Higher and Lower Dieties

A quick teaching on the nature of dieties. They come in two varieties transcendent and worldly. Many manifest as both.

For instance Shiva has a very transcendent nature that is understood by Kashmir Shaivites as being the whole of everything. I am Shiva, you are Shiva, your computer is Shiva, this post is shiva, and the act of you reading it is Shiva. To other people however Shiva manifests in a more mythological manner as a being that has likes, dislikes, gets into fights with other dieties etc.

Hekate is another good example. There are plenty of myths where she has conflicts with other dieties and takes sides in issues and so on. Yet in the Chaldean Oracles (and probably in her original Anatolian forms as well) she is a cosmic force that mediates between the first and second fathers and has the whole of nature suspended from her back and virtue springing from her thigh. In this form she is Heka of "beyond" the mythical forms.

Many have argued that the entire Priestly and Elohist narrative in the Pentatauch is an attempt by Jewish Priests to elevate YHVH, who in the J narrative manifests much more personally and mythically, into a transcendent and universal deity. Thus you have Genesis 1 which is based upon the Ennuma Elish and the creation of the whole universe added to the older Genesis 2 which tells only of the creation of the Garden. This struggle can be seen in Christian history between the idea of a personal God with likes and dislikes and the idea of God that is more akin to Platonic forms.

Anyway. It is important to know what you are dealing with when you are dealing with it. Many Pagans still retain a monothiestic filter when dealing with Pagan Gods and Goddesses and expect them to be very cosmic and transcendent beings with humanities best interests at heart. They sometimes get their hands burnt. In most ancient paganism the Gods sometimes had a very different relationship with mankind as well as with each other.

One occult scholar that I know has a theory that many of the problems of the original GD stemmed from them each taking on various egyptian god-forms in ritual. On the higher level they are a Pantheon of cosmic forces, but on the mythic level, they play out their conflicts throughout all time.

On the higher level, pantheons can represent Cosmic forces with transcendent natures. On another level they are the archetypal dis-functional family.

Just something to keep in mind.

Trans Abyssal Work - PART 2

Picking up where I left off: Western Ceremonial Magick is actually pretty bad at generating trans-abyssal experience.

Western Ceremonial magick is very good at generating experiences of higher realities. We can get a feel for our astral bodies, energy that moves through it, and the subtle realities of the universe. We have visions of spirits. We see and commune with angels, even our own HGA which is connected to us, but is still experienced as a separate entity. In short it genetates lots of spiritual things for us to interact with and be effected by on one level or another.

Eastern yoga, meditation, and magick on the other hand is more focused on the experiencer than the experience. Just as Buddha recommended "if you see a Buddha on the road, kill him". we must be willing to tell the HGA to be quiet and forsake visions of dieties and angels if we are to cross the abyss.

Now, before people start thinking I am just being biased towards the eastern paths, let me state that I said western ceremonial magick was bad at trans-abyssal work, not all western spiritual tech in general. Western Mystecism handles this work pretty well, but is sadly mostly restricted to Jewish Khabblists, Catholic Monks, Muslim Sufis and so on. Thankfully these contemplative traditions are starting to branch out into the mainstream a bit. People like Molinos, Ekhart, John of the Cross, Theresa of Avila are becomming more well known in Christian mystic circles, and of course folks like Ibn Arabi, Rumi, and even Al-Hallaj are also gaining ground in the west. Still though, eastern traditions offer an easier access and more varied and complete methods of training - though the culture gap can be a bit rough.

Just as Crowey noted that anyone at any level of progression could take the oath of the abyss, one need not have done the whole HGA thing to cross the abyss. In factbecause of the increasing availability of these mystical and contemplative paths, as well as certain pharmaceutical sacraments that have been known to point the way for some, people are having the trans-abyssal experience. In fact, I would argue that its pretty easy to have the experience - just not easy to stabalize it and integrate it into your living levels of consciousness. Its not enough to day trip accross the abyss with either drugs or meditation. You need to move there permenantly. Thats were the real work of a magus is and in my mind what it really means to "delare ones word".

Now than, while I do quite a bit of outer work for people as a sorcerer, the work that I engage in overall is this stabalization of trans-abyssal or non-dual awareness. I do this primarily through Dzogchen, but also incorporate some other techniques I have learned along the way. A lot of of the practices that I use to this end I am oath-bound not to discuss, but Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche left a nice little public document that gives a simple public teaching called "Advice for Carrying the View".

Trans Abyssal Work - PART 1

So in my last post about the great work I talked about the three main stages of the work. The first being an introduction to the subtle realities and energies and spirits and such represented on the tree of life by Yesode, Hod, and Netzach. The second stage is where you find your HGA which Frater R.O. wrote about very capably here as well as some other places. This stage begins at Tiphareth when you attain the K&C of HGA, and moves to Geburah and Hesed. In Geburah the Mage sets out into the world with his Angel like a knight on a quest and effects the changes on the outer that he wishes to make. In Hesed the knight retires from his journeys and builds his stronghold, building strength for the next stage.

In Daath, the magician crosses the abyss and find himself in Binah where he is united with his angel in perfect non-duality with the all. The problem is that once he begins to realize this, he falls back down the tree to whatever sphere his work is most naturally aligned with. In Chokmah, according to Crowley, he utters his word. While there are some who interpret this literally, I tend to think of the work of this stage as stabalizing trans-abyssal consiousness so that you dont fall back down below the abyss. The final stage Ipsissimus is enlightenment, and I wont discuss it, especially on a blog.

Now get ready because I am about to do something I very rarely do: praise Aliester Crowley. Actually I like AC just fine, its his followers and the rediculously exalted position they place him in that I can't stand. I am a Thelemite, just not a Crowleyite.

Anyway. As Charles pointed out at his excellent lecture on Thelema two weeks ago at the DVPN Summer Social, Crowley felt that the GD was a bit to "arts and crafts" and that there was a lot of good work being done in the east that wasnt represented in the western ceremonial magick of his day. I think he was right about that. I think he did a good job of incorporating the two given the access to knowlege that he had.

That said, given the access to knowlege that we have today, if you hold Crowley as th ebest source on Yoga, Buddhist thought, Tantra, Meditation, Taoism or anything like that you need to pull your head out of your ass and go read books that have been printed on eastern magick or mystecism in the last 50 years. But still, he had the right general idea...

Why was this important? First, meditation will assist at all stages of the path of any kind of magick. If I had to trade ALL magickal and spiritual practices for just one, I would choose Dzogchen, which to me is the pinnacle of meditation methods the world over.

Second, and more important for this discussion, is because western ceremonial magick is actually pretty BAD at dealing with trans abyssal consciousness or even getting you there. This is why the GD for the most part viewed that third order as something unattainable while in a human body.

More on this in PART 2

Disappointed

I dunno why I am putting this in my magick blog.

Perhaps its because I am a member of the EOD. (Frater Dugpanath if you look for me)

But after eight months of waiting episode 9 of Calls for Cthulhu is finally out.

And it Sucks.

Boring. Not Funny.

If you havent seen it check out #1 and go till about #7 than just stop and remember it as it was.

Ah well.

The Great Work

Farter BH just wrote a post HERE where he ponders the balance between spiritual work and practical magcik. He poses the question to himself:

"Is having a spirit do something for you the Work?"

This is something that I used to struggle with quite a bit. I remember when i first started studying Tibetan Buddhism and got access to a shitload of practical magick tech through John Reynolds. I actually had Guru's visit me in dreams to warn me of forsaking the spiritual goals. Some of the magickal paths that I have studied are focused 90% on sorcery with very little in the way of mystical training or attainment, so for someone like me: drawn to sorcery but devoted to the spiritual quest, it can be a real trap.

One of the things that Crowley said in Liber Al that I do agree with is: For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Elsewhere he refers to these as the Zelator, Adept, and Master of the Temple and refers to the respective grades on the central pillar of tree of life. In Yesod one begins to experience the astral realms and "magickal reality". In Tiphareth one attains the K&C of the HGA. While the Master of the Temple is associated with Binah, it is only through crossing the Abyss through Daath that you attain it.

In my own practice all three of these grades are represented in daily work. I start the day with Offerings, banishing, and the Breathing of the Elements into the body to represent the first stage. I do my personalized version of the Bornless ritual to connect with the Angel and the Decent of Divinity to connect with all the Angels overall. If I am doing Yidam work, I allow this to substitute the Descent of Divinity. This reflects the second stage. I than settle in for the main practice: Threkchod which is in western terms an attempt to stabalize the Gnosis gained upon crossing the Abyss.

I have very condensed versions of all of these that can be accomplished quickly in a pinch. The condensed versions are not necessarily as good, but keep the ball rolling and fulfill my vows. I do these every day except on special days where I do no spiritual or magickal work at all (Tibetan Calander thing...)

The important rule though is: the sorcery MUST NOT replace the spiritual work on any day.

I do Thaumaturgical work every day as well: working with the wealth altar, upkeeping various lights I have set for clients, and of course longer spells in both the field and temple. All of this however doesnt take as much time as you might think. All theugia and no thaumaturgy makes Jay a dull boy, but the theurgia must always be central. One practical magick at its best is a reflection of your gnosis, which means that the light of that gnosis must be kept alive and central.

Regina sine labe originali concepta

I havent had time to really write about it, but I had two run-ins with the Virgin Mary in the last two weeks. The first was last week when my angel whispered in my ear "psst, pull into this shop"

The shop was a Catholic gift shop and when i walked in there was a group of four old ladies chatting about how powerful something was. They recited incidents of healings, raises, and all sorts of blessings. My curiosity peaked I had to ask what they were talking about. They were talking about the Miraculous Medal which was spawned by a vision in 1830 by Sister, now Saint, Catherine Labour'e.

The front of the medal is pretty standard image of mary with the words Regina Sine Labe Originale Concepta Ora Pro Nobis on it. The back however has a cool sigil of an M and a Cross, both Sacred Hearts, and of course the twelve stars which bring to mind the Lady with the Moon at her feet in The Apocolypse of John.

I started wearing the medal and will complete the Novena tommorrow.

Yesterday I was at a customers home (day job customer, not occult visit) and noticed that while there were no other religious images, there were nearly a dozen images of Mary - all with a crown of twelve stars. I mentioned to her that though I am not Roman Catholic, I have a real affinity with Mary and loved her statues. Turns out she isn't Catholic either.

She had an experience at Medjugorje and has been devoted to Mary ever since. She is comfortable because according to the Medjugorje visions the "conversion" that Mary seeks people to have is not one to Roman Catholicism, but simply one to the spiritual life. She is actually leaving to go there again this weekend and to stay with one of the Seer's. We chatted a bit about it, and than she waled over to the largest Mary statue she has and took the rosarie froim her hand. She said:

"I want you to have this. Or rather, I think she wants you to have this. It was blessed in Medjugorje."

Now, when I see an image of Mary I see a lot in it. I see the Mother Mary, but I also see Magdaline the consort, I also see Sophia the "sister" of the Logos, and I see the Shekina, the wife of God. I even see Hekate Soteria, Hekate as she appears in the Chaldean Oracles as the fully transcendant wife of both the first and second fathers, so these two run-ins resulting in these two talismans have been quite powerful for me.

Planetary Hour Calculator

I have been looking for something like THIS forever.