Month: April 2014

douglasiana:

douglasiana:

Ritual Structure for Bullshitticus and His Pantheon

I compiled a basic ritual structure for honoring Bullshitticus, god of students, and other members of what I think of as the Modern Pseudo-Greco-Roman Pantheon, inspired by Hellenic and Roman ritual structures and simplified for exhausted and inexperienced dorm-dwelling students. My sister is a student and needs this, and I happen to be awesome.

P R E P A R A T I O N

Decide why you’re doing the ritual and plan accordingly. Some reasons to sacrifice to gods: to honor them, celebrate special events, or dedicate something to them; to appease them when shit goes wrong; in thanks for a favor granted; in expectation of a granted request; or for purification.

Gather any needed offerings and tools, and ensure that there is an altar or shrine space prepared. Fit the mood of the ritual to the god and the occasion — boisterous, tearful, or gleeful?

P R O C E S S I O N

Lead a procession to the altar, as long or as short as you’re able, alone or with other desperate students. Use the procession to get yourself into the right frame of mind.

P U R I F I C A T I O N

Once near the altar, clean up the space a little bit. Get rid of any nasty food wrappers you missed and corral those dust bunnies! If they haven’t already, make everyone wash their hands and faces, and preferably brush their teeth too. Make yourself and your space pleasing to Bullshitticus.

O F F E R I N G S

Approach the altar with a hand signal of respect or adoration. Might I suggest: Thumbs Up, Horns, or ILY. 

Get Bullshitticus’s attention with some words! They can be as formal or off-the-cuff as you like. Say something nice about him and include what you want, if you’re asking for a favor!

An example, composed by versifrau: 

Hail, Bullshitticus, for You are Wise
I come to you with bloodshot eyes
I’ve wasted time, I’ve put things off-
I need caffeine in a piglike trough!
So please Bullshitticus, help me finish
the work I have and my stress diminish.

Here’s another example by feminist-smaug. The #Bullshitticus tag has more — share yours there too.

Now give him something:

  • Offerings of scent or light that adhere to your dorm rules: perfume and glow sticks are alternatives to incense and candles.
  • Libations of water, coffee, booze, Capri Sun, or energy drinks.
  • A portion of your snacks. Ramen, chips, pop tarts, or whatever else you can sneak out of the dining hall.

If attendees would like to include other pantheon members, now is the time to give them offerings as well. An example of how libation-pouring could go:

To you, Dorma*, protector of our dorm, I give first!
To you, Bullshitticus, patron of students, I give second!
To you, Caffeina, extender of waking, I give third!
To you, Frappucchinope, muse of espresso, I give fourth!
To you, Thesaurea, dispenser of excess words, I give fifth!
To you, students who have gone before us, I give sixth!
To you, Dorma, always first and last, I five last!

P A R T Y

Everyone participating should hang out and eat the rest of what they offered — coffee, ramen, tequila, whatever. Dance to music, watch a movie, or play some games. Have fun and take this opportunity to de-stress from school. Give spontaneous prayers and offerings to the gods as inspiration comes.

C L O S I N G

Dismiss Bullshitticus and his companions and thank them for showing up, using hand gestures and words. Clean up the altar and dispose of (or scarf down) any offerings. It’s not polite to leave your host’s room a fucking mess, don’t be a jerk! If Bullshitticus grants your request, make sure to offer to him in thanks.

—

*Hestia is always offered to first and last in Hellenic rituals. As she is the goddess of hearths and homes, and most students live in dorms, I invented the bullshitted pseudo-Latin goddess Dorma, protector of dorms. Give Dorma an epithet for your own dorm or school — just modify its name with a Latin feminine ending. For example: Dorma Andersona, Dorma Sunflora, Dorma Harvarda. This is the goddess of your dorm, and now you can honor her as you like!

Sources I was inspired by. Read these if you’re a nerd like me and want a more reconstructionist ritual.

Reblogging for the morning people. This got more notes than I expected but I’m not sure why I’m surprised. I also made an eshrine to Bullshitticus last night, because even though I’m not technically a student I feel like some of you might need it.

Let’s get one thing straight – you have the right to practice the religion of your choice, whether or not you were born into it. Fuck these assholes that keep crying “cultural appropriation.” If you’re called to it and you enter into it with respect–do it. The history of faith is borrowing ideas from others. Closing yourself off from other cultures is the last thing you should do.

To be clear, practicing vodou doesn’t make you a Hatian. And it doesn’t give you the right to participate in their ceremonies (but it’s okay to ask). Your practice is your practice.

Do not feel compelled to remain Christian if you were raised Christian. Be Christian only if it calls to you.

Do as thou WILT is the whole of the motherfucking law.

Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.

hierophage:

Origins Matter

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Praemonstrator General

 (originally found here)

Where does the Golden Dawn come from? We know about the Cypher Manuscripts, and we know the Founders developed them, in several stages, into the rituals we know today. We also know there has to be more of a backstory.

Analysis of the the Order’s material, namely the rites, practices, and teachings, when compared with the rest of the western magical tradition, discloses its more immediate sources with confidence. Clearly, the Order is founded on Agrippa. A careful read of theThree Books of Occult Philosophy (TBOP) shows the source material that the Golden Dawn implemented to build the Order. Agrippa is especially important in that it is he who produces in the Three Books a synthesis of the truly ancient practices and understandings with Hebrew esotericism, producing the Qabalah as we magicians use it today. It is amazing how much of the Qabalah we use today is exactly the same set of usages and attributions as Agrippa gives, and interesting where it varies as well.

In a more practical vein, the Knowledge lectures as we have them are quite thin, having no explanatory text. But Agrippa supplies this. Compare the initial chapters of TBOP with the Knowledge Lectures and you will see that they substantially parallel each other, Agrippa providing a detailed, if dated, explanation. It is even better and easier to see in Perdue’s new rendering of the Agrippa’s Latin. (I can’t wait for him to finish the other two Books!) The OSOGD is doing some analysis of the text vs our curriculum and plans to publish our findings here to that the Three Books can be more effectively integrated into our teaching process.

The story of our origins does not end with Agrippa. He is the great synthesizer of the Renaissance, drawing together the best work of his day, quoting liberally from Ficino, Pico, and many another thinker of his day and the generation or so before him. From his synthesis, his Three Books, most of the western magical system depends. However, these worthies did not create the material Agrippa put in his Philosophy. What drove the revolution that was the Renaissance was the recovery of ancient, mostly Greek writings, religion, philosophy, and practice. Cosimo de Medici collected and had Ficino translate most of Plato, which was lost to the west, the Hermetic Corpus, the Orphic Hymns, the Chaldean Oracles, Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, and other ancient writers. This flood of vibrant culture burst the seams of the Medieval world and laid the groundwork for the Modern age. It is in these sources that our origins come.

From this list of texts I’m sure you can appreciate the importance of them begin translated and made available to eventually form the Golden Dawn. What is somewhat less understood is that the primary explanations of our magical technology is embedded in them as well. Two specific texts are vital and necessary to transmit what we call magic today, and without which we would merely have a collection of spell craft much like the Greek Magical Papyri. The longer and more important was called De Mysteriis by Ficino, even though it has nothing to do with the Mysteries. This is Iamblichus’ defense and explanation of theurgy, the last great florescence of religiosity in the pre-Christain world. In it he explains the importance of invocation, and the stages of maturation in divine relations, how to distinguish the grades of entities from lesser spirits to the Great Gods, how to interpret symbolism, how to find your Personal Deamon (Holy Guardian Angel), how to “guide the light” (think middle pillar), how to advance on the path, and what results you would get if you do the work. The shorter and better known work is Proclus, “On the hieratic art” or “On Sacrifice” as it is variously called. This is a summary of a longer Proclus work, probably made by the Byzantine Michael Psellus. This gives the shortest single justification for our practices, the theory of correspondences and a variety of other aspects of our work, all of which find themselves into Ficino’s Three Books of Life, which itself is the first reacquisition of the ancient ways of theurgy in the Christian world. (Not to totally ignore pseudo-Dionysis, who was Proclus’ student, and his influence on interpreting the Mass as a theurgic rite.)

As a Pagan, finally scraping away the layers of Christianity and seeing the bright and lovely basis for our practices as they were understood in the ancient world is so inspiring. Undistorted by monotheism, imperial politics, or the bizarre doctrines of Christianity, theurgy takes its place as a profound deepening of ancient religious practice. It justifies and explains the worship of the ancient Gods, shows how we can unite ourselves with Them, and advance ourselves spiritually. The OSOGD will be reviewing our curriculum and adjusting it to take advantage of this deep running stream of spirituality.