Heavens Within Earth

Ave, Pardon my lengthy silence.....I have been as un-magical a fellow as I could be the last two months. This was not, in the beginning, a choice.  I've spent them re-balancing my family life (things got a little crazy, and I had to take care of business. Everything else took a quick trip to the backburner) and approaching the Art from a different angle. A slightly more grizzled angle, with lot's of five o'clock shadow and parchment-colored eyes. (This was the more pleasant description my wife gave me, haha. It seems I have a tendency to overdo the studying bit.) I've had to learn to be present in my relationships, which are the actual drama of one's life.....and this is not the first time. Being a family man and an active Magician is a balancing act, and I'm not always the best at it.  Sorry if I haven't been responsive in my communications, Fraters and Sorors; life decided it needed my full attention. That being said, I've learned some really cool ...

Ave, So...I found myself concerned with things going on at work, and wanted to summon assistance from Saturn. Interestingly, as I turned my mind toward the idea, the hour of Saturn came around. I took up a purple candle and incense, put them on a stand. Cast a quick chart, turns out Old Man Saturn is in his Exaltation. He is also trine the Moon, as benevelont an Aspect as your getting with him. The Moon is the general significator for eventsts in Horary, and as the question was one of work/livelihood it fell under Saturn's purview. This isn't his day (it being Tuesday) so I dress the candle in Honey to sweeten him up a bit. Lord knows he doesn't have much sweetness on his own. It's Mars' day as well, and the last thing I need is a combatitive Saturn. Dealing with these Planetary Gods is always a bit nerve-wracking. I further dressed the candle with Five-Finger grass for good luck and Cast-off Evil powder for....well, casting off evil. Performed the Qabalistic...

Ave, I've been working feverishly on refining my personal system (based in and informed by the Golden Dawn, with tentacles wrapped about Hoodoo and Bardonian Magic, which are my roots), and in an effort to do so have taken to conducting some experimental Magic. Nothing that's going to blow any minds, just putting things in practice. I think there is a tendency among some magical writers to write about theoretical magic as if they'd put it into practice because the principals upon which their theory is based are sound. I say this because, more than a few times, my own experiences with magical work have come out somewhat different from what the Writer has written, often in subtle fashion but sometimes in a more pronounced way. I'm planning on being extremely thorough, because I'm writing for two very important reasons. One being that this is going to be the manual of instruction I use for my children, who are mostly quite young...but getting close to teaching age. ...

 Ave, First off.....I'm no Puritan. I'm a huge fan of sex and its healthy expression. I'm a 31 year old American fellow; I practically grew up on the interwebz, and that means plenty of nudity and porn. Especially during my relatively barbaric early twenties. Lots of men my age will tell you they never enjoyed porn, or rarely watched it when they were young. These men are filthy,  filthy liars. It didn't become so mainstream because it was watched so seldom. There may be the occasional gent who avoided partaking, but I give him no credit; that sort of avoidance, built on fear of discovery and hidden shame, is shameful in itself. Like with most things, better to dare, be burnt, and learn than to sit in front of the fire with a trembling cowardice in the face of overwhelming curiosity. Just stay off of /b on 4chan, and you'll come out alright. The issue with pornography isn't a Moral issue. As long as everyone involved is a willing participant, mor...

Ave, So....this is something that's always bothered me a bit, which I'm going to go ahead and address now. There is a consensus in the Golden Dawn that all use of intoxicants or entheogens is completely negative and terrible, and will result in horrid and deleterious consequences like possession, a weakening of the will, service to the Old Ones and the rising of Great Cthulhu......you get the picture. I think there are a couple of reasons this is so, and I think that unfortunately they are not primarily based on effectiveness in Magic.  Because Golden Dawn Magicians use entheogens pretty often (mostly unaware that they are doing so, much in the way Roman Catholics are unaware of the Ceremonial Magic they witness once a week) and there is a long standing tradition of doing so in the Western Mystery Tradition. Within my Order we teach that using intoxicants as a substitute for discipline is unacceptable, and with good reason. My superiors within the Order are quite clear...

Ave, I've had an interesting last couple of weeks; I've been doing a fair bit of energetic exploration (although not enough full on ceremonial), and have found myself in a bit of an odd place. The vast majority of the Magic I perform at this point in my life is informed by the Golden Dawn, but not actually the traditional rituals. My rituals for raising and balancing the LVX  are rooted in the visual/vibrational method of the Middle Pillar, but aren't actually the Middle Pillar. My ritual for summoning the Archangels and gently invoking the balanced Elements is rooted in the methods I learned performing the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, but again, are not actually the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. Hardly a single ritual has been left unscathed in my personal practice. Although I've evolved my personal system in directions  that are improvements for my own development and system of magic, I recognize the rituals I learned from the Golden Dawn as foundational to m...

Ave, One of my gentleman-sorcerer friends (the good Jack Faust, who's excellent blog may be found here )has been working on further tuning up the visuals he has going. This being the interwebz, that means fun with programming languages. As a web designer/developer I regularly have to stare at flickering screens searching for errors in the code that I write, and spend even more time searching around for code I can use to solve problems/add features to clients' websites.(This is when I'm not working my regular job as a Chef/Manager). It never occurred to me until recently that I should get Magic involved in this process. Hermes, God of Communication, is perfect for this. If you find yourself stumped take a moment to request his help. Below is a quick method I use: Light a sweet-smelling incense. Say the following prayer to Hermes, whilst meditating upon an image of him: Orphic Hymn to Hermes Angel of Zeus, son of Maia, you judge every competition. Good shephe...