Wand and Table

In my previous post I mentioned that I am going to practice the system of evocation given in Rufus Opus' book "A Modern Angelic Grimoire", which is based on Trithemius' book/essay "The Art of Drawing Spirits Into Crystals".  I mentioned that I had been working on making two of the main tools for the system: the Wand and the Table of Practice.  Since then I have finished both of the tools!

The Table of Practice, pictured here, was for me a very amateur effort at woodcarving.  I think in the near future, I will go back and rework it a bit.  For example, I'd like to stain the wood, re-color the lines and characters, etc.  For now, though, it is just fine for my needs.  In my previous post I stated that I did a bad job on this, but looking at it objectively, it's alright...especially considering that I had never done woodcarving before.

The wand took a bit longer to make, due to the necessary handling of the inscription and the gold coloring.  I used liquid gold leaf to color it in.  After all was said and done, I added several coats of gloss lacquer.  But overall, it is my favorite between the two tools.  The only tool left that I didn't already have and have not already made is the lamen, but it will be made on a working-by-working basis at first.

Now for the reason I'm making these tools and working with this system...

What's It For?

Having immersed myself back into practical magic, and having focused on that to the exclusion of magic for spiritual advancement, I began to miss the Theurgic part of magical practice.  Don't get me wrong: my goal in magic is to help improve my life.  I'm not into secret chiefs, nor astral battles and all these struggles for the collective unconscious of mankind...no.  However, I can't help but wonder if the practical work I do already would be even better if I sought the heights of spirit as well.  I have an urge to explore that part further now that I have a new focus and direction...almost as if my Angel itself is calling me.  Hehe In Soviet Russia, HGA calls you!

In Rufus Opus' system, I see a very solid method of doing the Great Work.  He teaches to summon the angels of the Planetary Spheres, asking them to grant initiation and integration of the planet's power into one's own personal sphere.  If the Great Work is unification with God (which encompasses all things), then what better way than to call upon the very forces that form the building blocks of reality and align oneself with them?

Although I have yet to experience the system, so far I'm convinced that it beats the hell out of initiation into some group by a flawed human being.  I'd rather gain initiation from the Powers themselves.

With that said, I already know how I am going to work through this.  To begin with, I am going to go through each of the Planetary Spheres, gaining initiation and integration of them into my sphere, in a specific order.  I am going to start with the Moon, then move through Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, ending with Saturn.  After making that trip "up" the Ladder of Lights, I might go back "down" through Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, ending with Saturn again.

I might not do the trip back "down", but either way I will then begin my efforts toward attaining the Knowledge and Conversation of my Holy Guardian Angel (K&C/HGA).  Having obtained Solar initiation, I will regularly conjure my Genius and ask it to facilitate the K&C.  Apart from that, once a week I will perform the Invocation of the Headless One.

And apart from that last bit, I'm going to do it all with the system found in "A Modern Angelic Grimoire"!

I may also include the four elements in the initiation/integration sequence...I'm not sure yet.  As I'm not enrolled in the Black Work course (can't afford it), I have guesswork and the advice of the spirits to rely on.  But, I'm also going to check out Agrippa and Trithemius in the meantime.

In an upcoming post, I'll bring things back to a practical level by detailing a job interview success spell I did recently...and the lesson in strategy I learned because of it!

What I've Been Up To Lately

Since my post on meditation, I've been finding more and more things to write about.  They are still forthcoming, but I wanted to give an update regarding what I've been up to lately.

In accord with the Strategic Sorcery lesson on tools, I am currently in the process of consecrating the staff I mentioned in this post.  It's coming along quite nicely, and it feels like there is some real power being built up in it.  Primarily it is a staff for magical offense and defense.  However, I built other staff-like functions into it.  These include the calling of spirits, communication with the spirit world, acting as a catalyst for my will, and acting as a channel as well as amplifier for power.  As part of the consecration, I've been building certain poses with the staff into its functionality.  These represent its various functions, although it is not limited to them.  I have positions such as Attack, Defense, Summoning, Commanding, etc.  In the past two days, the Attack and Commanding positions have begun to feel more substantial, as if the staff is catching on ans acting in accord.  Hopefully the Defense position will follow suit soon.

In other Strategic Sorcery doings, I am working on reading up on Robert Bruce's astral projection and energy work techniques in preparation for my other homework assignment that's due: Achieving astral projection.  I don't anticipate much trouble with it, as I used to practice AP almost every night years and years ago.  I'm probably rusty, but I feel confident that I'll have the hang of it again soon.

Finally, I've really been enjoying the lessons in Strategic Sorcery.  Lately we've been covering spirits of various kinds.  I've been introduced to some very nifty and cool practices for use in dealing with spirits, and even creating artificial spirits (something I've never done but have always wanted to do).

There are a few things I have going on with my magical practice in general.  The first is a spell I did recently, from which I was gently reminded of a fundamental lesson of strategy.  I'll detail it in an upcoming post.

Second, ALL THE MATERIA!!!  The city I live in has, to my knowledge, a slight lack in magical supply shops.  On top of that, most of the ones around are clear on the effing southside!  It's not a bad area...it's just on the opposite end of town from me!

Well, long story short: The best magical supplies store in the area went really down in quality and range of items that they carry.  So I went looking around for another place to find herbs, oils and candles.  I found it!  It turns out there's another place next door to the old one that has almost everything I need!  Their range of candles is amazing, as is their herb selection.  Tons of incenses...and they even had lodestones!  Their prices rock, too.

So, for $30 I had a field day and came away with no less than 9 herbs (at least 1/2 ounce each), some powdered sulfur, 5 taper candles, a specialty vigil candle, vetivert oil, 3 lodestones...and some other stuff I can't recall.  Now I have all the supplies I need to make the following condition products:

• Attraction oil
• Money-Drawing oil
• Money-Keeping oil
• Crown of Success oil
• Command & Compel oil
• Essence of Bend-Over
• Come to Me Boy! oil

There are two more condition products I don't quite have the supplies to make yet, because the shop didn't have them: Master Key and Black Arts.  They didn't have any master root, and I can't get the last curio I need for the Black Arts oil from them.

I swear...one of these days I'll be able to get all my stuff from LuckyMojo.

Another oil I made recently is......Abra-Melin Oil!

Yep!  I made it by macerating cinnamon, calamus, and myrrh together.  So far it matches up to everything I've heard about how the oil itself should look like and behave.  Anointing myself with it brings a vague kind of heat and it's a deep gold color.  Funny thing, though, that no one ever says: It smells like cinnamon-sugar toast!  At least mine does.

And finally, the last thing I've been up to lately: Trithemius.

Or, more specifically, I recently bought a copy of Rufus Opus' eBook entitled 'A Modern Angelic Grimoire'.  The system in it is based on that of Trithemius in 'The Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals', but a bit streamlined in the tools.  Speaking of the tools, that's what I've been working on this week.  I've made the Table of Practice according to the Angelic Grimoire, same with the wand.  Frankly, I did a bad job on the Table of Practice (IMO), and I have yet to see how the wand will turn out, as I haven't attempted to color the inscription gold yet.

Basically, I'm going to use this system for the Theurgic part of my practices.  But that is for another post!

And that's what I've been up to lately, dear readers!  Upcoming posts will include such topics as a working for interview success, enchanting in real-time, and more about how I am going to use the system in the Modern Angelic Grimoire.

A Benefit Of Meditation

If the average person realized how little conscious control they have over their own minds, I imagine they'd be a little scared.  In my case, this realization unfolded slowly in a type of recurring situation where I only thought I had control over my own mind, and was proven wrong.  I often look at myself and other people, and I'm frequently amazed at how little self-awareness people tend to have.  It often makes me think, "WTF??? Don't they understand the way they behave???"

It's usually not long after that I turn such attention back on myself.  This has been especially true lately, as I've been examining my mannerisms to see if I am off-putting, or socially awkward.  I'll act out some kind of social behavior and then wonder why I did that, as it made no sense in the grander scheme of things.

I'm not saying that I am some big self-aware being or anything, because I'm most certainly not.  Most of my life I've struggled with being in control of just my emotions, nevermind the rest of my...well, mind.  However, I have begun to reap the benefits of meditation!

It took me a surprisingly long time to find instruction for solid meditation practice from a reputable source that didn't fill the whole concept up with a bunch of new age claptrap.  But when I did, it was zazen!  Oh, the bliss of simple awareness meditation!  And when I first began reading TSS, I wasn't surprised that Jason recommends meditation first and foremost among any other practices.  His meditation technique was similar to what I had already done, and so it was easy to switch.

Previously I had gotten hints that my meditation practice was benefitting me, but today I had solid proof.  See, I have Attention Deficit Disorder.  When you have ADD, the term 'Monkey Mind' doesn't quite do it justice.  It's already tough to keep focused on one thing, but on top of that, being an emotionally-driven person is very difficult.  Basically, your emotions can easily make you their bitch.  And this afternoon, one small rock of a thought caused a splash that stirred up a whirlpool.

It was actually causing me anxiety.  I actually felt my mind stirring up and going into chaos.  I sat there for a minute or two experiencing it.  Then I remembered my lessons from Strategic Sorcery, and especially a set of affirmations taught by Jason called the 'Litany of the Mirror'.  I remembered and reaffirmed that my mind is indeed like a mirror, and that the storm going on around "me" was not actually me.  I considered that "storm" and considered that it was nothing.  Just reflections.

And something great happened: Like a pot of boiling water being taken off of the stove...my mind calmed down, and everything shortly smoothed out.  I was left feeling completely calm and unbothered.  When I realized what I had just done, I couldn't help but give in to my emotions just a little bit and smile!

:-)

1,000

Woohoo!  1,000 pageviews, baby!

Aaaand, moving on...

Cleaning House

The magical goodness just keeps flowing out on the Blog-o-Sphere!

Fellow bloggers, Rufus Opus and Pallas Renatus, each posted about spiritual house cleansing.  It was started by Pallas Renatus when he wrote very amusingly about his special "Potion Of GTFO".  This was followed up by a blog post in reaction to it by Rufus Opus.  And now, here I am thinking about house cleansing.

Both posts, especially PR's, got me thinking about house cleansing and what little attention I've given the topic lately.  In my efforts to build up my magical apothecary, one of the items I have collected is a bottle of Pine-Sol. Original Pine-Sol, according to Devi Spring, makes for a good spiritual cleanser as it actually contains pine oil.  A while back I took this idea and ran with it...and went even further.

I began by taking my recipe for VanVan oil, and made a concentrated version of it, using nothing but essential oils.  I empowered it and the Pine-Sol separately.  After that I added the VanVan essence to the Pine-Sol and shook it up to combine them.  After this, the Pine-Sol can be used like normal.

I decided to use my bathroom as a trial run.  I wiped down, mopped, and washed the room.  Afterward, it was pretty much my favorite place in the entire apartment because it just felt so good!

So what did I go ahead and do after this?  I dropped the subject and did nothing further with it, of course.

I know, I know!  And here I've been wanting to do a full-scale house cleansing and blessing since me and my roommate moved into this place!  Oy vey.

PR's post also brings up a point that I have been neglecting until now.  There have been many times that I have looked back on living in the current apartment and thought to myself, "Things really have not been right since we moved here."  I know a certain amount of those feelings may very well be projection on my part, but the fact I had that thought is worth exploring.  I may even do a divination on it tonight.

To anyone reading this, I would suggest reading PR's post.  I ended up taking special notice of the part near the end of the post where he described what to do with the potion.  Specifically, the license to depart that he instructs to give.  One thing I never talked about concerning my crossed condition was the fact that, when I was under the worst of it, at one point I gave a kind of "Universal License To Depart" after which the crossed condition seemed to weaken quite a bit.

So, go read those articles by Rufus Opus and Pallas Renatus.  Also browse Devi Spring's blog for good cleansing tips.  I know I'm going to do some house cleansing on my place sooner now, rather than later!

Miscellaneous Blog Stuff

I've generally considered the traffic on my blog to be humble, which I'm fine with as I try to *be* humble.  I don't expect to have a lot of readers yet.  But WOW, I'm impressed!  My blog, just since I created it, is swiftly approaching 1,000 views!

Also, apparently my readership uses Firefox and Chrome more than IE and Safari.  I can get behind that!  :-)

Also, dear readers, I've previously been unaware that only people with Google accounts could post comments on here.  I've corrected that, so now anyone can post, even anonymously.

Abuse it and I will eat your face!

Sorcerous Excursion: The Art Museum

Yesterday I went on an excursion I've been meaning to do since January.  During one of the Strategic Sorcery lessons on energy work, Jason recommends tapping into various sources of power - with the exception of other people and the electric grid.  In that lesson he also mentioned advice he received from a Bardonian magician.  This advice was to use the technique of pore-breathing to take in the energy of beauty itself by breathing it in from a beautiful work of art.  The idea sounded fantastic!

So, after months of procrastinating about it, I went to the major art museum in my town.  This particular art museum, in addition to most of its exhibitions being free, have a lot of art gardens that are really beautiful.  I initially went to the museum proper and browsed the exhibits.  While there I decided to tap into some Beauty from paintings, sculptures, and other works of art.  There was a difference between the "flavor" of a beautiful painting of Calypso standing in the wind, and a green-blue Art Nouveau vase.  With each one, I took a moment to reach out and "touch" the presence of the object, and then I simply breathed it in with my whole body.  To my mind, the "energy" of Beauty from these works flowed to me as multi-colored streams.

By the time I walked outside to the gardens, I was high!

There was one particular garden I aimed to go to, because its entrance in prefaced with a bust of Flora on the left, and Faunus on the right, and it is a circular area with an exit going out towards each of the cardinal directions.  Gee...sounds suspiciously like a Circle!  There's even a fountain in the middle of it, pictured to the right.  This particular garden is called the Classic Garden, I believe.

On the way to the Classic Garden, Something pulled me along to another garden, and upon entering I was struck with a barrage of floral scents.  The flowers are in bloom throughout the gardens, and in this particular one, they smelled amazing!  I found a bench secluded beneath the eaves of some tree, and sat down for a few minutes (it's been rather humid lately).  Still riding a high from the museum, I elt moved to give an offering of song to the area, so I sang part of Conjure One's "Center Of The Sun".

Then I moved on to the Classic Garden.  On the way I kept getting this feeling that I could take some soil from the land if I wanted...almost as though I was being invited to.  I politely declined, deciding that I will do so next time I'm there.

The Classic Garden is a delight to be in, for me.  It really is a magic circle, of sorts.  I think people pick up on this when tossing coins into the fountain.  That gives me an idea for a spell!

Anyway, once I was there alone, I gave an offering of energy, on which I used Jason's method of willing it to expand and multiply, and take on the forms most desired by its recipients.  I gave the offering to the local Gods, guardians and spirits of the area, and then it was time to go, as I was running late to go somewhere else.  On my way out, I gave a brief, small offering to Hekate Propylaia as I passed through a pair of wrought iron gates.

Now for the bad part.  All the high I got off of the beauty of that place was contrasted hotly and sharply once I left.  I don't know if it was me riding my blissful wave of Beauty, but people were assholes after that, all the way to my next destination!  The worst part was that my high made me want to be really self-centered and self-absorbed.  Blech!

It could have just been coincidence, but next time I pull the energy of Beauty, I'm going to bring something other than my body to store it in!  ;-)

Now, all this talk of beauty and energy and flowers and gardens is all well and good, but by this point I would be asking...What is the point?  In this case, my purpose was two-fold:

1. Experimental energy work
2. Work toward building a relationship with my surroundings and the city I live in, starting with its major parts.

There are probably many ways I could use the power from the art museum to fuel spells of mine in the future, and I want more of an experimental attitude in my work!

My Favorite Method Of Divination In Use

Years ago, I read up on the divination method called Geomancy.  Now, for those of you not in the know, Geomancy IS NOT FENG SHUI!  I'm just saying that because searching for it on Google will likely bring up a lot of Feng Shui sites.

Anyway, Geomancy quick won my heart, so to speak.  It looks scary complicated, but it's strange; once you actually do it, it's amazingly simple.  On top of that, it can be pretty detailed, and can answer virtually any question in such detail.

My purpose for this post is to highlight another post by The Unlikely Mage.  He recently posted a monthly geomancy reading he did for himself, and he goes through interpretation of it.  I found it fascinating.  The one and only thing missing from it is an illustration of the chart itself to give a visual on it, but I was able to do without.

Check the post out:  Monthly Reading