Month: March 2018

grimnirs-child:

Do not be afraid, in ritual, to be undignified, to be strange, to express what is animal and taboo and shameful in your desires. To express emotion, to be ugly, to get dirty.

Ritual – most especially ecstatic ritual – is about finding and expressing the power of your deepest, rawest, wildest self. That doesn’t look pretty, it is not what society asks us to be, but that is not what witchcraft is about.

Emergent Magick – DMT

DMT, short for N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, comes in many forms and methods
of consumption. DMT occurs naturally in many organisms, both plant and animal,
including human beings. A rise in the popularity of Ayahuasca, a traditional
brew made by shaman in indigenous tribes of South America, has raised awareness
of DMT. Ayahuasca has many side effects and requires an experienced shaman to
create the brew and guide the experience. We recommend you defer to them when
seeking out that particular form of DMT. We will focus on another form of DMT,
with much shorter and intense effects. 5-MeO-DMT can be extracted from specific
plants and even from the venom of certain frogs. While there is some
traditional practices that use 5-MeO-DMT, in most countries it comes in the
form of crystals, or sometimes a resin, that the user vaporizes and inhales.

Of all the psychedelics listed here, DMT has had the least research.
Most of what we know comes from the users themselves. People have reported
nausea, heart palpitations, rise in body temperature, and other minor symptoms.
Most doctors agree it is virtually impossible to overdose on DMT. No fatalities
from DMT have been recorded. Some claim that DMT can be used to help with
depression and fight addiction, but clinical evidence is sorely lacking.

Inhaled DMT will most likely be the most powerful hallucinogen a magus
will ever experience. In the largest doses that can be consumed at once, DMT
only lasts five to fifteen minutes. During that time, you will not have the
presence of mind to consume any more. In fact, DMT is not a good-time, party
drug. It does nothing to benefit the social experience. Feelings of euphoria
come only after the drug subsides, some of it coming from the sheer joy of
surviving the experience. A sufficient dose of DMT will obliterate all sense of
self. The user loses all senses, and is overwhelmed by visions of undulating
geometric shapes, intense colors, and sound. During a DMT trip, the most you
will do is lie there and take it. A few claim to have communication with alien
entities when on DMT, but the communication is difficult to put into words.
Some say that taking DMT is the closest thing to experiencing death, as the
visions overtake all other mental processes for the short time they last,
leaving the user totally without function. If this sounds frightening, it
should and it is. But few experiences will work so well to convince a magus
that everything they perceive is pure illusion. One hit of DMT is an initiatory
experience all its own. You will walk away changed.

chaoskyan:

Photos from tonight’s ritual. This was a ward activating/protection ritual. I use it to activate the wards I place in and around my home. The design is mine, but it utilizes some of the “syntax” of alchemy circles, along with my alphabet symbols and phrasing. 

Each circle represents a step in the process, with the center one being the final threshold and within that is the ward symbol. The nodes are the gateways between steps (salt and candles on corresponding nodes), with lines being pathways. Around each circle the instructions are written for the step. At the end of the ritual I placed my divination tools in the center so they could also benefit from it. Afterwards I left the candles to burn out completely and erased everything for banishment.

Emergent Magick – Cannabis

scrollofthoth:

By far, the most widely used psychedelic is THC in the form of
cannabis. Studies estimate between 200 and 250 million cannabis users
worldwide. The rising popularity and relaxation of cannabis laws has led to
some viable research and a plethora of methods of consumption. Cannabis and its
derivatives can now be smoked, eaten, and used as a topical application. It
comes in the form of dried flower, oil, resin, and extracts. The form of
consumption, concentration of active ingredients, and amount consumed are the variables
that most influence its effects. Detailing the different ways to consume
cannabis would take volumes. In general, cannabis inhaled has a more intense
and shorter effect, while cannabis ingested lasts longer and creates more of a
“whole-body” feel.

Cannabis is a proven treatment for epilepsy, and other chronic
diseases that produce essential tremors, such as Parkinson’s Disease. Cannabis
has long been used to treat glaucoma, and used as an appetite stimulant and
digestive aid. It can be particularly effective for those undergoing treatment
for cancer who have lost appetite due to side effects of that treatment. It
also makes an effective and non-addictive alternative for pain management. Many
recent studies report that cannabis has the ability to shrink cancer cells,
though more research needs to be performed to verify its usefulness and effective
dosage. Once again, whole volumes can be devoted to the medical uses of
cannabis.

In the context of Emergent Magick, cannabis has many uses. In most
people cannabis reduces social anxiety. A shared cannabis experience can be
used to strengthen tribal bonds and facilitate more open exchanges. Its pain
easing effects also help when performing ritual, allowing participants to
engage energetically for longer periods of time. Cannabis has mild psychedelic properties,
which makes it useful for maintaining cognitive function while still enjoying
its effects. This is not to say that individuals on cannabis have full use of
mental faculties. It can suppress short-term memory and judgement. If your
ritual work requires safety precautions, such as building and tending a large
fire, cannabis should not be consumed.

Cannabis produces almost imperceptible hallucinations, mostly sensitivity to light, noise, and a loss of the ability to sense time. Its usefulness
from a purely magical perspective comes from its tendency to remove the users
from context when exploring art. A cannabis user more easily perceives music,
color, and dimension, without over intellectualizing the experience. It makes
the user able to feel raw emotional experience from a given art form, stripping
away mental barriers that block holistic enjoyment. Since magick is an art, the
user may find themselves able to fully accept a magical experience and remove
their ego from the event.

Of course, I could have just summed this entire passage up with a quote from my soul-brother, Frater Zentra El – “Weed? That’s just medicine.”

Emergent Magick – Cannabis

By far, the most widely used psychedelic is THC in the form of
cannabis. Studies estimate between 200 and 250 million cannabis users
worldwide. The rising popularity and relaxation of cannabis laws has led to
some viable research and a plethora of methods of consumption. Cannabis and its
derivatives can now be smoked, eaten, and used as a topical application. It
comes in the form of dried flower, oil, resin, and extracts. The form of
consumption, concentration of active ingredients, and amount consumed are the variables
that most influence its effects. Detailing the different ways to consume
cannabis would take volumes. In general, cannabis inhaled has a more intense
and shorter effect, while cannabis ingested lasts longer and creates more of a
“whole-body” feel.

Cannabis is a proven treatment for epilepsy, and other chronic
diseases that produce essential tremors, such as Parkinson’s Disease. Cannabis
has long been used to treat glaucoma, and used as an appetite stimulant and
digestive aid. It can be particularly effective for those undergoing treatment
for cancer who have lost appetite due to side effects of that treatment. It
also makes an effective and non-addictive alternative for pain management. Many
recent studies report that cannabis has the ability to shrink cancer cells,
though more research needs to be performed to verify its usefulness and effective
dosage. Once again, whole volumes can be devoted to the medical uses of
cannabis.

In the context of Emergent Magick, cannabis has many uses. In most
people cannabis reduces social anxiety. A shared cannabis experience can be
used to strengthen tribal bonds and facilitate more open exchanges. Its pain
easing effects also help when performing ritual, allowing participants to
engage energetically for longer periods of time. Cannabis has mild psychedelic properties,
which makes it useful for maintaining cognitive function while still enjoying
its effects. This is not to say that individuals on cannabis have full use of
mental faculties. It can suppress short-term memory and judgement. If your
ritual work requires safety precautions, such as building and tending a large
fire, cannabis should not be consumed.

Cannabis produces almost imperceptible hallucinations, mostly sensitivity to light, noise, and a loss of the ability to sense time. Its usefulness
from a purely magical perspective comes from its tendency to remove the users
from context when exploring art. A cannabis user more easily perceives music,
color, and dimension, without over intellectualizing the experience. It makes
the user able to feel raw emotional experience from a given art form, stripping
away mental barriers that block holistic enjoyment. Since magick is an art, the
user may find themselves able to fully accept a magical experience and remove
their ego from the event.

Wanted – Personal Accounts

I am currently working on the chapter on psychedelics for the Emergent Magick book. Since the experience with such substances is so subjective, I am seeking personal accounts of people who have used one or more of the following–

psilocybin, THC, LSD, MDMA, and DMT.

I am mostly looking for how they made you feel and what kind of experience you had while taking these substances. If you are a magus, relating how these substances effect your practice would also be much appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

As an esoteric seeker, I’m uncomfortable with the fact with the use of kabbalah (Qabalah) because it’s a semi-closed form of Jewish mysticism. Why is it seen as still acceptable? Please note I have nothing against you or the Western Esoteric movements, but am figuring this out as a brother

ceremonialmagick:

First of all thank you for your calm tone. Perhaps this will clear help:

Yes Kabbalah (with a K and two B’s) is a practice usually reserved for jewish mystics. But even in jewish circles, this is a very controversial practice that has even been banned at certain points in history. Jewish Kabbalah as nothing to do with esotericisim/occultism.

Hermetic Qabalah (with a Q and one B) is not the same thing, this practice draws from many sources, including gnosticism, alchemy, etc. it also is not a new practice, as some less informed people around here have suggested, it has been around since aprox. the 14th Century and it is the framework of many esoteric currents that are still around to this day, so it is not some kind of new shallow fad. Thelema incorporates many aspects of Hermetic Qabalah, for example. 

Equating the two (as unfortunately some people have on this website) might even be considered offensive to practitioners of either one. You can practice magick without Qabalah, no one is forcing anyone to, but you should now that there are many people who do, yes even jewish people, for example Israel Regardie or Donald Michael Kraig, both world-renowned jewish occultists who had zero problems not just practicing but disseminating Hermetic Qabalah’s principles around the world, because again, they are not the same.

I hope that clears it up for you, here are the links two both wikipedia pages if you would like to compare/contrast:

Kabbalah (Jewish Kabbalah)

Hermetic Qabalah