kalagni

21
Mar
2015

Dakinis: The Ganden Girls


ganden girlsContinuing my theme of super serious Buddhist posts being applied to non-Buddhist stuff I want to talk to you about the dakinis.
Specifically the four primary dakinis who appear in a variety of rituals, they appear “secretly” as HaRiNiSa, are the rulers of the four actions, and represent the Buddha families. They are Vajradakini, Ratnadakini, Padmadakini, and Karmadakini.
Now to the super serious part of this post…after a discussion with a friend, I realized that these four dakinis have manifested in pop culture, and are none other than the Golden Girls. (Okay, maybe that’s stretching it, but there is an amusing parallel.)
roseFirst there is the blue Vajradakini in the East. Her action is pacifying, she is used to bring peace to disruption, not to destroy it or command it, but to settle it. She binds people together harmoniously. She is also very detail focused and literal, precise. She is the emotional mind and the memory, and she transforms anger into wisdom. I see this as being Rose. While often the butt of an angry outburst (shut up Rose), she is ultimately the most peaceful of the Golden Girls, in fact, it is stated that if it wasn’t for her none of the women would be living together, she is the one that makes them work together. She is also the most literal, which is part of her charm in the way she misunderstands things. She is the heart of the Girls, and that is Vajradakini.
sophiaSecondly there is yellow Ratnadakini in the South. Her action is enriching, she is used to ground and increase, to expand. She is the earthiest of the dakinis, the most interested in the body and the here and now. She is about the physical past and origins. She transforms our false pride into wisdom. This would be Sophia. Sophia is the master cook, nurturing the bodies of all the others. By far the most grounded and physical of them. She’s probably the most open about her body too, most episodes include some complaint about her body and age that most people rather wouldn’t hear, but she is the body and earth elements. She supports the Girls, but also keeps their egos from getting too big. She is thoroughly grounded in her past as a foundation “Picture it Pussycat, Silicy, 1922…”
blancheNext is the red Padmadakini in the West. Her action is enchanting…and I could probably stop there. She is the more Venereal of the dakinis: attraction, magnetism, enchanting. She is also connected to passion and drive. All I had to say was enchanting, and I’m sure we all could see this is Blanche. Beautiful, sexual, sensual, and all about the chase, the attraction, the drawing in of others.
dorothyLastly is the green Karmadakini to the North. Her action is discrimination and being wrathful. She helps eliminate distractions and delusions, to clear away that which is preventing us from seeing things the way they are. Tied to this is her wrathful action, she is the one who gives us the tough lessons that we need. It’s not a cruel action, but a swift one. She destroys our illusions, even the ones we enjoy. This is Dorothy, she was always the most frank of the group, the sharp mind backed by a sharp tongue. Dorothy said what needed to be said to her friends, even if they wouldn’t want to hear it. Of all the Golden Girls she had the most wit and clarity.
I hope from this people will come to see some of the transcendent wisdom that is the Golden Girls.
Thank you for being a friend.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
17
Mar
2015

Elixir Applications


In my previous post I gave an adaptation of a Buddhist method for consecrating a liquid through continued ritual work with a god. Now I want to talk a bit about how to use it. I’m sure most sorcerous folks out there have already clued into a few ideas, but I thought I’d add in some more, traditional or otherwise.
The first thing you can use the liquid for is continuing your work with the deity in the same way. Use part of it as a “starter” liquid in the bowl when you begin your next month’s work. It’s a great way to feed back into the current and keep building. It already has their resonance, so it makes calling them easier.
The next obvious use is imbibing it. Trust me, vodka with paprika in it isn’t the tastiest creation out there, but it can be worth consuming. When you go to invoke or evoke the god, take a shot, and you’re pulling their essence right into you. (If you want to mix basic bio with magick -which is questionable and perhaps better seen as a metaphor- alcohol isn’t absorbed like most liquids and passes into your blood stream and through the blood-brain barrier rather quickly. So by drinking the liquid you’re actually going to have their holy water coursing through your veins and into your brain.) It’s even more effective if you “refresh” the image. So say their mantra or name a few times, and picture them sitting in the liquid, and then you drink it.
A more complicated use, that again I can only partially explain and simplify, is to use it in offerings and purification of food. This is done in a lot of devotional practices, retreats, or all the time if you have that commitment. When you go to eat, have some of the liquid with you (I carry a 1oz flask on my belt for this purpose), dip your left ring finger in it (traditional reasons), and with your palm facing down curl the finger under, grab it with your thumb, and then flick it at your food. See the god (preferable in hundreds of little forms, but whatever you can manage) flying out from your finger and casting out everything unwanted from the food. Base impurities, imbalances, “negative energy” whatever you see it as, or how you understand it. Dip your finger in the liquid again, and this time do the same flick, but with your palm facing up. See the blessing of the god shoot up, and then come down in a rain of their essence onto the food, imbuing it with their traits. Now you’ve consecrated the meal to them, which is great as a general offering, or a way to maintain connection with them.
(I’ve had to do the full version of this in retreats, with the idea that everything is that god, and you’re just returning it to that purity, that way everything you see, think, hear, and eat is that god, to completely fascinate and immerse yourself in them. This food is now for them, and of them, it sustains them and brings them into you. When done right, and continually, it’s a very powerful way to begin living in and as the deity.)
Even if you don’t have time for a proper invocation/evocation it’s a great way to get a boost of their essence. Running out the door, late for a meeting, take a shot of the god to help fortify you. Or it’s great to have on hand when you have the time, but are unable. If you’ve worked with a healing figure, if you’re too sick to actually do some magick to clear things up, drink some of the holy water and it will help, at least to put the symptoms aside enough for you to properly do some healing.
Feed the current by using it in other related magick. Say you did it to a wealth deity, anoint your talismans and yourself, sprinkle it on your cashbox (from The Sorcerer’s Secret), put it on your petitions, pour it out in strategic locations (like if you’re looking for a raise, spread it around your office). Turn it into another materia for your workings.
Even if it’s not directly applicable to a working, you can still use it as a way of establishing divine authority. Let’s say, hypothetically, that the only god/spirit you really work with is Aphrodite, but you have an unruly spirit around the house. Aphrodite isn’t traditionally used in banishing, but if you just need to prove you have a strong ally, using the holy water to her is a way to show it.
Really the possibilities are endless when you think of it as both a connection, and materia. People burn incense to their god to fill the space with appropriate forces, if you have a humidifier or desktop water feature, toss in the liquid there and let it work in the same way. Whenever I have leftovers of this stuff that I can’t really make use of, I toss it into my house’s humidifier to let it carry the essence all through my house. Also if you use high proof alcohol it can be burnt if you know what you’re doing.
When I don’t use an alcohol base I sometimes offer the liquid to appropriate plants that I grow for magickal purposes. Cook with it, clean with it. While I don’t mean to devalue it, it’s something you can work into your life and your sphere in hundreds of different ways, make it complex, keep it simple.
Let your imagination run with it, and feel free to share any other ideas.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
13
Mar
2015

Consecrating Elixir


The following is a simplified variation of a Buddhist method for creating consecrated liquid (what I tongue-in-cheek refer to as “magick skull vodka”). Simplified and altered because there is some stuff that can’t be shared (oh, how mysterious) and other things that really only work in a Buddhist context (oh, how pretentious). Since it’s meant to be adapted for you own practice I’ll leave out some specifics to be worked out in your way.
This method is for creating a holy water that is dedicated to a specific figure, and by extension their sphere of influence. I’ll use the word god in this post, just because it’s easier than saying Buddha/Bodhisattva/God/Saint/Angel/Demon/whatever, but don’t think this is actually restricted just to a god. Really you can make this in a single sitting, but ideally it’s something that you will take a month to consecrate.
You will need:
A bowl*
A round mirror
Liquid**
Herbs/spices*** (Powdered)
Oil
Thin wooden sticks (Kabob sticks work great)
Thread
*Traditionally a skullcup, but I’ll assume most people don’t have a skull cup hanging around (boring). Just use a white bowl, or a bowl of the appropriate colour for the god
**Liquid: Personally I use vodka. There are a lot of reasons that are relevant in Buddhism on why to use alcohol. If you use alcohol it should be something of a high alcoholic content, and low in sugars. It’s going to sit out in a bowl for a month, and high alcoholic percent will keep it sterile, and low sugars will prevent it from spoiling and/or attracting fruit flies and the like. You can use water if it is more appropriate.
***Herbs/spices: Pick something that is appropriate by either herbal/magickal associations or colour. My practice uses chili powder or paprika for that deep red/rust colour.

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup


Take the sticks and tie them into a shape that is appropriate to the god and of an appropriate size to place over the bowl to hold the mirror up. In my practice it’s a chöjung (a hexagram). If there isn’t an appropriate shape you can use I’d either use a triangle or hexagram, to symbolize manifesting the work into our reality, giving it form. Pour your liquid into the bowl, and place the stick frame on top.
With the mirror on top

With the mirror on top, stop judging my tile floor


Now take your mirror and make sure it’s clean. (There is a good Buddhist analogy about clean mirrors, but really this is just for hygiene) Now coat it with a thin layer of oil, just pour it on, tilt the mirror, nudge it with your finger until it’s completely covered. Sprinkle a layer of your spice on top of it, I use a small tea strainer to help shake it on more evenly, cover it thoroughly and then blow off the excess. Inscribe the seal, sigil, mandala, whatever of the god you’re working with onto the spice, so you can somewhat see the mirror through their image. Place this on top of the mirror, and you’re ready to go.
Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.

Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.


You might have to tweak how you work with the figure, because the Buddhist method has some specifics regarding self and front generation. Every night (or whenever) do your ritual for the god. In the Buddhist ritual I use, first I invoke the person into me, then I evoke them onto the mirror, then we do the ritual of offerings, and whatever is required.
What you should do is find a way that works for you to call whomever you’re working with onto the mirror. Think of it like their throne, or the base for whatever they’d sit/stand on. In a simplified Buddhist approach you can just visualize them sitting on the mirror, recall their appearance and traits, then when you have a good solid mental image of them actually call to the real god and get them to inhabit the visualization. Basically you’re making an energetic/mental receptacle that looks like them, to make it easier for them to be in your space and work with you.
Once they are present work with them how you see fit. Sing their praises, give them offerings, make your requests, negotiate with them, whatever. When you are done, thank them, but don’t dismiss them. You’re not forcing them to stay, but you’re not dismissing them either. You’re welcoming them into your sphere and life. The idea is that every day the energetic form becomes a little bit more solid and powerful. Every day you build on the previous, collecting more and more merit/blessing/energy/whateveryoucallit. Eventually you can build up a pretty powerful presence in the mirror. Every day when you do this, refresh your liquid, usually you just need a splash, you don’t want to lose it all to evaporation.
Traditionally this is done for a lunar month, new moon to new moon, but depending on purpose and practicality you can change that, though if you really want it to have some umph behind it, do it for at least two weeks.
When you’re done and ready to finish the consecration perform the rituals just as you have. Make the visualization, call the god into it, give the offering/praise/requests. Then when you’re done you dissolve everything. The simplest way to do this is to see the figure as made of liquid light, and let it lose cohesion. See the figure melt, the real them and the visualization (because there is no difference at this point) through the mirror into the liquid, purifying and transforming it. Spend some time making sure they’re “blended” well, that the energy you’ve built up over the month is now really in the liquid. Then take a knife, or a flat edge, and scrape the spices into the liquid, to carry that physical component of the blessing, after all your god or whatever has been sitting on that for a month, using it partially as their connection to your space.
Put the consecrated liquid in a bottle, and you’re ready to go. After a day or two you can strain the liquid if you don’t want it to have as much of the spice physically in it. (I do, but it’s a bit of a pain to let the vodka drip through a coffee filter.
There you have it, consecrated liquid to a specific figure, or purpose. While I trust folks out there to be inventive, I’ll probably post about things to do with it in a few days.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Mar
2015

Round Pegs and Round Holes


Or Shut Up and Stick It In
square_peg_round_hole[1]Sometimes magickians go out of their way to make things more complicated than they need to be. That in and of itself could be a series of rants, but instead I want to focus on something that happened to me recently. I performed a mo dice reading from a friend, and got Ra-Na, The Dried Up Tree, it’s not a good answer, but the piece of advice was to perform rituals of offering for deceased family and ancestors.
So I explained that things didn’t look good, but he should give offerings to his dead family and ancestors, not to get them to fix it, but to make sure they’re maintained. Hungry ghosts are disruptive ghosts. So we talked a bit and he said something that gave me pause, so I asked and found out he thought I meant family/ancestors as in his past lives. Admittedly sometimes the tradition we work with uses that language-coding, but I had to clarify this time I meant blood family, and actual ancestors, not ancestors as code for past-lives.
“I don’t have any dead family, none of them stuck around.” So I explained one of the models of the soul in several parts which says that the “soul proper” reincarnates, but leaves a shade or remnant behind, an echo that can be animated. My Grandmother died seven years ago, and her soul has moved on, but she still visits me, and I have good conversations at her grave. “I don’t have any connection to my family that is dead.” I explained that it’s not about a connection like that, that’s why some systems of ancestor work uses people who died long before you were born or even parents or grandparents were born, it’s not about a standard idea of familial love, but this idea of supporting your legacy. So even if you didn’t connect in life, or weren’t alive at the same time doesn’t mean you can’t give them offerings, and that they won’t help out. I also explained that offerings to dead family can be made to their current lives, whoever/wherever Grandma is, I can offer her my merit to help out, in the belief that it will benefit her current life.
After a while he responded “So I guess I’m screwed and there is nothing I can do.”
This baffled me. He spent a large portion of our conversation transforming the round peg I offered him into a square peg that no longer fit. I wasn’t asking for a huge change in beliefs, I wasn’t railing against his ideas, I didn’t suggest anything drastic. All I said was to perform an offering to dead family and ancestors, tea and bread by the pictures I know he has up of them. Instead he complicated the issue by trying to force it to match his beliefs “So by family you mean past lives?” “I don’t have any dead family.” “I don’t have any connection to my family that is dead.” “There is nothing I can do.”
Now granted, I hate people who pull, twist, and mixmatch traditions improperly, and appreciate synthesizing beliefs intelligently. On the other hand when you ask for advice, and get clear advice (mo is straightforward there, which is part of why I love it), and you’d rather mangle the advice until it can’t fit or work in your world, then you’re doing something wrong.
Yes I’m picking on a friend a bit here, but I see this a lot. Sometimes life gives you a round peg and a round hole, so shut up and stick it in. Occultists seem to like complicating matters, yes, synthesis is brilliant, but sometimes your attempt at synthesis is more akin to blindfolded jigsaw puzzles.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
01
Mar
2015

Languages and Magick: Cultural Artefacts and Split Personalities


(The bulk of this post was written three years ago, but got lost in the shuffle. To refamiliarize yourself with my ramblings you can find Part One here and find Part Two here.)
I’ve touched a bit upon languages, alphabets and names in the past, but there is another aspect of language and magick that interests me. It’s less convoluted and more just varying opinions. What power does language have (as in a specific tongue), when, and why?
Religions and magickal traditions have all sorts of different opinions. I have Muslim friends who know no Arabic, except what it required to read and recite the Qur’an, and say their prayers. Not to mention Jewish friends that know only enough Hebrew to say the first part of many prayers “Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu *mumblemumblemumble*” The why and the how differs. Not surprisingly though very few Christians learn any Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic for their religion –and if you want to win arguments with them, learn these languages.
So why does language (not) matter in magick? I’m talking including religions here, because yes there is a big crossover with magick. There are all sorts of different opinions on why you should or shouldn’t use some language. My friends have explained that the words of Mohammad (P) are sacred, so when reciting the Qur’an or the prayers, they should say it as he said it, that the literal words are sacred. A Lukumi friend of mine has learnt Spanish, Yoruba, and some pidgin language of which the name escapes me for her prayers, for what seems to be a cultural respect. On the other side of things is good old Abraham von Worms who said essentially don’t pray in any language other than your mother tongue as you’ll never be as sure what you’re saying, and you could say or imply the wrong things. Even if you learn the language, there can be dozens of subtle nuances you won’t know if it isn’t your mother tongue, or you’ve spoken it regularly for less than a few decades.
Enochian magick pretty much is always initiated in Enochian. When studying with one lama I was told that my sadhanas (rituals) should be performed in Tibetan, but if I can’t manage that then English would work. He never really explained why and it later confused me when I was taught to do the same sadhana without speaking at all; should I be thinking in Tibetan or English? Yet at the same time many Tibetans do rituals in their Sanskrit forms (in fact my lama translates them into or back into Sanskrit sometimes), yet Mongolians often practice these same rituals in Tibetan. There is this clear idea that language matters, but it’s often the language of the other. So Western and Mongolian Buddhists might use Tibetan, but many Tibetans are using Sanskrit.
What does it matter? I think Lon Milo Duquette said it best, it was on a podcast, but I can’t remember which, possibly Thelema Coast to Coast, but when referring to the Enochian Entities he said something to the effect of “They’re like Frenchmen, they want you to take the effort to speak their language, even if you’ll fail horribly, and then they’ll talk to you in English.” In an earlier post Ars Mysteriorum said that higher beings can understand any language, but it is more polite to speak with them in the language they’re most familiar with. We agree it was a simplified analogy but the rough idea seems appropriate.
Many entities are culturally specific, and have been approached in the same language for hundreds or thousands of years, and while they may understand other languages, these are the languages of their history. One lama stresses performing the sadhanas traditionally, not because they are written in stone, don’t work in English, or anything, but out of respect for the tradition they come from, as well as believing there is a greater sympathy by performing the ritual in the same way and same language as many great saints, holy people, and magickians have for hundreds of years, while my other lama translates them into the older tongue of Buddhism, Sanskrit (but does not translate them into Pali, which is an even older tongue for Buddhism).
Is language in magick just an artefact? Is it an issue of respect? Is there magickal power to it? Another take is magickal languages (well languages in general, but this is Blue Flame Magick, not Blue Flame In General) cause split personalities. Aside from being confused by the language, or worried I’ll get something wrong, when I’m speaking in Enochian I /feel/ magickal. When not cringing at mispronunciations I can’t seem to correct just chanting in Tibetan makes me /feel/ more engaged. This is more than just my simple feelings about the matter though.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (You’ll need an access code like a University library to get this I assume) in their November 2010 had a relevant article “Two Languages, Two Personalities? Examining Language Effects on the Expression of Personality in a Bilingual Context.”
It says “Self-reports and behavioral observations confirmed the effects of perceived cultural norms, language priming, and interlocutor ethnicity on various personality dimensions.” People, both notice about themselves and in others, that their personality shifts along “perceived cultural norms” when speaking in another language. People act, in a subtle stereotypical way, similar to the cultural/people that uses that language. In the tests English/French speakers tended to be more verbally aggressive, independent, and withdrawn when speaking in French, common stereotypical traits. Whereas native Chinese, Korean, and Spanish speakers who learnt English tended to be more extroverted, more assertive, and more open to new experiences when talking in English. Traits they associate with the North American English speaker.
Tibetan is the language of the day to day life of the Tibetan people, but Sanskrit and Pali were the languages that the early siddhis and yogis spoke, and by using it they are closer to them…if only in a stereotypical association of the other. English is day to day, but Enochian is supposed the language of the Angels, of course speaking Enochian seems magickal…if only for that reason.
The language rabbit hole goes deeper, because despite whatever objective power might be there, the subjective association of the magickal other adds something to languages in other language, and perhaps that little bit extra is worth pursuing.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
18
Nov
2014

Staycation…Kinda…


I did really well at posting on this blog regularly for a few months, but then, as always life interfered. In fact the only reason I have time to write this post is because life is interfering with life and I’m currently on the last leg of a long bus ride –edited and two days later I arrived at temple twenty minutes early so I could hurriedly upload this via the wifi of the coffee shop a few doors down.
For those wondering about my absence (I prefer to assume people wonder, rather than forget my existence) my life is busy busy again because I got a new job, I started volunteer tutoring (the same week I started working), my temple commitments have gone up to three times a week, and I’m also currently doing a lerung “working retreat.” A working retreat, as a friend of my put it, is a Buddhist staycation.
I guess for comparison you could see it as similar to the Abramelin in its structure. It’s a retreat where I live at home, though have a room set aside for this (reusing my Abramelin prayer room), and I’m allowed to work, and to an extent I’m allowed to be social, but several hours a day are involved in tantric rituals. So excluding this weekend my schedule has been wake up, ritual, work, ritual, sleep, wake up, ritual, work, ritual, sleep. I wish I was exaggerating that, but I seriously haven’t had time to go grocery shopping, or clean, or things like that (you know, I could have bought food rather than upload this…hindsight…). But the retreat is settling down into a rhythm so hopefully that will be less of an issue in the near future.
This means though that I don’t have time to really post until the retreat is over on the Winter Solstice (it’s short but intense and densely packed), so hopefully I should start getting some posts out around the new year.
Until then, go the way of your wishes.

Posted by kalagni
24
Oct
2014

Substitutes


A popular practice in Tibetan magick is to make a substitute, which is by no stretch just a Tibetan or Buddhist practice, pretty much every culture has something similar. Though you don’t tend to see it in ceremonial magick, I suspect because of the disconnect that happened between living culture and practice. I’m going to share a variation on the Tibetan substitute, I say variation because every teacher probably has it done a little differently, and every practitioner has their own twist I’m sure. Making substitutes is one of the most common suggestions that come up in a mo dice reading. It’s used to uncross (in Western parlance), to make peace between you and a spirit you’ve offended, to misdirect magickal attacks, or to release stubborn connections.
One thing I like about Tibetan substitutes is that they’re fairly impermanent (shocking I know). I remember years ago making a doll substitute with a friend to help with some rough shit going on, and while it worked I was stuck with this little doll until I learned how to safely release it.
For making the substitute base you need flour, butter, salt, and water.
I don’t know if anyone ever actually has a recipe or proportion my advice is basically what I’ve been offered and what I tell people “mix the stuff together until you get a stiff dough that isn’t sticky.” Obviously it’s more flour than anything, butter and water are the next main ingredients, and barely any salt is needed. Make a fist-sized ball, you won’t need too much.
When you have the dough ready there are a few steps to align it with you, first make it into a ball and hold it in your non-dominant hand, then with your dominant thumb press firmly down on the dough to leave a thumbprint and a hole most of the way through the dough. The thumbprint is the first step of aligning it to you. Now that you have this cave in the dough ball you can fill it with something else to connect to you. Depending on the severity of the issue, what you’re comfortable with, and whatever considerations you have, you can either breathe into the hole (probably the “weakest” of connections), spit into it, put in some blood/semen, or work in some nail or hair clippings that were taken off just to put into this.
With all of these feel free to put more work behind it. For instance when breathing or spitting into the dough I usually very consciously breathe in slowly and let the energy I breathe in fill my body and mix with it, then from my core I breathe out slowly of my own energy. If I’m going to spit, as I breathe out I try to “filter” the energy and my breathe apart forming a ball in my mouth, which I then mix with the saliva to spit. When producing blood/semen or taking hair/nail clippings you can see your essence gathering into the appropriate spot and then leaving your body with it.
Mix the dough again, and then make a human-shape from it. This can be very loosely human, mine often look a bit like deformed starfish, but you can see the sense of arms, legs, and head.
Now you connect to the substitute. Visualize a white spot of light in your forehead (an Om if you know the Tibetan alphabet and care to be that traditional) and from that little pearl of light see a ray of light stream into the dough-person and hit the same spot leaving behind a smaller white spot. This is your physical energy and sensation. Then from your throat a red spot does the same to their throat. (It’s a red Ah if you want to be traditional) This is your energy in the sense we generally use the term in magickal circles. Then from the heart a dark blue spot to their heart. (A Hum to be traditional) This is your mental energy, or awareness.
Take a moment to reconnect all three, and then one at a time, and just see yourself pour into the substitute. Through these connection points anchor what you feed into the substitute and see it taking on more and more of your essence. Depending on why you’re making a substitute you can focus on grabbing extra connections to you and putting them onto the doughbody, that way certain people or things currently attached to you will be connected to the dough form.
You can breathe on it / into it again, name it your name and address it as such, whatever else you want, but it is essentially done.
Now depending on why you’re making it, it’s time to dispose of it. Make sure it is “sealed,” that the three points are no longer connected to you, you do not want to dispose of a dough form that is actively tied into you. You can toss it into a wild place, a cemetery, offer it to a tree, or submerge it in water.
If you’re using a substitute as a general uncrossing type procedure, then any method of disposal is fine. If you’re making amends to a local spirit, leave it somewhere that is heavily their domain. If trying to throw a specific person off track leave it between your place and theirs (if you know it) or in a cemetery.
As it’s just flour and water it will be more or less gone in a few days due to animals and weather, and hopefully whatever you’re trying to rid yourself of will be gone too.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
20
Oct
2014

Gate Crasher At The Ancestor Altar


Like most obsessed sorcerers I have several altars around my house. Sorry, according to Rinpoche I’m not obsessed, I’m “dedicated,” that sounds nicer. I’ve downsized recently, but I have my general and planetary altar, my chöd altar, my wealth altar, my Buddhist altar (okay a few of those), and my ancestor altar (recently just added a second one of those to discuss later).
Of all my altars my general/planetary and my chöd altar are my most “open” altars. When I do my morning prayers to the planetary angel while the offering is for them, it’s understood that what they don’t take/want can be taken by any spirit in the area. In chöd you go out of your way to call everyone you can to take the offerings. These altars are right on top of each other, so it tends to be, not surprisingly, where a lot of my random spirit activity occurs. My wealth and Buddhist altar(s) are semi-open, they’re dedicated to specific figures, but aren’t exclusive. I have trouble picturing a Bodhisattva getting annoyed that a random spirit is coming to take their offering. For the most part though since the work is directed to these figures no one else shows up.
Lastly there is my ancestor altar, which is closed in two ways. First it’s dedicated to my ancestors (imagine that) and anchored to them via photos, teacups, and art. Secondly it’s somewhat shielded. I wouldn’t say shielded or warded in the traditional sense, but it’s in my living room and I have it isolated from that space. While it is physically located in the living room, it’s energetically elsewhere behind a veil/shield, not for any super mystical reason, but as a genderqueer pansexual polyamorous sex-positive sorcerer my living room is often the scene of many things my very Christian ancestors might not approve of. (I may or may not be naked typing this within arm’s reach of the altar) So whenever I work with that altar, there is a stone I have to touch and “pull” the altar through that visual/sensory boundary.
One day, several weeks, back I opened the space, felt something off and thought nothing of it, and went about my weekly offerings. I lit the candles and incense as I chatted with my family about what had happened in the last week with the family and myself, I refilled their tea cups and noticed there was someone new in the space. Now every once and a while a new ancestor appears, it’s as if they talk from time to time, and someone says “Hey, your great-great-great grandkid is leaving us food and drink, come visit.” It’s weird, cause I don’t know these ancestors, my altar is for those I knew in life, but I’m not going to turn away someone just because they died before I was born. Anyways this new person didn’t feel right. There is a feel to ancestors, when the new people showed up I could feel the connection, I know they were family, and could even intuit roughly who they were (maternal/paternal and how far back). This new person didn’t feel like them in any way, he felt disconnected. It’s like when you’re in high school, there are 500+ students in your school, but you can immediately spot the transfer student in the crowd and tell they don’t fit in.
Before I could even address him, he asked for buttered tea. I asked who he was, and got no response, my awareness of him faded, so I left it. The next week he was there again, a bit stronger, I got a visual sense of him, he was an older white man, thick square glasses, and in a rocking chair, quite at home. Again he just suggested (cause asked implies too much communication) that he would like some buttered tea. This is odd, because buttered tea is a Tibetan drink, and that man is not Tibetan, and he didn’t strike me as someone who lived in Tibet or with the exile, he didn’t feel tied to Tibet/Tibetan Buddhism, he was just a strange old man asking for buttered tea. Again I asked who he was, and he faded out.
It sounds odd (because the rest of this story is so run-of-the-mill down to earth…) but I felt almost insulted by his presence. He wasn’t family, he wasn’t an ancestor, why is he inside my ancestor altar? I have two free-for-all offering buffet altars downstairs, why is he hanging around with my grandparents? As I’m overly polite with spirits (moreso than people most of the time) I decided to leave him be, I wasn’t going to cast him out, but I wasn’t going to indulge him without knowing who he is, or why he was there.
After several weeks of him occasionally showing up I got out a neutral coffee cup and made him buttered tea, which I served along with the drinks for my ancestors. The impression I got when I put down the tea for him? “Some apple crumble would be nice too.” It is amazing how someone seems unwilling to communicate, but still suggest/request to be fed in this manner. He got his tea, and no more.
It didn’t get rid of him, it wasn’t as if he wanted one last cup of tea before moving on, or anything like that. He’s a pretty “grounded” spirit, as solid as a stout ghost or ancestor that’s been worked with, he has presence and personality and awareness, which are really not common traits for wandering human spirits. Usually they’re weak, echoes, mentally dull, but not him. He still shows up, sometimes he’s an older man, sometimes he’s in his 40s-ish. He has the most unusual penetrating glance when his face prominently appears, as if his thick glasses are magnifying his sight, not just fixing it. I asked him to make use of the other altars for offerings, but he never showed up there.
I really have no idea who he is, or why he showed up, how he got into my ancestor altar and why he doesn’t go to any of the other ones.
This really is just to share some of what my magickal life is like, folks read my theorizing and my rants, but I thought I should also share some of what happens in my life. Also if you’ve had anything similar, or any ideas, I’m still trying to sort him out, so commentary is welcome.
He did lead me to creating two more categories of the dead beyond what my tradition held, but that will be discussed another time.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
29
Sep
2014

Social Media Round-Up


My internet presence is scattered, and often if you miss the first announcement or two about where I am, that’s it you’ve missed it. So I thought I’d put all of my various social media stuff in one place, so people can stalk me in multiple ways. Warning though, I’m semi-serious on my blog, but elsewhere not so much, if you respect me just stick to reading the blog :-p Seriously though, follow stuff and chat with me, I love hearing from folks…well…most of the time…well…occasionally…well…
Twitter: Blueflamemagick
Twitter, for better or worse, is probably where I’m most active. It’s filled with random quotes from my life or what I’m reading, a lot of pictures of cemeteries recently, and just whatever grabs my fancy. (This is especially the one not to follow if you want to continue to respect me)
Facebook: Evan Sabahnur
I’m fairly active here. It’s more of a rambly journal of what’s going on in my magickal practices. (I have a non-occult facebook too, but for career reasons that’s not public, which is why this one is almost all magick stuff, I am more well-rounded than that if just barely)
Ello: Blueflamemagick
I just got onto ello, don’t know what I think about it one way or another, but I’m there.
Goodreads: Blueone
More than anything this lets you stalk what I’m reading. I don’t generally review on it, or when I do it’s a terse sentence or two, as my real reviews are here or on Spiral Nature. Also don’t judge me for what I read, I have my reasons.
Librarything: Blueflamemagick
This lets you browse my most of my library. I find I like snooping people’s librarythings a bit too much.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
26
Sep
2014

Goal Dirt: Grounding Your Magick


Since my last post on dirt ran long I decided to split it into two sections. Previously I talked about grave dirt, this time I’ll talk about goal dirt. I wish it had a better name, but it’s simple and gets the point across.
Goal dirt is dirt from a place related to a specific goal. Need a loan, or money? Get dirt from places like your bank, or your city’s financial district. Healing? Dirt from hospitals and temples. Hexing someone? Get dirt from their property (can also be mixed with dirt from places like dumps, prisons, cemeteries, major highways, and unfortunate places). Want a job, dirt from the building. Your imagination is the limit, as is how you use the dirt when you have it.
Goal dirt is a great way to add a physical anchor to your working, how to link it into a place and concept, to target your working and connect with it. Don’t underestimate the usefulness of linking a spell that is tied to a place into that place through the physical foundation, the earth it rests on.
To collect the dirt you need the same three things mentioned for collect grave dirt: offerings, spoon, and container.
Now offerings can be a bit tricky depending on where you are getting dirt from. While it might be a touch uncommon for someone to light incense or a candle at a grave, or even bring food, no one is going to question it. If I sat down in front of my bank though and lit a cone of incense, I’d get weird looks. On one hand as sorcerous people we should be fine with being weird; on the other hand, we don’t want attention sometimes. In this case things we can make use of smaller food offerings, or water which can be poured out of a bottle, or my favourite stealth offering, cigarettes.

My Jovian offering case.

My Jovian offering case.

Now I don’t smoke (though most of the dead people on my altar of the Beloved Dead do), but a cigarette is a great burnt offering. No one pays attention to someone standing by a building with a lit cigarette (you can mime smoking it if you want to look more normal and just blow out instead of inhaling, because the cigarette isn’t for you). Depending on what it is for I might use regular cigarettes, or I might use clove cigarettes (which I understand aren’t really available in Yankeeland) because cloves are a great offering to Jupiter. Also I’ve lit a cone of incense, and sat down beside it holding an unlit cigarette near it, so it looked like the smoke was from my cigarette while I went through my communication with the spirit of the place.
You do pretty much the same thing as you would at a grave. You have the option of either trying to see if there is a spirit of the place you can talk to, as you did with the grave owner, or just work with the energy of the place. I prefer to find a spirit if I can, if not I just work with the flows of energy. Try to find a place, if possible, that is both out of the way, but also connected to the place. So maybe a side path to the building, or out by the sign rather than the door, but still where there is some dirt. Reach out to the spirit, or just gather in the energy. This works well while fake smoking if you take that route.
Again tell the spirit why you want the dirt, what it is for, even if it’s just the energy I find it helpful to clarify the intent out loud. Continuing the stealth sorcery here is where a cellphone comes in handy, cigarette or bottle of water in one hand, cell against your ear, you look completely normal, meanwhile you’re chatting up the spirit/energy of the place. Getting the dirt is a bit trickier. I’m sure you can figure out a way if people are around. One time after tying my shoe I “weeded” a dandelion near my foot growing out of the crack in the sidewalk, looked normal, tossed it in my pocket as I turned around, and then later just took the dirt from the roots. Other times if I just don’t care I reach down with my spoon, just take a scoop and walk off. It all depends on where you’re taking it, your comfort level, and things like that.
If you’re collecting dirt from someone’s place to use against them you might have to collect it quickly, and without asking the spirit of the place. It’s not as powerful, but you do what you can, and a spirit of place might feel protective of the person that lives there. (Usually the energy won’t have the same qualm, which is why meta-modeling is a good thing.)
Use the dirt however you want, mixed with other components, stuffed into poppets and boxes, combined with ink and paint for sigils, whatever.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick