Heavens Within Earth

Ave, My last post was stirring up a little drama, and I'm allergic. So I removed it-apologies to those who commented! I appreciate you sharing your insights.  In LVX, AIT

Ave, So.....in the latest round of cross-order drama, one of the opposing leaders saw fit to denigrate the magical education offered by my Order, and to basically insult the lot of us as ignorant. The worst part about the post is the obvious misunderstanding of how initiation and magic itself work-I say misunderstanding, because I assume this gentleman isn't actively trying to deceive people. He is clearly an accomplished Magician, however....assuming this is a misunderstanding is probably wishful thinking. He argues basically that huge parts of the Initiation rituals, and of all the GD magical rituals, take place on the Astral plane-therefore, Astral initiation is completely valid because most of the important parts of the ritual take place on the Astral anyway. He then goes on to say that we mustn't know even the basics of ritual magic if we do not understand this, going on to imply-in smarmy, catty fashion- that we consider all work on the Astral invalid because we cons...

Ave, The recent death of my beloved and revered Grandmother (may her soul rest in much deserved peace) sent my thoughts toward my ancestors and the Gods of my greatfathers. I decided it was time to establish a deeper connection with my ancestral spirits and Gods. To see their faces.  I made a simple altar, with a large decorated candle to light in honor of my ancestors, a large decorated candle to light in honor of the old Gods, a plain large white candle for honoring the Lord of the Universe, and a rosary to use in prayerful invocation of all of the above. (This rosary was left to me by my grandmother, and so feels and responds like a charged magical item for me.)  I have a sandstone bowl my sister brought for me from a recent trip to Ethiopia (another family-gifted item, which gave it an air of appropriateness for the intended work) which I filled with big sea salt crystals, a lunar tincture I made and consecrated a while back (which turned the sea salt crystals a lovely p...

Ave Fraters et Sorors, I've been given the nod to go ahead and test for Philosophus (4=7), which means I've been studying my ass off the last couple of days. It's interesting-I spend so much time in each grade (pretty close to a year for each one) that by the time I test, much of the general curriculum stuff related to papers and flying rolls is hard to recall. The practical bits-godnames, correspondences, that sort of thing-are easy as pie, because you use them. Remembering references to what a certain Sphinx may or may not have said during an initiatory ritual is just not my forte. I have yet to pass a test on the first go....not a single-bleeding-one. Now, the practical knowledge and the understandings required for advancement I've had no issues with, which is nice. I still end up feeling a simpleton when I inevitably fail the written test the first time. Every time I fail I get to thinking "What is the point of this foolishness, anyway? I can command the ...

Ave, So. I have to tell you-never have I met a more negative, thick-headed and obstinate bunch. I stumbled on a few articles whilst researching Wolfram's New Kind of science (a ridiculously thick book with a lot of interesting ideas), and....ugh. Almost worse than the nutbag Evangelicals, and their literalism. Everything I read about them is full of smug materialistic and mechanistic thinking. This doesn't make them bad people-I'm sure there are as many good Atheists as there are good anything else. It just makes them unpleasant to read and discuss the big questions (and answers) with. I suppose I find them frustrating because they want to debate endlessly, and never actually do anything. I've found that spirituality is experiential-you have to experience it, not philosophize about it. The Atheists I've argued with (who are otherwise nice folk, who I won't name and put on blast) are as stubborn and unmoving in their beliefs as the Evangelicals. For example-o...

Ave, I'd had a discussion a while back with GH Fra LES about movement and magic; we were both of the opinion that the traditions of LVX-centered  movements established by our Eastern brothers (in Qiqong and Tai Chi Chuan) are excellent developmental tools. We're lacking a similar tradition in the West; GH Fra LES has developed his own system, and I'm sure others have as well, but there is nothing I'm aware that reaches back much further. I've become aware  as my own skill has grown (slooooowly) that the awareness of internal energy, and the method of movement found in Tai Chi Chuan is something we use everyday in ritual magic-many of us unconsciously. There is a flowing that comes to your movements when they are centered around movement and manipulation of LVX, and there are no rituals in our repertoire that are effective without that manipulation. The LVX moves like breath and water, not like laser beams. When you have settled into the correct state of mind for...

In my humble opinoin? Discernment. There is a clarity there, an understanding that isn't present when not existing in that state of communion.  Perhaps it's just this way for me, I don't know-it's such an intensely personal process. I've been wondering about how things progress after the initial attainment, as there isn't much reference out there. Folk make it seem as if you have the K&C, and then you're good. There is more to the process then the initial attainment. One useful thing I can tell you-when I'd previously Though I had the K&C, there was a measure of doubt, and a lot of introspection. There isn't any doubt at all when the real thing crowns you-everything is clear. Absolutely, blindingly, heart warmingly clear. In LVX, AIT