October 10, 2007

Finis

This blog is dead.  I'm eternally grateful to the people I was able to meet through it, I hope it continues to inspire others in the future.

July 01, 2007

I say Hail to the Mystagogue

Hail to the Mystagogue, the dark robed one guiding the initiate into the sacred mysteries.  While blindfolded it is the Mystagogue who guides you though your journey.  Part Magus, part Bishop, "Mystagogical Homilies" are your final instructions unto the art for time eternal.  Our people need more mystics to silently and surreptitiously guide the world in it's sleep, as the current state or world affairs suggests the chaos which a wild mob of fools and lawyers are capable of doing.

May 02, 2007

Rune Magick Tutorial

The Runes are the most perfect weapon of the witch and mage in all magickal workings.  Other methods are sure to reach the same results if worked ardently enough.  The Runes are the indigenous language of northern Europe and the earliest know use of sigil magick directly related to the English language.  So you have your effigy or sigil in the atheyric plane of vision and you cast a runic message into it say, the anoetic of agapae for the Mysteries, Isa-Lau-Othala-Uruz-Ehwaz-Thorn-Hagal-Ehwaz-Radho-Uruz-
Naudhiz-Ehwaz-Sowilo cascading into and falling into thine Sigil and thereby savoring the powers thine Sigil acquires.  When you reach success in this other discoveries will be sure to follow.  I came to this by projecting runes at apt times.  Sometimes hand signals or mudras are capable of re enforcing the Current. It's my recommendation that ones heart chakra be fully opened just before beginning this Rite, be sure to use diverse means to reach ekstasis ( I practice my own personalized form of Stadhagalr or yoga ).  By doing so you open yourself up to the inner core of what love is about.

5/15/07 addition

Sitting before your alter, sit or stand before ones alter.  After sometime it will be possible to do this exercise discretely wherever one is.  With one hand lightly punch your other hands palm, 24 for times each fist.  Then begin alternating after each hit of your palms .  When ready, imagine with each hit on ones fists you imagine a rune (in the runerow of your choice) fly past in your auric vision, for the entire runrow.  This will teach you how to be operant in the Runic realms and the Yggdrasil Tree.  Variations of this technique can also be very poignant.

April 27, 2007

Great Optical Illusion

Runedice

found at http://www.richrock.com/illusion.html

Does the United States own the Moon?

We did after all put our flag on it first.

Rune Dice by Alchemy Gothic

Alchemy Gothic the fine UK maker of occult and gothic fetishes has released a fine set of pewter rune dice.  Each die has the Elder Futhark printed on the corner of each of the six sides.  The dice come with their own tin and short instruction manual.  The dice are an excellent companion to the Rune Magician that wishes to have the runes in physical form available with them where ever they go.

 Runedice

Although Runes are not my first choice for a divination tool, I really wanted to give these a try.  I was awestruck when I first came across this set, I never thought of putting the Elderrow on a cube!  As a Cube the Runes display an inherent unity among themselves that contain ramifications for both Inner and Outer Runewerk.  Laid out in a linear line it is difficult to sense the dimensional reality of the runes, but when folded unto themselves they lock right into a living vital space.  So for the last several months I have been using them in the following way: before my alter I'll take the dice in hand and express my inquiry to the Aesir (Northern Pagan gods) most relevant to the question.  I'll take the runes in my hands, cupped, and shake them until I receive the Call to let them fly.  Usually I look at the runes in the order in which the first three runes that catch my eye as being the answer from Beyond.  I usually let the Runes themselves decide for themselves in what order and what sort of gravity they have.  I've never been a fan of the rigid Past --> Present --> Future order of meaning when the runes themselves are gnarly forces that don't like to be boxed in.


One of the things that struck me about the arrangement of how the dice fall is an atypically frequent occurrence of pointing in the cardinal directions.  This then rang a bell as the Tree of Wyrd as conceived by Stephen Flowers:

 Runedice

is based on those vectors of space.  In this symbol, the Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil of the Northern Mysteries is displayed in a super symmetry of nine points as though they are subdivided along a Unicursal Hexagram.  From this I intuited a form of Runecasting as a secret relay of Challenges and Kennings from the Four Worlds lying in the cardinal directions of Midgard (North, South East and West).  For a Rune to point in a cardinal direction gives the Runemage an indication to what kind of spiritual forces the communication is dealing with.  Certain easy yo follow rules for the Four worlds in questions can be made, e.g., a Rune pointing to the East in Jotenheimr the Land of Giants presents obstacles and problems for the issue while to the West in Vanaheim the answer lies in the realms of emotions (and or a variety of sexual interpretations) again all depending on what rune is facing that direction. Depending on the nature of the will and intent of a Werking, a Runemage can contact Otherside beings in the Tree for Spiritwerk.  How one goes about this is up to the individual Runemage, but I suggest a midnight Darkwood in the light of the full Moon in solitude.  The general key to success seems to depend on the clear quality of the communication with the Entities involved. 

I use the method of interpretation above with one more element if I wish to make a conjuration.  When summoned, the Spirits can converse per each throw of the dice, the resulting Runes should contain a string of letters and words that make up the response, in your native tongue, those of antiquity, or be the secret laws of language that are often studied in conjunction with the caballah.  The Runemage can interpret these castings with the aid of a Scribe, astrally, or by writing down the results and translating the communique into a sensible message.  When a relevant and topical conversation to your questions can be had with this method your can measure the success of the Spiritwerk based on the messages you received.  Different entitles will always be experienced in different ways and have different protocol by which they communicate.  This can be unintelligible or even hostility. Don't be disappointed if nothing responds to your Call the first time or two, you are after all snooping into other dimensions!  I myself have had the most success with the Ljossalf.  But anyway, I've been constantly surprised by the results I received from this method.  If you proceed to try the Summonings yourself, be sure to have your Realignment Ritual (also known as banishing) before and after the werking, theres no point in allowing an unstable energy form around your persons outside of ritual.

Anyway, these have been my experiments with this Runeset, a set I highly recommend for others to try!  Alchemy Gothic has earned my well deserved respect for this product.

April 17, 2007

Erowid Funding Appeal

I happened upon the Vaults of Erowind today and noticed an appeal for funds I thought I would share.  The link is at http://www.erowid.org/general/about/ and if you have some money you can donate this is an excellent way to say thanks to a service that has kept the net an interesting place since 1997.

April 11, 2007

What Im reading

Since returning from London with a dozen new books the only one I wanted to read was The Pleasure Garden of Shadows by Daniel Schulke that I had bought some months earlier.  I have been reading it for the last several days and it is really one of the most magickaly mind expanding book I've ever read.  I've been reawkened with a whole new way of looking at trees and green magic in general. A difficult book to get as there are only 576 copies published.  If you have read it or have an interest in the book feel free to comment your thoughts about it, I'd like to hear from you.

April 08, 2007

Hail Ostera

To welcome the goddess of Spring I evoked Eadon, my goddess for poetry, to good effect. Praise be with you!

April 04, 2007

God vs. Satan



found at http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/hprajani/phun/

Godvsatan

March 27, 2007

The Path I Tread

I was asked a question recently that was difficult to answer.  The question was "what magick path do you follow?  There is nothing on your blog that reveals where you're coming from."  I was puzzled at first.  I mean, where to begin?  I might feel most at home with the heathen practices of Asatru, or rune magic, but that's not totally where I'm coming from.  I feel at ease with Thelema as espoused by Aleister Crowley.  Same with Nietzsche and Austin Osman Spare.  Add to that my free wheeling anarchist side, what at one time was referred to as chaos magic, and I follow many paths.  Magick for me is as much a way of life than a ritual I need to perform.  I'm consciously living in the result of a magickal intent, the kind of life I set out to live.  Laughter, a stray look, spitting, all of these signal more magickal intent to me than some Lesser or Greater Ritual of Bullshit.  I've seen, met, and read enough of a so-called spiritual nature to be extremely skeptical for what is supposed to be of a "sacred" character.  The occult that appeals to me are the mysteries that refuse to be unhidden and not because I'm invoking tendrils of demons or taking it upon myself to bring about harm, but to find the lone insoluble capacity to inhabit a life lived in a melody, perfectly.

For me, Magick is a tool.  Complex, simple, ancient, and post modern.  Paradigms or paths are all traditions and applications of the tool.  I have the entire world of paths open to me, the question as to which one I use is up to my agape to fancy.  I don't care about enlightenment, grades, degrees, titles, status, renown, or magickal powers.  The swamis can have all the honor.  There is simply far to much bullshit written off in spiritual circles as being original or relevant that is neither.  Pet prejudices of magickal practice bore me to tears.  If I read of yet another tween Order of initiates in the context of html I'm going to get ill.  Lastly, I emphatically reject that magick of any sort is any "higher" or more conscious way of living ones life.  Different is not better, neither is Enlightenment hidden in Dark Age modes of thought.  But I digress.

I will end with a note of thanks to the person that started me thinking along these lines, you know who you are.  You have single handedly resuscitated my opinion of contemporary Enochian magicians.

March 24, 2007

Treadwells Bookshop

I would write about my recent visit to London, but instead of boring people with my personal anecdotes of the city, I thought I would mention my Treadwell's experience.  As organized by proprietress Christina Harrington, for the last three and a half years Treadwell's has been an important nexus of the spiritual and occult undercurrents of London- like no other I might add.  To say that Christina herself is friendly is an understatement, her knowledge of local history, literature and the literati of the world was both humbling (which is not always easy for someone who considers themselves well read!), and enlightening.  The book selection at Treadwell's was very selective, and with enough variety to cater to any discerning intellectual's interest in a variety of subjects.  Christina and a number of regulars make the place a hub for friendly conversations- a 'feast for thought' of the kind I live for.  Shortly after first arriving I was introduced to some of the most amazing people I have ever met, both locals in London's occult community of mages and mystics, and a number of people from abroad.  Over the years I've been to many book shops and Treadwell's is on My Best Of list for being not just the most fabulous book store I have ever come across, but because it is so much more than just a book store.  I'm counting down the days when I can visit again, and if you have the opportunity to do so yourself I highly recommend it.

January 11, 2007

Farewell Robert Anton Wilson

You will be sorely missed. RIP.

December 12, 2006

Link Collective

I've started collecting some of my more interesting online finds at http://del.icio.us/watchfiend

December 11, 2006

Crowley The Movie

Poster1

Note to all: the above is a magick sigil to bring about the desired result of a quality film recreating Crowleys life. 

December 01, 2006

the secret of eden

October 06, 2006

Support for Robert Anton Wilson

There is an appeal for friends of RAW to contribute to help him during a difficult battle with ongoing medical costs.  New Falcon Press will be donating 7% of all online sales during the month of October to Bob's fund. 

Additionally you can help through a donation to Bob directly to the Paypal account olgaceline@gmail.com

You can also send a check payable to Robert Anton Wilson to

Dennis Berry c/o Futique Trust
P.O. Box 3561
Santa Cruz, CA  95063.

October 05, 2006

New York Times report on the rise of Secret Rooms in homes

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/10/05/garden/secret.rooms.1.600.jpg

It's interesting how they reasons for buying a secret room is half for security and half for coolness.  I admit that sounds pretty cool having a secret room in your house, but still looks whose doing it nyt link

September 25, 2006

Anoetic Gnosis

Anoetic is a word that is defined thusly:

An`o`et´ic

a. 1. Unthinkable.
2. (Psychol.) Not subject to conscious attention; having an indefinite, relatively passive, conscious being; characteristic of the "fringe" or "margin" of consciousness.
Presentation considered as having an existence relatively independent of thought, may be called sentience, or anoetic consciousness. Thought and sentience are fundamentally distinct mental functions.
- G. F. Stout.

I contend that the root word, anoesis:

anoesis
n. Psychology, mere reception of impressions without understanding or intellectual effort.

If one breaks down the word to "noesis" you have the same pronounciation of gnosis.  This is for all practical purposes the closest definition to gnosis you can get to. 

The Ecstoicism of Zos vel Thanatos

The Ecstoic has no fear of reincarnation, karme, 'last judgements', nor of the earth itself giving way beneath his feet.  If he is injured - it is acquittance.  His sole effort is to do no injury to others.  He is acceptive of Nature and mainly negative to Man.  He faces life and death with open eyes, and if he seeks suicide as relief for a while, he goes forth to meet death with a smile knowing he will come again.  How cautious he is in doing good - delicately, like a funambulist.  He has no morals, beliefs, or ideals that are not tactual to life, possibility, and human nature thus heaven and hell are within his hand.  He neither parays, begs, nor borrows (if possible), but works be the sweat of his mind and body, therefore why should he pray - or prey?  He expects nothing for nothing yet often gives.  He is too proud to believe merely for rewards - or punishments.  He acts and believes in the way he considers wise and healthy: neither Devils nor Gods, or his Ids, can corrupt him.  If he seeks sanctuary, he is tired, unfit to accept unequal gods, be he always comes back...

Zos Speaks! Encounters with Austin Osman Spare, Kenneth and Steffi Grant