Tarot Readings and Astral Projection

I have been doing  a lot of tarot readings of late. I have done quite well with them. It has made me begin to wonder what a tarot reading really is. What are my assumptions?

• The cards are a perfect representation of the universe.
• Everything that humans can experience exists within the cards.
• The 'map' the tarot provides us is closely related to or analogous to the Tree of Life
• The cards are laid out for the benefit of the reader not the querent...most of the time.
• Deities and the psychic abilities of the tarot reader combine with the willingness of the querent to form the reading.
• The cards that appear provide suitable windows to the pertinent issues. They do not reveal the entire nature of the querent.
• Each card is a starting point, forcing something to conform to a rigid meaning is counterproductive.
• The deck is a complete system. Failing to understand its system is a failing of the reader.
• The oracle is always right. Sometimes we fail in proper interpretation.
• The reader should get the background of a situation correct.
• The outcome is mutable. Outcomes depend upon the actions of the querent, usually.

 Astral Projection

I have been asked to provide some books on astral projection and astral work. I have two recommendations.

The first I haven't recommended here previously.

I recommend Ophiel's work, The Art and Practices of Astral Projection,  because it is simple and to the point. There are very practical exercises for very practical minded people. There isn't a lot of theory. Frankly, this book didn't work for me. It is obvious that it would work for others.

The other book is Mark Stavish's Between the Gates: Lucid Dreaming, Atral Projection and the Body of Light in Western Esotericism. This is much more along the lines of those who work systems and have a penchant for enlightenment. This book is very helpful. It helped me to have more than one lucid dream that has been chronicled in this space.

In the long run, what tipped me over the edge was hard work and certain initiations performed by others. Regardless of that, expect to work. If you're a natural talent or a fractured person, you can do this already. All you may need is refinement. If you're buying a book, you can't do it. That means you'll have to work at it like any other skill.

Realizations, Trials, Psychics and Bagels

Last night, the Druid kicked my ass over this post. He took umbrage with the dubious and skeptical lens I through which I view my magickal abilities. He told me that if I don't understand the power I wield, I could hurt someone I am trying to heal. He used the example of all the fire in that ritual mentioned in the post. Too much energy in a healing can be as bad as too little or even worse. He made his point.

There is also a new character in my life to be known as the Psychic.  I mentioned the conversation with the Druid. She said he was right and asked me to go into a quiet room and ask myself why I refuse to accept my abilities and to tell her the first thing that came to mind. The answer was that I am afraid to see the universe as it really is.

So last night, I allowed myself to accept. It lasted two-tenths of a second. In that moment, I felt my entire body relax. All tension was gone. That same body rejected the idea. The phenomenon was the very much the same as my experiences with what I call full light of day astral vision. This is when I can see astrally with the same clarity as I see the physical world at noon. Most of the time, I see through the glass darkly. Though that darkness is getting lighter and lighter all the time. When I see at full light of day, it only lasts for an instant before it instantly shuts down. The recent event with fire was very bright but not full light of day.  I am confident this instant shutting down will go away in time and with practice.

Later, I simply focused on accepting my abilities. I didn't seek to boost them in my own perception. I did not inflate them in any way. In fact, no specific ability was even entered my mind. It was as a simple acceptance, a willingness not to fight myself. The struggle was almost physical. I could feel the tensions grow and move throughout my physical body. My guess is that they actually reside in the etheric. I simply felt them as physical.

This morning, I went for my traditional weekend morning bagel and coffee at Uncle Harry's. I began to read a book on pagan mentoring. I highly recommend this work if you're considering mentoring from a pagan perspective. As sometimes happens with fiction, something about it lifted my mind to an occult level.

I opened my mind to accepting my abilities. Again, they were unspecified, generic but highly personal. This really isn't talking myself into something. It is letting go of resistance. This is not easy for me. As my focus increased, I noticed the other patrons of Uncle Harry's staring at me. I've mentioned since incidents before. It was only one table of people this time. My concentration broke.

As I regained focus, I heard the voice of the Helpful Diety reminding me of one of Its titles. WHAM! I could suddenly place It on the tree of life. I've encountered two aspects of this deity and both immediately placed themselves on the tree. One aspect within a sephira and the other on a path. So simple! The implications for my own acceptance of Self was obvious. Making this manifest within will still be a challenge. However, now I have the keys. It will happen.

It also instructed me to use my qabalistic knowledge in our rituals with her. I did note it was the knowledge, not the ritual forms.

These things I am encountering now are the result of friendships. My magickal partner, the Druid and the Psychic all played their part. It is wonderful to be surrounded by so many teachers.

Astral Work and Ice Cream

Friday night, I worked with my magick partner. Normally, we get together to contact the Helpful Deity. This time we did some more ceremonial based work. Our goal was to astral project along the earthly plane. I wanted to see her astral form in my temple space. Then move outside my home and look around my street and come back. My partner would have been very content to simply stay put in the temple area.

I did the LBRP. I used the banishing pentagram specific to the elemental quarter rather than just banishing earth. Then I did the BRH. We performed a middle pillar together. I then called the hierarchy of Levanah. Each of us uttered specific prayers to those spiritual forces to aid us in our intention for this moment's work. Those prayers were specific to traveling along the earthly plane. The reason for that is that the last time we did this her prayer for my travel included the word 'desire'. I thought that may be why I landed in Netzach.

Once we sat in our chairs, I focused on the altar just like I focused on the plant Thursday night. Nothing happened. Nada. So, I focused on a shelf that until recently held earthly objects. This I felt but nothing happened. Nada. So far, not so good.

I was then struck by a thought. The goal was to astral project with my partner and see each other's astral form. So, I focused on her. Immediately, I found myself in a maze made of hedges. The hedges looked very much like this picture and about that height to me. I could have risen ever so slightly to see over them. However, there was no need. Working the maze was easy. At the end of the maze, I traveled through a tunnel of dirt.

I found myself looking at a not so densely wooded forest area. It was twilight. I saw my partner as a dark, nearly black, form amongst the trees. From my vision, she would have been standing in the center of the picture to the right in that small grassy cleaning. Several times she says felt me nearby but never saw me. The feelings were fleeting. From my perspective, I could see her movement but could never get close.

I am amazed at how these too pictures so closely match what I experienced.

My conscious mind thought I was making all this up as this was not the plan.

Upon my return, I found myself in a watery area. It was a natural setting but dolphin-like creatures came up out of the water. Unlike the picture, each had a mate going the opposite direction. This reminded me of Pisces. Though, I did not dwell on that.

Again, my conscious mind felt like I was not projecting.

I then found myself back in my temple space. Only it was on fire, lots of fire. The walls and ceiling were engulfed. My conscious mind did not interfere at all. Soon I realized my temple space was in my home, outdoors and vast. Yes, I realize those are contradictions. Work with me people! The hedge rows were on fire! I am not sure if these were stacked dried branches or the maze hedge rows previously mentioned.

 

There was smoke. There was an intense visual. I felt no heat, no fear. It never occurred to me that I may be burned. My very calm mind asked, "So, what is with all the fire?" A voice answered, "This is the energy you bring to ritual. You brought fire. Astral projection is air." Fair enough. The voice was not my normal internal voice. It was not my voice of wisdom nor my HGA nor the Helpful Deity. It may have been an angel's voice or the voices of the spirits called to help the ritual.

I say angels because I called upn the earthly angels of Sandalphon and Uriel at some point. I had done this with the plant projection and things worked out well. So I called upon them in "mid-flight" here as well. I never saw them in a form I would recognized in either instance. Why it could have been the called upon spirits from ritual should be obvious.

I returned to my body before my partner. Apparently, she'd been singing with a centaur in the forest. I waited until she came back, banished and closed the rite. 

We confirmed that we both of us went to the forest through a tunnel of dirt. Our descriptions of the forest were a strong match. In talking, we came up with some questions.

Was the watery place an earthly version of the qabalistic path of Pisces? Was the fiery event analogous to the path of Shin? Since we both clearly stated the desire to project upon this earthly plane and we both descended into the earth through a tunnel, where did we start from? Obviously, it was 'above' where we wound up. 

Most oddly, after we exhausted our ritual critique, I mentioned that I had a strong desire for a chocolate milkshake. She said that she had just been thinking of ice cream. As a rule, we do not socialize. We simply work together and send a few very friendly texts from time to time. This time, we went to Foster's Freeze and she bought me a shake and she had a root beer float. We talked about the ritual some more and made plans for repeating this one with one slight twist in the ritual. As we discussed this, I privately thought how great it is that we live in a country where we can openly discuss magick in a Foster's Freeze.

When I think of the power of a single candle flame and realize how much flame I created in that ritual, I am a bit taken aback. The former My Gal told me that when we first met and shared a CM requiem ritual my mentor did for his mentor, the energy I threw out at the sign of the enterer almost knocked her over. Being a magician means being on guard for flattery. Such things are dangerous. So, I never accepted her statement. I erred on the other side and chalked it up to her miss perceptions or her idealized view of myself. Now, I'm not so sure.

Some Astral Work

I haven't been taking care of my very humble back yard plants very much. When my back goes out and I take the pain medication all ambition goes away. The plants suffer right along with my house keeping. This bought was a bit hard psychologically as well. I felt like I would never recover. Pain can do that to you.

The weather is cooling and so the plants are more forgiving. A couple of weeks ago they were mad. MAD. I know that sounds nutty but my plants do have a way of communicating with me. I had a hard time believing it when the former My Gal said they talked to her. Sorry babe. I believe now.

Last night, I went out to water them and all was well. They hummed with life. It was like walking into a different world, my own private wardrobe. I marveled out how I could feel all this life and how I can 'hear' their moods. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I had help. There was one particular plant that facilitated the communication. I began to wonder if it could help with other forms of psychic experience. Skrying it occurred to me, as well as making incense.

As I went to bed, I meditated at my normal portal with a twist. I used a pentagram to invoke each element and then focused on the plant. It took some work. It took some time. Then, I was saw all kinds of things. I saw forests, vegetation at a lake scene, cactus areas, hillsides and a host of natural scenes all focused on the plant life. Some of these were visions. Some of the time I was astrally there.

There was a brief period where I perceived myself to experience earth of Assiah, air of Assiah, water of Assiah and Fire of Assiah. The air realm had images much like the wings in Crowley's Thoth tarot. Fascinating.

This all came about because of that plant. I have every plan to explore more.

Gordon is Giving Away a House, a Car and a Chimpmunk

Well, not really...

However, he is giving away a bunch of free stuff. Follow this link to find out how to get your loot!

Leo Focus

I've been trying to reconcile what I've found on the path of Teth (Leo) on the tree. This place is a huge tug of war between Mars and Jupiter.

The Leo personality ranges the extreme forms of Mercy and Severity. This emotional tug of war results in the extremes of confidence and insecurity, drive and weakness. This is our battle. One of our most positive traits is that of determination. It also drives people crazy that want to or need to stand in our way.

In my meditation last night, I focused on how I can reconcile those extremes. What came to me was the idea of focus. If we focus on the entirety on the goal of the moment, we can live between those extremes. This may be why the tool of the Leo is discipline. We need to cultivate that discipline and focus on the task at hand.

Perhaps in that, is our answer.

What is Courage?

In a recent post, Kenan highlighted what he feels is an act of Christian courage. Apparently, a pastor came out as either gay or as being understanding of the gay point of view that sexual orientation is not a choice. Apparently, his view point could have come as a shock to many of his followers. I am not going to comment on this man as I have no idea where he is coming from, what he's said in the past, his orientation or anything else about him.

The post did take a stand that this man was courageous for doing what he did. It led me to ponder the nature of courage.

Fictional Minister Number 1 is a good man in every respect. He is gay. He preaches from the pulpit that homosexuality is wrong while secretly having gay lovers. Is it courageous to preach what he feels is the truth even when he can't practice according to his words no matter how hard he tries? Is it courageous after years of failing to change his own behavior to change his mind and support another point of view? Would it be more courageous to simply admit he is an abomination as he has taught homosexuals are and walk away from the church? I could easily argue all three points.

Ficitonal Minister Number 2 is a good man in every respect and preaches against gays as being ungodly. He says they should be cast out of the church. His son admits he is gay. Is it courageous to hold onto his son and love his son despite the words Number 2 spews from the pulpit? Or, is it courageous to disown his son, no matter how much he loves him, so that the son cannot 'infect' other members of the congregation? I could argue both ways.

Kenan also mentions the pedophilia cover up in the Catholic Church. Given that the Catholic Church honestly believes that an ordained priest is the only one that connect his congregants to the body and blood of Christ and such a connection is vital to one's eternal spirituality, is it courageous for them to do the math? The argument can go like this. We unfortunately sacrifice a few victims to these priests but since they serve five or six hundred people a weekend through mass we find the greater good is to hide their sin. One priest with 5 victims out of 500 parishioners is 495 souls to the good. Those five are not all lost but may be faithful despite the priest's actions. Does it take more courage to out the priests, defrock them and have them jailed? Or, does it take more courage to sacrifice the few for the many given the belief system?

The greater good doctrine is a trap for most religions and spiritual practices. It isn't just a Catholic or Christian problem. Which choice would you make? Would you view it as siding with evil for the greater good is more courageous than jeopardizing the souls of so many by withdrawing priestly services? Anyone that is a pagan leader or a leader of any spiritual group should decide such questions before they begin. In the midst of such situations one has a tendency to make irrational emotionally charged decisions.

I submit that what you feel is courageous versus cowardly has more to do with your perception of the core issue(s) involved and debated than what is truly courageous.

So what is courage in these situations? I have no idea.