or start a career, then Jupiter would be about my career. Unlikely, but possible, so the influence will stay constant but how it presents itself will change. This is why tarot is useful it tends to reflect the current state of the influences and as those change so will the tarot forecasts. Since tarot takes a more “ground level” view that is more suitable for planning and changing I do monthly forecasts because what I predict far ahead is likely to flux somewhat. So monthly forecasts with the tarot are preferred here as they address the current state of things, and if that changes I only have to redo a monthly forecast not the entirety of the remaining year. Tarot also works better with specifics in the month I find. Astrology gives me the theme or current to look for and the tarot makes it more specific. An analogy I like you use (not just for this so it may show up again) is that of a military general and a soldier. Astrology is the general and tarot is the soldier. The general is farther away, tends to see the entire battlefield at once, sees a bigger picture and the currents at play. The soldier on the other hand sees far less of the field and the current, but what they do see is more specific and in greater detail. Both are valuable in their own way and both have to be applied to their strengths.
My tarot spread morphs over time as I find some questions less important and as I think of other pieces of insight to look for. Currently my monthly spread is nine cards.
--2---8--
4|1|5|6|7
--3---9--
In order the cards represent: The theme of the month; what I have working for me; what I have working against me; what I have to let go of; what I have to embrace; what I need to do to make the best of the month; what is the lesson of the month; who should I be; who shouldn’t I be. Now from there I plan out my month because I find a classic mistake people make with tarot readings (or any divination) is to take the reading as information and assume they’ll remember and make use of it.
Now since I tend to work well with tarot and astrology this gives me an opportunity to test new systems, and people who know me know I enjoy my testing. So I do another monthly forecast with a different system and see for a few months how well it works for me or doesn’t. For the next few months I’ll continue to explore my creation of Smarties divination, which sadly I found out isn’t a unique idea but I’ll still explore my take and understanding of candy divination. It may sound silly to some but the amount of overlap between my Smarties oracle and my tarot and astrology is actually quite surprising.
So while the future may only reveal itself reluctantly I think as productive magickians we should take advantage of forecasting and how it lets us plan ahead and act, rather than always reacting to what the world places on our doorstep. This is only January 2nd, so if you haven’t done a forecast then perhaps now is the time.
If people have other systems they use and want to mention the pros and cons of different systems I’d love to hear what other people do.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
20
Dec
2010

Falling Stars, Lunar Eclipse, and a Long Night


It seems as if the world of occult blogs is all excited about the lunar eclipse on the Solstice.
I’m excited too I guess, but I’m mixed. The eclipse occurs at 0130 EST (excluding the penumbra) of the 21st though using more traditional metrics such as sunrise starting the day and planetary hours that means the eclipse is really still part of the day before, but I’m told I occasionally nitpick. I keep seeing people claiming it’s the first lunar eclipse to happen on the winter solstice in over 450 years, or in nearly 500 years. The last one was in 1638 so apparently people are either using different math than I am, or not using proper sources. Of course it is a fairly uncommon event, while the last one occurred in 1638 it was the first one this side of the Jewish Carpenter’s birth. Though you’ll be happy to know if you survive another 84 years it will happen again.
Now the Sun and the Moon will both be Squaring Jupiter in Pisces, the sign it rules. So the Sun and Moon will be at “odds” with each other, and both having issues with a strong Jupiter in its more spiritual/religious aspect. The Sun is conjunct Mercury (but that happens a lot) and conjunct Pluto as well.
For me this eclipse holds special meaning, and not all of it has been figured out, but as the ritual is in a few hours we’ll see what get worked out. First let me talk about the solstice in my tradition. Winter Solstice we call Night of the Falling Stars. It is a celebration of the Family, in this sense Family is the belief that groups incarnate together for a time for various purposes. We celebrate the Family and our connection to each other. On the darkest night we light a beacon for the Family, we call to those who aren’t present and ask for them to enter our lives. We remember those who we know but aren’t present due to death or separation, we remember those who we know of but haven’t yet met, and we remember those who have come together in this life. In October during Dancing with the Family, we offer the Family, this side, and/or the otherside energy/merit/communion so they can do what they need to do. Now that they’ve been given the energy to do what they need, we invite them to join us one more. To those on the otherside in October we may help them seek out new birth, in December we call to those who have taken up new birth to find their way.
The astrology regarding this eclipse on the solstice is interesting and has some personal repercussions in my system. Our system has three “primary” planets, Pluto, the Sun, and the Moon. Yes, none of them are technically planets (though I’m still hoping we get Pluto back), but the term is used for more of the astrological sense. Now whenever all three planets are in aspect with each other it means something special for us depending on the aspect, and when we have an eclipse it is important because it removes either the Sun or the Moon from the equation. On the solstice we have the Sun and Pluto conjunct, opposing the Moon, but the Moon will be eclipsed anyways so it gets taken out of the picture. The Moon represents on the most basic level the Lower Self, the person who is here now. The “Moon of Kalagni” so to speak, is the person who just had a birthday, is attending university for two simultaneous degrees, likes to climb the Bluffs, solves Rubik’s cubes galore, has a soft spot for Babylon 5, likes blue, etc. The Sun is the Higher Self, the animating Soul, the part of me and Me (or you and You) that continues beyond death.
So during a lunar eclipse our tradition holds several ideas, but basically the Moon, the Lower Self isn’t part of the equation. What does this mean? All reality is cause and effect, how we move about and interact with the world and what we can do within it is related to this Lower Self. During a lunar eclipse we believe we can affect more changes with less interference from the Lower Self, both consciously and karmically. The part of the Lower Self that doesn’t believe in magick, or thinks we’re pushing too hard too far for a result, it is silenced, and the accrued karma associated with that Lower Self for that period cannot interfere with our workings. The lunar eclipse is the time to push yourself a little farther, and do what you usually can’t/don’t. Are you a competent magickian but can never get love magick to work? Try it during the eclipse, perhaps the part that can’t do love magick is associated with the Lower Self. We are both propelled forward and restrained by our past and Lower Self, but in this fragmentary moment we’re released from that.
It’s interesting to think what this means with Night of the Falling Stars. For this holiday Family firmly relates to the Sun level, the Higher Self, something spanning lives. So it is oddly appropriate that the Moon is not in commission during the ritual, leaving the Sun and Pluto to be the primary drives.
Currently it is a bit cloudy, but the satellites show it may clear up in the next eight hours. While being able to see it doesn’t matter (though for some reason we disregard eclipses that aren’t visible from our current location, odd disjuncture) it would be nice to be able to see it. I performed a ritual during the 2004 total lunar eclipse and the visual of the moon disappearing into a red haze was just amazing.
I recommend every magickian try something during the eclipse. Doesn’t matter what your system says about it, it’s the only time for the next 84 years you’ll have a chance to do it so why not take it? At very least go out and watch it. Eclipses are fascinating astronomical phenomena. What’s the point in living in such a brilliant universe if you’re not going to appreciate it?

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
16
Dec
2010

Sagittarius, Supermassive Black Holes, and New Years


My exams are done now, and I am free…other than my winter holiday projects. Hopefully I’ll get in some posting, in general and about solstice. I just found out two articles I wrote for a book ended up not being used as written, but as information sources, so I’m free to release them now, so I’ll see about getting them up here.
Anyways, to talk on my personal tradition, tomorrow is an important holy day to me. 26° of Sagittarius (most years), or December 17th. The Sun is Conjunct the Galactic Centre and the supermassive black hole therein. It’s also my birthday. Now once your eyes have stopped rolling enough to read I’ll continue.
As I’ve never identified much with the Neopagan movement and their Wheel of the Year, I’ve never felt that October 31 was a good New Year’s, so I tried to think on a spiritual/religious level where to put it. None of the other spokes spoke to me, so I thought more about what I wanted my New Year’s to represent. The results weren’t earth-shattering or unique, but I came up with beginnings, endings, and transformation.
Sounds like a birthday to me. Beginnings, I was born. Endings, I end the current year and was born dead. Transformation, each new age is a new experience born and forged from the last. Where better to place a New Year than the day my first year started?
As “chance” would have it 26° Sagittarius fits this rather well. The Galactic Centre was possibly were most the material of our sun, planets, and selves either formed, accreted, and then was flung from. At very least it helped clump things together, and if anything in the universe represents endings I think black holes seem to be a good symbol, and supermassive ones moreso. Don’t mind the rationalizing on why my birthday is awesome, I don’t expect anyone else to adopt it as the New Year’s day, barring having the same birthday and a high self-value.
That being said, feel free to celebrate me that day, I know that’s what I’ll be doing. Birthdays make great holy days, particularly if we like ourselves. It’s the day that is responsible for us. Granted many days may have influenced who we are and are important, but none of them would have occurred without that first birthday. So I take the day to celebrate who I am.
It’s not all fun and games though. My birthday is also a day where I evaluate myself, and start to plan my transition into the New Year. Since I was born dead (and was an ex-baby that had ceased to be for a relatively long time) and suffered odd health problems, it’s a day I celebrate surviving, but also prepare and acknowledge my mortality. Every year on my birthday I re-evaluate the letters I’ve been writing for 11 years to be released when I die. It seems morbid to some, but for starters, I am morbid, but I also want to make sure that things are taken care of when I die, and that those closest to me know how I feel.
Beginnings and endings, and lastly transformation. I like to plan out the new year, divine it, and figure out how to go about things. Celebrating, evaluating, letter writing, planning, divining, it is a lot of work.
Thankfully my birthday New Year’s celebration is two weeks before the secular New Year’s celebration, so I use that period as my off time. Over the two weeks I plan, divine, and experiment. I’m a driven person who doesn’t relax, or perhaps just doesn’t relax like most people, so these two weeks are my break period. If I don’t feel like exercising, or meditating, then just for those two weeks it doesn’t matter. I do this to give myself a relief valve from the pressure I put myself under (I don’t know if I need it, but I’ll play it safe) and also to see if I still want to do what I’m doing. Maybe it’s time to change my magickal or physical exercises, by seeing how much I do or don’t want to do them over the two weeks, coupled with what happens, I tend to get a good idea on what I should do for the next year.
Now I’m going to go finish prepping for my breakfast tomorrow, because it’s a big day, and I deserve a great meal to start it.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
03
Dec
2010

Exams, Essays, and Entries


I know I haven’t posted much lately on here. I’m in university with a 120-130% equivalent course load working on two degrees and it is the end of the term and exam period. Last week and this coming week I have six essays due and four exams, so my time to write posts has been limited. I figured I’d just make this small entry and let people know what it going on and just ask for continued patience.
I’ll share one of my favourite Cthulhu Carols “Mi-go We Have Heard on High.” Tis the season.

For those who haven’t encountered the Cthulhu Carols, they’re a collection of two albums produced by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. Classic Christmas carols rewritten to be about the horrors of the Elder Gods and Old Ones. I recommend the Unbelievable Scary Solstice Combo it contains both CDs, and an awesome tentacle stocking. My stocking is already up for Solstice when Cthulhu will visit me and leave me small gifts, or possibly drive me insane and destroy humanity.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
04
Nov
2010

Surprise and Expectation: Responding to Magickal Results


From the mouth of babes comes wisdom. I will paraphrase a text message conversation with my lover. He is the babe in this case, because while he may believe in magick he is not (yet) a practitioner or even armchair magickian. Also for background information, Behrat is a spirit who I employed to help drum up some finances for my vacation. He gave me the finances I needed, to the dollar, and I thought he was done then suddenly another unusual influx so that I could take the time off in comfort.
“What the Hell? Behrat just did it again. This is unreal.”
“I don’t see what the big issue is. If you believe in magick, why should this surprise you?”
I paused in shock and a touch of humility. My non-magickal lover just caught me in one of the common traps of the modern magickian; lack of faith in what we believe in and/or what we do. Thankfully the next week when Behrat delivered over thirty times what he had the week prior, I remembered that shock was counter-intuitive to my beliefs, so I thanked Behrat and continued on without getting caught up in the “surprise” that my magick worked.
When I got home the night of the previous conversation I fished around for my copy of SSOTBME by Ramsey Dukes, a rather good book on Chaos Magick, to find a quote for my lover.

Magic, in turn, inherits unconscious skepticism from Science. Just as the ‘open-minded’ Scientist is deep down a total believer in material reality, so also the ‘gullible’ Magician deep down does not really believe in anything. … Ritual magicians can be heard saying “we did this healing rite and – it’s absolutely incredible – next time he went to the doctor there was no sign of the tumour.” Can you imagine a group of chemists getting together and saying “I put this litmus paper into the acid and – it’s absolutely incredible – it changed colour”? (45)

It seems so silly when put in a reasonable analogy. I have spent years practicing magick, refining my workings, and refining myself, building up experience and knowledge for what works and what doesn’t, yet there I was, something worked and I was surprised, I had trouble believing it. The next time I bake bread and it rises, I would seem such a fool to be surprised that the yeast, sugar and flour reacted that way. It would be ridiculous if the next time I went jogging, if I was surprised when I made it home. Yet in magick, it didn’t seem that odd and it rarely does to other magickians who have the same experience.
Is this a problem in our belief, in our self, or is this the way it should be?

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Nov
2010

Magick: Means, Ends, and Manifestation


It amazes me how often in a conversation about magick, regardless of talking with practitioners or non-believer, how often the comment “That makes sense” or “That seems obvious” comes up. Sometimes magick is filled with subtle and complex factors and it takes years of study or practice to understand why something is the way it is, and other times it is so obvious that you either feel foolish having to say it or having to be told it. When I talk with people about magick and goals this is often how I feel.
Recently I encountered an old friend from high school at the store and in the process of catching up she posed the hypothetical question “What is the point of getting tens of thousands of dollars in debt with student loans to get my Master’s degree, when all I’m qualified for is the same job I had in high school?” I asked her gently in the conversation what job she was expecting with her degree and she gave the worst answer possible: I don’t know.
This comes around to a problem that affects magickians and non-magickians alike, but I feel it is more central to the path of the magickian to conquer this. To me one of the purposes of magick is becoming functional and content within your life. Disagree if you like, I’ll probably write more on this topic later, but for this entry just accept it as a hypothetical purpose. This functionality is inhibited by a lack of planning revealed in my old friend’s comment “I don’t know.” She went for her Master’s degree and achieved it, a laudable accomplishment, but it had no follow up. I see the same thing with magickians but to avoid appearing to pick on any one in particular I’ll use this friend as a non-magickal example.
If I were to talk about goals I’d say some goals are ends, some goals are means, most are both, and some –the worst of the bunch– are goals specifically lacking either an end or mean. For example when I set the fitness goal of being able to do 100 consecutive push ups this was a goal as an end in and of itself. No path or life change presented itself because I could do 100 push ups, that was my goal and it was achieved, there need be no more. On the other hand when I decided to go back to school this goal was a means, I wasn’t simply going to attend University and have that be all I wanted. By attending University this allowed me to work toward one degree, which then allowed me to enter a selective program for an additional degree, which will in theory allow me to get a job in my chosen field in four more years. Going back to school and getting into the more selective programs were goals that were means, they work as stepping stones to a goal further along, but merely accomplishing them isn’t enough for they are means not ends.
Now the push up goal was an end with the means, I did a program of successively increasing push ups for a few months and reached the goal. Going back to University and then getting into the specialized program were means to an end. Some goals are ends without means, and some are means without ends, and these are generally flawed goals. My friend went for a Master’s degree and expected the world would just have a job waiting for her when she was done, because that would be nice and convenient to have a job perfectly suited for her very specific education. This goal was a means without an end, she expected the degree would lead her to a job, but she admits to not knowing what job her education qualifies her for. If she had of worked for her Master’s degree out of love for education or the topic, then she would have achieved something just for the sake of following her desire with no expectations, and that I could have respected. She would have followed her heart for something she loved and expected nothing from it. You can also have goals that are ends without means; these tend to be concrete goals with no known path for them to occur. A cliché example would be becoming a millionaire, it is a specific goal but without means and that makes it extremely unlikely to be achieved.
Magick has the beautiful ability to do the unbelievable at times, to turn statistics and probabilities on their ear, to glitch our understanding of reality, but in spite of all of this magick functions best with a Path of Manifestation, a way for the goal to occur. I fully admit that magick sometimes happens without any known Path, in ways that really challenge our world, these are great experiences when they occur but we shouldn’t rely on them for all success. Magickians need to think and magickians need to plan, this is another part of the “Goals and Magickian” conversation that seems to be too obvious to require saying, yet constantly I see magickians with just this issue complaining either about life or magick, and honestly I get caught up in on occasion too. Magickians need to work within our reality, and need to set practical goals. You can set your sights on lofty goals and work your magick toward it but really you’d be better off applying your efforts a bit closer to home. Trying to conjure up a house and cottage is a nice dream, but if you’re pulling in $20,000 a year it isn’t very likely. Your magick should illuminate stepping stones to your goals. If you want the house and cottage don’t simply try to magick them into your life, use your magick to improve your job, get a better job (and the work that could be required there such as more education or social connections) so that you have the financial foundation that will allow your goal to be achievable. If you have the means work on the end, if you know the end then create the means.
Some may think I advocate thinking small, but I don’t, I believe as magickians we should constantly push ourselves and test the world, but I advocate thinking realistically and in Paths of Manifestation, at least for the majority of the time. Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will, so Uncle Al said. The art is the dreaming the lofty goals, but part of the science is realizing when you can’t get to a goal from where you are without taking specific steps. Art is the inspiration, science is the process. Magickians need to plan, if they are to achieve.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
18
Oct
2010

Magickal Pokemon Trainers: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!


Now I don’t mean magickians with a Chaos Magick bend who are using Pokemon, in fact I’m probably more on their side than the group I refer to as Magickal Pokemon Trainers. We’ve all seen them before, they come in all shapes, sizes, and traditions; people who treat spiritual beings, trainings, initiations and similar things, as collector’s items.
I see them a lot in relationship to Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, generally –but not always– by western Newagers who are using/appropriating/incorporating Buddhism into their path. Within Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism there is a ritual called an Abhisheka, translated often as Empowerment, in which a trained Lama implants or awakens the Seed of a specific Boddhisattva. The purpose is (traditionally) to introduce the student to the current of the Boddhisattva or “blessing stream” as my one Lama says, to offer a Seed of their enlightenment to work from, and the Boddhisattva can become your Yidam, a personal figure used in your meditations. It’s a beautiful tradition with a lot of depth and nuance. Unfortunately now it seems like it is a Pokemon game. When I received my Abhisheka to Vajrapani, I was surprised to hear several of the initiates in the temple boasting about past Abhishekas “Well, I’ve received White Tara, Black Tara, Green Tara, and Hayagriva.” “I got Chenrezig, Chakrasamvara, and Padmasambhava.” Is there a benefit of receiving more than one Boddhisattva? Yes, different practices can require different Yidams, but most people who collect aren’t undertaking these other practices (though may take some basic training to brag about later). There is more to it than just getting a Boddhisattva shoved into your brain, and I might argue there is a large aspect of diminishing returns, after a while you can only do so much, no matter how many Boddhisattvas you have placed inside of you.
You see it in the Santeria-Family of religions, people who go about getting multiple crownings and actually go out of their way to receive more from other houses or even traveling to Nigeria to receive more, when really they should only have one, and sometimes the multiple crownings involve Orisha who may not want to be in the same head. I see it in the Newage community a lot, probably more than anywhere else; people who brag about repeated workshops, initiations, trainings, cleansings, guides, healings and such. I see it less with Ceremonial Magickians, we have less of a structure that enables this, but occasionally you’ll come across a magickian whose great accomplishment is summoning all 72 Goetic Demons, or all 49 Heptarchy Angels.
Gotta catch them all, Pokemon!
Back in early High School, when Pokemon first arrived in North America I played it, and enjoyed it. I loved the world, and all the different Pokemon (at that time a mere 151) but was always saddened that I was limited to six. In fact for a good 80% of the game, at least, I used the same six Pokemon. Sure I had 151 (potentially) to choose from, but only six at a time. As I’d battle with specific Pokemon they’d get stronger, so that if I tried to switch to another Pokemon they might not always work, because they are too weak, I don’t have the experience with them, and don’t know how to use them. So I stuck with the same six, and while sometimes there were weak against Pokemon I was battling, usually I could find a way to make them work, and only in the extreme cases would I pick another Pokemon to use because it was far better suited.
Forgive the nostalgia, but I think it makes my point. When you receive a Yidam, they are to be your personal meditation deity; you devote yourself to them to awaken their Seed within you. If you have many Yidams then you probably can’t give any of them the devotion required to really make use of the gift you’ve been given. If every Orisha or Lwa is a relationship, and you have more than you can easily name, then you probably won’t be providing a strong relationship for them, and they can’t provide for you. Magickians whose accomplishment is just summoning all 72 Goetic demons, rarely have much to say accomplishment-wise about what the demons have done. I’ve been using the Goetia for six years now, seriously for four, and in that time I’ve only ever used about a dozen of them, and only five of them I use repeatedly. Why? Because it isn’t about how many Seals I’ve drawn up, how many entities I’ve trapped in my triangle, but it is about the results from them. The five Goetia I’ve used multiple times, I do so because they’ve worked multiple times and I have no need to spread my efforts to a spirit that I don’t have a relationship with if I don’t have to. Why undertake conjuring a new spirit that may not work in the way I need them to, if I don’t have a reason to. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Even from a mundane perspective collecting becomes counter-productive when you become more focused on collecting than the collection. Eventually you’re grasping at so many shining things that you will be unable to enjoy or use anything you’ve already grabbed. The act of collecting becomes a distraction, or an excuse, from actually working and getting things done.
This isn’t to say don’t explore, don’t experiment, don’t try something new, but there is more to these trainings, initiations, and spirits than just the bragging rights of receiving them. It is less about how many Pokemon you collect, and more about how experienced you are with the Pokemon, how strong they are, and how effective they are. Try new things, take the occasional new training or initiation, but realize that isn’t the point or benefit in and of itself. Sometimes you’ll learn something new and useful, sometimes it is new and useless, but if you spend all your time getting initiated and training, and not doing, not living, then you won’t find out what works best for you, who your strongest Pokemon is.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
23
Sep
2010

Welcome to Blue Flame Magick


Actions speak louder than words.  An odd comment considering the medium of the message here is text.  How I feel that phrase applies in this case is not so much about physical actions, but that what I write will speak for me, better than I could do with an introduction.  In an introduction I’d feel the need to compel people to read this blog, to convince people that I’m worth reading, and that I know what I talking about.  After scrapping a few introductions I decided it was best to jump into this blog, and let my entries speak for me.  How many years I’ve studied what system, and who I’ve been trained under are both of secondary significance to what I’ve learnt, experienced and how I express myself.
So instead I will introduce my blog.  Blue Flame Magick will be my multidisciplinary blog, where I will discuss topics related to the occult, magick, spiritually, and a variety of topics that I feel may be important and relevant.  I’ll write in whatever form gets my point across, and I’ll write on theory, practice, experience, and experiments; book reviews, media reviews, and news stories.  If I consider it relevant it may end up here.  I’ll discuss the systems I’m studying, the system I’m forging, and others I’m just gleaning information from.  Welcome to Blue Flame Magick.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick