I am gonna belabor the point. I don’t want to put this in
absolute terms, but you should, if at all possible, be working with a group of
magi. In my experience, there is little else that will improve your practice as
much as learning from your peers.
Don’t tell me you can’t find other people who are interested
in magick. You have the internet. I assume most of you have friends, and you’ll
be surprised how easy it is to get them into it. Don’t tell me you don’t have
the time. Make it a priority. Don’t tell me you are too surly, introverted,
weird, or just anti-social. You’re a godsdamn magician! You can do anything.
There are a few rare exceptions. People in extreme poverty,
people living under tyranny (that can be social tyranny, like abusive SOs and
family), and people with disabilities. Don’t get me started on magical groups
who don’t provide for people with disabilities, that’s another topic. But if
you don’t fit in one of those categories, find the others! Get your ass in a
car or on a bus and do magick with others.
I drive from Indianapolis to Kansas City twice per year
(2,000 miles). Indianapolis to Rockford, IL, at least three times per year
(1,800 miles). Indianapolis to Bedford, IN once per year (200 miles).
Indianapolis to Cincinnati (200 miles). That’s over 4,000 miles a year, with my
old ass crashing on air mattresses and eating Cliff Bars to make it work. Some
of it involves camping, and I hate fucking camping. But it’s worth it for those
precious days where I can do magick with the people I love.
It will be work. There will be drama. There will be people
you don’t like. There will be logistical nightmares. I know you are thinking
right now that there is no way you can do it. Try it. Just once. Go to a pagan
festival that has rituals. Throw a party for your friends where each of you
bring a ritual to perform. Once you do, you will thank me.
What does this have to do with ancestors? Not to be a
bummer, but if you are a part of a magical tribe long enough, one of those
people are gonna die.
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.
I am gonna belabor the point. I don’t want to put this in
absolute terms, but you should, if at all possible, be working with a group of
magi. In my experience, there is little else that will improve your practice as
much as learning from your peers.
Don’t tell me you can’t find other people who are interested
in magick. You have the internet. I assume most of you have friends, and you’ll
be surprised how easy it is to get them into it. Don’t tell me you don’t have
the time. Make it a priority. Don’t tell me you are too surly, introverted,
weird, or just anti-social. You’re a godsdamn magician! You can do anything.
There are a few rare exceptions. People in extreme poverty,
people living under tyranny (that can be social tyranny, like abusive SOs and
family), and people with disabilities. Don’t get me started on magical groups
who don’t provide for people with disabilities, that’s another topic. But if
you don’t fit in one of those categories, find the others! Get your ass in a
car or on a bus and do magick with others.
I drive from Indianapolis to Kansas City twice per year
(2,000 miles). Indianapolis to Rockford, IL, at least three times per year
(1,800 miles). Indianapolis to Bedford, IN once per year (200 miles).
Indianapolis to Cincinnati (200 miles). That’s over 4,000 miles a year, with my
old ass crashing on air mattresses and eating Cliff Bars to make it work. Some
of it involves camping, and I hate fucking camping. But it’s worth it for those
precious days where I can do magick with the people I love.
It will be work. There will be drama. There will be people
you don’t like. There will be logistical nightmares. I know you are thinking
right now that there is no way you can do it. Try it. Just once. Go to a pagan
festival that has rituals. Throw a party for your friends where each of you
bring a ritual to perform. Once you do, you will thank me.
What does this have to do with ancestors? Not to be a
bummer, but if you are a part of a magical tribe long enough, one of those
people are gonna die.
Hey Frater T, all you have been doing is talking about
ancestors. What about spirits of place? What about spirits of plants, and all
those other cool spirits more commonly associated with Animism? We’ll get to
them, don’t worry. Mind you, those are the types of spirits I have the least
experience with. But that’s okay. One of the themes of this blog is getting
back to the bottom. Going back and improving the foundation of my spiritual
practice. Which is why I have to start with ancestors.
I have never been one to tell someone how they should
practice magick. Magick is inherently dangerous, no matter how careful you
think you are. If you want to just dive into the deep end and start with hard
core goetic demon evocation, I’m not gonna stop you. Fuck it. Do it. I did a
lot of dumb shit that I was not prepared for and failing is part of the
learning process. I’m lucky that I had people supporting me. I have a few
scars, but my only real regrets are that I wasted a lot of time doing bad
magick that didn’t get me very far.
Emergent Magick (EMK) often uses the metaphor, “Citadel of
Belief.” This is one of the key differences between Chaos Magick and EMK. In
EMK you constantly build upon the knowledge you have received. Chaos Magick
tells you to chuck a belief when it becomes inconvenient. I’m not saying all
chaos magicians do this, and none of them build upon their previous work
(although in a technical sense those magicians that do may be doing EMK and not
realize it.) I’m also not saying that holding on to a belief structure doesn’t
have its drawbacks. You certainly run the risk of dogmatism. But that’s why it’s
essential to work with a tribe whose members have differing paradigms.
But a Citadel of Emergent Animism is more than that. More
than just knowledge. It’s building up a coterie of spirits that you work with
on an ongoing basis. These are the spirits that populate your Citadel. They
guard it against hostile spirits. They clean the place up. They are your
advisers.
This all takes time, a lot of time. I’m talking years. And
the work never stops. You must constantly maintain those relationships. Just
like your human friends you gotta hang out with them on a regular basis and
truly get to know them. You have to be there when they need you, then they will
be there when you need them. Yes, spirits need things. Mostly they need contact
with the world so they can keep learning and growing. The work doesn’t stop
when you’re dead. It just changes. And all those offerings and attention are currency
for them. It gives them the ability to do more.
You could just keep Pokemoning daemons, summoning them up
one-by-one off a list and coerce or trade with them for favors. But if you’re
going to treat them like something you just toss out when you need something,
they are going to treat you the same way.
Since you have now learned I’m a big geek, let’s use another
geek reference. I’m a huge fan of the game Mage:
The Awakening, for obvious reasons. In Mage,
if a character specializes in spirit magick they eventually end up creating
what’s called a Spirit Court. A group of spirits they either created or
summoned that they trust and work with regularly. So fuck it, let’s just steal
that term. What you need to be doing is building your own Spirit Court.
As I’ve said more than a couple of times now, ancestors are
the best place to start because they almost always have your best interests in
mind. Working with local spirits of place wouldn’t be a bad option either,
because most of them want the beings that live within or near them to thrive. Also,
I’m not saying that if you already have a relationship with a god or other
alien spirit that you should quit that. Keep it up, but also start working with
spirits that are closer and have a more relatable perspective.
Working with more relatable spirits also gives you practice
dealing with other spiritual entities. You learn how to listen to them. What
signs they may use. How they often use symbolism to convey complex ideas that
can’t always be put into words. You learn about their feelings and how they
change over time. You learn how to gauge their opinion of you and use that to change
your practice in ways that are more pleasing to them. Or you may learn they
aren’t the type of spirit you want to be dealing with.
Remember that your ancestor lineage goes way beyond the
people you knew or those you have learned about directly. Everyone’s family
tree goes back to Africa. Ask the spirits you know to introduce you to the ones
you don’t. You do this by learning about where your family came from. If your
family came from Poland, collect Polish things, learn Polish history. But do
more than learn important dates and people, learn how those people lived. Find
things that may be familiar to them and use those to attract those spirits. You
don’t have to go out and find expensive art pieces and artifacts, though that’s
fine if you do. You can make traditional dishes and use them as food offerings.
You can simply use pictures of your native land. This is why pre-historic,
hunter-gatherer societies fascinate me. Know how they lived and what was important
to them and you will have better communication with those spirits.
So the next time some rando spirit asks, “Who the fuck are
you?” You too can answer, “Ego sum Legio.” I am Legion, for my ancestors stand
with me.
Theurge and thaumaturge, sorcerer and saint, mage and martyr and mystic, pray for us, now and at the hour of our deaths. May we come to honor and help the least among us, those deprived of good and those oppressed by the depraved, and lift them up to aid and shelter them as we look after ourselves. May we come to love our neighbors as ourselves, regardless of appearance, origin, faith, or habit, and thereby come to honor and love all mankind as children and brethren of Almighty God. In Christ Jesus, please intercede for us, Saint Cyprian of Antioch, and help us help each other. Keep us safe from all harm, those who live comfortably in houses and those who walk homeless in streets, those who have plenty to eat and those who haven’t eaten in days, those who pray assiduously and those who lack all faith, those who make curses and those who break curses, those who heal and those who need healing, those who invade and those who defend. We are all human and subject to the afflictions of humanity; help us, Saint Cyprian of Antioch, that we may tend to each other in a spirit of brotherhood and love that you show for us who cry out to you. By lifting our eyes up in praise of God, help us rise to holiness we desire that we may honor the Lord; by casting our eyes down in humility to God, help us acknowledge the crimes we commit that we may rectify them. Open our minds and hearts to the light of truth shining in eternal darkness, and show to our souls and spirits the darkness of wisdom hiding in blinding light. As you worked with both hands to attain the will of God, help us to work with both our hands may we strive ever towards the salvation of ourselves, all mankind, the world, the universe, and the cosmos. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, redeemer of humanity, amen.
➕
Prayer by Sam Block (Polyphanes)
My thanks to all who made donations to disaster relief non-profits and had their petitions included the novena performed leading up to the feast. Together we raised over $300 in the name of our Good Saint in order to help those in need.
The custom is rooted in pre-Christian rites of evoking the nature after winter solstice (after ‘New Sun’ when the days start growing longer), and is still practiced in Poland throughout January and beginning of February each year – during the whole carnival season.
In these rites groups of people dressed in symbolic costumes with musicians are wandering from house to house in a joyful parade, creating noise (e.g. ringing bells and singing loudly) and pulling harmless pranks, all in order to put the community in a festive mood. The popular costumes included on the pictures are for example ‘bears’ (which symbolize waking up from the winter hibernation), ‘death’ (beginning of something new), ‘devils’ (winter darkness and evil forces in nature) and the most important ‘dziady’ (symbolic ‘ancestors’ – souls of the deceased wandering on the Earth).
It’s observed under many different local names in Poland, and the term of the general custom – kolędowanie – comes from the word kolęda, which is associated with Christmas carols nowadays but originally meant simply a joyful New Year’s song in old-Polish.
Wow, this post is amazing. It makes me feel sad in many ways that I know so little about the traditions of my people. Like why does that guy have a photo of a naked porn star on his hat? Is she is a representation of the Spring Maiden? That’s fucking awesome. Chaos Magick alive and well in the Polish countryside.
One of things I want to do with this blog is talk directly
about my ancestors and tell their stories. I think with all the shit going on
in the world, and the stark divisions in the U.S. coming to a head this
election day, it is the perfect time to talk about Cousin Max.
Old Frater T has been having a shitty week and I’m glad I
wrote out a few of these blog posts in advance. But I’ve run out of backlog,
and this one is coming to you raw. I wish I had time to go into the Cult of the
Saints as the continuation of ancestor veneration in Europe, and the nuances of
working with spirits of a faith that I have all but completely relinquished.
But I don’t have time for that. Let’s just talk about Max.
That’s Saint Maximillian Kolbe, my fourth cousin, the first
saint canonized by John Paul II, another fellow Polack. I don’t know what made
my grandmother happier, having a Polish pope in her lifetime, or having that
pope declare a member of our ancestry a saint. Her love of JP II was so intense
she would take pictures of the TV whenever he was on it.
I’m talking about Max today because Max fought Nazis. He was
by no means a perfect man, and his hate-on for the freemasons is upsetting. His
utter devotion to Mary was inspiring, but we disagree heartily on my view of
Mary as vestigial goddess worship. I have been known to stop at shrines to Mary
and say prayers to Babalon (I can feel Max cringing right now.) The links are
there if you look deep enough. While Mary has been seen as a virgin since the
earliest days of the Church, not all early Christians agreed with that
perspective. Many Christian gnostics saw her as a representation of Sophia. I’ll
let you do that research yourself.
Max and I agree on two important things. If you can help
relieve suffering in the world, do it. Also, fuck Nazis. I am proud to share
with you the story of Max’s martyrdom taken from his biography at the Jewish
Virtual Library.
“During the Second World War he (Maximillian Kolbe) provided
shelter to refugees from Greater Poland, including 2,000 Jews whom he hid from
Nazi persecution in his friary in Niepokalanów. He was also active as a radio
amateur, with Polish call letters SP3RN, vilifying Nazi activities through his
reports.
On February 17, 1941 he was arrested by the German Gestapo
and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison, and on May 25 was transferred to Auschwitz
I as prisoner #16670.
In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting
SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men
from the same barracks to be starved to death in Block 13 (notorious for
torture), in order to deter further escape attempts. (The man who had
disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine.) One of the selected
men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Kolbe
volunteered to take his place.
During the time in the cell he led the men in songs and
prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three
others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic
acid.”
Probably part of the reason I am social worker today is my
family’s belief in helping others. Even if Max and I argue about just about
everything else, we agree that if you are honestly devoting your life to easing
the suffering of others, you’re okay in our book, no matter what gods you are
calling on.
And fuck Nazis.
Max has become the patriarch of my family’s ancestor
spirits. They often, but not always, defer to him, and trust his judgement when
representing my family in this world and across the veil. It is always Max I
bring with me when I leave home to represent for my ancestor spirits.
One of my fondest memories is visiting his shrine here in the
U.S. in Marytown, IL. I wandered the beautiful church and grounds, inspired by
the spiritual presence there, lighting candles and watching the monks’ afternoon
prayer service. I took the ancestor flag I made for him and touched it to the
vessel containing some of his remains, hair and fingernail clippings said to be
kept by the camp barber at Auschwitz. Yes folks, Frater T is in possession of a
bona fide third-degree relic of the Catholic Church.
I can’t seem to make peace with my living relatives. But at
least I can make peace with my dead ones. I just have some hard-lines I will
not cross. Like tolerating Nazis.
I hope this can be an inspiration to those who look back at
their ancestors and think they can never work with them because of spiritual
differences. If you can find just two things to agree on, the rest can be
negotiated.
For the record, it is Threskionis, which is the Greek name for the African Sacred Ibis. Also, everything @holy-mountaineering is saying here is spot on. I would just add definitely bring water to your ancestors. They like that. Gods will be wholly unimpressed. I have eight rose bushes in my yard now that take constant care, and She’s still not all that impressed, but what can you do?
I don’t do ancestor worship, but I’m sure you’re right. I’m not saying water is off limits it’s just lowballing.
@astranemus input added because usefulness.
Gonna add a little more fuel to this fire, because I’m that kind of jerk. 😉
This is the kind of offering I consider buying for my favorite god. My wife said maybe, so that’s a good start.
For the record, it is Threskionis, which is the Greek name for the African Sacred Ibis. Also, everything @holy-mountaineering is saying here is spot on. I would just add definitely bring water to your ancestors. They like that. Gods will be wholly unimpressed. I have eight rose bushes in my yard now that take constant care, and She’s still not all that impressed, but what can you do?
