Heavens Within Earth

Ave, This was the highlight of Pantheacon and a major landmark in my magical career. An absolutely incredible experience! My wife and I took Initiation into the Great Rite on Sunday, and both the teachings and the current are rich and powerful. I'm somewhat at a loss to communicate all my feelings about it. It opened doors for me on a number of levels. The Great Rite initiation is built around empowerment and  instruction in Inner Alchemy. The techniques of Western Inner Alchemy are not imaginative, they aren't pure visualization. They are physical and visceral. They work directly upon the physical body to refine the Prima Materia, and they are wonderfully effective. It was a wondrous moment for me; having all of the emblems and manuscripts I studied over the years open up in new ways....beautiful. I was able, without ceremony or ritual, to manipulate my body's energies and enter into ecstatic states. I can do so at will, using the practices I have learned--nowhere near...

Ave, So, I took a much-needed break from all this energy jibba-jabba (which I'm guilty of starting...been a great conversation though!) with my peers to attend Pantheacon. Gentleman, pardon me for not replying and joining in the latest conversation on your blogs (VH Fra SR, Fra Jason, Fra RO, and Fra Jack), I've been super busy. Anyway, I think enough's been said for everyone to know everyone else's position. We'll all just call it what it is, and we'll argue about it again in a couple of years. Haha. Veles just posted an awesome Terry Pratchet quote: "The plural of Wizard is Wizards, the plural of Witch is Arguement." Hilarious and true, except Wizards (or Magicians, or Sorcerers....) should be right there with the Witches.  Some insightful things said. I'm going to resist writing another essay about why my viewpoint is clearly more awesome than yours, and move on. Them's is jokes, ya'll. Panthecon was a very interesting experience. ...

Goodness. Half of the fun just got sucked out for me. Damn. I was looking forward to getting beautiful, high-res photos of some of our occult luminaries. This sucks....because people have cell phone camera's now, and they will take photos. No one's identity is being protected....now they'll be outed with crappy photos instead of nice ones. Ha. Oh well, what can you do?

Ave, Just a quick note for anyone who thinks ritual and initiation alone are the key to power. It is not. It's very easy in the Western work to fall into the trap of learning myriad arts--and spending the majority of your time doing so--and treating meditative energetic work as the second priority. It should be your first. It is more important than all of the GIRP's, GIRH's, sigil work, God-worship.....yes, even more important than you're work with your Gods. Without the energy work, we'll never be like them. Please consider reversing the order of importance if it is possible for you. Instead of an hour of practical work and ten minutes of middle pillar stuck in there somewhere, reverse it. Streamline your intent-based work, incorporate mudras and incantations that can do lengthy things for you faster. Spend as much time immersed in the Sea of Mind as possible.Quit making excuses and putting things off. Every moment spent outside of meditation is a moment wasted, ...

Ave, So, things have gotten interesting on the American Occultism front. There are some key personages joining us from Italy-- Arch Priestess and Arch Priest Diana and Dianus of Stregheria del Bosco Sacro of Benevento ...a family of Italian Stregha practitioners. Now, you may be saying to yourself " I'm not a Witch. How is this in any way important?"  It's important because they are bringing into the Pagan tradition the rites of Inner Alchemy. Not just the knowledge of the Great Rite itself--sex magic--understanding of which every occult order under the Sun should have incorporated as bare minimum by now. The full-on Egyptian tradition of Inner Alchemy that has been the highest of the Western Mysteries for centuries. The secret traditions that were occulted from even other Occult organisations, the Western route to the hidden power. This is incredibly important, because it's seeding America--and our largest Mystery movement (alas, this is not the Golden Da...

Ave, So, I live maybe 10 minutes away from where Pantheacon is held, and I'm going to be all up in it. I'll be photo and video blogging throughout the conference .***This is your warning, beloved peers. Best brush the crumbs out of your beard, cuz you're going on the internets.*** I'm planning on interviewing folk when I can, and will live blog some of the events. Definitely will tweet the hell out of them, anyway. I've never been to a Pagan conference of any sort, definitely looking forward to it.

Ave, As part of my studies I've been working with Agrippa and the Picatrix quite a bit lately, and often you'll find that metals required are crazy expensive, or worse dangerous (such as mercury or lead). Many of us use paper for our Planetary images, and it does work, but doesn't in my opinion or experience make for a talisman that can long contain the Virtue of a planet. I've got a couple of fixes that I use to deepen the power of the paper talisman when I'm unable to afford  the metal, and of course I'll share them. My reasoning for experimenting with some of these methods was that, as Names are descriptions of a given entity/thing and as such have power over the thing, a proper and true description may serve well in the place of a thing. May even Be the thing, as far as Magic is concerned. I also reasoned that the Virtue of the planet is the important thing, and that the metal served as a container of that virtue and That is why it was valuable in my Ma...