Magick 101: Our magickal bodies

This is just a short post to quickly explain the bodies we inhabit. You’ll learn the differences between an astral and a mental body, things that are never spoken of like a mento-physical body, what these bodies are capable of, and what a HGA (Holy Guardian Angel) really is. All of this stuff is very basic and essential to understanding the way the universe is made up and how we both fit into it and move through it. It’s also a bit confusing, but that’s largely due to multiple terminologies and people discussing the subject that either don’t know much about it or have only, so far, come to realize part of it. Okay, now for a quick overview.

The Physical Body

Okay, our physical body is what we’re in right now, our body. It’s that physical thing that gets fat when you eat junk food, tires out when you exercise, gets old, and eventually dies. Generally it’s limited to the physical plane, Malkuth. For the most part it also has some limited interactions with Yesod (because Yesod is Malkuth), and you can also walk into the lower realm of Lilith. You can also get to other lower realms, physically, by way of Lilith, but we’re not going to talk too much about that here.

The Astral Body

A lot of people look at the astral body as being an energy body or a soul. That’s a somewhat correct, but somewhat limited, assessment. The astral body is limited to the physical realms of existence. This would be Malkuth/Yesod, Hod, Netzach, Lilith/Gameliel, Samael, and A’arab Tzereq.

Living beings have both an astral and a physical body. A disincarnate spirit meanwhile only has an astral body.

The existence of energy and matter, at least on the Sepiroth, are unique to the physical realms. The astral body being of the physical realm (like our physical body) is therefor made up of energy and matter (same as our physical body). Many people look at the astral body as being only energy, but this isn’t true. It also contains mass, albeit in most cases only small amounts of mass. However there are several ways to increase this mass which is how we are able to interact with the physical plane from our astral bodies. Within the Qlippoth the astral body, although still a combination of matter and energy and still typically more energy than matter, has a much higher mass.

The astral body is always there, usually. Many people see astral projection as the act of popping out of ones body. In reality though it’s just a shift of perspective from the physical body to the astral body. Most of us have a fairly solid astral body that follows us around, usually existing in the same space as our physical body. Some people though tend not to form the astral body at all and just keep a mass of energy. This mass is then formed into an astral body when they project out.

The astral body can be moved and manipulated while you’re not astrally projecting too. This is would be how certain things like remote viewing work (the astral body is sent to a distant location to look, and what is seen is interpreted through the conscious physical body). The physical body can also be manipulated while astrally projecting, although it takes large amounts of concentration. The next time you astrally project, try seeing if you can manage to move your physical body from a distance.

Astral bodies are both physical and finite. They’re created as part of the process that makes us an incarnate being. We did not have our astral body during our past life, in the same way we didn’t have our physical body then. Granted you can shape your astral body and many people do shape there’s to resemble their past life astral form, but it’s still a new body mimicking the old body’s form. Many people see the astral body as our soul and lasting forever because it can survive our physical body’s death. However the astral body itself just has the ability to possibly live longer. Our astral body can and will eventually die. We can be astrally killed.

When an astral body dies it doesn’t leave a corpse, it just ceases to exist. Most people will astrally survive their physical bodies, even if for a very short time. Most people will eventually just shed their astral body when they move on after death. If the astral body is killed while the physical body still lives, the physical body will die. It may be possible to keep it technically alive for some time (maybe), and it may be suitable for a walk-in to quickly jump in, but the person will have passed on and there will no longer be a connection point between their body and soul.

It’s difficult to transfer information between our physical and astral bodies. This often times leads to shady recollections and memory issues concerning astral projections, and also an inability to keep concentrated and focus on our goals when we project out.

The Mental Body

Netzach is the first physical realm. This is where matter and energy first exists, and the physical laws take effect in Hod. Our astral body, being made up of matter and energy, can’t move past Netzach. So we need another body, our mental body.

Beyond Netzach are the higher planes, also known as the mental planes or the heavenly planes. Here things don’t exist as physicalities and energies. They exist as ideas and thoughts and intelligences. A mental body has no real physicality, it is simply an intelligence, a collection of thoughts, ideas, emotions, personality, ect. What it appears as is simply the form it chooses to project out.

Our mental body is also known as our Holy Guardian Angel. It is a part of us (if you pray to your HGA, you’re praying to yourself). This body is connected to us, but there is also a huge separation between us. Because of this, in order to access our mental body, we need to reunite with it. Our HGA always takes the form of the gender that is opposite our physical one. In order to rejoin with our HGA we need to have sexual intercourse at a higher level, one that is more attuned to the mental planes. This allows us to access our mental bodies.

Joining with our mental body not only allows us direct access to the mental realms, but it also lets us access our mental body while conscious. Our mental body is always there, and it’s running around the mental planes doing things (it doesn’t follow us like our astral body). These planes are loaded with information, just about anything you might want to know, and also power, and you can access via your mental body while you’re conscious.

Mental bodies tend to die less often, although they still are mortal. A single mental body can last many lifetimes. When it dies, its intelligence is absorbed into the planes and continues to exist. A mental body typically can’t be killed (there might be a way), at least in a manner it won’t just resurrect itself from. It can be changed though.

Mento-physical body

In the Qlippoth the mental planes run parallel to what are known as the hell planes. Instead of abandoning the physical body for the mental body, in the hell planes we take our mental body (our HGA) and combine it with physicality. This creates a superform encompassing the astral and mental forms. A living person killed here will physically die, however the mental body will have the ability to resurrect the astral, and the mento-physical body will survive. This can result in a perpetual death where a person is continually painfully killed again and again. As I said, hell planes.

The Primal Body (or the emotional body)

Beyond the mental planes are the highest planes of existence, the first triad. Things like intelligences, thoughts, concepts, change, ect. are all constructs of the middle triad. These things don’t exist in the highest triad. In order to access this triad we need access to our primal body. The three planes represent the first impurity (brought about by self acknowledgement), purity, and singularity (the spark of creation). That’s all that exists there. In order to find our Primal Body we need to cross the abyss.

The abyss is a psychological state that we go through. We can leave it at any time after we enter, and we can reenter later. Some folks that get in work a lifetime and never manage to get past it. The point of the abyss is to destroy ourselves. We want to break ourselves down and cease to be thoughts and intelligences and what not and exist as our simplest, purest form. This may mean destroying ourselves, shaving off parts of ourselves, and returning ourselves to a purity. More often than not it also involves numerous mental breakdowns and other psychological horrors. We are literally trying to break our mine so it isn’t there, to return ourselves to a more primal state of being.

The Super-Physical Body

In the same way the mental body can not access the first triad of the Sepiroth, the Mento-Physical body cannot access the first triad of the Qlippoth. Once again, in order for the proper body to be accessed, an abyss must be crossed. This abyss isn’t a psychological state, it’s a literal abyss. It’s crossing is an ordeal and a trial that will test the practitioner physical, mentally, and magickally. There are ways to leave it without crossing, but not all who go in can. If you reach the end the mento-physical body will have evolved into the super-physical body. This would eventually lead to Thaumial, which is the first division, at which point the super-physical body is supposed to divide into multiple beings, each of which can run the gauntlet itself, eventually reforming into an even more advanced being.

Beyond Kether and Thaumial

There are realms beyond these. The three Ains are the next barrier to be past in order to find the next body, however as far as I’ve been able to tell nothing on in the mental realms or below has ever gotten past those barriers (or if they have remember doing so), and so what lies beyond that is a mystery.

Time Travelling Magick in Theory

Suppose we need some money, say $500. So we devise ourselves a spell that will make us super lucky so we win a small sum in the lottery. This is doable. Typically when we create and cast this spell we make it so it happens at some future point, like tomorrow or next week. But if we really wanted to we could also cast the spell so that we won the lottery yesterday or last week.

It is of course more difficult to change events that have passed than events that are yet to come (so you are better off casting your lottery spell in the future), but it’s not that much more difficult. In fact, most of the difficulty involved is due to our own ideas and perceptions about how time works, and has nothing to do with the metaphysics or the difficulty of the spell. In fact a spell cast into the past, if the practitioner is assured of their success or doesn’t know they are doing it, is not very much more difficult than a spell cast into the future.

The same way that the ideas of distance and space are largely an illusion when looked at metaphysically, so is the linear nature of time. We perceive time as constantly moving forward, as the past being a sure thing, as the future being completely changeable, and the present as being our chance to exercise free will. In reality we just happen to move forward in time at a somewhat constant rate. Things can just as easily move backwards in time. In fact this nature of time has been known to physicists for quite some time, and it’s been proven in physical experiments. We end up with only two possible realities. Either the future is already written and can’t be changed, or the past is as malleable and uncertain as the future.

Time doesn’t just move backwards either. Time, much like space, is spread out in many different directions. Most of us move through time on a single set route. We could move on completely different routes though. We could go forward or backwards, we could move from one point to another point far in the past or future, or we could go to parts of time that wouldn’t even exist on our time line. In the same way that all points of space are really in the same place, and anything in all of existence is close enough to touch if you just know how, all of time is interconnected and any point can be reached and manipulated from any other. Manipulated is a key word here. The past, the same as the future and the present, is malleable and can be changed at any time.

Take for example a manifestation spell. Suppose we’ve been looking for a book we really want. We’re about to enter a book store. We cast a manifestation spell (typically this is simple psionic magick) to make the book appear in the store. We haven’t looked in the store, we haven’t perceived what’s in the store, and so we assume we’re casting a spell into the future because, after all, by our account there is some chance the store has the book in there and we’re just increasing those odds. The same as if we were manipulating a roulette ball to make it land where we wanted to.

For some reason a lot of magicians view the universe as working like Schrodinger’s cat. Schrodinger’s cat though was an example to show a hole in theoretical physics. That cat is either alive or dead at the end of the experiment. It doesn’t exist in a transient state until you open the box. Unless, of course, the entire universe revolves around you.

In the same way that book didn’t just appear there. It was printed, and ordered, and shipped, and stocked, and all together at the very least a few weeks worth of events had to transpire in order for that book to be on that shelf the moment you walked into the store. That simple manifestation spell, unbeknownst to many magicians, actually changes the past and the events that have transpired.

So like, why can’t we go back and kill Hitler before he became Hitler?

It could be done. Hitler could die before he ever becomes Hitler. However the Nazi party will still rise in power. World War 2 will still happen. The Holocaust will still happen. Hitler won’t be the one who does it though, someone else will. You might change some of the events. When things happened, what happened, who lived and died, ect. But all of the big stuff is still going to happen.

The world seems to have its own destiny and its own path it’s following. I don’t believe this path to be unchangeable, but I believe this path to be chosen by us as a large collective and not by a single individual or even a small minority of individuals. If some event happens that would normally change the route the world is supposed to take, such as the death of Hitler, the world veers a little off course and then makes a correction. Some small events may change, but in the end everything turns out the same.

So what if I kill my own grandfather?

You’d most likely cease to exist in your current form. Your soul would probably end up in another body born around the same time. Your new life would probably be very similar to your old one. Yeah, I know you were never born now because you killed your ancestor (which makes you a dumb-ass), but your ancestor didn’t die until after you travelled back in time to kill them, which is the event that makes it that you weren’t born, so you actually were born when you killed them. Also you’ll still have accumulated your karmic debt for that lifetime including the murder of your grandfather, and it will keep as a past life that can be regressed. It seems strange, but time doesn’t move in a straight line, it’s a big open space.

So can the past be changed?

Sometimes personal changes can be made. Small changes are easy enough and can be done without a problem. Manifesting a book, getting a small amount of money, getting a girl to go out with you, ect. This is magick that, cast into the future or the past, is fairly easy to pull off. Drastic life changing events are always more difficult to get though. Making it so that you live longer, winning the lottery, getting married, and the like are typically very difficult things to do even with magick. Much like the world we have our own destiny, and we tend to move along that path that has been laid out for us. When we do veer off that path, the road seems to change around us until we’re right back on track. You might make it so you don’t die next Monday, but you end up dying next Tuesday instead. More often than not the magick fails, or the magick succeeds but then it retroactively fails. You might actually win the lottery, only to have the event erased, and then you’re left not even remembering winning the lottery.

That isn’t to say these big things can’t happen. They can. You just have to go about it differently. You have to change your destiny and then rewrite it. You may have to rewrite it for other people that are very attached to your life too. For the most part though once you change your destiny, the universe will start rewriting and work around you to put everything back into its natural order.

Noticing changes in the past.

If a magician is very aware, aware of themselves and aware of the universe around them, they can sometimes manage to remember the past how it was, not how it now is. Sometimes when things are remembered differently, it’s because they actually happened differently.

Accidental time manipulation in spellwork.

There is a common phenomena that happens during intense spell and ritual work where large amounts of time are either lost or gained. This isn’t just limited to solitary practice or situations where people may have just lost track of the time. I’ve been in a situation with two other practitioners where an hour passed in about ten minutes time (which is impossible to mistake), and the clock in the working area had only registered ten minutes passing when all the other clocks registered an hour. This is an extreme example though where it is both noticeable and provable. There are other times when it’s more subtle. It may, for instance, feel like days have past in a five hour time period.

Intentional time slowdown and speedup

One fairly simple magickal trick that some people have a good aptitude for is speeding up and slowing down time. They can make it so time passes at a much faster rate or a much slower rate.

Time travel by way of going in and out of time.

Time comes into existence in the sphere of Geburah. If you go beyond Geburah, to Chesod, the idea of time no longer exists. Chesod is a place where everything is forever and stagnant. Things don’t change, and there is nothing acting against anything to cause change. When you leave Geburah you leave the entire continuity of time. When you go back into Geburah, you can come in at any point you want to. So in this way you could travel backwards in time.

Part of the problem with this method is you aren’t taking your physical body beyond Geburah. You aren’t even taking your astral body beyond Geburah. You’re taking your mental body. So for starters, you can’t just appear in Victorian London because you weren’t born then. You could go back to after you were born, but then we come to other issues.

First is the transfer from the mental body to the astral body and then the transfer again into the physical body. This process is completely doable, and you could use it to wake up and have it be yesterday. The problem is it’s very difficult to keep your thoughts and knowledge from deteriorating between each transfer. So although you may wake up yesterday, you may not remember any of the important things you needed to know for today. You may not even have any memory of the future at all. It may come as nothing more than premonitions or deja vu.

Secondly, the above example assumes a best case scenario where the point in time you’re travelling to is a point where you’ve already managed to come together in union with your holy guardian angel. If you haven’t, then once you travel backwards your connection point between your astral and mental bodies is going to be severed. You won’t have any direct access to yourself. The only access you will have is to approach your astral and physical bodies as your mental body. If you ever had a point in the past where your Holy Guardian Angel was communicating with you and trying to give you information prior to when you became one with them, now you know how that happened.

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.

Notes on Spirit Animals

A spirit animal is a guardian spirit tied directly to oneself. They guide us and aid us through out our lifetimes, and act as a reflection of our true selves. It’s possible for a person to have more than one spirit animal. It’s also possible for a person to have only one spirit animal. Everybody and everything has at least one spirit animal. Animals have spirit animals, and so do incorporeal beings like angels and dragons. A spirit animal reflects the soul, and everything with a soul must have a spirit animal.

Our spirit animals are given to us at birth, they stay with us our entire life, and they never change. A person does not get to pick their spirit animal during their lifetime, no matter how much they may want to.

Spirit animals have a direct relationship to the world in which a person is incarnate. Because of this, all spirit animals are real animals existing in that world. Imaginary animals and extra-planer beings are never spirit animals (dragons, unicorns, manticores, chimeras, ect.), although extra-planer beings may be tied to an individual as a different type of guardian spirit.

Sometimes, though rarely, a person has a spirit animal which is extinct. A long extinct spirit animal may point to a person that is an old soul, in other words has been incarnate on this world for a very long time, although this isn’t always the case.

Spirit animals are specific animals. For example, no one has a canine spirit animal. They may have a dog spirit animal, or a coyote spirit animal, or a wolf spirit animal.

Our spirit animals are an extension of our true selves, the essence of our souls. They represent our true personality in a purity, untied from the physical plane, and as it was at our birth. By studying our spirit animals we can learn about ourselves.

When studying spirit animals, take into account everything typical of the animal, and then look at what unique or atypical qualities the animal may have, and then look at what the animal is known for, and then what it may be symbolic of and how it appears in mythology.

Typically a person will keep the same spirit animals from lifetime to lifetime. Sometimes though it happens that the nature of a person’s soul changes, sometimes dramatically, and when that occurs their spirit animals also change (at the time of their next birth). A person in this situation doesn’t completely lose their older spirit animals though. New spirit animals are assigned who act as the spirit animals of the soul in its current state, but the old spirit animals remain as the past spirit animals belonging to what the soul was. What the soul has become is built upon what it was, and so it will always be tied to its past self, and thus always tied to its past spirit animals. Past spirit animals don’t serve the same purpose as current spirit animals, and for the most part don’t have as much influence or impact as current spirit animals do.

Examples of spirit animal studies:

Dog – Dogs have the strongest and longest symbiotic relationship with humans out of all animals, and they’re almost entirely dependent on them. They’re also loving and loyal, if simple, creatures. People with dog spirit animals tend to be full of love and shower their affection on the people closest to them. They tend to be very loyal and often times have codependency issues. They are however generally happy and easily amused. They’re also the type to wear their emotions on their sleeve, and usually what they say is pretty close to what they’re thinking.

Coyote - In nature coyotes are scavengers, and people with a coyote spirit animal tend to be scavengers themselves. Not only do they love to find treasure, but their definition of treasure often times includes junk. A lot times they see other people’s garbage as treasure, and a lot of times they may not care how old, outdated, damaged, or broken something they like is. When they see a ‘treasure’ they’re often under the impression they may be able to fix it or otherwise use it (such as for spare parts or in a craft project), and they never pay attention to the amount of time or money it may take to repair the object. The impulse to scavenge when they find treasure is so strong it’s often hard for them to resist even when they know they’ll never get around to fixing it, or it will be a hassle to do so, or it will be difficult to get home. In myth coyotes are also known as tricksters, and people with coyote spirit animals also tend to be tricksters, typically having a good sense of humor and a love of practical jokes.

House cat – Unlike their larger cousins, house cats are not very ferocious. They are very agile and limber though, and people with house cat spirit animals are typically by their nature agile, but tend not to be very strong fighters or warriors. House cats, along with most other felines, are known to be psychic animals connected into the spiritual realm. People with feline spirit animals not only have a natural talent for magick and innate psychic abilities, but it almost always means that the person has an otherkin pastlife (although it would be perfectly normal for an otherkin not to have a feline spirit animal).

Freestyle Magick

A school of thought concerning magick has emerged which hopes to reform it into something akin to science. It’s proponents believe that magick has a very direct cause and effect relationship, and that the success of a given operation is dependent upon any number of variables being true, and that so long as all of these variables are true the operation will succeed every time. The science of magick is has reduced it to nothing more than reading and gathering (and possibly even obtaining through oral communication) all available information and then experimenting through trial and error while recording every conceivable variable and looking for those instances which result in success.

In reality though magick is more akin to art than science. There are rules and theories concerning art, none of which are absolute, and there are exercises and methods available to an artist which will increase their skill. But there’s also inspiration, and a mastery over emotion, and that thing that just clicks in an artist’s head at any given time. There is no formula which can guarantee a masterpiece. There isn’t even a formula that can guarantee anything more than a blank canvas. Art, like magick, is something that happens in the moment, and when successful is typically as much improvisation as premeditation.

Rituals are not meant to be rigid step by step guides to performing an operation which must be followed as if they were sourced from some mystical owner’s manual to the universe. A ritual is a method of performing a ritual that worked for a particular practitioner and are created as a how-to framework that other practitioners may take ideas from or build upon in order to perform the operation themselves. A ritual is never the only way to perform an operation, nor is it always going to be the best way to do it, and the methods employed by any practitioner will most likely carry some of their own personality and beliefs, and lean towards their own strengths.

The magickal dogma of today is nothing more than the thoughts and ideas of some past practitioner written down into words, and is no more or less valid than the thoughts and ideas of current practitioners. True magickal wisdom is not something can be read and memorized, or even something that develops from experience. True magickal wisdom involves creative thought processes, the ability to solve enigmas as they present themselves, the ability to create or find knowledge within yourself when it is needed, and a bit of inspiration.

Too many people see magick as classical music. If a certain skill level is achieved through practice and certain instructions are followed to the letter something truly beautiful and amazing will result. But magick is like jazz. If you don’t freestyle you aren’t doing it right and you don’t understand what it is.

Rambling Philosophies

I figure I’m allowed one of these a year, will try to put something worthwhile up over the weekend.

Fear, if even a kernel of it exists it will manifest and multiply into all of our magicks with disastrous results. It has nothing to do with bravery or taking risks or other nonsense, it has to do with even the tiniest bit of it dwelling within the depths of ones heart, and if it does its negativity will infect every attempted operation.

It’s a fallacy to separate things that were never meant to be separated, to create a duality where none exists. We assume it is the role of the priestess to take the universe into her and allow herself to become one with its will where as it is the role of the magus to manipulate it to his ends, but ultimately each exists as the other. We are the magi, the ones who connect into the universe as others don’t, that feel her subtle movements of energies and vibrations, that empath the feelings around us and take them as our own. To do this is to become one with the universe, and to be one with the universe means she moves as per our whims. Everything in us is magnified outward and causes change.

When we’re horny, we draw mates towards us. When we’re intellectual, we draw information through us. When we’re content, others are drawn towards us. When we’re aggravated, others are drawn away. And when we doubt our magicks or their effectiveness, even the smallest bit in the deepest recesses of our mind, and even momentarily, we destine it for failure. And when we are afraid, even the smallest bit, we draw forth much of the lower planes of existence.

They say there is a microcosm and a macrocosm, but there’s only a universe. As above so below was the first blind. In truth, there is only what is.

The Magus and the Priestess are separate only when seen from this side of the abyss. They who in the Lovers are separated in Tepherit, and as per a lesson of the Devil, can cross the abyss once they are reunited as a singularity.

Every shield and every defense, even every protection, is a manifestation of a fear, and every fear, however small, will ripple across the universe and cause it to change and oppose us. Our shields and the help of friends and our faith in gods to save us are all manifestations of fear. Only alone and unprotected and naked can we begin to realize a purity of our being. It would be comforting to speak of faith in oneself and ones ability now or to rely on the power of our magicks, but even these acts are a manifestation of fear. I will say that which truly comforts me, which is a reflection of my true self, though I feel this will be different for each: There is an adventure that lies ahead of me.

All of this seen from the edge of the abyss. Be seeing the lot of you on the other side.

-Rob

The Virtues of Discordianism

Magicians, and progeny the scientists, have always taken themselves and their subject in an orderly and sober manner, thereby disregarding an essential metaphysical balance. When magicians learn to approach philosophy as a malleable art instead of an immutable Truth, and learn to appreciate the absurdity of man’s endeavours, then they will be able to pursue their art with a lighter heart, and perhaps gain a clearer understanding of it, and therefore gain more effective magic.

-Principia Discordia

I’m not a Discordian myself. I do however like and respect them, and I believe there is a lot of truth in their spirituality, even if it is overlooked by outsiders. Their main holy book, the Principia Discordia, is divinely inspired and provides a direct link and channel to Eris. Her wisdom is contained in the book. It’s also a very entertaining read (in the way television is entertaining, not in the way a horrible poem about a penis written by Crowley is entertaining), and I highly recommend it.

I do believe many magicians would benefit greatly by adapting some Discordian principles and believes into their magick, and I’d like to take a moment to look at those philosophies which err on the side of Discordianism that would provide the greatest benefit to a practitioner.

1. You can’t take this shit seriously – Really, you can’t, or you won’t survive it. If I took just what I’ve been through in this past week and took it seriously I’d either have a complete mental break-down or become an alcoholic. The ability to be a bit lighthearted and nonchalant about this stuff is one of the things that keeps us from curling up in a fetal position and muttering nonsense the rest of our lives. Which leads right into number two on the list:

2. In regards to your spirituality, your magick, yourself, and even your gods, you need to be able to laugh about it – Laughter is one of the best psychological weapons against the worst situations we find ourselves in. Laughter and joy also attunes us to the higher planes as opposed to the lower planes. And really, being spiritual is no excuse for being somber. Many look at spirituality as something that needs to be taken seriously and shouldn’t be joked about, but these are people who have most likely had a dead Jew on a cross stuck up their ass for some time now. This stuff is a lot more fun when you can laugh about it. And Gods are, supposedly, far more advanced and complicated than humans, and yet most seem arrogant enough to believe that concepts such as humor and laughter are so foreign to the divine that they have no understanding of them or their necessity to humanity. Those that truly love us, be they divine or otherwise, would rather see us laughing than not, would rather we be happy than not. And all of this leads right into number three:

3. Magick is supposed to be fun – I notice a lot of people bitch about the sacrifices they’ve made, the pains and trials they’ve endured, and the rigorous training they’ve undergone to supposedly become magicians. Other than the occasional rant about Wiccan stupidity I’ve been roped into, I don’t. I’ve sacrificed, I’ve endured my trails, I’ve gone through the training, and horrific shit happens to me on a weekly, if not daily, basis. But at the end of every day that I’ve been on this path I’ve looked back and thought to myself, this shit’s fun. I get to fight monsters and see other worlds and talk with gods and solve puzzles and manipulate the universe itself just for my own amusement. I love this stuff, and if I didn’t have it I’d be so fucking bored I’d probably kill myself. If you don’t enjoy magick, if it’s some burden or cross you’re carrying, you’re doing something wrong. Maybe this just isn’t the path for you. Maybe you aren’t made of the right stuff for this. Maybe you just need to change your perspective a bit.

4. Fnord

5. Freestyle, chaotic, carelessness is more often than not at the heart of true magickal advancement – We don’t typically advance ourselves as magicians by reading books and listening to lectures, carefully following basic exercises in order to strengthen our psychic abilities, and keeping to a tight structured path of attainment all the while acquiring numerous degrees. It’s those days that start with what seems like a good idea at the time and end with us getting raped by mermaids while fending off demons we’ve accidentally summoned into our bedrooms that ultimately build us into better magicians. The magicians who achieve the most aren’t the ones who think, “Wait a minute, this might be dangerous,” but rather the ones who think, “I wonder what would happen if instead of sitting in the goetic circle I laid naked in the triangle with the talisman drawn on my chest with a sharpie.”

Sex is Sticky

This is a post I made maybe 3+ years ago to a now defunct yahoo! group. For whatever reason I kept it, and it has some interesting, albeit basic, thoughts on sex energy and sex magick.

Unfortunately I haven’t been able to play around with sex energy as much as I would like to. But I have noticed some differences with sex energy as opposed to other types, mainly being that it’s very sticky.

What I mean by that is that it’s very easy to attach something to sex energy, and that even naturally things tend to become attached to it. And of course sex energy is released from a person when they have sex, although they can draw it right back in if they know how. But if they don’t draw it back in, not only is the sex energy lost, but so is whatever was stuck to it.

It really doesn’t take any effort at all to do this on a basic level. Mundanes do this. It’s commonly known that sex can be used to relieve stress (this will be a minor plot device in 50% of the new sitcoms airing this week, I’m semi-psychic :). And now psychiatrists are saying that having sex regularly can help with all levels of depression. And this is what is occuring without effort, with effort it can be used for much greater effect.

Another thing I noticed about sex, even prior to any metaphysical thought about it, is that it’s sort of a boiling pot. It mixes easily with nearly anything and changes. Sex can be mixed with love, or compassion, or anger, or anything else and the end result will be slightly different.

I’ve also talked to some metaphysical healers who have claimed that they are able to use sex magick to heal (in a metaphysical way, not in a physical way), which makes me think that it may be possible for disease to stick to sex energy too.

A few things I’m wondering about and have noted about this:

I’d actually be curious to look at different specific types of entities that are predatory and feed off of sexual energy. I’m guessing what would be found is that in most cases a specific type targets only certain types of individuals determined largely by their general demeanor. The idea being that the entity would have a preference for certain emotions being intermixed with the sex energy, and a repulsion to other emotions.

Another thing, which should go without saying anyways but some people I’ve met really could’ve used someone saying it to them, if a person is going to play around with sex magick and sexual energy, then they should be particular about who exactly their partner is and be sure that they’re compatable.

I’m also thinking that sex can be used for a sort of cleansing effect, and that it is used that way naturally among mundanes from time to time. Basically a way to throw all of the shit out of you, and empty yourself to fill yourself back up how you naturally are.

Now based on the idea that sex energy can be released, that it’s sticky and things are easily attached to it, and that this energy can be reabsorbed by another, I’m thinking that sex can be used as a sort of courior between two people.

On the simpler level, it can be used to transmit simple thoughts and emotions between to people. Or it can be used as a means to communicate information which cannot be communicated through typical means. Or it can be used to send outward some part of oneself to be
absorbed by another.

I’m realizing this while I’m writing the post, but it seems as if this is filling up some of the gaps in what sex becomes as it ascends to higher stages. This seems to fit between what is typical of the physical world and what is a bit higher than that, and actually binding two entities together through sex. It seems to fit together nicely now. A bit later on I may post the different levels of sex that I know of and see if anyone else can add to them or fill in any other gaps. I have to put some things together in my head first though.

Of Magick, Money, and More Effective Magick

Looking at my website stats and talking to readers, I’ve noticed that a good percentage of my readers are coming from spiritual systems that are supposed to lead to financial success (i.e. Law of Attraction, Tony Robbins, ect.). Oddly I’ve never been a part of one of these systems, and I was almost completely ignorant of this segment of the community prior to getting web traffic from it.

I’m not about to endorse any particular system, but from what I’ve seen most of the systems, when used correctly, should result in some success. It’s up in the air if any of these systems are really channeled works, but even if they are channeled works I haven’t seen anything new in any of these systems. The systems combine basic theories of self-help (like making a list of goals and then following through on them) with certain basic magickal laws of the universe (such as like attracting like). There may be some room for dispute with the accuracy of the magickal laws and there may exist exceptions to them, and at the same time the various systems seem to simplify the laws and ignore the greater complexities that may exist within them, but at the same time the laws these systems utilize are the most fundamental laws of magick that have been tried and tested and have pretty much become axioms of magickal work for eons. So long as you aren’t trying to do something weird with them, they should hold up. Combine these with the various self-help systems, systems that have been around for decades or longer and which have been well tested with proven results, and you’ll have a system that should work and the dedicated practitioner should achieve at least some of their material goals.

But is it a complete spiritual system? No. Financial success through magick isn’t one of my stronger areas, and I don’t often post on it. I’ve noticed that most of the people that have come from these sites aren’t coming to my blog looking for that kind of information though. They want to know about things like meditation, kabbalah, and tarot. These systems only give their practitioners a taste of spirituality. The systems themselves don’t even teach a true mastery of the system. For example, most of these systems claim to be acquired through a channeled being. And yet as far as I’ve seen, none of these systems focus on teaching the practitioner how to directly channel this being themselves, or how to channel their own separate being, either of which would result in a true mastery of the system as presented.

These systems don’t create adepts or even initiates, instead they create neophytes, people who are open and actively exploring spirituality without yet acquiring any real purpose or direction. But there are also good reasons for this. Firstly, most people don’t come into these systems looking for spirituality, they are typically looking for some sort of material success. However the utilization of spiritual methods to achieve these material goals results in certain practitioners being spiritually awakened to a degree and evolves their spiritual path. Secondly, most people come into these systems with spiritual and religious views. Although some minor spirituality can be included (such as channeling a spirit or using magickal laws) without offending most people, as the system becomes more spiritual less people will be willing to adopt it into their already established spiritual views.

It’s easy to look at the practitioners of these systems and liken them to the kinds of people who buy into get rich quick schemes. I’m almost certain that the get rich quick people do find their way into these systems, it’s the sort of thing they’d be attracted to. But I think that a lot of the people using these systems are hardworking and dedicated individuals who, on their own, have failed to achieve their goals, and these systems offer them a means to direct their hardwork and dedication in such a way to achieve success. It’s this later type that will most likely find spiritual success when they move beyond the system. Magick isn’t the easier path to doing something, it’s the more difficult path.

The universe is like a river. There are three ways to swim in a river. The first way is to just swim across the thing. It gets you from point a to point b based entirely on your abilities and strengths. This is how most people swim the river, and this is why it’s so difficult for most people to find success. You almost have to be born naturally talented to achieve even modest success in life using this route. Through hardwork, perseverance, and dedication you may eventually end up better off than most by doing things this way.

The second way to go is to swim downstream. This is the equivalent to moving with the universe. The universe moves in certain directions and it does so with great force. When you swim downstream the river can carry you far and at high speeds and it requires little effort from you to do so. One of the tricks to performing powerful magick and appearing stronger than you actually are is to move in the same direction as the universe. When you do that the universe carries you and lends you its power to be used towards your own ends.

The third option is to swim upstream. This is to move against the natural order of the universe and to have it constantly push against you to put you back in your proper place. This is the most difficult option. Swimming downstream gives the practitioner far more power than they’re naturally capable of, but a magickal path typically goes upstream more often than it goes downstream. Where the downstream swim is used to acquire large amounts of power, the upstream swim is used to acquire strength. The practitioner swimming upstream will become stronger and stronger until such a time as they’ve obtained a complete mastery over swimming upstream a particular river. If they fail to do so, the river will consume them. It’s this mastery over opposition that results in strength. This is how magick makes practitioners powerful. The road is largely an upstream swim, and strength becomes a necessity to survival, and those that can’t acquire that strength don’t survive. The magickal path isn’t the easier or safer path, it’s the difficult and risky one.

An Idea

I got a little caught up last night and wasn’t able to get a post up. I had a video blog put together for just such an occasion, but I couldn’t get that to work either. In any case, because of time constraints this is all I’ve been able to put together.

As above, so below.

Mastery of the universe is directly tied to mastery of the self. External change is dependent upon internal change, and vice-versa. In order to have power over the universe, you must first have power over yourself.

And there are three selves. There is what we perceive ourself to be, what we wish ourselves to be, and what we truly are. There is power in all three of these selves being the same.

To be what you perceive yourself as will improve your character, at least in terms of your desired path. To be what you wish you were means to have everything you want.

There are of course obstacles. Fear. Ego. Envy. Ect. Most people are too afraid to be the person they percieve themselves as, or to become what they wish they were. Most people won’t admit that they aren’t what they percieve themselves as, and thus they can never improve and correct the divergence.

The simple way to deal with all of this is to give up. When you refuse to see yourself as anything at all, complete destruction of self, and when you give up all desire so you wish for nothing, then you have brought all three to the same place.

But there’s also the more difficult way to deal with this. To act as you see yourself always and to become everything you want to be.

Then the only limitation on your power would be the extent of your wishing.