Month: December 2011

[continued]

And apparently the ask box has a text limit? Ugh. Feel free to email me with longer thoughts

james@scrollofthoth.com

Question for my fellow occultists

I have seen on tumblr quite a few magical inscriptions with the word “tetragrammaton”. The artists making these sigils seem to put a good amount of time and effort into them. It makes me want to slam my head against the screen. Tetragrammaton means a four letter word representing God. For example, YHWH. It’s kind of like inscribing around your magic circle, “the angel representing fire and protection.” Instead of just inscribing “Michael”.

 

I can only think of three reasons you would inscribe the word “tetragrammaton”. One, you believe that you are protecting some kind of occult secret by not actually inscribing YHVH. Word to you folks, the cat is out of the bag. Second, you think it is wrong to inscribe the name of God because he doesn’t like it, or you’re expressing an unknowable infinite. Guess what, YHVH is also just a representation of the name of God, not his actual name. Is a double-blind really necessary? Third, you’re fucking stupid and you just spent hours inscribing your sigil without actually learning the meaning behind what you have inscribed. Good job.

If you can think of a better reason, please tell me.

I blame all of this on self-important occultists clinging to this Judaic nonsense. It appeals to their inner mom, who’s mad at them for giving up on Christianity. Look mom, I’m still kind-of-sort-of a Christian. All of this of course leads to Crowley. Fucking Crowley, yeah, he’s to blame. Fucking tosser.

So while I’m ranting, why do we need this guy? I have read so many great occult works that claim to be based on Crowley, yet when I check the source material, it’s just not there. Don’t misunderstand me, guys like Peter Grey, Lon Milo DuQuette, Kenneth Grant, and others, have produced great mind-opening works that I have enjoyed and used. They say it all comes from Crowley, but when you go back and look all you find is a self-important ass bag with a college drop-out education. Every thing is half-baked. He’s become the modern day version of the “Secret Masters.” Because it comes from the “Secret Masters” it must be important. We figured out we don’t need them anymore, when will we figure out we don’t need Crowley?

Now let’s see how many followers drop me for that one.

moroluvssttboys:

The All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won’t live one instant longer. Your fate is fixed. Fear profits a man nothing. by larscog

Art by NicktheBarbarian

There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you just look at the very earliest descriptions of magic. Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as ‘the art’. I believe this is completely literal. I believe that magic is art and that art, whether it be writing, music, sculpture, or any other form is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words, or images, to achieve changes in consciousness. The very language about magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events. A grimoire for example, the book of spells is simply a fancy way of saying grammar. Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people’s consciousness. And I believe that this is why an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a Shaman…

Alan Moore (via sroek)

Now… that’s Moore like it.

(via rb919)