‘caliban, behind me and to the left.’ -.sjb.

heksenhaus:

an angelic countenance

whole

in a broken

mirror.

cast aside for six pieces of copper

and a fucking ride across town.

cold,

wet,

endlessly deep

understand that we sink past reason

o’ caliban, why?

o’ caliban, where?

take me

and take

us all

perception of depth is not the same as depth

and he’ll explode inside me like the sun.

.

.

-.sjb.

A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be shamanism = technique of ecstasy.

Mircea Eliade, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy

I will always highly recommend this book, but will make a small point of clarification. I do believe that “ecstasy” may be the wrong word, and maybe this can be chalked up to English not being Professor Eliade’s first language. Because in a modern sense, ecstasy has connotations of pleasure which is not always the case. Many of these techniques involve discomfort and outright pain. From an Asian perspective the word ecstasy may have some validity in that from a certain Taoist  point of view, all experiences can be judged pleasurable in the mind of the participant. But I think what comes closest is the chaos magick definition of “gnosis.” Which is, of course, a borrowed word itself and not entirely synonymous with the original meaning of the word. So English really doesn’t have a good term for what is being described, which in a general sense encompasses all altered states of consciousness.

holy-mountaineering:

There is a marked difference between funny/snarky but above all instructive giving of information (specifically in the “occult community”) that happens on tumblr versus the holier than thou one-upmanship bullshit and trying to make your peers look stupid because you don’t have fuck-all going on in your life that happens on this site.

I apologize for my part in creating this atmosphere by not explaining my motivations more clearly and being blasé about calling out people for a variety of things.

I can’t think of a single thing I’ve said that I regret or a single person who I’ve called out in error, but I could have done those things in a perhaps more constructive way.

I am also guilty. There are some great magicians here I have been pissy with and I regret it.

Embracing Christian Spirits As A Witch

Embracing Christian Spirits As A Witch

rumpusgoat:

This is an interesting article I came across, offering a different perspective – someone coming from witchcraft and incorporating other elements in time. I explored and am exploring traditional witchcraft after working in ceremonial and hermetic practices first. Love seeing good discussion on these topics! 

Agreeing with the article, working with spirits in a cosmology does not necessitate belief in the exoteric religion of the cosmology. As is noted here, Saints usually are older than the Christian religion that stole them away- its an interface to that spirit, one of the benevolent dead that was able to a cohesive entity after death and who has been working with the living for potentially thousands of years.  Also, when working with spirits, in this case celestial and infernal, use the tool set and tech most applicable to the work. Find ways of communicating to ancestors in ceremonial language they understand.  See what comes with communication. If a practice is not to your liking, do not engage again but always respect the spirits involved. You can banish, admonish and dismiss them, yet be respectful. 

There are a few authors I would recommend to read if curious about medieval witchcraft and how it intersects at times with esoteric Christian belief and local pagan practices to evolve into the something new – sometimes by tradition and sometimes for survival.  From these anthropological books, we get access to primary text exploring these beliefs. Yes, they are colored from the bias of the writers, in this case Vatican Italian Inquisitors, but they do not harm these witches, usually only tell them to not accept payment for the work – something I found fascinating and totally divergent from what happened in Spain and later in the Americas. To learn more about the

Benandanti

, the Malandanti

, agrarian witchcraft cults of the alps, why the local goddesses were over written (terrible thing to lose to male priest writers) and just referred to “Diana”, being born with the Caul, souls leaving the body to fight demons for the crops on the ember days, astral warfare for the fate of crops by “good” witches and “bad” witches check out the following( all have reliable english translation when needed):


The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries  – Carlo Ginzberg (Italian)


Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath  – Carlo Ginzberg (Italian) 


Between the Living and the Dead: A Perspective on Witches and Seers in the Early Modern Age – 
Éva Pócs (Hungarian)


The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic – Thomas Hastis (American, expands on Ginzberg’s work in depth with more modern understanding of the practice)

This was a hard lesson for me but I eventually came to terms with it. Helps that I have a cousin who is a saint.