A Functional LBRP for Yule.

 

 HERMETIC YULE

                       Happy Holiday Greetings!  The tradition in my family is pretty average for the mid-Atlantic states in America.  We put up a tree, hold a family get together on Dec. 24th, stuff ourselves silly with food, and open presents on Christmas morning.   Our tradition is fairly average for the culture but, still a good time.

 

                       As a hermeticist, I also contemplate the astronomical significance of the 21st of December.  The 21st being the winter solstice and the Earth has reached its maximum southern tilt  causing, for us in the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day of the year.  Every day following the solstice grows in length of sunlit hours.  It is said that the astronomical solstice event on the 21st is like the "birth" of the Sun or Sol for the coming annual cycle.  Since Sol is identified with the psycho-planetary force of the Self, we could ascribe this time of year as a rebirth of ourselves.

 

                     For a majority of us the cycle of; birth, life, death, rebirth, and reincarnation/ascension as it relates to the cycle of the human shell, is a common contemplation .  If someone were to restrict the cycle to only that understanding relating to the "human shell" , they would surely miss out on all of the beautiful metaphors of the cycle that deserve attention. The annual observation of the Yule shrinks the metaphor of the "life" cycle's time frame down to just a solar year.  This implies that the cycle is not restricted by time and is only regulated by the manner in which it is observed.

 

 

 

LESSER RITUAL OF THE PENTAGRAM

FOR THE YULE SEASON.

Difficulty in mechanics and contemplation - Zelator Grade

 

                    The Lesser Ritual of the pentagram is a versatile ritual, meaning that I have heard and seen its use for a multitude of different intents.  Some of which were; the banishing of negative thoughts, the banishing of heavy elements from a ritual space, and banishing elements from a sphere of sensation or aura.  But, in the rendition below the intent is somewhat different than all of the above. 

 

                   The intent of the lesser ritual below is to give honor and gratitude to the recent life events of the practitioner that have displayed or are displaying the Solar "Yule" cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth.  In my opinion, this makes this style of the ritual functional, resourceful and (most importantly) current or relevant to the practitioner.  Therefore the ritual's intent revolves and evolves from contemplation of any recent life event that reflects a "life cycle" of its own no matter how seemingly mundane.  For clarity, these are not major life events that happened a year or more ago which may deserve the honor of a Greater Ritual of the Pentagram or an entirely different ceremony but, these are the everyday events or current trials of mundane life.

 

A GENERAL OUTLINE OF WHAT ITEMS REMAIN UNCHANGED AND THOSE ITEMS WHICH HAVE CHANGED OR SHIFTED FOCUS / INTENT IN THE LESSER RITUAL.

 

1.  Qabbalistic Cross - Remains unchanged.

 

2.  The mechanics of the entire ritual (ie. tracings, motions, vibrations, projections and etc.)- Remains unchanged.

 

3.  However, after tracing the Earth banishing pentagram in any cardinal direction say aloud a statement of gratitude for the psycho-emotional characteristic of the element that was experienced in the recent life event.

For example:  After tracing the banishing pentagram in the East (quadrangle of the element of air which stands for healing, thought and intelligence) you could say something to the effect of, "Thank you for the ability I had to analyze events for their true meaning as they took place.". 

Then, finish the procedure with the normal projection, vibration and the sign of silence. The implication is that you are grateful for the elemental attribute that was experienced during the recent event however, the event has passed and this form of analysis is no longer needed at this time. 

Do this for the rest of the directions; For example - South /passion, protection, will; West / love, understanding, intuition and North / the experience and the light of the divine during its time.

 

4.  When evoking the Arch Angels, the mechanics also stay the same but the focus is directed towards the arch angels' divine attributes associated with their offices as they are called forth.  These archangel archetypes, forces, powers and/or entities are with you at all times.  They were there during the subject life event of focus and they will be there to help you move forward through other experiences in the future.  

 

For example: Before calling forth Raphael, try to comprehend and understand how that noble aspect of the Divine was present during the recent event or trial and how it will continue to help you in coming days whether or not you consciously call upon it or not.  In this case, my understanding of the Arch Angel Raphael is that it is charged with healing and wisdom, so my focus would be on how my situation was healed or wisdom was gained afterward or, how it caused healing or wisdom in my life and/or in others.

 

5.  The identification of yourself with the symbolism of the pentagrams and the six figured star within the middle column remain unchanged as well as does the follow up qabbalistic cross.

 

 

 

               Hope you found the above helpful, maybe even useful.  As always, take what you can use from the above and discard the rest.

 

 Happy Holidays!
In LVX,

LiS

 

 

 

 

 



 

                    

 

Are you an Empathic Pinata?

EMPATHIC?  MY SHARED CONDOLENCES

                Yes, I too am an empath and for those that might not know what that entails the only education you may have on the topic are airy fairy new age healing articles touting the wonderments of being an empathic healer.  First, allow me to define what it means to be empathic.  It means that you can tune into other individual's moods, attitudes, feelings and sometimes thoughts.  If you are only an empath, you are not considered psychic because you cannot foretell the future and/or should a person wish to deceive you in conversation you stand only a little better chance than the normal individual at seeing through the deception.  However, you are damn close to being psychic or you may have psychic talents that have not been awakened.

              

             Second, it is this skill of identification that makes you this wonderful healer.  Caring, kind, attentive and completely miserable at times.  If you dread with all of your being funerals, family get togethers, and unstructured debates then you might be an empath.  The reason for your misery is that without knowing it, your friends, family and even total strangers can pick up on the receptivity of your gift and rather than seeing the warm blanket of energy that is there for them to snuggle up in, they instead see a punching bag or a pinata.  They accomplish this by a technigue known as projection and energy drain.

            Projection is easy to identify, it normally occurs during the course of your conversation with an individual who is upset with another person or group of people.  While listening to the other person's strife a bizarre twist occurs...they project the source of their upset onto you thereby making you a target.  Identify when this happens by an increase of their use of apparent role playing.  They will use the word "You" a lot even when talking about another person or group of people and they will point directly at you.  When this happens you have gone from being a friendly ear to an unwilling target.  Nip this quickly by asking them to use different pronouns or if you are worried that you may upset them by asking them to rephrase their dialogue then cover your solar plexus with both hands and focus on hardening your aura from the inside out.  *If that last part sounds like hoky new age crap, I endeavor you to at least try the technique...you'll find that the person who is projecting will increase the intensity of the attack as you have made it harder for them to hit your core.

         Energy drain in these situations is inevitable unless you cut short the conversation and tell the individual that you just can't listen to thier agnst at this time.  Of course, you are not going to say that because you are an empath and it is in your nature to help, inspire and nurture others.  Again, the defense against complete energy drain is a focus on hardening your aura and covering your solar plexus.  Be prepared for the next inevitability...the individual may hate you for a certain time period.  During the conversation, you represented the source of their anger and/or grief.  They will feel better but, do not expect them to either thank you or love you for giving them something to beat up on.  Over time you will note those individuals that use you for these purposes, do not take it personally but, do take it upon yourself to take a point of authority on how much energy you allow others to take at any one time.

       At the end of the day an empath is worn out especially if they were a target.  So light up the incense, take a bath or shower using a salt scrub, perform some sort of grounding exercise and beef back up your aura through meditation.  In all cases remember this one fact, they need you more than you need them.  Never be afraid to walk away.  Hope you found this useful.

    

 In LVX,

LIS

Overcoming the Fear of Invocation



OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF INVOCATION.

 

 

                          There are few things that can be more inspiring and/or more soul stirring than an invocation to universal powers in ceremonial magic.  However, growing up in an American, Judeo-Christian home I was taught at an early age that to ask God for some thing or some quality required a lot of due diligence in order to make sure that what I asked for did not pervert the Will of God and therefore a sin.  God the ultimate power and his angels were to be approached with humility and fear.  Because of this childhood background, when I began practicing the art of ritual magic, I found that my invocations were timid and "lack luster".  I could imagine the angelic hosts that I was invoking, sighing in frustration and saying to each other how they couldn't believe that they came all the way to my place for pitiful ramblings or jumbled canned speeches.  Worse, sometimes I could imagine the heavenly hosts actually becoming annoyed and angered by my stumbling and timid address, leaving me to be tormented by the dark forces of Hades which instilled even more paranoia and fear.  I am finding that some magicians beginning the art of ritual are having similar issues and worry tremendously about coming off as stumbling, timid and unsure or they feel that they have to be overly cautious not to appear too forceful, too prideful, or as challenging the authority of God.

 

                      A lot of us that have walked a mostly solitary path of ritual magic know that in time every magician comes to the place where they are comfortable with their invocations even to the point of tossing aside the index cards and addressing Archangels, Planetary and Zodiacal forces as close personal friends that you are calling to come over for a visit.  Coming to this point of comfort in invocations on your own can be a trying process.  But, rather than have other magic artists suffer the chaos of doubt and second guessing it takes to get to that point, I found a piece written by David Griffin, the Imperator of the Alpha Omega, that made a lot of sense to me and may help ease some of the tensions of the beginning magician in the art of invocation.

                    To paraphrase a small part of Griffin's piece, he writes that in ritual a magician should view themselves and their ritual space as a microcosm or small universe corresponding to the large universe.  The large universe's multitude of energies are a kin to physical Sunlight; brilliant, unrestricted, and pure.  While our sphere of sensation and/or microcosm acts as a prism for that light, allowing focused streams of energy of different qualities and colors to stream in. 

 

                   Looking at invocation in this light we can see how the deities and powers we invoke to help "focus the Light through the prism" are like really awesome lab colleagues.  Therefore, when calling on our colleagues the process should be respectful, friendly, tactful, unforced, with a dash of humility and a whole lot of love and adoration.  Rest assured that your "colleagues" are not judgmental or annoyed with your requests.  They, like you, enjoy and love this great and wonderful art of the universe.

 

Hope you found this helpful

In LVX,

LiS  
                          

Divine, Magick or Logical Fallacy?

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION...AN ANECDOTE.

JOURNAL ENTRIES

Thursday July 25th:  ...Had a dream, entered a tunnel.  Light at end of tunnel started to fill darkness in the form of a thick, white, smoky fog.  The shadow of a large predator cat approaches...

Friday July 26th: ...friendship issue...waning moon turns focus on study, cleansing, and aura stabilization...

JULY 26TH TO JULY 30TH

Out of the ordinary reports of multiple synched digital times 10:10, 11:11 and 1:11.  An increase in astral movement or peripheral hallucinations take place regardless of banishing rites.

Tuesday July 30th: ...prep for individual observance of Lughnasa.  A private rite dedicated to Sekhmet Egyptian Lioness Goddess of destruction is formulated to observe and memorialize life events of the past year; their destructions, purifications and rebirths... 

Thursday August 1st: ...(the friend from issue 7 days prior) posts having seen a mountain lion in the wild yesterday as an ecstatic, spiritual event... 

IS IT A DIVINE MESSAGE?

Meaning a spiritual or energetic source alien to my material existence but, still somehow interwoven intercedes to bring forth a synchronistic event as a message to assist in a major life event.

IS IT MAGICK?

Meaning that the synchronistic event manifested as a result of my own or the friend's conscious and/or subconscious will.



IS IT A LOGICAL FALLACY?

P1:  I dream of a predatory cat.

P2:  I had a friend issue.

P3:  I formulate a rite that honors unions and severances of the past year and dedicate it to an Egyptian lioness Goddess.

P4:  Friend reports seeing a mountain lion in the wild as life altering experience.

C:   The events are not causally related however, have elements that are too similar, are timed too close together and are too rare to be explained as coincidence therefore, they have been brought forth by a force that is personal and can mold observational reality. 

A common logical fallacy coined as the "Texas Sharpshooter." is used to explain how a series of premises could be grouped to formulate a false conclusion.  The "Texas Sharpshooter" gets the name from a scenario where someone shoots a series of shots and paints the bull's eye around the group of shots. 

MY CONCLUSION.

Yes.  All of the above.  A,B, and C.  As a Hermetic, I have to consider that all of the above are true or at least bear a fraction of truth.  I also have to consider that all of the possibilities have not been fully explored.  The ALL is infinite and my mind is finite and it reminds me of the formula of ARARITA and the analysis of the keyword as they point me to the conclusion that my narrow perception of what  a series of events definitely "mean" seperately should not be the focus.  The focus, IMO, should be on accepting the series of events as a sort of symbolic poetry, interpreted but not limited by interpretation.  A poem or art of life manifested to be used for my benefit should I choose to do so.

Hope you found this useful

In LVX,

Frater LiS

 

                         



Good things to Bad People: A theory of manifesting intention from an inverse polarity.

“A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways - by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize that the same thing happens to the soul.”



 

MANIFESTING GOOD FROM A MATERIAL BASED INTENTION   

 

 

              So I wanted to write down a pseudo philosophy I'm trying to work out in my head.  If it helps you to make sense of your own world great!  If not, oh well I hope you get something good from this post (like the cool pic of Plato above).  The philosophy deals with the quality of manifestation from an inverse intention. 

             The theory is simple; selfish and misaligned intention manifests the events intended but, the end result has a real and more likely probability of the inverse thereby, good and/or spiritual.  Whereas, a good and charitable intention also manifests itself in a like event but, the end result sours into a material and/or evil.  This is a reflection of balance but, before going all esoteric I think an explanation is in order.

THE PLAYER AND THE PIOUS

            Let's try two random examples from two common personality types; the "player" and the "pious". 

Spirit rises above the material elements.

         The player sets out to fulfill their lusts and desires, the manifestation of their intention often leads to guilt, disease, a feeling of emptiness, unwanted pregnancy, etc.  However, from those often arises a repentance brought by guilt, maybe a reflection, an emptiness filled, and/or a loving parent / child relationship.  In other words, Good.

Spirit is dominated by the material elements.

 



         The pious sets out to fulfill their spiritual drive for good, the manifestation of their intention often leads to charity, goodwill, healing, etc.  However, from those often is cultivated embezzlement, self righteousness, chastisement, and abuse of power. In other words, Evil.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE HERMETIC PROPERTIES FOUND IN THE INVERSE / MATERIAL INTENTION.

         These are not new revelations and there are an infinite number of examples of intentions having, in the long run, the opposite result.  I am not preaching an "every cloud has a silver lining" or "good intentions oft turn bad" reminder.  What I am pointing to is a mastery of a Hermetic practical philosophy.  To paraphrase the thrice great Hermes, 'to try and manifest something unnaturally is more or less ridiculous but, a master can use one law against another to bring forth the intended result'.  The laws we are using against one another is polarity and rhythm.  To invest wholly in one side of any ideal including good and evil is folly because the pendulum of balance always swings to counter balance.  Therefore a swing to one end is equal to a swing in the opposite.

        Let's put this into a practical exercise format.  You have a friend, that supports his/her family, that finds themselves recently out of work.  They are struggling with paying bills and putting food on the table.  To give your friend $100 would be a great intention of charity that would ultimately lead to hurt pride and a feeling of obligation.  However, if you're like me, you may have some chores that you want to get to and just don't have the time.  Therefore a conversation with your friend could go something like this:

You - Hey, sorry to hear about your job.  Can you do me a favor?  If I give you $100 will you come over and fix my door (or whatever) and mow my grass for a couple of weeks?

Friend - Thanks, you're a good friend but, I know what you're trying to do and although I appreciate it... I'll manage.

You - You're under the impression this is charity?  I'm a good friend but, not that good.  I just thought you might have more time on your hands and I fully intend on exploiting that.  But, as a good friend, if you find something better paying during your time fixing my door and mowing my grass that's cool with me I won't hold it against you if you quit.  Think about it but, don't think too long the grass grows quick and becomes a real bitch to mow.

         It's basic psychology but, it's practical "magick".  Your will is coming into fruition.  The intent has been communicated in a material basis and in most cases will bring the fruit of good.  Just remember that sometimes the nastier the fertilizer, the better the crop. 

Hope you found this useful but, remember that in order to follow my own philosophy in this one I have to come clean and tell you that I'm really writing this post for my own self aggrandizement and maybe one day I'll become a very wealthy and rich author.  It could happen :) In the meantime...give this inverse / material intention thing an experimental shot.

 

In LVX,

Frater LiS

 

What Obi-Wan never told you about Occultism

A list of items still obscure hopefully made clear:

 Let he that has internet, read.

1.  Occultism can most nearly be defined as "hidden knowledge".

2.  The study of hidden knowledge is subjective the practice of employing hidden knowledge is an attempt to make it objective.

3.  1600 years ago mathematics, chemistry, psychology and physics were considered subjective and occult at that time. Back then, the church regulated that which was defined as objective.  Today, the practice of occultism is the study and experimentation of those topics that are still considered subjective in nature with the goal of finding their home in an objective reality.

4.  Many occultist employ a code of secrecy.  Although there are a multitude of theories of why a code of silence is said to exist, ranging from hiding from the church to occult societies looking to  control the world from a shadowy temple; the real definition of "silence" is that the knowledge remains "hidden" from those not looking for it.  As it was stated before, occultism is to remain subjective until it is refined (purified in alchemical terms) into an objective and "accepted" science. 
          You have to be actively engaged in occultism, study and experimentation before the veil of "secrecy" is lifted.  Otherwise, to hear the occult "speech" in "silence" is to hear confusion and what seems to be the ramblings of the mad.  How many prophets, scientists, philosophers, and astronomers have we slain or committed to insanity or chastised and prosecuted into shame, woe and doubt out of ignorance...only to excuse ourselves when the subjective becomes objective by willing our past ignorance into a modern innocence.

5.  Occultism then can be described as the most poetic form of skeptical experimentation.

What is magic?   *There be rough reading ahead, Matey.

1.  Magic is two fold:
a. A trick, an illusion, where one knowingly deceives another by using tactics that the other party is unaware or ignorant of (mind control)

or

b. The implementation of; archetypical and mythological symbols and references, various modes of speech, physical movement, meditative states, imaginary or spontaneous visualization along with religious or spiritual elements with or without the aid of psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances in order to achieve a desired result of will (expanding consciousness).

2.  The goal of;
 (a.) above is to gain control of consciousness and to direct observational reality by using an illusion that paints consciousness as being separated out individually and encapsulated in gross material forms (mind control of the masses)

whereas, the goal of;
 (b.) above is to realize that this "separation" or "individual"  illusion can be overcome and observational reality can be directed (in its entirety) by using ones own understanding of personal or intimate consciousness (Union of the universal and personal consciousness).

3.  The greatest contribution of Mass Mind Control or (a.) above is the crafting of an illusion that the human conscious manifests individually and separately from any and all other forms of symbiotic consciousness.  Human consciousness is made to appear bound and encapsulated within the confines of the human animal form.  A prisoner to pain, hunger, lusts and desires.
     The illusion that cohesiveness and relationship to the whole of consciousness is reliant upon the individual consciousness and the "real" material actions of each individual creates enormous and unnatural pressure on the now separated conscious being, this enables the successful engineering of mass amounts of human consciousness by a relative few.  The mass amounts of consciousness being controlled is termed a culture, and the few that engineer it are labeled authority.  The illusion can be thought of as positive or negative but, it simply is and this illusion, by design, has enabled the survival and evolution of the human animal.

4.  The greatest contribution of the Union of the personal and universal consciousness or (b.) above is the realization that the individual conscious does not exist except by the illusion created above in (a.) and that because we must cooperate with this material illusion, if we know and understand that it is such we have an opportunity to really shine and be spectacular. 

     So, just as a flag represents a country or a cross represents an entire belief system; material observed reality with all of its seemingly infinite collection of variables (time, space, matter) is just a symbol of the universal infinite consciousness.  Just as without the country there is no flag and without the belief there is no cross, without consciousness there is no reality. 

    Therefore, there is no illusion to produce with Uniting the personal and universal consciousness or (b.), only a reality directed and molded and manifested at the successful debunking of the "individual" illusion and realignment with the universal consciousness.  It is at that point that the material reality becomes the "canvas" upon which what is referred to as the "higher self or the soul" paints.  Unlike what we have been told and sold for thousands of years, the material individual illusion and the higher self or soul can co-exist without each limiting the other.  But, in order to do so the material illusion of a physical individual conscious must accept that it is merely the beast upon which the higher self  or soul can ride to bring forth its divine will into reality and thereby the soul is no longer a deluded prisoner shackled by imaginary chains in a cell of bone and sinew but, at that point takes its rightful place as a sibling and co-creator with the Divine ALL.

 

In LVX,

Frater LiS