The Engagement of Books into Practical Applications

I've just finished reading and working my way through The Ladder of Lights by William G. Gray, which is a book on the Sephiroth of the Quabala. I'd read the book many years ago, but decided recently to revisit it and this time I didn't want to just read it. I wanted to experience it. So I decided that I would approach reading the book a bit differently. Instead of reading a chapter, I decided to read a section of a chapter and then work with the concepts and entities discussed in that section. The actual work consisted of meditation and pathworking as well as mediation of the forces worked with via my spirit cord.

I found that creating a program of practice around the book made the concepts within it come alive in a way reading it simply wouldn't. I've shared some of that work in my monthly postings about my elemental balancing work. The engagement with the angelic orders and the archangels was particularly useful, creating a kind of initiatory journey through each Sephiroth in order to experience and process what each Sephiroth does as a principle of manifestation.

One of my complaints sometimes about occult practices is how books don't set up the necessary engagement a person needs with the concepts shared in the books. Or the book will set it up as a cookbook recipe approach to magic, which is also less than useful, if you want to go into the depth of the work. However I think if you can approach a given book with an intention of how you can turn the content into a meaningful practice, what you'll discover is that you can get a lot from it, even if there is no practice application included in the book. You just need to be prepared to come with your own tool set, but really if you are actively practicing magic, this shouldn't be difficult. And if it is difficult, it is time to start doing the work.

I'm going to start reading and working through the Talking Tree next and I'll take a similar approach to working through the material, using both meditation and mediation to connect with the essential powers that be and the underlying concepts that create the tree of life. When you work with a book, the key is to dive deep and work with the underlying principles and processes of magic. Ultimately that's what you are trying to get to...a fundamental understanding of how magic works or why it works and then taking and applying that knowledge and information into practice to change your life. If what you are reading isn't being applied, it will never change your life or change the way you experience the world...not on a deep level and that deep level is where we want to go with our practices and with whatever we engage in.

Book Review: The Ladder of Lights by William G. Gray

By far, this is one of the best books on the Sephiroth of the Quabala. Gray does an excellent job of breaking each Sephiroth down by planet, angelic order, archangel and god name association and explaining the Sephiroth in each of these levels. You'll also find that this book is easy to adapt to whatever practice you want to use to work with the Sephiroth. If you want to learn the Quabala, this is a good book to start with.

The Spirits help those who help Themselves

Recently,  an acquaintance shared some difficulties he was having with some magic work he's been doing. One of the observations I made based on what he'd shared is that he's relying to much on spirits or magical entities to do the work for him. While working with a magical entity can be quite useful, there are limitations to its effectiveness and much like anything else, too much reliance on an entity can ultimately be a crutch to your magical practice, especially if you consider that the entities you work with have their own agendas and interests, unless its one you've created (and that has its own limitations). The truth is your average spirit doesn't want you bothering it all the time with requests. The spirits help those who help themselves.

In my work with various spirits, I always create a very specific relationship, and one aspect of that relationship is that I typically ask the spirit to do something for me that I couldn't do on my own. I don't ask it to do anything I couldn't do mundanely or magically, because doing so is a waste of the entity's talents, and is also laziness on the part of the magician. For example, if I'm looking for a place to live and decide to employ magical means to get the place, I probably won't call on an entity, because both magically and mundanely I have the necessary skills to get into a living situation that I want to be in. I know my own skills are sufficient for that task. On the other hand, I'll create an entity to help me become aware of opportunities I might otherwise ignore or miss out on, because the entity will have a perspective I don't have that can be useful for discovering opportunities. I'm employing the entity to use the skills that it has, in a manner which draws on its strength, while filling in a gap that I might not otherwise be able to address. It's better to employ an entity for a purpose that allows you to leverage its strengths for something you can't do on your own, then to waste its skills on something you can do.

Another way that I like to work with spirits involves getting the advice or knowledge on a given subject, either by asking them to point me toward the best resources, or if possible, do a direct download of information. The majority of times its a combination of the two. The reason this works so well is because the entity is providing you with something you don't have already and may not have the best skill at finding. An entity is happy to do this because it ultimately still involves you the magician doing the work. Sure the entity points you to information, but you actually have to follow up and learn it and then do something with it.

There's a theme here: Its better for you to attend to the detail work of manifesting desired possibilities into reality. Let the spirit handle the things you can't easily do or do at all. That's where the specialty of the spirit comes into play, and where it will be most useful to you. Anything you can do, plan on doing it yourself either magically, mundanely, or better yet both ways. Speaking of which: Take a multi-pronged approach and work with the spirit, but also add in your own magical work and mundane actions. It's better to implement multiple approaches to achieve your desired result, and better to take action, instead of just relying on an entity. In fact just relying on entity is the lazy magician's surest way to fail.

Space/Time Vibration Magic

In my system of space/time magic, vibration plays an integral role in the manipulation of possibility into reality. I see vibration as an integration of time into space, wherein space is the palette or medium through which time is expressed. In my magical work, I've integrated vibratory work in a lot of what I do, with the idea being that different types of vibrations can be used for specific purposes. For example, when I do my invocation of the element I'm working with, I vibrate a specific sound that is used to channel the element both inward and outward. It vibrates inward through my physical and spiritual being, attuning me to the elemental force, even as it vibrates outward, aligning the environment around me with that same energy to create a field of elemental energy that brings that element into my reality and the experiences I have with it.

I've found a similar practice in Dzogchen, albeit done for a different purpose than my own. In Tibetan Sound Healing, the author explains that vibration practices are used to clear the space of a person of the internal blockages, desire, etc that obscure the person from reaching a state of stillness. In my own experiences with Zhine, which is a stillness practice of Dzogchen, I've noticed how being still initially brings to my awareness the desires, worries, etc. that come up in my life. I've actually used Zhine as a meditation for space/time work by using what's brought up during the stillness practice as a form of possibility exploration, but in the book I mentioned above, the author also includes certain vibratory practices that are used to attune the internal energies of the practitioner to the space of stillness, while clearing out the distractions. The author explains the following:

"You connect to the clear space because the energy and emotion that you brought to consciousness has been released. When the block dissipates, you feel some space. That space is something you want to recognize. You want to recognize and abide or rest in that space without changing anything." As you can see reaching this state of awareness is really about being still and not doing anything...just being. Doing anything brings back the attachment or blockage.

To clear the space, involves the vibration of specific sounds. For example, the sound A is vibrated in order to attune the practitioner to the space and clear out blockages from your inner energy and the environment around you. I've started doing this vibratory work in conjunction with my Zhine practice and what I found is that it brought a clarity of being to the experience of Zhine, a deeper being with stillness, because the sound opened me up to that space of being. When I do the Ahh sound and infuse it with vibration it opens the mind up, deepens the state of stillness and the awareness of possibilities.

Now in my work with space/time magic, a lot of the focus has shifted to identity work. And how all that connects to this vibration work is that by opening yourself up that state of stillness, that space of being, what you also open yourself up to is the experience of possibility. The choice to become a possibility moves you from a state of 0, of being, to a state of 1, of doing, reintegrating into linear time and space with the possibility as the new reality. This approach is admittedly different from the person of abiding in a state of stillness, but if we're serious about space/time magic then I think the exploration of vibration to achieve a state of stillness, where all possibilities are experienced and then choosing one can be quite useful. What this also illustrates is how a given system of practice can be adapted and applied in ways the originators wouldn't have used it. I know that my application of Zhine and the vibratory practices doesn't align with the stated purpose of the practice in Dzogchen, so I wouldn't call what I'm doing Dzogchen, so much as a derivation I've devised that utilizes the practice as a from of space/time magic work. As I continue to learn the vibratory practices, I'll see what else develops, but I already think that the vibrations could not only help you reach a space of altered consciousness, but also use that state to sync yourself to the specific possibility you want to manifest.

Explore related entries in the Library

• Vibration Element Pattern Disruption
• Vibration Element
• The Spider Queen of Time

Non-Anthropomorphic Pathworking Technique: Sound

In a previous post, I discussed how tactile awareness could be used for non-anthropomorphic pathworking. This time we're going to explore how sound and vibrations can be used for a similar purpose. Similar to touch, our hearing can actually help us connect with spirits, entities, and life in general in a non-anthropomorphic manner, if we train ourselves to use it for that purpose. In general, we use our hearing to help us with communication and not surprisingly part of what goes with communication is an expectation about how communication will happen. Humans use words, so we tend to expect communication to occur via words, even though that may not be the preferred communication of what we're connecting with. How often have you done a ritual working to a spirit and found yourself having a conversation with the spirit? Chances are you used words and expected words in return and perhaps the spirit accommodated you because of that expectation. How might it have communicated if words hadn't been the expectation?

We live in a world of sound. Even when we think we are in silence, we generally are still experiencing sound of some type in the world around us. Not all of that sound is used for the purpose of communication, but sound can tell us a lot about the environment around us (and within) and what might be in the same vicinity as us. If you have a pet in your life, you also know that pets can communicate with you via sound, and tat you'll interpret that sound accordingly. For example, I know the difference between the hungry meow when my cats want food and the meow when my cats want attention. There's a difference in tone and how the meow sounds. Communication is happening, but not via words, but through sound itself and my interpretation of what that sound means.

In part of the work I did with the microbial life in my body, I used sound as a way to connect with that microbial life. For example, I used the sounds of hunger and digestion to connect with the bacteria in my stomach. What I did is meditated and carefully focused my hearing on listening to the internal sounds of my body. So I'd meditate when I felt hunger and used the hunger sounds of the stomach to connect with the bacteria and then did the same with the noise of digestion after I ate. Hunger and digestion are two different sounds, so it gave me a chance to connect with the bacteria in each stage. The sounds weren't necessarily made by the bacteria, but it seemed to me that the sound was part of the experience and I used it as a way to connect.

When I do work with spirits around me or with some other type of life, I do my best to just open myself up to the sounds conveyed to me. If words are used I'll accept them, but I don't expect them because I realize there may be another way to communicate. Recently I did a working with the Chasmalim, which is the angelic order of Chesed. The way they chose to communicate with me involved changing sound frequencies in combination with light. My receptiveness to this communication helped me understand how they work and what they do in their roles of mediating the energy of Chesed.

As you can probably tell this kind of work doesn't happen with just sound or touch or sight. Usually its a combination of the senses, which is understandable because that's how we experience the world in general. What this kind of work teaches us is that the experience of non-anthropomorphic work will occur across multiple senses and we should necessarily open ourselves to using more than one sense if needed in order to have an experience with a spirit, entity, etc that we are seeking to connect with.

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I was interviewed on Pagan Musings Podcast about the difference between BNPs and leaders in the Pagan community.

Book Review: Fandom, Identities, and Communities in a mediated world edited by Jonathan Gray, Cornel Sandvoss, and C. Lee Harrington

This is a collection of essays on pop culture studies, circa 2006, so some of the content is a bit dated, but all of it is interesting to read. However, one thing which stands out to me about this book is that many of the essays never really focused on identity in relationship to pop culture. I mention that only because I'd hoped to see more focus on that topic, and of course its in the title of the book. However what I did like about the book is that a number of essays focused on non-traditional fandom, with a focus on classical music, sports, and news fans, among other types, which made for some thought provoking reading. If you're interested in pop culture studies, or like me if you want to see what you can apply conceptually to practice based approaches to life, this book may provide some useful insights.

Non-Anthropomorphic Pathworking Techniques: Touch

In my recent post on Pagansquare I shared six anthropomorphic assumptions (and possible solutions) that can show up in your magical work. If you don't want those anthropomorphic assumptions to show up you need to develop some type of technique that allows you to get around them. The technique I've been developing, at least for working with the microbial life in my body, has involved using tactile awareness as the means through which to communicate with the microbial life. Tactile awareness refers to the sense of touch and kinesthetic awareness of feeling your body.  Approaching non-anthropomorphic work in this way has been very useful because its cut spoken language out of the equation and focused instead on experiencing sensation and using the sensations as a guide for the interactions with the microbial life.

I've also used this technique with my latest round of communion with the neurotransmitters. Just as with the microbial life, I've found that using the sense of touch as the basis for the pathworking has lead me to experience altered states of consciousness consistent with earlier experiences I've had with neurotransmitters. What's most fascinating however is how the sensations nonetheless have become symbols. In other words, the feeling of the experience will replicate itself in specific ways each time I work with a given neurotransmitter and that pattern then becomes a symbol, which can be meditated upon and used to experience the physical sensation, provided the person understands how tactile pathworking works.

Learning Tactile pathworking involves conditioning yourself to be aware of both surface and internal kinesthetic sensations. you can do this in several ways. First, I recommend learning and practicing daily some type of breathing practice, which forces you to pay attention not just to your breath, but also to how your body responds to the breath. If this practice also involves working with your internal energy, then so much the better as it'll teach you how to pay closer attention to the kinesthetic awareness of your body. As you learn how to move your kinesthetic awareness in your body, you can also try directing it to a specific part of your body and maintaining awareness of that part. What you'll discover is that your body provides you a lot of information that you normally suppress. However, suppressing that information isn't always useful and by mastering kinesthetic awareness you can learn ho to process and experience that information without the need to suppress it.

I also recommend stillness practices. Stillness practice teaches you to be still. That stillness will help you become awareness of surface feelings on your skin. It'll also help you tap into your deeper kinisthetic awareness, especially if you focus on a sensation like breath or your heartbeat. In fact, your heartbeat can be an excellent teacher for kinesthetic awareness because its something you experience all the time, but its also something you learn to ignore. You actually have to consciously focus on it to be aware of it, but if you focus your awareness on it, you can use the heart beat to create a rhythm that leads you into a meditative experience with your body.

Another practice that's useful is movement practice. Movement practice can be as simple as being mindfully aware of your body and how it moves when you are doing something, or it can be as focused as doing specific movements in a sequence and maintaining awareness of your body while doing those movements. When doing these movements, you want to pay close attention to how your body moves and how it feels as you move. For example, how do your joints feel when you move them in specific ways? By focusing on those sensations, you'll learn a lot about your body and how it feels when you are doing this tactile pathworking.

As you practice these various techniques, focus on cultivating your tactile awareness, both inwardly and outwardly. Pay attention to what your skin feels or how your fingers feel when they touch a surface. Pay attention to how you carry your body and how that makes you feel internally. When you do breathing meditation and move your internal energy, focus your awareness on how your body responds. By learning to do that, you can then focus your kinisthetic awareness inward. Then when you work with your microbial life or neurotransmitters or whatever else you'll be able to use that sense of touch for that purpose. In a future post, I'll cover how you can also apply this concept to sound.

Anthropomorphism and its affect on Perceptions of Reality

I'm in the midst of my research for Pop Culture Magic 2.0 (thankfully I'm almost finished with it). Part of that research has taken me to some interesting tangents in relationship to how people experience the otherworld and daimonic spirits. While most people wouldn't associate pop culture with daimonic spirits or the otherworld, I'm seeing a connection and it's also helping me understand the affect anthropomophism has had on people's encounter with spiritual beings. Patrick Harpur makes an intriguing point when he notes the following:

"It is to our discredit that in order to draw attention to their reality, the daimons have been compelled to become physical and fixed, like crop circles. By Masquerading as - by parodying- literal facts, they answer our modern requirement for quantifiable effects besides which everything else is deemed illusory. In other words, their way of presenting their own metaphorical, mythical reality is to appear not as literal, but as if they were literal" [Italics are his] - From Daimonic Reality

What I take away from this quote is that anthropormorphism is at the root of modern society's fixation on quantifiable reality. There are, of course, other disciplines and perspectives which also inform that fixation, but if we examine anthropomorphism carefully, what we find is that it seeks to recast experiences with Daimonic reality, and indeed with the universe at large, into human perspectives that label and categorize such experiences into neat little boxes. The resultant problem with this is that it creates a rather static experience of reality that always needs to be situated in what humans find meaningful to them, as opposed to really being open to how the experience might change their perspective of reality. This leads to the issue described above in the quote, wherein the Daimonic spirits need to appear in a specific context in order to connect and communicate with us. That specific context is filtered, sanitized, presented in a package that is ultimately limited because of the need to attribute human behaviors, meanings and values on the connection that has occurred.

This does open the floor to a question however: Why do these daimonic spirits want to connect with us so much that they are willing to limit the context of the experience to what fits us? I think there's two possible reasons. The first has to do with symbiosis, and the second has more to do with how we limit the experience and how they respond to those limitations. Lets explore both reasons in depth below.

The symbiosis reason essentially explores the possibility that daemonic entities have a symbiotic connection of sorts that requires a connection. I'd argue that the connection runs both ways. In other words, there are benefits conferred to both humans and Daemons by the nature of the connection. As a result its worth it to the daemons to continue to have contact with us, even if that contact is limited in ways that makes it more acceptable to humans. What's fascinating is that if this is the case, Daemons have nonetheless adapted quite well, and one possible theory for pop culture magic could be that what we're really connecting with are daemons that have taken on pop culture as one way to connect.

The second reason focuses on the limitations humans create in order to interact with Daemons. If we use anthropomorphism in its various forms to categorize our experiences into something that is comfortable for us, the challenge for Daemons then is how to respond to such a limitation and that may very well involve taking on the limitation and its context and using that to establish the connection and then afterwards challenging that limitation in whatever manner possible. Thus they may act as if they were literal and yet find a way to challenge that sense of literal reality by helping the person experience something that can't be categorically defined very easily.

Bringing all this back to anthropomorphism and its affect on the perceptions of reality, I think that what we'll discover is that anthropomorphism really does limit our experiences and contact with the otherworld and with the kinds of experiences we can have. It filters out what doesn't fit the comfortable human definition of reality, so that what is experienced spiritually or otherwise can be explained away and written off into convenient categories and labels that seem safe. The problem with this is that if it ultimately a filter that may cause us to miss experiences and information we need to have access to. The challenge then is to recognize anthropomorphic inclinations and determine how useful they really are for the spiritual work we are doing. Are we truly allowing ourselves the opportunity to have an experience or just turning it into a label that makes us feel safe for the sake of not challenging our perceptions of reality?

Silence and its place in Magical Work

In Western magic, one of the expressions is "to keep Silent." I never really cared for that expression, finding it to be antithetical to my craft as a writer and my desire to experiment with magic. But recently I've been reading several books and also doing a lot of work with stillness in relationship to movement and I've come to an appreciation of silence and its place in magical work. In Music Power Harmony, Stewart suggests that using silence in magic can become a foundation that realigns the consciousness and allows for deeper, more intensive internal work, while also shifting our understanding of music and the experience of it. Silence liberates us from habits because it causes us to examine and question them.

In The Fruitful Darkness by Joan Halifax, she states that stillness and silence is the foundation of our engagement with the world. It is an experience that allows us to interact with the world without necessarily acting on it. Yet what we get out of it is a different perspective and understanding of the world, based on experiencing it and becoming part of it without needing to change it. Something I've discovered over the years is that the need to act on the world diminishes as you learn how to experience the world directly. Stillness and silence teach you not to get so caught up in the drama, teach you to appreciate the nature of your connection to what's around you because you aren't so wrapped up in it, but can instead step back from all of it. We can get so caught up in the noise, so caught up in the distraction and diversion that we forget the connections, instead focusing on what will fill us up.

In the Dzogchen practice of Zhine, the person does stillness meditation, stilling everything and just being with the world, while not being attached to it. I've been doing this practice for a bit of time now and as I've done it, it's gotten easier to enter into that state of stillness and silence, though sometimes I still have challenges with it. What strikes me about doing Zhine is how much I end up hearing my own thoughts. I'm not doing anything, other than being still, so the thoughts come out, moreso for Zhine than other meditation practices I've done. Eventually all that mental noise dies down and what I'm left with is a state of being. I am here. Eventually even that fades and I just am, without attachment to space or time. In that stillness and silence I nonetheless find that I enter a state of connectedness that I'd never experienced until I did Zhine. The boundary between myself and the world around me thins, sometimes going away altogether, so that I enter a state of possibility, no longer caught up in conventional reality with all of its distractions.

I appreciate silence now because I understand its where inspiration and possibility are found. Allowing myself to be silent and still allows me to connect with the creative urge of the universe, Eros, in a way I couldn't before because I was so caught up in the noise. Now silence and stillness are part of my daily practice, part of my approach to magic and life. And through that experience the creative urge is mediated, experienced, and the heart of the world, the heart of the universe is entered. When the magician comes back from that experience, what is brought back is the impetus for meaningful change, both in the life of the magician and in the world, but done in a manner which is less about acting upon the world, and more about becoming the change you seek. By becoming that change, you change your relationship with the world and create the result you wanted to manifest instead of trying to force it into place.

Book Review: Music Power Harmony by R. J. Stewart

Music Power Harmony explores the connection between music and magic. The author also touches on concepts such as space/time magic, the power of words in shaping reality, the tree of life and its relationship to music and elemental calls of power. One thing I'd have liked to have seen more of in this book would be exercises that allowed the reader to implement the concepts. However, there is a lot of content that should inspire the magician, and this book will help you appreciate music and its relationship to magic because it is a fairly unique book in its focus. If you want to learn how to apply magic to music or learn more about the natural musical and magical abilities you have, this book will help you open that door.

Vowel Magic

In Music Power Harmony, R.J. Stewart makes an interesting observation about Vowels. He notes that the first sound that comes out of a person's mouth is always a vowel. You could say the letter Ks or Zs, but the sound of those letters is a vowel sound. The same actually applies to words. Say a given word and what you inevitably hear is a vowel sound. The vowel sound defines the rest of the words, connecting the consonants together in order to create the word. The vowel is at the heart of word magic, or as Burroughs might put it, its the nucleus of the word virus. The vowel is what we use to provide shape to the words, and in turn what gives the words the means to shape reality.

Stewart makes another intriguing point when he notes that we use sound to create a temporary pattern that expresses the fullness of the universe within the form of the word, attuning the word to universe and mediating the universe through the word. Burroughs made similar statement in some of his works on writing and the word. My own experiences with words has been one where I use words to start the path of manifesting a possibility into reality. A word turns a possibility into reality because it speaks that possibility into reality, makes it objective because it's not just in your head, but is a sound or is on paper. But the word is not just externalized. It is also internalized within the person, spoken within to align the person with the universe, even as it is sent out to the universe to align it with the person.

The sound of a word is not just a sound, but also a meaning. We invest the sound with meaning and articulate it for a variety of purposes that can ultimately be boiled down to one underlying purpose, namely the desire to change reality. Whether we are communicating, informing, educating, or expressing, what we are really seeking to do is create an experience with the words that changes something for us, both within and without. Recognizing this about words can help us appreciate their power and why we use them the way we do. The word speaks you. You speak the word. There is a relationship between the word and the person. That relationship is essential to the survival of both.

Words, by their formation, are a limitation of possibility. Words describe what reality could be, but also provide the necessary form to create that reality. For example, when I work with clients on their business, we put together a written business plan. The writing of the business plan focuses the client, turns the chaos of possibility into specific measurable actions, which in turn, lead to the manifestation of reality. I'd argue that words play the essential role of bridging possibility and reality. They provide form to possibility, while leaving enough possibility within them to let the person interpret and shape the meanings further before they become embodied into reality through the actions of the person. My own use of words is driven toward this kind of work, using them to forecast and shape the reality I'm stepping into, by providing enough focus that I can chart a path that then turns into action.

You might try the following experiment. Think of something you really want. Then write about it. Write about what you will do to achieve that result. Once the writing is done, seal it in envelope and put it away somewhere where you can find it, but don't open it until the the result manifests in your life. When it does manifest, look at the writing and compare what you wrote to what you actions you took. You'll probably find that the writing helped set the stage to manifest the desired result into reality.

Radio Interview: Go here to listen a live recording of my talk on Wealth Magic at the 2nd International Left Hand Path Conference.

Book Review: Fan CULTure: essays on Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century Edited by Kristin Barton and Jonathan Lampley

In this collection of essays, the authors share how fans interact with pop culture and corporations in order to keep their particular fan interests alive. There are three angles explored: Fan production, which shows how fans create content related to what love and how they get around potential corporate legal issues, the use of social media and how it effects fandom, and finally how fans influence the official content created by corporations. throughout all these essays, you'll get some fascinating insights into fan behavior and why fans do what they do as well as how it creates fan specific culture. Highly recommended if you are interested in pop culture studies or want to understand how fans effect pop culture production.

How to Identify identity Work you need to do

One of the most important aspects of identity work is the identification of problematic identities that you want to change. Some of these identifications are ones you will want to change entirely, while others will involve a change in perception. You'll also find that some identities can't be changed entirely, because they are part of your experiences, but what can be changed is how you choose to relate to that identity. This means that you can have a traumatic event occur which becomes part of your identity. You can't change that the traumatic event occurred...it's part of you, but what you can change is how you interact with that event, how you use it shape your identity and your place in the world. As simple as that sounds, such work can be hard, but if you are willing to do the work, the resultant changes are worth it because of you become empowered.

The identification of needed identity work involves paying close attention to those aspects of identity you'd rather avoid, or where you have tension and emotional blockages. For example, in American culture, the body is usually an identity aspect that people need to work with. The majority of Americans have unhealthy relationships with their bodies, which are not always examined from a place of identity. When identity is brought into the picture, an exploration of the body becomes a history of how you've interacted with your body, as well as what comes up for you in relationship to your body and how you've tried to change your body. All of these issues play a role in shaping your identity around your body and they can only be changed when you confront them head on and recognize them for what they are: unneeded definitions about what your body ought to be according to mainstream culture. Once you've recognized those definitions, you can then create your own definitions which speak to the identity you want to establish with your body. This typically leads to healthier interactions because you are choosing the identity instead of having it foisted on you.

One of the ways I identify identity work is through meditation. Part of the meditation work focuses on the unresolved tensions I feel within myself. As I meditate, I allow the internal energy to flow around the tension I feel, gradually dissolving it, and in that process revealing whatever is at the core of the tension. I can then work with that core and relate it to my identity to determine how it contributes to the identity formation I have. Once I understand that, I can do the necessary work of changing that core tension into something which helps my identity and the desired reality I seek to create.

In your own identity work, look for those areas of your life that bring up feelings of stress and tension. Do you dread going into work or cringe when checking your balance? Do you feel like you are walking on eggshells around people in your home? Do you find yourself doing an activity that isn't good for you, but you can't stop it? Spend some time paying close attention to your daily routines and whatever comes up for you while doing those routines. What you discover will provide you the necessary direction you need to move in, in order to start doing identity work. Embrace those areas of tension and stress, no matter how uncomfortable they might be. You can do meditation or some other magical work, but the focus of the work should be on helping you to understand how the stress/tension contributes to your identity, as well as how you can change your identity by addressing the stress and tension you feel.

Book Review: Fan Cultures by Matt Hill

The author explores fandom as a culture from the lens of religion, cult enthusiasm, and psychology. He offers an alternative perspective to the works of other pop culture studies academics. I found his insights about pop culture fandom and religion to be particularly fascinating. This book will give you a lot to consider about how fandom engages pop culture and makes it part of their lives, as well as what can be learned by exploring fandom from disciplines outside the norms of cultural studies. What I also found insightful was hit detailed exploration of the hierarchy of fan culture, which was useful for understanding how fan communities work. If you are interested in pop culture studies or pop culture in general, this is a good book to read.

The Process of Magic Class Round Ten starts in one week!

 

Round Ten of the Process of Magic Class starts on August 6th.

Magic is a process that changes you and your relationship with the world, if you understand how the process works.

In this 24 lesson class, we will explore what the process of magic is and how it applies to you and your magical work. If you’re looking for a different perspective on magic that explores the underlying principles of how magic works, instead of focusing on the tools, ceremonies, and other optional features, this class is for you.Below is the syllabi for this course:

Lesson 1: An overview of the process of magic

Lesson 2: You and Definitions of Magic

Lesson 3: Results, Change, and their respective roles in magic

Lesson 4: The anatomy of the process of magic

Lesson 5: Culture, Ethics and Ideology

Lesson 6: What isn't essential to the process of magic

Lesson 7: Connection and its role in the magical process

Lesson 8: Intention, Attention, and Magic

Lesson 9: Inhibitory Actions and Magic

Lesson 10: Excitatory Actions and Magic

Lesson 11: Internal Work

Lesson 12: Spiritual allies and the magical process

Lesson 13: Invocation 1

Lesson 14: Invocation 2

Lesson 15: Evocation 1

Lesson 16: Evocation 2

Lesson 17: Divination

Lesson 18: Enchantment

Lesson 19: Astral Projection

Lesson 20: Banishing

Lesson 21: Attunement with the land

Lesson 22: The Role of Limitation in the Process of Magic

Lesson 23: The role of Transformation in the Process of Magic

Lesson 24: The role of Mundane actions in the Process of Magic

Plus Two Bonus Lessons!

To learn more and sign up, go here.

When Magic is only Mental

When I've taught the concepts of magical identity to different people, one of the questions that comes up is if magic is only mental in an ontological model. It's a fair question to ask, in the sense that the initial focus of the magical work involves becoming the magic. However the ontological model of magic isn't a psychological model, which means it goes much deeper than just a mental state. Becoming the magical act and result isn't just thinking about it. When I talk about directing the magic inward, as well as outward, what I'm really speaking to is a fundamental recognition that any magical act necessarily must change the practitioner as well as the world around the practitioner, in order to manifest a desired result. In other words, the magician must be willing to shift to a new state of being that allows for and embodies the desired result within as well as without. A purely mental model of magic wouldn't enable such work because it doesn't extend to the world around us, nor does it allow more than a surface level experience of the internalization of magic.

When magic is only mental, its not real. It's a thought, caught up in a swirl of other thoughts and emotions, transitory and illusive. And as a thought it's not even fully integrated with imagination, so much as it is caught up in the minutiae of the practitioner. I've never found a purely mental/psychological model of magic to be workable, because when its all in your head, it's solipsistic and self-obsessive. There is no real connection to the world and without that connection, magic becomes an act of deception and fantasy.

What makes magic work, in my experience, is the simultaneous crafting of the work inward within the magician and outward to the world. When the magic goes inward, it's not just effecting the mind of the magician, but connecting the magician to the inner contacts and spirit guides that are allies to the work the magician does. It is also going inward to the magician's connection with the universe, allowing the magician to change that connection. When the magic goes outward, it goes outward to the world around the magician, aligning the possibilities and variables into favorable outcomes that produce the desired result. By directing the magic inward, the magician becomes the desired result, while setting up the outside to create an environment that allows for the expression and full manifestation of that result.

Magic is lived...not just thought about. You live magic when you make it part of your life, part of who you are, as well as what you do. For me, what makes magic work is that I make it part of the expression of my life and recognize that the expression of my life is the extension of my being into this world. That extension allows me to interact with and change the world, even as in turn the world changes me through that interaction. When you live magic you become the change and its not mental, all in your head, but rather is lived through every layer of your being.

Book Review: Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment by Anastacia Nutt

This book applies the concepts of spiritual discernment to psychic protection and shows the practitioner how to use spiritual discernment to recognize situations and people that aren't in alignment with the practitioner. The author provides some useful examples and exercises that the reader can use to apply spiritual discernment to their own practice. This is a useful book for beginning and advanced practitioners, as you will glean some gems of insight out of this text. The only downside to this text is that the author wrote it in two huge sections, instead of breaking it into chapters. However the various subheadings can be treated as mini-chapters for reading purposes. For any practitioner, the practices in this book will help them critically examine their relationships and spiritual practices with an eye toward discerning what is or isn't in alignment with them.

Elemental Balancing Ritual Movement Month 21: Responsibility

 6-20-14 When I was working with my spirit cord today, I felt it pulse and sync with my heart beat. It was quite an interesting experience and not something I'd previously felt in my work with the spirit cord. I also continued my work around regret. I dove in really deep today with that blockage that's by my navel, and I felt it continue to loosen up and as it did I experienced some memories and feelings about a couple of people and choices I'd made around those people. It was hard to feel those emotions, to be in those memories, but I let myself relax into them and as I did, I allowed myself to acknowledge and feel those emotions instead of avoiding them. I felt some sadness and a sense of responsibility that I had previously denied or tried to foist on someone else. Instead I chose to accept the responsibility. There's still work to do around it, but I felt taking that step was significant enough in its own right. 6-23-14 Regret is a form of fantasy, in some sense, and I find that as I delve into this work that some regrets turn into a sense of fantasy, a what if scenario. I realize such a scenario is a blockage, in and of itself, but it also an expression of the regret that can be worked through. So part of my dissolving work has involved working with the regret through the fantasy and using the fantasy to recognize certain realities that the regret doesn't factor in. One of the realizations I came away with is an awareness that I felt like I had to fit myself around another person and their issues and life as opposed to actively working on creating a true partnership. I felt this way multiple times with multiple people and that helped me look at the regret in a different light, because it showed me that the regret presented a filtered perspective. By doing the dissolving work it strips away the filter.

7-1-14 I've been continuing to meditate on regret and today I hit a realization about some of my choices earlier in my life that helped me understand that the reason I made those choices was because I was looking for something and fooling myself into thinking I could get it in the way I was pursuing it. Hindsight being 20-20 I eventually realized that my choices weren't providing me what I was looking for, but in meditating on those choices with the regret work, I was able to understand them in a different way that helped me find a sense of resolution about them I hadn't felt before. Working with regret in the way I've been working it has helped me see how the lack of closure creates regret but also how trying to meet a need can do the same. And when you do meet that need, you may still need to work with past issues in order to resolve those periods of time and occurrences in order to be fully present with the solution.

7-4-14 I'm feeling a bit frustrated lately. I'm having to change my event in Chicago into something else due to the lack of signups for the intensive. And it looks like my September event is encountering difficulties due to circumstances that originate with the place I'd be presenting at. What this continues to illustrate to me is that it may be more useful to invest in video and webinars for classes. While the initial cost might be high, the overall overhead would likely be low. After this month is over, I'm going to start doing some research into what other authors are doing...and this illustrates the importance of being adaptable, of being able to change movement as needed in order to go where you want to be.

7-8-14 I've been doing some work with Raphael, who is the Archangel of Hod. He's appeared to me as a doctor in a clinic, healing various people. He told me I needed to be open about my wounds if I wanted to find healing for them. Later on I talked with Kat and I admitted I was feeling depressed. A lot ended up coming out that helped me realize how much pressure I put on myself, but what really stood out to me was how hard it was for me to feel present with a part of myself that I identify myself as young boy. I think for men in general its hard to identify with the boy aspect of themselves. Part of this is because I think one of the immature images of men is men who never grow up, who essentially are still boys. However, I think that you can be a mature man and still connect with the boy within, but doing that easily...especially if that part of you has been so wounded...that's hard for me and sharing it with someone else is even harder.

7-12-14 I've been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion with Kat. It's been over 5 years since I last watched it. I've seen the series over 8 times. It's one of my favorite series and its also a cathartic series for me, because of the triggers and issues that come up in regards to my own relationship with my parents. However watching it this time around has been different. I've still felt some triggers and issues, but its different now, more muted. The internal work I've done has changed a lot of my reactions...its still a show that touches me, but it doesn't grab me in quite the same way. And I'm happy about that because as much as I like the show, it's good to know I've changed, that while it still touches me, it doesn't hit in quite the same way it did before.

7-15-14 I've come to a place with the regret work where I feel I've plumbed the depths as it were and gotten what I need from it. I'm glad I dedicated the time to it, but now I'll return to some other projects. I've also started work with Netzach, doing the initial phase of connection work, which I'll build on when the time is appropriate. It occurs to me that Netzach and Hod are mirrors to each other representing both the same and opposite principles, a union of opposites to create a composite realization, which would be Yesod, which when refined further becomes Malkuth. Of course the other Sephiroth also have something to add to that, but I'll get to those later.

7-20-14 I've started working with Netzach. Today I encountered the Elohim, which showed up as multi-faceted mirrors which mediated spiritual forces. They explained how they acted as connections between specific types of spiritual forces and the magician. Also Eros pointed something out today in my meditations, specifically noting how I've certain places in my life, certain relationships where the movement is stopped or blocked by how I let those relationships effect. Something to meditate on further. I'm in Chicago right now and visited the Life Force Arts center, as well as the Occult Bookstore. I liked the energy of the Occult bookstore and look forward to coming back some time and presenting again.

7-21-14 Left Chicago today. It's been years since I was there and what struck me the most about the city is the manic, frenetic energy. It's a good place to visit, but I don't know if I could live around that many people all the time. Feeling the movement of the city, both in terms of traffic and people was interesting. It has its own rhythm, made up of all the people, the traffic, events and everything else. And I could see how a person could tap into the energy to fuel their workings, though I think it would be dangerous. You'd have to be careful with how you were connecting and what you were connecting with.

And we arrived in St. Louis. The shop Pathways is wonderful, one of the best stocked occult bookshops I've seen, with hard to find works. The community is friendly and welcoming. I also felt the spirit of the original proprietor connect with me and welcome me to the shop. The workshop I offered was well received and I could tell it helped people come to some good realizations for themselves. More than anything I want my workshops to provide that kind of experience to the people who take them.

Are Magical Tools just Props?

The other night, at the magical experiments meetup, I got into an interesting conversation with Victoria and Sara (Two of our regular members) about whether magical tools are essential, in and of themselves, or if they are just props. Sara made an interesting point that when people argue that magical tools are just props or window dressings, they are being dismissive of them, instead of recognizing the important role they can play in a practitioners work. I have, on occasion, argued that magical tools, herbs, crystals, etc., are props or window dressings, so when Sara made that point, I listened. When I've used that phrase that magical tools are props/window dressing, I've used it to make a point, namely that what makes those tools effective has more to do with the magician and his/her need of those tools as a means of working with the forces those tools represent. In other words, I treat magical tools as symbolic, and feel that once a magician understands what the tools represents, s/he can work with the underlying principles directly instead of continuing to use the tools.

Sara's argument is that magical tools have something inherent to them, which isn't symbolic. And she has a point. For example, the effects that herbs can have on a person aren't symbolic. So there is something to be said for working with certain types of magical tools and recognizing that those tools have something to them that goes beyond symbolic. An additional point to consider is that some magical tools are used across traditions and have a history of specific uses and purpose that, for people within those traditions, and that specific use can't be replicated by the magician alone.  Something else I've considered is that the tools create the atmosphere, set up the space that people work in. A lit candle, incense burning, chants, and ritual tools, all of it creates a space people can work in.

With all that said, what I really came away with from Sara's conversation had more to do with being aware that how some people treat magical tools and their importance is going to be different then how other people treat them. The question is can someone like my respect that difference. And the answer is yes. I can respect that the importance and meaning a magical tool has differs from person to person. At the same time, I also know my own view on magical tools, which is that they have their uses, up and until the magician no longer needs them. For some people, no longer needing a tool may never be an option and this doesn't make that person less of a magician. It just means that person works within a specific system where those tools are essential. On the other hand, a person who can work with a tool and then at some point no longer need the tool because of how they understand the principles the tool embodies also isn't less of a magician because they don't perceive magical tools in the same way that the other magician does.

Each magician has to decide what the relevance of magical tools are, in relationship to their practice. I can tell you what the relevance of those tools are to me, but that doesn't really matter. Whether you consider magical tools essential or you consider them to be props doesn't change that magical tools serve some type of role in the practice of a magician. I use magical tools in my practice. Over time, some of those tools are no longer used because I've embodied those principles. But at one time I did use them and even now what they represented, the principles they embodied are still relevant to my practice. Magical tools have relevance and importance. The degree varies from person to person, but that doesn't change that they fulfill a specific purpose and function.

How to Become the Result you want to Manifest

In Magical Identity, I wrote about how my approach to magic shifted to an ontological model, which recognized identity as a principle of magic. One of the key realizations I had about magic is that a lot of it is reactive, done to solve a problem. The problem with a reactive approach is that you are waiting for things to happen to you before you do something. Another problem is that the focus of the magician is on the world to the exclusion of recognizing the role the magician plays as well. A shift to identity recognizes that the internal work the magician does has as much value as any other magical work being done. More importantly it recognizes that to manifest the result in the world around you, first you need to become the result.

When I do magical work, one of the key parts of the process is that I take the result and internalize it, making it part of my identity. I live as if the result is a reality in my life. It may not be a manifested reality in the world around me, but within my internal reality it is. In doing this I align my identity with the result and make it part of my life. By making the result part of my life, I live it. Living it makes the mundane actions I do bring the possibility into reality because it's something that is part of the actions. The actions come from my identity, are an extension of my identity, a proactive change of reality, instead of a reaction to whatever is happening.

I sometimes hear that magician struggle with results and what I usually discover is that they haven't made the result part of their reality. They aren't living the result and they haven't made sure that the result aligns with their internal values. If the result they want doesn't align with the identity of the magician, the magician will find a way to sabotage it. They may not be consciously aware of the sabotage (often they aren't) but it will happen nonetheless. The sabotage is a blind spot that occurs because the magician isn't integrating identity into the magical process.

I've often said that the problems a person has in their life has one thing in common: The person. The same is true of the results in your life. You, more than anything else, define the success or lack thereof of your magical work. When you look at a magical working and you aren't satisfied with how it worked, then look to yourself first and ask yourself how your identity does or doesn't align with the working. The majority of the time you'll find its a sabotage within you, because you haven't created the necessary agreement with your identity and the result you want to manifest. The rest of the time, it's a problem with the process and you need to take that apart in order to figure out what didn't work and then get it fixed.

When you don't have agreement between your identity and your result, you need to examine why that is and either determine if you can create alignment between your identity and the result or if you need to drop the result. The way I handle it is by making the result part of my life, turning it into a reality within me, which is manifested in the world around me through the actions I take. And I pay close attention to whatever comes up that feels resistant and make sure to address the resistance before doing anything else. Taking this approach has consistently yielded results because I've made sure that what I want to manifest is in alignment with my identity, instead of working against it.

Why you need patience when doing the work

Over the last month and change I've been doing a lot of internal work around the feeling of regret and how it shows up in my life. I've also recently started working on the Quabala, doing pathworking with the Sephiroth. With both of these workings, its been essential for me not to rush the working. What that means is that I can't focus on the results and what I think they should be. I need to be present with the experience and allow it to happen in the way it occurs. This means that I need to allow the work to occur at the pace it happens instead of trying to put it on a schedule.

For example, I was recently doing some work with Hod, with the Angelic order of it. The first day I worked with them, the impressions I got didn't make much sense. I recorded them and then redid the working the next day and the day after, and so on and so forth. The working wasn't going to happen in one day and I knew that, but I also knew that I needed to take my time and be open to the working taking multiple days to occur, as needed. I needed to be patient with the work and not force something to happen because I was establishing a relationship with that Angelic order as well as with Hod.

Patience is important in magical work. You've got to be patient with what you are doing. When you try to force a result, you lose something in the process. When you stick with the work and do it with the purpose of allowing it to happen as it needs to, you get not just a result, but also the experience of the journey. That journey transforms you, shapes you, and allows you to make meaningful change in your life through the connections you make in doing the work. Patience is needed because whether you are doing internal work or connecting with the spirit world or doing something else altogether, what you are really doing isn't something that always speaks to easy and obvious results. Magic isn't always about manifesting a possibility into the world, though it can be sometimes. Even in that case, I've found that magic is still a process of patience, because you are aligning the variables into your favor in order to manifest the possibility into reality.

So what's the point of all this? Don't be in a rush to achieve a result. Welcome the process for what it is and be patient with what you are doing. Allow yourself to go deep into the work you are doing and let it transform you as it also transforms the world. Let yourself be moved and discover in that movement the transcendent glory of magic as it changes your life. When you do that, you'll know what magic is and you'll appreciate why patience is important.

Spiritual Discernment in Pop Culture Magic

 

In Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment, Anastacia Nutt argues that its important for people to be careful about what kind of media they expose themselves to. She argues that modern media can pollute the imagination of the practitioner. R. J. Stewart makes a similar argument in his book, and they have a point, although I don't entirely agree with them on their perspective on modern media. It is true that modern media can capture the imagination, and as a result become something which distracts the practitioner's mind. For example, you can probably think of incidents where you got the theme song of a commercial or show stuck in your head. Your monkey mind replayed that theme song endlessly, and it may have been something you weren't consciously aware of. When this occurs, it can be an example of your mind getting fixated on the media, to the point that your imagination can't focus as easily on other topics, or for that matter on your spiritual work.

One of the reasons Stewart and Nutt make the argument they do about modern media is because they are part of a spiritual tradition which has specific imagery that is used in the imagination as part of the work a person does within that tradition. Thus it makes sense that they would make the argument they make because they are using specific imagery which has an effect on the imagination and it's important to preserve the focus of the imagination in context to the workings the practitioners are doing. With that said, I also think that modern media can be useful in magical work, provided you aren't working in a specific magical tradition.

I'm not working in a specific magical tradition and I find modern media to be a useful tool for my magical work. However, even in that work, I still need to be careful about what media I expose myself too. I don't expose myself to just any media, but am very careful about what media I draw on, because of the effect it can have on my imagination. For example, I don't watch horror shows. The reason I don't watch horror shows is because I don't want that type of imagery in my imagination. I feel it would adversely effect my ability to connect with the spirits because of how the spirits are portrayed in those movies. This standard may differ from person to person, but I think it's important to use spiritual discernment to recognize what type of media you'll watch and work with. If you know watching or playing something will influence your imagination you need to ask yourself how it will effect your imagination. If it's something where your imagination becomes fixated on the pop culture and you aren't going to use that pop culture in magical work, then you might consider whether its really the pop culture you want to focus on.

There's also something to be said for the fact that sometimes you can cultivate an unhealthy interest in a pop culture character. For example, a few years back the character of Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7 was really popular, so much so that a number of fans claimed they were married to Sephiroth. They would share how they'd married him on the astral plane. Seemingly harmless right? But consider the mythology of Final Fantasy 7. In that game, Sephiroth is an insane character, with a mommy fixation and a desire to destroy the world. For all intents and purposes Sephiroth is a psychic vampire. The fixation on Sephiroth is an occupation of the imagination, on a entity that may not have the best interests of the people interested in him.

With pop culture, as with any kind of cultural tradition, its important to be selective about what you work with. Utilizing discernment is taking the time to do the research and determine what you'll work with and why.  It's recognizing that what you choose to work with is important because of how it shapes your imagination. I work with pop culture media but I choose the media carefully with a recognition of how it could effect my imagination. As my imagination is a powerful magical tool, I want to use it effectively in order to achieve the best possible outcome, so I'm going to choose what I feed my imagination carefully to make sure that what I'm putting into is something I can work with magically if I need to, as well as enjoy, without getting so fixated on it that I'm unable to remove it from my imagination if needed. Remember that what you choose to focus on does have an effect on your imagination. When you are working magic, choose what you draw on with an awareness of your imagination so that you can use it effectively when you need to.

I do feel that pop culture is the modern mythology of times and that working with it is useful. There is no reason not to consider working with pop culture, unless you are working in a specific spiritual path or tradition where there would be a conflict of interest. The principles of magic can be used to work with pop culture, and you can develop a spiritual tradition from that work. The system of Dehara, for example, which is based off Wraeththu is an example of such a system which people work with for both practical and spiritual purposes and it works for them because they have established a genuine spiritual connection with the Dehara. It's a modern mythology which nonetheless works because there is something there that is deeper that people connect to and work with.

I was interviewed by Lucian Pharoe. You can listen to it here.

Book Review: Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins

In this book, Jenkins explores how old and new media converge and shape pop culture as well as interactions people with have pop culture. It's a fascinating book which shows how fans are increasingly shaping the production of pop culture and how companies are reacting to that change. This book also shows the rots of social media and how the changing technology will continue to shape how media is produced. What is particularly important about this book is that it helps you understand how more than ever people have a role in pop culture and how the creation of pop culture is the creation of the modern mythology of our times. The author provides a variety of case studies that show how different mediums of technology are being used in the production of pop culture mythology. this is a must read book for culture studies, but also for anyone fascinated with how pop culture is shaping our time.

The Value of Spiritual Discernment

In Unseen Worlds and Practical Aspects of Spiritual Discernment by Anastacia Nutt, the author makes the point that it is useful to cultivate discernment and the ability to filter out negative energies/entities while inviting in beneficial energies/entities. I agree with her approach and have employed in my daily meditations since I started practicing magic. In a of modern occult works the emphasis on protection focuses on creating a sterile environment from which to work magic, but creating such an environment weakens our ability to work magic, because we are excluding everything, as opposed to only filtering out what isn't needed.

I've always found filtering to be quite useful and in establishing a space from which to work magic or simply doing magic on the fly, I've always focused on creating a system of filters that admits the right energy, while taking anything that doesn't fit and distributing it back into the space outside of the magical working. In this way I'm not so much excluding energy as redistributing it where it is needed, while also bringing exactly what I need.

I think the focus on magical protection has emphasized a more martial aspect to such work in part because people buy into the idea that there is a hostile spiritual environment and entities just waiting to attack. My own take on it is not so much that there is a hostile environment or entities, so much as there are environments and entities that are anathemic to us and don't fit in, but nonetheless have a space they do fit into. So if the magician sets up the space right, what happens is the right energy/entities are brought in, while the rest is filtered out and redistributed to where it does belong.

In my opinion spiritual discernment is really a cultivation of awareness about what you are doing and what fits with what you are doing. It's a recognition that what you bring into any magical work and for that matter into your everyday life is determined by your awareness of what fits and works vs what doesn't fit and will get in the way of what you are trying to do. Spiritual discernment, as a result, examines the chaos and harmony in a person's life to evaluate what needs to be filtered out and what needs to be kept. If we approach protection from that perspective we can appreciate and recognize that everything has its place, but where that place is, in respect to ourselves, will depend on what we are doing and what we need to draw upon. Thus we set up a system of protection that integrates what's needed, inviting it into the place it is needed, while keeping what isn't needed in its proper place, honored but nonetheless not invited because it isn't needed. It's an admittedly a different approach to protection, but it's always worked for me and over the years has helped me filter out a lot of chaos.

When you combine this concept with internal work, it is also useful, because it helps you filter out the chaotic aspects of your life and dissolve then, redistributing the energy and people that are unhealthy into their respective places outside of your life, while keeping in the people and energy that are healthy for you. A lot of my internal work has involved coming to recognize what is chaotic and dissolving it and letting go of attachments that would keep it in my space, while also cultivating awareness about who and what really fits into my life and why. Spiritual discernment, used in the capacity, allows a person to acknowledge that each person has their place, but again also acknowledges that such a place may not fit with your life. Not surprisingly doing dissolving work has a tendency to cause some changes in your life as you look at situations and people differently through the work you do and let go of the unhealthy attachments you were holding on to before.

I've had an article published in Silverstar magazine on Redefining Pop Culture Magic.

I was interviewed by Jeremy Crow about the upcoming Left Hand Path Conference, Manifesting Wealth and Magical Identity.

Spirit Cord work with the Quabala

One of the techniques that R. J. Stewart shares in The Spirit Cord is how the cord work can be used in relationship to Quabala. He provides an exercise where you work with the Ashim, which are the lunar angels of Yesod and from that work with the archangel Gabriel. I did the exercises and found them to be quite help for attuning myself to the lunar energy as well as to the Angelic order associated with that energy (I shared some of this work in my monthly posts about movement).

I'm reading William Gray's book The Ladder of Lights, which covers the Sephiroth in detail. I've decided that as I read each chapter, I'll explore reach Sephiroth and the associated planet and angelic order using the spirit cord as part of the working. So far I've done the work with Malkuth and the Angelic order of the Kerubim and the Archangel Sandalphon and started to work with Hod, which I'll detail at a later time.

What I noticed with the work I did with Malkuth was that the spirit cord technique worked just as well with that sphere as it had with the Ashim. I actually noticed that part of the spirit cord work focused in on the temple of dedication, which Stewart writes about in The Spirit Cord, so in one sense it felt like I'd already partially attuned myself to that energy and was just approaching it from a different angle. Nonetheless it helped immensely in turning the conceptual information provided by Gray into experiences that integrated the concept of Malkuth into the work I'm doing. What I noticed when working with each layer of Malkuth was an integration of those layers into my consciousness in such a way that helped me interface with the respective beings I encountered during the work.

I plan on applying the spirit cord technique to each Sephiroth and then possibly extending the work further. What I find useful about this work is that it draws on the understanding of the cord as a tool of remembrance, a spiritual library of sorts that can be used to integrate specific concepts into practices that become part of the spiritual essence of the practitioner. The spirit cord aligns the practitioner with the forces s/he seeks to work with and creates a spiritual DNA which can be used to recall those forces and make it easier to work with them because of how they are integrated into the cord.

During my spirit cord work with Hod, I experienced a faster frequency and I was told that one of the benefits of the spirit cord work is that it could help the practitioner handle the changes in frequency of energy by helping the practitioner sync their energy with the higher frequency energy, while acting as a buffer for the practitioner. It's a useful insight into the cord that I'll definitely employ as I continue this work.

Book Review: The Spirit Cord by R. J. Stewart

An excellent book which explores cord traditions of magic and shows you how to create a spirit cord and work with it in your own magical work. There are a number of exercises shared, which are helpful for learning how to work with the spirit cord. The book provides enough guidance and information that a practitioner will get a lot from it, but the key to truly working with the spirit cord is to make it your own. I also suggest taking your time and working with each exercise until you feel you've gotten the essence of what's being worked with. For the ritual magician, this is a definite must have book that will add a valuable tool and technique to your ongoing work.

Silence, Sound, and Magic

I'm reading Music Power Harmony by R.J. Stewart. He has some interesting insights to share about silence and sound and their relationship to magic. He notes the following, "Before music begins there is silence; but that silence itself is full of sounds. When the music commences, it generates patterns through the (non-) silence that preceded it, but each fragment of the music holds countless moments of resonance, interaction, silence, and sound." There is no silence. We live in a world of sound. That sound is all around us. Turn off your T. V., music, or whatever you are listening to and just listen. There will still be noises. The hum of your electronics, or just the sound in the background. Still yourself and listen and you will hear sounds you normally block out. Yet allowing yourself to hear them will provide an experience that shapes your consciousness by opening you up to what is around you all the time.

Stewart also notes that actual silence is found within, which is true to some extent, but only in the ability of the magician to be able to still the monkey mind. The chattering of the monkey mind brings its own sound that echoes through the mind, distracting the magician from the focus of the magical work. The monkey mind is stilled when the magician learns to cultivate silence by recognizing that there is no need to comment on everything. The stillness of the mind leads to an experience of silence that allows the magician to be receptive to whatever it that s/he is working with.

What I find most relevant however is what he says about musical empowerment, which is that it enables us to be transformed, to open ourselves to being transformed. I find this to be true with music and to some extent with other forms of media as well. Some of that transformation is the impressions left on the monkey mind, which is why you find yourself thinking of that annoying song or commercial tune you recently heard. However, when used for ritual purposes, media transforms the consciousness by conditioning it toward achieving states of altered awareness that in turn is used for magical purposes. And whether you are making the music or listening to it, you become part of this sonic experience that imprints your mind with the path to achieving that altered state.

In my own work sound and silence form a rhythm,which is used to create that altered state of consciousness. Each moment of sound is interspersed with moments of silence, with sound and silence leading into each other and supporting each other in order to help the person immerse themselves into a state of consciousness conducive for magical work. Vocalization is also used to help tune the working to the spiritual realms that will be called upon when doing the working. Silence and sound are powerful and both should be used with each other to help emphasize the working.

For example, take a bell and ring it. Let the sound fade until there is silence, then ring the bell again, letting the sound fade to silence, then ring it again. Observe the effect on your consciousness as you do this activity. The sound of the bell cuts through everything else in the background, but the silence brings awareness of the background to the forefront. The alternation of sound and silence takes you out of your usual state of mind, creating that altered state of consciousness that is useful for ritual work.

This can also be applied to the human voice. Chant a word or a syllable. Vocalize it as you say it and then let that vocalization fade into silence, then chant again, silence, and repeat. Note how the sound and silence sync up and work together to create the state of mind which is receptive to what the chant embodies. The patterns of sound and silence are used to create resonance with the magician and the forces s/he is calling upon or connecting with. That resonance is built up as the rhythm is established and through that build up the connection is established and strengthened until the magician is ready to bring it to head and commence to the next stage of the working.

I'm finding sound and silence more relevant than ever to my won work, both in terms of ritual magic, and solitary work. Sound entrains us while silence stills us. Both have their place in magical work and when used together they can be a potent tool for creating deeper connections or for putting you in the right state of mind.

Magic isn't always Safe

This last weekend I gave a talk on the 7 Faces of Alchemy ritual at the Northwest Alchemy conference. At one point, one of the people attending the talk asked what the statement of intent for the ritual was and if I'd had a specific result in mind. I explained that my intention, at the time of the working was that it would function as a purposeful catalyst for change in my life, but that I didn't have specific results in mind because I felt that defining the result too much would have taken away from the efficacy of the working. I wanted to have an experience and I recognized then as I do now that when you have an experience, you necessarily give up some control to have it. You can't have an experience if you aren't open to it showing up in your life in ways you don't expect, that nonetheless brings change to your life.

My answer to that question also prompted me to note something else about that ritual: I didn't want to define the result too much because to do so would have sanitized the working, made it safe in a way that didn't allow for genuine change to occur. Life isn't safe (despite what illusions we provide ourselves to that effect) and I don't think magic should be either. Now I'll admit I've stated that it is useful to define the result and that when you develop a process of magic, it can actually be very useful to define the desired result so you can work backwards. In practical magic, defining the result is very useful because it provides a measurable outcome to shoot for. But there's always exceptions to the rules...

Sometimes you want to do magic to change your life, but you recognize that you need to be open for the change show up in ways you can't anticipate. You recognize that you need to be pushed in order to grow and if you try to control that process you'll just keep yourself stuck in a rut. Sometimes you need magic not to be safe and defined, because when its safe and defined it keeps you where you are...predictable. Sometimes you need to let go of control and be open to the experience, to letting it change and push you in ways you didn't expect could happen.

Magic isn't always safe. It shouldn't always be safe. When I did the 7 Faces of Alchemy work, it wasn't safe magic. It changed my life in ways I couldn't anticipate and pushed me to change and grow. I had a lot of illusions about myself stripped away and I had to come face to face with my decisions and look at what my life really was as opposed to what I thought it should be. It was hard work that humbled me and helped me change in a way that ultimately benefited me. It wasn't safe work though because if it had been safe I wouldn't have faced those issues or been humbled in that way. It was dangerous work that challenged me as a magician and person. By opening myself to the experience and allowing that experience to become part of me, I allowed myself to give up control and accept whatever came my way, with the understanding that it would change in me in ways I didn't expect.

Whenever I do magical work with an eye toward creating major changes in my life, I do so with the understanding that I won't be safe. My life will change and that change will necessarily require some sacrifice on my part that will likely be hard to give at the time I make it. Yet I also know that surrendering to change will bring with it opportunities and if I am open to those opportunities I will end up where I need to be. It may be uncomfortable and painful, yet what I learn as a result will challenge me to grow.