The Sigils of Thomas Pendragon

This is a heads up that my friend Tom has been working on channeling and transcribing a series of 84 sigils (28 sigils of the Ether, 28 of the Abyss, and 28 of Earth), these are not only beautiful, but full of symbolic meaning (some of it which is hidden and has never been published) and they’re all very powerful. Right now Tom is printing them for everyone to see and hopes to eventually publish them with some sort of scheme that will allow others to use and expand upon the work in their own publications. He’s also working on commentary for all the sigils which will incorporate his own work and experiences with them.

The binding sigil was one that really struck me because it contained a symbol which I routinely use as part of a binding spell (now that it is given away, I’ll be posting it shortly). I’ve never actually told anyone the methodology of the spell, especially Tom since I use it against him when he tries to get in magical shenanigans when I’m driving him places.

The Short History of the Sigils

Part One: Alagon.

Sometime before I met Tom, while he was living in Florida, he managed to open a lot of stuff up at once and happened upon an entity which called itself Alagon that took an interest in him. Tom began channeling the gospel of Alagon and distributing it to others. He managed to find several other people who knew of Alagon and his work. Alagon meanwhile was causing Tom headaches and some bleeding from his head. Others who worked with Alagon had the same problems, and some apparently died of aneurysm. At the time the true nature of Alagon wasn’t known. Tom was still in contact with Alagon when he moved to Las Vegas, and a local magician, Bon Necron, managed to break Alagon from Tom and partially bind him. Later Tom would give me some of Alagon’s gospel to look over, and reading it I did come into contact with Alagon and suffered a severe headache from it. The true nature of Alagon wouldn’t be known for some time.

Part Two: Adiemus

Adiemus was the magical name of a practitioner, who is sometimes also referred to as the Baron, who was active up until his death somewhere around 1920. He was a very powerful practitioner who had access to quite a bit of information and claims to have known and disliked Allister Crowley. Since his death he’s been in contact with prospective students, although his brutal and violent teaching methods typically lead his students to a gory death if they advance too far into his studies. Some of his knowledge and teachings are openly traded within some circles of the community, and stories of his unfortunate past students are out there. Adiemus had a very strong connection to Persephone and had dealt largely with interdimensional travel, astral projection, and dream walking. Tom had come across some pieces of information on Adiemus throughout his travels.

Tom eventually gave me the information he had concerning Adiemus as a curiosity to work with. I don’t intend to speak for Adiemus, and to be honest I think he might be a little off-put by me, but he has taken an interest of sorts in me. Like him a have a very strong connection to Persephone, so that may have something to do with it. Over the years I’ve gained information from Adiemus, and that is where I first learned of the gates and what Alagon, like Adiemus, truly was.

From Adiemus I learned that there were 28 gates of this world. The gates had long ago been sealed, and each gate belonged to some god. However it was an impossibility to close the gates since things must be allowed to pass through for the survivability of the world, and so unto each gate was given a guardian. This guardian, when they ascended into the gate, would gain all of the knowledge and power of the gate, and all those who had been a part of it before them. But this was only a temporary, and detestable, job. Each guardian had the power to seek out there successor, so they could move on, although in doing so they give up the knowledge and power of the gate.

In order to take a gate, a person needs to have a strong connection to the god to which the gate belongs. They also need to seek out the current guardian and undergo their trials and prove themselves worthy of the gate. Finally they need to be fully informed about what the gate is, what guardianship entails, and that it is a trap, and then still choose of their own will to take the gate.

Adiemus is the last person to take his gate, the gate of Persephone. Alagon is the name of the an older entity which guarded its gate, although it has now gone through seven or eight guardians since, but it regards itself as being all that has come before it.

Part III: Phillip

Several weeks ago after a failed magical experiment me and Tom were screwing around with automatic writing when Tom happened upon a magician known has Phillip who had some cool sigils. After talking to him for some time, Phillip claimed to know about several more sigils (the 28 sigils of the ether) and agreed to show them to Tom. Very quickly Tom managed to figure out how to retrieve the sigils without Phillip’s aid. He also happened upon knowledge of other sigils. First the 28 sigils of the Abyss. And then the 28 sigils of Earth, which he reckoned to be the gates that Adiemus and Alagon are connected into.

For a couple of weeks now Tom has been feverishly working on completing the ether sigils and his commentary on them. He then hopes to do the Abyss and Earth sigils.

Thoughts on Teachers

In the terms of our magickal practices, the most important and strongest relationships we develop are with our teachers. And by teacher I’m referring to a traditional one on one spiritual mentorship. There is also the more modern usage which would refer to someone running a class or seminar on a metaphysical topic. That is an entirely different situation with different rules and boundaries, and nothing said here is in regards to that situation.

Often times our teachers will push on in new directions of thought and practice beyond our normal boundaries and press us to think and do things which may make us uncomfortable. They are people who are above us, who we deem as more powerful and more knowledgeable, who guide and instruct us, and who many of us will naturally seek the approval of. And they typically come to us when we’re still new to the community, and before we know any better. They demand us to trust and have faith in them. And that trust and faith demands a great deal of responsibility on the teacher’s part. It’s very easy for the student to be taken advantage of in a student-teacher relationship. It’s also common enough for the student to be seeking a teacher for all the wrong reasons. In any instance, the teacher is considered the superior person in this relationship, and no matter what the circumstances they should know better. Below are some thoughts and facts on the student-teacher relationship and what it should ideally be, which I’m providing as a guide for students and prospective students. I would hope that anyone engaging in the teaching side of a student teacher relationship would already know all this.

1. Most importantly, and the cardinal rule of the student teacher relationship, is that our teachers come to use when we need them, and we instinctively know that they are our teachers and we need to follow them. Every part of our being tells us that the relationship is true and right. If there is doubt that a person is really your teacher, if you don’t feel instinctively drawn to the person and their teachings, then they are not your teacher.

2. A lot of people in the community actively seek teachers, either because they want to possess their power or they want the prestige that comes with being a student of a particular teacher. These are the wrong reasons to be taught by someone, and a person should be wary of anyone willing to teach them under these circumstances. Besides, power comes from yourself, not your teacher, and your prestige, if you are a worthwhile practitioner, should be because of your acts and your ability, not because of your lineage.

3. Your teacher should be teaching you because it is their role and their place in the relationship, the same as it is the student’s role and place to learn. Just as a student feels a compulsion to be taught by the teacher, the teacher feels a compulsion to teach the student. That being said, teaching is not a career or a service rendered. The student shouldn’t have to earn their teaching in any way. This means paying money of course, but it also means buying gifts for their teacher (including paying for meals or going out with them), driving their teacher places, doing chores for their teacher, or working for free or at a reduced wage for their teacher (such as in a metaphysical store). Not all teachers will have money though, and it is acceptable for the student to be expected to pay their own way, ie buying their own books and magickal tools and supplies for spellwork, paying for their meal when they go out to eat, and even bringing something to a pot luck gathering they attend with their teacher.

4. Sex –> it’s inappropriate for a student to have sex or engage in any other type of romantic act with their teacher. There is no reason for it, and a teacher should never even ask. A student should never feel as if they have to, or that there’s something to be gained by it. It is appropriate for a teacher to instruct and give advice concerning sex magick or sex in general, however a boundary is crossed when telling turns into showing or doing. Sexual magick is something that is ideally done between equal partners. Sex magick is something that sexual partners explore together. The teacher-student relationship is not a partnership of equals, but one of a superior and inferior person.

5. Your teacher is not your friend or your romantic partner. These are relationships that are based, at least in part, on an equality and mutual respect. They are also relationships that move outside the boundaries a teacher should keep. It’s perfectly natural for a student and teacher to develop a very close and intimate relationship with one-another, however this relationship will still remain in the boundaries of the student-teacher relationship. It can only develop into something else after the student has completed the teaching and has had time to develop themselves so as to be a peer to their teacher. And it very rarely ever develops into a relationship that breaks the boundaries of the student-teacher relationship.

6. Teaching shouldn’t last forever. It’d be rare for it to last much longer than a year. Whatever the case, eventually the teacher will have fulfilled their purpose and at that point they should release the student from their bond so both can move on with their spiritual paths. There are those in the community who attempt to get students and then try to keep them forever beneath them and forever their students, which leads directly into number seven.

7. The ultimate goal and dream of every teacher should be that their students exceed them. In this way every successive generation becomes more powerful than the last. This isn’t always the case, some students will never reach the level of their teacher, but it should be the goal.

8. A student is not their teacher. Every spiritual path is different, and a student’s path may not match their teacher’s. While the relationship persists, the student may be very much in line with their teacher’s thinking and methodologies. However at some point the student should break away and craft their understanding, magick, and spirituality to fit their needs and personality.

Why Do They Call Themselves Satanists (And Other Fun Facts About Group Structures)

They claim they don’t follow any concepts of Christianity, including those surrounding Satan. They don’t worship or even believe in Satan (those folk call themselves Luciferians, not Satanists, mainly to differentiate themselves from Satanists). Most members are actually atheists, typically with no spiritual views, or if they do have them they are few and limited. If you ask them why they call themselves Satanists, they’ll come up with all sorts of insane and convoluted answers that may partially tie into the philosophies of Satanism. Ultimately though, it isn’t truth.

The real reason they call themselves Satanists is product branding. If they called themselves something else, like say Levayism, then very few people would have heard of them and their membership would be limited to those few who actually care about what Levay thought. But Satanism had a reputation long before the Church of Satan opened its doors. People already had an idea of what it was. And centuries before Levay came along there was already a long line of customers forming who wanted to be Satanists, but had no where to go.

Generally Pagans are a very poor lot. Ceremonial magicians can go either way, some are rich, more often though they have expensive tastes and a poor work ethic though. So for groups like these to form groups in the community, they need to think of creative ways to fund themselves. One method is the pyramid scheme. You have a short few who do the serious work, the inner circle, and this group is funded by the much larger outer circle. Everyone only has to put in a little, and that little bit is enough to fund the smaller inner circle group and keep it operating.

The problem is the inner circle will eventually get to big. Generally the allure of these groups is spiritual progressions, particularly making it into the inner-circle where the best secrets are. Now as an example, if you figure it takes five outer-circle members to fund each inner circle member, that means every time you promote a member to the inner circle your outer circle has to grow by five members. When the group’s growth peaks there’s a lot of room to hand out inner-circle promotions, but eventually it slows down. It might seem as if one could sustain the group indefinitely by sparsely handing out inner-circle promotions, but then we get into another problem. You don’t need a gross gain of five members, you need a net gain. And if you aren’t promoting them into the inner-circle fast enough, they’ll leave and go to a different group. In the end the group falls in on itself.

The CoS was not the first group to employ this method, but it was the first to effectively combine it with product branding to circumvent its worst flaw. The word Satan draws in a lot of members. And these people don’t want to be promoted or get enlightened. They come for other reasons. They want to show off to their friends, be bad-ass, be a rebel, screw with their parents, fuck with Christianity, whatever. They pay their dues, and the Church makes them a member, even gives them a card to show off to other people. And in turn these dues fund the magickal work, and in some cases even the private income, of a select few Satanists. It’s a method that could possibly be sustained indefinitely, because the outer-circle is large whereas the inner-circle can be kept small.

Of course there are other methods to employ too. You could go the route of fleecing the rich. Basically you find well-to-do types and convince them to enter into your group, and then get them to make large donations to it. There is the ’some second rate things in life are free’ types. These people hold meetings and rituals in parks and at local restaurants and bookstores. The very rarely do any real work. There’s also the pay to play model employed by groups like the New Agers, but this only works if, like the New Agers, the average member of the group is upper middle class with money to burn on books, tapes, seminars, vacations, ect.

So Long Mr Grabbe…

It just came to my attention that about three months ago J. Orlin Grabbe passed away.

I only recently found about about Mr Grabbe, in the same way many others did, when my website hits nearly tripled because he linked to one of my articles. When I followed the link back to its origin, I found a website filled with links to news articles on science, the economy, politics, conspiracy theories, and other important things, all interlaced with pictures, mostly of naked women. It seemed like a strange site at first, and yet I found myself checking it regularly.

I also found myself, like many others, trying to figure out exactly what it was and who Grabbe was. As it turns out, he’s one of the original Internet conspiracy theorists, his conspiracies focusing on finance. However, unlike other conspiracy theorists, this wasn’t some random guy in a basement with a tin foil hat. Grabbe had a doctorate in economics obtained at ivy league schools and was renowned as a financial expert long before he ever got into conspiracy theories. Even after jumping into conspiracies he continued to produce important and well regarded works inside and outside of finance. The man was a conspiracy theorists, but he was also legit, not some random crazy but someone who should probably be listened to about the subject at hand.

He was also involved with cryptology, media works, and had a hand in discordianism. That last part probably explains everything.

We not only lost a remarkable man when we lost J. Orlin Grabbe, but we lost the man who was probably the only conspiracy theorist that was sane, logical, and possibly right about everything. My inner-discordian can’t help but think that the world is now bereft something wondrous and beautiful and so rare that we may never see the likes of it again, which in itself is remarkable because my inner-discordian is typically distracted mid-thought by something shiny or funny.

Also the man had impeccable taste in naked women.

Why Thelemites Lack Enlightenment

For many people, religion is an important thing, moreso than spirituality. Although variations exist, the human animal has evolved socially in such a way that religion fulfills various important functions that are not adequately fulfilled elsewhere, and for the past several hundred years, in the west, these duties have been fulfilled mainly by Christianity. A church is a place for people to meet, to socialize, to find others of similar beliefs, to court, to find solace and guidance, and to celebrate, among other things. Many people would do just as well as Atheists, so long as they were allowed to keep their church. Meanwhile many Atheists form Atheist groups which are meant to fulfill the functions of the church, even going so far as to proselytize their spiritual beliefs, or in their case a lack thereof.

Crowley recognized this basic social need for religion in most people, even those seeking spiritual enlightenment. Meanwhile Christianity, the current forerunner, generally frowns upon spiritual enlightenment, to say the least. Even considering the resent emergence of neo-pagan religions, these religions, at their best, barely manage to adequately meet the duties that even the smaller Christian churches can do quite well, while at the same time being just as detrimental, restrictive, and even malicious towards any individuals seeking enlightenment. The obvious solution would be for the enlightened to have their own religion, but in practice this idea fails as they tend to lack the necessary numbers to successfully perform the community functions of a church while their perspectives and beliefs are so dramatically varied and at times conflicting they lack the unity and cohesion of a religion.

Crowley’s solution to this problem was Thelema. Basically he was trying to create a religion to socially and spiritually satisfy the masses, attracting a large enough parish to fulfill all of the functions of the church, while at the same time leaving the group open to, and open ended enough to attract, those seeking enlightenment. The spiritual aspect of Thelema was really only meant for the unenlightened among the masses, not the enlightened who were there to receive the social benefits of the religion, not the spiritual.

But in practice Thelema has failed miserably. The OTO, the biggest proponent of the religion, has already died and been resurrected. Although the group may be able to point to rising numbers, the group still hasn’t shown large enough numbers in any single region for it to fulfill the community functions of the church, nor is it making significant gains to where we can assume this will happen within our lifetimes. Thelema has not done well in attracting general parishioners, who seem content to remain with Christianity, and without these parishioners there is no point in keeping Thelema around, because it fails to serve anybody in any capacity.

Absent Thelema, we are still left with Crowley’s works. These are largely quoted as gospel truth, by people who often times can’t understand the denotation of the sentences being quoted, and Crowley himself is transformed from being a practitioner’s peer to a Christ figure that is assumed to have been at an unattainable level, in other words we cannot be as Crowley was, we can only trust in the truth of what he has imparted to us. Most of his followers assume that by learning and following Crowley’s works they will eventually reach some spiritual attainment, a very Christian perspective, and in doing so they have become, like the neo-pagan religions, little more than Christians with different books.

One problem is there is very little attainment to be gained from what Crowley has left us. Even the great secrets of the OTO, which haven’t been well guarded and are easy enough to find and read, offer very little. Crowley was a remarkable teacher and at his worst still a competent magician. I credit Crowley with being solely responsible for me being able to learn the tarot as well as I have, and also with introducing me to quite a few of the subjects that can be categorized under magick. But Crowley’s works weren’t comprehensive guides, they were beginner manuals. The great secrets of Crowley’s works are the basics that lay the foundations for higher attainment.

This isn’t to say Crowley only knew the basics. His tarot deck implies a far deeper understanding of magick and the universe then is ever betrayed in his written works. The Book of Thoth essay though is only an introduction to tarot, despite being typically described as an advanced text.

Crowley never meant for his works to be the alpha and omega of a person’s spiritual attainment. They are just a foundation, enough information and ideas to get a neophyte to the next stage, and not necessarily filled with truth either, just being what the neophyte needs to know in the beginning. It is thought that any true practitioner will, upon completion of that stage, cast off Crowley’s teachings and forge a path of their own, eventually reaching a point of enlightenment and attainment to where they can consider themselves an adept in magick and an equal to Crowley.

Those that are Thelemites, and followers of Crowley, who fail to cast off the shackles of their religion, who expect to find secrets to the universe in introductory texts, who see Crowley not as a man or a peer or something to be surpassed but as infallible and unattainable, will never know spiritual enlightenment, because they cannot spiritually evolve, and they cannot follow their spiritual path and find truth for themselves as all practitioners must.

Expect More From the Community

[Originally written over a year ago, I have no idea if I actually posted this anywhere. Found it on the HD tonight and thought I'd put it up.]

For the most part, the magick community is no longer about following ones spiritual path. It’s not even about dressing up like everyday is renfair and prancing around while extolling the benefits of fanatic feminism. It’s about money and power now. And those of us who are seeking aid from the community and those of us who wish to help are suffering for it. The mundane’s have commandeered our leadership positions.

As an example, me and some friends went around to the various metaphysical stores in the area to see if any of them would help us advertise for a local meet-up group we were putting together. All but one turned us down. The reason given was that they hold paid classes and workshops, and our free offering would be competing with them, and they don’t want to help their customers find any outlet for their spiritual advancement outside of the store. Then, of course, they expect us to pay $300 for a crystal ball I can get for less than $30 at the flea market.

I’ve been to some of the free classes being offered around town, and I’ve found them lacking. And the students seem to want something more than what’s offered. I’ve volunteered to help with these groups and teach these classes. I’ve been given excuses like these people won’t do any kind of work, or they’re not very advanced, ect. And the moment I say that doesn’t matter, I’m then told no because these people shouldn’t be taught anything worthwhile period.

I go to the different groups out here, and sometimes some of the people in the group start to respect me more than the group leaders. I don’t claim titles, and I don’t brag, so I can only assume they made a judgement call based on their own criteria. In any case, a lot of the times I end up being kicked out of the group, and then people start spreading rumors about me being chaotic and dangerous, usually because I told someone something real.

So I start my own group, with friends of course, and then certain leaders in the community start trying to make us out to be the villain. Now we’re ‘competing’ with them. I wasn’t aware that non-profit spiritual groups were in competition. I wasn’t aware that there was something immoral about offering better things than other groups can for free.

The point of all of this rambling is, things are pretty screwed up out there. The other point is that it’s everyone’s problem, and it’s everyone’s fault. People in the magick community need to stop supporting these people.

Almost anything you can find in a magick store you can find somewhere else (flea market, weapon shop, bookstore), and usually at a much lower price. And the online stores usually have a much better selection. So before you make purchases at a store, find out what they’re doing to help the local community. Do they, or would they be willing to, put up a billboard so local groups can post events? Would they be willing to pass out flyers or business cards to support a local non-profit group? Are they offering any free services to the magick community? Spend your money at the stores that are actually doing something for the community. As for the other ones, there’s really no point in having an overpriced store that offers nothing else in return.

And if the people running the group you’re working with aren’t giving you what you want, go somewhere else. You deserve to get something out of a group. Also don’t be afraid to question the leader’s abilities or credentials. And don’t be afraid to question their mental stability either. Or their control over members.

Does the group leader not allow members to attend functions outside of the group? Do they not allow group members to attend functions of certain groups or talk with certain people? Are they known to have uncontrolled emotional outbursts? Do they try to control the personal lives of members? Do they act as if they’re infallible? Do they become upset when someone corrects them? These aren’t things that good leaders won’t do, these are things that adequate leaders won’t do. This is the bare minimum of what should be required.

And if you can’t find a group that doesn’t do this, then start your own. Please, start your own. We need good groups led by competent people.

And we all need to be honest, to be confrontational, and to bring things out in the open. Too many of the leaders are lying about their background, titles, accomplishments, teachers, education, past actions, ect., openly and in front of people who know the truth, and yet no one bothers to correct them. Instead they’re allowed to carry on, and abuse a whole new set of people who don’t yet know better. It needs to stop. These people need to be stood up to, and when they lie, it needs to be corrected.

Let Us Bring Some Evil Into This World (A Call to End Inaction)

Within the realm of my blog, my book, when I speak with people, when I write people through email, I’ve been rather free about the magickal information I give out. I am very much aware of the danger this information can pose to the practitioner if it’s put to use. I’ve been hurt badly in the past, and I’m no doubt at least partly responsible for injuries that have occurred to others. Still, I continue, and will continue, as I have been, offering what information I have to anyone who truly wants to learn.

There is a disgusting trend that has emerged where information is being hidden away in fear that it may be used in such a way that the practitioner is hurt. Books are being burned or otherwise taken off the market, stores refuse to carry certain titles and authors, people are being told not to read certain works because of the ideas discussed within them, and some are asking, or even demanding, that people stop teaching spellwork, astral projection, channeling, mediumship, and the like to just anyone. Meanwhile practitioners are being urged not to practice. They are being told that they aren’t strong enough or learned enough yet to protect themselves if they chose to utilize magick. In some instances practitioners are being urged to give up magick completely as it’s far too dangerous to ever be used and instead to just be a part of a neopagan religion.

Change is upon us. If you can tap the energy of this place, the vast ocean of energy that exists around us, and fall into it, and follow it a bit into the future you’ll notice that it starts to twist and turn, that it’s twisting and turning right now. We’re heading towards an apocalypse of sort, this world is going through a great change. I can feel it, my teacher felt it, my peers feel it, and almost a hundred years ago Allister Crowley felt it. This isn’t something new.

A lot of people like to talk about this change. I’ve become certain that most can’t feel it, they’re just repeating what they’ve heard from others. They have no understanding of it. A common belief is that, once this change occurs, the veils will break and we’ll all be blessed with magickal and psychic powers. Another belief is that this effect is generational, we won’t gain these powers, but our children or grandchildren or whenever this happens will be born with it.

The truth is this change isn’t something that’s going to happen. It’s happening right now, and it’s been happening for some time. Those waiting to just wake up with their magick powers one day should give up now. It isn’t happening. No new power is coming into this world. The power has always been there, and it will always be there. Having power is a matter of grasping that power which has always been there to be grasped. What has changed is an increase in opportunity.

In the 19th century Levi’s works were only available to those who could speak French. In the early 20th century translations started appearing, but these translations along with their French counterparts were still difficult to find and treasured among those who owned them. By the 1970s increased interest in the metaphysical and cheaper printing techniques meant that Levi’s works were now more widely available, assuming you knew who he was and knew of a place that sold good occult books or a good mail order company. Today Levi’s works can be found at the local bookstore, they can easily be downloaded online, and even if you don’t know who he is typing magick into a search engine along with a week studying online should lead you to him.

Nearly all of the most famous magickal and spiritual works are available online. Every year more works are translated and better translations appear (compare Mather’s Sepher Yetzirah to Kaplan’s superior translation). Finding the exact book you want isn’t much harder than typing the name into an Amazon or Ebay search, or asking your local bookstore to order it. Meanwhile inventions like the Internet, HTML, and cheaper and more efficient POD techniques make publishing and distributing ideas, techniques, theories, and teachings easier.

Right now it is easier for a neophyte to find the information they need to begin solitary practice or work towards initiation than it has been in thousands of years. It is taking less and less work to find the necessary information, and more and more the information is simply presenting itself to people, no work required. And the situation is only going to get better, or worse depending on your perspective of it. No one is going to be gifted with magickal powers. Rather we’re being gifted with a better opportunity to acquire those powers.

This world is in the process of shifting. It’s moving towards some unforeseeable end, and currently it’s ripe to be influenced. I’ve seen factions of otherworldly beings forming. They’re parties that have an interest in where this world is heading and the final outcome of these events. They will take what they can by influence and they will take what they can by force. Wars will be fought between these powers that be, actually the battles have already started, and in the end their strength will determine the fate of this world.

Humanity has been castrated and robbed of the right to determine its own destiny. They’ve taken from us our gods and angels and heroes and villains and demons and old ones, the very things that were meant to show us what we could aspire to become.

And now the world shifts, and the power long ago taken from us is offered to us again. Some believe that we’re destroying this world, that we are a parasite to it, and that it seeks to expel us. This world clings to us and I hear it pleading with us to realize our potential and again become masters of our destiny and determine this world’s fate.

We are among the elite, and we are growing. We are those that have chosen not to cower behind a higher force, but rather to throw ourselves into the universe allowing our strength, our talent, our merits, and our character to lead us to our salvation, or our damnation. We are supposed to be the strong and the powerful who walk the path to enlightenment unhindered by fear, not the cautiously weak who chose ignorance out of fear.

A time will come when these battles come near to an end, and they will have taken what can be taken by influence, and they will have taken what can be taken by force, and the victor will determine what fate befalls all of humanity, and the only hope humanity will have to determine its own fate will be to prove themselves stronger and uninfluenced and take back by force what is rightfully theres.

Inside each of us is the potential to achieve power beyond that of even the gods. Those incarnate here have a greater right to determine the fate of this world than any other entity, and with that right comes the power to claim and defend it if we chose to.

This world does not need caution. It does not need fear. This world needs strength, and it needs practitioners that are practicing and growing in power so that they may face what is yet to come against them.

Power can only be achieved through experience. Risk is an essential element of progress. Read books. Read everything. Don’t be swayed from a particular author because they have been labeled as evil or dangerous. Look at their ideas and determine for yourself their validity. And cast spells, astral project, summon things, channel, in other words practice magick. Get into fights and mix it up with entities. Yes, all of this is dangerous. Do it anyways. Don’t wait to do things because you doubt your abilities. Your abilities will only grow through experience, and doing things now is the only way to grow your abilities. Time spent waiting for your abilities to develop from an armchair will only be time wasted.

We need to walk our paths fearlessly. We need to allow ourselves to grow spiritually. We need to have confidence in our abilities and faith not in higher powers but in our own power to protect ourselves and find salvation.

When we see ourselves as weak, we become mastered by our own limitation. When we believe that we our strong, strength tends to manifest within us.

The true master teaches empowerment, not subjugation. The true master preaches of the strength of his disciples, not their weaknesses. The true master sees himself not as having ascended to a point above others, but of having reached a higher point that others will hopefully exceed.

A Word About Elders

If you have been elected as an elder, if you have failed to be elected an elder, if you have ever voted for an elder, if you are or have an elder who will hold the position of elder for a predetermined amount of time, you are a dumb-ass.

An elder isn’t an elected position. It isn’t a position that requires that kind of validation. And more so, idiots ruin democracy for everyone. This is why the Catholic church doesn’t allow its followers to elect a pope.

A position of elder is acquired through the dual acquisition of power and experience. When a person is powerful and they have gained enough experience they ascend into becoming an elder. This is not something that can be bestowed through appointment, winning an election, or any other such silliness.

However just because someone is an elder doesn’t mean that they’re your elder. In order for a person to be your elder they do need validation, from you. Your spiritual elders are the people you have validated through respecting as your spiritual elders. No one can force their eldership upon you, regardless of titles, past validations, or election results. You have unlimited power to make someone your elder, or not.

Some people do confuse elders with the elderly. Simply because someone is old doesn’t mean that they are an elder. Many people in the community are coming in after hitting a mid-life crisis, which means there are a lot of forty, fifty, and even sixty-somethings coming in as pure neophytes, who after a year or so of studying try to claim an instant eldership.

Meanwhile it should be noted the two criteria that need to be met, power and experience. The older an individual the more likely that they meet the second criteria of experience, but this criteria can possibly, albeit not as commonly, be met within a very short amount of time resulting in an elder coming into being at a very young age. The converse is also true, and a bit more common, some people learn and move spiritually at a turtle’s pace, meaning they can spend decades on their spiritual path and still not be an adept, let alone and elder. At the same time a person may come into their spiritual path at a very young or old age, once again creating a major variance in the ages of an elder.

And age doesn’t take into account the first criteria at all, that a person needs power in order to be an elder. Experience begets power. Power allows for more and greater experiences. Only one who has attained and mastered power can be put into a position to guide others to attain and master power.

Moving past criteria we come to a more pressing question, what is an elder, and what do they do? How do they differ from a group leader or spiritual teacher?

Some view an elder as being a spiritual master who has since retired from their spirituality and now exists to move and guide other masters along their path. However this situation is an impossibility. No true spiritual master can retire from their spirituality. They are intimately aware of their spiritual path, and they are at least aware enough to realize that it is an ongoing process that will last beyond even this lifetime, and that as long as they walk this earth they are also walking their spiritual path.

An elder is a person who has achieved beyond the state of an adept, and as such can now work to aid and direct the community as a whole.

How does this differ from a group leader? Although an elder may be active within the community and may direct and lead the community, it is not their place to lead the group. Group leaders are ultimately tied into group politics and inter-group politics within the community, and as such have a major bias in dealing with spiritual issues. Further constraints are placed upon their time and energies as they have to deal with the more mundane aspects of running a spiritual group (acquiring a meeting place, scheduling events, dealing with disruptive members, ect.). And lastly, leadership of a group does not denote power or experience. As such group leadership may be gained through appointment or election.

Divorced of these concerns and bias, an elder is free to focus their energies on directing and moving the community where it should go unconstrained by the necessity to grow, conserve, or destroy any particular group, and without regard for endangering the respect or acknowledgement they receive from fellow practitioners.

How does an elder differ from a teacher? An elder may also be a teacher, but it isn’t required that a teacher be an elder, and the two roles are separate and distinctive. A teacher has a very intimate relationship with their student, and it is their job to spiritually train and guide the student. A student-teacher relationship requires a strong compatibility between the student and teacher. Each of us is different, and each of us has a different spiritual path to walk. This means that both the teacher and the guidance they give need to be specifically molded to the needs of the student. The teacher-student relationship should be viewed as more of a mentorship where the teacher focuses on the needs of a single student and aids that student to achieve a higher degree of enlightenment rather than a modern student-teacher relationship where a teacher gives a one size fits all curriculum to a large group of students.

The role of the elder is exactly the opposite of that of a teacher. If an elder is active in the community, their guidance is broad with consideration of the whole of the community. Although they aren’t beyond giving out specific advise to an individual, in their role as elder they fail to achieve the intimate connection necessary for their teachings to be specifically focused on the attainment of enlightenment for a single individual. Rather they’re teachings are meant to move the entirety of the community into a higher a higher state of attainment.

But none of this is meant to imply that an elder is somehow indebted to or required to actively participate in the community. And elder has every right to also turn his back on the community and refuse to help or aid it or move it in any direction. This is a right inherent to freewill and the freedoms we are all granted.

Magick = White’s Only!

I use the term magick practitioners alot, and the magick community. Notice I don’t say the pagan community, or pagans. Not all magick practitioners consider themselves pagan, and the magick community is hardly represented in its entirety by the pagan community. I don’t consider myself a pagan, and even if I did, I wouldn’t openly announce myself as such considering how tainted the term has become in just the last decade or so.

Sadly it became common place in the ninties for pagans to embrace the ideals of racism. Magick has always been tied to racism to some extent. See the Thule Society or Klu Klux Klan. But these have always been small segments of the community, and these segments have traditionally been more about racism than magick, and typically shunned outside racist circles.

But in the ninties magick somehow became about white pride. We were no longer seeking our spiritual paths, finding truths, or even commanding power. We were trying to celebrate our white heritage and trying to reconstruct pre-christian white people religion. At the same time the community tried to push away those who were not white.

It also became a popular notion around that time that gods should only be communicated with by those who had a heritage tied to that god. It was also said that a person should have a relationship with gods that don’t share their cultural heritage.

The gods themselves transend even this dimension and the aspect they keep here, let alone a small geographic location on this planet. And let’s not forget about all of those people who are reincarnating and taking their divine relationships with them through out multiple lifetimes. And, most importantly, the gods are very powerful and able to speak for themselves and choose who they wish to have relationships with, and if they don’t want a relationship with someone they can deal with it themselves.

What this line of reasoning is really getting at is there’s something wrong with a black person, or a hispanic person having relationships with Norse, Greek, Celtic, or Roman dieties. It also spills over that white people shouldn’t have relationships with Asian or Native American dieties. And there are several Asians and Native Americans that would like to perpetuate this idea.

Meanwhile many pagans have embraced the idea that certain non-white magickal systems (like Hoodoo and Santaria) are either evil or not real. They’ve also completely disregarded the fact that the eastern mysteries more than likely are to some extent at the foundation of whatever it is they’re now studying.

This idea doesn’t just extend to race. Many discriminate against other perfectly legal life choices. As an example take the nudists. Many are magick practitioners yet they are often times even discriminated against within circles that do practice skyclad. Another are those that claim an otherkin status. And there’s a big list of other things that are discriminated against.

Degrees

The colored belt system used in many martial arts is actually a recent invention. Not too long ago, a person would study a martial art and gradually become better at it, gain a better understanding, and that would be the payoff for the work they did.

In the same way, it can’t be said for certain that a black belt has a better understanding of a system than a white belt, or that they are the stronger fighter. There are too many other factors involved, including the fact that we all learn at our own pace as our needs necessitate, we don’t start as blank slates but bring some wisdom with us when we begin a new system, and there are different aspects of a system where we can excel with greater ease than others.

Is a man who spent four years perfecting his punching a better martial artist than one who spent three perfecting his kicking?

All of this is true of magick. A 5th degree Wiccan, a 32nd degree mason, 8=3 in the golden dawn, a 9th degree thelemite, ect. It’s ultimately meaningless. Some masters don’t have the common sense that a self-taught practitioner with no degrees began with.

Community acceptance isn’t a valid judge of ability either. The community is notorious for pushing certain individuals as ‘masters’ when they lack the common sense of a small bird and have the magickal ability of a concrete brick.

Of course none of this should matter. Practicing magick isn’t about earning degrees, or having the community proclaim you a master or an elder. It’s not about being mystical. It is, and should be, its own reward.

How can anyone call themselves a spiritual leader when they aren’t happy with their own lives? A long term practitioner of magick should be able to bring their lives into a position where it is not only tolerable, but they are happy. And as insane as they may be, they should be emotionally balanced and stable. These are not things that a practitioner finds near the conclusion of their path, but things they should start working on as soon as they begin working with magick, and typically a necessity to doing any greater magickal work.