webshare

04
Jan
2012

Wednesday Webshares: Music, Monks, Mayans, and More


(Yes, I know I have an alliteration problem. I tried attending Alliteraters Anonymous, but that just made things worse)
In my review on Geomancy by Hartmann, I expressed some confusion about some assignments. Polyphanes came to the rescue with a killer comment, which then led into a great post on the planets orderings and their connections, days, nights, hours, and metals?
For the more musically inclined on the Ceremonial spectrum Alex Sumner has written a set of posts on Music in Theory and Practice. Putting the different ways of transforming Hebrew letters into musical notation. This is the first one, I recommend reading them. Of course, I disagree with his suggestion that you could just grab any instrument and play the names on it…he obviously doesn’t play a theremin, just saying.
Debating the Mayan Nonpocalypse? Here is a handy infographic comparing believers and sceptics.
I adore Carl Sagan. Cosmos was a huge influence on my spiritual path. I celebrate his birthday, and call him a Saint. Lupa writes up a great reflection on watching the series, and the importance of its message, and I couldn’t agree more.
Want an interesting bar experience in Tokyo? There is no shortage of bizarre places to go, but how about a bar staffed by Buddhist monks? It’s not just a silly gimmick, it’s an attempt to break out of the monastic tradition and return to engaging with the community, and helping others. I’m assuming they had a lot of discussions if this counts are right livelihood or not.
Looking for a good New Years Tarot spread? Check out Naya’s 26 card spread. It’s a lot to work through but after giving it a try I like the format a lot.
For more 2012 forecasting pop over to Peter Stockinger’s Traditional Astrology Weblog where he lists out the retrogrades we have coming this year, as well as Out of Bounds, Ingresses, Eclipses, and more.
Going back two months Aghor Pit wrote up a nine part series on the Navagraha, the Nine Planets. Each entry talks about the Planet/God represents or rules, some explanation on the symbolism, Yantras, associations, mantras and more. This link is to Chandra (the Moon) the first in the series, but I really recommend reading them all. Even though it is different from the Western traditions, there is a lot to learn there.
I know it’s an easy horse to beat, and I’ll try to leave it with this, but a video on why 2012 is silly. Best quote “The History Channel: What happened to you guys?”

Also in a hitting myself over the head because it’s so clever and I didn’t think of it post Naya links the theory of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to different types of magick. Now, when I teach people magick I always try to play into their strengths initially, and in my non-magickal life I’ve had Gardner’s MI beaten into me regularly for a long time, but I never linked them. Lots to think on, both what fits where, and one of the important questions with MI, how to modify something that doesn’t fall into someone’s stronger Intelligences so that it does, without having to abandon everything.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Nov
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Death, Demons, and Dead Folks


Well I’m happy to announce my life is returning to normal –well, as normal as the life of someone who spends so much time with demons and hanging around in cemeteries can be. I had to take some time off due to a ridiculous amount of work, schooling, and spiritual dedication. Twelve hour school days plus five hours of spiritual work a day means not a lot of time for anything else. I survived; I’m not noticeably insane from it, so it is time to continue. I have real posts in the wings to put up, and book reviews, but let’s just start with a Wednesday Webshare.
There is an utterly fascinating and informative pamphlet pdf Notes on Death and Dying for Vajrayana Practitioners.  It contains sections that are basically dying and Bardos of dying, death, and rebirth 101; what the signs of death are, how to help those who are dying, etc. The section that interests me the most (and was why it was pointed at me) was about the legal and practical side of properly dying according to Vajrayana ideals.  Death in Vajrayana can occurs days after death in Western understanding, what are the laws and practicalities of leaving a “dead” body undisturbed for a few days until the signs of death begin to show themselves, or can you donate organs while dying properly (which is what I was looking for). Anyways fascinating opinions and information on it, it’s specifically in regard to the laws of Dallas County, Texas, but gives some ideas and some of the hows to go about collecting the proper information.
With 2012 looming closer are you curious what the Mayans actually said about it? I’ll give you a hint: it begins with an F and ends with an Uck All.  A great interview with an archaeologist (re: someone who actually has researched this area) about 2012 and how even what seems to be legitimately coming from the modern Mayans is essentially newage backwash. I’m not surprised but it’s great to see, especially the reasoning on why some supposed descendents of the Maya are talking about it now.
Tara Hefler is looking to make a visual compendium of the 72 spirits of the Goetia as imagined by modern artists.  It is time those wood carvings got an update and I wasn’t a fan of art in the Crowley’s Illustrated Goetia. Like me you can wait for the project to be finished, or if you’re an artist yourself some of the demons still need to be adopted and illustrated if you want to try your tentacle at that.
The New Alexandrian Library recently received paintings of the four archangels by Dion Fortune, gifts from Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki. Awesome artwork, and a great gift.
I’m a taphophile, it’s no secret. In my childhood while my friends’ parents were taking them to Florida or amusement parks or ski weekends or just the C.N. Tower, my mother and her mother would take me to cemeteries all across the province. I grew up spending a lot of time in cemeteries, so it isn’t surprising that I love them and just happen to end up part of a spiritual tradition that requires me to do a lot of my work in cemeteries. While it is an American site I’ve loved following The Cemetery Traveler since I came across it. It essentially just chronicles the journeys of one person through cemeteries, their thoughts and experiences. Fans of dead people and cemeteries should definitely follow it.
Also there is a video on those Jordan Lead Codices. While a lot of the information wasn’t new to me as I’ve been following this personally and academically it was nice to see some of it put down visually.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
17
Aug
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Crowley, Spare, Potlatchs and More


Let’s start off this webshare with more Crowley because despite being dead you can’t keep a wicked man down, in fact I’m pretty sure that’s part of what got him in trouble much of the time…
If you have a few hundred pounds to spare Treadwell’s books currently has a collection of early edition Crowley texts for sales. Aside from going to collectors this shows again that there is a demand for Crowley books that isn’t being met.
Continuing with Crowley a new biography is being released in September claiming to be “the first complete” and “definitive biography” of Crowley. It is a large claim to fill, but we shall see in time if there is much new to say about the Beast from this book.
And the last bit of Crowley for the week: Abrahadabra is releasing the Grimoire of Aleister Crowley. A collection of the rituals along with deeper exploration into their purposes and explanations on their meanings and structure.
Following the book pattern Jerusalem Press is rereleasing The Book of Pleasure by A.O.Spare. In general I think it’s great that Spare’s working is getting some fresh print time, but especially as in this edition they’ve gone to great lengths to get new or high-quality versions of the images from the original and includes an intro by Alan Moore. Now this may not be news to some, it’s from a few months back, but apparently I either missed this or it slipped my mind.
If you’re more in the mood to receive random possibly magickal knickknacks, tchotchkes, and more the good folks at The Hermetic Library have suggested an “eclectic, esoteric postal potlatch.” You either send in something, or donate, and they’ll send you something back. I think this is a neat idea and I’m curious to see what I’ll get and to hear what other sorts of things get sent through this.
While I hate to jump on any finding and claim “this proves magick!” I recently came across an article that mentions “slogans trigger resistance while logos slip through.” Their wording caught my eye especially as when I describe to people why sigils are effective it’s in part due to their ability to “slip through” our filters into some abstract depth of our mind. This article is somewhat reinforcing this idea, our mind rejects slogans (verbal) but accepts logos (visual). While obvious more to it than just a good parallel to sigils I found it interesting that theory is reflected in this study.
A while back I linked to a new computer program/algorithm being used to help sort out the various authors of the Old Testament (hint: it wasn’t Moses) and now it seems that the same technology may be useful in helping us date the Gospels. Interesting, though I admit the dates tossed around in the article have me looking askance at it, for their initial dating (which they believe may be even earlier) is far earlier than I usually see stated for the dates of the Gospels, outside of heavily Christian biased and unresearched sources of course. If they manage to prove the Gospels date to within a decade of Jesus’s apparently life I wonder what that would mean to people?
Another necropost link (I forgot I had many of these put aside) that was of personal interest to me was from The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn blog spot where Tabatha shows several examples of common errors or “corruptions” of Divine and Angelic names. Of course of interest to me considering this has been part of my language posting recently, that names become altered, corrupted, and yet they still work. It was good to see the research and actually watch the progression of a name changing.
Another month late posting but Egypt’s own Indiana Jones wannabe Zahi Hawass has finally been fired. This man was essentially the face of Egyptian archaeology, when there was a discovery to be announced he was there. There have been rumours (as there always will be, especially about anything Egyptian) that part of this was to establish an “official story” that Hawass took the releases so information that conflicted with his views and theories didn’t make it to the light. I’ve heard it go so far as he rabidly suppressed findings, but as always such claims never had much evidence. I don’t know if it is rumours or not, but as much as I liked the man’s personality it will be nice to read about or watch a new Egyptian discovery and have someone else discuss it.
Finally one last book because it’s me. It’s not out, but I just received the announcement for Arguing with Angels: Enochian Magic and Modern Occulture set to come out in May. A quote from the publisher about it:

Examining this magical system from its Renaissance origins to present day occultism, Egil Asprem shows how the reception of Dee’s magic is replete with struggles to construct and negotiate authoritative interpretational frameworks for doing magic. Arguing with Angels offers a novel, nuanced approach to questions about how ritual magic has survived the advent of modernity and demonstrates the ways in which modern culture has recreated magical discourse.

So sounds good to me. Hope everyone is surviving this Wednesday in Mercury Retrograde

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
03
Aug
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Mercury, Crowley, and Scrolls


Welcome to another Wednesday Webshare on the first full day of the current period of Mercury Retrograde. This is a video heavy posting, sorry about that.
Remember if you’re ever unsure about which direction Mercury is going and don’t want to bother with an ephemeris and numbers there is the site Is Mercury in Retrograde which provides a handy countdown for when you have to stop blaming Mercury and find another thing to blame for your bad communication skills and travel disruptions.
I haven’t discussed this much here (I’m managed to be surprisingly impersonal) but I’m a practitioner of Traditional Japanese Reiki. If you know what Reiki is…well it’s not really much like that. I’m the crotchety old geezer who complains that what gets called Reiki in the Western world isn’t that close to Reiki anymore. Regardless I was sent an interesting video recently. Judith Pennington studies EEG (Electroencephalographs or brainwaves) specifically in some relation to spiritual practices. She had studied many “Reiki Masters” but then studied someone who practiced Traditional Japanese Reiki (TJR) and found that the brainwaves were different between western Reiki users and TJR practitioners. This doesn’t surprise me considering the differences in how Reiki is accessed in those systems. I enjoyed watching the videos and it is food for thought, but I wish that Pennington stuck more with the actual observations (like what the brainwaves actually are) without her recoding it into her newage psycho-spiritual language. I’m not saying her interpretation is wrong in any way, but I think a stronger case would have been made without discussing “the field” and such and focusing on how interesting the brainwaves are.

And here is her write up based upon the experience.
Oddly enough I have an EEG machine (that isn’t odd…is it?) and I’ve recorded myself performing things like the LBRP, Middle Pillar, the Sphere of Self, as well as various meditations, but it never occurred to me to record my brainwaves while doing Reiki. I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance in the near future, but we’ll see. This wasn’t done in the most controlled manner, but still it is nice to see some slightly scientific research going into it and something to think on.
Out of the East and over to the Near East the Dead Sea Scrolls are up for adoption. For a mere £1,200, or $1888 (Canadian, Yankees can do your own conversion) you can adopt a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Sadly it’s not like adopting a kitten, it’s like adopting an animal at the zoo, your name will get put on a plaque beside your fragment at the museum so people know this is your baby. Personally I’d love to own parts of The Book of Noah, or the Book of Sirach: Angels and Lovecraftian horrors in the Jewish tradition, but $1888 is a lot for a book, especially one I don’t actually get to keep.
In slightly related news, the University of Oxford is stepping into the future of internet teamwork. There is a wealth of untranslated Greek papyri and they’re turning to the internet for help. Over at Ancient Lives you can look at papyri and help label/identify letters on various pages to help make the process of decoding these ancient texts go quicker. Largely they will be early Christian texts (they assume) but frankly those are the fun ones. I mean that’s where I got the actual quote about Archangel bukkake on Eve, I wasn’t making that up. I wish I could have. Angels were freaky. The less I say about that lipstick wearing leather daddy Azazel the better.
I’ve been watching Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, hoping it would be nearly as good as Xena. I’ve been wrong but there was an interesting Crowley reference I just saw. Basic context and spoilers. Outside of our world is Dahak, some big-bad evil that even the gods are afraid of -all of them Greek, Sumerian, Celtic, Norse- he crept into this world and possessed Iolaus and set up a religion of light, love, and debauchery…and well…apparently the evil from beyond our world is Aiwass.

Speaking Crowley, he makes an amusing cameo in the satirical public service video “The Bizarre World of the Bisexual.” Reading the comments I’d like to point out this is satire, if you watch the other videos they all play with a similar humour, if you take it serious it will be offensive (about sexuality, not about Crowley).

The US Army is apparently looking to create technological telepaths . Money for machine telepathy, thank goodness your country doesn’t have some sort of financial issue that this could be better spent on…wait what? Seriously though I think this is fascinating and I wonder how far this research will get, and what non-war applications it might have.
Lastly for a bit of Lovecraftian awesomeness I’ve recently come across the awesome and hilarious site Better Myths in which myths are retold…kinda. Aside from the awesome written versions the webmaster also does videos. This is a three part retelling of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
Again, sorry it’s so video heavy, that’s just the way the net worked for me this week.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
13
Jul
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Birthdays, Arson at an OTO Lodge, Mail-Order Mormons and More


I was informed that at least two version of feedreaders have trouble with my image embedding, so I’m sorry about that focus, but I don’t know how to fix that. I’m going to fiddle with what I can and see if I can’t get my blog looking proper in the feeds.
This week saw the birthday of Lon Milo Duquette, so happy birthday to Lon. The day before I came across this … interesting birthday song to him.

I found out from Thelema Weekly that the Sekhet-Maat Lodge building in Portland was the victim of Arson. Not surprisingly over half of the article is explaining what Sekhet-Maat Lodge and the OTO are, and the comments are filled with someone concerned (but he doesn’t care really) about the OTO worshipping the Antichrist and wanting to kill people. Gets into full on essays, glad to see sympathy for the victims, no? You can donate if so inclined to help the repairs.
There has been a round of discussion on the blogs about ethics and “enlightenment bombing” which was (to simplify) the idea of banishing/binding someone with a blessing that they become a better person. I planned (still might) get in on it from an interesting take from my tradition, but instead I prefer the idea of this “enlightenment bombing.” Yes, I just found out along with books, food, porn, and body parts, you can order Mormons over the internet. My main question is how often is this service used by people actually wishing to learn more, and how often do people do this as a prank?
Computers now aiding in the question to sort out Biblical authorship. So far the computers are performing amazingly and may shed some new light on how the Tanakh was authored. I’m actually really interested in this as one of my side-studies at University involve Biblical scholarship as literature and history.

Edited: I almost forgot to include this. There is a movement “Take Back Yoga” that is trying to return yoga to the actual religious practice and not stretching in your Lululemon pants. I’m in love with it, as that is very often a rant I have.
Lastly an interesting interview with the Venerable Thupten Ngodup, who is the State Oracle of Tibet. I think it is a fascinating look into the side of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture (in exile) that many people are unaware of.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
29
Jun
2011

Wednesday Webshares: Wealth, Rootworker Advice, and More Rules, Laws, and Rights


I’ve been writing recently but haven’t really had a chance to finish much, so time for a webshare in no particular order.
First off, Jason Miller over at Strategic Sorcery is currently selling White Mahakala Wealth Talismans. Now personally I have a silly issue with Mahakala, and I’m not linking this so you buy one, but feel free to. More I was greatly amused by his tongue-in-cheek (in parts) sales pitch for why White Mahakala is better than other Wealth Deities.
Dr. Raven, of Dr. Raven’s Conjure posted an excellent article on Tips for Working with a Rootworker and Reader. It’s a great read for both people looking for magickal help or people considering offering it. I don’t think there is anything there I disagreed with, a lot had matched what I cobbled together for my own work, and he gave me a few more points to think on.
Speaking of more to think on, last week I posted Rob’s Laws, Rules, and Rights of Magick. Since then Ananael Qaa has posted his thoughts on Rob’s Laws, and Rules, and Rights which make an interesting supplement and contrast to Rob’s original posts. And no need to fear, even in three posts Ananael Qaa is far more succinct than Rob was.
Book reviews, rants, and articles to come.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
20
Jun
2011

Webshare Wait-It's-Monday: Enochic and Enochian Galore


Baraquiel- The Hanged Man

Baraquiel- The Hanged Man


Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I decided to run for an unplanned holiday on the family farm. I was going to share these links/stories later, but as one of them is time sensitive I’ll do so a little early and with that said it might as well be the link I start with.
My friends Michelle and Jackie have been working on a tarot deck. Michelle’s been scheming it for about a decade and if I remember my timelines right Jackie’s been painting for about five years. The Watcher Angel Tarot is a reinterpretation of the themes of the tarot through the legend of the Watcher Angels as told in the Book of Enoch. The deck is finally done and presales start this Tuesday (June 21st). Currently you can pre-order the deck as collector and supporter decks on Jackie’s art site to help foot the start-up cost, and the deck will be released October 21st, just in time for the end of the world, and that’s not a coincidence. On Monday and Tuesday at 1830 (EST) Michelle and Jackie will be doing a twitter to youtube question answer session about the deck, so if you’re interesting and/or want to learn more go to Jackie’s site or participate in the chat to hear about the deck from the people driving it.
Damon Albarn (Gorillaz) has written an opera ‘Doctor Dee’ on the life of the historic occultist John Dee, founder of Enochian magick. I’m actually really amused and intrigued with the idea. He says he will focus on the occult practices of the good doctor, as he feels that part of his life has been hidden from history. No mention if wife-swapping for YHWH will be in the opera as of yet.
While totally different, this just couldn’t help but remind me of The Enochian Keys Opera by Valentin Dubovskoy from several years back, which I had interesting results with.
Next month sees the release of El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a video game loosely based on the Book of Enoch (I’m seeing a theme in my links, this wasn’t planned). The game has you taking the role of Enoch the Prophet trying to stop seven fallen angels and the flood that will destroy mankind if they are not stopped. I have neither of the platforms it is on (PS3 or 360) but I’ve been debating a PS3 for a while (I don’t really play video games) and I think this might be a good inspiration. A PS3 for my spiritual research, that’s reasonable, right?
Edit: I just found a video trailer of the game. It looks good to me, and has an interesting artistic style.

An Orthodox Jewish Court has condemned a dog to death by stoning. The belief is the dog that invaded the court room was the reincarnation of a secular lawyer the judges had previously cursed to be reborn as a dog for insulting them. What I found most interesting is that it is a public admission of the belief in reincarnation (which while it has some historical basis in Judaism is a fringe belief currently) but also the belief that the judges have the capacity to use a curse to direct someone’s next incarnation and that it could include animals such a dogs. I was under the impression that Jewish beliefs in reincarnation was limited to humans, but animals and cursing incarnations, both are new tricks to me.
Lastly, and really really not least is Rob’s Basic Laws, Rules, and Rights of Magic an absolutely brilliant article on…well just that, the laws, rules, and rights of magick. It’s a long read, and you definitely need to take some time to work through it but it is worth it. I probably only disagreed with one or two points, and not in horribly strong ways, I really recommend you give it a read if you haven’t seen it yet. It matched up with some of my own conceptions on the laws/rules and made me question and debate others.
That being said I leave these links with you, and hopefully return to blogging proper soon.

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