Michael

Yesterday was the feast of St Michael the Archangel.

Many people know the short version of the prayer St Michael that was written by Pope Leo XIII, and even magicians have used this prayer to call on  the power of the Archangel. Not as many people know the longer version of the prayer and the story behind it. For some reason I was meditating on this yesterday and thought it timely to share.

The story goes that on October 13th, 1884, Pope Leo entered a trance after celebrating a Mass in his private chapel. He heard two voices talking in the nearby tabernacle. One voice was the voice of Satan, the other the voice of Christ.

Stan Boasted: “I can destroy your Church.”

Christ replied: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”

Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power.”

Christ: “How much time? How much power?”

Satan: 75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”

Christ: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”

Immediately after this he went from his chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. The long version of the prayer mentions specifically that Satan has infiltrated the Church:


“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.

“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.

“These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be.

“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the root of David.
V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
R. As we have hoped in Thee.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry come unto Thee.


Let us pray.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as supplicants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious St. Michael the Archangel, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.”


This prayer, and this story, are very popular amongst ultra-conservatives who note that 75 years after it was written, the second Vatican council began, which in their eyes corrupted the church.

Of course to a liberal esoteric type like myself, it indicates much more than that. Especially if you, like me, consider "the Church" to be a lot larger than the RCC. When I first heard the story I immediately interpreted it as the rise of fundamentalism overshadowing reason. Of course you can find in it what you want. I am sure that some would link it to the sex abuse scandals.

Anyway, May Michael the Archangel protect you and keep you. Amen.

CRUCIBLE AND THE 10th PRINCIPAL OF STRATEGIC SORCERY

I have talked about this before, but in case you missed it, CRUCIBLE is this weekend! If you are a reader of this blog and within reasonable distance of Princeton, yet not attending this, I have to ask: what is wrong with you????

I mean, not only will I be there, but so will fellow bloggers Kenaz and Jow. In addition to this you get Cliff Low (founder of necronomi.com) talking about ancient stellar magic, Arthur the head Omnimancer talking about multiple dimensions and wormholes, and... well just go read the line up.

Plus you get to have a proper sit down dinner with a room full of occultists at a four star hotel in Princeton. How many times does that happen?

And if that is not all, during my talk on the 9 Principals of Strategic Sorcery, I will be unveiling THE TENTH PRINCIPAL and talking about why it is essential for any strategic sorcerer.

I hope to see some of you there.

KEYNOTE SPEECH NYC PAGAN PRIDE - 1/24

KEYNOTE SPEECH NYC PAGAN PRIDE - 1/24

Happy Mabon, I am honored to be the speaker here at the 10th NYC Pagan Pride day. Given that we are now at the beginning of the Harvest season and that the whole economy seems to be going to Hades in a hand basket, I thought I would talk a little about the intersection of prosperity and Pagan Spirituality.

Strangely enough I want to start this Pagan Pride address with a quote from the Bible. Specifically the book of Matthew where Christ says "you cannot serve both God and Mammon", mammon being a word implying money as a demon. Of course like many quotes from the Bible it has effected attitudes and culture far beyond Christianity. It is in fact a sentiment that I tend to agree with. You cannot SERVE mammon and Spirit. If you serve Money you tend to become a slave to money, which tends to run counter to the aims of spirituality. Money can corrupt those who serve it as sure as any demon, and I think it is fair to say that a lot of the problems facing our nation today are caused by people obsessed with money.

So how do you avoid serving money? One way that people avoid serving Mammon is by avoiding him entirely. This is the approach was quite popular amidst the counter culture movements of the 60's and 70's, a time that was also the beginning of Paganisms surface and increasing popularity that obviously continues all the way to the present day. It is a noble tactic and one that really works if you do it wholeheartedly.

My observation is that if you are going to avoid money and finance as a part of your spirituality, than you really need to do it! So with that in mind there are really only two ways that this has been a successful approach - become a Monk/Nun OR become a homeless wandering mystic.

For those wishing to become Monks or Nuns I have a list of contact info for Buddhist and Catholic Monasteries that you can apply to. I also have the number of Tom Browns Survival training down in the Pine Barrens. Spend a few weeks with him and you can walk into the woods and be self sufficient for life with just a good knife and the clothes on your back.  

Any takers?

No?

Me niether...

Ok so if we are not going to become Monks and or wandering homeless Mystics, we are not going to avoid Money with much success. Since we cannot serve money or avoid money, that leaves only one choice: we need to Master it and bring it on the spiritual path.

Neo-Paganism has been a huge blessing for those looking for a spiritual path that possesses the deepest and most ancient mysteries religion has to offer, yet is consistent with the developments and values of a modern and free society. Many things that other religions consider sinful, the Pagan considers sacred.

Paganism has taken sex and made it a healthy part of the spiritual path.

Paganism has taken radical freedom of expression, the right to be gay, kinky, and straight up freaky and made it part of the spiritual path

Most important for me Paganism has taken Magic Sorcery and Witchcraft and make it part of the spiritual path.

It is for this reason that Paganism is the ideal platform to take financial wisdom and join it to spiritual wisdom. To marry fiscal responsibility with environmental responsibility and make the financial craft a part of the Witches Craft

It has been said that the love of money is the root of all evil, but after traveling to 19 countries and having lived in one of the poorest places on earth,  I can tell you for sure that the LACK of money is the root of way more harm. We need to be able to produce prosperity in ways that are in line with our values and objectives.

So how do we start? We start by realizing that Christ was not far off when he referred to money as a spirit. Money is a lot like a spirit. It is:

Intangible yet able to effect real events.

Represented by sigils, ie: cash, that get used as a means of contact.

Has its own nature and ways it likes to be handled

Like a spirit from an old Grimoire, if it is mishandled, it can corrupt and obsess the noblest among us.  

So what than are the qualities of the Spirit of Money? What is the craft  that we as Pagans can use to master it as part of the spiritual path?

First thing we need is perspective. You cannot start a successful journey without first having a clear idea of where you already are. With this in mind, let me ask you a question: How many of you are Rich? I don't mean rich in spirit or in friendship of anything like that. I mean monetary income. How many of you are rich?

Not many hands raised.

I think that we can all agree that we live in a one world Economy today right? Nothing happens anywhere without effecting economics the world over right? Let me share some numbers with you:

If you make over 40k  a year, you are in the top 1% income earners on planet earth. If you make over 25 you are in the top 10% . 50% of the people on planet earth make less than 800 a year! If you think that can't possibly be right, I can tell you that in Nepal, when I lived there, the median income was $280 a year - and the lifestyle of the common person reflected it.

Now, am I saying we need to be happy with what we have? NO!. If you want to bathe in champagne every night than I hope that you can. I want that for you. Its kinda gross but if that is what you want, I want you to have it.  I want you to have it because money is not a zero sum game. You do not put people out of work by making more money. IF you do it right when you make money, the community around you makes money and things get better, not worse for everyone.

Also, it is important magically to know where you stand. If you summon Jupiter and ask him to make you rich - he is probably going to look at you funny since you are already in the top 1%. If however you ask him to help you double your income by blessing your new web-based venture, he can probably work with that.

After we get some perspective we need knowledge. Unfortunately real knowledge about how finances work is not taught in schools. It should be but it isn't. If it was we would all be able to read balance sheets and income statements, and the small print in the Wall Street Journal. Instead of that financial education we were offered a deal.

They teach us how to be mediocre and not make too much of a fuss

How to get a good job with good security

How to show up on time, and clock in and out until you are 65

In exchange we get enough money to make us comfortable enough that we won't start asking too many questions, or do a re-run of the French Revolution.

The problem is that the deal we were educated for is NO LONGER THE DEAL.

Right now, here is the situation:

No Job security - Everyone talks about the unemployment rate being 10 percent. Let me tell you folks, that means NOTHING. In 1984 it was 14 percent. It can be 50% and everything can be ok as long as there are jobs for all those people top move into. The number that matters is the emplotyment offering rate. Right now if we filled every open job in America only one in 6 unemployed people currently collecting unemployment would have a job.

No Living wage - Chances are that the job you had and got laid off from will either not be there or will be paying half of what you were making before. If you managed to avoid a lay off, you might have had to take a pay cut.

No Pensions - These have been gone for a long time. Even your 401k matching contributions are going by by.  If you ever get to old or sick to work, you are on your own folks.

This is the NEW ECONOMY and it is the result of what happens when Money becomes the master of its handlers rather than the other way round.

That's the bad News. Here is the GOOD NEWS: We are living in a time of unprecedented opportunity for building prosperity by throwing off the old deal and making our own.  Once you have knowledge , you need the willingness and daring to stop acting like unthinking cogs in a machine and re-engaging your genius and your creativity to do something radical.

To use a business cliché, it takes "thinking outside the box" - and folks looking out into the gathering here today one thing is clear: PAGANS KNOW HOW TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! We have creativity and genius and strength of spirit. There is no longer a well trod path for living a prosperous and happy like in America. Today we must make our own, and we are GOOD at making our own path.

If you have a job, it is time to unleash the Pagan genius and creativity and make yourself the linchpin of your organization.  All it takes is overcoming your fear and acting on that one thing that you KNOW would make things run smoother, faster and better but that you have been silent about because you are afraid of making waves.

If you don't have a job, maybe it is time for you to make one for yourself rather than finding one on Career Builder.With the advent of the Internet, you can come up with an idea, test market it, open a store, and sell your product for just a couple hundred dollars. If it fails, you close it up and try it again with no great loss.

Even if you do have a job, I am a big believer in multiple sources of income. With today's technology, you can work the 9 to 5,  AND operate a website drop shipping specialty candy AND market your Astrology for Computer Programmers DVD AND still have time for the family and kids. Investors tell you to diversify your investments to prevent yourself from loosing it all from one bad deal. I am telling you to do the same with your income. When the fit hits the shan it is really good to have money coming in from multiple places.        

Better than all the above is that many pagans, not all but many, know and use practical magic. The craft of the witchcraft. This is your ace in the hole, and since we have covered Know, Will, and Dare, this is the part that you want to be silent about. Don't broadcast your spells to everyone. This is your own little unfair advantage.  Some people are born with good family connections, others with natural charm, everyone has their special tool that they use: magic can be yours.

Even if you are "out" as a pagan, I urge you to keep your magical activities quiet. It is one thing for your co-workers to accept and understand your religion. It is quite another for them to think that you are summoning unseen forces that they do not have access to and which will help you get ahead.

Now, in my classes I teach a variety of spells, but what is even more important than magical technique is the application. Some say that magic should only be used in emergencies when all else fails. Folks, I respect your view, but I gotta tell you that you are wrong on that one. By the time you have reached the emergency  point, it is probably too late for magic to do much for you except damage control.

Worse yet, if all you are doing is emergency magic, you are simply keeping yourself trapped in the same situation: often a crappy job that you don't even like all that much. Sometimes it is better to let it all fall down and start building on fresh soil.

I am an advocate for smart strategic sorcery applied proactively. Use it to kill debt, to increase income, to manage investments, attain assets, and do it all in accordance with your spiritual view.

The last thing I want to talk about is another quality of the spirit of money. Money likes to move. Mercury has just as much to do with money as Jupiter Does. Jupiter is your savings account, but Mercury is your checking account. Which one do you use more often?

How you spend money is just as important as how you make it. You can start by supporting your community by purchasing things from pagan bookstores and businesses. You can spend it in ways that support the earth and the values that you hold as a Pagan.

Apart from supporting community through wise commerce that I will tell you one other thing that Christians have got right: the concept of tithing. This is not only a secret of spending money in a spiritual way, but is actually a secret of building prosperity for yourself as well. I know a lot of Christians that Tithe and I can tell you that all of them claim that they receive those blessings back many times over.

This is Harvest time, time to gather your fruits and Thank the Gods for the blessing you have, which I hope we have established are considerable. It is also time to plan your strategy for dealing with the long winter ahead, which economically speaking is going to be tougher than normal, but which with knowledge, will, daring and a little magic, may offer the greatest opportunities of your life.  

I will close with a Mabon Prayer from a new Book called the Auguris by my friend Jospeph Merlin Nichter.  He is the first California State recognized Minority Faith Chaplain for the California Corrections system and spends a large amount of his time ministering to those in need and doing Pagan outreach in the prison system. Not only is this book a good example of a Pagan building an Asset for himself in the form of intellectual property that will generate residuals, but also a shining example of community building and charitable works.

(closed with the Mabon prayer from the Auguris)

Thank you again. Happy equinox and Pagan Pride Day.

Now that is MAD

Now that is what I call mad.

Strategic Sorcery Field Report - The SS Mini Grimoire and Getting Out of Debt

The below field report is from one of my Students in Italy and is very special because it is the first field report involving spirits from the Strategic Sorcery Mini Grimoire: a group of spirits that appeared to me and whose seals are available to members of the course.

Everything in Italics is his words:

On September 15th I had a debt to pay. Nothing really big, but I didn’t have
the money and so, big or not, my bank account was going “into the red” (I
called my bank and told them I knew the situation - this avoided them calling
me and allowed me to be more calm in tryng to find a solution without having to
worry about the sound of my cellphone). The debt was more or less 2200 USD
(United States Dollars). What was worst is that there are some other debts to
be paid by October 5th, so the situation was… stressful.


Now I have to say that, apart from my 9 to 5 job I have some other incomes,
namely as a translator and practitioner in the field of energywork. I practice,
sometimes I teach, sometimes people who have no English hire me to translate
parts of books they’re interested in but they cannot read. These secondary
incomes have been nil for a while, as money here is quite tight for everybody.


But I spotted some former clients who, even if they hadn’t hired me for a
while (“we’d like to, but we’re short of money”) I knew could find the amount
of cash I needed. And I decided to give the Mini Grimoire a try. I know this is
bad emergency sorcery, but I badly needed the money on the spot, whilst waiting
for the other things I’ve planned to deliver the goodies…


I also know that experimenting with a new system when you’re in emergency isn’
t exactly the most clever thing to do, but when I first read the Mini Grimoire
something “clicked”, and so with the Mini Grioire I went. After all I had
summoned Patrotiel in August, asking him to help me find solutions to my most
urgent needs, and the idea to address these people could come from Him.


I used the summoning technique given by Azophaios with a single modification,
as I inserted the “ORKIZO” invocation of HGA from the Sorcerer’s Secrets and
the Invocation of Kundalini from Crowley’s Liber LXV (old habits are hard to
die).


So I basically:


Level One


Invoked my HGA asking Him to bless my efforts in getting rid of this debt and
the debts to be paid by October 5th


Level Two


Summoned:


Maxorial to have an income that could allow me to pay
Davian to help me pay these debts
Torien to bind these people and get them to do what I wanted


Level Three


Asked the Spirits to empower a controlling oil (bought years ago in a curio
shop in London – higly suspect but what the heck) and a compelling powder
(bought years ago from Technicians of the Sacred – more reliable)


Then I called a meeting (these people know each other, they are friends and/or
relatives among themselves) and before getting there I anointed my hands (we
would shake hands) and sprinkled the powder on some papers I gave them.


At the meeting I announced that my financial troubles forced me to get a
second job, and that I wouldn’t be available for only God knows how long to
provide my usual services (which they hadn’t purchased for a while). They
seemed disappointed.


The meeting was last tuesday. On wednesday they called me asking for a second
meeting, which took place yesterday.


Yesterday we met and they gave me the equivalent of 6666,6667 USD (currency
conversion plays strange jokes, eh?) AS A GIFT.


NO. STRINGS. ATTACHED.


They gave the money because, they said, they need me to be free and available
when they need my services (I DO know I will have to give ‘em some discount
next time they hire me. They deserve it.)


The sum they gave me nicely covers all the debts and leaves me with more or
less 2500 USD in my pocket.


What can I say? I am flabbergasted myself… but this shit really works!


I am happy, and I’m planning a rather gorgeous Spirits Feast (this evening or
tomorrow).


PS: DO work with these guys - they deliver outrageously...

On Pirates

Lots of stuff on Piracy going round the blog-o-sphere. I was not going to comment, but today I found out something that is spurring me to share my thoughts on the subject.

First of all, the extreme arguments on both sides are effin stupid. 

On the one hand you have people out there who seem to think that you CAN stop torrents and file sharing and other types of unregulated distribution of information based products. You can't stop it. It will always happen. 

One the other hand you have people who seem to think that because you CANNOT stop it, that makes it ok and that everyone should develop business models around piracy and file sharing being the norm. This is even more stupid. Keep it a crime and an action that society at large considers morally wrong and you automatically are controlling the problem because huge numbers of people will not do it. If you pursue penalties where it makes sense to do so and will not drive you broke, than go for it. If not than thats ok too. The mere status as a crime is enough to control it to an extent. 

Now all that said, I agree with Gordon that the Freemium model is the only one that really works for web based business today. There are however two versions of this. The first basically gives the stuff away and hopes that 10-20% will want to buy the same thing in some form. For example, I give the PDF away and maybe 10%-20% buy the book. There are now a handful of famous authors who have done this and champion the model. The problem is that the model really only works for famous authors who will have tens of thousands of readers. The model does NOT work for lesser known authors, who still largely need to build credibility by selling books through traditional publishers. 

The other model is the one that I use. A large amount of info is offered for free (in my case the blog, and articles, and such) as well as some things that are very inexpensive and which I do not make a lot of money on ( my books). The hope is that 10-20% will like it enough to buy the PREMIUM material such as the course or attend classes that I do make decent money on. This is the Freemium model that WILL work for people who are not famous. 

At this moment, my books are torrented and on rapid share. I did not put them there and I do not approve of it, but I am also not getting all upset about it either. It gets the meme out there and is basically advertising. There is after all the chance that one of those people will buy the course or come to a workshop. 

Now, if I see the course material up on a Torrent site, I am going to be seriously put out and take whatever action I can against those who post it. It is how I make a good amount of my income. If the premium stuff gets up on torrent sites and detracts in serious numbers from people paying for the course, that makes it not worthwhile to even bother with the course at all. So far, no one has, to my knowledge done this. 

This brings me to yet another level of this discussion, and to a character that is the true Pirate - the guy that steals the work of another, reproduces it himself and makes himself a profit. I got word today that "The Sorcerers Secrets", along with Frater R.O.'s books, were being sold in spiral bound editions at a Pagan Pride Day in Mass. This person is a total scumbag and deserves what is coming. 

Unforgivable Sins

I just read Frater R.O.'s post on unforgivable sin. His mention of kidnapping Jesus reminded me of a story.

Kid learns in Sunday School to pray and ask God for what you need.

He goes home and prays: "Lord Jesus, please give me a new bike, my old one is too small and my parents want me to wait until Christmas, which is way too long. I learned that you are all powerful so please send me a new bike asap. Amen."

Next day he wakes up, no bike.

He does it again the next night. Next day he wakes up, and again, no bike.

He does this for a full week and still no bike.

The next day he goes into his mothers room and takes the statue of the Virgin Mary. He wraps the statue in duct tape and locks it in his drawer. He prays "Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again there better be a bike here in the morning..."

I would bet that if that story is true, the kid grew up to be a Sorcerer.

Skillful Influence vs Being a Douchebag

At Thelesis on Saturday, after the Hekate initiation, conversation turned for a little while to the topic of influence, magical and otherwise. Specifically we spoke about how different types of influence play out and when it is appropriate or not appropriate.

First we need to make a distinction between what I call Commanding vs Controlling influence, (in the book they are listed as indirect and direct influence.). 

Basically, Commanding influence is changes that you make in yourself to make you a more influential person. Moving your set point, adjusting the way you look, doing exercises to build confidence, smiling, etc. The idea is that men will give you money and women will swoon (or the other way around) not because you have made them believe that you are a person they want to know and follow the lead of, but because you are a person they want to know and follow the lead of.

For the most part you can go ahead and go nuts with commanding influence as long as what you are doing is making you happier. If you feel you are becoming someone that is fake, than stop and re-examine. You should be so happy about what you are doing that you can be totally up front about your work with those you are trying to influence. I really like Tynans concept that if you are a PUA, you should be able to tell a girl that you have studied PUA tech and make it work for you rather than against you.

Controlling influence is another matter. This is influence aimed at a target with the intent of effecting their mind directly. In "The Sorcerers Secrets" I have a chapter on magical influence. In the beginning of that chapter I make a defense of influencing magic as not being inherently unethical. In a nutshell you cannot not influence people around you by your actions so you may as well be skillful at it. At the end of the chapter I revisit the topic and remind people that while influencing magic may not be unethical, if you use it all the time on everyone you are a probably douchebag. The reason is that if you are always trying to get your point across to others 24/7 than you are never really listening. I am mostly talking about Controlling influence.

But there is more to it than just not using it on everyone all the time. There is a matter of how strong the method is and how ethical your methods are for what you are doing.

It may be appropriate to use some light influence like NLP style anchors or direct energy application on a rebellious teenager, but you don't want to go whole hog and try to dominate him if you want him to grow up healthy and maintain a good relationship. If you are trying to pick up someone at a club, you might want to use slightly stronger methods to get your foot in the door, than back off if you manage to get a second date and start a real relationship. You may want to go even heavier with your boss when trying to get a raise.

In all these cases though, if you go to heavy handed you cross the line from being charming to creepy. You cross the line really really fast. A while ago I posted a link to a blog about someone who hates Tim Ferris because he used some social trickery to get her alone for lunch and talk about his book in hopes of getting a favorable review. His tactics were clearly too heavy handed and while they worked, he left her with a bad taste in her mouth for him and his work. I count that as a fail.

If you want to go full on with your influence, make sure that you do not intend on being friendly with that person in the future. Competing company? Opposition political party? Person suing you? Go ahead and knock them dead with spells, NLP, marketing tech, energy work, and whatever else you have. Let them walk away confused and creeped out at how you got in their heads and made them your bitch.

If it is someone that you want to get into bed, or sell a car to, well that is up to you. If you don't care about repeat business of further dates, than yeah, your tactics will get you what you want for now. But like Tim, they will have the opposite effect later on.

If you are going whole hog influence on your wife, friends, and co-workers, than you are probably not going to succeed for long. You may get what you want in the short term, but in the end being a douchebag will overpower any influence that you may have gained.

Personal Account of Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche

The kids are napping and I finally have a few minutes to myself. Having to write something like that shows how different life is right now than it was 10 1/2 years ago when my I was knocking back Tong-ba with my friend Barche at the Double Dorje in Boudha. We got to talking about Ngakpas and he invited me back to Pharping (Yang-le-shod) with him to a little compound called Tsogyal Ge Phel Jong in order to meet Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche.

Though Kunzang Dorje was not famous in the west like other Lamas have become, he was a true Ngakpa and one of the greatest living Yogis of our age. A master of Tummo and Tsa-Lung as well as Phurba and Charnel Ground practice.

What I didn't know is that the day I arrived for a visit, was the day before a three-day Kilaya Puja. He took my arrival there as a sign that I should stay on for the ritual. I was loaned a Ngakpa Zen and with Barche, joined in on the first really complete Kilaya puja that contained the full medlei section. Barche left the country soon after but was kind enough to give me his Ngakpa Zen which Rinpoche gave me the blessing to wear when I did Puja. I stayed on and moved into Barche's room right next to Rinpoches.

The next several weeks were a blur of practice and strangeness and I have trouble placing it all in order.

I remember being very sick for two days, and one morning at the height of my fever, I saw Rinpoche come into my room and  take  my phurba off my desk and tie a piece of blue cloth to it. He than did a little dance while rolling the phurba in his hands and moving it around his torso. He had me do the same. Since I was so ill at certain points I couldn't remember where I was, I honestly had thought I hallucinated the whole thing, but no. Gyur-me told me that actually happened. Later Rinpoche made sure I remebered how to do it as that is the proper way to empower the phurba.

For various reasons, I knew that it was not my karma to stay there for years and be his student the way he would expect - a process that he said would take two years just to decide firmly that he wanted me as a student and I wanted him as a teacher - so I did not try to get him to talk about Tummo or Tsa-lung, things that I was sure he would only reveal to someone who was there for the long haul.

Since he was famous for visiting most of the important Tantric Charnel grounds throughout Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, and India I did get up the nerve to ask him about charnel Ground practice. He described the process in detail and asked if I was planning on doing a retreat. I told him that I wanted to go do one in Pashupatinath as soon as possible. He got very concerned and told me in no uncertain terms that I must NOT do this. I left thinking that for some reason I was not ready for such a retreat, but there must have been something lost in translation because two days later he asked why I was still there and not in Pashupatinath. I told him that he told me not to go and he laughed. He meant that I must not go yesterday because it was a missing day on the Lunar Calendar. It was fine to go now, which is what I did.

After my retreat, things started to get weird around the center: Rinpoche would ask me to get whiskey and his wife would ask me not to, Pema, a Thanka painter that was also staying there was starting to drink and get violent. One day I was asked to help his brother tackle him and hold him down, which I did. Since John Reynolds was coming into Kathmandu soon, and since I had plans for him to introduce me to Lopon Tenzin Namdak, I felt like it was a good time to leave Pharping and move to Boudha which I did.

I visited Rinpiche several times over the next several months and spent Losar with him. The last time I saw him was when he showed up at the Kathok Gompa for a couple days of the Kama Empowerments. Not one for large crowds he left after only a couple days, but made a very large offering, not only to the Lamas and Monks that were attending - as most other Lamas did - but to EVERYONE attending. Such was his faith in the power of everyone to achieve Buddhahood.

There are very few people that I would refer to as a Wizard, someone capable of bending the laws of physics, but he was one of them. I will leave the examples that I saw of this out of this post - stories like that only cheapen the event when told second hand. Honestly I would not believe them if I had not witnessed them myself so there really is no point.

Though I don't have any plans to go back to Nepal in the near future, I am a little sad today knowing now for sure that I will never get to meet him again in this life. I wish I had made more of the opportunity that I had when I was in his presence. I will always hold him in my mind as being inseparable from Guru Rinpoche himself.

Parinirvana of Kunzang Dorje

Kunzang Dorje - one of the most powerful magicians to walk the face of the planet, has passed.

I lived with him for a month in 1999 and will have more to say about this later. Below is the press release from Lama Dawa's organization.



The Parinirvana of
Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche
With great sadness, we inform our greater Sangha of the passing and parinirvana of our precious Guru, our lineage Master and protector, Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche.

Rinpoche began the process of 'tugdam' (samadhi of pure mind) in the morning of Sept, 7, at his residence in Saraswati Bhawan, Nepal. Lamas are currently performing the necessary pujas under the direction of His Holiness, Trulshik Rinpoche and Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche. A cremation stupa is being constructed and the cremation will begin according to H.H. Trulshik Rinpoche's instruction. The cremation ceremonies will occur on the rooftop of Saraswati Bhawan upon the completion of Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche's samadhi.

Lama Dawa Rinpoche is sending his consort, Kunzang Dechen Chodron, to Nepal on his behalf. Kunzang will keep you updated on the progress of the funeral services.

Lama Dawa Rinpoche requests that all our practice groups and students remove Rinpoche's long-life prayer from their closing prayers. Please do not recite this now. Instead, to take advantage of the great blessings of Rinpoche's parinirvana, Lama Dawa recommends that we all recite the prayer "Yeshe Tsogyal's Prayer to Guru Rinpoche as He Left Tibet", which can be found at the end of the 'Shower of Blessings' tsog sadhana. You can download an English translation of the prayer, and a Spanish translation of the prayer.


As Lama Dawa Rinpoche says, there is nothing we need to do to help Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche - he has full confidence and ability to transform his elemental body into the three kayas. There is no need for practices such as sur offerings, mantras, etc. Instead, we should take this opportunity to connect with the tremendous blessings that he is now radiating throughout all the realms. The best way to do this is through aspiration prayers, such as the prayer the Yeshe Tsogyal spontaneously recited as Guru Rinpoche left this world. In addition, you can put extra effort in your current practices and dedicate the merit too all beings.

For those of you who are unable to come to Nepal to attend the funeral services in person, you can make connections by helping to sponsor some the expenses of hosting Lamas and making all the preparations. For example, there will be extensive butterlamp offerings to be made - called 'chomi zhaldeb'. You can sponsor some of these offerings, or offerings to the Lamas by making your donation directly to Saraswati Bhawan's PayPal account. Kunzang will distrubute those donations during the ceremonies.
This is a very special and precious time, and we request each one of you to take some time from your busy lives to connect with Rinpoche's vast mindstream. Although his passing is a great loss, it is also a time of great celebration and inspiration as he shows us the way beyond samsara.

This is how I felt all day

Strategic Sorcery and Noisy Neighbors

Below is from one of my students who just succeeded in his first Expelling Strategy:





Problem and context: New neighbors came three months ago. They don´t live on the city, they just come a few days a week for work in the capital city. No problems ever. One and a half month ago, just as mars entered libra, they started to make parties until 1am, 2am on weekdays, mostly mondays and thursdays.


Noticed that mine is an old building, not one of those where you can hear people talk over the walls. To one to hear a party on the first floor it means that your music are REAL loud and that you are a big SOB person.


It was all going withing livable circumstances until one Thursday that they parties (I think with prostitutes) until 4am, and ignored and mocked my asking them to be civilized. Of course, all gloves are off.


So, below my plan:


a) Mundane action: the administrator said that he was taking action, as he was also being disturbed. Unfortunately, I live in Colombia, a country where people are afraid of everything but respect nothing.


b) Level 3 action - I am placing at their doorsteps "Pimenta voladora" an local substitute of hot foot powder. I am also using a plant called "alejadera"


c) Level 2 - I am repeating the "novena of San Alejo", who is said by Catholics to make bad things go away. I also bought his medal. I am not Catholic or christian. I also gave offers to the spirits of teh building.


d) From the opposite side of spectrum I asked, with help of tarot, for goetia spirit andromalius to get rid of them in exchange of public praise and candles. He is not allowed to do anything that can damage the building or other habitants.


e) Level 1 - Invoked Michael to protect my home. Invoked Cassiel of Saturn to bind their wickedness.


Results: apparently, less than a week later the owner asked that they move because he wanted the place back.


How do I know if it wasn´t coincidence? Well, as always we never know with magic. But divination tells me that it worked.


Details on Andromalius:
I am not good at direct communication, but I am good at divination and so I used it to communicate with the spirits of goetia. Andromalius was the third one to answer and the first to accept the deal. She is said to discover all Wickedness, and Underhand Dealing; and to punish all Thieves and other Wicked People


I drawn his seal several times ("kinetic meditation") and then make contact and offered the terms of the deal very clearly.
He couldn´t damage the building or any living thing inside the building (except for the neighbors I was cursing) and she would have 1 month to work. She would receive praises on the internet (as I am doing now) and a blue candle (why blue? I don´t know, she asked for it) for 19 days.


Note on Goetic communication: Although she get rid of them in one-two weeks, I was waiting for the situation to clear out and to have confirmation. But Andromalius started to get really annoyed. Best to pay as quick as possible.


Now I am doing the invocation of terminus and a zone rite so any new neighbors behave!


best regards to all.

The Auguris - The Mill Creek Book of Shadows

My friend Witchdoctor Joe has published his Book of Shadows. For those that do not know him already Joe is a Wiccan priest and founder of the Mill Creek Tradition and Seminary. He has studied and practiced various indigenous and European traditions most of his life. As the first state-recognized Minority Faith Chaplain, Joseph provides Pagan religious services and assists with minority faith religious accommodations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; he has also served as instructor for Introduction to Earth-centered Religions, a course offered through the California Department of Mental Health.

On a more personal note, when I visited Joe at his home in California last year he presented me with a spirit fetish that has proven a powerful and valuable item of the art. In other words, the man is a first rate sorcerer!

Oh, and he makes the best Chorizo and Eggs ever.

Go here and learn more about the book.

Then, buy the book. 

Not only will you be feeding your head with all of his delicious knowledge, but you will be supporting a good cause.

How what we know effects what spirits teach.

Over on a yahoogroup that I belong to we are discussing the relative benefits of being taught magic by humans vs spirits. If you have been reading this blog you will know that I value the combination of both very highly. It got me thinking about how the spirits almost always use the language, perspectives, and technical knowledge that we already possess to instruct us. For instance John Dee was a master Cryptographer, the spirits delivered knowledge to him mostly through codes to be unraveled and names to be extracted from charts etc.

I was reading Frater U.D.'s "Where Do Demons Live?" today in the bathroom and I happened upon his discussion of cyber magic. While this was written a while ago, and he probably has more about his development of it in German, his description in the book did not deviate much from his description in his "Models of Magic" article from 1991:


"The application of the as yet evolving information model has led to the discipline I have termed Cybermagic (from “cybernetics” or the “science of control systems”). Contrary to the other models described above, Cybermagic does not rely on magical trance to achieve its effects. Rather, the Cybermagician activates either his own main memory banks, namely brain and spine (the Golf-club chakra, so-called because of its shape reminiscent of a golf-club) or those of the target person. The desired information is then called up and transmitted quite similarly to a copy command on an MS-DOS computer. The copy command analogy holds good insofar as the information (not having mass) is not actually “lost” in the process (as energy would be) but rather is duplicated. This is an important point as it allows for the magician to perform his magic even in a state of very low physical power, possibly even when almost completely intoxicated, as long as his basic “life support systems” are still functional and the command syntax is employed correctly"
 - Frater U.D. 

I had read this shortly after it was written and it didn't really strike a chord with me. A lot has changed since then. I have been using a similar copy and paste magic for years. I have also been "programming" astral matter for a long time, and thinking about it in those terms. Much of Tibetan Buddhist Magic is based on what he would call the "Information Model" and I never really thought about it before but in some ways digital thinking has helped me understand Tantric Kye Rim Mandala practice and how Mandalas essentially function as magical engines or CPU's. I remember back in 1999, Penor Rinpoche and other lamas were telling everyone to go see the Matrix because it is very Buddhist and will explain a lot of how Vajrayana works - that is pretty hip for a guy that was born in 1932 and raised in a country without a any modern technical infrastructure.
I have met several people who have practiced various types of magic that is even more directly influenced by thinking about things in the light of computers. I mentioned a cabal of Japanese Mages who work magic in ways inspired by how they design video games (they keep their tech very secret and since I am not a game designer, I do not qualify to get in on it). Another friend of mine introduced me to an astral space that works as a "Render Farm" for complex spells. Thinking about things in that way led me recently to some new ways to apply the properties of various Dakini Realms.

Anyway the point is, that the more we know here between us Humans, the more spirits will build upon that knowledge. There are certain things that just cannot be taught directly until we are ready to receieve them. Sometimes being ready means being able to access the mental planes, reverse the flow of Chi in the Dan Tien, or hold non-dual awareness. Sometimes it just means being tech savvy or understanding string theory.