moon

20
Aug
2012

Climbing the Tree – Threshold – Clarshitel


(Don’t worry, they all won’t be as story like, it’s just the first three that set the stage, and a few others down the line.)
So after asking Sh’miral to “open the way” for me I lost my job. Having completed skrying into the Earth Sphere of Almak, getting positive feedback from friends in my experiment, and of course having plenty of time without work I decided it was time to move onto the Lunar Sphere.
Having more experience with Lunar forces I set out nine purple candles, drew the sigil of Gabriel on my skrying mirror, lit my incense, and began chanting. I brought myself to the Lunar Temple, and called upon Gabriel, who told me I was expected, and the path was the same as before, but more difficult. While I had left the Earth, I was still of it, reaching to the Moon and beyond required crossing a Veil, the most subtle and fickle Veil on the Tree. I knew the trick from last time, and I found the connection point, that rippling between realities, I stepped into it, turned away from everything and was falling. Perhaps I was flying, or shot from a cannon, there was movement, fast, and yet had the sense of going nowhere. I tried to take control, force myself to exit somewhere, to call a door to me. Nothing, it was movement that wouldn’t end. I felt like the other Sphere was right there, but I just couldn’t reach it.
Suddenly I jerked to a stop, and a hand on my shoulder “You’ll never get anywhere at that rate. The Ways are endless if you don’t have an open door.” I turned and found myself facing Sh’miral, he was larger, darker than before. I asked if he can help. “I can always help you find the Way, call on me when you Climb, you don’t need to jump from one Tree to another anymore, you’ve been given access, use it.” With this I fell again, briefly, a silver nonagonal door with a purple liquid glyph of the Moon stood before me. With three sets of three knocks the door opened to me. Inside was an amethyst crystal cavern, lit by glowing urns placed around it. A sound between bells and bubbling water filled the air. I called out, asking if there was anyone there. The white-blue water flowed from cracks and flowed up into the form of a woman, early Yaksha/Apsara in her appearance.

Apsara

Without prompting she began to speak. “I am Clarshitel, Mother of this place and all who dwell here.” Then with some questioning she identified the Sphere as Timarin, the Angels of this place as Shaqaran, and the God Name as La’andras. She explained she can function like any Spirit of the Moon, any Angel, but she is also more terrestrial than most, while her Sphere is Lunar she loves the Earth and touches it more deeply than most like her.
I left her place, taking her Seal with me, and returned to myself. As usual I distributed the Names and Seal to some people involved with the experiment to get their impressions. I turned back to the Gematria, because it worked last time amazingly well, that was probably a fluke though.

Her Seal by drawing her Name on the Qamea of the Moon


Clarshitel, Angel of the Sphere, her name was the same value as Mother, Veil, and Hidden Wisdom. She had called herself the Mother, Gabriel had mentioned the Veil of the Moon was different, and it was harder to cross, and Hidden Wisdom is appropriate for the Moon in general and the attribution of the High Priestess.
Timarin, the Sphere of the Moon, if spelt without a final Nun is Cancer, and with a final Nun is Heavens, Sky, Ruach. Cancer is the sign ruled by the Moon, Heavens and Sky are appropriate for the Moon, but also for anything visible in the sky, but Ruach is the part of the Soul that is housed in or represented by the Moon.
Shaqaran, the class of Angels of the Sphere and children of Charshitel. Their Name is the value of Natron, Mem, and Water. Natron is the only one slightly out of place, it was used in mummification to remove water, but that’s the only link I could think of. Mem, the letter of Water, and Water, are both tied to the idea of the Moon, but also in the way Clarshitel presented herself and her realm to me.

Her Seal linked with the Glyph of the Moon


La’andras is the God Name ruling and forming the forces of the Sphere. It’s value is that of Man and Ishim. The Ishim are the Angels of Yesod, which was the only real link I had.
I was trusting more than Gematria to confirm these Names, heck, I’d say I started using it almost as a lark, just to see. Again though I had good confirmation, three out of the four Names strongly linked to what they should, and the fourth did relate. Perhaps there is something to Gematria.
While waiting for responses I was failing to find a job, but I figured the Angel of Mercury could help me out there…

Her “revealed” Seal from years later.


Like all the Angels I encountered, once contact was made establishing a low-level connection again was easy. Whenever I need to open up “simply” to Clarshitel, such as when I make my offerings to her on Monday morning I call to her “Hail unto thee, Clarshitel, Ruler of Timarin, Mother of the Shaqaran, in the Name of La’andras I call you here, and ask that you work with me and walk with me.”

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
05
Apr
2011

Stars and Planets, Sites and Programs


Inspired by a recent post on Rock and Root in which Scylla gave a list of websites/programs she uses for occult matters I figured I would share my own. All programs/sites are free unless I mention how ridiculously expensive they are.
Astrology, Planetary Hours, Astrological Magick
Chronos XP: This little program runs on your taskbar and calculates the Planetary Hours for you. You can set it (as I did) to pop-up every time the hour changes. It’s very handy for a moment to moment indicator if you think you need it, but you can also scan ahead over the day or several days to find the appropriate Planetary Hours for whatever your working requires. I’ve tested this against manually calculated Planetary Hours and it seems to be accurate, though two minutes off based on when another program places Sunrise/Sunset. I figured though if your doing something requiring planetary hours, and two minutes makes/breaks, you’re doing something wrong…
Astrolabe has a Planetary Hour calculator, which is largely accurate, just a minute or three off of my calculations and Chronos XP. Unfortunately most online calculator’s I’ve tested seem to be wrong, a common problem is they don’t switch between daylight savings time, so can be an hour off, and they may use a different time for sunrise/sunset, for what reason there I do not know.
Lunabar: I no longer use this program, but it was helpful and interesting when I did so I thought I’d share. This is like the Lunar parallel to Chronos XP, it displays an image of the current phase of the moon on your taskbar and lets you know what astrological sign it is in. Again you can search times to fine the corresponding dates and phases.
Astrolabe’s Astro-Weather: You can set this website to your location, and every time you load the page it will show you the current astrological chart. It also gives you a little one or two sentence “forecast” of the current situation. This forecast changes throughout the day, as the chart does. As a serious (re: nerdy) astrologer I have my chart memorized, so I don’t just get the vague general forecast of the day, but I can look and quickly figure out my own transits. I have two expensive astrology computer programs, but when I just need to see what the moment has and figure out my current transits, this is far quicker and easier and free.
Speaking of which, I have Astrolabe’s Solar Fire program (v7), it’s an investment, but not a bad one. It’s my second favourite astrology program. My favourite aspect that is largely unique to Solar Fire is the ability to animate charts. If you know you need to do a ritual tomorrow, you can put in the day, and progress the chart minute by minute or hour by hour to find the most appropriate astrological timing of the day. This is also very helpful when rectifying a chart. It also has the ability to search for specific astrological aspects, if you need Moon Squaring Mars, you enter that data and the program will search for you, I find this very handy for astrological themed magickal planning. This would be one of those horribly expensive programs, but if you’re a serious astrologer it may be worth it.
There is also Win*Star another expensive astrology program. It is (was?) my preferred astrology program until my laptop died and I got a computer with Windows 7, and my eleven year old astrology program could not be installed on this computer (as I have version 2.05). It still works on my desktop computer (Windows XP going strong) so I still have access to it, but not everywhere. It’s a strong and powerful program, hundreds of different chart designs for all sorts of different astrological systems. Also as someone who has worked as an astrologer, in my opinion it looks far more professional. When on the computer screen it’s elegant and minimalist in design, and the print outs are sleek and black and white. Solar Fire in both cases is big, bold, and colourful, not my taste. I also find the display and search of transits far more logically on Win*Star than Solar Fire.
For those who can’t afford (or are smart enough not to buy) such programs there is Astrodienst which has a fairly good online program, lets you draw up charts, and if you sign up they’re stored online so you can access your charts later or from a different computer.
The Naval Observatory Moon Phase Database: You can use this to find the moon phases over the course of several years. You can use this online if you don’t want to use a program like Lunabar. This is also helpful if you’re dealing with astrological magick, as it is important to locate the full or new moon closest to specific dates and birthdays, so this is helpful with that.
Sunrise Sunset: If you have Chronos XP you don’t need this site as the first hour of day and first hour of night are sunrise and sunset respectively. If you’re doing anything like Resh or Abramelin that require sunrise/sunset workings, this site can be very handy.
Not an astrology program, but as an astrological magickian who loves the night sky I recommend Stellarium. It’s an amazing free planetarium program, it lets you see a visual representation of the night sky any date, any place, even other planets and moons…in case you’ve ever wondered what sunrise looks like from the western edge of Jupiter’s Red Dot. If you make use of constellations in your work, rather than signs, this could be useful or if like me you just love the night sky.
Another astronomy program, but even less practical than Stellarium, but again I find it nifty and thought I would share. This is the Wheel of Stars. This is a graphic representation of the stars in the sky, slowly rotating, and as they intersect the dividing line they play a note, the pitch, volume and panning of the notes are all based on the brightness, location, and BV measurement. Don’t really have a use for it, but I like it. It has a literal take on the Music of the Spheres.
I had intended to include more than just astrological programs and sites, but this post ended up being a bit longer than I expected, so I’ll put the other programs and sites in a separate post.
Also if you have any nifty sites, programs, or gadgets good for occultists feel free to share in the comments.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Feb
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Grant, Visualization, Manifestation, and Moon Glyphs


Today Toronto is in the grip of Snowmageddon! Actually it isn’t, we were expecting a major snowstorm, we only got about 15cm overnight, but still much of the city is taking the day to hibernate, my university included. Not to sound stupid, but the term Snowmageddon, does that make sense? Does Mount Megiddo even get much snow?
The first news of the day is from LAShTal. Kenneth Grant passed away on the 15th of January, 2011 after a period of illness. He was a student and friend of both Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare. Author of over a dozen occult texts and various collections of poetry and novels he will be missed. Many occult bloggers are writing great tributes and biographies of him, so I’ll avoid the duplication of effort and leave it at that.
My next point of interest is a recent article on Rune Soup called The Limits of Visualisation: Why You Still Need Magic. It is an examination of the over-emphasis on positive thinking and visualization, à la The Secret. While Gordon makes a lot of magickal sense, he also managed to dig up some enlightening psychology studies about the problems of positive visualization that confirm several of my issues with the system.
Over on Head For the Red, Frater R.O. writes about Manifestation Magic in which he puts down a reasonable equation about using magick to actually get results. With him it’s about strategic planning, effort/work, and creating opportunities. After reading it I forwarded it right away to a friend who has been having troubles with a specific magickal goal and R.O. eloquently puts what I had been trying to explain.

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