A Night of Fire

Tonight, I was reading, the AGEDE that was recommended by Ananeal Qaa. I came across some tidbits that were of interest as I am reading this with some care.

One page dealt with fire. The following quote struck me with great interest:

The ancient Greeks distinguished the Destructive (Aidêlon) Fire, associated with Hades (Aidês), from the Creative Fire, associated with Hephaistos, the Divine Smith or Craftsman. In Orphic cosmologies, as in many others, a Divine Craftsman is born from the Cosmic Egg or is responsible for opening it


Way back when I was very new to all this, before I met the Alexandrians and Golden Dawn people, a close friend was advising me on my journeys, I encountered Hephaistos. In fact, he was the first god I had encountered. Oh how I wish I kept records of what he said. I do remember he asked me to be his priest. I declined. I simply find it fascinating that this circled back into itself as the Conclave of the Greek Key is merging into the Orphic Mysteries. Here I have a link going back full circle. And my journeys then were called delusional, no.

The second item that caught my attention was this:

 ...fire to the radiant body. The radiant body (augoeides), also known as the astral body (astroeides) or aitherial body, is the vehicle of the Higher Soul,...


So, I popped into the temple room and using my newly modified LIRP I invoked Spirit and Fire. At the invocation of Spirit I saw a beautiful silver and gold cup and I remembered this line from Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell,

And they'll tell you black is really white 

The moon is just the sun at night 

And when you walk in golden halls 

You get to keep the gold that falls 

It's Heaven and Hell 

It is funny how things you once thought were evil take on whole new meanings at higher levels. 

I then walked to the south and asked the spirits of fire to energize my radiant body so that I could astral project from an aware state as opposed to a dream. I received a surprise.

My feet began to tingle and then get hot. The sensation moved up my legs. It began to hurt. This was uncomfortable. It burned. The sensation was not unlike that felt when you put a nine volt on your tongue only with the additional discomfort of heat. I was offered an opportunity to stop. This was followed by an offer to continue at a later date.  I declined. The sensation moved up to my waist. Fortunately, it was less painful.

The odd part was that it returned at my head level. Later, it move to my arms. It never landed in my chest.  Eventually, the spirits of fire told me they were done. They told me that no one could claim that I have not passed through fire. It was anti-climatic. There was no astral projection. 

I banished fire. There was no way I was going to let something that created that intense of a physical sensation hang around especially when that spirit was of fire. When I moved back to the center of the circle to thank spirit, I saw a King with Scales. It reminded me of Libra. The figure acknowledge that he was of Libra and told me I was closer than I thought. I have heard that before. The image was very much like the a cross between the Rider-Waite King of Swords and Justice. It was much more like the Justice card but with the court card colors. 

Thank Yous for Those Providing Assistance

From time to time people point out various websites and other information that help me along. The two that immediately come to mind are Ananael Qaa and Pallas Renatus. Given that I am not a scholar, I don't always know that information is out there. These two have consistently supplied reading material and insights. In addition, Jack provides me with information and resources more privately. 

These people are of great assistance and I appreciate that they not on read my ramblings but offer their aid. 

Today Ananael pointed me to The Ancient Greek Esoteric Doctrine of the Elements. I am not sure if he is aware of this or not but it links my work with The Conclave of the Greek Key (Helpful Deity) to the elements through the Orphic Mysteries. Just that tidbit of information is a gold mine. I am sure that I will find more treasures as I read through this. 

So, I would like to thank these fine gentlemen and the others that have taken a moment to comment with comments, information and encouragement. The winner in the last category is probably the Nutty Professor. Her comments do buck me up on occasion, especially now that I am having such a hard time psychologically. 

Ever Expanding Fire

This morning I meditated on the earthen bowl and flame mentioned yesterday. The meditation involved the image of bowl and flame as well as the names of the angels of the elements.

When I mentioned the name of the angel of fire a couple of curious things happened. One was that I found myself in ring of fire. This was obviously a defensive barrier. The second was much more important. The flame in the bowl went out of control. I would calm it down by asking the angel of air to withdrawal. This always worked beautifully but any time the angel of fire was thought of, the flame expanded. Eventually, I wondered why.

Fire only has one action. It expands. As long as there is fuel it will consume it while continually jumping to the next available source. There is no part of fire that enjoys the scenery. Everything is fuel. Man grows when he harnesses the power of fire while controlling its destructive aspects. This has great implications for magick and spirituality.

The point of that is that Fire expands. All it can do is expand.

Please pardon the qabalistic detour but this explains why the first of the four qabalistic worlds is the fiery Atziluth. This creates an ever unfolding and expanding universe. From here, I could say that Briah (water) cools or slows down the rate of the fire. Otherwise too much energy would exist. This, of course, brings up the Lurianic idea of the shattered spheres. Air on the other hand is the meditating force between the violent mixture of fire and water which either slows down or balances the energy before it manifests on earth. I could say all that and I just did but it isn't fully correct. Maybe as I learn more about Water and Air this can get flushed out more.

In alchemy the worlds are not viewed in the same order but as Fire, Air, Water and Earth. This brings up other analogies about its working that I should look into someday. Using multiple symbol sets can be fruitful.

This I do now know. All fire can do is expand. You must bring in other mediating forces to use it properly.

The practical application for me is this.

As a Leo, I am full of fire. I don't need any more. However, I do need to control it. There are several projects I have started but never finished. Getting determined even momentarily to finish those may be all I need, if I remember to fan the flames and keep them focused on the project. I have no doubt when working on such things I will be a bit irritable as that is a trait of fire. I can accept that, if it means getting some things done. If I can remember to starve the flames during the difficult times, I will be able to control my speech even more.

Spiritually, there is another issue. It doesn't take long to see the rabid evangelist as someone that has taken spiritual fire but not yet harnessed its destructive edge. So, they create anger, distrust and an insular belief system. These are negative aspects of fire. I can think of three bloggers that have the same problem though they manifest it differently, myself included. The accomplished magicians that I do know that do not have this problem, feel very watery to me. Therein, lay another clue. If I can calm down the fire, so it heats the emotional water just enough to express loving warm compassion, I just may learn something.

There is much to explore here. This should be interesting.

Congratulations WitchDoctorJoe

http://paganwriters.com/2011/09/05/featured-author-interview-joseph-merlin-nichter/

I am very pleased for the WitchDoctor .

Fire and Earth

Once again I am working with simple elements. So many magicians eschew their use as beneath them. 

Today, I invoked earth, fire and spirit. The combination of these elements have always satisfied me. 

The image I received is familiar to me, a bowl dug into the earth with a flame residing in the center. The flame, calm at first, began to get out of control. It rose and got wild. Curiously, it remained in the cup. I called the spirit of earth and the bowl of earth grew. Making the bowl proportionate to the fire calmed the flame. I shrunk the bowl and the flame grew wild. I called the spirit of air to move further away. The flame reduced and became calmer. I did this three times until I was satisfied. I then reversed the process.

At no time did I work with fire directly. I worked with its supporting elements to control the flame. There is a BIG F---ING LESSON there. I flashed to my frustration issues at work. If I catch them fast enough, I can call spirits of air and ask them to move back. I can call earth and ask it to expand. At least that is what the vision showed. We will see how that works in the real world. 

That wasn't the point of the lesson. I noticed there was no fuel. Spirit told me that the proper fuel is my desires. I asked, "Isn't that fire (Netzach)?" 

"Not when you make them earthly [like wood]," was the answer. 

I understand what was being said but not quite how to do this magickally. Is this just a matter of focus? I am not sure. I do know that one of those desires is a new job. I have a plan that I am not ready to discuss yet. Future magick is going into that plan as well as mundane work. We will see.

I just knew that there was more to learn. I wasn't getting it. Then spirit told me something that humility forbids repeating. The finalizing process of that can be fuel as well. While it was nice to hear. I am not sure I want that. Apologies for being vague. My editor is going to kick my ass. 

Meditation continues. The mantra is morphing to greater specifics. More on that in a future post. 

Mostly Meditation

I have been practicing a great deal of meditation of late. I meditate a minimum of twice a day to a maximum of four times. My timer has been set for as low as ten minutes and as high as 15. Though, I have blown through the timer twice and gone thirty minutes twice. This has made my focus in my daily ritual work so much better.

The thing to note this week has been how the meditations have changed. The manifestation meditation is about allowing my conscious self to build a home for my Neschemah and holding an aware contact with it. Over the last week or so that has morphed into specific meditations. I had thought that I was moving off target. However, I think I am meditating on skills that will allow the manifestation meditation to be more effective.

For instance, the last couple of nights have focused on removing the internal walls that prevent me from sensing the occult universe. I suppose another way to say that is that it is tearing down the walls that prevent my intuition from functioning. This in turn morphed into tearing down the internal walls that keep me from fully interacting with and absorbing the energies of those around me.

Sometimes I see a reflection in the real world and I know it is a result of what I have done. In this case, I am not sure. This morning, I went for a bagel and coffee. Someone was preparing their coffee and I was behind him. Most of the the time, I experience this politely but impatiently. Today, I simply stood there. He turned around and handed me the objects I needed. I didn't ask for them. He just gave them to me. I thanked him but he didn't seem all that interested in my thanks or even that I was still there.

This pattern also applied at the local occult shop. The place is a difficult place to visit. Even out of town psychics I know refuse to go in there for all the negativity. The owner also radiates a hatred for men. I can only guess at the traumas that caused that but it is still hard to take. Today, they fell all over me with genuine  kindness. I even bought a cup that I will make into my GD style water cup soon.

This confuses me. There is a large part of me that is really done with GD and magick. Yet, I buy the cup.

Blog Changes

This blog is now up to between 5,000 and 6,000 hits a month. A large percentage of viewers are returning for over the 100th time. Blogger Ad Sense is sending me consistent messages about placing ads on the blog. So, I am going to give it a shot. The one time I made money on this blog was $20.00 from Amazon sometime last year. Obviously, getting twenty dollars is just for fun. I didn't even notice for two months. So, I am going to see how much revenue this can generate. Forty dollars a year may buy me a book or two.

Adsense uses some kind of cookie. So, I will be adding a page explaining that.

This blog has also been configured for mobile users. So, if you have a mobile device, you should be good to go.