skip to main |
skip to sidebar
This ritual has been on the Internet for awhile at my old website and has been revised and modified a number of times. It is essentially an Enochian version of the Golden Dawn Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. This is the third finished version of the ritual.
A number of writers have come up with Enochian pentagram rituals of this sort and they all share certain similarities. It is pretty clear that the most logical names to use when tracing the pentagrams are the threefold names of God from Dee and Kelley's Great Table (ORO IBAH AOZPI, MPH ARSL GAIOL, OIP TEAA PDOCE, and MOR DIAL HCTGA) and the most logical equivalents to the Archangels are the Kings of the four directions (BATAIVAH, RAAGIOSL, EDLPRNAA, and ICZHIHAL).
Beyond that, though, there are a number of differences between my version of the ritual and the other versions that are available.
* Instead of trying to reproduce the Qabalistic Cross I instead begin and end my version of the ritual by tracing the figure of the pentagram across my body accompanied by names from the Tablet of Union. To me this embodies the statement in the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram "About me flames the Pentagram." The ritual begins with the Invoking Pentagram of Active Spirit and ends with the Invoking Pentagram of Passive Spirit, setting up the two basic polarities of the suble body.
* I use the directional arrangement from the Reformed Great Table of 1587. There is some discussion among magicians regarding which version of the Great Table is the "best" but I have found that I get better magical results with the Reformed version. It's good to test this out, because your experience may vary.
* For this version I have finally given up on the idea of associating specific elements with each direction. Most authors do this using the Golden Dawn arrangement, with which I have some issues. In fact, the original Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram uses the Pentagram of Earth for all four quarters. I have done the same here.
* There is no English in my ritual - the entire text is written in the Angelic language, which I believe makes it more effective. It works even better if you do it while wearing the Enochian PELE ring.
* My final statement is completely different from the Golden Dawn version. It is a Thelemic allusion to the union of Nuit and Hadit.
Here is the full ritual text.
* Stand in the center of your temple facing east. If possible, wear the Enochian PELE ring. If you wish to use a magical weapon, use the banishing dagger for the banishing form and the invoking wand for the invoking form. Your Air Dagger and Fire Wand can double as these, but I prefer to use dedicated tools.
* With your finger or magical weapon, trace from your left hip to your right shoulder while vibrating NANTA (Earth), from your right shoulder to left shoulder while vibrating HCOMA (Water), from your left shoulder to right hip while vibrating EXARP (Air), from your right hip to your forehead while vibrating BITOM (Fire), and finally from your forehead back to your left hip while vibrating EHNB (Spirit). Then clasp your hands over your heart and vibrate IAIDA ("The Highest"). Visualize the pentagram traced over your body in bright electric lavender.
* In the east, trace the Banishing Pentagram of Earth while vibrating ORO IBAH AOZPI. The pentagrams should be visualized as formed from burning flames and as vividly as possible.
* Turn to the north. In the north, trace the Banishing Pentagram of Earth while vibrating MOR DIAL HCTGA.
* Turn to the west. In the west, trace the Banishing Pentagram of Earth while vibrating OIP TEAA PDOCE.
* Turn to the south. In the south, trace the Banishing Pentagram of Earth while vibrating MPH ARSL GAIOL.
* Turn back to the east. Extend your arms to form a cross and vibrate:
RAAS I BATAIVAH ("In the East is BATAIVAH"),
SOBOLN I EDLPRNAA ("In the West is EDLPRNAA"),
BABAGE I RAAGIOSL ("In the South is RAAGIOSL"),
LUCAL I ICZHIHAL ("In the North is ICZHIHAL").
Make one full spin counter-clockwise while vibrating MICMA AO COMSELH AOIVEAE ("Behold the Circle of Stars"), then clasp your hands over your heart while vibrating OD OL, MALPRG, NOTHOA ("And I, Through-Thrusting Fire, in the Midst."). * With your finger or magical weapon, trace from your right hip to your left shoulder while vibrating EHNB, from your left shoulder to your right shoulder while vibrating BITOM, from your right shoulder to left hip while vibrating EXARP, from your left hip to your forehead while vibrating HCOMA, and finally from your forehead back to your right hip while vibrating NANTA. Then clasp your hands over your heart and vibrate IAIDA. Visualize the pentagram traced over your body in dark, deep purple.
This is the banishing form of the ritual. The invoking form is the same except that the pentagrams should be the Invoking Pentagram of Earth and they should be traced to the quarters in clockwise order. The directional names remain the same. Also, the spin should be clockwise to align with your initial clockwise rotation.
A number of variations on this ritual are possible. It can be adapted to fit the Golden Dawn directional arrangement without too much difficulty - you swap the names associated with the west and south, so that you vibrate OIP TEAA PDOCE in the south and MPH ARSL GAIOL in the west, and switch RAAGIOSL and EDLPRNAA when calling the Kings. I like to trace the pentagrams as I vibrate the associated name, but you could also visualize the pentagrams on your forehead and "fling" them to the quarters along with the vibrations as in Aleister Crowley's Star Ruby.
Keywords: astral projection can you spells of black magic free love spell spells black magic buddhist meditation chants candle love spell dark goddess books of shadows religions believe anglo saxon gods
The small town of Salem, Massachusetts has a rich history. It was one of the first places in North America to be settled by the English way back in the 16th century. Along with Plymouth and Boston, it was part of the Hudson Bay Trading Company and settlers had to carve out their lives in the midst of an American wilderness previously untouched by European hands. Salem also was the location of one of the most famous witch hunts in the New World, with several young women accusing the wives of rich landowners of practicing witchcraft (as supposedly taught by a Haitian servant.) The Salem witch trials resulted in several executions of both men and women, and became a cautionary tale of mass hysteria and religious extremism for centuries to come.
Nowadays, the town banks on its "occult" background, growing exponentially with tourists around Halloween, and anyone with even a passing interest in Wicca or witchcraft seems to gravitate there. Given all that history, Salem seems a really screwed-up place to set a massively multiplayer game focused on crafting and building.
But that's exactly what makes "Salem" one of the most interesting concepts that I've heard for an MMO in a really, really long time.
It's hard to encapsulate exactly what makes this game from two Swedish college students so compelling in a pithy statement, because it's an amalgam of so many different and fascinating ideas. Here's a quick rundown of some of the ideas in the game:
* When you die in "Salem", you stay dead.
* It takes a long time to make stuff, which is shortened by your tools and how many friends you have helping you.
* Instead of HP or Energy, your status is determined by how much of the four "humors" or bodily fluids you possess: Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile and Black Bile
* Killing another player, or committing any other crime such as vandalism or stealing, produces a "scent," which can be tracked by a player with the ranging skill
* If someone wants revenge and tracks you, they can summon you even while you're offline and kill you. (See line item #1)
* You level by eating and drinking.
* In places of civilization, the area is full of light. As you move into the wilderness, it gets darker and more mystical enemies will show up.
* Building certain structures like churches will increase civilization, i.e. make the area brighter.
* Practicing witchcraft (placing curses, etc.) will produce its own "scent" which can only be detected by those with the correct skill.
Interested yet?
Bjorn Johannessen and Frederik Tolf currently run a game called "Haven and Hearth" that is kind of like the first draft of a lot of what "Salem" intends to be. But where "H&H" feels homemade with its simple 2D graphics, "Salem" has the full support of Paradox Interactive behind it and a full 3D interface. It's meant to run on one server where everything is persistent for all players, but they may add more servers after launch. "Salem" will be free to play, and I'm interested to find out how it is monetized without jeopardizing the balance. Unfortunately, the publisher isn't ready to share that information just yet.
Full Article
Suggested ebooks:
John Musick - The Witch Of Salem
Friedrich Adler - The Witchcraft Trial In Moscow
Marian Green - A Witch Alone
Keywords: astral travel meditation astral projection travel astral projection for beginners is astral projection dangerous astral projections real astral projection the necronomicon book
I recently discovered that Kenneth Grant, a noted and somewhat famous occultist and writer, had passed from this world to the next. Mr. Grant died on January 15, 2011, although many of us were not aware of it at the time. So I am putting together this brief eulogy to celebrate his great accomplishments and to note his passing at the ripe old age of 86. (Kenneth Grant: born 1924, died 2011.)
Mr. Grant was probably best known for his Typhonian trilogies, a series of 21 books that examined the dark side of occultism and magick. Grant was probably one of the first to attempt to give African Religious Traditions an occult context, and he also lionized, for a short time, the obscure and infamous occultist, Michael Bertiaux. He also was one of several individuals who claimed, for a time, to be the Outer Head of the Order of the O.T.O., a claim that produced a rather famous series of law suits, which in the end, he lost. Grant also knew Aleister Crowley during World War II, although that time period characterized Crowley's declining years, both as an occultist and an elderly man. Crowley died in 1947, but the youthful Grant lived on to take up the torch of Thelemic magick, and to cultivate and evolve it into a profoundly post modern perspective. Grant also knew and was friends with Austin Spare, another amazing pagan occultist and artist.
At the present time, I can't recall anyone else who was such a masterly proponent of the Lefthand Path than Grant, and his books very likely inspired a whole generation of LHP magicians and occultists. It was through Grant's books that the Left Hand Path took on a particularly irresistible glamor. However, many of Grant's techniques used to link together various obscure practices and beliefs were tenuous at best, fictional fabrications at worst. Grant also took the literary creations and fantasies of the infamous Lovecraftian Chthulhu Mythos and brought them into a supposedly respectable occultic context, which became rich fodder for chaos magicians everywhere. He was also deeply involved in resurrecting the writings and artwork of Austin Spare, and probably singlehandedly kept that work from succumbing to complete oblivion. His wife, Steffi Grant, added her darkly themed ink drawings to the burgeoning collection of "night gallery" artwork, which was always included on the cover and in black and white picture prints in the middle of each book. This artwork had as much impact on readers as the various odd and obscure occult concepts that Grant sought to darkly illuminate in his books.
Grant left a powerful and irreparable stamp on the practice of ceremonial magick and occultism, and those who practice chaos magick, emulate the practices of Austin Spare, seek to integrate ATR beliefs and practices into their western occultism and magick, develop a system of magick based on the Necronomicon and the Chthulhu mythos, practice lefthand tantra, or who seek a deeper understanding and appreciation of the writings of Crowley, owe him a great debt of gratitude. Grant seemed to leave no stone unturned, and he managed to forge together the dispirit threads of post modern occultism, science fiction and fantasy, horror fiction, exotic ethnic traditions and obscure antiquities, producing a blend of dark occultism and Lefthand Path practices. If you have even the faintest attraction to the dark side of occultism and magick, then Grant is likely your spiritual godfather, whether or not you have read his books.
I started to collect and read Grant's books back in the late seventies, when the "Coven from Hell" that I belonged to decided that it should branch out into lefthand path occultism and magickal practices. I had to start with his first set of books that were already in print, but soon caught up and read every book up to a certain point. I recommend several of his books, which I consider to be classics and important reading material for anyone who is interested in having a well rounded occult background. The following list of works authored by Grant are just a small part of my recommended reading list, although some may be out of print, very expensive or quite difficult to find.
"The Magical Revival" (Weiser 1972) - This was Grant's first book that set the tone for all of the books that were to follow. At this juncture, Grant was interested in extending the occult concepts and practices of his mentor, Aleister Crowley. He also introduced to the world the writings, artwork and practices of Austin Spare.
"Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God" (Weiser 1974) - The second book goes further into producing deeper revelations of the Thelemic current, focusing on aspects of sex magick, dream control, the Qliphoth and left hand tantra, which is a part of what Grant calls the "Ophidian current."
"Cults of the Shadow" (Weiser 1976) - The third book breaks the ground of revealing the background and connections of the infamous and secretive Lefthand Path, including forays into various African religious and magickal practices, Voudoun (with an emphasis on the Petro rites), lefthand tantra from India (Vama Marg), and numerous other reputed traditions both east and west that were infamously tainted with the lefthand path. It is in this book that Michael Bertiaux is introduced to the occult community. Grant even went so far as creating an African version of the Tree of Life, something that Bertiaux had also been working on.
"Nightside of Eden" (Muller 1977) - The fourth book is probably one of the great classics of lefthand path occultism. It is in this book that Grant attempts to pull together a complete system of the Qliphoth with all of its associated symbology and chthonic spiritual entities. Grant's main premise is that the Qliphoth is nothing more than the backside or unconscious shadow of the Tree of Life, and that a knowledge of the Qabalah is incomplete without a corresponding knowledge of the Qliphoth, which exists as the core and the source of everything spiritual or material.
"Outside the Circles of Time" (Muller 1980) - The fifth book takes the knowledge and concepts forged in the previous two books and brings them together by tying in yet another source, which is that the lefthand path has its origins in extraterrestrial influences. According to Grant, we have not only been visited in the past by extraterrestrials, our entire corpus of dark occultism as well as even some of the genetic anomalies of sorcerous individuals have been due to periodic intercession and intercourse with extraterrestrials. This is where Grant begins to pull themes and ideas from H.P. Lovecraft into his work, as well as introduce the occult world to the workings of a group of magicians in Cincinnati who had proposed a new aeon of the Egyptian goddess Maat. I thought that this was also a good book, but Grant's ceaseless proofs involving Gematria and other very obscure occult evidence seemed at times to be grasping at straws.
"Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare" (Weiser 1975) - Another excellent book by Grant. This book revisits some of Spare's writings and reproduces a lot of Spare's artwork. Grant attempts to categorize and give a more rational framework for Spare's occult beliefs and practices, but the deeper examinations are contained in the above books. This book had quite a variety of Spare's artwork beautifully reprinted, much of which had not been in the public purview for half a century or more. If you want to get a real insight and perspective into Austin Spare through his artwork, this is probably one of the best books on that subject. The artwork is carefully reproduced and given a greater critical and logical context that Spare himself was unable to provide in his earlier writings.
Kenneth Grant also produced his own versions of the books by Aleister Crowley "Magic in Theory and Practice" and "Book Four," combining them together to produce a work entitled "Magick." I never purchased a copy of this book, so I can't make any recommendations for it. Grant had an interesting perspective on Crowley, and in some ways seemed to understand him in a deeper and more profound manner than compared to the writings of his other students and torch holders. In all, Grant published more than 21 books, although most of what he published I neither purchased nor read, since the bulk of it came out after the above six books.
Beyond the above list of works, Grant, in my opinion, began to produce books simply for the sake of marketing himself and selling them. Very little ground breaking material surfaces from these works, and it would seem that Grant's brilliance finally succumbed to telling tall tales and producing a fictional account of his occult world and experiences. Particularly painful is Grant's writings about the "Mauve Zone" and his animating of much of Lovecraft's fictional writing into supposed occult revelations. I found the books, "Hecate's Fountain" and "Outer Gateways" to be nearly useless and even somewhat silly. I stopped buying and reading Grant's books after attempting to read these two awful tombs, and decided that he had finally come to the end of producing anything revelatory or even useful in a practical sense.
Grant cranked out many more books, but I only gave them a cursory glance when I ran across them in occult bookstores. I felt that I had the best of what Grant was to produce in his long life, and had no regrets about not purchasing any more of his works. He had faded somewhat from the focus of my work, but his revelations and accomplishments with the six books listed above stand as a foundation to the work that I am doing, and the work that many others are doing. We all owe Kenneth Grant a debt of gratitude for all of the amazing things that he did give us in his literary career.
Frater Barrabbas
Keywords: name of egyptian gods free love spell casting aleister crowley demons love spell testimonials dog guardian angel black magic beginners astral travel experiences aleister crowley barbara bush horoscopes tarot readings
People who have been practicing magick for more than a little while will often say that the practice of magick is a lifestyle. Sure, there are folks out there for whom magick is just a hobby of sorts - we tend to equate them to Sunday Christians (those who only practice when it's convenient for them rather than every day). The best practitioners live and breathe magick at every moment of every day, or at least try to. Every action you perform can be imbued with intent and mindfulness that makes it magick. This is as true for Shadow practitioner as it is for anyone else, and is perhaps even more important.
Shadow Magick is serious work. It requires the practitioner to be absolutely honest with themselves: to pay attention to what they do and why, to examine their own motivations and feelings, and to own up to the consequences of their actions. Shadow Magick doesn't work if you do a ritual with absolute honesty and intent and then bugger off and start lying to yourself and others. Shadow Magick is designed to change the way you look at and interact with the world. You "have" to integrate it in your everyday life for it to work properly. Shadow practice is always going to be more effective when integrated into your life than otherwise. The bulk of Shadow Magick's formal practice is made of rituals and exercises to recognize our shadow selves, to see ourselves and our world more clearly, to integrate our shadows, and to transform ourselves. These practices need to be supported by our everyday actions, but it isn't easy.
Living shadow every day means being very, very self aware. Self-destructive habits, meaningless routines, and self-deception can all kill shadow work. You need to be able to step back out of the every day and look at what you're doing and why, and whether or not your actions are really supporting you. Too many of us are trapped in routines and habits that just take up time for no real benefit or, even worse, that actually send us backwards. Living shadow means looking critically at every action you take and asking yourself if it gives you a benefit. Your actions can help you earn a living, gratify your senses, make you feel good, help you improve yourself, help someone else, etc. Are there things that you do that don't actually benefit you? Why do you do them? ("Because you always have" is not a sufficient answer.) If you can't answer that, then it's time to stop doing it. Living shadow means acting mindfully.
Even more difficult than being aware of what you do is being aware of what you think and feel. Yes, living shadow means looking at your feelings under a microscope. It's not exactly a comfy process, but it's necessary. Are your thoughts and feelings based on truth, or are you twisting the facts to fit the way you want them to? Are you angry at your friend because she actually wronged you or just because she did something totally benign that made you feel threatened or did you just misinterpret what she did? Look at the facts of a situation objectively before you make decisions. Get an outside objective opinion if you need one (someone who has their own experience of the situation, not just your [probably biased] description). This examination is most important when you find yourself thinking negative thoughts or experiencing negative emotions because they have such tremendous power to color your entire experience. What a waste to spend all day angry because of a simple misunderstanding. Even worse, how are you supposed to do magick to see yourself more clearly when you've spend eight hours in self-delusion - that's energetic moment that will ruin the most carefully planned working. Being mindful of our thoughts and actions helps us to sustain the magickal momentum we begin in our workings and makes it more effective.
Of course, being mindful of our emotions does not mean we don't feel them. We all have moments when we feel things that we'd rather not or that seem counterproductive to our plans. There's nothing wrong with that - we're just regular human beings not bodhisattvas. The trick is to experience our emotions and then let them go, rather than hanging on to them and stewing in our own juices. For example, when I get cut off in traffic I get furious and that anger will stay with me for a while, depending on just how close the bastard got to hitting me. When I step back from the situation I realize that I get angry because someone has endangered me for no good reason and forced me to modify my behaviour unexpectedly. What I'm really feeling is a flash of fear and panic, and being forced to feel those negative emotions makes me angry. Knowing that my anger is really caused by fear will allow that anger to dissipate once I'm secure in my physical safety. My anger is a defense mechanism that fills me with adrenaline so that I can deal with danger. It's a useful emotion that serves a purpose, but it can be destructive if I don't truly understand it. I'm not actually angry with the other driver, I'm afraid for myself - that's a big distinction. Shouting at the other driver or getting road rage, while oddly satisfying, does nothing to satisfy my need for safety and thus won't actually help deflate my anger. I can feel the fear and anger, recognize them for what they are, and then let them go. Unfortunately, it's hard to step back when we're in the midst of strong emotions and if you can't do it at first that's ok. When you've calmed down a little take some time to examine what you were feeling and try to identify the root causes. Once you learn to do this after having strong feelings it will become easier to do so while you're feeling them. Much of the practice of meditation is designed to help people do just this, and for many people it can take a lifetime.
Living shadow means being mindful in your everyday life and making choices that continue the energetic momentum of your workings. Having the courage to be truly honest with yourself during your everyday life and not just in circle is difficult. In circle we know we're in a safe space and we usually have the time to take care of ourselves if we have disturbing realizations, in our workaday lives we rarely have this luxury. Make this level of awareness a goal and work towards it slowly. Allow yourself to progress at whatever pace you need and just see what happens.
A few resources that I found helpful:
Suggested ebooks:
Sirona Knight - The Cyber Spellbook Magick In The Virtual World
Joseph Ennemoser - The History Of Magic Vol 1
Anonymous - The Basics Of Magick
This is a good post from The Philosopher's Magazine - I'm not sure I agree with Hacker that cognitive neuroscience is a load of nonsense. However, I am convinced (after reading this article - which is almost but not quite an interview) that I need to read Hacker's book on the topic, "Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience" (2003).
Hack is mostly opposed to scientism as near as I can tell - and I am with him on that regard. There is much about human experience that cannot be explained with brains and neuroscience.
HACKER'S CHALLENGE
WRITTEN BY: JAMES GARVEY APPEARS IN: ISSUE 51
Posted by: TPM. October 25, 2010
PETER HACKER TELLS JAMES GARVEY THAT NEUROSCIENTISTS ARE TALKING NONSENSE
Peter HackerSo long as people read Wittgenstein, people will read Peter Hacker. It's hard to imagine how his work on the monumental "Analytical Commentary" on Wittgenstein's "Philosophical Investigations" could possibly be superseded. He spent nearly twenty years on that project (ten of them in cooperation with his friend and colleague Gordon Baker), following in Wittgenstein's footsteps, and producing a large number of important articles and books on topics in the philosophy of mind and language along the way. Nearer the end than the beginning of a distinguished career as an Oxford don, at a time of life when most academics would be happy to leave the lectern behind and collapse somewhere with a nice glass of wine, Hacker is in the middle of another huge project, this time on human nature. He also seems keen to pick a fight with almost anyone doing the philosophy of mind.
This has much to do with his view of philosophy as a contribution to human understanding, not knowledge. One might think that philosophy has the same general aim as science - securing knowledge of ourselves and the world we live in - even if its subject matter is more abstract and its methods more armchair. What is philosophy if not an attempt to secure new knowledge about the mind or events or beauty or right conduct or what have you? According to Hacker, philosophy is not a cognitive discipline. It's something else entirely.
"Philosophy does not contribute to our knowledge of the world we live in after the manner of any of the natural sciences. You can ask any scientist to show you the achievements of science over the past millennium, and they have much to show: libraries full of well-established facts and well-confirmed theories. If you ask a philosopher to produce a handbook of well-established and unchallengeable philosophical truths, there's "nothing" to show. I think that is because philosophy is not a quest for knowledge about the world, but rather a quest for understanding the conceptual scheme in terms of which we conceive of the knowledge we achieve about the world. One of the rewards of doing philosophy is a clearer understanding of the way we think about ourselves and about the world we live in, not fresh facts about reality."
His account of the nature of philosophy is Wittgensteinian through and through. It's a conception of philosophy which regards philosophical problems as confusions in language rather than deep mysteries encountered in the world. The job of the philosopher is to make these conceptual errors clear to us and in so doing help us out of our muddles. Philosophical questions aren't solved; they're dissolved. There is knowledge here, in a sense, but it's not the sort of knowledge most philosophers think they are pursuing.
"By doing philosophy you come to realise things about the structure of our conceptual scheme that you would never have realised otherwise. Realization is indeed a dawning of knowledge. But the knowledge here is not knowledge of the world we live in. It is knowledge of the structure of our conceptual scheme. It very often looks like "metaphysical knowledge" of reality - as it were knowledge of the scaffolding of the world. But it's no such thing. The world doesn't have scaffolding. Rather, in doing philosophy, we come to realise the character of the grammatical and linguistic scaffolding from which we describe the world, not the scaffolding of the world."
Because he thinks of philosophy is a quest for understanding, on Hacker's view it can't be transmitted from generation to generation as knowledge can. Each generation has to earn insight, has to face its own obstacles and work out an understanding for itself. This strikes a chord. I wonder about the present generation and what Hacker thinks might get in the way of our understanding.
"The main barrier is the scientism that pervades our mentality and our culture. We are prone to think that if there's a serious problem, science will find the answer. If science cannot find the answer, then it cannot be a serious problem at all. That seems to me altogether wrong. It goes hand in hand with the thought that philosophy is in the same business as science, as either a handmaiden or as the vanguard of science. This prevailing scientism is manifest in the infatuation of the mass media with cognitive neuroscience. The associated misconceptions have started to filter down into the ordinary discourse of educated people. You just have to listen to the BBC to hear people nattering on about their brains and what their brains do or don't do, what their brains make them do and tell them to do. I think this is pretty pernicious - anything but trivial."
In the last decade Hacker has turned his attention from the philosophy of language to the philosophy of mind, dealing with what he sees as a whole raft of conceptual confusions in cognitive neuroscience. "Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience", which he co-authored with the neurophysiologist M. R. Bennett, works through a number of tangles in detail. As we talk about some of them, I begin to see that there is a straight line from his Wittgensteinian thoughts about the nature of philosophy to his work on the mind.
Read the whole article.
Tags: Philosophical Foundations of Neuroscience, James Garvey, Peter Hacker, The Philosopher's Magazine, neuroscience, Philosophy, brain, mind, consciousness, Wittgenstein, knowledge, language, understanding, scientism
Suggested ebooks:
Aleister Crowley - Liber 008 Liber Samekh Theurgia Goetia Summa
Aleister Crowley - Liber 101 Ordo Templi Orientis An Open Letter
Aleister Crowley - Liber 800 Liber Samekh Theurgia Goetia Summae Congressus Cum Daemone
Keywords: easy astral travel astral body projection temple of thelema sir john dee enochian magic occult practices magick book john dee smith magick ritual candle magic
{lang: 'en-GB'}
If you search around the internet or peruse books that discuss witchcraft, magick, and how to be a wizard, you may well end up confronting conflicting lists of definitions and labels. Some people like to get very technical and list differences between words like witch, priestess, sorcerer, wizard, mage, druid, and the like. They denote varying specialties, spell types, and even philosophies among these definitions.
We feel that a good deal of this is not quite necessary. We've already noted we generally use "wizard", "witch", or the general "practitioner" on this site.
If you feel curious, you are of course always free to do your own research. As noted earlier, the Net is filled with information and resources to help you on the path.
If we here at "how to be a wizard" can compile a helpful list of role types that is general enough but still denotes commonly-held distinctions, we may do so in a later post. For now, let's simply agree that black magick in general has a negative, hurtful intent, and that is certainly not what this site is about. Beyond that, let's talk about magick itself.
Once again, the beauty and challenge of these paths is that there is no governing body. It is a living tradition adapted by the needs of individuals in their specific circumstances. As established, magick certainly has its root in being connected to, and revering Nature. Beyond that, there are two general ways to view magick by those who walk the path.
As we discuss much on" how to be a wizard", the first viewpoint defines magick as a way to resonate with, or be in sympathy with, universal laws and energies. In turn, the practitioner is both more influenced by the Life force (gaining wisdom) and also more able "to influence" the effects of the Life Force (manifesting changes and outcomes in the seen world). It's kind of a chicken and egg thing.
The second viewpoint more directly deals with spirits. Instead of a one-on-one relationship with Life/Nature/The Universe, the magick practitioner communes with spirits, and the spirits act as the agents of change. They can be thought of as intermediaries between you and the Source, and bidders of your intent.
Think of the first, one-on-one way setup, as a romantic relationship. It's all about you and It!
Think of the second approach as being part of a team, but some members of that team have higher clearance than you (i.e. direct access to the President).
Now that we've outlined the two fundamental approaches to magick, the writers of the "how to be a wizard" site actually have this to say: we do not see the two approaches as mutually exclusive (and we're not alone in this).
In the broadest perspective, you are one with Life. In the experiences of the seen, material, or mundane world (all words for the same thing) there exists an abundance of different expressions of the fundamental Life Force. This is the richness of Life, the varying people, plants, animals.
When communing with energies that occupy modes of existence that are different from our material plane (which we can call spirits), then you are simply interfacing with another aspect of Life. This relationship with Life in all of its forms is a fundamental part of how to be a wizard.
All in all, communion with a spirit, an aspect of your own consciousness, an animal, or plants and herbs by ways of you making a healing concoction, are all the same. It's you as Life playing with those "other" things as Life.
Playing with your cat or dog and communicating with a spirit, are thus, in essence, very similar. The plants and animals and people and non-material entities we may encounter all serve to direct our focus in certain ways, providing their own unique experience and energetic signature.
The same holds true when we focus our attention on the broader ideas of God and Goddess-these are our words and images to denote that we're communing with the greater collection of energies: the Source and Life Force itself.
While we don't want to split hairs, one more word on the subject: the path of learning how to be a wizard is about connecting to and being your highest self, and that includes direct access to Source. There are many ways up the mountain, but we support an approach that affirms that you always have direct access to Source, to the Goddess/God.
No one and no thing must be your go-between.
Meditation to facilitate access to mystic states provides a great boon to those who seek to learn how to be a witch and how to be a wizard. Subliminal Mp3s is a site with tools devoted to this pursuit.
This concludes this "basic definitions" article on "how to be a wizard."
The next article begins to explain common tools used in the magickal practices.
We look forward to sharing more soon. Good journeys!
(function() {
var s = document.createElement( 'SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName( 'SCRIPT');
s.type = 'text/javascript';
s.async = true;
s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js';
s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1);
})();
Disclosure: We at "How To Be A Wizard" know that everything we or anyone else puts out comes back threefold, at least. Therefore, we always operate with integrity. The products we recommend are from credentialed sources with strong guarantee and return policies. If you purchase a product that we link to, benefit from it, and decide to keep it, we make a percentage of the sale. This is a courtesy to reflect our position of being the "middle man," so to speak. We feel that all parties gain appropriate value in this scenario. Thank you.
Suggested ebooks:
Aleister Crowley - Magick
Aleister Crowley - Magick Without Tears
Keywords: simple astral projection hemi sync astral projection astral projection real astral projection experiences astral projection telepathy enochian magick the dark moon fertility gods and goddesses
The rise of the Golden Dawn political party in Greece (Chrysi Agvi) has caused a great deal of public confusion with the Golden Dawn spiritual tradition, even though they are completely different and unrelated things.
A different and more concerning matter are attempts by religious extremist organizations, the segregationist SRIA and the anti-Semitic and anti-Pagan "Order of the Rose and Cross" (black cross Rosicrucian orders) to take over all Golden Dawn temples and orders. These attempts have already caused serious damage to the reputation of the Golden Dawn spiritual tradition, even though the Golden Dawn is a tradition of freedom and of tolerance!
EXTREMIST CHRISTIANITY UNMASKEDKKK AND SRIAThe time has come for the entire Golden Dawn community to stand together in facing down threats to the Golden Dawn tradition posed by these religious extremist groups.The time has come to put factionalism behind us.
All Golden Dawn temples and orders should clarify that the Golden Dawn spiritual tradition has nothing to do with politics or any political party anywhere.
All Golden Dawn temples and orders should also disavow religious extremism in ALL its forms, distancing themselves from ALL anti-Semitic, and anti-Pagan organizations, including the segregationise SRIA and the anti-Semitic and anti-Pagan OR+C.The Alpha Omega has been tirelessly resisting religious extremism for two entire decades now. One week ago, the AO led the way, publicly taking a much needed stand against all forms of religious extremism. We urged all Golden Dawn temples and orders world-wide to take this stand together with us, as is set forth in the Declaration of Independence below.
Sadly, it appears that religious extremism has already become deeply entrenched in the Golden Dawn community, as so far only the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega and its outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, has done anything at all - taking a firm and clear stand in differentiating ourselves from any political groups confusingly calling themselves Golden Dawn and denouncing the religious extremism of SRIA and OR+C!
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
"WE, THE CHIEFS AND ADEPTS OF THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER OF ALPHA OMEGA AND INITIATES OF OUR HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN, DECLARE OUR ORDER TO BE COMPLETELY FREE AND INDEPENDENT. THE AO AND OUR HOGD HAVE NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER WITH THE ANY POLITICAL PARTY OR GROUP CALLING ITSELF GOLDEN DAWN OR OTHERWISE. THE GOLDEN DAWN IS A PURELY SPIRITUAL TRADITION AND NOT A POLITICAL ONE.WE ALSO HAVE NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER WITH ANY RELIGIOUS EXTREMIST GROUPS, INCLUDING THE ANTI-SEMITIC AND ANTI-PAGAN "ORDER OF THE ROSE AND CROSS," THE SEGREGATIONIST SRIA, OR ANY OF THEIR OFFSHOOTS. THE ALPHA OMEGA CONDEMNS RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM IN ALL ITS FORMS, INCLUDING SEGREGATIONISM, ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-PAGANISM, AND ANTI-THELEMIC DISCRIMINATION. TO IGNORE THE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER POSED TO THE GOLDEN DAWN BY CONFUSION WITH ANY POLITICAL PARTY WOULD BE A FATAL ERROR FOR THE GOLDEN DAWN TRADITION. AN EVEN GREATER ERROR WOULD BE TO ALLOW THE GOLDEN DAWN TRADITION TO BECOME ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM OF THE SRIA OR THE OR+C. LET US PUT FACTIONALISM IN THE GOLDEN DAWN COMMUNITY BEHIND US, AND TAKE THIS UNITED STAND FOR THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY AND TOLERANCE EMBODIED IN THIS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE."AGAIN: We once again urge all Golden Dawn temples and orders world-wide to stand shoulder to shoulder with your Alpha Omega brothers and sisters in republishing this Declaration of Independence on all of your websites, fora, and blogs!
SO FAR: The silence is deafening!
Why are certain temples and orders so afraid to make clear that the Golden Dawn stands for FREEDOM and TOLERANCE?RESIST RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM
OF OR+C AND SRIA...
STAND WITH THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF THE
ROSICRUCIAN ORDER OF ALPHA OMEGA!
Keywords: enochian magic spells black magic curses witchcraft black magic astral travel experiences norse goddess alesteir crowley chanting meditation black magic love spell how to learn magic spells
