Magick of Perception Pt 2 – Projections

What is a Projection?

A projection is an intense field of emotional energy which we project around ourselves, usually several feet outward, causing those that come into close contact with us to be affected by the energy, typically resulting in mood swings and, sometimes, the mistaken belief that the mood swing is the result of the practitioner. Projections are a naturally occurring phenomena, however they can be controlled and manipulated by a practitioner both in their creation and potency.

The horny projection

Most people who are naturally gifted with energy manipulation, even long before they realize their gifts and learn how to control them, often start by creating this projection, so I’m using it as a basic example. Usually they do it through out their mid to late teens. It’s caused by their bodies’ strong urges for sexual intercourse coupled with their inability to get it with any regularity. The repressed sexual energy, which is very strong and intense, wells up inside them, bursting out, and surrounding their aura. With most folks this projection is very light, almost unnoticeable. With a gifted person though, even at this early of a stage, all emotions and associated energies are far more intense, and they also accumulate where as they would dissipate in a normal person.

Now when this gifted person, we’ll call him Guy A, comes into contact with another person, we’ll call her Girl X, the horny energy surrounding Guy A will make Girl X horny. Girl X will now be much more open to sex, and she may also come to the conclusion that Guy A is turning her on, and she may in turn become sexually infatuated with him. If Guy A is also gifted with empathy, which wouldn’t be that rare, then Girl X’s horny feelings directed specifically at Guy A will work to increase the sexual energy he’s producing, thus making the projection even stronger, and in turn making Girl X hornier, leading into a cycle of rising sexual energy that will eventually position Guy A to get laid.

Now although Guy A will make Girl X horny, he still might not get laid, even if he doesn’t completely screw up the situation. Projections are not mind control. If Girl X is a lesbian that isn’t attracted to men, if she’s faithful and in a committed relationship, if she’s celibate, or if she outright finds Guy A to be an unattractive loser, Guy A probably isn’t getting laid. In the same way Guy A’s projection will attract gay men to him, but not straight men. In other words this projection is only going to give people a little push onto a desirable path, it won’t cause them to do anything completely out of bounds of what they would typically do. Plus if Girl X happens to be completely vapid, she may not be able to connect the horniness she feels with her proximity to Guy A, and although someone will be getting laid tonight thanks to the projection, it won’t be Guy A.

Making a projection sans teenage hormones (the sympathetic method)

Making a projection isn’t all that difficult. The energy of the projection can be pushed out at any point, but it’s best to push the energy out from where the corresponding emotion is coming from. For most emotions this is going to be at the solar plexus. For sexual lust and similar emotions it’s easiest from the pelvic area.

To start, we need to fill ourselves up with the emotion we want to project. Being able to change your emotions to reflect your will takes emotional control and practice. Any adept should be able to do this without any problems, but there is no way around putting in the time and effort to learn the skill. If you aren’t far enough along in your emotional control to change your emotions at will then your projections are going to be limited to the emotions you are currently experiencing and what you can easily manifest. Even with these limitations though projections can still be a very powerful tool.

Now as we’re filling ourselves with that emotion, we also want to be raising energy within ourselves. The energy we raise within ourselves will merge with the emotion and become an emotional energy. We can now push this energy outside of ourselves (at the solar plexus or pelvis) and let it extend for a foot or two (or more if we can manage) past our body.

Both the intensity of the emotion and the amount of energy we’re able to manifest will effect the power and effectiveness of our projection. As a general rule we want as much energy as possible poured into the projection. We can accumulate the energy over time. An investment of an hour or two raising energy, for instance, can result in very powerful projections.

We can also take the projection energy and throw it on to a person or area. This can help us effect people who may be far away from us and can also be used to target a projection’s energy on specific people.

Making a projection (the detached method)

When we’re working with energies like love, lust, bliss, ect the above method works fine. However when we start working with negative energies like fear and disgust we don’t want to have to fill ourselves up with the emotion.

This type of projection is a bit more difficult. How we work this is first we raise normal energy within ourselves. Then we push the energy outside of ourselves. Once the energy is outside, then we twist and warp it so that it corresponds to the emotion we want. After a point we can just feed more energy into the energy that already surrounds us and it will warp it itself.

In the sympathetic method the energy flows straight out of us and the energy that surrounds us is both attached to and is the same as the energy within us. In this method though the energy around us is separate and different from the energy inside us. In order for us to do this we need to create a small energy shield to act as a barrier between us and the negative emotional energy. The negative energy will of course feed on and eat the shield, at which time the shield will have to be renewed, but at the same time the energy devoted to the shield isn’t wasted as it eventually becomes part of the projection.

I know this all sounds very complicated but I assure you it isn’t. It’s very difficult to describe the process simply, but once you get it down you realize most of it comes naturally.

Length of a projection

Projections need to be upkept, and typically last until a practitioner stops upkeeping them. A projection needs constant feeding. This isn’t very difficult to do, especially with the sympathetic method. The projection itself will effect the practitioner and cause them to naturally feel the emotions of the projection, which will feed the projection. Projections are dependent on emotional control, and shifts in ones emotions, mood, or energy can end a projection or warp it into some other type. In some instances projections can last for quite some time after a practitioner has stopped actively feeding them (feeding largely on the continued emotions of the practitioner, and sometimes on those around him and magical objects too), sometimes without the practitioner’s knowledge.

Projections from fed stones

I learned this trick on accident. I noticed that cleansing stones can sometimes cause projections to pop up accidently.

To cleanse a stone, or any object, you need to first push out any energy that is in it. Secondly you need to push a ‘clean’ (in other words a preferable) energy into them (if you don’t the stone will just regenerate the original energy).

Often times with cleansing you’ll go through the process of pushing energy out and replacing it over and over again. This helps in getting rid of all the energy and is also a good exercise to learn energy manipulation.

This cleansing process tends to waste a lot of energy, especially with inexperienced practitioners, and so you end up with a huge build up of energy around the practitioner which matches the energy within them, thus creating a projection. Among those who aren’t well practiced at projections, projections of this type can be more powerful than what they can achieve without using the stones.

Expanding upon projections

Once you start to learn projections it isn’t very hard to modify them into other things. For starters, projections aren’t just limited to emotions, they can also hold feelings. Things like pain, nausea, electrocution, ect. Once you can project a feeling it’s very easy to turn the projection into an attack, either as an offensive shield that protects you, or throwing it at a specific person as a direct attack. Next time we’ll talk about lures which is another extension of projections.

Final Thoughts

The instruction in this section is very vague and assumes the practitioner has some knowledge of energy manipulation. I may change this later, but I doubt I will. If you don’t feel you can do this with the above instruction, go back to the previous section on glamours and work with those. Once you’ve mastered glamours and start to understand how energy works in regards to them, this section should come much easier.

Part 1: Glamours
Part 2: Projections
Part 3: Lures
Part 4: Ethics and Defense

Update on Crowley’s Tarot

This is just an update of what I’ve been able to find out in the past week about Crowley’s tarot. Apparently for years now there has been an effort to rework Crowley’s tarot from the original prints. This new reworked edition is coming out soon in the US. Right now it’s already been released in certain languages and is available through amazon.de. I’m uncertain if this is being published by US games or by another company. In any case the old US games stock has been disappearing in an effort to get rid of it to make room for this new edition on store shelves, and that edition seems to have disappeared due to people freaking out and believing that Crowley’s tarot is going OOP and people trying to make lots of money of it on Ebay.

In any case, this is the absolute worst time to buy a Crowley tarot.  Too many people are asking way too much for standard editions right now. I have popular tarots with print runs of less than 500 that I got for less than this best selling tarot is going for. Just wait for the new edition, which should be here soon.  Even if you want the various old US games or AGM editions for collectability, wait, right now the prices are too high and will go down with the new edition.

Just a note, the picture above is the box art from the new edition on Amazon.de. So far I haven’t seen pictures of the actual cards, but sometimes the variations are so minor that you need to see the cards first hand to tell if they’re better or worse between editions, as is the case with the last editions of the US Games and Swiss Blue box versions, the later of which was slightly superior when you actually see the cards as opposed to judging scanned samples.

Magick of Perception – Pt 1. Glamours

Intro

Often times it’s most difficult for us to teach what comes to us most easily. A natural talent is not something that’s worked for and earned, but something that just is, and it can take a lot of introspection to discover exactly how it is we do it, and a lot of time to figure out how we can teach it to someone else who has to actually learn it. I’ve had that difficulty with a lot of things that I know how to do, and this thing in particular I’ve shied away from until now, even though it’s one of the first things I learned and something I’ve always been very good at, without even trying.

What’s a Glamour?

A glamour, also glamor and glam, is a magickal act, spell or more likely psionic ability, which changes the way in which the practitioner or another is perceived, most often, but not exclusively, done to make the subject of the magick appear more attractive, thus the name.

Tools for casting glamours

You don’t need any tools to cast a glamour. If need be, you can do it entirely with the power of your mind, and it’s not even overly difficult to do it that way. But as far as casting glamours on yourself, there is one tool, and only one tool, that you’ll want, not because you need it, but because it will make casting your glamours a hundred times easier and will make them far more effective. If you don’t have one, buy a mirror. The best mirror to get is a large one that will allow you to stand next to it and see your whole body at once. Barring that, one that will let you see yourself from at least the waist up. Even a mirror that will let you see your whole face, like a compact, is helpful if it’s all that’s available (plus you can carry it around). If you can’t see your whole face in it, it’s going to be useless though.

How to cast a glamour

We’ll start by talking about making ourselves more attractive, because it’s both the easiest type of glamour to do and the one most people want. And if you want to be good at this, you’re going to have to become a bit of a narcissist. Remember, the mirror is your friend, and learn to enjoy looking at how beautiful you are in the mirror.

A glamour is an outward projection of ourselves. What we’re going to be doing is taking the energy around ourselves and reforming it to create a false perception of ourselves. We’re not working on changing ourselves, but rather what’s directly above us. It’s sort of like people will be looking through a fog to see us, and so their perception will be skewed.

One mistake people make is they try to change specific things about themselves. They’ll try to make their tits bigger or their stomachs smaller or their faces less wrinkled, because this is what they perceive to be beautiful, and this is how they would like to look. This never works. A glamour is not about changing the specifics of an appearance. Rather, a glamour gives off the perception of an ideal. You shouldn’t try to make yourself beautiful, instead you should find the essence of beauty, and surround yourself with it. Okay, that’s a new agey cop-out thought, so let’s explore it.

Basically what we want to put out is the idea that we’re beautiful, not the image of a clear complexion or a nice rack. Beauty is subjective anyways, and every person sees beauty differently, so if we put out an imprint of beauty, when a person looks at us they’ll assume we’re beautiful, and then they’ll fill out the blanks in what they see to make it so. This is how an effective glamour works.

Meanwhile if you try to change something specifically you’ll probably just draw attention to that body part. When I tried to make my chest look better for instance all I did was get a lot of compliments on my eight dollar walmart t-shirt.

So how do we find this essence of beauty and imbue it onto ourselves? Looking at ourselves in the mirror helps a lot. Here’s one of the big secrets though. When we look in the mirror, we have to see ourselves as attractive. We can know we’re not super-models and that our bodies are flawed, but we have to be able to see ourselves as attractive, as something someone else would find appealing and want to see naked. If you can’t look in the mirror without thinking your hideous and horrid you’ll never be able to cast an attractive glamour on yourself. If you can’t perceive yourself as beautiful, no one else ever will. More feel-good new agey zen crap, but it’s true, and this time easy enough to understand.

Now as you’re looking in the mirror at yourself and thinking about how fucking hot you are, find the energy that surrounds you, your aura and shield and whatever, and take those thoughts and images you have in your head about yourself and layer it on top of that energy. Once you’re able to do that, the next step is to try to not just plop it on top of the energy, but to mold and shape the energy into the form, to intertwine the two. This isn’t an exact method. It requires some very basic energy manipulation. If you’re not at a level where you knew exactly how to do what I was talking about the second you read it, there’s not much I can do to explain it to you better. But still attempt to do what I talked about and practice. If you can’t find the energy around you that’s okay. Instead put the mental image in your head and concentrate on projecting it over yourself on top of your skin.

The second big mistake people make when they’re making glamours is they try to hide the negative aspects of themselves that work against the glamour. They try to draw people away from their large nose or the pimple in the middle of their forehead. Never, ever, ever try to hide something negative in a glamour. When we make glamours, we need to be positive about ourselves and our self image. The moment you try to hide something that is less than desirable you’re looking at yourself as something less than absolutely fucking gorgeous, and your entire glamour will fail.

But we will hide the negatives with what we’re going to do as the next part of our glamour. Instead of going after the negatives we’re going to accentuate the positives. Sure, maybe we have a hideously deformed nose, but we might also have beautiful blue eyes. When we accentuate a positive part of ourselves, like our eyes, people will naturally be drawn towards them and will grant them more merit in judging our bodies than other parts, like say our hideously deformed nose.

How do we accentuate the positive? Well first we have to look at ourselves and determine what the positive is. Then we’re going to look at it some more in the mirror and be even more narcissistic than we’ve been thus far. We want to spend some time looking at what we have, thinking about it, appreciating it, being entranced by the beauty of it, even lusting after it. This will create a positive beacon of energy that will draw other people to it, and also make these qualities seem even more attractive than they may be.

And in the end, it has a lot more to do with our view of it being a desirable quality than anything else. If we look a little thinner or a bit more toned than we did last week, that can translate into a huge gain in our glamour once it’s filtered through our self-perception.

Clothing and Glamours

If we’re going to the beach we’ll be showing a lot more skin than if we’re going skiing. When we put a glamour on ourselves, we want to do it dressed as we expect to be when we want to use it. If you’re going to the beach you want to put your glamour on while wearing your swimsuit, not while covered in clothes. If it’s the middle of winter, you’re not going to do to well with a glamour you put on while naked.

One thing that does help though is a double glamour. Put the first glamour on naked, and then put a second glamour on while wearing your clothes. This is easy to do while changing or after a shower, and can become part of your morning routine before going out. The naked glamour will help us to accentuate and glam our individual body parts and muscles and other things that may not be overly noticeable while clothed, and then the second glamour, once clothed, will help complete the process. Doing this right after taking a shower, when the mirror’s still steamed, can help with blurring out the negative for us when we put on the first glamour.

Other types of glamours

So far we’ve talked about making ourselves pretty. But there are other things we can make ourselves. We can make ourselves look smart or learned or even like an elder in the community (these glamours are common among practitioners), we can make ourselves look like a warrior or thug to intimidate others, and we can make ourselves look dignified or formal, to name a few ideas. What we have to do in these instances is, instead of looking at ourselves as being pretty, we have to see ourselves as being smart or violent or whatever. It’s the same process, just what we see ourselves as changes, and we accentuate different parts. Where as we wouldn’t want to even think about some grey hairs with an attractive glamour, with an elder glamour we would want to make people focus on them.

Costumes and glamours

When doing a glamour, it helps to dress like what you want to be seen as. Sexy clothes will make attractive glamours work better, and if you want to look smart a pair of glasses probably won’t hurt.

Glamour length and maintenance

Depending on how good you are, all things being equal, glamours will usually last anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire day (until you go to sleep) with no maintenance and will require a very small amount of energy. It’s always best to cast a glamour as close to when you’re going to need it as possible. This lessens the chance that it will run out before you need it.

If you want to pump a little more juice into the glamour, you may want to stop somewhere and spend some time looking at yourself in the mirror. You don’t need to do this though. All you need to do is just think about how sexy/smart/intimidating/whatever you’re going for you look like right now.

However, the moment you think something contrary to the glamour, it dies. As soon as you think about how ugly you are, or even just doubt that you’re really fucking hot, the glamour dies. The energy around you will shift with your thoughts and emotions, and the glamour will be gone.

Photographing glamours

Unfortunately glamours don’t photograph well. In fact they don’t photograph at all, or work on film. The same goes for projections and lures, which I’ll get to later. Glamours are good for face to face situations. They’re not good for getting a good photo for your online dating profile, and it’s best not to develop any illusions about becoming a professional model through the power of glam magick. With photos you have to get by on just your good looks and photoshop skills.

Reverse glamour

The reverse glamour is a curse, and where we usually cast glamours on ourselves, we usually cast reverse glamours on other people. The most common type of reverse glamour makes someone look ugly or repellent. It can be done to make someone look stupid or weak or anything else though. The same method can also be used to cast a positive glamour on another.

Basically with a reverse glamour we’re going to find the energy that surrounds the subject, and then we’re going to twist and mold it into the image of the glamour in the exact same way we do it to ourselves, only we don’t need a mirror for this.

You might be thinking that the moment they don’t believe the reverse glamour themselves, it’ll disappear. That’s true, unless it has some tie to sustain it (no I’m not teaching how to do that, figure it out if you want to know). However that moment of doubt isn’t so easy. You’ll notice that when you successfully put on a strong attractive glamour, you actually start to feel really attractive, and it isn’t that difficult to not see yourself as unattractive. Two things are at work here. First of all, you’re surrounding yourself with energy that actively thinks you’re sexy, and on certain levels you’re being constantly bombarded with energy and thoughts that you’re attractive. Secondly everyone around you sees you as attractive, and they’re psychically pushing that idea on to you, even weakly. The moment of doubt isn’t all that easy to manifest, and the same thing is going to happen with a reverse glamour. They might manage to break it in a few minutes, but it could very well last all day.

Final words

This article was supposed to cover a lot more, but I didn’t realize the amount of detail I’d be going into. What I’m going to do is split this into four parts. Next up, projections.

Part 1: Glamours
Part 2: Projections
Part 3: Lures
Part 4: Ethics and Defense

What’s up with Crowley’s Tarot?

Okay, people are trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to sell standard sealed Crowley Thoth decks on ebay for $80+. I’m talking about the US Games green box and Large Swiss blue box editions, along with the premier and pocket editions.

Most of these decks were on ebay for less than $25 a few months back (last time I checked), and Tarot garden sold all of them for less than $25.

Tarot Garden is, however, sold out of all of these decks, and the US Games site is no longer has a listing.

Did the deck go OOP temporarily? Is it switching publishers from US Games to someone else? I haven’t heard anything, so I hope someone who knows something can help figure this out. Hopefully we’ll be getting a superior, and not an inferior, version of the Thoth tarot. I honestly can’t see it being OOP for long since it is such a popular tarot.

BTW, whatever’s going on, don’t pay the $80+ price. The deck was super popular, and there are so many out there it has almost no collectability. The older Weiser version and the more common Llewellyn version used to sell for less than $80.

Prosperity Magick: Why Your Money Spells Don’t Work

Very few people manage to make prosperity spells work. To some, it seems to come naturally. It can take little more than a meditation to summon forth large sums of cash. For others, complex rituals, bargains with interdimensional beings, and every other imaginable route is taken and they never see any success. It’s very easy to imagine that some people are just better geared towards certain types of magick, and that, despite ones best efforts or ability in other areas, prosperity is one area they just can’t master. However prosperity is an area that is usually approached differently than any other, and this in turn leads to the lack of success.

To begin with, most people turn to prosperity magick when they’re desperate for more money. They use it when they’re broke, when they need the money, or when they’re quality of life is below their minimum standards and, despite their best efforts, they haven’t been able to change this. This is the absolute worst time to use prosperity magick. Very few people even bother to try prosperity magick when they’re finances are on the upswing, when they’ve come into large sums of cash, and when they don’t need money and have excess cash to spare. This would be the optimal time in ones life to use prosperity magick, and if you pay attention to those that can use prosperity magick, they do it when they don’t need it.

One of the basic laws is like attracts like. A prosperous person will naturally attract prosperity towards themselves. A person with lots of money is more likely to get money. This is a fundamental law of the universe. Magick is meant to manipulate the universe to our advantage, but good luck trying to alter the very basics upon which it is founded.

Secondly when we have financial issues, and when we allow those issues to escalate to the point of desperation, we lose hope and faith. Things begin to look bleak. We don’t believe things will get better, at least not in the short run. Our attitude reflects our situation, both of which our negative. Attitude is important in magick. We need to believe that our magick and our spells will give us results, or they won’t. We need to believe that things can and will get better, that our wealth will increase, or it won’t. We need hope and faith in the future, and a bright and cheery disposition about it, and we need to think positive. All of these things are very easy to do when we have enough money coming in and we haven’t reached desperation.

Lastly people who have money are the types of people who are always working on ways to make money. They’re never satisfied with their financial situation, and they always want to improve it, even if they already have enough. They don’t waste their money. They’re willing to work to earn money. These are the types of folks the universe has deemed worthy of vast sums of wealth. These are also the types of people who, if drawn towards magick, will utilize prosperity magick during the best of times. If one wishes to be wealthy, it’s best to adapt oneself to the persona which the universe has decided should be wealthy.

It may seem as if the only way to make money with magick is to be rich. That’s not the case. Everything is subjective. There is no point where the universe deems you wealthy or poor. While it’s true that the universe cannot be altered at the most basic level, we can alter ourselves to become the type of person for which prosperity magick will work.

To begin with, we must have a positive outlook on our financial situation. We need to believe that we are financially okay and that things will get even better in the future. We don’t want to have stress or anxiety about our finances.

Secondly we need to be at least at a stable financial situation. This means taking in at least as much money as is going out, and reducing our debt to a manageable level. There are two ways to do this, increase the money coming in or decrease the money going out. This may mean getting a second or third job. This may mean cutting non-essentials out of our budget. For a lot of us this may seem like too much work or too big a sacrifice. It’s important to remember that this is a temporary situation though. Once we have ourselves financially on track and our finances are on the upswing, then we can turn to our magick to increase our income allowing us to return to a single job and buy all of the things we had to give up before.

It is however important to be financially independent during these times, being able to pay for all of ones essential needs (housing, food, bills). Getting someone else to take care of us can free up money for our budget, but it also works against us by making us a financially dependent person, thus repulsing situations that would make us financially independent and attracting situations that will leave us dependent on others.

Buying a Crystal Ball (and not getting analy raped)

So I just got a new crystal ball, my fourth, and I thought I would lend some advice in getting a crystal ball. Crystal balls are very useful things, magickal tools with 101+ uses. Unfortunately most think they can’t afford a crystal ball, or that they’re just not worth the exorbitant prices. Unfortunately most people who sell crystal balls are scam artists using misinformation to sell items for more than they’re worth. If you’re looking into buying a crystal ball, and don’t already know much about them, please read this article and inform yourself. You may be paying $200+ for something you could buy for $30 (I’m not exaggerating either).

Now not everything we call a crystal ball is really a ‘crystal’ ball. I actually have one crystal ball. I have two balls that are laser cut glass, and one that is amethyst. There’s a big difference between these three choices, and they have very different prices.

Real crystal balls tend to be a bit pricey. One the size of your fist can easily go for $50-$100. Expect to pay at least $150+ for a descent sized one. Large ones can cost a whole lot. Things that can raise the cost of a ball include size, flawlessness, age, and occult history. Magicians are typically the only ones interested in these types of balls, there are cheaper options for decorative pieces. But do look around, sometimes you can get a good deal on a ball, especially a used one. Sometimes the older sentient ones are looking for the right owner, and they’ll drive away all prospective buyers, and their price, until the right owner comes along. Real crystal balls are worth every cent too. They’re powerful tools, and if you’ve ever used one you’ll see how superior it is to laser cut glass. If you can afford it, I highly recommend a real crystal ball.

If you can’t afford it, go with laser cut glass. It really is a poor man’s crystal ball. It’s not as strong as crystal, but it can do most of the things crystal can. It works great for enchantments and divinations. They’re always flawless. And although it’s not as good as crystal, with a little TLC laser cut glass balls can be powerful and invaluable tools and aids in magickal workings. And they generally cost a tenth of the price or less.

The problem is most retailers sell you laser cut glass at crystal prices. Most people can’t tell the difference between the two. Most people compare the price of laser cut glass to real crystal and think they’re getting a deal. It’s gotten to the point that almost every reference you find now has the higher price anyways, and most are dealing in laser cut glass.

With laser cut glass, a ball the size of your fist should cost less than $15. Expect to pay around $30 for a descent sized ball just about as big as a soda can, maybe a little more for one slightly bigger. One the size of your head should go for less than $70. The $120-$180 price range is really for gigantic sized balls.

You can usually tell laser cut glass because it’s flawless and perfect. Even the best crystal balls tend to have a few minor flaws if you look close enough. In fact, some actually prefer the flaws for divinatory aid. Also on a real tumbled crystal ball you can sometimes see the groves on the outside. Finally anything with a glass stand included is almost always laser cut glass (and such a stand shouldn’t drive the price up 1 cent from what I quoted earlier).

Now there’s also another category of ball, these are made from precious stones, and the prices can vary widely. Some are far more valuable than crystal. Some aren’t. You have to consider the size, the cost of the stone used, the demand for the stone (low demand can actually drive up the price), it’s beauty, and how good the quality is. Generally speaking, if a stone is jewelry quality, expect to pay more. If a stone isn’t jewelry quality however, it’s often times worthless to anyone except practitioners who can still utilize it for its innate quality. For example emerald is very expensive. You can get tumbled emerald for about a dollar a stone though. It’s because the emerald is such low quality, and so small, it can’t be used for any type of jewelry. It’s worthless to miners, except to tumble and sell to occultists. The same is true of these crystal balls. Also keep in mind these things are treasured by new agers, so they can get pricey. Depending on the price you can be looking at paying a premium over crystal.

If you’re looking for laser cut glass, check online stores and swap meets. These are the places where I’ve seen the best deals, but you have to look around, and be adamant about not paying too much. There’s no reason to spend what they’re asking, you can get a real crystal ball at those prices.

For balls made of precious stone, try the new-age stores. A lot of them carry them. And if you’re interested in a stone that has a low demand, a lot of times they have one sitting on the shelf that gets discount after discount and can be gotten at a bargain.

Groups of Four

Remember that scene in the Wild Bunch, when the four outlaws grab their guns and walk down the street, ready to face off against an entire army to save their cohort. Or how about the scene in the Angel episode Darla when Angel, Darla, Spike and Dru all walk in a group out of the ruins of a Chinese town. We see this image, four warriors walking together, fearless, again and again throughout film and television. Hell, even the bible talks of the four horseman of the apocalypse. There’s something about four warriors, grouped together, moving together as a unit, fearlessly, that awakens some very primal memory within us all, regardless of how they’re shown. It doesn’t work with three, it doesn’t work with five (which just adds a guy), it doesn’t even work with a whole army of mighty warriors, and you’d think that would be a lot more inspirational than just four.

Every time we see this image we see it as something powerful, as something noble and righteous, and it inspires within us hope. Even in Angel, when it’s villainous vampires that are feeding, it still inspires these emotions.

There are four archangels at the very top. There are always four. Upon every world, in every dimension, from the highest planes down to the lowest each has four archangels on the very top. In our world they are Micheal, Gabreal, Raphael, and Uriel. On other worlds they have other angels with other names. But there are always four. Together, as four, they compromise what is supposed to be the most powerful being of their world. Together, at least in theory, there should be nothing stronger than they are. They are warriors and guardians who know not of fear. They typically act separately. But when called upon, all four at once, they are something strong and powerful, something that should be able to defeat even the most powerful of threats.

Each of us has this memory buried within us. This idea. Most will never quite grasp it, never quite get it, never know what exactly it means. But when we see a similar image, four warriors, together, fearless, we’re reminded of the power and the hope they bring.

Sphinxes

Sphinxes, sometimes given a proper name as a Phix, are horrid and powerful creatures. Similar creatures appear in many mythologies through out Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia, although it was named by the Greeks, whose myth seems a proper depiction, although the thing is not a god nor is it a single being, but like fae and dragons and djinn is a type. The lion headed depictions of the Egyptians may not have been depictions of the Sphinx at all, but rather depictions of their ruling class being associative with Sehkmet.

A Sphinx would often times be used as a guardian. The creatures are naturally guardians, tend to stay in one place, and are strong enough to make good guardians of things, especially tombs and other places where folks and animals don’t normally go. They also may be associative with power in the Greek magickal traditions. Mastery of a Sphinx, as per the feat of Oedipus, would be something only a very powerful magician would be capable of, and as such Sphinxes could be seen as guardians of the sacred mysteries, only allowing access to those of such great power as to tame them.

For the most part, Sphinxes are no longer allowed into this world. Fortunately the current laws and rules surrounding this plane of existence bar them from coming here. They can’t even reach the realm of dreams, for the most part, without great effort on their part, and it’s very difficult for them to sustain a presence there for long.

Sphinxes come from the depths of the hell planes. They are a lower realm equivalent to a realm guardian, essentially a type of angel to that place, however they would exceed even an archangel’s power, at least in their realm of origin, and would be somewhat equivelent to the angelic energy bodies of the heavenly planes.

I would assume that, when encountered in higher planes, a good deal of their energy and power is devoted to just sustaining their presence, and within their own realm of origin they would be far more powerful, although it is also possible that the ones able to still reach higher realms like the dreaming are also the more powerful of their ilk, and that most in their natural realm of origin are much weaker (I’ve never seen one in its realm of origin, and I don’t think I want to either).

A Sphinx constantly masturbates, sort of. It doesn’t really play with itself, it just sort of orgasms and ejaculates again and again on a constant (granted I’ve only seen males, females, if they exist, may be a bit different). When it orgasms, very strong sexually predatory energy flows out of it and into the nearby area in waves. Anything that is not able to quickly produce a very strong psychic shield (which even among practitioners, many can’t) will be raped by it. And the rape will happen repeatedly until the creature becomes so worn out from it that it kills them. Small creatures tend to last seconds. Larger creatures like cats and dogs may get a minute or two, a human maybe a few minutes. Even with a strong shield the energy is so intense, and on a constant, that it will tear down the shield very quickly.

This masturbation is not an attack, it lacks any direction or purpose, it is just a side-effect of the Sphinx existing in a place. It only represents a fraction of the Sphinxes power. The Sphinx overflows with power, it drips off it, so much so it can be clearly seen as a beacon amidst it’s sexual waves, and is many times stronger than it’s masturbation, even when the Sphinx is calm and at ease.

The energy of the Sphinx is such that most will find it offensive and gross, and also completely horrifying. Not just the nature of it’s evil, but also the power and intensity behind it. Among angelics and those with an angelic connection it will most likely awaken a primal need to combat and expel it, although most angelics even will approach such a beast with caution.

The Sphinx originates in the Qlippothic version of the middle triad, and as such is a further physical complication from this plane, and so he has a physicality that is evolved beyond what is typically allowed into this world. He also has a realm guardian status, so we can presume that, like the realm guardians of this world, he may be atypical of his plane of existence in his manifestation of physicality and the laws that apply to him.

Also, like any realm guardian, he guards, ferociously and viciously, and is a natural warrior. I’m not sure the actual intelligence of such a beast, as I’ve never attempted to talk to one. Their energy does seem very violent and animalistic, but this is not rare among realm guardian types. It would be odd, even among a realm as low as his, for something to be of such vast power and lack intelligence.

Magick Au Natural (or Skyclad), A Primer

What is Skyclad Magick

Skyclad Magick is any working which is done nude (in other words clad only by the sky, although the term also encompasses indoor workings, which semantically should be called tracklightclad), whether these workings are done as a group or as solitary workings.

Skyclad also encompasses several different definitions. Some define Skyclad, most basically, as being without any kind of clothing. Others define it as also being without make-up, perfumes, deodorant, or shampoo. And others include those clothed in body paint as being skyclad.

The History of Skyclad

It’d be nice if there was a long and revered history of ritual nudity to point to in arguing for skyclad practices, but none really exists. Although we see nudity practiced in some obscure forms of Eastern religions, we don’t see it in any of the ones that have had a major influence on the west. In the western world we can suppose that there has, in the past, been ritual nudity. Humans were most likely practicing some sort of ritual prior to the invention of clothing. We do know some of the Greeks and Romans were rather decadent and liked there orgies, and that there were probably some spiritual undertones in some of there orgy havings. But whatever was done then is largely lost, and we don’t see any clear lineage from those earlier rituals (which were small and minority rituals) up to the modern day.

Until the middle of the 20th century, Western occultism was practiced clothed. There is no evidence that traditional witches ever practiced in the nude. Ceremonial magicians have always practiced clothed. Even Allister Crowley, known for combining his sexual wants with his ritual practices, never managed to get into nude rituals, more than likely because he was too busy trying to convince male friends to have anal intercourse with him for reasons that meant he was still entirely heterosexual. There are some spells in the old grimoires that were meant to make groups of women or groups of people dance around in the nude, but that was not a part of the ritual, but rather the end result of it, after which the practitioner could then watch them dancing in the nude.

Skyclad magick and ritual nudity was pretty much spearheaded by Gerald Gardener, the founder of Wicca. The theological basis for Gardener’s skyclad rituals were based in negative Christian folklore about witches which supposed them to do secret nude rituals, and also in a mistranslation of a line in the Arcadia of the Witches. It should be noted though that Gardener had a host of sexual fetishes, and that he used his spiritual position as a founder of a religion in order to recruit willing partners to participate in his fantasies which also included female domination and sado-machosism, and that he would grasp at spiritual straws to justify these acts.

After Gardener had come along, a lot of other folks started incorporating skyclad rituals into their own religions. Skyclad rituals meshed very well with the hippie movement that eventually invaded and took over most of the neopagan religions and also liked running around naked.

In recent years skyclad practices have largely fallen out of vogue. Even many Gardnerian Wiccans, who claim to practice the original form of Wicca created by Gardener, don’t practice skyclad, and they don’t follow a lot of Gardener’s more sexualized practices either. Most of the rituals that were originally meant to be done in the nude are now done clothed.

The Magick of Equality: Does Nudity Make Us Equals

A point generally brought up by pro-skyclad Wiccans is that nudity makes us equals. We no longer have the class system attached to us. We aren’t separated between those who can afford nice clothes and those who can’t. This lack of separation would also happen if we replaced naked with modest robes.

Unfortunately beyond flashy clothes, skyclad doesn’t do much to make us equals. Some people are still pretty, and some are fat, and no amount of clothing, or lack thereof, is going to help the situation. Some of us are going to be more powerful than others. The regular religious hierarchies that exist tend to exist while naked the same as when clothed.

Cloth & Color: A Minor Variable Sidestepped

It should be noted that the most magickal possessions most people possess (other than their bed), are their clothes. Experienced practitioners are more likely than most to have an object which puts their clothes to shame, but at the same time their clothes are going to be even more magickal than what is typical among non-practitioners. Our emotion and our energy, through out the day, taints our clothes. Washing our clothes helps, although it doesn’t nearly do enough insofar as cleansing them. The longer the clothes have been worn, the more powerful they may be. And our clothes, in turn, may taint or otherwise affect both ourselves or the ritual. When we enter a ritual clothed, we’re never entering a ritual clean. Many books recommend not only preritual baths and cleansings, but also special clean garments only adorned during ritual for this very reason.

Secondly, color is another variable. Some practitioners discard color altogether because it is not as strong a symbolism as some would like. Color does however have an, albeit minor, effect on magick workings. Some books and practitioners swear by being draped in the proper colors for the spell at hand.

However clothing and color are both minor variables in determining the success and power of ones magick. Neither is so great a factor that it can’t be overcome, or can only be over come with great effort. There are of course exceptions. Sometimes an article of clothing can become so energized that it will have a very serious effect on the ritual. However this problem can be solved simply by wearing something else.

Still, it should be noted that these things can affect ritual, and that by practicing skyclad these variables no longer need to be considered.

Simplicity, Primality, Transformation, and Butt-Nakedness

Nakedness is our most natural state of dress. It’s how we come into this world. It’s how we survived as a species prior to the advent of clothing. Our clothing ads another layer to ourselves, another level of complexity. Typically within magick and ritual one moves towards simplicity rather than complexity, one tries to remove as many layers from the problem as possible. Simplicity is seen as the better and more powerful state, the natural state of things within the universe, and it’s easiest to work ones will when that will is worked in the natural directions of the universe, not against it.

Naked, being both our natural state and primary state, allows us to become more primal in our being. For some being naked means tapping into a more primary, animalistic state. For others it is just being more free, less inhibited, and a closer approximation to their true self. In any case, in this state a practitioner’s energy is more raw, less encumbered and tainted, and the practitioner experiences a greater degree of focus and their will and desires are better focused, all of this making spellwork easier and more successful.

Finally some practitioners may use nudity as a trigger to transform them from one state to another. To move from their normal selves to their more magickal selves. To help them cast away, temporarily, their anchors and ties into the real and solid world and move into a less solid more magickal state where more things are possible. Conditioned properly, a practitioner can see a dramatic transformation between a clothed and naked state, and can amass this power with less work than what would typically be required. However one should be careful utilizing this method. There are definite drawbacks to not being able to tap most of your power unless you’re naked.

Intimacy, Nudity, and Bonding

Most people see nudity as an intimate act. For most of us, the first people of an opposite gender who saw us naked after puberty started was a person who we engaged in some intimate carnal act with. For most of us, most of the people of the opposite gender who see us naked are people we are intimately involved with. For a lot of people, nudity is directly tied to sex. For a lot of people, casual and non-utilitarian nudity is only something that occurs between two people who are sexually involved with each other.

The point being, for a large part nudity and intimacy are one in the same. Therefor when a ritual is performed skyclad there is an added degree of intimacy between the participants, even if they don’t know each other very well. With a regular group, this intimacy helps with group bonding. But even with strangers who will never meet again, nudity will help them connect together, become one, and work the ritual as a single whole rather than a group of individuals. The individual members will also find it easier to connect to one and another, and psychic links will more easily form between them, once again making it easier for the individuals to work as a group.

Symbolism of Nudity and Opening the 3rd Eye

When we’re naked, we’re exposed. We’ve completely opened ourselves up and exposed ourselves to everything in the nearby area. This is a literal truth on the physical level. But is also symbolic of opening ourselves up and exposing ourselves emotionally (thus intimacy, as explained above), and also opening ourselves up spiritually. Being naked is symbolic of letting down a shield, and both exposing ourselves and opening ourselves up to our surrounding environment. Especially when the symbolism of the event is acknowledged, this will make it easier for the practitioner to experience the metaphysical. For lack of a better way to describe it, it will make them more psychic and more empathic.

Sacred Nudity and Reverence

Most of us, when we present ourselves to a god, we want to present ourselves in an acceptable way. The situation may not always allow this. We might need to contact a deity right now, and we can’t wait to take a shower or dress ourselves properly. The gods understand this. But a lot for the time we do have time. And then there’s the question of how should we present ourselves. Likewise even when we don’t use a god, when we do magick most of us would like to present ourselves in a way that is becoming of the sacredness of the event.

If we have sacred clothes, like ceremonial robes, this might do. If not, we’d usually lean towards nice, clean clothes. What nice means though would be very subjective. Some might define that as expensive suits and dresses. Others as unfaded jeans and a favorite t-shirt. Some will argue that you should always address the gods in Renfair costumes, regardless of the fact that almost every god predates the renaissance style of dress, the style was only in vogue in certain regions of Western Europe and is thus regionally inappropriate for most gods, and that Renfair costumes typically lack accuracy.

Nudity is, however, always appropriate for presentation to a deity or a sacred event. Nudity is a sacred state of being. As already mentioned it’s how we come into this world. When we disrobe we’re also gracing those around us with the beauty of our physical form. We are making a sacrifice of our modesty so that others may take pleasure in our natural form. We are showing reverence to and making a gift to those around us, be they other humans, entities, or gods. When we are naked, we’re always in a sacred state. The sacredness of that state is only lost when we attempt to hide or cover ourselves, or when we try to stop or otherwise punish others for looking at us or particular body parts, staring at us, or having impure thoughts about us. When we disrobe and present ourselves as such it is a sacred gift given onto the recipient, to be used as they please and not to be taken back.

Nudity and Sexual Energy

Nudity can be utilized within ritual in order to raise sexual energy. When you get a bunch of people together, running around naked, they start getting horny, and before long you get a bunch of sexual energy that can be used and manipulated in the spellwork. For best results you want as many pretty people, both men and women, in the group as possible. Pretty people turn other people on. Ugly people may turn other people on, but not as much. Youth is also good, young people tend to have much stronger sex drives and more sexually repressed energy. You may also have much better results if participants agree to refrain from sexual acts or masturbation for a period preceding the ritual. Three days is a good amount of time. Likewise you’ll get better results if flirting and some petting is allowed during the time of the ritual, of course you don’t want anyone having orgasms during the ritual, since that would be counterproductive, you just want them getting about as close as you can get them.

In a setting like this, energy can easily be raised, even among those who are not very good at energy manipulation, by normally mundane acts like dancing around each other and various games and activities that involve touching and caressing each other.

Orgies

Generally, if you want to raise sexual energy, don’t have sex. There is a point within an orgasm when the energy will hit peak and will be at its strongest for the individual. This only lasts for a moment though, and grasping and manipulating this energy is a difficult feat. It can be done, but it is typically beyond the ability of most practitioners and beyond the scope of most rituals. But there are other things that can be done with ritual orgies, everything from connecting the group as one to amassing the energies to some ends to simply reveling in a state of primal and uncompromising sexual ecstasy and desire. I do think that this is, however, far to vast an area to go into detail in the scope of this essay.

Being Naked — Just Because

Of course there is something to be said for being naked just because. It is a sacred state of being, and so being naked is sacred. It can be its own ends, rather than a means to something else. It can be a spiritual experience in and of itself. Or possibly just something one enjoys doing. To be exposed, open, uninhibited, intimate, free, primal, and sacred all at once.

Magick 101: Meditation & Trance: An FAQ

What is meditation?

Meditation is the act of actively calming your body and mind and bringing yourself to a state of rest and mental clarity, typically with the intention of achieving trance.

How do I meditate?

Most, especially the inexperienced, begin meditation by bringing their body to a relaxed state. If you are new to meditation, it’s best to begin during a time when you’re already tired and relaxed. To start, sit or lay down in a comfortable relaxed position. Close your eyes, and let your body relax itself, but be careful not to fall asleep. Some find that incense, music, or calming white noise aids in relaxing themselves and clearing their mind.

Next ones mind needs to be brought to a calm and relaxed state, which is more difficult than calming ones body. Tricks like counting ones breath or focusing on an unanswerable problem are counter-productive to achieving trance and should be avoided. Generally one should attempt to clear ones mind, or else to calmly focus on those things which will be dealt with during the meditation. All thought needs to flow without excitement or stress or anxiety, or any other emotion. The mind needs to slow itself down. During meditation one should be introspective, detail oriented, and analytical slowly spending however much time is needed on each thing. One should refrain from thinking quickly or covering many things in a short period and from thinking about things that illicit emotion. Once the mind begins to relax and some level of clarity is achieved, the practitioner should then allow the mind to wander where it may, to look at whatever comes up.

What is the purpose of Meditation?

Meditation provides many benefits to the practitioner over time. It helps to strengthen ones mental capacities including concentration and focus, and also allows one more control over the physical aspects of their body, and at the same time mediation becomes easier as one continues to practice it. However the typical purpose of a meditation session is to achieve trance.

What is trance?

Trance is an altered state of consciousness in which the mind is more finely attuned and working at a higher level. A person in a state of trance has a greater degree of focus, clarity, and concentration. Additionally almost all of their psychic abilities are working at a higher level, including psionic magick, channeling, energy manipulation, divination, past life regression, and remote viewing. A person in a trance state has greater access to their subconscious and untapped mental and magickal potential. A person in this state may experience changes in personality, regressions, and a higher intelligence.

What does trance feel like?

The best thing that it can be compared to is the state an exhausted person is in shortly before they fall asleep, where they are still awake and actively aware of their surroundings but their mind is wandering and creating images and dreams seem to be flooding in, except that one is wide awake, and the mind seems more focused. Beyond that, it can only be said that it must be experienced in order for it to be explained because it is not completely like anything else.

What can be done with trance?

Many things can be done in trance. Channeling, remote viewing, and speaking with entities and ghosts are all easier to do in trance. Energy manipulation, psionic magick, and spell and ritual work are all more powerful when done in a trance state. Many practitioners like to use meditation for past life regressions and to balance their energy (and sometimes its almost mandatory to balance energy). Puzzling over riddles and questions or general introspection are easier to do in trance, partly because of ones heightened mental state and access to their subconscious, but also because things like channeling, divination, and remote viewing are easier in this state and may lend new information to aid in solving the problem.

Are there different degrees of trance?

Yes. There are light trances in which the practitioner’s state of consciousness has barely been altered at all, all the way up to heavy trances where the practitioner may even appear to be asleep. Generally, the heavier the trance the more powerful the trance. One should note though that sometimes, while attempting to achieve trance, practitioners fall asleep, so it may just be that a practitioner has fallen asleep and has not achieved trance at all.

Is meditation necessary to achieve trance?

No. Trance can be achieved without meditation, especially by one who has spent time training themselves to achieve trance in meditation. Spell and ritual work and large amounts of raised energy may also trigger trance in an individual.

What is the relationship between trance and spellwork/ritual?

Trance amps up any spell or ritual work and makes the practitioner much more powerful. For any type of spell or ritual work the practitioner should, at some point during the working, achieve trance, at least lightly if not heavily. For powerful spells that require large amounts of energy, a trance state is pretty much mandatory for success.

What is the relationship between trance and psionic magick?

The same as that between trance and spellwork/ritual. Most who are, well, talented are able to pull off simple psionics without much effort or need for trance, but for greater feats trance becomes an invaluable aid, and in any case will increase the power and success rate of the practitioner.

How should I position myself for meditation?

The body should be in a relaxed state, either sitting or laying down. The practitioner should feel comfortable and in a position they could, under typical circumstances, fall asleep in.

What should I wear for meditation?

Meditation can be done wearing anything, or nothing at all, especially by a trained practitioner. If one is just beginning though its best to wear clothing that makes one feel comfortable, as if they are going to bed, and nothing that will make them self-conscious. Clothing that may physically irritate the practitioner and call the attention of their mind should be avoided, as should clothing that makes one too hot or cold (a blanket is fine if one is too cold). Holding or wearing magickally enchanted objects and ritual tools should be avoided during meditation unless they are the reason for the meditation.

Is there any benefit to using yogic positions (ie the lotus position)?

Certain yogic positions better align the body for energy movement and naturally raise large amounts of energy, both of which aid in meditation and trance, and a practitioner utilizing certain positions will generally have more success and more intense experiences. However in order for the yogic positions to be used one must be at a point in their yoga exercises that they feel completely at ease in the position and their is no pain or undo stress put on the muscles, otherwise the physical and mental strains the yoga positions will put on the practitioner will be more counterproductive to the meditation than helpful.

Will drowsiness effect meditation?

Typically drowsiness will aid in bringing ones body and mind to a relaxed state and may make meditation easier, the only downside being that one may end up falling asleep instead.

Will energy effect meditation or trance?

Large amounts of energy will aid the meditation and make achieving trance easier, and it will intensify the trance once it is achieved. The type of energy used, however, may taint process and could effect the direction in which the mind is drawn.

How do I meditate on a question?

Simply keep the question in your mind and ponder it during meditation, and hopefully it will still be your focus when you hit trance. Not only will you be more adept at answering the question in trance, but you may also be able to break free and channel other sources, remote view related things, divine into the future, and you may draw entities more knowledgable about the subject to you for conversation.

How do I meditate on an object?

Generally you should be holding or wearing the object during meditation, or have it close to you. You should focus and concentrate on the object during meditation, and hopefully take that focus into trance. It’s almost exactly like meditating on a question.