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.

So happy to have an artist

I am so thankful to have an artist doing the drawings for this book.

He is turning out some great stuff.

Some people have Angels, some Demons, and others...

One of my students, using an ultra secret psychic-lens camera, picked up an image of the "Angel" on my shoulder advising me.

Statement on Religion

Occult Groups I have connections to.

Tuesday at my class “True History of the Necronomicon and the 23 Current” I was asked by a student exactly what groups I belong to. Just in case anyone here is wondering the same, here is the list or past and present affiliations with magickal groups:

Prytani Coven: A coven that was fairly loose and lame. Everything was VERY secret, so secret that the initiations were right out of Mastering Witchcraft. Cool people. Good memories, but pretty lame magickally speaking. I took 2nd degree.

XAOS Cabal: Lame name, but if I remember correctly it was what we decided to call the group that met every Tuesday at the Equinox in Longbranch. The group was founded with the intent of becoming an OTO chapter, but members from the Temple of Set, Witchcraft as a Science, Gardnerian Wicca, and various others started taking part that had no interest in joining the OTO. Eventually it dissolved, but was my first serious exposure to working magick in a group.

Ordo Templi Orientis: Took Minerval in 1995 at Tahuti in New York. 1* and 2* at William Blake in MD. Founing member of Thelesis Lodge, which was run from my Living Room for its first 2 years. At my 2nd degree initiation I knew that I wanted to take no further initiations from OTO and basically went inactive as far as the order at large is concerned. I was however extremely active in Thelesis for the next 10 years, and felt no burning need to resign until last years Notocon address. I politely resigned but am still a regular lecturer and “elder” at Thelesis. I made some of the most wonderful friendships and connections through OTO.

Chthonic Auranian Temple: When I joined in 1998 it was the Chthonic Auranian OTO. The Temple was founded in 1985 at a time that all the various OTO factions were fighting and the current seemed ready to implode. We changed the name a few years back to play nice and accommodate the many members that belong to both. Carrying the current of both the Caliphate and the Typhonian current, the temple celebrates the wild freedom inherent in Thelema and strives to incorporate all extremes as per the lessons of Liber Tzaddi. Though we don’t meet in lodges, do group ritual, or even have much discussion amongst ourselves as an Order, I consider it one of my most important groups I belong to.

Ngakpa Zhonnu Khang: My Buddhist Sangha. Informal group of non-monastic vajra bretheren that have taken lots of wangs and retreats together and occasionally do puja together. The Philly Ngakpa Sangha is starting to meet regularly, but I can’t be there as much as I would like. Focuses mostly on Nyingma and Bon practice, but occasional Kagyu, Sakya, and even Gelug aspects crop up from time to time.

The Sangreal Sodality: I have been a member of the Terra Sancta chapter since 2002. We work Grays system of Khabbalah and our group has been involved in a continuous exploration of the paths for six years. We are about halfway done. I love being the youngest and most magickally inexperienced member of a group.

The Wild Hunt Club: Afraid I cant reveal much about this except that we meet four times a year.

Old Snake Cabal: A Philadelphia Cell of the Chthonic Auranian that met for several all night psychedelic explorations. We haven’t met in years and one of our brethren is now deceased so it’s pretty well defunct. It was however quite fun while it lasted…

Esoteric Order of Dagon: joined in 2005 as Frater Dugpanath to explore the Lovecraftian currents. What can I say, some times the old ones knock on my door and wont let up until I do their nefarious work. Though the Order is mostly in silence at the moment, I have had some cool experiences through working within the sanctuary.

Old Catholic Church of the Gallacian Rite. Old Catholic Church Split off from the Catholic Church in the 1870’s. The Gallacian Rite is a subdivision within the church. More mystic than simply Gnostic Christianity.

Well, there ya go.

I like groups for working towards specific things, but tend to steer clear of orders, especially teaching orders. I prefer my connections to be person to person rather than through a group. I relate to most of my Guru’s without belonging to the various Dharma Centers and organizations that spring up around them. Similarly I have found that the only use I got from the OTO and other teaching groups was from individual mentorship from people within it rather than going through a “system”. There has only been one person to actually work their way all the way to 9th anyway, so what does that tell you?


(The pic is of The Church of Mystic Light in Flanders NJ. It was the meetingplace of our Sangreal Sodality for years until one of us moved to Philly and it was no longer a central meeting spot. Its a REALLY AWSOME place to do magick though. Stained glass windows of the Tree of Life behind the altar.)

To Clarify

I am flattered and happy about the mirror.

The symbols are all old variants of the standard planetary signs, so while no one else is using those symbols right now, its actually a pretty generic design.

By all means if people want to make the stuff that I give recipes and instructions for, than sell it, I encourage it!

The weird feeling is just seeing something connected to you originate somewhere else without your knowlege. Its a good weird.

Weirded out right now

I just found someone on line selling reversal mirrors designed according to the specifications given by me in my book.

Bat O Matic

Crucible Re-cap.

Had a great time at Crucible yesterday. Here is a quick re-cap of highlights from my perspective:

• Participated in a Panel discussion on the role of Secrecy in Magick with Isaac Bonewits, Shawn Knight, Ogre, and Andrei Freeman
• Participated in another panel discussion on Ethics in Magick with Isaac, Ogre, and Jow. Both Panels were quite lively I think.
• I gave an ok lecture on Ensorcelling, the Arts of Influence and Persuasion.
• Attended a lecture by Uncle Chuckie on Radionics and Psionics. Very entertaining and informative. The lecture was given remotely via webcam and mike from his laboratory in Chicago, so we actually got to see several of his devices up close, including one of his radionics boxes, two of his helmets, and his Hand Resonator which works as both a healing device and sex toy. I continue to love Uncle Chuckie even though he is clearly bat shit crazy.  
• Met many cool folks who deserve notable mention, Chip and Katie from Thorn magazine, who are looking for me to write a few articles for them. Dana, who I totally used as magicians assistant during my talk. Jow, who practices Arabic magick through the Society of the White Flame. +Shawn Knight, a Gnostic Bishop. Finally and Lucia who just moved here from the UK to train as an Opera singer. Turns out that she found Omnimancy through a eulogy I wrote for Andrew Chumbley that I posted to the Omnimancy boards three years ago. We spent a couple hours discussing Sabatic Craft, Tunnels of Set, Tarot, and other topics arcane.
• Capped off the night by receiving ordination as a Gnostic Priest from Tau Shawn Knight, so I now have orders that stem through him to Alen Greenfiend and Michael Bertiaux. In one shot I received the Thelemic consecration and several Christian lines including the very solid Antioch line. You may all now call me Father Jason if you like.

Many thanks to Omnimancers for putting on such a stellar event and for being such gracious hosts. Lots to follow up on in the weeks ahead. 

Video of Poke

I dont know if everyone already knew this or not, but the Poke Runyon OTA videos about Goetia are up on youtube.

OK. I'm off to Crucible now, where I will speak on the arts of ensorcelling and listen to lectures on Psionics and all sorts of other occulty goodness.

The Road you Take

Another private e-mail about my comments regarding trans abyssal consciousness.

"I am not sure that the experience that you describe and the non-dual states achieved by mystics is really crossing the Abyss in the way that Crowley meant it. Crowley and most Thelemites seem to talk about an Ordeal of the Abyss and a large conflict with Choronzon. You seem to indicate that it is much easier than that. Where is the ordeal?"

I am reminded of something that the New Zealand Witchdoctor said in "Eat Pray Love": "Heaven and Hell are the same place, its the way that you take there that makes it Heaven or Hell."

Basically the experience is going to be a bit different for everyone. Crowley needed to get buggered and face a demon cuz thats just how he rolls baby...

Mystics who spend a lot of time in quiet contemplation and aim right at that state have a very different transition than esotericists that are intent on mapping and screwing around with all the steps and side areas along the way.

I think however, that most would agree that once you are on the other side, you realize that you have always been on the other side. The truth is that the abyss, cosmic union with godhead, non-dual awareness or whatever you want to call it, is not really the place that we are going to. Its the place we are coming from.

Mystical Vodka

I am so ordering a bottle of this:

Crystal Head Vodka. Quadruple distilled,triple filtered through crystal, sold in a Glass replica of the Mitchel Hedges Crystal Skull.

And of course, brought to you by Dan Akroyd