Month: December 2013

PRICES ARE GOING UP!

Sometime in the next 8-12 hours prices for My Babylon on Amazon and Kobo are going up! Individual novella’s (except for Book 1 which is always FREE, would it kill you to read it? No it would not) will be $2.99, My Babylon Complete is going up to $6.99. Now is your chance to but them for $1.99 per novella or an amazing $2.99 for My Babylon Complete.

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My Story 

An obsessed magician will do anything it takes to satisfy his perverse needs. 

My Myth 

He turns to forbidden arts to manifest his will. 

My Revelation 

In doing so, he will bring about the end of everything. 

My Babylon 

A serial novel about the paranormal and dark desires. The story of a cursed young man who has an intimate view of the Apocalypse. My Babylon weaves elements of urban fantasy, erotic horror, and real-world occult practices to form a unique personal tale that thrills, terrifies, and even enlightens. 

In My Babylon, the magus, consumed with longing, seeks to create a replacement for his lost love using a grisly ritual that requires the theft of a body. Through her creation, he learns that he has a much bigger role to play, and that she may be a form of salvation not only for him but for others. 

The Complete edition contains all five books of the My Babylon story. 

Reviews for My Babylon: 

“Captivating, interesting, dark, and at times even funny." 

"Darkly horrific, Lovecraftian work. Parts of it make you squeamish, parts send chills down your spine. A deft illustration of the black side of the human soul." 

"What I really loved about this work was what was left unsaid–telling a story with details rather than stating the obvious is becoming a lost art. What surprised me about this work was how much it drew me in despite my merely mild interest in the occult." 

"James has put together a great story with great characters who feel authentic, even as they go about tasks that you’d be horrified to find out your neighbors were up to. And even though Mike, the magician who narrates this story, is involved in really heinous activities, I still like the guy. And that is an impressive feat." 

"Not for the timid this book, but well worth it." 

"An intriguing look at what drives us …" 

"It’s the struggle to remain sane, keep discrete, and keep the emotional compulsions in control that structures the suspense of this thriller." 

"In the end, you’re left with the sense of a masterfully conceived protagonist who gives credence to the idea of the unsympathetic character. It also maintains an orbiting cluster of supporting characters who are interesting in their own right but also necessary to the development of the protagonist." 

Find more great indie authors at Midworldarts.com. 

Go Go Goetia!

magicalrecord:

As I ponder a new approach to goetia, I can’t help but consider that which has had the most profound influence on my magical career, the words of Peter J. Carroll from On the Philosophy & Practice of Magick.

 “Transcendentalists who dabble in magick usually obtain results as spectacular as they are useless. Quite quickly they find themselves surrounded by demons and spirits, powers and principalities, and notebooks full of outlandish communications. Soon they are alternating between excessive humility and megalomania.”

This is a trap I wish to avoid. But I am quite aware that you get what you put into it, and in order to obtain better results than last time I need to step it up.

My first question must be, “what are goetic spirits?” This is a personal question with a personal answer. I don’t expect any fellow magician to agree with me 100%. This is simply what I believe right now with the information I have.

Are goetic spirits reflections of our shadow-selves? Do they simply represent the dark side of our natures? “Yes,” with a “but.” Yes, they are manifestations of our consciousness. They feed on and thrive when we turn to destructive impulses. However, just like fire is necessary for heat, destruction’s not always bad. In fact, it may be getter to say that goetic spirits simply don’t understand our limits. In fact, they may not understand us much at all, because goetic spirits are also creatures from another dimension.

The more I experience, the more I believe the ancient Egyptians had it right. Our souls have multiple parts for multiple purposes. It is my suspicion that when a magician contacts a goetic spirit, they are actually contacting a being that shares a piece of their soul in another universe. The demonic names in the various grimoires are only channels of contact, not the actual beings themselves. Even though that spirit may be a reflection of you, being from another plane it has a hard time understanding the human condition. The beings contacted using sorcery as opposed to other forms, tend to understand only our base nature. That’s why they may appear as “evil.”

It is my current assumption that goetic spirits can and will fulfill requests because our summoning them benefits them in their dimension. In what way I am not sure.

With all this in mind, I have made the decision to build my own grimoire. Many moons ago, I had posted a series of pictures on my Scroll of Thoth tumblr blog tagged “personal goetia.” They were simply art work depicting beings I found particularly disturbing. For my next round of goetia, I intend to revisit them, give them names and descriptions and perhaps assign them to a demon lord from the Legemeton. I’m not sure how building them (divining them?) will work, but writing is what I’m good at. So many of the skills for creating the regalia of goetia – drawing, metal working, painting, woodworking—are simply not in me. In this part I can at least invest some of my true talent.

I’m not sure how far I will go on the other necessities. I am looking at purchasing wood for a wand from an artisan and then decorating it myself. Since I will be creating my own sigils (using magick squares), I don’t think I will be making brass disks, but some brass painted cardboard could work well. Other successful sorcerers have worked with less.

All this on top of correspondences of time and writing my own incantations should build up well. At least better than I did before. My only questions now is how I will build preliminary gnosis before the ritual. I think it will have to correspond with the spirit I choose.

To avoid the trap of obsessing over the creation of my own hierarchy, I am setting a time limit. I will perform my first evocation before the end of February. So expect to hear more about the project leading up to it, and the results sometime in March.

scrollofthoth:

FREE BOOKS!

Mega-awesome writer, blogger, podcaster, and indie author friend Anneque G. Malchien is running a sweet Christmas raffle.  The winner will get a free copy of all of the listed ebooks (including one by yours truly).  All you have to do is send me an ask or a message requesting a ticket, including your email address. Then I will send you a ticket number. On December 23rd, Anneque will pick the winner and post it on her website. It’s just that easy.

While you’re at it, check out her podcasts Indie and More Book Review, and Literature Emergency Broadcast. Also take a look at the works of these fine authors.

carpeumbra:

heelancoo:

carpeumbra:

heelancoo:

echtrai:

lokean-nomad:

sulphurblue:

christowitch:

echtrai:

This message brought to you by Cultural Appropriation Kitteh on Facebook.

And while we’re at it,  

Obviously saining is the only one of these I have actual experience with, so feel free to add expanded resources for the other two or for something else entirely!

So the cleansing of a space with smoke is called smoke cleansing. It is done in many cultures and religions and is not a bad thing. The appropriation comes when you call it smudging. Smudging is a large ceremony withing a tribe that is more than just burning herbs.
Smoke cleansing is fine.
Calling it smudging is not.
The act of cleansing with smoke is not appropriation.
Calling it smudging is appropriation.

Heads up for my Luciferian followers. If you’re going to use smoke to cleanse a space, I highly recommend Frankincense and Myrrh. It is very powerful, works wonderfully, is easy to find in sticks and wont make your house smell suspicious. :3

Saw a similar post and changed my terminology since my method was never a ceremony. I’m not going to waste my sage, but thanks for the education. Is the sage burning itself appropriative?

As far as I’m aware, just the terminology is. But this should extend beyond what you personally call your cleansing. Buying bundles labeled as “smudge sticks” is endorsing appropriation all the same. You might have better luck finding things to burn that don’t have that label attached if you don’t use sage.

It’s also worth noting that several people have mentioned that white sage is being over-harvested because of people using it for this. I haven’t found any ~official~ sources on that but it wouldn’t surprise me. So you may want to look at alternative things to use in the future.

The use of sage itself can be considered to be appropriative, since it’s a sacred plant to a number Native American tribes. Not all tribes use it, but those who do have particular ways of gathering it, and ceremonies associated with burning it, etc. That means that when sage is used outside of those contexts – but still because of the fact that it’s used in some Native ceremonies – then you’re in appropriation territory. 

You know that an incredibly large number of cultures over the course of human civilization have used sage to “cleanse” an area or other purposes of a ritualistic/religious/magical nature, right?

And a lot of those cultures are open because you know, they’re dead?

You are aware of this fact, right?

The image is talking about a particular kind of sage which is only native to parts of the US and Mexico, and which is used in ceremonies by some Native tribes. This kind of sage – white sage, or sacred sage – and the ceremonies it is used in, have been taken out of context in a number of ways by some Neopagans and New Agers in particular, and this is what is generally referred to as “smudging.” As the USDA notes, “the Chumash and other California Indian people” are concerned about this (and they’re not the only ones), for example, both for the fact that the plant is being over-harvested and that it is considered disrespectful to use a sacred plant for commercial purposes. Amongst other things.

Many different cultures have burned different kinds of plants in ceremonies for cleansing or other purposes, but the fact remains that these aren’t “smudging” ceremonies or – once you get into the nitty gritty of it all – anything like the ceremonies that have inspired modern “smudging” outside of Native contexts. 

So while other kinds of sage (like Greek sage, for example) might historically have been used in ritual or religious contexts in other parts of the world, that’s not the issue here (though referring to those practices as “smudging” is inaccurate, as has already been discussed by other posters). The issue here is that white sage is being used in inappropriate, even offensive ways. There are plenty of other options to look into and there’s no good reason to insist on using white sage when there are plenty of other options that aren’t as damaging or offensive, like the examples Echtrai gave in the original post – juniper, mugwort, or bay leaves. 

Sage is sage.

If you want to smoke cleanse with sage, it’s fucking fine.

Just don’t call it smudging.

Catholicism is a closed religion. You must be initiated THREE times in order to be a REAL Catholic. Catholics cleanse areas with Frankincense, Myrrh, and a few other oils, as well as water, to sort of “cleanse” the area for the Holy Spirit.

WELL SHIT NOW NOBODY CAN EVER USE FRANKINCENSE, MYRRH, OR A FEW OTHER OILS IF YOU’RE NOT CATHOLIC NOPE NEVER AGAIN SUPER FORBIDDEN.

So here’s the funny thing. Sage in the US is only native to the west. Yet sage smudging has become so ubiquitous tribes living in the east now use it for their ceremonies. Is that appropriation? No. You folks need to get over yourselves and use some common sense.