In this show, I interview Crystal Blanton about Pagan Group Dynamics, instagroups, and her book Bridging the Gap. Next week I'll be interviewing her about the upcoming Shades of Faith Anthology. Click below, to listen to this week's show!
The latest radio show is on the Process of Magic. I discuss why the process of magic is important, answer a question about energy, and provide a couple of examples. For the next radio show I'll be interviewing Crystal Blanton. It'll be a two part show.
"Mind patterns could be 'woven' like cord patterns, and these mind patterns were what 'move' spells. Different coloured threads indicated different kinds of consciousness, and their physical arrangements had to be projected into equivalent Inner patterns of power" -- From Magical Ritual Methods (affiliate link) by William Gray I pulled this quote while doing a bit of research for Neuro Space/Time Magic. The concept is interesting, using different colored threads to represent specific patterns of thought and being. I was once part of a ritual where we used silver threads to create a tesseract matrix of time. The thread represented the journey to access temporal possibilities, but what I find interesting with this concept isn't even that, but rather how the mind can be organized into different states that can then be evoked using a simple prop such as a colored thread, and a pattern or shape to bring it forth.
This concept can be replicated with other methods as well, such as using an alphabet of desire to embody different states of consciousness and patterns of reality. The key, however, is to recognize how you will actually use a specific state of being to change a pattern of reality you are in. Lets say you are doing a habitual behavior that you want to change. You are aware of it, and you can name it, and provide a symbol/shape to embody it. Now you could take this embodied shape and destroy it, but would that really solve your problem?
An alternate approach would be to devise a symbol and/or shape that represented a desired state of mind/being that you could use to counteract the habitual behavior. Ideally, this symbol/shape could even be the same color of the initial symbol you developed to represent the habitual behavior. Thus when you started to do the habitual behavior, you could visualize the shape and letter of that state, and even vocalize it. Then you could change the shape and letter to the new state of being, even as you also changed the vocalization, imprinting the new behavior on the habit, in order to change it into the new behavior.
All of this I got from a quote by Gray. If you haven't read his books, give them a try. They offer a lot to any occultist lucky enough to find them.
My mind is all aglow and on fire with the secrets of the universe being whispered in my ears by all possibilities and none, XAH highest of me, EHEIEH, god breath that moves space and time into place to show me the silver pathway to all I can be. In these whispered words I hear the song of the elements combining everything together into patterns of manifest reality that present a sense of the universe that goes beyond any explanation and yet speaks more eloquently to the harmony of all things and none that come together to present possibility an opportunity to become reality tangible, palpable reality.
I gaze with crystalline eyes into the silver light seeing a web that hums and strums with power spatial nodes representing place, person, or thing, while temporal strands of activity move the spaces with their songs of power and promise.
I am in the zero space/time continuum where nothing matters and everything is revealed where identity becomes one from zero and emptiness gives way to realizations of empowerment through peace identity changing from dysfunction to function to awareness that no one is a victim of themselves unless they choose to wallow in their victimhood and excuse themselves from taking responsibility for their end of matters
Magic reveals the greatest truth that life is an endless play of possibility on reality of the conjoining sexual acts of space and time joining each other shuddering in lustful, blissful abandon to create this present moment a baby of circumstance, fate, destiny and the shattering sighs of universal harmony dissonant in our ears, for we cannot hear fully that song of time and space joining into one, The present is a present, with the past full of hidden secrets and the future blazing ahead to provide this final greatest moment of life passing to death passing to life the cycle has no end or beginning just endless possibility, endless illusion til you strip away the scales from your eyes and see all along it was a joke you played on yourself to bring meaning into your every moment a cruel explanation of why when we look into each other's eyes we realize we know each other for you are in me, and I in you and soon we discover we are all in each other everything we ever needed
Now join me for this one last act this blissful orgasmic death love lust act of sex, the little death the beginning-end of our song and drama I let you go, let go of myself and find in the release the expression of space/time that exquisitely presents this god breath whispering into me writing. We're all joined in this moment. Hello to me, hello to XAH my highest self telling me the secrets of the universe penning them down, laughing all the while. We'll meet again you and I, when we see ourselves in each other and realize it's all an illusion this joke of you and I.
One of my favorite comic book characters is Deadpool. Since the very beginning he's actually been a favorite character for a lot of readers and at the same time he's a bit more than that, and also something that Marvel didn't expect in terms of popular interest. Deadpool's popularity has grown enough that he's gotten multiple comic books and even a possible movie deal.
The character is fascinating in his own right, breaking the fourth wall frequently and at the same time playing with a lot of comic book tropes in terms of hero and anti-hero concepts. There's enough character development to keep him interesting, but a lot of the focus is on his humor, self-destructiveness, and the healing factor that keeps him alive despite it all.
Why do I think of Deadpool as a memetic virus? In part, I think of him as this because of how much his character has come to pop up in video games, comics, etc., and in art because he breaks the fourth wall frequently. I see him as an agent of chaos (which can be good). More than that I see him as a sticky character, which is to say he stands out in the minds of the readers in ways other characters don't.
Having been familiar with the various iterations of the character, since he was first invented, its interesting to see how he's evolved from a comic book villain to something more than a comic. I find tracing the history of such entities can be useful for learning if you'll work with them, as well as understanding just how they've changed due to popularity and interest.
I think sometimes people try too hard to boil magic down to categories. You ask someone what type of magic s/he practices and you get a long list list of categories such as Chaos Magic, Postmodern Magic, Shamanism, Ceremonial Magic, etc. Add in magical lodges the person belongs to and you've got another set of categories (made into Acronyms) such as TOPY, OTO, OSOGD, GD, Etc.,I see these categories applied to the future of magic as if that can be boiled down to a specific type of magical practice.
I'm guilty of this too. I talk about experimental magic as a label of some kind, as a way of trying to differentiate what I'm doing from what others are doing and labeling their practice as. Yet at some point it becomes a haze of semantics and the question that arises is: Are you doing anything with all of this anyway or just armchairing it?
On some level there's a necessity for labels and categories, to be able to provide some vocabulary for the discussions, but when we get obsessed with it, it ends up becoming some kind of circle jerk indulged in for the sake of trying to prove who is cooler than thou or who's the most elite occultist out there, or whatever. We all want to stand out and how better to do it than come up with some crazy ass term that sounds cool and might even mean something up if we get through the semantic haze.
But I like my magic simple. Yes, I want to experiment with it, but I also want it to be something other people will do and understand without having to throw in a lot of specialist jargon. So I'll use a definition where applicable, and otherwise keep the focus on doing the magic.
Time dilation is one of the experiences that's always fascinated me. I suspect just about every person has experienced time dilation. Time dilation is the experience of time either slowing down or speeding up. For example, if you've done a magical ritual before and you've felt like hours passed when perhaps only a half hour passed, you've experienced time dilation. Or if you've raced for a bus and felt like time sped up around you, you've also experienced time dilation.
When I do space/time magic, I like to warm up, as it were, using time dilation techniques. they are techniques that help to push the mind out of the linear frame of thinking it is used to, while prepping it for opening the doors of consciousness to explore time from a non-linear perspective. One of my favorite exercises to use comes from Jean Houston's Book The Possible Human (affiliate link). In this exercise you visualize time as a yard stick with past, present, and future occupying 12 inches each. Then what you do is take the past and give it 12 more inches, while having six inches off the present and future, and focus on experiencing a perception of time where most of the perception is on the past.
You can do the same exercise with the future, giving it 24 inches, and giving the past and present 6 inches each, or apply it to the present. Now you'll note that this is still a fairly linear perception of time, but the point of the exercise is to loosen up your habitual perception of units of time.
Time dilation is the first step toward experiencing and accepting that time isn't a constant and that we have influence on it. The usefulness of doing a time dilation exercise, whether in daily work, or just before you do a space/time working is that it'll push you outside the digital measurements of time we've come to rely on so much. And learning to activate time dilation at will can actually help out in those everyday situations, as well, because it teaches you to rely less on external measurements of time and more on internal awareness. You can apply that internal awareness toward shaping time around you, like in the time sphere working I discuss in Space/Time Magic.
Time dilation frees us of the automation of time, challenges us to question the measurements and schedules of others and shows us a glimpse of what time could be, if we are open to altering our perceptions of it.
Space/Time Magic is where I teach how to work with time and probability instead of only the present. Get the book →
Not ready to buy anything? Why Your Spells Don't Stick is a free guide to the most common reasons a working stalls, and where to start fixing it.
If you want help with a specific situation, work with me one to one.
Each day I do meditation to ground myself, but part of the meditation also involves sustaining protective magic as part of the grounding aspect. Protection from what? Protection from external influences, or internal beliefs, or a combination of the two, or some dastardly wizard out to get me, because of something I said or did?
I've seen several books on protection and reversal magic, where someone throws something at you and you say, "I'm rubber and you're glue." I've always found it interesting that people will buy the books and put so much effort toward protecting themselves and then I'm reminded I do daily work that essentially acts as a protection.
I think protection is important, to one degree or another. For some people, who have a need for drama, protection may be especially important as a way to protect against the magic someone else might do toward them. Whether someone is doing magic or not is a question, because for such people there is a suspicion that it's all in their heads. On the other hand, there are legitimate cases where another magician will try to mess with you for whatever reason and it pays to have protection against those people. Setting up your home with wards and reinforcing them can pay off, when someone comes knocking on your door with a desire to put the hurt on you.
But for the majority of times that I really think about magical protection, it's really for potential mundane disasters. Car accidents, natural disasters etc. It's magic you do for that eventual day when something comes up that's out of your control and the only thing you can do is hope what you've put into place will turn it aside enough to make sure you walk away.
There's always a place for protection, so long as we don't let it stop us from experiencing the world. Protect yourself, but also challenge yourself.
I use paintings in a lot of my magical work. I'm currently working on one now, which is a self-evocation piece. The majority of my paintings tend to be used for entity work of one form or another, but I also have used some of them for specific spell work, like when I created a painting for an astrological alignment that was occurring. I find that paintings provide me an opportunity to align myself with particular events, people, etc. and express that alignment as well.
This is a painting I did a while back for my work with Elephant. It's obviously not a literal painting of an elephant, but it is an expression of my connection to elephant and at the same time functions as a portal to connect with the primal energy that represents elephant.
This is a picture that represents the spider queen of time. It's fairly abstract, because it's actually focused on representing the web she weaves, but it works to convey that web as well as provide a gateway to it.
This is a painting I did for Bune to thank him for his aid in my wealth magical workings. It's his goetic seal, but it's personalized because of the painting. Any work I do involves using this painting.
As you can see paintings are an important tool in my work. I find that the creative expression puts me into the right frame of mind to do magical work, and that the space I create via my paintings is useful for shaping the magic I need to do. Do you use any art in your magical workings, and if so how?
I have a couple of upcoming classes. One is a local class, for those of you who live in the Portland-Vancouver area and one is a Teleclass. Details Below: Breathing Meditation class
In this class, Taylor Ellwood will teach you Taoist breathing techniques that you can use for meditation and for achieving closer connection to your body. Knowing how to breath correctly can help improve your health. You will learn:
When: July 9th at 1pm at New Awakenings Bookstore 404 East Main Street, Battle Ground, WA 98604 RSVP: 360-687-7817
Space/Time Magic Course
Space and time are two elements of our lives that we live with and use every day. In the classic models of magic, these elements are not overtly included. In this class, I will show you how to integrate both of these elements into your magical work. You will learn why its important to factor time and space into your magical workings, as well as how the inclusion of these elements can radically change your understanding of magic. You will also learn:
Space and Time are two elements that we can’t ignore if we want to really understand magic. This class will help you take your magic to the next level.
Research is an integral part of experimentation for magical work. When I'm working on a project, writing a book, or looking at working with a pop culture icon or brand, I do a lot of research. Whether its researching the history of a character, or reading up on neuroscience, I know that to get an accurate understanding of what I want to work with I need to do research that will support my experimental work.
An experiment is defined, in part, by the information you have available to you, as well as by the desired outcome you want to accomplish. An experiment can't be structured effectively until you've examined relevant information that can provide an understanding of what you'll be working with.
When I first began my experimentation with neurotransmitters I'd already done my research by finding out what they were and how they worked in the brain. I couldn't have developed a neurotransmitter entity technique if I didn't already have some information on what to look for and what to potentially expect. My real test was sharing the technique with other people who hadn't necessarily done the same research. When they got similar results, that told me that the technique was sound, but also that the research had paid off, because I was able to provide enough information to help people work with the neurotransmitters effectively.
Magical experimentation doesn't occur in a void. Every magician I know who experiments isn't just coming up with something off the top of their heads They are researching information, looking up what others have done, and putting together a technique to experiment with, based in part on the research they've done.
What about you? What research do you do, in order to improve your magical work?
I'm currently working on some different experiments. Some of these are in concept phase, while others are being developed as practical applications. All of them represent ongoing work I'm involved in. 1. Neurotransmitter work: I've been working with neurotransmitters as entities for over 7 years now. The current work I'm doing has involved working with multiple neurotransmitters at the same time, for purposes such as emotional regulation, healing, and related work. I'm writing about this work in Neuro-Space/Time Magic.
2. Web of Space/Time: This is my system of space/time magic. I've been working on it for a while now and its partially related to the work I've been doing with movement and space, as well as exploring time's role in navigating space. There's also some work with possibilities in imaginary time. I'm writing a thorough explanation in Neuro Space/Time Magic.
3. Movement/space work: I've been exploring how to use movement as a form of magical work and expression for a while now. It's another of those current projects that's focused on the book, but also focused on working with the body as the main form of magical expression.
4. Brandscapes: This has been inspired by the class I'm teaching on pop culture magic. At this point it's a concept, but one I want to explore further as a way of working with a company entity in a purposeful, and focused manner.
These are a few projects that are on my mind. What about you? What's something interesting you are experimenting with in your magical work?
Here's the latest radio show on magical groups. Take a listen, and leave a comment, if you agree, disagree etc.
When I think about causality and magic, one realization I have is that trying to make the causality of magic credible is really trying to apply a different model of thinking that may not fit magic. Magic doesn't really operate on Scientific laws of cause and effect. It has its own rules, and those rules involve a different angle and take on causality, as magic applies to it. Trying to fit magic into some box or hole of another discipline isn't useful, if you are strictly applying that discipline to magic as an explanation of it. It can be useful to draw on concepts and practices from other disciplines in your magical work, but that's a different post altogether. Wanting magic to fit some kind of scientific, rational explanation is really taking the wonder out of magic, in my opinion. Even in my own work of defining magic, I've never really tried to fit it into another discipline, so much as I've tried to explore my own experience of it. And when I think about it, magic is really about experiences. Yes it can be a technology, and an art, etc., but its more than that. It's experiences and its stepping into a frame of mind that is willing to accept those experiences and find meaning where most people wouldn't. It's not about credibility in the standard sense of the word, because such ideas of credibility are based off specific disciplines that try to structure the experience of the world in very specific ways, different from magic And to be fair, magic also is about structuring experience in a very specific way.
My point is this: Trying to approach the causality of magic in terms of credibility as derived from other disciplines doesn't work too well, because there's a predisposition to view magic as some kind of primitive activity done by people who don't know any better.
We do know better however. We know that magic works and we can even explain how it works, but the explanation we provide won't necessarily fit within the accepted perspectives of other disciplines. Nor does it need to. If the result occurs consistently, the process works and that's all the credibility you need. The causality is involved in the process and your understanding of that process is a large part of the causality of magic, and how it's bringing desired change into your life.
Book Review: The Emerald Tablet (Affiliate link) by Dennis William Hauck
This book provides a good explanation of the seven stages of alchemy and how they can be applied to a person via psychology. The author does have a tendency to mix in some inaccurate history and also tries to connect alchemy to UFOS, but even with those flaws, this is still a useful book for someone wanting to learn about alchemy and begin applying some of the concepts to his/her life. I recommend it primarily for the explanation of the seven stages of alchemy, which you can apply to your life via your own internal work.
Over the last six or so years, some of the most significant magical work I've done has involved doing internal work to align my desires with my values. You might think that this would be automatic, but I don't think that's the case all the time. The challenge of the magician is to know him/herself and until you know yourself, you can't really know if your values are in alignment with your desires. Thus if you try to manifest a desire that isn't in alignment with your values, it may not stay with you, because some part of you is resistant to the manifestation. Aligning your values with your desires involves examining what your desires are and seeing if they match up with your values. If the execution of your desires doesn't align with your beliefs and values, then the result will be fleetingly. You will sabotage yourself to stay true to your values and beliefs. Not all of these values and beliefs are necessarily healthy, but they are in place as much to "protect" you, as to provide a moral compass to live your life. But being safe isn't all its cracked up to be, and can sometimes put you in a miserable situation, because part of you wants to protect yourself from taking a risk.
Aligning your values with your desires necessarily means that you need to look at the origins of both your values and your desires. Where do they come from? What influences sponsored your desires and values? Asking these questions can help you understand why you hold to the values you have and why you want what you want. That, in turn, can help you begin to either resolve the conflict between desire and value or recognize if your desire or value is holding you back in some way. Until you question and explore what motivates your choices, you can't know for certain if you are making those choices because you genuinely want to/believe in the need to do so, or if you are reacting on impulse of one kind or another.
I just finished interviewing Jaymi Elford about her Tarot Business. We had a couple callers cal in at the last minute and I apologize to them, but if they wish to contact her with questions, please visit her website. Jaymi offers Tarot Readings, Tarot Classes, and Tarot pouches which can hold your tarot cards. She's also writing a book on cutting edge Tarot techniques. To learn more about her, please visit her website.
You can listen to the radio show interview below. Next week's topic will be Magical Groups and will air on Friday June 10th at 2:30pm.
I've never belonged to an occult group, and only briefly considered joining two, before I determined that I'd rather just pursue my own path. But recently on Facebook someone revived the Zee List and for a time I participated on that list way back when and it was interesting to observe how different people responded to the revival of the list in a different forum. The desire to belong is a current that seems to run strong in general in occultism and the forms it takes, whether it's a virtual community such as the Zee list or the more formal organizations such as the OTO or Golden Dawn. The desire to belong isn't the only reason someone will join an occult group, but I think it's fair to say it's a major reason people join. It's not a bad reason to join either, but it is an interesting one, because so much of the occult memes about being on the fringe. At the same time, it's natural that people will want to group together based on similar interests.
I never joined an occult group or lodge because I've always preferred my independence. Even with the zee list, which was never a formal group, it was more about sharing experiments, than actually being part of the group. My experiences with occult lodges in passing has been mostly negative, but I'm always open to the idea that someday I could change my mind. But I don't think belonging to an occult group is an absolute essential. It's something many occultists do, but its equally possible to focus on your own studies or getting together with friends to discuss experiments without necessarily making it into a group organization.
Use what you got. That's one of my mantras when it comes to magical work, and what it means is use everything at your disposal that helps you accomplish your goal. If you feel fear or worry about a situation where you need a result, then use that worry and fear to push for the result. Don't suppress it, or try and clear it away. That will make those emotions stronger and will also tell reality you don't want the result. Make it part of your process, part of the equation that helps you accomplish your goal. Make those emotions your friends, helping you achieve your result, bringing you success because you've used them to write large the possibility that will be the new reality, the new you. Use what you got, because what you have is always a resource. It only becomes a problem if you make it a problem. Knowing how to take your unease and make it your ally is really about learning how to hold on to yourself in the face of resistance and discover what it is you truly value and desire. In knowing that you can make informed choices, and practice magic that is effective because everything you have is turned toward making it work.
Use what you got, because it is what you have...Use all the discord, every thought, every emotion, every fear, worry, and whisper...make it your own, make it your success.
Book Review: Advanced Magick for Beginners (affiliate link) by Alan Chapman
As I read this book, what I found myself thinking was that while I found the exercises useful and some of the author's points salient to what he was trying to teach, there was also an odd mixture of push button magic (we don't need to know how it works) and traditional perspectives, which actually in a way fits, but also reveals what I'd consider problematic about this book. There's a tendency to stick with tried and true in occultism and this book fits that tendency. The decrying of asking how magic works fits with the traditional perspectives the author takes toward evocation and other practices and ironically defeats his criticisms of occult culture, because he ends up embodying what he is critiquing.
Is it a good book? I'd say there is some useful information here, and that an occultist will benefit from exploring the ideas. At the same time, what would be the most useful exercise for this book (and really any other book in general) is to question everything the author says, and also don't buy the push button, we don't need to know how it works model. If we don't need to know why it works, why write a book on the subject?
I've been sick lately, a weird kind of flu where my temperature has gone below the usual temp. It's not a fever, but the result is I still feel sick. Never being a person to turn aside opportunity, I've been working on a technique to deal with illness that I've been using for a little while now. It's worked to actually stop a fever in the past from developing, and in this case has been used to mitigate the current sickness and speed up the healing. The technique is based off a video game called Microbots. In that game you are a microbot sent into a body to heal it by getting rid of the virus that is in the body. The developers of the game created a stunning environment that looks like the biology of the body. Useful for visualization purposes if you're doing work to contact neurotransmitters, but also useful if you want to combat a fever or flu, especially if you want to use the microbot for that purpose.
When I feel sickness coming on, or in this latest case, when I'm in the midst of experiencing it, I'll meditate before resting and create a health servitor that will go in and start combating the sickness, while also offering support to the natural systems already in place. My microbot servitor is equipped to not just fight the sickness, but also comes with healing tools that can be used to heal the body, where needed.
I like drawing on pop culture for inspiration, and the microbot game has proven to be the perfect inspiration for this work, because its provided a model of internal work I can use with my body. It demonstrates the importance of drawing on such inspirations for your magical work. I can't say I've found anything else that provides such a useful tool for health and healing work. I'm going to continue experimenting with it, and will be sure to share details either here, or in Neuro-Space/Time Magic.
Tomorrow is supposedly doomsday for the Christians, where they will be raptured away and leave the rest of us alone. I'm skeptical of it happening, and I think it's silly how much people are focused on trying to get to some after life, instead of focusing on living their lives. Their's nothing rapturous about giving up the gift of life. And no matter what you believe or don't believe, life is a gift, and an experience, and not something to be so casually discarded. Some Christians claim that only God knows when the final day will occur, but the way I figure it is that the need to even have such a day is symptomatic of a disease, a kind of nihilism that focuses on debasing the human experience n favor of trying to discover a state of being that will supposedly take away all the worries and fears people have.
What about living life for the sake of living it? What about learning what this life has to offer? I'm preaching to the choir in a lot of ways, but I think there is value in this life with its follies and its triumphs.