Download

I have been experiencing a download of information regarding personal magickal technique. The nature of the information is both universal and deeply personal. I think it is a part of magick that can be learned but not taught. There is no point in trying to explain.

Change in Methods...

I know I've been quieter of late than when I started this blog. Originally, the blog related to my daily work as a magician. Some time ago, I hit a period of my life when I'm suddenly more silent and my posts became a little less direct. I noticed a few times that I'm speaking more metaphorically than before.

This is a reflection of an internal quiet that has come over me. I am not sure when it started precisely. In the midst of this new phase but not long ago, I read a book called the Witch of Portobello. Again, I'm not sure how but I began to listen to the universe in a different way at that time. It is then that I was taught what I call the lesson of the shrub, documented here. In the past, I've mentioned my 'issue' or 'obsession'. That lesson, which consisted of two whole sentences, has all but cured that problem. This, in turn, has lead to an even quieter state of mind.

From there, I recognized a pattern in the tarot that I have been really working on developing. I am working on turning that insight into several local classes. For reasons I can not explain (because I don't know them), I will not be discussing those insights here.

I expect to keep up this blog. I think it will morph into something else, maybe. I have no idea what it will change into.

P.S. Thanks Josephus for the book recommendation. It will be placed on my future buy list

Lurianic Tree of Life

Do any of you have a good source book on the Lurianic Tree of life? At first glance, it makes more intuitive sense than the Golden Dawn Tree and I want to learn more. Maybe this will answer some questions for me. At worst, it will merely broaden my education.

Honored by That Which Did Not Happen

I am scheduled to do a brief talk on my interpretation of the tarot in Bakersfield, California in October. I learned today that Lon Milo Duquette had informed the organizer of his plan to attend. To me, that is the equivalent of being a nobody singer and having Barbara Streisand show up for a listen. I was pretty stoked.

Unfortunately, Lon landed a paying a gig and will not be able to attend. However, the very fact that he planned to in the first place was quite the honor.

Everything is Different

Not long ago, I posted about a dream in which I saw ribbons of color descending from the sky. In writing this, I am reminded of the rainbow of promise. I reported that I named each one and felt as if I had won a solataire chess match. The truth is that I only named one and the dream ended. I have no idea why I reported that I named them all. Perhaps because that would have been the logical continuation of events.

The ribbon of light I named was blue, Chesed, Mercy. Within a day or two, I was reading Paulo Coelho's book, The Witch of Portobello. I could only read for so long because it felt like the book put me in an odd enjoyable trance. The trance would linger. I felt emotionally/mentally better as I read.

One day, I left my office to go to lunch and the voice of a goddess spoke in the back of my head and told me to look at a manicured shrub. In one sentence, She explained life.

I have not been the same.

The issue that I have struggled with for years has faded. I laugh more quickly. I enjoy my time at work. I sleep better.

I remember the me before the shrub incident and experience the me after. I am happy. I have achieved. I won a game of solataire chess.

Of course, I am still me. I have questions. Would I achieved this life changing lesson had I selected another color? If so, would it have appeared in form that corresponded the color as I understand it? I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I accept the lesson. It was a good lesson to learn. So good, a tattoo is coming. I will not forget this lesson.

Sensation

I've noticed over the last several days an odd sensation. It is as if when I walk by folks I brush against their emotional bodies. It is a bit like having whiskers that pick up emotions. There is a physical-like sensation to it.

Generally, I've been pretty happy. That is very unlike me.

Euphoric Kangaroos...

Well, if that doesn't get your attention, what will?

First the euphoria, well, I'm feeling it. It is so cool being so quiet inside, which makes me wonder...why the hell am I shouting about being quiet? The oxymoron police are about to get me. Moving right along...

WitchDoctorJoe has a new witchvox article up here. I suggest you read it before I spoil the surprise.

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WitchDoctorJoe claims any system is, essentially, full of lies. You can make up any old thing and it will work. Well, he's right and I completely agree. Though, I disagree just as strenuously.

Telling someone or implying as Joe did that a system is a lie is simply not the truth. The person that taught me wasn't pulling a fast one. There was no deception. He simply taught what he knew. He was taught by an honest man as well. In my tradition, certain things mean certain things. With those meanings, we can do magick of many varieties. This is not a lie. Magick has rules.

I needed those rules and frankly, in some situations, like say an initiatory hall, I'd still abide by them 100%. I can only guess but I must assume that if Joe initiates someone into his tradition, he uses his tried and true methods. Is this wrong for his initiate? I think not. The initiate has no idea what s/he will see and Joe certainly isn't using their correspondences.

Very recently, I discovered I don't need all those rules anymore. That does not mean someone else doesn't and it doesn't mean I won't again.

Magick has rules. The tricky part is that some of them, maybe even most of them, are so individualized, that trying to tell someone they 'must' use this or that set, is a lie. However, to say they must use a certain set within a given tradition is valid. The Golden Dawn system is designed to get you someplace specific. Alexandrian, Gardnerian Wicca and other religions are designed to get you someplace specific too. Veritas Wicca, I assume, is designed to take you to a specific place as well. Do you want to get where Alexandrians do? Play by their rules. Do you want to get where Joe can take you? Play by his.

Saying that direction given by traditions is false is like saying you can't get from Fresno to San Francisco by using Hwy 99, turning on 152, again on the 5 and so on like so many others have. It would be just as false to say that is the ONLY way to get to San Francisco. I will venture that having a map and some idea of where you want to go is better than closing your eyes, spinnning in a circle and starting to walk in whatever direction you happen to end up facing. You still may get to SF but you may have a very long walk!

There is an old saying that I've stolen from someone: The truth to a man not ready to hear it is a lie. If someone told me in the beginning that there are no rules to magick, that I can do anything I want and obtain an effect, I would not have believed them and likley viewed magick as bunk. I was not ready to hear such a thing. The truth is Joe is a very effective witch and he ought to know better than to make any claim about anyone else's magick or what they need to accomplish it.

Joe knows how to work but many people that haven't the slightest clue will read his words and commit all sorts of foolishness thinking they are doing magick. For them, Joe's truth, which is a truth, will become a lie.

Joe is correct that an item you skry has more meaning to you than something you gained from 777 or some other book of correspondances. However, he is missing the fact that a well traveled path is easier to walk for the newby (and even oldby). If ten thousand magicians use herb X to get to place Y, it is likely the herb X can smooth the path to Y even if it started out as a lie 1,000 years ago.

This stuff is much more subtle than black and white statements about what works and what doesn't work. Leave such blindness to kangaroo magicians and do what works for you. If that means a tradition, great. If that means finding your own way, great. But telling others that things from the past are lie is too simplistic for the modern mind.

Ensigns of Creation Question

This post is for the person that just commented on a post I made in Novemeber or so last year.

The tin can be found in any hobby shop, should you be in the U.S. If not, do a search on hobby sheet tin. It won't be hard to find. Those were then cut using tin snips and given final shape on a grinder. That isn't nearly as hard as it sounds.

Pleasant Progress

I am internally quiet. Very quiet. Not perfectly but 1000% better, no exaggeration. This is nice, real nice.