Writing

I wrote 3200 words today for the first Chapbook that I will be producing called "The Seven Seals".

I am frickin exhausted.

SPIRIT BOTTLE CLASS TOMORROW IN NEW HOPE

Mystical Tymes

http://www.mystickaltymes.com/

127 South Main Street New Hope, PA 18938

(215) 862-5629

September 15th 2009

7:00 pm – 9:00pm

The Naga Khang of Tibet, the Pwen of Haitian Vodou, The Goetia’s Brass Vessel, the Honden of Shinto, the Nganga of Palo Mayombe. The San Phra Phum of Thailand; all over the world human beings feel compelled to create physical places for non-physical beings to dwell within. The purpose is two fold: to give ourselves an easy way to relate to the spirits, and to give the spirits a greater foothold into our world so that their activities can achieve greater impact.

In this class Jason Miller will go over his methods for creating “Spirit Bottles” which can be put to almost any purpose. He will cover the types of spirits that can be housed, , how to attract spirits to the bottle, the various items that one might want to add to a spirit bottle, how to feed and communicate with the spirits, and more. Come explore the way in which traditional formula and artistic creativity come together in this exciting and potent type of Sorcery

The two pics here are of the first two spirit bottles that I ever made. Top is Dr John and bottom is Marie Laveau.

Colored and Shaped Candles.

Frater RO just made an excellent post on candles. He points out that after he has made the initial contact with a spirit, much of the following work with that spirit tends to be quite similar to simple candle magick. I totally concur.

He points out that the wax makes an excellent fluid condenser and picks up the "vibe" of the spell which is patterned by the prayer or invocation, and released through burning. Another thing that helps this process along are using candles of different colors and shapes. Different colors have different vibrations that will amplify a corresponding intent. This is the same in using colored Chi or Prana in different types of healing.

Some people have pointed out that in the old days, there were no colored candles, everything was just beeswax - ergo colored and shaped candles are not necessary for magic. True enough, but nothing is necessary for magic. Tools are there to help you along and make a process easier and more effective.

Those that see magic as something that was perfect in ancient times, and which we only have mere shadows of today will want to reconstruct things to be as archaic as possible. People that see magic as a living and evolving thing that gets better as time goes on will want to take advantage of newer traditions and perhaps make some advances themselves. It should be no surprise that I fall into the latter camp.

Above is picture of a double action reversal candle that is being burned in the appropriate manner, ie: you cut the top off, turn it upside down so that the black side is up, dig out the wick and burn it that way. The black part of the candle reverses the negativity back to the sender whether this is another magician, a spirit, or just the universe itself. After that is cleared, the colored part strengethens whatever was weak: white for health, red for love or lust, green for money, etc.

Do not underestimate a simple candle spell. In the hands of a skilled worker that spell from the $2 Anna Riva book is as potent as a Goetic evocation. In fact its often more potent because the person doing the candle magic will actually do the work, whereas most ceremonial magicians talk more about goetia than they actually do goetia. Frater RO is someone who clearly understands this, and is one of those that will take advantage of both and really do the work.

An Ye Harm Some

Since this topic came up in both a "real conversation" and in the Inominandum.com forums today I decided to spin this topic off of the "Where to begin thread". Black arrow wrote:

I do admit I have wondered regarding his and many other occult writers' warnings against any "harmful" use of magick due to karma reasons, threefold law, etc. In some cases, it seems somewhat counter-intuitive. To give a more mundane analogy, I have a pistol, and a concealed handgun permit. If I or my family was attacked, I would have no problem shooting the assailant. "Harmful" use of that pistol is not innately evil. What matters is the intent and the context involved.

The issue of wrathful magic and its fallout is a bit more complex than this I am afraid. There are really two factors at play: moral and technical considerations. Most sources treat the two as one, which is a mistake.

On the moral end, you are quite correct that it is intent that matters. Great good has come from wrathful action which is why in the Bodhisattva vows, Mahayana Buddhists vow to not refrain from wrathful action if compassion demands it. Any system that suggests good for good and bad for bad that doesn't take this into account is just sophomoric.

Real Karma as understood in the east takes intent into account, as well as the performance of the action, the fallout both intended and unintended, and finally the rejoicing or regret that follows. But all of these are not judged by some karmic panel, they are just factors in the cause and effect that is karma. This brings us to the technical side of the matter, but only a fully realized being can truly know the full extent of every action.

There are however less subtle technical aspects of wrathful magic that can be grasped. Whatever work you do surrounds you with energy that patterns itself after that work. This is why when doing wealth work for others, the operator often finds himself coming into a little bit of extra cash. There is also the matter of spirits employed, and in turn the spirits that those spirits employ. Even in the case of a cosmic goddess like Hekate or a realized guardian like Ekajati, there are retinues of spirits that follow them around which are not as easily controlled; Aoroi, Empusae, and so on in the case of Hekate and Mamo's in the case of Ekajati. Beings that do dirty work, regardless of intent, are still wrathful in nature and need a firm hand to control. This is why in hoodoo you take a Hyssop bath to rid yourself of any spirits that linger after harmful work, and why you generate as a wrathful yidam in Tantra to scare the crap out of any dregs-pa (wrathful beings) that attend your guardians.

The stronger the wrath, the more prevalent the problem. Dudjom Rinpoche wrote and article called "On the bad luck of the Nyingmapa" basically detailing the ways in which many of the beings that were subjugated and bound during the importation of Buddhism into Tibet have since caused various problems when not tended carefully.

An even more drastic example is the country of Haiti. The Congo spirits were already served in the country and are themselves pretty powerful for wrathful work. To facilitate the slave revolt however, a new nation of Loa were evolved from the Congo spirits - The Petro. With the help of these beings, the people of Haiti pulled off the only successful slave revolt in the western hemisphere. One they are no longer needed though, you still have to deal with them. Because many of these spirits are really really bloodthirsty, they tend to cause problems which can be seen in the history of Haiti ever since. The secret societies have evolved yet more Nations of Loa such as the Bizango nation to deal with some of the reprecussions of this.

An analogy would be like you making friends with the local gang in order to get their help to take out your enemy. After that is done, you are still friends with a gang and may find yourself dragged into several undesirable situations.

Basically, wrathful magick is not different than any other type of magick. Even if you do not believe in retribution for the morality of the act, which I do not, you still have to deal with the wrathful energy and spirits that you atttact during the rite. This is why in many African and Asian magickal systems the darker spirits are all served outside the home or at least on a separate altar.

Discordia: An Offering To The Goddess of Strife

Discordia: An Offering To The Goddess of Strife

Thelesis Lodge: 1627 North Second Street, one block South of Cecil B. Moore.
7 pm on Wednesday, Sept 9 and

3 pm on Saturday, Sept. 19.

On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, at 7 pm and Saturday, September 19 at 3 pm, Thelesis Lodge will present Discordia: An Offering to the Goddess of Strife. If you are looking to calm strife in your own world… or to sow Discord amongst your enemies… then Discordia is here to help you.

Inspired by the story of the Judgment of Paris in which Discordia, Goddess of Strife, threw the Golden Apple of Discord between three Goddesses and their fight to prove themselves the fairest of them all sparked the Trojan War, this event is both theatre and magic spell. If you choose, you will receive a magically charged Golden Apple and instructions on how to use it to calm or cause strife. Or you can just sit and watch. Either way, Discordia will shake you up.

A cash bar will be available both before and after the performance.

Visualization

I am up in Vermont this weekend, and whenever I get up here I make it a point to fit as much Vajrayana practice in as possible. Because the air is clean I always do some Tummo practice, but I also work on Sadhana. This trip it is Red Jambhala in the morning and Vajrakilaya at night. Anyway, these two visualization heavy practices got me thinking about the role of visualization in magic.

I was speaking recently with someone about things I do in my regular work that I did not include in my new book but should have (apart from proper grammar and spelling). More visualization was one of my top answers. My friend was a bit surprised as he is pretty dedicated to both Hoodoo and the "Old System" Grimoire magic, neither of which have much visualization to them. "I kinda lump visualization in with new age hooha and GD style work. Its not really very traditional is it?"

The answer of course is that visualization is traditional in magic. For instance, in both generation stage Tantra, and in Taoist Alchemy, visualization plays a key role. I strongly suspect that it played a key role in the magic of the PGM. For instance all those beings that "appear" in the Mithras Liturgy, I am fairly sure are meant to be visualized in a manner similar to visualization of dieties in Vajrayana.

This is a far cry from the "visualize your intent and let it fly" school of magic. Rather than just daydreaming a result, real magickal visualization creates something actual, either on the etheric, astral, mental, or causal planes. Often several of them at once.

Take the visualization of Archangels in the LBRP for instance. Anyone who has done an actual angelic evocation will tell you that visualizing angels is a damn site different than evoking them, just as having an angel contact you and reveal themselves in their full mystic glory is a damn site more powerful an experience than an evocation will provide. In the LBRP and other rites where a being is visualized, you are creating a "throne" for the power of that being to enter. In the case of a regular banishing, or even a full on exorcism, an evocation would be impractical. So instead we visualize the angels, giving them a hold an the astral and etheric world, and seeing them equipped for the job at hand. Than we call upon the power of that being to enter the visualization and vivify it. It really is Michael there in the South, but not the FULL monty. Its a point of access to the fullness of Michael.

As as side point, Michael comes to mind because I am writing a script for a ritual based upon a Vision that I had about 7 months ago at Valley Forge. Thanks to the Evocational Magicks group, I know now that this vision is linked to the same process described the the "Chaplet of St Michael", a prayer that I was unaware of until they started discussing it there.

A more radical visualization of a god or angel takes place in the field of invocation. Here you are "taking on a god form" - visualizing your own body as the body of the target god or goddess. This creates a suitable and attractive astral envirnment for the being to manifest within. At its lowest, this is a good way to channel the blessing of that being, at its best, this can lead to real communion with a divine being or alien intelligence. In the case of Generation stage Tantra, not only the self is set aside, but all phenomina itself is replaced by the mandala (see picture above) and a type of Transvocation takes place. This gets fully realized in the completion stages that do not depend upon visualization.

Apart from visualized beings, I also make liberal use of visualized forms attached to physical objects. This can be anything from a simple sigil linked to an energy source and branded onto a building or person, or it can be a complex "astral mechanism" made to effect a person such as rotating tetrahedrons that circle the central chanel in a patient and cleanse vital force before it reaches the organs. I have been known to visualize costumes on myself or on on people to get them to act a certain way. This is sort of a more complex method of shielding.

Anyway, i just wanted to make a real post to the blog here that wasnt a link to something else, or just self promotion.

Go out an visualize whirled peas.

Zombies

This months issue of Men's Journal has a great article about Haitian Zombies focused on one recent case and the attempts of her family to get her back. While it does re-itterate some of Wade Davis's points, this article focuses on the Bizango Secret Societies and the intricate rules for the possession and transportation of Zombies. Really good stuff.