-PRAYER TO THE GOD THOTH- from the p. anastasi V 9.2-10.2
“Come to me, Thoth, O noble Ibis, O God Who loves Hermopolis; O letter-writer of the Ennead, Great One Who dwells in Heliopolis! Come to me and give me counsel, Make me skillful in Your calling; Better is Your calling than all callings, It makes men great. He who masters it is found fit to hold office, I have seen many whom You have helped; They are now among the Thirty (the Counsel of the Thirty, blessed beings), They are strong and rich through Your help. You are He Who offers counsel, Fate and Fortune are with You, Come to me and give me counsel, I am a servant of Your House (the Temple). Let me tell of Your valiant deeds, Wheresoever I may be; Then the multitudes will say: “Great are they, the deeds of Thoth!” Then they’ll come and bring their children, To assign them to Your calling, A calling that pleases the Lord of Power (Osiris), Happy is he who performs it”
You knew this post was coming, right? Let’s get some points
of order out of the way. First, yes, you can do magick without drugs. Why you
would want to remains a mystery to me. Drugs are not a “short-cut.” The use of entheogens
by spiritual practitioners goes all the way back through pre-history. I think
it’s pretty inconvertible to say that drugs have been a part of most religions.
All the way from the wine you drink at a Catholic mass to ayahuasca. If you
want to argue that all of those magi were wrong, take it somewhere else.
Point of order number two: The creator of this blog does not condone the use of illegal drugs.
Please follow all local laws when imbibing substances. Those using substances
should be of sound mind and body. When in doubt, consult a physician. I highly recommend
doing as much research as possible before taking any substance. Please see: Multidisciplinary
Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) http://www.maps.org/.
With that out of the way, I’m actually going to talk about a
drug that is legal in all fifty U.S. states – blue lotus.
The Egyptians obsessed over blue lotus, also known as the
blue water lily, aka nymphaea caerulea, which grew along the banks of the Nile.
The blue lotus is perhaps the most common motif in Egyptian art, appearing
throughout all phases of Ancient Egyptian culture. While the lotus has multiple
symbolic meanings in Egyptian culture, and remains a powerful symbol in many
traditions, especially Hindu (albeit a different strain), the obsession with
the lotus probably has a lot to do with its psychedelic properties. Records of
Egyptians drinking lotus steeped in wine, eating lotus, and smoking lotus are
numerous.
The active ingredient in blue lotus is aporphine, a
substance not yet well researched or understood. Numerous psychonauts report that
blue lotus has effects similar to MDMA – with the user experiencing heightened
emotions, particularly feelings of connection to others, and a warm-fuzzy
feeling. Unlike MDMA, lotus is not an amphetamine. In fact, it acts as a
sedative, and has been useful for some in eliciting lucid dream states.
I tried blue lotus a few times a couple of years ago, making
a tea of lotus stamens with about 5g per cup of tea, steeped for about ten
minutes. I can attest to the similarities with reports of MDMA use, although
those effects were extremely mild. Overall, a great way to relax.
I’m gonna go a little deeper this time, having just
purchased 28g of dried lotus stamen from my favorite source for legal herbal psychoactives, Bouncing Bear Botanicals. Full disclosure, yes, that’s an affiliate link and if
you purchase using it I get a discount on future orders. Any instructions to be
found on using blue lotus are all over the place. Everyone seems to have a slightly
different opinion. Some believe the flowers are best, some the stamens. Some
used prepared tinctures, others fresh. I’m using the stamens again because it
makes sense to me that the stamen would have the highest concentration of the
plant’s chemical byproducts, but I can be totally wrong. All I know is it
worked last time. I may try using the dried flowers in the future.
My intentions for my mere 28g are as follows:
Use 20g to make a lotus wine. I’m doing this by merely
pouring off some of bottle of sweet riesling and adding the dried stamens. I really
looked for an Egyptian wine to use, but it being an Islamic culture now,
exported Egyptian wine is a difficult find. The choice was made simply to
offset some of the bitter aspects of the lotus. I’m going to let that steep in
the fridge for two weeks, try some, and then let it steep for two more weeks
before removing all of the dried plant material. I also intend to eat a pinch
of the used plant material when I drink the wine to try and heighten the
effects.
I’ll use 5g to make another cup of tea. To honor my gods and
ancestors and help cover the taste, I will brew it with an herbal tea imported
from Poland, made of apples and rosehips. I’ll let the lotus steep for fifteen
minutes, and this time will also eat a pinch of the used lotus to strengthen
the effect. Keep in mind, IMHO the taste of the blue lotus ain’t that bad, but
it’s not that great either. I’ve had worse.
The last three grams I will mix with my regular smoking
herb, and give that a try.
So expect some trip reports in the near future, and probably
some more history on the blue lotus.
This is the first Patreon I have subscribed to. I totally grok citizen-scholars doing work with a spiritual perspective. This is some amazing work done with care and a love of the subject matter.
The number one complaint I hear from people when I tell them
to work with their ancestors is that their family is just awful. That they can
never work with their ancestors for X Y Z reasons. I would never belittle
someone’s trauma. I am certain there are a lot of people out there whose
feelings on this are legitimate. I would never tell someone to work with an
ancestor that abused them, or with ancestors that have proven beyond a shadow
of a doubt that they were fucking assholes. I would ask, that if your ancestors
don’t fit in that category you consider a couple of things. And, I have some
work-arounds.
One, work on forgiveness. Forgiveness is as much of a
blessing for you as it is for them. I’m not going to sit here and outline all
the benefits of forgiveness, because it’s something you have to come to on your
own or it doesn’t really work. Just think about it. Maybe take a couple of days
to meditate on the concept of forgiveness.
Two, you may think that all your ancestors were hard-core Pentecostal/Jewish/Muslim/Catholic/etc.,
and they would NEVER understand what you practice. That may be true. Some
spirits hold onto that shit tight. Most learn it’s an anchor for them in the
afterlife. Most spirits of the dead realize almost immediately after they cross
over that the cosmos contains so much more than they ever dreamed of. They know
that us humans have an extremely limited perspective on the nature of reality.
That includes you and I as magi my friends. The only way you will know if any
given spirit is open to your current beliefs is to talk to them. So give it a
try and find out.
But if you really just can’t, you still have options. You
can flat-out adopt some ancestors. Looking to people within your own culture
would be a good start. We all come from Africa. We all come from the same
source. We are all siblings on this little mud-ball we call Earth. If you pick
someone with the same ethnicity, chances are you are related in some way. Do
some genealogy if you really want to know. Certainly you can at least come up
with a picture or something to symbolize what they were known for to have on
your ancestor altar.
You can also have magical ancestors. Not just ones from your
own particular magical tribe. I have talked with the spirits of Jack Parsons and
Hunter S. Thompson. I consider them ancestors of my craft.
If none of that seems right to you, you could go looking for
your ancestors astrally. A couple of years ago at the Babalon Rising Festival,
I led a guided meditation that had people meet their most distant ancestors and
learn about them. I’m proud to say that a version of that guided meditation has
made the rounds in several magical groups. You absolutely can go back as far as
you want. If you want a magical ancestor, why not use magick to find them? If I
get some requests, I would be happy to make an audio recording of that guided
meditation and post it here.
So if you want to work with ancestors you have no excuses.
It may be more work for you, but nothing good comes easy.
“A study of prostitutes investigated by the Inquisition in Modena reveals that although magical orations and charms were learned orally and, as one said, were kept ‘always in her heart’, those who could read were thought to be the most skilled in the art of love magic. Written copies accrued more potency than those held in oral memory, while those recorded in books were more efficacious than charms written on loose sheets. In 1600 a noted female love magician was described as reading from a big book with ‘a black cover, which is full of incantations and secrets’. One prostitute said the prayer she had written on a piece of paper was less effective than another possessed by a courtesan who obtained hers from ‘a book in which there are lots of these things’. 156 At the top of this hierarchy of texts was print, and the Modena tribunal heard several cases of prostitute love magicians requesting printers to produce versions of the prayers they knew. This may have been in part to render their power more potent, but the sale of such mass-produced prayers also proved an excellent money-spinner.”
— Grimoires: A History of Magic Books, Owen Davies
I love this for so many reasons. I am assuming that random 156 stuck in there is an artifact of a cut-and-paste and is referencing a source. That my friends is what you call a synchronicity, which for me have always been a sign of good things.
we are very happy to announce to you that the new edition of the EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS CALENDAR for the next year 2019 is almost completed and it will be available in the next few days!! Here’s a preview of the front cover: the Northern Circumpolar Constellations (the imperishable stars that never rest), from the ceiling of the “House of Gold wherein one rests” (the burial chamber) of the “House of Eternity” of King Sethi I, Valley of the Kings (KV17), west ‘Uaset’-Thebes. Photo by Manna Nader, Gabana Studios, Cairo.
By subscribing to “Amente Nofre-membership community” you will get a complete access to the daily posts of the Ancient Egyptian Religious Calendar, together with many many other things, here’s the link with all the infos: https://www.patreon.com/amentenofre
