WTF??

Ok, whats going on today. I have been contacted by four separate people about psychic attacks, and its only 1pm.

Jeesh.

Sleep spells

Blue/White energy mix puts the baby to sleep. About 30/70 ratio. Nice.

Come see me at Wicked Faire

I will be performing at Wicked Faire this year.

ASK A SORCERER, With Jason Miller. You can call in to a show and get the advice of doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, homemakers, pick up artists and just about anything else you can think of. Why not a Sorcerer!

Rather than advice, Jason Miller, author of "The Sorcerer's Secrets" and "Protection and Reversal Magic" will be doling out spells and rituals to get your mojo working. Need to find a job? Get a promotion? Get laid? Get a neighbor to move? Chances are if you have a problem, Jason knows time honored spell that can help you out. Even people that have no prior experience in magic or complete unbelievers can get results.

Click here for more details on the faire

Thelema Now Interview

My interview is up at Thelema Now. Kill some time and give a listen.

The Web Course

I will be changing the text on the Webpage to make this more clear, ut just so there is no confusion:

YOU CAN JOIN THE STRATEGIC SORCERY COURSE AT ANY TIME

We started in November, but if you sign up any time throughout the year, you will receive all the back classes at once. The class is designed so that you can work at your own pace, so there is no way to be left behind.

I just mention this because the last two people that signed up asked if they were too late.

You cannot be too late.

Comment Deleted

Dear Reiki Guru,

Your comment to the post "Real Phony" was deleted because you made no attempt to comment on the substance of the post or engage in any discussion. Instead you posted what amounts to a flier for Reiki products and services.

I have no problem with people mentioning or even talking up their products and services on my blog. I dont even have a problem with people mentioning and talking up products and services that compete with my own. There are however ways to do it within the context of a discussion. Supply a link to your logistical info, dont post an advertisement in my blog.

Thank you.

Correction on Patricia Crowther

I was contacted by Patricia Crowther who read the review of Witchcraft in Yorkshire that I posted a couple months back. She asked me to correct the statement I made regarding her having met Aleister Crowley.

Due to an article that appeared in Prediction magazine back in the 1970's I was under the impression that she met Crowley. This is in fact not the case. Her husband Arnold did, as of course did Gerald Gardner, but she herself did not.

She is deeply concerned about misleading statements, and wants the record of her career to be clear and truthful.

Real Phony's

"Shes a phony, but shes a real phony."

The above quote is from Breakfast at Tiffany's and was made George Peppards character regarding Holly Golightly played by Audrey Hepburn. In it she completely makes up a history and persona. The quote above affirms the way that even the made up history and persona become integral to the real person. The made up history is just as important as the real history.

The sentiment is also captured in a great quote from Neil Gaiman: "Things need not have happened in order to be true."

Last night at my class on energetic healing in New Hope, someone mentioned how much what I was teaching was similar to Reiki, which she surmised would naturally be the case since I had studied Tibetan Buddhism and "Reiki is Tibetan..."

Of course Reiki is NOT Tibetan. When I pointed this out, she kind of looked a little heartbroken. I thought about it for a second though and noted that many, if not most, traditions have fake or at least exaggerated histories. For example:

Wicca is not a lineal survivor of prehistoric practices, or even old English witchcraft dating back a couple hundred years.

The Golden Dawn wasn't really a chartered lodge of an even more secret German group.

Blavatski was not really the agent of a group of Eastern Mahatmas, nor was Hoot Koomi a Tibetan,

Lama Govinda was not a real Lama in the sense that most people understood him to mean.

Dadaji was not ordained as a Kagyu lineage holder.

The Key of Solomon was not written by Solomon nor does it accurately reflect magick that Solomon would have done.

Reiki is not a Tibetan practice. Neither are Tulpas.

Aradia was probably more of a creation of Lealand than an accurate portrayal of Strega.

Zora Neel Hurston likely made up a lot of the "Hoodoo Initiations" that appear in Mules and Men,

Karl Kellner did not get sex magick tech from three eastern adepts

The OTO does not represent a brotherhood that LaoTzu would in any way recognize.

Lets not even get into the Necronomicon(s)...

You get the idea.

There is a lot of BS out there. I myself have pledged to swear off the practice of weaving BS stories behind myself or my system of magick. That however is a personal choice. Its not a condemnation of those that do weave BS into what they do. I have come to understand that BS serves a purpose.

Most of the examples above are things that I consider good. They are useful and I am happy that they are around. Most of them would not have gained the ground that they have without the BS to promote them. Did people profit off the BS? Yes. Did people get duped? Yes. But for the most part it was harmless duping and in the end the good outweighed the bad.

The phony stories ended up being a better reflection of the material than the actual origins. So when it comes to stuff like Reiki being Tibetan, or Wicca being a survival of prehistoric goddess worship, or the OTO being a vehicle for Tantric and Sufi sex magick practices; just remember...

They are phony's, but they are real phony's.

This weeks lesson

This weeks lesson on Zone Rites is REALLY long. Took me all day to write it, but I have to say it kicks some butt.

I decided to finally put in print a ritual called The Adamantine Temple. I have been doing this rite for a few years now, but have kept it as a sort of Ace in the Hole. I do hope people dig it.

Goetia Girls

Wow. Just wow.

GOETIA GIRLS

Uhh, adult content.

The Process

Interesting piece about the process chruch of the final judgement.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/12/goldwag-cranks-curio.html#more

Halfway through the Secret ...

Ok, I am halfway through the secret. I changed by mind. While it does have its good points, it is chock full of suck as well. Indeed it could actually be harmful to people that take it too literally.

Basically it is your typical though IS reality, see it happening and it will happen, nothing happens without you bringing into being, rap. Lots of good stuff in there about how to manage thoughts to not self-sabotage your efforts, how to make gratefulness into a creative process (something that I meant to weave into Sorcerers Secrets, but kinda forgot) and other decent tidbits.

The downside is that there is no concession to reality whatsoever. The book actually states that Fatty Foods will only make you fat if you THINK they will... They point to people who seem to be able to eat anything they want without loosing weight as the proof of this.

Seriously? WTF!

Are there people who can eat junk and not gain weight? Yes. I know several. They all either exercise intensely or have digestive problems. Otherwise they have managed to make "all they want" into half a plate of everything. They are not downing 12 white castles every day, laying about all night and staying perfectly healthy.

Thought is a thing, It does indeed have a power all its own, but unless that power is harnessed through skill, it just doesnt do the kind of things that the Secret claims it does.

That said, I think that the good outweighs the bad with the book and can see why it has sold so many copies.

Tomorrow in New Hope.

Mystical Tymes http://www.mystickaltymes.com/

127 South Main Street New Hope, PA 18938

(215) 862-5629

November 10th 2009

7:00 pm – 9:00pm

Energetic, Psychic, and Magical Healing

There are more methods of energy healing than Reiki. In this class you will learn healing methods drawn from Jason's studies of Buddhism, Taoism, as well as western Elemental and Angelic Magic. Learn to channel different types of healing energies and how to apply them to patients either in person or at a distance. Beyond just merely healing disease, this type of healing can go a long way towards healing the spiritual being and even the outer circumstances of a patient.

The Secret

After a couple years now of people blathering about the secret like it is the worst (or occasionally the best) possible thing on earth I am finally going to read it. I just picked up a hardcover for $6 at the used book shop in Doylestown PA.

I'll share my thoughts on it when i am done, but I expect it to be like most "New Thought" derived products - good mental tech that equates to rudimentary mental magick, but lacks any emphasis on real world work. This flaw is no big deal though, its the flaw in most books on magick, and even most magical systems. That flaw, more than anything else is what caused me to write the Sorcerer's Secrets; to show that workings need to be followed by work or they dont work.

Some people hate New Thought products lile this because they can also lead people to the unfortunate conculsion that if good things happen to people because they are positive, than bad things happen to people because they are negative. This is a serious flaw, but again is present in most asian cultures that accept "karma" and also Calvinist cultures. People suffer because 1. They are negative thinkers 2. are experiencing karma from previous actions 3. god pretty much hates their guts. All three are a cop-out of course.

Some people, a lot in the occult community I would bet, hate the Secret because of the packaging and the high price tag. Something that is slick and appealing to the mainstream couldnt possibly have as much value as the hard to find, leatherbound edition of a book written 300 years ago that only the "elect" can understand right?

Like I said, I havent even read it yet. I dont have any opinion of it. Just doing a bit of marketing research here, but I do find the reasons that people like/dislike things to be very interesting.

Religion is not about belief

This is a great article on the nature of belief in religion and how the idea of Faith did not, until the modern day, have anything to do with the sort of blind belief that it does today.

Great stuff

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/rdbook/1930/religion_is_not_about_belief:_karen_armstrong’s_the_case_for_god/