Smudge your Aura

There are 3 parts to this ritual: the cross, the crosses, and the cleansing.

They all use the same incantation:

In nomini patri, et file, et spiritu sancti, in nomini Jesu Christi, amen.

“In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

A note on Christian magic:

You do not need to be a Christian in order to use the power and spells that have brought their organization to power over millenia. There are millions of practicing Christians in the world right now, lending power to their spells. You can access this power, by tapping into the archetype of Jesus Christ. If you have a distaste for their religion and orthodoxy, as many magicians do, you have a choice to let that distaste interfere with your ability to access the power they have stored in the aether.

Part 1: The Cross

Bring your sage stick from your forehead down to your waist, and from one shoulder to the other. If you know the Qabalistic Cross, this has the same format.

In nomini patri – in the name of the father – at your forehead. Visualize a ball of white light around your entire head, energized by the sage smoke.

Et file – and the son – at your waist. Bring the light down into your second chakra.

Et spiritu sancti – and the Holy Ghost – from one shoulder to another – right to left is my preference, but different schools have different opinions. The Holy Ghost is what brings our souls into fruition, giving dimension from the line.

In nomini Jesu Cristi – in the name of Jesus Christ – you are invoking one of the most powerfu spiritual figures in the human collective unconscious. Bring your hands to your heart as the power comes together within you.

Amen – Bow. Let the light collect inside of you, magus.

Part 2: The Crosses

In front of you, draw a cross with the sage. “In nomini patri, et file.”

Turn to your right, and draw a cross to the South. “Et spiritu sancti.”

Turn to your right, and draw a cross to the West. “In nomini Jesu Cristi.”

Turn to your right, and draw a cross to the North. “Amen.”

These crosses seal your circle from outside influences.

Part 3: The Cleansing

Now you will do the traditional “smudge” technique of cleansing your personal energies using sage smoke.

Dash the stick to the left side of your head, then the right, then behind. The modified incantation:

In nomini patri, et file, et spiritu sancti,

Abbe male spiritus, abbe male spiritus, abbe male spiritus,

In nomini patri, et file, et spiritu sancti, in nomini Jesu Christi, amen.

Swipe along your shoulders, in front of your chest, down your front, around both side of your legs, around your feet, up the back, and finally once around the entire body. Repeat the full incantation as much as you need to until complete.

Invoking the Four Elements

Start your ritual facing the East. Check your Cardinal Points and make sure you are in the right position.

Turn to your left. Take an element of Earth out of your magical pouch, and while holding it, say:

Thank you, Element of Earth.

Thank you for grounding me.

Thank you for protecting me.

Thank you for nourishing me.

Bow to the element, and place it at the Northernmost point of your circle.

Turn to your left, and take your phial of Water out of your magical pouch. Sprinkle some on your hands, spread it on your arms, inhale it. (Florida Water works especially well for this.) Holding your bottle, say:

Thank you, Element of Water.

Thank you for cleansing me.

Thank you for balancing me.

Thank you for free-flowing me.

Set your phial at the Southernmost point of your circle. Bow to the element, and turn left.

To the South, take your candle from your pouch, and light it. While gazing into the flame, or through the flame and into the distance, say:

Thank you, Element of Fire.

Thank you for warming me.

Thank you for illuminating me.

Thank you for transforming me.

Now, take a sage stick from your magical pouch, and let it transform in the flame.

Set the candle down at the Southernmost point of your circle. Turn to the left.  Blow on the sage, and smell the smoke. Say:

Thank you, Element of Air.

Thank you for expanding me.

Thank you for understanding me.

Thank you for communing me.

Blow on the sage, and prepare to smudge your aura.

Setting the Space

Spend some time walking the space. Familiarize yourself with the energies and physics around you.

Align with the Cardinal Points

Using a compass, find East. Move yourself to a position where the proper element can be seen to every direction.

Make sure you are standing somewhere that a symbol of Air is directly to the east of you; a tree, a tower, or something reaching to the heavens.

To your left, to the North, there should be a boulder, a rock, or a wall.

Behind you, to the West, is a place for Water. It is best to hear the sound of a creek or ocean behind you.

To your right, the South, you can have a vista, or a fire pit, or a laptop screen.

Once you have your Place of Power between the four elements, reach into your Magical pouch and bring the elements out.

The Four Elements

Your magical tools are each aligned with an element. By taking an element out of your pouch for each direction, you are honoring the directions as the foundation of your space.

Next: Invoking the Four Elements

When Pan Can’t Get Out

Dear Sin,

I’m sitting on the same train where I saw a witch dying because he wouldn’t invoke Pan.

He was loudly a witch, with a tattoo of a crescent moon at the top of his forehead, the points facing up to the sky like horns. He wore metaphysical jewelry, a pentagram necklace, and an amber ring with hebrew sigils. His face was gaunt, with a puffy goatee on his pointed chin. The moment I saw him, I knew Pan was trying to come through him, wildly, and failing.

I boarded the train with my bicycle, transitioning into the second of the three chapters of my commute; bike for a couple miles through the city, ride a train across the city, and then bike upriver for a few miles -> that’s my daily routine. I’ve only started cycling seriously this year, and in order to keep my core and upper body toned, I have an app on my phone called ‘Commit’ that asks me every day at 4 pm, “Are you going to do 25 pullups today?”

It went off as I boarded the train. I stowed my bike and gear, and moved to the nearly empty handicapped section of the train, the place where I generally do my pullups and stretches while I commute.

The sickly man sat across the aisle, a large purple suitcase next to him. “Do you mind if I do some pullups here?” I asked, grasping the bar above my head.

“Not at all,” he said in a southern drawl. He shrugged and looked out the window.

I went through my pullups in three sets, listening to my intuition. I could tell there was an important meeting in play. Limber, relaxed, and fully in my body, I sat down across the aisle from him and opened myself up, so that my angels could do their work through me.

“Now I get to hit the big green button,” I said, pulling out my phone. I showed him the app, with it’s question, “Are you going to do 25 pullups today?” and the big green button that I pressed with satisfaction. “This app keeps me in the habit of being a better person,” I said.

The man, young and frail in body but wise and old in his eyes, shrugged again. “I’m a lazy witch, so I don’t try too hard to be a better person.”

We rode in silence for a while. Then I ventured, in accordance with my inner promptings, “That’s an interesting phrase, you used. A ‘lazy witch.'”

I let this sit for a while, to see which way he would take it.

“I find that when I am in motion,” I said, “activity gives me greater clarity when I want to access deeper levels.”

He took this as a general spiritual observation, and not a specific insight relevant to his own path. I do not wear my esoteric leanings on my sleeve; I have no tattoos, I wear plain clothing, and the only jewelry I wear is my wedding ring. This enables me to disappear into a crowd, or wear a modest glamour as the need arises, but it does not advertise my participation in our fraternity. Some witches, like this young and sickly man, take it to mean that I am an outsider, and so lose access to a communion with someone who successfully invokes the very same energy that they are seeking.

This was part of his test, the test I was bidden to perform as his proctor by my inner guides. He did not recognize me as a witch, and so I let him play the eccentric, a role that he was accustomed to taking on, a role he took pride in, and a role that prevented him from gleaning the wisdom that I had waiting for him.

He deflected my conversation about habits and strength by reverting to his favorite default discussion, his cancer.

He had been diagnosed at 13, and was ready to go home to New Orleans and die. He said all of this very resigned, with finality, and talked about the benefit of dying at home with family instead of in a hospital across the country. His suitcase was packed, and he was on the train to the airport, leaving Portland for good.

“Do you want to survive your cancer?” I asked, genuinely.

He looked up, his pointed chin augmented by his bushy goatee, coming to a point that was complemented by the horns tattooed into his forehead. “No,” he said, and I could see the Pan in him withering. “I’m tired of fighting.”

He talked about his hospital ordeals, and the tumors on his spine, and how during the surgeries, “they put poison in my body. Poison, that’s what it is, it’s poison.” With a perspective like this, it is no wonder that the treatments were poisoning him.

I realize now, he assumed surviving cancer meant a lifetime of the same treatment. He did not know that I have access to a shaman in Costa Rica who has cured multiple people of cancer, with stringent diets and medicine from tropical plants. He did not know that the cure to his cancer lay in the wild, and all he had to do was say, “Yes, I want to survive,” and I would have given him the key to his cure, on his trip to the airport, diverting him from his journey back home to die, and letting the trapped Pan within him out to roam free in the wild.

In accordance with my inner guides, I did not offer the solution, because he did not ask for it. I let him ramble poetically about the wisdom of death, and the perspective granted to those who know they are dying shortly, because I knew it gave him solace.

Living this journey to death had become his identity. His body was weary, and his will was weak, and I dare not fault him for choosing to move along with his momentum. This flesh is strong. A decade of pain in hospitals took its toll on this witch, and I saw how the energy of the wild was so sapped within him that Pan himself had begun to take on the features of his flesh, in an attempt to push him back into the wilds, where his cure lay.

I fancy that in the bayou of his native land, Pan will take hold of him there, and lure him into the wild for one last pain-free dance in the flesh. Pan was so suppressed in this young man’s body, and so very necessary, that I wanted to share the story with you, digital priest of the horned god.

Beltane at 35

Hooray! Hooray! The First of May!

Outdoor Fucking Starts Today!

This fertility Sabbat comes at the time of the year when winter is forgotten, gardens are overflowing with abundance, and the future ahead looks bright.

I am transitioning from a phase of poverty to a phase of wealth. The abundance around me overflows my cups of happiness.

My wife and I are lusty partners. We celebrated Beltane in the Pagan way, with a hot bath, candles, and red wine.

During our passion, I looked into the mirror and saw the horns of Cernunnos growing from my head.

I felt them in my astral body, aligning my energies with the spiritual forces celebrated on this day.

My climax was powerful, and overwhelming. On some rare few occasions in life, we are given glimpses into Eternity during orgasm, and I was privileged enough to experience this again during the heights of Beltane.

This year, my 35th, is when I am fully mature. In my prime, I am at the Beltane period of my life, when all is abundant, and the future looks bright.

Appropriately, this is the last Beltane before I have my vasectomy. My fertility climaxes now.

My wife had her cycle begin, unexpectedly, on Beltane. It was an appropriate surprise.

I have been powerful and fertile for so long, I had not considered what lay beyond this period. Now that I am at the crest of my virility, I look ahead, and I see the descent into age ahead.

In the future, I will not be this powerful. I will not be fertile again, ever.

Now is when I invoke the power of the Horned God, for this is the time when I am most like Him in aspect and bearing. Now is when I invoke his energies just by being who I am.

I have enjoyed this period of power, and I am happy it will continue for some time.

My May Eve reading showed me the near future of my financial abundance:

IMG_7437

The 2012 Solstice Working in Costa Rica

To say this is a ‘big day’ does an injustice to the magnitude of the word ‘cosmic.’

 

The very moment of the Winter Solstice, 6:11 am my local time, I was on top of my mountain in Costa Rica. My daily ritual routine was shaken up by a preoccupation with a toy – a round pentacle of wood, with a screw in the center of the compass points so I could measure the angle of the shadow of the sunrise. It takes a year to make a good sundial, and I thought it poetic to start my measurements today. Having the implements to juggle caused me some distraction, and changed the normal order of my morning rituals.

 

This was, of course, an unexpected advantage.

 

For those of you who like to geek out about this sort of thing, here was the order of my rituals today:

 

  • Qabalistic Cross
  • LBRP
  • I skipped the Archangel Michael clearing – it allowed me to remain connected with the noosphere, without excluding any connections as they were happening.
  • I also did not face the quarters with each ritual – I performed them all to the East, with the rising sun.
  • I chanted the holy name of each chakra one time, to work up the channel.
  • Tree breathing.
  • I got lost for a bit, so I used the fourfold breath and the qabalistic cross to return to center.
  • Strong grounding cord. I knew I was about to go out into deep space.
  • Walking down the Tree of Life. Kether was extremely powerful. I started there and came down the Tree, embedding the energy in Malkuth.
  • The Middle Pillar and Vibratory Formula combined.

 

This is where improvisation and intuition guided me into the magical working.

 

After I invoked each God-name into the sphere, chanting and visualizing the flaming letters, I used the Sign of the Enterer to cast the sephira into the Sun, and up the Tree of Life, to its proper place in the cosmos.

 

  • Kether – EHIEH – I invoked the energy from the center of the galaxy into EHIEH once again, lit a sprig of sage, and wound it around my head as I chanted. This crown of smoke became infused with the power of the God-name I was invoking into it.  After chanting 6-8 times, I cast it away using the Sign of the Enterer. It went through the Sun and into the Center of the Galaxy. The alignment of Earth, Sun, and the Center of the Milky Way galaxy is what the end of the Mayan Calendar was all about. The definitive marking point when the Age of Aquarius begins. After the sephira charged with the energy in this place, drawing power from the Unmanifest, I invoked it back down the Macrocosmic Tree along the Path of the Arrow. As the energy came down into my own crown, I was overcome. I nearly fell down. My senses were shaken, and I stabilized myself with the Fourfold Breath.

 

  • This overabundance, surplus, fountain of energy, I drew down into Da’ath, and chanted YHVH ELOHIM. I visualized the lavender sphere with flaming letters, drawing power from the sephira above, and then I cast it out through the sun, but not so far as the galactic core. This flaming sphere rested in the Akashic Records, drawing knowledge and power into it. I then invoked it back into me, using the Sign of Silence to hold it there. Again, more shaking of my limbs.

 

  • Drawing the energy down further, into my heart center, I invoked YHVH ALOAH VA DA’ATH and felt the energies grow here. I cast it up into the Sun itself, but no further. It drew energy from the eternal flame of the star. As I drew the sephirah back into Tiphareth, I felt the flame come down my central channel and rest in my heart.

 

  • I urged it a bit lower, into Yesod, and chanted SHADDAI EL CHAI. When I cast it up it did not make it to the sun, but slipped behind the Veil, and drew in the power of the imagination. It came back down my spine and into the base, pulsing with energy. I found my footing, brought the energy down to my feet, and invoked Malkuth.

 

  • ADONAI HA’ARETZ is the God-name here, and I felt manifestation crystallizing in the sphere I imagined burning beneath my feet. This went up through my whole Middle Pillar, up into the Sun, crashing through the Veil, through the Hall of Knowledge, and into the center of the galaxy. When it reached the singularity at the core, behind which there is Nothing, I invoked the energy of the Unmanifest into the Sphere of Manifestation.

 

AIN SOF AUR

 

AIN SOF

 

AIN

 

I chanted the Holy Names of Nuit, invoking that far-off cosmic core into the Sphere of Malkuth, and I drew it back into me.

 

When it returned, it brought something with it.

 

It was there, in Malkuth, in the sphere beneath my feet. I explored it, hesitantly. It was a ball of grey-purple energy, smooth and formless. I examined it for a moment cautiously, and pondered what it could be, considering the mechanics of how it came to me.

 

Then I realized: it is a wish.

 

This energy was pure Unmanifest, brought from the Center of the Galaxy on the Winter Solstice which marks the transition of the ages. And I had it sequestered beneath my feet.

 

What should I wish for?

 

The proverbial genie had just popped out of the bottle, and as entranced as I was, I knew I must make my wish immediately, or risk losing the sphere of Unmanifest among the different planes of consciousness.

 

I quickly reviewed all the areas of my life. I am happy and content in areas of health, love, environment, work, and joy.

 

The only thing I don’t have in overabundance is money.

 

At random, I selected a large number that was both believable and felt epic, felt worthy of a wish. I wished for six million dollars.

 

I saw a stack of cash quickly materialize in the Sphere of the Unmanifest under my feet, and the color of the sphere turned clear. It rapidly grew in size to encompass the 500-foot sphere of my aura, and the image of cash grew with it, to fill the entire auric space. Then the bubble gently popped, and the image dissolved.

 

My energy centers were once again glowing normally on the Astral Plane. And I had just made a wish.

 

This wish may have been given to me for the payment of a very good deed, which I agreed to participate in when I felt the call.

 

Around me, in the Ether, there was a web of light being woven around the globe. In preparation for whatever may happen today, Lightworkers around the world stepped up together, put our hands on one another shoulders, and said, ‘We’ve got this.’

 

We will protect the Earth today.

 

Situated as I am, out in the mountains of Central America, sheltered from the interaction and confusion of largely populated areas, I have the unique opportunity and privilege to hold the light for the world today.

 

I vowed to ignore any events that were happening today, and focus instead on my own powerful contribution to the world.

 

In my imagination, I looked around, in the Great White Brotherhood of Light, and felt my peers around me, making similar dedications for this day.

 

We’ve got this.

 

I am protecting the world, and I am honored to be a part of this honor guard.

 

I send you this message, because you are friend enough for me to privately share this aspect of my life with you; and because you may have felt the call, too. If you help the Light this day, know that I am your far-off brother, holding the Light with you.

 

As I walked down the mountain, I marveled at the majestic views. I felt the fairies riding birds around me, and I realized (with some surprise) that the Veil between the worlds was thinner than I had ever experienced it.

 

Is that what today is about? I wondered. Is the Veil coming down for good? Are we reuniting with the World of Faery?

 

Time will tell. My senses may have only been so heightened because of the working I had just completed; the Veil still seems low to me now, as I write this midday.

 

It is time for me to make my noon observation, and draw a shadow on the sundial I will complete next year.

Ensouling the Rituals

I’ve been thinking about the path from Yesod to Malkuth.

The 32nd Path, the Universe, Tau, is where manifestation happens.

For anything to exist in the physical world, it has to first be fully formed in the astral world, and then it must be ‘ensouled’ by bringing it into the physical.

While re-reading Dion Fortune’s excellent work “The Mystical Qabalah,” I found insight in a passage in the chapter on Malkuth. Paraphrasing, she said, many magicians miss this key step in their ritual work, ensouling the astral images and bringing them down into manifestation.

Isn’t that the biggest problem that magicians deal with? Working on the astral plane, and seeing no results – it is disheartening, and cultivates doubt, an enemy to manifestation and magic.

There needs to be a physical component, Fortune said, which ‘ensouls’ the ritual. Having a ritual purely on the astral plane will not bring about significant changes in the Kingdom, but if we use a physical symbol to channel the idea into manifestation – a gesture, a stone, a crystal, etc – then we provide a physical channel for the astral energies to flow through.

I applied this principle to my latest ritual work. In the mornings, facing the rising sun from the top of my mountain, I have gone through a series of rituals:

  • Qabalistic Cross
  • LBRP
  • Archangel Michael invocation
  • Chakra opening and chanting
  • Pattern on the Trestleboard
  • The Middle Pillar

This last ritual has provided me plenty of advancement over the past two months. When I added a physical component, this advancement increased.

By simply moving my hands in the directions where I feel the light moving, during the Three Circumambulations, the light became much stronger on the astral plane, where I imagined it. I do not know (or care) if it has manifested on the physical plane, although I doubt it. The physical gesture was enough to ‘ensoul’ the ritual, creating a stronger aura of light over my astral form.

Perhaps if I was attempting to create a physical light, this physical ensouling of the ritual would have a physical effect. An experiment for another time.

Marijuana Mage

I struggle with my perception of my addiction.

Generally speaking, I do not struggle with my addiction. I welcome it, embrace it, depend upon it. I have smoked marijuana every week for most of my adult life, and every day for the past year.

The Puritan in me thinks I should go through periods of abstinence whenever I notice side effects creeping above a certain level. If I notice my short term memory slipping, or my mornings sluggish, or my irritation levels high, my immediate response is to go into a period of abstinence to correct the effects.

For a time, this worked well. I would smoke casually, and take a week or a month off when it seemed right, and this kept me in a constant state of recalibration around my balanced center.

With the seizures, things changed.

I had an early Kundalini awakening in my mid-twenties. My investigations into meditation and energy exercises opened a door which I was not ready to enter, metaphysically speaking. The seizures would take me at irregular intervals, and I identified stimulants such as coffee, eroticism, and flashing lights as contributors to a state where seizures could enter.

Marijuana moderated the effects, to such a great deal that I began medicating myself more regularly.

Three hits from a joint every day; that’s been my dose. I haven’t had a seizure in a long time.

Marijuana affects me differently than most people. I use it as an appetite suppressant; if I am hungry, and unable to eat, I can smoke and the hunger cravings go away. This is because of my late teenage years, when I lived rather poor and homeless. Even if I didn’t have money for food, I usually had a bit of pot that I could scrape together to make the hunger go away.

This peculiarity in my own bodily chemistry has led me to consider if marijuana affects me differently in other areas, as well. I still get foggy-headed, happy, and mellow. But I prefer to do things while I am high, whether it is the dishes, or writing, or playing guitar, or, often, exercising. I love to exercise when I am high, and when I was in elite athletic shape, I was a regular smoker.

Yoga, in particular, stands out as one of my favorite intoxicated activities.

So, what of magic?

Every magical text and authority I read is unanimous regarding the perils of mixing drugs or alcohol with ritual work. They all condemn it.

For a time, when I was in apprenticeship with another mage, I entered a period of sobriety that was longer than I cared to keep.

My personal life suffered drastically as a result of the inability to properly manage my moods. With three children in a small house, my life is a constant exercise in accommodation, as I drop whatever I have been focusing on to attend to the loudest and most urgent siren calls in the moment they arise.

Marijuana allows me to allow for this improvisational redirection of my attention. Without it, I get frustrated incrementally every time my focus is taken forcefully away from the object of my attention, and the cumulative effect makes me a bad father.

So I smoke, to be a better parent.

And I daresay it makes me a better mage.

By smoking before a period of ritual work, I enhance my inner perceptions and subtle energy currents. I withdraw from the outside world. I allow.

This state is not easily come by for one of my temperament, yet with one dose of this drug I can attain this state instantaneously.

I am calm. I am present. I am whole.

My investigations into the perils of mixing this drug and magic have borne no fruit. I stay open to the possibility during my inner examinations that there is some unforeseen roadblock in my usage that I have not noticed, but I am unable to find any.

The Puritan in me thinks I should be heeding this ubiquitous advice, and on any day when I find myself exceptionally tired from a binge, I want to throw myself into abstinence to correct the effects.

But the symptoms of withdrawal soon creep in, making me an irritable and unlikable father. I take one dose and all is aright again.

As much as I examine this question (which I will continue to examine throughout my whole life as an addict, to maintain an open and honest relationship with my drug) I continually come to the conclusion that it is better for me to remain an addict, for medicinal, personal, and spiritual reasons.

I cannot ignore what I am, or pretend I am anything different.

I am a Marijuana Mage.

The Middle Pillar shields me from the Tower

Over the past six months, I have taken on a serious study of the magical exercise known as the Middle Pillar.

 

This powerful ritual serves as the basis for many of the more advanced workings in the Golden Dawn tradition, and it serves as an incredible tool for introspection and energetic healing. It is regarded as one of the necessary rituals to advance into deeper mystical training.

Having studied fairly broadly in mysticism through yoga, chakras, the tree of life, and meditation, I came to the Middle Pillar ready to take this final step as a magician, as a manifestor, into a practiced adept.

Doing so has surely saved me suffering and grief over the past week.

A member of my family is in a Tower period. All of her readings (from different readers and different decks) keep showing the Tower card.

8 days ago she fell and broke her arm. She has yet to get surgery, and she has had multiple difficulties in her life all growing upon each other. Her fear and worry has multiplied and manifested.

To protect myself while in her presence, I have relied heavily on The Middle Pillar. I have been unable to perform it every day, due to time, family, work, and travel priorities that have left me breathlessly busy. A few Qabalistic Crosses every day has served to maintain the Cross of Light within me, but what has really helped me weather the storm has been the Middle Pillar.

I feel it as a golden shell packed close around an inner layer of my aura, just beyond my body. The negativity and pain emanating from her have washed off of this shell, allowing me to dedicate myself to a calm and positive mindset.

During the few times that the negativity has crept through, and I react out of frustration or mild anger, the repercussions have unanimously been torrential. If I reply to something shortly, she invites a great conflict, and I must pull back and recede like the tide, allowing her grasp to slip off of me.

In the description of the Tarot card the Tower read to me by my wife this morning, ‘anything that you grasp on to will be destroyed.’ I can see those things that she is grasping on to are deteriorating, and were I one of them, I would surely be swept up in the fury of the tower.

Instead I back away, allowing the Tower experience to happen. My offers of assistance have been met with quick anger, which I politely decline to escalate. My assistance has been sidelined, and she can be allowed to have her necessary experience, without me being a necessary part of it.

I am sure that without the Middle Pillar I would be more involved in her catastrophes, holding stronger opinions, taking a stronger hand, making more of a fight. My energy would then be pulled down the vortex, and I would participate in the destruction.

Instead, I have found a place of calm, right outside the range, protected and shielded. I will forever be grateful for having this exercise in my arsenal.