Month: December 2018

Any group of characters in a fantasy RPG (D&D), will most likely turn into a group of murder-hobos.

And group of characters in a modern RPG (Vampire, Shadowrun, etc), will eventually turn into the mafia.

All of these characters are most likely serious alcoholics.

emergentanimism:

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.

Keep reading

tomasorban:

The Ancient Egyptians believed the soul had three parts,  the ka, the ba, and the akh.

The ka and ba were spiritual entities that everyone possessed, but the akh was an entity  reserved for only the select few that were deserving of maat kheru.   Their beliefs were that the living were responsible to help the dead  journey into the Afterlife.  “The living had a duty to help those who had gone before them, and to those who would come after, by building and maintaining tombs.  Tombs were the interface between time and eternity. ”This belief also included the preservation of the deceased body.

The Ka

“The ka was essentially a person’s double,” it was the life force and at death it was separated from the body. The reason for extensive and elaborate preparation for the body for the after life was to ensure the ka had a home.  The living would sometimes provide bread, beer, oxen and fowl to feed the ka for the afterlife.  They also believed the deceased body would have to resemble the past living body as much as possible so the ka could recognize its body and then the ba would “return to it each night after spending time in the sunshine.” The living would leave more than just food for the deceased if possible.  They would also leave servants, weapons, jewelry, clothes, and their mummified pets, in their tomb—anything that would help them in their afterlife.  The tombs would also house the Shabti statues that represented servants who would help the owner of the tomb in the after life.  “The backs of these figurines were inscribed with Chapter 6 of The Book of the Dead. This spell ensured that if the owner of the shabti was called upon at any time to do any kind of compulsory labour the shabti would respond and perform the duty instead of its owner.”^[19] The tombs from the Age of the Pyramids would have inscriptions on the tomb that would read, “May this official be given a thousand loaves of bread, a thousand jugs of beer”, in hopes this prayer would be enough to feed the ka, if no offerings were available.

The Ba

The ba, another spiritual entity was seen as a human-headed bird hovering over the deceased or exiting the tomb in the hieroglyphics, and was the part of the soul that could travel between the worlds of the living and the dead. During the Age of the Pyramids, it was believed only the King had a ba. The word ba was similar to the word ‘ram’ and was associated with strength and power.  In later periods of Egyptian history, it was believed every person had a ba.  The ba also required food to move and survive in the afterworld.  There are images from Ramesside Books of the Dead that show the ba perched on the arm of the decease, or hugged to his body, like a pet parrot.  The small pyramids built over the tomb chapels at Deir el Medina contained a little niche near the top, where the ba could perch, to watch the sunrise and to observe the goings-on in the village where it had lived.”

The Akh

The akh, another spiritual entity which “was the transfigured spirit that survived death and mingled with the gods.” One source explained that the akh was only allowed to individuals whose souls were worthy because they were good people in their past lives.  Condemned criminals did not have proper burials and their real names were buried with them.  So it was believed criminals could not survive in the Afterlife and the criminal could not become or have an akh.  “An akh is the blessed or ‘transfigured’ soul of a person who died and whose soul had been judged by Osiris and found maat kheru- justified.  An akh was an effective spirit, one could still influence events in this world.”  The akh and ka were believed to need a preserved body and tomb in order to exist.

The Maat Kheru

Maat, the goddess of Truth, Justice and Balance took the form of an ostrich feather. The final trial of the deceased would be to have his heart weighed against Maat. If the person had led a good and decent life, his heart would be in balance and he would pass into the Afterlife. But if the weight of his heart did not balance with Maat, a monster named the The Devourer consumed his heart.  The heart was identified as “the seat of intelligence and moral judgement, as well as of emotions.” The term Maat Kheru is identified with the party at the end of a civil trial that would be declared innocent and true, or ‘true of voice’ or ‘justified’.