Stupidity in Astrology

Uranus was discovered in 1784. Many names were suggested, some after the discoverer, some after King George and Britan, along with several roman deities.

Neptune was discovered in 1846.

Pluto was discovered in 1930.

As for the asteriods, Ceres in 1801, Pallas in 1802, Juno in 1804, and Vesta in 1807.

Chiron was discovered in 1977.

These bodies were all named in the Roman tradition with the exception of Uranus and Vesta (These are Greek Deities). The planets however have no connection to the gods they’re named after. In almost all instances the bodies were named after some debate. Those involved with the naming process were typically Chrisitan, Athiest, or Agnostic. They usually had no belief in the Roman patheon. There was no metaphysical or divine connection made between the newly discovered bodies and the names they were given. The bodies were not named after deities they shared qualities with (except on very superficial levels).

What I’m saying is, you can better understand Venus in astrology by understanding the Roman goddess Venus. You can better understand Mars in astrology by understanding the god Mars. But there’s no connection between Uranus the planet and Uranus the god, or Ceres the asteriod and Ceres the goddess (except for what may be inherrited by something taking on a divine name).

All of this should be common sense!

Also Saturn is not an evil or horrible god, and it’s upsetting the way some astrologers talk about him and his mythology.

About Time

I channeled most of this information a while back.

That which is of the past is writ in stone, that which is of the present is writ in air, that which is of the future is writ in water, and that which is not of the past, present, or future is writ in the eternal flame.

The past is written in stone, or earth. It’s solid and stable, and for the most part can’t be changed (there are ways, but it’s very difficult to do). The past is ruled over by Saturn. Saturn is an agricultural god, but he’s the god of the seed that was sown that has now been harvested. He was also celebrated as the god of the golden age of Rome after that age had past.

The present is writ in air. Much of the present is solid and like the past it can’t be changed. The foundation of the situation is of the past and can’t be changed. But the present does allow for action to be taken to effect change, although within certain limitations. And so the present is written in air, moving and changing and able to swiftly change direction and change what has been written. The present is ruled over by Mars, who is a god of action.

The future is writ in water. Water moves and constantly changes itself, but in a passive way so that it fits whatever container it is put into. No true divination of the future can ever be made, because the future is not written within a something solid, and what is written is always in motion. Likewise the future can not be affected directly. Only the present can be affected, and what is done in the present changes the container of the future, thus changing what has been writ in water. The future is ruled by Luna, symbolized by the moon, a planet who’s form is based on what light is provided to it, and which constantly changes its shape.

And that which belongs to neither the past, present, nor future is writ in the eternal flame. These are the things that were, that are, and that will always be. The absolute truths of the universe. The element of fire is as much part of the physical plane as it is part of the spiritual planes. It encompasses all, as does absolute truth. Absolute truth has no beginning or end, nor is it ever in a given place, it just exists. Because absolute truth is forever, it is not written in fire which is temporary and fleeting, but in an eternal flame, and likewise is ruled over by Sol.

How does all of this tie into divination?

The past is written in stone and mostly unchangeable. It serves as the foundation of what is happening now, and our current circumstances are entirely dependent on the past. Therefore the past can be accurately divined.

Much of the present is also unchangeable. It is part of the past which has moved with such great momentum that there are limitations as to how far it can be altered. Divination of the present can be very accurate, although in the present freewill does exist, and although a probable course of actions can be determined, a person always has the ability to act in any manner they choose.

The future can’t be divined at all, only the probably future can be defined. One can look at the foundation of the past, and what is happening in the present, and determine the probable outcome of events. This skill can be developed to the point where a person is usually right. However no predestination exists, and there is always the possibility that what is seen in the future won’t occur.

Shielding, Part II

Let me apologize for the typos in part I. Ick.

In the last part I had mentioned that the first thing a person should learn to do is take down their shields. So how do you do that?

Here’s a simple exercise. Get four very close friends of mixed genders. Now relax yourself and remain relaxed. Now take off all of your clothes, and without covering any part of you tell your friends every secret you have about yourself, everything you think and feel about them, and be absolutely honest about everything and make no effort not to share or hide anything. Don’t be nervous or shy, be relaxed and let everything just go right through you. After you’ve done this, repeat the exercise with four strangers.

Okay, that’s a bit extreme, but if you did it and continued to live your life in that manner for a period of time, it would probably work. Realistically though most of us will choose a path that is a bit slower. But then again, some people are probably turned on by the idea of being naked in front of four strangers while telling all of their deepest, darkest secrets.

But this method is the basics of what needs to be done. The barriers we have put up to hide behind need to be taken down. We need to expose ourselves completely and leave ourselves completely vulnerable, and let everything pass through us and come out as it develops. This is a state of being without any kind of defense.

Not only do we have to work on taking down the shields that protect us from others, be we also need to work on taking down the shields that we use on ourselves. We need to be able to expose ourselves completely to ourselves. This means taking the time to look at exactly what we are, what are personality really is, and what our flaws are. And we need to be brutally honest about exactly what we are and not try to shy away from it, or justify it, or repress it, or hide behind something else, but rather admit to it. Until we know the truth about ourselves, we can’t be honest about what we are to others.

It also means being comfortable with ourselves, both physically and mentally. We shouldn’t be ashamed of the type of person we are, nor should we be ashamed of our bodies. You don’t have to be a saint, everyone has their issues. Likewise you don’t have to look pretty, you can be completely hideous. But you need to be able to deal with that and accept that and be proud of what you are regardless of what that is. And of course, once you’re completely comfortable with what you are, it’s going to be so much easier to stand naked in front of four strangers while telling them everything about yourself.

I’m not encouraging people to try the above exercise, even though it would probably work.

The next step, once you’ve managed to be honest and comfortable with yourself, is to expose yourself to others (metaphorically!). Be honest with people. Tell them how you really feel. Let them know about you, the stuff you normally don’t tell anyone.

The problem here is that everyone is different. Some people have very light shields and are usually very honest. Other people have very thick shields and try to keep everyone out. You have to be self-aware and honest enough with yourself to identify what it is about you that you keep from others. It isn’t enough to just be honest about the things you’re willing to be honest about. You have to find the things you would never want the other person to know about you or see in you, and expose them to that. Try to have a more intimate relationship with most people.

And I don’t like mentioning nudity because of the reputation it has within the magick community, but this is an area where it can be very useful. With people who are very modest it’s almost necessary that they expose themselves sometime within this process. But even for most people, casual nudity is something that is generally regarded as very intimate and reserved for only a handful of people. Because of that it can really speed up the process and help with taking down ones shields. On the other hand, if a person is a nudist, it probably won’t help them at all. But they’ll probably want to do all of this naked anyways.

Okay, next time I’ll talk about putting the shields back up. You should probably wait for that before taking them down completely.

Shielding, Part I

It’s now become typical that shielding is one of the first things taught to new practitioners. Shields can be used to defend against attacks, to keep harmful energy away from the practitioner, and to keep harmful entities from getting to the practitioner. It seems as if there’s nothing shields can’t do.

Shielding is also one of the easiest forms of psionic magick to learn. In fact, humans tend to shield themselves naturally, and it’s very rare to find a person who naturally has no shields. We use shields to stop people from attaching to us emotionally, and to stop ourselves from attaching to people emotionally. We use shields to protect ourselves from the negative emotions being cast out by others. And we use shields to hide our true thoughts and emotions from those around us.

As great as shields are, they cause to problems. First off, the protection granted by the shield is only an illusion. There is no such thing as animpenatrable shield. Any shield can be penatrated , as can any barrier or ward. The practitioner who has not developed adequate offensive skills because they believed their shield would be enough to protect them will be at a major disadvantage when their shield goes down, or when it ends up being used against them.

The second problem with a shield is that it limits the practitioner. Sometimes a practitioner needs to feel out the energy around them, attach into the things around them,ect. A shield can make it impossible for a practitioner to perform very basic psionic magick . And the better the shield is, the more difficult it will be for the practitioner. The shield is the illusion of the barricade. What seems to be a protect the practitioner from everything outside is actually a prison from it.

Power lies within versatility. A practitioner who can put up and take down their shield at will is far more powerful than one who cannot take down their shield. Learning how to take down one’s shield is actually the difficult part. Once that is figured out, a person can usually figure out how to put the shield back up without much effort, and take it down again whenever it pleases them to do so.

Moreso, putting up and taking down a shield is such a basic act that any competent practitioner should know how to do both. How to take down one’s shield should be one of the very first things that is learned.

Lies a Kabbalist Told Me

Originally published online November 8, 2005.

I’m just going to ramble off some thoughts on the nature of internal balancing and negation for a little bit.

First off, as professed by a lot of Kabbalistic followers, I don’t think the end goal of balance is absolute negation and destruction of self. That just seems absurd to me. I think it’s actually a misinterpretation of what is meant. Balancing isn’t the act of putting two opposites together to destroy each other, but rather holding both at once and keeping them equally. The idea that balance equates to negation is based on the mathematical fallacy that X + -X = 0 in all instances, when what is in fact being looked for within balance is X + -X = Y. Sexual intercourse is an excellent example of this. From a Kabbalistic perspective the male and female are opposites. Yet when they’re joined together in sexual union, they don’t negate and destroy each other (at least with most species), and if certain conditions are met they’ll actually create something completely new while at the same time retaining their own selves in the process.

That isn’t to say that negation doesn’t serve a purpose. Many of the systems out there contain lessons on negation, and the reason for it seems to be that there’s a natural progression from higher magick to lower magick, not vice-versa as the terms seem to imply, or as some practitioners would like it to be believed.

Let me get into that a little more. Ritual magick is almost like magick with training wheels for a couple of reasons. First off, the methods employed make it easier to effectively use magick. All those rituals, symbols, ect. when properly used make everything easier. Secondly it allows the magician to be properly focused and create change only with intention. What I mean is it’s very unlikely that you’ll find yourself performing a complex ritual that involves four props, a cloak, a chalk symbol, and fifteen minutes of chanting on accident.

Lower magick is a bit more difficult to effectively use, although it does have some benefits in that it is more versatile and easier to perform. The magician is dependent upon their own ability alone to bring about change. But as the magician becomes more capable, lower magick becomes much easier. Which leads into the second problem. When the magician is at a point where they can bring about change very easily, it isn’t too difficult for them to bring it about accidentally. A magician in this situation who happens to be emotionally unbalanced or who has an overactive imagination they can’t control becomes very likely to accidentally do all sorts of things unwittingly that have real consequences.

And so under these systems, as the practitioner becomes more and more able and lower magick becomes easier to use, they’re being trained how to control and negate their thoughts, lest they be allowed to remain unchecked and start causing change to occur.

As for imbalance, and I’m going to keep this short and say just what I want to say because it is somewhat basic, if ever imbalance does occur it can feed itself like a cycle that makes it progressively worse. Once a single side starts to dominate, it tends to beat out the other side and push itself further and further out in that direction. Once this cycle has been allowed to continue for a while, it can become very difficult to break it and achieve balance again.

From the Kabbalistic perspective we’re given the idea of balance as being achieved by having the right and the left each pulling in their directions with equal force, and there are some who will propose that true balance is based on having both opposites equally pulling on each other. But from my experiences, that isn’t entirely true, as the end goal should be codification rather than conflict.

Let me explain some. If one side does start to dominate, a quick fix is to just flood yourself with the other side to balance each out. This is effective to some degree. The fact that both sides exist equally will prevent either side from becoming strong enough on its own to make balancing out later on achievable. The two sides will manage to keep each other in check so neither gets out of control. But it isn’t an ideal situation.

Both sides are still feeding within their cycles and pushing more and more towards their side, they’re just doing it within a duality rather than alone. Like I said earlier, this duality has purpose and can help the situation, but it isn’t ideal. It creates a situation where the practitioner is pretty much being torn two different ways. Like the right side of the body is trying to move left with all its might while the left side is trying to move right with all it’s might.

And within this opposition there isn’t much real power. Things become out of focus so to speak, and the power that does exist from each side of the duality can’t be properly focused to achieve it’s ends. The practitioner can lean to one side or the other, and attempt to use that power to achieve the necessary ends, using that which is needed where it is needed rather than having a pure source that can swing towards either end as needed. But once again, this creates problems.

The first thing that comes to mind, is that the left has the power to act, where as the right has the power to sanctify that action and make it good. The left has the power to seek out and create a pleasurable situation, where as the right has the power to find the situation pleasurable. Ect. (These are just a few examples, I could go on all day with this if I really wanted to). Neither side on its own will ever be good, it’s only through their dual existence that good can be achieved. By concentrating your efforts temporarily towards either side rather than at the center you’re taking on everything that exists within that side, both the positive and the negative, and you’re not balancing out the negative aspect with the positive aspect of the opposing side. And so you are, at least for that moment, following the left or right hand path rather than the center path.

The other problem that occurs is that doing this immediately destroys the balance that was achieved through duality. Either more power has been given to one side, or power has been depleted from the other. And so after the act is taken, steps then have to be made to equal out the unused side, to recreate the balance. And of course there’s the danger of not being able to recreate that balance, and one of the sides continuing on its cycle as the dominate force.

As I said this situation isn’t ideal. What is ideal is the codification of these two sides. Having the left and the right merged into a single entity that is both at once, the true center. The opposite forces still exist in full, but both are allowed to exist in their complete form and flow fully through each other. That which remains is both of the left and the right equally, but rather than pulling in opposite directions is unified towards the same ends. It’s been unified, and contains the best aspects of both parts, while at the same time the coexistence of those aspects work against the negative aspects of those parts. To fall back on the earlier analogy of the two sides of the body going in opposite directions, in this instance both sides would act to move forwards together.

 

Eris’ Enlightenment

 

A friend directed me to the Principia Discordia the other day, and it’s the funniest holy book I’ve ever read. While reading through the book, I could feel the energy of Eris coming off of it, and it differed a lot from what I had read about Eris. The general idea I had seen was that Eris was not a pleasant deity and something that should be feared and shunned. I understand how chaos is necessary and good in the universe, and how sometimes things of that ilk get labeled as evil by those who are not mature enough to understand why they are needed. Even so, the energy I felt compared to the descriptions I’d seen were way off. Eris’s energy was fun and enjoyable, and her followers seemed more like members of Harvard Lampoon than left-hand pathers. I went and researched Eris some more, and came up with pretty much the same results. Outside of discordians, I couldn’t find one person in all of history who had written something nice about Eris.

As I sidenote, it’s also very hard to find any imagery of Eris. There are a very few surviving Greek depictions of her. There are some later secular paintings, but not much that is recent and non-secular. The few recent depictions I found of her were actually incorrect.

As I read through the Principia Discordia I started to feel Eris tug upon me and call me to her. I was pretty sure I was going to talk with Eris shortly, and talking to Eris would be the only way I could find out for sure the truth about Eris.

When I went to speak with Eris, she responded to me almost immediately. Her energy was very happy and fun. There is a specific type of joy to that energy which is difficult to exactly describe. The energy also made me crave sugar. There was another aspect to the energy too, which is in agreement to what is taught in the Principia Discordia. It’s a complete removal of boundaries and rules and formalities and such. Almost an emotion of being able to do whatever it is you feel like doing without restriction or judgment. It’s all very pleasant though.

I had sought out Eris mainly to rectify the discrepancy between the various accounts of her, and after I had felt her and knew what she was I asked her why other accounts had described her in the way in which they did. And she explained it to me.

What a person sees in Eris is a reflection of what they truly are. Eris doesn’t corrupt or destroy a person. She just removes rules, and laws, and formalities, and ethics, and honor, and punishments, and rewards, and consequences. She strips away everything else and leaves a person as they truly are.

Those who are truly good see her as good, because she incites no evil in them. Those who are good will continue to hold their actions to the same standards even when there are no punishments or rewards for those actions, and they will not need a structure to tell them right from wrong.

But then there are those who act good, but are truly evil. They are people who are full of malice and selfishness who would do so much more to better pleasure themselves without due regard for others if not restrained by fears of punishment and rewards for good behavior. When they look on Eris, they see evil, because they see what evil would be unleashed if they were ever allowed to act without consequences.

The only thing Eris does is she gives a person the freedom to be themselves, their true self. She’ll expose the great and the beautiful and the innocent as she exposes the petty and the selfish and the malicious.

She also told me that the fact that man knows of heaven and knows of hell proves that neither exists. No man can be labeled as good and deserving of heaven and not hell when his good acts were performed for the sole purpose of escaping punishments in hell and receiving rewards in heaven. At the same time a man’s true nature cannot be discerned until he is able to act freely without fear of consequences.

And she explained the Trojan War to me, and how that wasn’t her fault. She had done nothing, except allow everyone to be as they truly were.

Three deities had been reduced to fighting over something that had little value for any of them.

Paris had been swayed by the bribery of goddesses, and had judged the contest unfairly. Then after receiving the hospitality of Menelaus decided to use Aphrodite to steal away his wife. He then became more concerned with keeping Helen than doing what was necessary for the welfare of the nation that he was prince of. And when given the opportunity to end the affair instead decided to unhonorably attack Agamemnon.

And there’s the petty bickering of both Agamemnon and Achilles, both more concerned with their pride and their little prizes and renown than actually leading their armies into battle. And Odysseus, favored by Athena, who could not help but boast about every feat he accomplished, which in turn brought the death of his crew, the loss of his riches, and left him lost at sea for ten years.

The Epic Cycle is full of characters, many of which were considered the finest specimens of humanity, that were vain and petty and selfish. And they were exposed, and allowed to be as they really were, and because of it many soldiers perished, great heroes died, nations and cities were destroyed, and tragedy struck all but a handful of the participants. No tragedy that befell within the Epic Cycle was undeserved.

And Eris told me that all of this may be useful to some other people, and so I should tell it to whomever I felt like telling it to if I wanted to. All of this was told to me in a different order however. And in writing this, I’ve noticed some subtleties in what was told to me, and some questions I’ve been wondering about have actually been answered.

Mission Statement

Currently there isn’t much useful information about magick available online. The best websites are the ones that reprint books and articles so old they’ve fallen into the public domain. Among current practitioners, most aren’t. Most online magicians, and sadly most real life ones too, have very little practical experience, and most of the information out there is purely theoretical. A lot of people in the community have become very good at parroting information that appears in other sources, sometimes claiming it as their own, sometimes citing it as if the age or name attached to the original gives it some extra validity. Often they don’t even understand the information they’re repeating.

Part of the problem with the current community are the magickal religions like Wicca and Druidism. Magickal truth should be something you know to be true, or at least have good reason to believe is true, based at least in part by personal experience and experimentation. Religious truth is something that is based on faith. Magickal truth needs to be flexible, and is ever changing as the practitioner grows and gains greater knowledge. Religious truth is dogmatic and typically considered to be written in stone.

Part of the problem is fear. A lot of the magickal theorists aren’t practitioners because they’re afraid. Working with magick is dangerous, and there are a lot of traps a person can fall into. All actions, including magickal actions, have consequences. But if a person wants to be able to utilize magick, they’re going to have to let go of that fear and throw the dice. And sooner or later every practitioner will get themselves into a bad situation and they will probably be badly hurt because of it. But this is a necessary part of the process and the only way a practitioner can grow.

It’s upsetting to see so little work online written by actual practitioners who might have something valuable to say. It’s upsetting to think that new practitioners may be trying to research the community online, and come out thinking that the online community is a true representation of the entire magickal community.

I don’t think I could produce enough information to fill a good website on magick. I do think that I could come up with the occasional article or rant written in a journalistic as opposed to essay style. So I’ve put together this blog, updated when I feel like it, to express my thoughts about magick and hopefully give people good information that they can either use practically or think about and extrapolate on.