In my last post, I said something that should have given you
pause. When describing spirits of the dead, I said, “They can even be exploited
if a magus is so inclined. If they can’t learn to chill even after they’re
dead, fuck ‘em.”
No one told you that being a magus makes you a nice person,
right? There are reasons why necromancy is reviled by many cultures. Most of
those reasons are bullshit based on fear and control. But being a necromancer
does sometimes mean blurring some lines. If you as a magus decide you may need
a weapon at your disposal, even just for self-defense… well weapons come at a
price. A weapon is not an innocent thing, despite what the NRA wants you to
believe. A weapon always requires you to compromise your innocence. A weapon
symbolizes you are willing to do harm. A spiritual weapon can be a costly thing
indeed.
The most powerful weapon in my spiritual arsenal? Without a
doubt – Deadwater. What is Deadwater you ask? Lucky for you folks I know the
leading expert. The number one source. I turn you over to the words of my beloved
brother, Frater Yaramarud, the man who provided me with this amazing substance.
“My first encounter with Deadwater came nearly a decade ago.
At the time, I saw it purely as a novelty and not something with the nearly
boundless potential that I know today. Traveling down the road with my good
friend Frater Dreadnaught, and an ex-partner of mine, the three of us had made
a late night decision to stop at the next cemetery we found in order to waste
time in a way that people in their early twenties are wont to do. When we
finally found one and had parked the car, a light in the center of the cemetery
had drawn our attention to a pump well gently illuminated beneath it. My
initial thought was one of curiosity and bewilderment. What reason could there
possibly be for there to be a well here? With this question unanswered, it
dawned on me that the corpses surrounding us had, beyond any doubt, decayed and
seeped into the table from which this well drew.
“All you can really do is be kind to your loved-ones and be kind to your friends. That is what truly changes the world. The legacy of those acts of kindness.
Of course, you must oppose tyranny and hate. But that is the work. That is your job. Do a good job and put the work in, but when the work day is done, forget about it.
Think instead on perpetrating those acts of kindness. Think about spreading joy.
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.
@mikaelthearchangel It’s been a while since I have gotten this question, I used to get people asking all the time. I am always happy to oblige, but it’s a bit difficult to go into using the tumblr reply function, so I decided to do it as a separate post.
First, I absolutely, 100% recommend The Red Goddess by Peter Grey. It is the best complete source on the Red Goddess.
As far as my own personal take. The short form can be found on my original Scroll of Thoth Blog.
There is also the much lengthier Babalon Current in Modern Magick, which you can listen to as a podcast. Or download the text version here.
Also, a search for Babalon (not Babylon) will bring up innumerable sources.
Sorry to just give you a bunch of links. I will probably write more about her someday. But there has been so much ink spilled on Her, that I would really have to come up with some new perspectives.
The working theory of Emergent Animism breaks down spirits
into three general types. The type of spirit helps determine the general
approach and method of communicating with any particular spirit.
The three types are:
spirits of the dead, spirits of place, and alien spirits.
Spirits of the dead are spirits of dead human beings.
Spirits of animals and other entities that once had physical form can also be
included in this classification but may also be considered alien spirits
depending on how closely they still relate to the concerns of the physical
world. Dead humans may also transcend this category if the spirit becomes
something that personifies archetypal quality or has major concerns beyond this
plane of existence.
Spirits of the dead are by far the easiest spirits to
communicate with as they still have some working knowledge of physical form. Depending
upon their ability in life and how often they interact with the physical world
will determine how easily they communicate. Many maintain language skills and
an understanding of human symbolism.
The most useful spirit of this type a magus can interact
with will usually be ancestors. “Blood calls to blood,” is an axiom
almost universal in magical systems. There need be no reason why spirits would
suddenly lose the desire to procreate. By this I mean the drive to continue
ones imprint upon the world, be that genetically or spirituality. Your
ancestors want to live on and can only do this by effecting the physical plane.
They have a vested interest in the welfare of their descendants. Even an
ancestor who did nothing but spit venom at their family when they were alive
can quickly change their tune when they realize their descendants are the only
game in town. Okay, not the only game, but certainly the path of least
resistance. There persists plenty of stories featuring vengeful and angry
spirits. Some people never learn even when faced with the ultimate teacher. But
these spirits can be easily avoided by a competent magus. They can even be
exploited if a magus is so inclined. If they can’t learn to chill even after
they’re dead, fuck ‘em.
