Must be the season of the Witch

"You've got to pick up every stitch

Beatniks out to make it rich

Two rabbits running in a ditch

Oh No, Must be the Season of the Witch

So it only seems appropriate that I write a bit on witchcraft today. 

For my money Witchcraft is just magick that favors a certain end of the spectrum over another. It values the feminine over the masculine, the intuition over the intellect, the lunar over the solar, the nocturnal over the day light, the ecstatic over the ceremonial, outdoors over temple, the chthonic over the uranic, and so on. It doesn’t reject the latter in each case, it simply emphasizes the former.

As far as I am concerned its got almost nothing to do with Pagan vs Monotheist views, which is a false dichotomy anyway. A large bulk of the worlds witches are Christian. A lot of my views on the craft are expressed extremely well by Robert Cochrane (aka Roy Bowers) in his various letters and essays. Most of which can be found HERE. My favorite quote from him on what makes a witch is from a letter from him to William Gray:

“If one who claims he or she is a witch can perform the tasks of witchcraft, that is they can summon spirits and spirits will come, they can turn hot into cold and cold into hot, they can divine with rod, fingers and birds, they can claim the right to omens and have them. Above all they can tell the Maze and cross the Lethe. If they can do these things, than you have a witch”

I strive not to favor any of the above qualities over the other. I try to strike a balance. As I learned from my Chthonic Auranian bretheren, I strive to achieve both weddings. Thats why I like the term Sorcerer. It brings to mind a bit of the witch and a bit of the magician.Than I move beyond the difference entirely, which is where my real work actually rests. 

Happy Hallowmas Everyone.

Why are you a magician?

Genesis P Orridge once said that something along the lines of: “Some people say they feel they are a woman trapped in a man’s body or a man trapped in a woman’s body. I just feel trapped in a body.”

As I sit here editing my chapter on Gifts (gift x development + skillful implimentation = Success ) I am reflecting upon why I am a magician. You can use magick to aid you in gaining wealth, but it’s not the best way to get wealthy. You can use it to find love, but its not the best way to find that either. In almost every regard, whatever practical results magick can accomplish, is can be done better and surer using non magickal means.

Why bother with it than?

For me, it’s just how I am wired. Some people are gay, some people are anal retentive, some people are magicians. It’s that simple. I was born this way. It’s a calling that flows in the blood.

 

It has been said that the primary difference between a mystic and a normal person is that the volume on the inner world takes is turned up and the volume on the outer world is turned down. In a normal person it’s the opposite. A magician is the same except that he is trying to get the volume from the inner world to echo out into the outer world. There is a burning and biological need to do so.

Another aspect of this is the need to control the gift. Some people get involved in magick because they want to talk to spirits. Some of us get into magick because we would like them to shut up for a while.

How about you? What’s your story? Why are you wasting your time on this stuff that the world doesn’t even acknowledge as real? Do you have the need, or is it just more interesting than watching TV? I wanna know. 

Short Excerpt from new book.

Here is a could paragraphs from the new book, just to give you all something to play with. 

This gaze is performed by again taking in as much scenery in front of you as you can. You don’t have to worry about where your eyes are focused, just allow them to relax and take in the scene before you. Imagine that everything you are seeing in front of you is actually happening on a two dimensional surface like a television screen. Keep gazing until you really get the sense that there everything in front of you is happening on a 2-d surface, than reach out with your mind and contemplate what might be happening on the other side of that surface. You can even try to mentally “peel back” the 2 dimensional surface, folding down a corner so that you perceive what lies beyond it.

 

The mind is used to perceiving space in three dimensions only. By using this gaze you are forcing the mind to perceive what it sees as only 2 dimensions, leaving the third dimension vacant and able to be filled by things that normally cannot be perceived. Practice this method often and you will find that it pays off fairly quickly in an increased perception of astral and spiritual phenomenon. If you use this gaze while looking at a scrying device like a mirror, you can consider that the mirror is a hole in the two dimensional surface which will allow images to surface all the more readily. 

Big Thank You

Last weekend I was talking a bit about Zen with John Reynolds and thought to myself that I should really spend some time learning more about Zen as it is the closest cousin of Dzogchen - my primary spiritual discipline. 

This weekend Jenn, a friend who works at Shambhala Press, showed up at my house with a shelfload of books, most of which are about Zen. 

Thanks to Jenn, and all the invisible intercessionary powers that conveyed my messages to her.  

To get someone to tell the truth

So yesterday I was in the Cauldron, an occult shop in Pt Pleasant, and neither the owner, or her sister or mother were there. They are all Italian strega (the real deal not the Grimassi fantasy) but the owner has had to get an outside job, the sister is about to have a baby any day, and the mother has to care for an ailing husband. They apparently hired a woman that recently moved here from Texas to run the shop, who shall henceforth be called: The Clerk.  

While I was in there a girl in her early 20's asked the clerk if there were any spells to get people to tell the truth. The clerk said no, magick cant get people to tell the truth. She asked why do you want someone to tell the truth anyway? 

The girl shared that she thinks shes getting screwed over by a guy and would just like him to come clean when she asks. The clerk than proceeded to rant for 15 minutes about how men lie, and she should just dump this dude, blah blah blah. 

Finally I couldnt take it anymore.

I went to the herb cabinet and grabbed some Mullein, Adders tongue, and Licorice Root. I brought them over to her and told her the following:

"I dont know you and your boyfriend well enough to advise you on your love life based on just a few words, however there are plenty of spells to help make people tell the truth. Buy these three herbs and this pack of charcoal blocks and get something that belongs to him like a piece of clothing.  Late tonight when you think he is probably asleep go outside and light the charcoal block and place a mix of the three herbs on it. The Adders tongue is to get is tongue to tell the truth, the mullein is traditionally used to catch cheating lovers, and the licorice root to to establish a bit of psychic influence and control. Take the piece of clothing and tie it with a red string that has nine knots in it. This represents him. Dangle him above the burning charcoal and let the smoke infuse the packet and carry your intentions upward to the spirits. As you do this pray to whatever god you worship, and than simply talk to him like he is there saying "just tell me the truth." or "come clean" or whatever. As the gods and spirits to help and than thank them for doing so. It's not guaranteed to work, magick never is, but it is based on traditional magick and is I think the type of magick you are looking for."

There we go. Answer the customers question. Make a sale. Is that so fucking hard? Isnt that why the store is there? She asked for a spell, not some crappy advice from a jilted cow that fancies herself wise and has probably not been laid in a decade. 

And we wonder why occult stores are closing up left and right. 

Kenyans Cursing McCain/Palin

Oh. This is fantastic.

Its from a Christian group that has a missionary at the village in Kenya where Obamas family is from, who claims that:
"the witches, warlocks and those involved in satanism and the occult get up daily at 3 a.m. to release curses against McCain and Palin so B. Hussein Obama is elected."

I think that the part that cracks me up the most is that, if this missionary really does exist, I am quite certain that local Tribal elders really do get up at 3am and put curses on McCain! Its actually a very African way of doing magick. The fact that they are practicing thier old ways alongside of Christian ones is of course not surprising at all.

So, my message to all you Kenyan Witches and Warlocks out there getting up at 3am:

Keep up the good work! You are doing a great job!

(The picture is from a Fetish Market in Togo. Its pretty high on my list of places to visit in this life. Too bad they dont ship.) 

Published in the Cauldron

My article "St Cyprian, The Patron Saint of Sorcerers" is appearing in the latest issue of the Cauldron.

If you don't know the Cauldron, than shame on you. Best Craft magazine out there and has been in circulation since 1976.

This issue also has an excellent article on The Regency Coven and an interview with Shanti Oates, the current Maid of the Clan of Tubal Cain.

Good stuff you wont find anywhere else.