Rocket to Jupiter: Improving your work with the Powers of Prosperity

Over the last several years Jupiter has become an exceedingly popular force, either divine or planetary, for modern magicians. Jupiter was always a good go to as an exemplar for magical groups showing a ritual template or talking about work to do because most Jupiterian qualities are pretty positive. But it's really been of late that people are immersed in and excited about Jupiter as a primary force to drive them to working more magic and focusing that magic around a structure.

This is great, it adds a realism and a drive towards hands on magic. It's something that wasn't there as much before. This has been one of the big improvements in modern magic which seems to come from the work of folks like Jason Miller, and Rufus Opus and the Gentlemen of Jupiter. People have joked that they are the preachers of the prosperity gospel of magic. They focus on magic as a way to improve lives so that once people's lives are in order they can focus on the bigger stuff. It's a great approach and it gets people actually doing the work instead of sitting on the side lines.

I don't know a ton about what the Gentlemen of Jupiter did, Rufus tried to get me to join, but it was during my period of being semi-retired. All I can say though is the work they've done has epically changed the culture of modern magic.

That said, the focus on prosperity work only works when said prosperity work works. Or, even better, when it works better.

Recently I was thinking about some astrological components of prosperity magic. I haven't done a lot of it lately, but I know for a lot of people things have not been as prosperous as they would like. Business is slow for me and a lot of my coworkers, a lot of people I know have had a lot of financial fires to put out. Some have turned to magic.

One friend mentioned having done some work for a friend having financial troubles and acquiring the money needed to cover some stuff. Another friend had some more interesting results. She did a big Jupiter rite with some people, and only got a nominal raise at work. But then, online, dudes on dating sites started offering her money for her company. She was not going to take them up on it. It was a result, but not the result she wanted.

For a lot of people stuff like this is what they've been getting. Weird, patchy results.

See, the thing with Jupiter, is Jupiter isn't for that. Jupiter is for the new job, the lucrative marriage, the raise, the steady stream of clients, or the small handful of very good very productive client relationships, the big raise with the new office...prosperity, fecundity, stability. A flowing stream to make your soil fertile, not a quick bucket to hold back a roaming fire.

That said, results are good, I'm proud of my friends who did magic and got some result. But there is a reason their results and those of others don't look like Jupiter. The answer, is Mercury.

August 2015 Jupiter entered Virgo. It will leave Virgo September 2016. In Virgo Jupiter is in detriment which reduces or reverses its power. Think back, from August 2015 through now, how has your prosperity work with Jupiter looked, or in general, are there things which would have provided prosperity that didn't, or which did, but could have provided more? The specifics of how it will have affected your life will depend upon elements of your birth, but how it impacts magic will have a little more consistency.

In both examples given above the people working were able to get small amounts of money, one was able to help someone resolve some specific problems, the other one was able to get a raise so in name they got what they asked for but in essence they got nothing. They then got offers for more spurts and bursts of money, from guys wanting to spurt and burst.

When I was a kid, Mercury was my go to for money. Partially because of my personality at the time, and partially because I didn't want prosperity, I wanted money so I could keep my pocket just full enough to get what I wanted without having anything to hold me down or to care about. Mercury, is great for that, but not so great for sustained prosperity. Mercury also likes underground type of stuff, communication and connections, and moving from spot to spot, so, guys offering money for one night liaisons definitely could fall under mercurial ways to make money, particularly since the Mercurial exposure in this case is shaped by Virgo, or the Maiden.

Virgo involves being analytical, modest, shy, and grounded. So nothing big, nothing expansive.

Mercury, mythologically, is Jupiter's son who he left tucked away with his mother in a cave away from the gods. He wasn't like Zagreus, born to inherit his father's throne. He felt the need to scrape and steal for his father's attention and power. He proclaimed to his mother Maia that he would use whatever plan he could to get them what they need instead of leaving them alone and unfed in their cave without the wealth and prosperity of the gods. He had to be clever and scrappy, he even threatened to steal what they need if his plan didn't work. He talked about wanting the things Apollo had, and it was Apollo that he stole from to get their father Jupiter's attention.

In the end Jupiter, amused by his son's antics, granted him his place amongst the gods, but rather than taking him in and teaching and empowering him, he gave him lesser reflections of the powers and domains of Apollo.

The impact of Mercury's rulership of Virgo has a similarly diminishing effect on the powers of Jupiter while it transits Virgo. So while Jupiter and Mercury can both bring about money, and the Earthy nature of Virgo can relate to money, that Earthy nature also relates to grounding, and so the flowing prosperity implied by Jupiter's watery nature is grounded by the context of Virgo. The effusive expansive steady prosperity of Jupiter as providence is is stymied by the quick, changeable, catch as catch can nature of Mercury.

So if we want to do Jupiter magic while Jupiter is in Virgo. This ends soon, September 9^th. But it provides a good opportunity to talk about off setting astrological considerations in magic.

If we want to unbound Jupiter's effects from being diminished by Mercury and Virgo we need to address those elements. We could banish Mercury, or Virgo or both. We could invoke a zodiacal force more positive for our ends such as Sagittarius. You could potentially also invoke Sol, as Apollo was the intermediary between Jupiter and Mercury and solar force galvanizes natures. Directly banishing and invoking appropriate zodiacal forces makes more sense to me. Adding components to strengthen the Jupiterian force can help, such as using the planetary hour, or working when Jupiter is at its Zenith or Rising could work help, or working while Mercury is setting or while Mercury is at its nadir. Similarly you could select a time where Virgo is setting or at it's low point, or while Sagittarius is rising or at its zenith. Any option or combination of options that places the celestial powers in a position advantageous to your goal will benefit your result.

An alternative option would be if you had talismans, particularly astrologically charged talismans, formed under any of these conditions. For instance a mercurial talisman made with Mercury in detriment placed upside down upon the altar. Or a Jupiter talisman made while Jupiter is in a position of strength placed in a position of prominence on the altar.

Tomorrow I'll post a ritual that provides an example of this kind of astrological work, so make sure to like us on Facebook so you can follow along!

My Polyamorous Relationship with Jesus

Something that has come to mind frequently is the place of Christ in my identity as a Gnostic. I'm a hard polytheist, I believe in various gods and spirits as actual beings. In the minds of most people, believing in Jesus and believing in Dionysos, or Othin, or Lugh don't go together.

I know some Gnostics who are pretty ecumenical in their inclusion of various divinities in their work because they don't believe in them as actual personal divine beings.

I know some Gnostics that don't believe that Gnosticism has a Christian component, and that particular symbol set doesn't need to be part of their Gnosticism, or if it is, they don't need to acknowledge it as more than a symbol even if they believe in other gods.

That can work for them, and that's great.

But I definitely confuse my friends, because I think most of them know I'm a hardline polytheist. On the flip side, I'm pretty borderline Catholic.  I had an OTO friend admit that he initially thought I was a secret Catholic priest sent to spy on the OTO. When I celebrated the marriage of my best friend and his wife several Roman Catholics came up to tell me how Catholic my celebration of the ceremony felt. I have a major hard on for the Jesuits, and kind of style some of my thinking after theirs, and I frequently read works by Jesuits to develop myself as a priest. I've had Catholics tell me that I'm so Catholic they don't understand why I don't just convert.

My friends and I occasionally take pause when my answers to things that come up sound more like a Catholic priest than an EGC priest or a sorcerer.

Which kind of gets to why I don't convert. I hold Gnostic views on religion. I practice magic. I believe in other gods. I'm ok with people having whatever flexibility or direction they need in their sexuality. So I probably wouldn't make it as a standard Catholic. Because I'm not one.

I had a dream once where I had to perform an exorcism, and the spirits taunted me that I couldn't do it because I wasn't a Christian and was trying to exorcise them as a Catholic priest would.

When I woke up, it definitely left me with questions about what I believe and how it all fits.

Similarly when I ask my Johannite friends about their church and coming to check out what they've got going on, I ask myself about how their priests seem to navigate being part of a Christian Gnostic tradition and then also working with Pagan Gods and non-Christian sorcery, and I ask myself about how I think and feel about such creative theology.

Because I'm cool with the idea of running around like a Valentinian and bringing the Living Gnosis to mainstream Christians and Gnostics alike, but at the same time I'm a Thelemite, I organize some of the best Dionysian spiritual revelries, and I like to hang in the woods with Druids and chat up Odin from time to time.

At the same time, I do believe in Christ as a divine being equally with the other gods. Recognizing and accepting that was pretty easy and kind of nullified the need to question stuff. But I've run into a lot of people who do question how that works, and whether or not it's something that works for them, or if it was going to how it would work.

Recently there was some joking online about being married to Christ, but it being difficult for people who want to commit to other gods too. Which is where the title of this post came from.

The thing is, from a Gnostic perspective it's really not that weird. The Living Jesus of Gnosticism isn't the singular son of a singular divine being, sharing the same divine presence in three persons. Christ is part of an overall collective of divine beings. These divine beings all stem from a non-personal divinity not far off from what we see as the One and the Good in Neoplatonism. Depending upon the nature of the divine being they might exist within different levels of emanation from the source, they might have different natures or functions or powers as well. Christ is just one of many whose purpose was to come deliver a message to enlighten the world, but he's not necessarily the principle deity or the one that people will necessarily need to work with most of the time. In fact, the whole message of the Gnostic Christ is that his message makes you the same as him. Once you're the same as him, the real work involves the other gods and spirits with whom you would interact as you enlighten yourself and enlighten the world.

From my perspective, as I thought about it more, my polyamorous relationship with Jesus is one in which he's not my primary. I dig the places he hangs out, and I like some of his lifestyle choices, but not all of them. There are other gods with whom I am closer, and with whom I've spent more time and built deeper connections. Still, as a kid I had a really deep relationship with Christ, even as I began learning magic. As a teenager when I got deeper into magic and paganism I stayed further from Christianity until I was an adult and realized that religious experience can draw from a lot of sources to inform each other and those sources don't have to disrupt each other.

I've always believed that vocation is a calling towards a universal service to the spirituality of mankind. I've always believed that religion isn't necessarily about a particular religious expression so much as the overarching divine harmony expressed through the prism of man's thoughts and actions. With that being the case, human religion is in my mind a swirling interlocking series of expressions that can speak to us in different ways for different purposes, each answering different questions of life and experience.

So yeah, Jesus and I can be bros swept up in a tenuous homosocial love affair, which bolsters my ability to call upon the divine names associated with him as I engage in Jewish and Christian sorcery, or to find meaning in the mystical explorations of God through NeoPlatonic, Gnostic, and Hermetic models which influenced the development of Christian thought. At the same time, I can help hold off the twilight of the Gods through living as a good traveling partner and following the virtues and behaviors the Gods want for man, and enjoy community within the traditional folk cultures which call to me. I can be equally swept up with the gods of my ancestors, or whatever other gods I encounter and groove with.

Dion Fortune, and the Wizard of Oz or, Don't be the man behind the Curtain

You, my friend, are a bad ass wizard.

You, do magic, and that's really cool, so you're cool.

You are a bright shining star of awesome.

Stuff like that is cool to hear, and empowering to believe. People like that empowered feeling. People like to know they are cool. You can get really fr recognizing what matters to someone and complimenting it because the desire for these good feelings is so powerful. This desire to feel cool is something which affects most people in some way. So for magicians and non-magicians it can be a means for us to be deceived or manipulated, either by others or by ourselves, We might not characterize it as a desire to be cool, but all of us have a way we want to be, and a way we want to be perceived. Having a firm understanding of that desire and it's juxtaposition to or alignment with our reality is paramount in avoiding being manipulated by or misled by people, or by ourselves, based upon how those desires make us feel.

If we know solidly who we are its harder to shake that up with a passing comment, and it's harder to distract us with flattery. It's also easier to succeed at what we want  when we understand fully what we want, what it means to have it, and where we are in relation to it.

Unfortunately, in magic, there is a lot of accepting empowering ideas even if they aren't real. I see frequently people who are open about their inexperience, or lack of practice, lack of success talk about themselves as magicians, mages, and witches. People who don't seem to do a lot of magic, or seem to only do magical exercises prop themselves up as magicians. I recently saw a blog post, which while the overall point was correct and was very important, a line several people quoted involved recognizing a whole group of people as powerful magicians, without asking, are the people in this group doing powerful magic, or are they just doing important work in magical communities.

You are a shining bright star of awesome, just by virtue of your creation, even if you're still working off the muck so that you can see the shine. But are you a bad ass magician who does cool magic? You have to ask and answer that question. Do you do magic? Have you created unquestionable, powerful, observable changes in the world using occult methods? I hope the answer is yes because magic is awesome. But if the answer is no, I hope answering no helps you find what you need to eventually turn the answer to yes, because you deserve that awesomeness in your life.

Don't get so busy being the wizard that you become the man behind the curtain.  The wizard of Oz couldn't beat his enemy, he couldn't get home, he couldn't connect with others because his life was about an image, not about reality. He sent essentially a band is misfits to stop his enemy, and this wasn't a Gandalf cleverly positioning people kind of move, he figured they'd fail and be out of his hair. He's not the wizard you want to be.

Magic is empowering because it gives you access to very real power. If the empowerment is based on a case of the feels you're just furthering your disembowelment. A lot of people go for the feels though, we've talked about reasons why before. The magical community tends to promote catching a feel though because it's easy, and it has been part of our formative literature since the late revival.

Dion Fortune took the reality shaping force of magic away by redefining it as a change in consciousness. Changes in consciousness are powerful and useful for magic, but they themselves are more the provenance of mysticism, yoga, and systems of meditation. They inform and become tools for magic but are not magic itself. Defining magic as changes in consciousness makes it easy for us to credit ourselves and others as being powerful magicians. It makes empowerment, catching a case of the feels, adjusting our worldview or self worth, or even just deepening our breathing or closing our eyes into powerful acts of magic because they all adjust our consciousness.

I would ask though, do you want to be the powerful magician who is empowered by his counterculture vibe? Or do you want to be the magician who is empowered by his ability to find treasure, heal the sick, and destroy enemy forces?

A Ritual for the Holy Guardian Angel: The Lamp Upon the Throne

A lot of people look at work with the Holy Guardian Angel as something specifically connected to seeking Knowledge and Conversation. Knowledge and Conversation is a particular sort of relationship one can enter into with the Holy Guardian Angel, but it is not the only interaction which exists. Work with the Holy Guardian Angel can be as simple as an acknowledgement, or reference at the beginning of a ritual to connect with it, or a prayer for its assistance, or presence, or guidance. Or it can be a full on conjuration for the purpose of asking it questions, communing, or asking for assistance. It's useful to make the angel a part of your magic early on whatever approach to connecting with it you're using.

The ritual presented here is one I've been working with for about 9 or 10 years. It utilizes elements of the Golden Dawn tradition, Roman Catholicism, and of course, the Merkavah. In my view the Sar HaAnpin, or the Prince of the Face/Prince of the Presence, and the related SarHaTorah, the Prince of the Torah, serve in roles similar to the HGA, and there are ritual elements which overlap between the Abramelin and the Merkavah work with these angels...although these elements show up in lots of spirit magic, the Abramelin claims to be a separate tradition of Jewish magic outside of the Kabbalah, so Merkavah derived grimoire work could relate to the origins of the Abramelin. This would also fit well with the probable time, location, and author of the Abramelin.

In any case, this ritual can be done individually, or its parts can be divided for a group. It is used to conjure the Holy Guardian Angel by use of a Conjuration of the Metatron. I hope you enjoy it, I'd love to hear about any response folks have to working with it.

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The Lamp Upon the Throne

VH

Participants enter.

The Doorkeeper anoints them with water and oil individually as they enter. In response to being anointed each participant says

"Sprinkle me with hyssop, Oh Lord, and I shall be clean, wash me and 1 shall be whiter than snow."

The participants continue to the center of the temple and are seated around the central altar.

One of the participants takes the sword goes to the east and proceeds through the quarters tracing and vibrating the appropriate god names.

East: AL

South: YH

West: AGLA

North: ADNI

He returns to the center and says:

"By the holy names AL, YH, AGLA, and ADNI, by which the prophets wrought miracles and by which the world is bound together and then is set to trembling and shaking, which form the foundations of the Heavens, I banish this temple."

He proceeds to the East and then through the quarters tracing the rose cross in each, he returns to the center when he is finished and says:

"By the light of the cross I seal this temple against the unholy and the profane."

He returns to the center and returns the sword to the Karcist.

The Karcist kneels before the altar bearing the bread and wine and raises his arms

"My beloved is white and ruddy, pre-eminent above ten thousand.

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are curled, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks; washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs; his lips are as lilies,

dropping with flowing myrrh.

His hands are as rods of gold set with beryl; his body is as polished ivory overlaid with

sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his aspect is like

Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend"

The Karcist rises, and makes crosses over the bread and wine:

"Beloved, bless + and consecrate + this vessel of bread and wine by the power of your right hand and the mercy of your left; and grant, through the merits of St. John, the Gnostic, that all who drink of it may find wisdom and understanding through splendor. As the blessed John drank the poisoned potion without any ill effects, so may all who today drink the blessed wine in honor of the Beloved be delivered from the poison of corruption.

By the name YHVH ELOAH VA-DAAT+, bless this creature of grain and vine, so that it may be a life-giving medicine to all who use it; and grant by your grace that all who taste of it may enjoy bodily and spiritual health in calling on your holy name; in their search for their own highest light."

The Karcist steps away. A participant rises, makes a Yod over the bread and wine.

"The spark of life and motion "

He then intones the names YHVH TZVOT, HANIEL, HANIEL, HAGIEL, KEDEMEL,

charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Heh over the bread and wine.

"The shape of light and joy"

He then intones the names ELHM TZVOT, MICHAEL, RAPHAEL, TIRIEL,

TAPHARTHARATH charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Vav over the bread and wine

"The form of purpose and direction"

He then intones the names SHADDAI EL CHAI, GAVRIEL, GAVRIEL, MALKAH BE TARSHISIM VE-AD RUACHOTH SCHECHALIM, SCHAD BARSCHEMOTH

charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Heh over the bread and wine

"The body of man upon earth"

He then intones the names ADNI HA-ARETZ, SANDAPHALON, MICHAEL, KERUB,

PHORLAKH charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, the Karcist returns to the alter, he traces Shin above the bread and wine, he raises it saying

"May this spark the lamp which is the light of the world, by the names, YHVH ELOAH VA-DAAT, RAPHAEL, MICHAEL, NAKHIEL, SORATH"

He replaces the bread and wine, breaks a piece of the bread and eats it, drinks the wine, and passes the bread on. Each participant breaks a piece of the bread and eats it and takes a goblet of wine and drinks it.

A participant goes to the South and traces Yod and intones the name MICHAEL, he proceeds to the West traces Heh and intones the name GAVRIEL, he crosses to the East traces Vav and intones the name RAPHAEL, and then ends in the North traces a Heh and intones the name URIEL. He returns to his seat.

The Karcist rises, faces the East, all sit in meditation, the Karcist says the invocation:

"I conjure you, angels of dread, fear, and shaking,

who are appointed to hurt those who are not pure

and clean and desire the services of my heavenly

servants — I conjure you in the name of YHVH

ELOAH VA-DAAT, who is mighty over all, and

rules over all, and everything is in His hands, that

you do not hurt us, nor terrify us, nor frighten us;

verily, in the name of the powerful one."

"Eternal, Mighty, Holy El, God only-supreme

You who are the Self-originated, the

Beginningless One Incorruptible,

Spotless, Uncreated, Immaculate, Immortal, Self-

complete, Self-illuminating,

Without father, without mother, unbegotten,

Exalted, Fiery One! Lover of men, Benevolent

One, Bountiful One,

Jealous over me, and very compassionate, Eli, My

God,

Eternal, Jehovah Zebaioth, Very Glorious El, El,

El, El, Jah El!

You are the One whom my soul has loved!

Eternal Protector, Shining like Fire, Whose voice

is like the thunder, Whose look is like the

lightning,

You are the All-seeing One, Who receives the

prayers of all such as honour You,

And turn away the requests of those who

embarrass You with their provocations

Who dissolves the confusions of the world

which arise from the ungodly and the righteous

mixed up in the confusion of the corruptible age,

And renewing the age of the righteous,

Shine O Lord, shine as a light, even as that light

with which you clothed Yourself on the first day of

Creation,

Shine as the Light of the Morning on Your

creatures

And let it be Day upon Earth,

For in these heavenly dwelling places there is no

need of any other light

Than the unspeakable splendour from the light of

Your Countenance,

O answer my prayer, O be well-pleased with it,

O accept my sacrifice which You have prepared

for me to offer,

Accept me favourably, and show me, teach me, all

that You have promised!"

All meditate in the light of the beloved until they feel that they are finished at which point they leave the temple silently.

Ouija Boards, Creepypasta, and the Nothing

Last week was a period of silence for my blog, because I was busy watching the Olympics. Not really, the Olympics were exciting, my two favorite sabre fencers in the world went head to head in the Gold Medal Round for men's individual sabre, and I got to watch it with a former Olympian. But that didn't take up all my writing time. I was busy running a pair of fencing summer camps, so after 14 or 15 hour days, and then going out shopping for supplies for hours around midnight, well, I didn't have the energy or time to blog, and I didn't want to phone in some crappy posts. But now we're back.

Normally I don't have a lot of reason to cross my fencing life into the stuff I write about in the blog. But the round the clock immersion did lead to a moment of cross over. One of the last days of camp two girls, about thirteen, came up and asked if they could use some wall space, I could see on one of their phones that she had up a page that said “How to Summon Creepypastas.” She made a bit of a comment about trying what the web page said, and I cut in with “hey, I don't think you girls should be messing with that.” She and her friend tried to persist, a third girl turned and ran calling back to them that she wanted nothing to do with it. It was a little amusing. It was also a little odd realizing that I was telling them “hey, don't go do magic” and leaving it at that. It wouldn't have been right to have a more in depth conversation about it. On the other hand, these are internet fantasies. I turned to my assistant coach, who knows I'm a magician, and said “What is with all this creepypasta stuff? We have monsters and spirits which have been around for thousands of years why do people need to invent new things, why can't kids conjure real spirits?” He pointed out that a lot of them overlap with traditional folklore. I hadn't looked at any of them in depth. In my mind “creepy pasta” is when I forget to throw away left over spaghetti and it gets moldy and grows legs in the fridge. Looking over some of the summoning instructions some of them do remind me of existing folklore, which could be an interesting thing to look at. But the word “creepypasta” is too cute and makes me imagine cartoon yokai.

 

So why would kids who don't do magic want to summon these creepypasta creatures? In Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters he talked about people telling scary stories because we need to inoculate ourselves against the fear of danger and death. We can't put ourselves in actually dangerous situations, so we have to expose ourselves to things which can frighten us without exposing ourselves to harm. This seems to be a basic human need. Coville mentions roller coasters as another example of this. There are lots of things in life like this, and the telling of scary stories is a pretty ubiquitous amongst humans. Sometimes they help inform us about things in life to be careful about, sometimes they convey knowledge about esoteric powers, sometimes, maybe they are just stories. So, if there is a human need to be afraid, in a safe context, maybe it's good that we've got these new stories and kids are into them and they're getting to be safely afraid.

But what about when kids decide to murder other kids to conjure Slenderman? The idea of creating new stories is great. The idea of stepping up to the edge of terror and coming close to conjuring something dangerous and deadly and mysterious but not quite doing it...I think that should probably be part of every kid's childhood at some point. When I was a kid, you always stopped short of saying Bloody Mary or of saying Candyman, you didn't even quite know which cemetery to go sleep at to conjure Black Aggie, you just knew you slept at the cemetery with her statue. Kids today seem more intense with this, even the ones not looking to stab their friends to death, there is a fear, but also a certain glee about these creatures. Maybe it's the friendly categorization of Creepypasta. It kind of reminds me of another thing that's been popping up lately. That silly meme about the appropriate age for Ouija boards. “The recommended age for a Ouija board is 8, so you have to be 21 to drink but 8 is old enough to conjure demons?”

Kids don't step up to a line with a Ouija board. They gleefully giggle about talking to unknown spirits, the dead, and whatever happens to answer. This isn't a new thing with kids today. It's treated as a kid appropriate game. So it feels safe and fun. But, if you go with the idea of reaching out and calling to whatever, and letting it get channeled through you, then Ouija is kind of the occult equivalent of having unprotected sex in a cheap whore house. As a tool, used correctly, it can be fine. Probably not a kid's toy, but otherwise a valid tool of magic.

So with Ouija and Slenderman being the options, should we maybe keep kids away from magic? Or only give them white lighter Wicca? Convince them to forget the world beneath the glass and focus on the day to day as if there is nothing else until they're older. That always works out for the best, after all, just remember the words of G'Mork:

G'mork: Fantasia has no boundaries.
[laughs]
Atreyu: That's not true! You're lying.
G'mork: Foolish boy. Don't you know anything about Fantasia? It's the world of human fantasy. Every part, every creature of it, is a piece of the dreams and hopes of mankind. Therefore, it has no boundaries.
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!
Atreyu: Who are you, really?
G'mork: I am the servant of the power behind the Nothing.

I think Richard Dawkins might be the power behind the Nothing, since he thinks fairy tales are dangerous.

There is value in children being aware of the power and mystery of the Other. Children raised to avoid the hidden things in the world teach themselves to rationalize away things they see and experience. They condition themselves not to dream that their dreams could be real, not to empower themselves through the ephemeral currents of reality. Maybe children don't need to reach deep into the darkness, but they should know it's there, they should know what kind of power it holds, and they should know places they can reach for power. They should feel comfortable knowing that other people understand the things they see and that sometimes there is a reality to them, and how to see what is real and what isn't.

So these particular tales of creatures and monsters might not be what kids need, but maybe there is still something we should look at with them. Jason Miller recently wrote a post which talked about Black Aggie myths and how they pop up a variety of placed. A friend and I were looking at tales related to different states and noted that Cry Baby Bridge shows up all over the country. Even though in both of these tales there is a physical location tied to it and a history of phenomena tied to that physical location. Maybe these stories show up in different places not because of the history of the places, but because there are spirits which are drawn to particular types of places and do particular sorts of things. Maybe these spirits inspire stories to remind people to engage them so they still have agency and power to operate in the world. A lot of these stories come down to similar patterns, themes, and instructions for working with the spirits. So maybe folk tales and urban legends don't have similarities because they diverge and get retold and morph as people move around from community to community, maybe there are spirits who pop up from time to time and place to place and get people riled up, make people tell stories, make people remember them.

Clive Barker's Candyman actually deals with this idea pretty well. The importance of memory and awareness for spirits, the importance of spirits acting in the world to make sure people tell their stories. All of this is reflected in the reformation of these sorts of tales every few generations. This is pretty evident when we look at similarities of urban legends, folk stories, and mysterious fortean tales, and even some unexplained phenomena. This explains the glee and fervor with which people are drawn to believing a new generation of tales, and playing with the possibility of their reality, trying to draw fear and danger into their lives by saying a few names or drawing a few symbols. These sorts of spirits don't seem to be like the spirits we see in the spirit catalogues but more like the spirits of places, local spirits, ghosts and shades, that we see in old stories.

There could be power in identifying such spirits and how to work with them in more complete ways than creating chills and thrills around a campfire. Or maybe not, who knows. I'd be curious to hear about experiments.

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Conjuring Wisdom Pt. 2: Ritual for Conjuring the Prince of the Torah

Last summer I posted about the Prince of the Torah, and the conceptual ideas regarding his conjuration. That post can be viewed here:

http://blog.ararita418.com/2015/06/conjuring-wisdom-prince-of-torah-part-1.html

The Prince of the Torah is basically the Prince of the divine truth. He is similar to the Sar HaAnpin, or the Prince of the Presence, an angel which is similar to the Holy Guardian Angel. The Prince of the Torah texts seem to take their origin from the diaspora period during which the Talmud was written. This makes sense with the preoccupations of the time and the lack of access to the temple.

Here are the instructions for conjuring the Prince of the Torah as they were recorded by the early Rabbis. This could be useful for modern magicians in exploring ways to call upon their Holy Guardian Angels.

“He who would bind himself to the Prince of the Torah must wash his clothes and his garments and immerse in a strict immersion in case of a nocturnal emission. And he must enter and dwell for twelve days in a room or in an upper chamber. He may not go out and he may not come in and he must not eat or drink. But from evening to evening see that he eats his bread, clean bread of his own hands, and he drinks clear water and he may not taste any kind of vegetable.

And he must insert this midrash of the Prince of the Torah into the prayer three times in every single day; it is after the prayer that he should pray it from its beginning to its end. And afterward he must sit and study it for twelve days, the days of his fasting, from morning until evening, and he must not be silent. And in every hour that he finishes it he must stand on his feet and adjure the servants by their King and he must call for every single prince twelve times. Afterward he must adjure him by the seal – every single one of them.

These are their names. He must say SQDHWZY'Y YHVH the prince; NHBRDYW'LW YHVH the prince; BYR GHWRYRY'L YHVH the prince; and there are some who say (GHWRYDYHW'L YHVH the prince) SRWYL'YL YHVH the prince; (ZBWDY'L YHVH the prince) ZGKWHR'Y UHVH the prince; TWTRUSY'Y YHVH the prince; PLYTRYH YHVH the prince; WHWB'RY YHVH the prince; MRGYWY'L YHVH the prince; RHDBYWRWN YHVH the prince; W'DYRYWDWN YHVH the prince. Thirteen.

He must adjure them for the twelve days in the name of YWPY'L who is the adornment of the height of his King and in the name of SRBY'L who is one of the princes of the chariot; and in the name of SHRRY'L who s a beloved prince; and in the name of HSDY'L who is called to might six hours in each day. And he must go back and adjure them, the latter four princes, with a great seal, and in the name of SWRTQ a holy name and a fearsome crown.

When he completes the twelve he will go forth to all the the principles of Torah that he seeks, whether to Bible or to Mishnah or to the vision of the chariot, for he goes forth in a pure condition and away from grief and away from great pain. For the learning is in our hands, the reform of the set down for generations (to come), for the humble to make use of it. And whoever is fit is answered by them.”

The Dead Were Once the Living

A quote that pops up all over the place in relation to interactions with the dead is “The dead were once the living.” Often it is a reminder that what motivates the dead and what things they want can be understood by remembering that they used to be alive. This idea has some other useful elements though for a magician working with their ancestors or with other spirits of the dead.

For one, people fear death and things related to death, partially because it's the greatest most looming unknown. It's a power that overtakes us all and we can't escape it. It causes us to check out at some point, and we have to wonder, is there anything else afterward, and if so, is it good? The dead are a great trope for horror because they represent all of the fears we have related to death, as if contact with the dead will infect us with death and expose us to all that uncertainty and powerlessness.

If we keep in mind that the dead were once living, some of these fears can fall away. They're not some kind of spooky sort of monster, they're people just like us. They're people who live in the great unknown and can come back and give us insight into it.

Another item that comes up...the dead aren't super paranormally wise and knowledgeable. They know what they knew in life. They may strip away some of the elements that held them back in life and be a more authentic version of themselves, but they are still spirits that were people, and they think like people, specifically like the people they were in life. That said, they have access to other spirits, and to information they can find in the underworld, and that they might observe from watching the world of the living. So their knowledge base may be increased, but they aren't necessarily wiser, and they aren't all knowing.

It reminds us that working with ancestors, or other dead, is not some super mystical wigged out experience, but it's still important and useful. One of the Social Magic Reactions shows Harry Potter fighting Voldemort with the spirits of his dead allies with the caption “what working with ancestrals is like.” My response... “dude, you wish you were that cool.” Again, the dead were once the living, they're not magical super heroes.

Still...again...the dead were once the living, so unlike some magical super being, the dead understand what you're going through. If they're you're ancestors they're bound to you by blood, maybe by magic, maybe by love they felt for you in life. They want to help you, they want to be connected to you. So they can be pretty powerful allies within the range of their powers. They are powerful not necessarily because their powers are ranging but because they actively look to intercede for you from a perspective of insight and sympathy, since they know you and what it's like to be you.

Aside from wanting to help you, they can be a source of power and authority. Their blood connects to your blood, and therefore the power that connected to them naturally connects to you. In many traditional systems of magic a link to the dead is a link to power and authority for the magician. In this way, families that have magic share a connection back through their lineage by way of their blood to the power of the past. Initiatory houses share a link by ritually connecting to the spirits. In both cases you draw on the power of those who once were living, working through the same magic you work through now. But now they work a new magic, one in which they can sit in congress with spirits within the world of the spirits, and so in addition to sharing in their power, they add to your authority, leveraging their position in the world of the dead, because of the link inherent in the fact that they, like you, once were living.

In this simple quote, there is a lot we can unpack. What else do you see hidden in there?