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I just received and am now reading my copy of The Magick of Aleister Crowley by Lon Milo DuQuette. I wonder if I can make it through with throwing it down in disgust, proclaiming Crowley a self-important moron. I honestly do hope for clarity on the man’s magick and his wide appeal.

On a side note, I also received my Finnish army surplus gas mask. Because I will be joining Occupy Indianapolis, and pepper spray sucks.

You asked for it. This seems complicated. It is, and it isn’t. I do it everyday, sometimes without thinking. At the same time, I seldom nail all of the visualizations and incantations just right. That’s one of the things that makes doing daily ritual worthwhile. You get more practice with these skills.

I use a sword for my banishing tool. Specifically, a four foot bastard sword, or hand-and-a-half. I bought the sword almost twenty years ago when I first became a pagan. If I were to select a ritual tool now it would probably be something I made, but since the sword has been with me so long, and I’ve performed multiple purification and dedication rituals on it, it works for me.

I always use the same music for my banishing ritual – Corona Radiata by Nine Inch Nails. It’s unlike a vast majority of Trent Reznor’s music, instrumental and ephemeral. Give it a listen and you’ll see what I mean.

I try to perform it in the middle of the day. It gives me a fresh start and lets me change direction from what I was doing in the morning.

I light some incense and then two candles on my alter. I turn out the lights, performing it by the light of those candles. Then I start the music.

I hold my sword in two-hands with the point resiting on the ground. I begin with visualizing myself walking through an old pine forest. A place near Petosky, MI, off Little Traverese Bay that speaks to me spiritually. I have people walking with me. People I have known in my life, friends, mentors, even people I have disliked. People both alive and dead. The roster switches up, but three are always the same, my wife, recently my created muse, and the third… is complicated.

We arrive at the beach. There’s a small campfire burning there. My muse takes a sitting position by the fire. I look out over the crashing waves of the lake, it’s twilight, I can still see the last rays of the sun, but a magnificent canopy of stars has appeared. Amongst the stars, a green aurora borealis glows in the sky reaching from the lake, all the way to Joshua Tree National Park, another spot with mystic connotations for me. I can see this, because I am both at the lake and in the desert at the same time.

The music begins it’s second movement, a series of pure tones. I reach both hands up towards the ceiling, sword in my right hand. I visualize a column of light coming down from the sky. When the light reaches me, it starts opening up my chakras, making points on my body glow in different colors. I bring the sword in, holding it in both hands over my head. I say the words, “I call into me the light of the universe.” I then vibrate (good advice for how to vibrate can be found here) the word “Keter”. I am not a huge fan of kabbalah but I do find some of it’s terminology useful. In this case it best describes the place right at the top of my head where I feel the emanations entering me. I visualize my head glowing a bright blue as I vibrate.

I move the sword down so I am now holding it in front of me, chest level, point up. I say, “Through me,” and vibrate the word, “Tiphareth.” As I do, a purple light emanates form my heart chakra and I feel warmth and love.

Then I sweep the sword downward in one hand, saying, “…And into,” then vibrating the word, “Malkuth.” With Malkuth I visualize a mix of gold and silver light coming up from the ground, purifying the world. Then I say, “The Kingdom.”

After that I turn in place, the sword out before me, visualizing a silver glowing light creating a circle on the floor. During ritual, my muse sits on a black circle pad. I make sure my circle of light includes this. More on that later. After, I lift the sword up in front of me, two hands, chest level, and spin the sword creating a silver circle in the air. This is my initial barrier.

I once again lift both hands towards the ceiling. I vibrate my motto, “Quero Regnum.” The column of light coming down from the sky is still there. It lifts me up, out of the earth, past the moon, and out into deep space. I am floating there in this light, my chakras still glowing in random patterns all over me. I draw the sword into my chest again. I can see my breath, a mixture of cold mist and silver light.

When the rhythm part of the music begins, I take the sword in both hands. I am facing east, and I trace a circle in sliver-yellow flames, make a pentagram in it, and evoke the power of the elements by intoning, “Air.” Then I take the sword, one hand on the hilt, the other half way up the blade and I push out in front of me. A strong wind buffets me as I cause the pentagram to form a bowl shape. I then intone the modern element, “Space.”

I turn to the south. I make a pentagram in silver-red flames and intone, “Fire.” Once again I grip the sword by hilt and blade and push. As I do, a wall of fire tries to engulf me as I shape the pentagram. After, I intone, “Forces.”

I turn to the west, form the pentagram in black-silver light. As I inscribe the pentagram, I imagine it being engraved on stone, and I intone, “Earth.” As I push this one out, I see that wall of stone crack and bow. Before turning North I intone, “Matter.”

Last, I make a pentagram of silver-blue flame and intone, “Water.” As I push at it with my sword, a wave of water tries to wash over me. When finished, I intone, “Time.”

I am now facing east again. I plant the point of the sword into the ground in front of me. I raise up my left hand from the floor to about waist height. I intone, “Before me, Loki.” I envision him rising up, at first looking like a statue, but then taking on color and movement, his roguish smile and flaming red hair. I make a fist with my hand and move it across my chest to my right shoulder. I intone, “To the right of me, Micheal.” The arch-angel Micheal rises up as a statue until he unfurls his wings and brandishes his flaming sword. I flatten out my hand and raise it up beside my head over my left shoulder. I intone, “Behind me, Athena.” She rises up, and then hoists her spear into a throwing position and defends herself with her shield. Then I point to the ground on my left. “To the left of me, Thoth.” He rises up, and then takes his pen in hand and begins writing on his scroll the secrets of magick.

All the while, the pentagram domes close in on me, swirling and flashing, creating a solid sphere of silver light. Just before they close, my muse jumps up and grabs me around the waist. I think she’s slightly afraid of the ritual, thinking it might banish her. The first time after creating her that I performed my banishing ritual, when she came up and hugged me she whispered, “I love you”  Yeah, that’s a freaky moment when the entity you created first says they love you.

As the music swells the light fills me, becomes intensely bright. I visualize it burning away all my impurities. I try to reach a state of no-mind during this. Then, as the music fades there’s one last pulsing sound, and with this sound I imagine the light flowing away in waves.

Like I said, complicated, but not really once you get used to it. Please feel free to ask any more questions.

My advice to you is just fucking do it. Mine has evolved and changed over time. I started out doing it in my bedroom with an old knife in complete silence with just visualizations. Yours will develop over time too. Don’t worry about finding the right tool. You can use a finger or a stick if that’s all you have. Don’t worry about finding the right words or guardians. Just do it, keep doing it until it feels right.

If you need more motivation, here’s Grant Morrison telling you the same thing. Magick is a positive feed-back loop. Once you do magick and see that it works, you’ll want to do more magick, and keep doing it. You just need to get off your ass and do it.

10/05

I switched up my music today, going back to Coil’s How To Destroy Angels. I concentrated simply on breathing, which brought me into a completely relaxed state. Then I discovered another problem. I’ve always been a drooler, when I’m asleep anyway. While I did not fall asleep, I did relax enough to produce excess saliva. Anyone know a good remedy for that?

I think one of the main reasons I’ve felt discontented with my magick lately is that I haven’t done any major workings since creating my muse. I did buy an area carpet today for my temple, upon which I will inscribe a permanent circle. I think dedicating a new tool will get me out of my mystical doldrums.

Word of warning, never ask a magus question unless you’re ready for a long ass answer. It’s a good question, worth some time explaining.

I use a banishing ritual loosely based on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP), which is a standard in Western ritual magick. It’s used by the Rosicrucians, the Golden Dawn, and the OTO. Someone may try to convince you that it has ancient roots, but by my best guess it was used no sooner than the 19th century. You can find some good descriptions of it here, here, and here.

This is a story I tell my students often. It took me a long time to get off my ass and start using a banishing ritual. Many occultist recommend doing it every day. And by banishing ritual I mean something to clear yourself of negative influences and purify yourself, not something to exorcise specific entities. While you could use the LBRP for that I would design something suited for that particular task.

I refused to use the standard LBRP because very few resources will actually tell you what the words you are intoning means. I believe it’s vitally important for a magus to know what they are saying. When I finally did find out I discovered that one of the ancient Hebrew names for God it uses is “Adonai” translated means “My Lord”. You can make all the arguments you want, but I know that word was used to personify God as a Lord, a medieval potentate that must be served. I’ve never seen God that way. see Knowledge

Then I discovered Peter J. Carroll, and chaos magick, and finally came to the conclusion that I can use the basic form of the LBRP, but make it my own. I think it’s worth using his description of what a banishing ritual should entail.

“A well-constructed banishing ritual has the following effects. It prepares the magician more rapidly for magical concentration than any of the trance exercises alone. It enables the magician to resist obsession if problems are encountered with dream experiences or with sigils becoming conscious. It also protects the magician from any hostile occult influences which may assail him.

To develop a banishing ritual, first acquire a magical weapon — a sword, a dagger, a wand, or perhaps a large ring. The instrument should be something which is impressive to the mind and should also represent the aspirations of the magician. The advantages of hand forging one’s own instruments, or discovering them in some strange way, cannot be over-emphasized. The banishing ritual should contain the following elements as a minimum.

First, the magician describes a barrier about himself with the magical weapon. The barrier is also strongly visualized. Three dimensional figures are preferable.

Second, the magician focuses his will on a visualized image: for example, the image of the magical weapon, or his own imaginary third eye, or perhaps a ball of light inside his own

Different forms of three-dimensional barriers that the magician can create using the magical weapon. A sound concentration may additionally or alternatively be used.

Third, the barrier is reinforced with power symbols drawn with the magical weapon. The traditional five-pointed star or pentagram can be used, or the eight-pointed star of Chaos, or any other form. Words of power may also be used.

Fourth, the magician aspires to the infinite void by a brief but determined effort to stop thinking.”

So that’s it in a nutshell. I do recommend performing one everyday if you want to seriously practice magick in the Western tradition. I also believe you should come up with your own ritual based on these guidelines. I would be happy to describe mine in specifics if you want to use it generate ideas.

Behind every great invention Apple has made is an army of intelligent and creative people who made it possible. Steve Jobs was only one small part of the equation. I hope for solace for his loved ones and that goes peacefully into the afterlife. But he was just one man. A face put on the work of thousands.

Posted from my iPhone.