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If you work full time you probably spend more time at work with your co-workers than at home with your family. As a result, the energies in your work environment can greatly affect your well-being. Most of the practitioners I know have good solid shields for when they're at work, but that's all. If you work in a high stress environment, like say a high volume law firm, then shielding alone might not be enough for you. In that case, you might want to take some more active protective measures.
If you have a permanent workspace (desk/cube/office/etc.) then you can set up basic wards on your space. Traditional wards are often worded along the lines of "nothing intending me or mine harm may pass these bounds." This type of ward really only works if you have absolute control of your space; if you don't necessarily have control over who comes into your space (like your belligerent boss or conniving co-worker) then other wording is necessary. I find that my work wards are most effective when I'm reasonable with them. Rather than saying "Co-worker X cannot come into my space and spew negativity on me," I would say "Limit co-worker X's entrance to my space to when it is absolutely necessary to complete a work task and s/he will depart as soon as our business is concluded." Part of being an adult and holding a job is learning to deal with people we don't like. To have our magick geared to make everything go "our way" all the time is tantamount to having a magickal tantrum - no wonder it's ineffective. I have wards on my desk to keep a particular co-worker from stealing my pens (and chewing on them like a beaver - so gross!) worded as "When Y needs to use my pen he will use it, not chew on it, and then put it back." I could have worded it as "Y shall not touch my pens!" but I really don't care if he uses them as long as he doesn't chew on them and walk away with them. I like to keep my wards at work to the bare minimum necessary to meet my needs because I really don't feel that I have the right to put my needs above the genuine needs of my co-workers.
Another reason to be minimal in your office protections is because many companies actually have office spirits. By that I don't mean that they're haunted, but that the culture and ethos of a business can actually create a thoughtform that embodies the espree d'corps of that business: its spirit. The older and more established the business, the stronger its corporate culture, the stronger its spirit will be. If you model your protections so that they work for the good of the business (e.g., asking for the ability to maximize your efficiency or to get critical work done before being bothered with the less important - thus minimizing your stress and making you a happier and better worker), you can tap into the power of this spirit, making your protections stronger and more effective. You can take further advantage by giving specific offerings to the spirit of your office. I've found that work spirits seems to really love offerings of service like bringing in cookies for the office, being the one to always make a fresh pot of coffee, or other "extra mile" services that make your office a more pleasant place to be.
I like to enhance the protections on my workspace by filling it with subtle, yet powerful objects that give me positive energy and a sense of refuge. One of the most important objects I have at my desk is my mini-altar. To the casual observer my mini-altar is nothing but a tin of altoids.
However, when you open the tin it's a very small altar geared towards protection.
It has a tiny candle, match, an obsidian, a small vial of salt, and a small vial of war water. It's nice to know that should an emergency ever arise I've got everything I need to do a full protective ritual; though I hope to never really need it. (A big thanks to Moonwriter for teaching me how to make tiny altars!)
The other thing I keep on my desk is a large stuffed bat.
His name is Bert (don't ask me why, it's just what came to me) and he sits with my tea. He was given to me by my husband and I find that giving him a squeeze is a great stress reliever. He may not be strictly magickal, but anything that can give me a sense of love and well being just by looking at it is magickal enough for me.
It's possible to have many seemingly mundane objects in your workspace that do double duty in both strengthening your magickal intentions and making the space your own. Pictures and postcards, stuffed animals, quirky coffee mugs, tea jars, pretty rocks (aka crystals), desk toys, hand lotions, lip balms, snacks and candies, pens, etc., can all be imbued with intent and can serve as reminders of your intent or even charged anchors for spells. Get creative with bringing magick into your workspace as subtly as possible. Even if your co-workers are open and understanding of your practices, subtle is better. Other than making certain muggles uncomfortable, having your magick out in the open can actually drain it of its power. Of course, you also don't want to be so subtle that your objects get fiddled with or thrown away by well meaning co-workers. Use your common sense; you know what is and isn't acceptable in your workplace, and if you don't check with your supervisor.
Suggested ebooks:
Anonymous - The Prophecies Of Paracelsus
Snorri Sturlson - The Prose Edda Ver 2
Anonymous - Protection Of Space
I am currently in the process of trying to get my first book published. It is entitled "Operant Magick" and is essentially a textbook on ritual magick incorporating some of my own personal theories and research along with key concepts from the Western Esoteric Tradition. One of the key concepts that I introduce in the book is the "operant field". I use this term all the time when discussing ritual work and it appears nowhere in any other published source on ritual magick, so here's a basic overview of the idea.
Most Western ritual magicians use variations of the pentagram and hexagram rituals. In the Golden Dawn tradition you have the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram and the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram, in the Thelemic tradition you have the Star Ruby and Star Sapphire, in the Aurum Solis tradition you have the rituals for raising the Wards of Power, and so forth. The normal way this is taught is as it appears in Donald Michael Kraig's "Modern Magick", one of the most popular and widely available books on Golden Dawn magick. Kraig says that you start off just using the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and then move on to using the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram followed by the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram at the beginning of every ceremonial ritual. The Golden Dawn taught both banishing and invoking forms of these rituals, but Kraig sticks to the banishing versions and a lot of ritual magicians are taught to do the same.
I started researching these ritual forms years ago and was confused by how little material was available on the invoking versions and when they should be used. In Aleister Crowley's "Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae" it is kind of a curious fact that he covers the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram followed by an explanation of the Lesser "Invoking" Ritual of the Hexagram. I went ahead and decided to try this combination out even though most writers will tell you that you shouldn't use the rituals that way. I was absolutely blown away by the result - all of a sudden my practical magical work got a whole lot better. I set up a number of objective tests and, sure enough, the LBRP/LIRH was amazing. I couldn't get anywhere near the same result with the LBRP/LBRH - even though the only difference between the banishing and invoking forms is the direction in which the hexagrams are traced. When I discovered this I asked around and, sure enough, most of the magicians who I knew who were able to get good results using the Golden Dawn forms had figured out the same thing. Other skilled magicians I know have tried the combination at my suggestion and also found that it just works better.
So what is going on here? I think that most modern writers don't understand how to use these rituals. From a Hermetic perspective the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram represents the psychological realm or microcosm and the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram represents the physical realm or macrocosm. Together the rituals set up a space in which the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm is defined that I call a "field". The four combinations of the banishing and invoking forms of the two rituals set up four different fields that are useful for specific magical operations.
BANISHING FIELD (LBRP/LBRH): This is how most magicians begin their rituals when working with the Golden Dawn forms. It is, in effect, the "full shutdown" - it clears mental and spiritual forms from both the interior and exterior worlds. In can be used to completely cleanse a temple, banish spirits permanently, or neutralize a magical effect that is targeting the magician. What it also does, though, is shut down any ongoing spells that the magician has running unless they are bound to talismans or some anchor other than the magician's consciousness. If you are casting a spell that you want to work over the next week, don't end the ritual with this combination under any set of circumstances unless you're convinced you made a mistake and want to stop the spell. The effect that you just set in motion will be negated when the field goes up.
INVOKING FIELD (LIRP/LIRH): This combination energizes all ongoing magical effects, and can be used to begin a ritual that you want to operate in both the interior and exterior worlds. A good example of this is a spell to get a good job. You want the spell to affect your psyche in such a way that you seem more confident and capable, but you also want it to shift probabilities in the material world so that the right opportunity will come your way.
CENTERING FIELD (LIRP/LBRH): This combination sets up a field in which the interior world is engaged while influences from the exterior world are neutralized. This field is ideal for exclusively psychological magical work of all sorts.
OPERANT FIELD (LBRP/LIRH): This is the one that I use the most. The field clears the interior world and then merges it the with the exterior world, setting up a space in which thought can more easily become material reality. All of the energy of a spell cast within this field is targeted on the macrocosm and the resulting probability shifts show that magick done this way just influences the outside world better - significantly better.
If you would like, try it out and see, and let me know how it goes. I think you'll be impressed.
Suggested ebooks:
Tarostar - The Witchs Spellcraft Revised
Frederick Hadland Davis - The Persian Mystics Jami
Katharine Pyle - The Counterpane Fairy
The Thoth Tarot Deck was a tarot deck developed by the English occultist Aleister Crowley and illustrated on his instructions by Lady Frieda Harris. Aleister Crowley called the Thoth tarot deck, the book of Thoth and claimed that the deck reflected the wisdom of the ancient Egyptian book of Thoth. The tarot card descriptions found on the Thoth Tarot deck are different in symbolism and imagery compared to other standard tarot card decks.
Thoth is considered one of the most important deities of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. He is known as the God with the head of an ibis. He is the heart and tongue of the all-powerful Egyptian Sun God Ra. He translated the will of Ra into speech and is the divine communicator of Egyptian mythology. He was the scribe of the Gods and was called the God of Writing. The book of Thoth is used for divination through tarot cards. The tarot card descriptions on the Thoth deck are reflections of the great knowledge of the ancient Egyptians.
A cult of Thoth grew during the last years of the Egyptian civilization who claimed to predict the future through occult divination. Aleister Crowley claims that the Thoth tarot deck developed by him was based on the tarot card descriptions followed by the cult of Thoth. He developed the deck between 1938 and 1943. He commissioned Lady Frieda Harris to illustrate the deck based on his visions and based on the ancient Egyptian book of Thoth papyrus by Jasnow and Zauzich. It took five years to develop the deck because Crowley wanted the images to reflect different disciplines including science and philosophy.
The tarot card descriptions in the Crowley Thoth tarot deck are different from the Rider Waite and other standard tarot card decks. The Major Arcana or trump cards are 21 in number and consist of the fool, the Magician or Magus, the high Priestess, the Emperor, the Empress, the Hierophant, the lovers, the chariot, Adjustment, the hermit, the wheel of fortune, lust, the hanged man, death, art, devil, tower, star, moon, sun, aeon and the universe. Court cards in the Thoth minor Arcana deck are the prince, the princess, queen and the knight. While the suite of cups, disks, swords and wands remain the same, they are illustrated with an Egyptian hieroglyphic style. The pips of the minor Arcana in the Thoth deck relate to the signs of the zodiac with the aces depicting the root of the element they represent. Each pip card in each suite has an attribute.
The wand suite relates to the fire signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the fire element 2 dominions, 3 virtues, 4 completion, 5 strife, 6 victory, 7valor, 8 swiftness, 9 strength and 10 oppression.
The cup suite represents the water signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the water element, 2 love,3 abundance, 4 luxury, 5 disappointment, 6 pleasure, 7 debauchery, 8 indolence, 9 happiness and 10 safety.
The sword suite represents the air signs of the zodiac. The ace represents the root of the air element 2 peace, 3 sorrow, 4 truces, 5 defeats, 6 science, 7 futility, 8 interference, 9 cruelty and 10 ruin.
The disks suite represents the earth signs of the zodiac. The ace is the root of the earth element, 2 change, 3 work, 4 power, 5 worry, 6 success, 7 failure, 8 prudence, 9 gain and 10 wealth.
The Thoth tarot deck reflects the tarot card descriptions that formed the visions of Aleister Crowley on a visit to Egypt. Many diviners have found great merit in predicting the future using the Thoth Tarot deck.
CM is a writer for SpiritNow.com. Visit SpiritNow.com today, the online home of America's Top Psychic, Sylvia Browne. Read Sylvia's 2009 psychic predictions and the best spirituality content on the Internet on SpiritNow.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Craig Malone
"The first version of this article was published on 6/19/2006 on the previous version of this blog. "
A hundred years ago most men belonged to fraternal orders of one sort or another, many of which had initiatory rites largely copied from those of Freemasonry. These days many books on magick and witchcraft support the concept of "self-initiation" and the popularity of secret and semi-secret fraternal orders has waned. Does that mean that formal initiation has become a quaint anachronism, or is it still an effective spiritual technology?
What the concept of self-initiation gets right is that regardless of the rituals and ceremonies you go through and the degree titles you hold, you have to do the corresponding spiritual work yourself. There is no real way around this basic truth. Spiritual realization is experiential - it cannot be taught or even directly explained. Because of this a degree title does not guarantee spiritual wisdom or power. In many organizations, advancement to higher degrees is contingent upon service to the organization rather than actual spiritual attainment, and the fact that someone is a hard worker in the mundane realm says nothing about their capacity for magick or mysticism, or the quality of their realization.
Nonetheless, formal initiation is a powerful method for imprinting the mind with concepts and ideas that will facilitate the spiritual evolution of a dedicated spiritual practitioner who takes those lessons to heart. The secrecy that surrounds initiatory traditions is related to a powerful psychological techique - the mind becomes more sensitive and attuned to information when it is placed in a situation of uncertainty, so an initiatory ritual will create a much more powerful imprint if the candidate does not know what is going to happen. Enough has been published that it is possible with some diligence to locate the degree work of most initiatory orders, but if you ever plan on taking the degrees all you are doing is cheating yourself.
I am convinced that this is the sole practical reason for secrecy surrounding initiation rituals. For much of human history it was believed that secret knowledge was somehow more powerful, but I suspect this belief was due to a misunderstanding of the mechanics of mind. When a candidate knows what is going to happen it is not that current of magical energy is weaker but that the mind expects the form of the ritual and is less moved by it. As a result, the magical effect of the initiation is reduced and a reasonable person might conclude that the power of the rite somehow grows if few know its details. What really happened is that the mind anticipated the actions of the rite, conceptualized them, and processed them ahead of time so no effective imprint was formed.
So does this imprint hypothesis mean that initiations are merely psychological? In a sense the answer is yes, but there is no "merely" about it. All magical rituals raise energy if performed by skilled practitioners. The difference with an initiation is that the psychological imprint allows the psyche of the candidate to be more open to that energy than they might otherwise be, and gives that energy a framework in which to work toward creating change in the candidate's life.
One of the wonders that the Internet has brought us is the concept of "astral initiations" that is, a group of magical practitioners will ask candidates to send them photographs or some other sort of magical link and then perform the initiation rite on the magical link, presumably to transmit a current of energy to the candidate corresponding to the energy summoned by the initiation rite. While the people doing this work may be sincere, I have trouble believing that it is all that effective. Without the imprint, the initiation will not work nearly as well. A magical force may be set in motion, but the effect will be reduced if it has to travel over a magical link and there will be no imprint created since the candidate has not gone through the physical experience of the initiation.
A couple of people have reported to me that they took astral initiations and felt some sort of tangible energy effect, and I believe them - I just think that the effect is unlikely to be any greater than that of performing a self-initiation rite and perhaps that would have been a better route to take. For one thing, it's free. Second of all, I think that any magician will learn a lot more writing and conducting his or her own initiation ritual than he or she will possibly pick up going through any sort of "astral ritual" conducted by others, regardless of how talented those others might be. Better still, though, would be to find a friend who is also a talented magician who can write a ritual that will be completely unfamiliar to the candidate so that an imprint will be properly formed.
Because this can be a difficult situation to set up, existing fraternal bodies still have an important role in initiation. In general, the rituals they perform were originally developed by talented ritualists and improved over the years based on changes that were found to work better for initiating candidates. Such improvements are based on empirical observation that a single individual could never undertake on short notice, and as a result the rituals themselves are cleaner and generally work better. While groups like Ordo Templi Orientis are more explicitly magical, the Masonic fraternity also puts on good initiation rites that have been tested for centuries on millions of candidates, a very impressive track record. Also, Masonic initiations are not only available to men - American Co-Masonry (http://www.co-masonry.org/) offers initiation to both men and women and has lodges in many areas of the country.
If Masonry is any indication, today more and more people are becoming interested in initiation and fraternal orders and seeing the value in joining such organizations. After losing members for a long time, it seems like Masonic lodges are finally starting to find more qualified individuals seeking initiation. The Internet helps make these groups easier to find, and it is clear that this is where many of the inquiries are now originating. My Masonic lodge has a very nice website at http://braden.org/ that has a lot of information, and I am also an initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis (http://oto-usa.org/) and a member of the local OTO lodge (http://www.leapinglaughter.org/) here in Minneapolis. Feel free to check out the links for more information.
Suggested ebooks:
Aleister Crowley - Magick
Aleister Crowley - Magick Without Tears
