In case you missed my post earlier, I have been a huge Nine Inch Nails fan for over twenty years, but I have never seen them live. I now have a chance to see them in Chicago, and tickets go on sale on May 19th. If I can afford them.
So I am running a special on full, three-card readings for $9 dollars.
For a three-card reading I set up an altar properly banished and blessed. Working with spirits well known to me, I pull three cards and divine their personal meaning for you. You can ask a specific question, or just ask for a general reading.
You may choose from one of the following decks for your reading:
The Light Visions Tarot (a deck I received for my birthday with fantastic art)
The Shadowrun Tarot by Echo Chernix (because I’m a geek that loves Echo Chernix, that’s one of her pieces I am currently using as a backdrop for my tarot altar)
At the end, I pull a Portals of Chaos card to find an entity that can help you with any tasks or obstacles described by the cards.
Please reblog if you think your followers would be interested.
Join the discussion on Emergent Magick at our Facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/emergentmagick/
“
EMK focuses less on results and more on personal
development and harmonious group dynamics. It intends to reintroduce the world
to tribalism in a modern, accepting context. It allows people from disparate
beliefs to come together and form cohesive, loving, personal connections
through group ritual practice. It eschews the masonic grade system for group
consensus and decentralized leadership. It also reintroduces the use of
psychedelics in a shamanic context to bring back the initiatory experience
lacking in materialist societies.”
EMK accepts all forms of magick
as valid. Each individual has their own preconception of what magick entails.
Say the word magick and one person may think of a long-bearded wizard studying
ancient books and waving a wand. Another might envision a Vodoun practitioner
drinking rum and dancing in a graveyard. Still others picture an alchemist
mixing potions or a witch flying on a broom stick. Each of these perceptions
are valid, and only serve as a testimony to the influence of culture on magical
practice and the limitless nature of the art form itself. Just like some
graphic artists work in oil paint and others with water color. Some musicians
pursue classical music, others are drawn to folk. No one form is better than
the other. A good magician learns and is influenced by the many forms of
magick, but we still can’t tell you the right one for you.
Another analogy would be
that Emergent Magick sees belief as a temple. The temple can be redecorated. It
can renovated and added to, but remains the same at its core. As a magus learns
more about the nature of the universe through magick, their temple reflects
this. Look at the temples of any religion or magical organization and you will
find that they reflect the beliefs of their followers. In many cases they form
a symbolic microcosm of that organization’s paradigm. A prime example would be
the temples created by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The black and
white checkered floors and black and white pillars represent a belief system based
on a struggle between and union of opposites. It shows a literal interpretation
of the hermetic belief, “As above, so below.” As the magicians of that order
see the universe they try to recreate in their temple. Many gothic cathedrals
were designed in the shape of a cross. The ultimate symbol of the faith. Even
modern Catholic churches have, in their stained glass windows or by carvings or
pictures, the Stations of the Cross, symbolic representations of the story of
the crucifixion.
The strength of a temple
comes from its foundation. While the core philosophy of EMK is magick informed
by magick, a magus needs to start somewhere. Magick is the art of altering
consciousness. But the “art” in that statement contains all of the traditional
and nontraditional symbols and beliefs used by the magus to alter that
consciousness. It can be as simple as believing that the world contains spirits
that can be contacted and invoked. From there the magus develops methods to
contact those spirits and learns from them the other ways of manipulating
consciousness and the nature of the universal consciousness itself.
Building a temple of
belief takes time and careful consideration. There can be many false starts. A
magus may find that their core belief takes them nowhere. In the above example,
perhaps the magus spends a few years summoning spirits but never develops
meaningful communication with them. Perhaps the spirits only teach the magus a
few useful magical tricks but they have no better knowledge of the nature of the
universe than the magus themselves. In that case, a magus may choose to tear
down the foundation of their temple of belief and start over. This should never
be undertaken lightly, less the magus becomes a simple chaos magician, and
never explores a paradigm unto fruition.
Finding the right place to
build your temple of belief takes time and serious exploration. A magus may
take years learning about magical paradigms until they find one suitable to
build upon. There’s nothing wrong with taking an existing and proven magical
paradigm and building off of that. The Order of Emergent Magi finds ancestor
veneration, the oldest magical paradigm, a good place to start. A good
foundation may ultimately contain parts of several belief systems. Received
wisdom, which comes to a magus through visions, dreams, or other random
transmissions also make good starting points. The OEM uses the Gutter Bible, a found artifact, as a
cipher for magical ritual.
A good foundation must
contain mystery. All should not be plain from the beginning. The belief system
should contain elements that are indecipherable unless approached in an altered
state of consciousness. Beware of closed systems, like Kabbalah, which purports
to contain every aspect of the universe in a convenient package of ten
sephiroth. This can limit a magus, as they will undoubtedly find aspects of the
universe that don’t fit within the system.
Remember, however, you are
only choosing a foundation. The most important part of EMK is what you learn
while doing the magick itself. Those become the treasures of your temple. A
magus considers carefully before ever discarding one.
DMT, short for N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, comes in many forms and methods
of consumption. DMT occurs naturally in many organisms, both plant and animal,
including human beings. A rise in the popularity of Ayahuasca, a traditional
brew made by shaman in indigenous tribes of South America, has raised awareness
of DMT. Ayahuasca has many side effects and requires an experienced shaman to
create the brew and guide the experience. We recommend you defer to them when
seeking out that particular form of DMT. We will focus on another form of DMT,
with much shorter and intense effects. 5-MeO-DMT can be extracted from specific
plants and even from the venom of certain frogs. While there is some
traditional practices that use 5-MeO-DMT, in most countries it comes in the
form of crystals, or sometimes a resin, that the user vaporizes and inhales.
Of all the psychedelics listed here, DMT has had the least research.
Most of what we know comes from the users themselves. People have reported
nausea, heart palpitations, rise in body temperature, and other minor symptoms.
Most doctors agree it is virtually impossible to overdose on DMT. No fatalities
from DMT have been recorded. Some claim that DMT can be used to help with
depression and fight addiction, but clinical evidence is sorely lacking.
Inhaled DMT will most likely be the most powerful hallucinogen a magus
will ever experience. In the largest doses that can be consumed at once, DMT
only lasts five to fifteen minutes. During that time, you will not have the
presence of mind to consume any more. In fact, DMT is not a good-time, party
drug. It does nothing to benefit the social experience. Feelings of euphoria
come only after the drug subsides, some of it coming from the sheer joy of
surviving the experience. A sufficient dose of DMT will obliterate all sense of
self. The user loses all senses, and is overwhelmed by visions of undulating
geometric shapes, intense colors, and sound. During a DMT trip, the most you
will do is lie there and take it. A few claim to have communication with alien
entities when on DMT, but the communication is difficult to put into words.
Some say that taking DMT is the closest thing to experiencing death, as the
visions overtake all other mental processes for the short time they last,
leaving the user totally without function. If this sounds frightening, it
should and it is. But few experiences will work so well to convince a magus
that everything they perceive is pure illusion. One hit of DMT is an initiatory
experience all its own. You will walk away changed.
By far, the most widely used psychedelic is THC in the form of
cannabis. Studies estimate between 200 and 250 million cannabis users
worldwide. The rising popularity and relaxation of cannabis laws has led to
some viable research and a plethora of methods of consumption. Cannabis and its
derivatives can now be smoked, eaten, and used as a topical application. It
comes in the form of dried flower, oil, resin, and extracts. The form of
consumption, concentration of active ingredients, and amount consumed are the variables
that most influence its effects. Detailing the different ways to consume
cannabis would take volumes. In general, cannabis inhaled has a more intense
and shorter effect, while cannabis ingested lasts longer and creates more of a
“whole-body” feel.
Cannabis is a proven treatment for epilepsy, and other chronic
diseases that produce essential tremors, such as Parkinson’s Disease. Cannabis
has long been used to treat glaucoma, and used as an appetite stimulant and
digestive aid. It can be particularly effective for those undergoing treatment
for cancer who have lost appetite due to side effects of that treatment. It
also makes an effective and non-addictive alternative for pain management. Many
recent studies report that cannabis has the ability to shrink cancer cells,
though more research needs to be performed to verify its usefulness and effective
dosage. Once again, whole volumes can be devoted to the medical uses of
cannabis.
In the context of Emergent Magick, cannabis has many uses. In most
people cannabis reduces social anxiety. A shared cannabis experience can be
used to strengthen tribal bonds and facilitate more open exchanges. Its pain
easing effects also help when performing ritual, allowing participants to
engage energetically for longer periods of time. Cannabis has mild psychedelic properties,
which makes it useful for maintaining cognitive function while still enjoying
its effects. This is not to say that individuals on cannabis have full use of
mental faculties. It can suppress short-term memory and judgement. If your
ritual work requires safety precautions, such as building and tending a large
fire, cannabis should not be consumed.
Cannabis produces almost imperceptible hallucinations, mostly sensitivity to light, noise, and a loss of the ability to sense time. Its usefulness
from a purely magical perspective comes from its tendency to remove the users
from context when exploring art. A cannabis user more easily perceives music,
color, and dimension, without over intellectualizing the experience. It makes
the user able to feel raw emotional experience from a given art form, stripping
away mental barriers that block holistic enjoyment. Since magick is an art, the
user may find themselves able to fully accept a magical experience and remove
their ego from the event.
One class of drugs has proven to be particularly useful in producing
the shifts in consciousness needed for doing magick. Psychedelics work by
radically changing our perceptions, causing states of heightened emotions,
heightened senses, hallucinations, and changes in neuro pathways. The most
commonly consumed psychedelics are: psilocybin, THC, LSD, MDMA, and DMT, all of
which are currently illegal in most countries and (many would argue without
merit) classified as Schedule I in the US—of no clinical value and has high
rates of abuse. As with many other drugs, this classification stems more from lack
of cultural familiarity and as a means for systemic persecution of those who
commonly use them.
This classification has led to a lack of serious medical research into
their properties for over fifty years. It has only been in the past twenty
years that research, closely scrutinized by the government, has seen the light
of day. The majority of these studies have found these substances useful in
fighting depression, ease and comfort for terminally ill patients, facilitating
emotional bonds in family therapy, and ironically, treating addiction. It is
important to note:
No credible study of any of
these substances has found any negative short-term health effects when taken by
adults in recommended doses. No data exists on the effects of chronic,
long-term use. None of these substances have been found to be physically
addictive.
This should not delude anyone into believing these substances do no
harm. They can be abused just like any other coping mechanism, such as over
eating or watching too much TV. By far the largest contributing factor in their
potential to do harm comes from them being illegal. Black market substances
have no quality control. They can vary wildly in potency and purity. It makes
it much easier for them to be adulterated, as no authority exists to punish the
manufacturer without punishing the victim. Depending on your locale, possession
can be punishable by loss of employment, fines, long prison sentences, and in
some places execution. May the spirits protect ye brave psychonauts.
Each of these substances have different properties and different uses
in a magical context. We will also touch on some of the social and physical
uses for them as well, as they can be just as important for an individual
magus. While we endeavor to describe the mental experience of each drug, keep
in mind that it can differ radically from person to person, depends heavily on
dosage, and oftentimes cannot be described in words. We recommend that each
individual research for themselves possible interactions, proper dosage, and
proper consumption, and to always err on the side of caution.
Haven’t posted this in a while.
If you have any interest in witchcraft, you really should listen to this.
And it’s one of the major influences on Emergent Magick.
We constantly tell people in Emergent Magick that you should be practicing with a group. Yet there are so few good examples of group ritual out there. So I thought I would share this.
Incantor – The Incantor holds a book,
wears black robes, and will be given a crown
Anointers – Carrying bowls of Abramelin
Oil, and crowns
Elements – Wear color coordinated
clothes if possible (shades of blue for water, shades of red for fire, shades
of yellow & white for air, shades of brown and black for earth.) Wearing
colored bandanas and carrying instruments (drum for earth, strings for water, brass
for fire, wind instrument for air)
Gods – Naked with a blanket or sheet to
hide under
The Mighty Dead – Wearing skull masks
and carrying rattles
Drummers – (Zey and Toast)
Preparation
Hang four
posters with AŌTH ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ on each wall. Hang the poster
with the Orion constellation on the ceiling. Pass out all props and a black
card and markers to the participants.
Background
(Have every participant inscribe their black card with “AŌTH
ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK” as the Incantor explains the background.)
There are several theories on how magick works, from it
being a purely psychological construct, to manipulating natural energies. We
call these models of magick. Most see magick as a combination of these principles.
One of the oldest is the spirit model. It is the belief that
a magician contacts the spirits—be they ghosts, gods, or spirits of animals or
objects—in order to effect things physically and metaphysically. This is the
basis for the oldest religion, animism. Which is still practiced by
hunter-gatherer societies today.
The image of the shaman or magician being headless comes
from prehistory. One of the oldest megalithic structures that pre-dates
civilization, Göbekli Tepe, shows numerous headless figures wearing ceremonial
belts. It is the idea that the magician has their head in the spirit world. Numerous
ancient burials have been discovered with the head separated from the body, and
the imagery cuts across times and cultures. It symbolizes the journey all
shaman take to learn how to communicate with the spirits and to speak for the
tribe.
We are about to perform a version of a ritual called the
Headless Rite. It is one of the oldest magical rituals ever recorded, believed
to be Egyptian in origin, and first written of in a series of documents
referred to as the Greek Magical Papyri that date from 200 BCE to 500 AD. The
purpose of the Headless Rite is to send an invitation to the spirits letting
them know you are open for dialogue. The words AŌTH ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH
IAŌ have no direct translation. They are a magical cipher. The name of the
Headless One who acts as an intermediary with the spirit world. The cards you
are creating become a talisman to carry with you, a sort of spirit calling
card. Many who have performed this ritual report strange events and dreams
about dogs. The dog being the animal spirit that guards the underworld.
So this is real old school, and originally written for a
single participant. I have done my best to orient this to a group ritual, but
it still has some old school elements—like a single person reciting most of the
lines. But I have written in many roles and activities for the ritual that I
hope make it more interesting.
Let’s blow our heads off!
ABCs
We will start with a quick ancient Egyptian banishing. Then
the drummers will start a slow beat. Everyone will be anointed with Abramelin
Oil. Abramelin Oil is another very old school magical tool, a scented anointing
oil used since Ancient Egypt. Everyone will also be given a crown to make them
one of the rulers of the heavens and earth. Those in the outer circle will
start dancing clockwise, chanting ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ. The inner
circle will be the Mighty Dead (representing our ancestors), the Elements
(representing the rulers of all spirits of objects and place), and the gods
(the spirits of the outer world). The Incantor will recite the incantation, and
summon the spirits. They will start dancing counter-clockwise when called. Once
the spirits are called, participants will start entering the circle and
approach any one of the spirits. The spirit will lift their crown off,
symbolizing taking off their head. Headless participants will then start
dancing counterclockwise until we have a big mosh pit. The ritual ends as the
drummers climax and everyone cheers.
Banishing/Invocation
The spirits should mentally invoke any representation of the
type of being they are portraying. Everyone else shouts the words SET-WA SET-WA
SEM YEOW (away, away all travelling spirits in Coptic Egyptian), then cups
their hands to their mouths and blows air, visualizing that breath as a force
blowing away all negativity.
Anointing
The gods and the anointers approach the Incantor. The
anointers are carrying the Abramelin Oil and the crowns. The Goddess anoints
the Incantor’s forehead. The God places a crown on the Incator’s head. They
both say, “I make thee a ruler of the Earth, the spirits, and the
heavens.” The gods then go under
blankets until they are called. The elements stand in place until they are
called. The Mighty Dead sit on the floor until they are called.
The Incantor turns to one of the anointers, anoints them
with oil, gives them a crown, and says, “By the power of the Gods I make thee a
ruler of the Earth, the spirits, and the heavens.” The one he anoints repeats
the process with the second. Then both anointers bless each participant (but
not the spirits) in the same way until all have been anointed and crowned. The
anointers then join the outer circle.
The Calling of the
Headless One
The drum beat picks up to a medium tempo. The participants
start to dance and chant ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ.
The Incantor speaks:
“Subject to me all daimons, so that every daimon, whether
heavenly or aerial or earthly or subterranean or terrestrial or aquatic, might
be obedient to me and every enchantment and scourge which is from God.
I summon you, Headless One, who created earth and heaven,
who created night and day, you who created the Light and the Darkness; you are
Osonnophris whom none has ever seen; you are Iabas; you are Iapos; you have
distinguished the just from the unjust; you have made female and male; you have
revealed seed and fruits; you have made men love each other and hate each
other.
I am Threskiornis your prophet to whom you have transmitted
your mysteries celebrated by Avinsthr’l; you have revealed the moist and the
dry and all nourishment; hear me.
I am the messenger of Pharoah Osoronnophris; this is your
true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Avinsthr’l.
Hear me,
I call the spirits of the four elements. (The elements start
dancing counter-clockwise. They at times shout and wave their arms at
participants in the outer circle and play their instruments.)
ARBATHIAŌ REIBET ATHELEBERSĒTH ARA BLATHA ALBEU EBENPHCHI
CHITASGOĒ IBAŌTH IAŌ;
I call upon you, awesome and invisible god with an empty
spirit, AROGOGOROBRAŌ SOCHOU MODORIŌ PHALARCHAŌ OOO.
Holy Headless One, deliver me from the daimon that restrains
me,
ROUBRIAŌ MARI ŌDAM BAABNABAŌTH ASS ADŌNAI APHNIAŌ ITHŌLETH
ABRASAX AĒŌŌY;
Mighty Headless One, deliver me from the daimon which
restrains me. MABARRAIŌ IOĒL KOTHA ATHORĒBALŌ ABRAŌTH,
Deliver me,
I call the Mighty Dead! (The Mighty Dead start dancing
counter-clockwise. They at times lunge and wave their arms at participants in the
outer circle and play their rattles.)
AŌTH ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ.
He is the Lord of the Gods; he is the Lord of the Inhabited
World; he is the one whom the winds fear; he is the one who made all things by
command of his voice.
Lord, King, Master, Helper, save the soul,
I call the Gods Themselves! (The Gods start dancing
counter-clockwise. They can interact with the outer dancers as they are
compelled.)
We become the Headless Daimon with sight in his feet; We
become the mighty one who possesses the immortal fire; We are the truth who
hates the fact that unjust deeds are done in the world; We are the one who
makes the lightning flash and the thunder roll; We are the one whose sweat
falls upon the earth as rain so that it can inseminate it; We are the one whose
mouth burns completely; We are the one who begets and destroys; We become the
Favor of the Aion; our name is a Heart Encircled by a Serpent; Come Forth and
Follow.
The Incantor approaches one of the gods and they remove his
crown. The Incantor then starts beckoning the participants to enter the circle.
The participant can approach any spirit and that spirit will remove their
crown. After their crown is removed the participant continues chanting but
dances counter-clockwise.
After all crowns are removed the drummers crescendo. When
the drumming stops, everyone shouts to Orion.
You can practice whatever you want. You can practice any way you want. But from my perspective, you cannot divorce the Devil from witchcraft. The Sabbat exists to call the Devil. A witch is someone outside of society. The Adversary. They are against the power that holds sway. They are against the social norms that hold people back. They are against the control of the priests and the rich. To be a witch is to be the other, the scapegoat, the enemy. And no being in the universe serves that role better than the Devil.
If you exist culturally in the West then the Devil has always been with you. You can’t escape him. He is in your blood and your bones, and he was known to your ancestors for generations. He was not always the Faustian boogyman, though he’ll play that role too. He was the one who had dominion over the Earth and if you needed something done here, calling on Jehovah and his angelic mafia would get you no joy.
Pray to God if you like in the bright light of day. Call to your “higher” self and beg. But under the stars, next to the fire, dancing in the moonlight, that’s not God dancing with you.
I ain’t afraid of the Devil no more. The Devil is a friend of mine.
Babalon Rising, the best idea you will have all year. http://www.babalonrising.com/
Babalon Rising 2018
June 7-10, 2018 Theme: Beth/Magus
Ages 21+ ONLY!
The Babalon Rising Festival is a place for occultists of all kinds to come together to discuss and perform magick and ritual, and to live the law of Thelema in a clothing-optional, primitive camping environment. Babalon Rising encourages self-exploration, spontaneous ritual, and lively magick.
