Lodge vs Grimoiric Occultism

There are two main different branches of occultism found within western occulture. On one hand you have the lodge-system which is quasi-masonic and almost as a rule uses the qabbala as a spiritual map. Then you have  grimoiric-system which tends to use a neoplatonic/goetic spiritual map. Both have a different approach to the unseen world, and methods in which to accomplish their tasks.
I will try to divide each system into their two main functions, that being mysticism and magic as far as I understand them from my practice..

Within the lodge-system, you will find the mysticism of that branch of occulture within their initiatory structure. Here all tools held by the officers, including the roles of the officers, their respective movements on the floor, their spoken words or songs, divine names intoned, the colored vestments worn by their members, and incensing odors are all combined to impart a grand message onto the psyche of the initiate which will lend to spiritual growth and advancement. I know that many in the occult world will read "psyche" and think it is less real, primarily due to the renaissance going on currently in the grimoiric side of the western occulture whom are actively rejecting the modern idea of psychology with respect to magic. But to say that the symbolic totality of these ceremonies are less effective because they recognize the modern idea of psychology would be missing the point completely. Both systems and maps(Neoplatonic and Qabbalistic) involve the theory of emanation and in both maps, the mental realms precede that of the spirit and physical. So it is here that the long-magician is working, not with the spirits per se, but of the mental realms where symbols are things and the root of what will come about.
Like the approach to mysticism, the lodge-system can use the same concepts to produce practical magical results in their lives by ceremonial pulling ideas and symbols together at auspicious times and allowing those the manifest physically.

Opposite of the lodge-system, we find the grimoiric-system where magicians tend to focus their work on the spirit world instead of the mental realms.. While the tools used by the grimoiric magician still have symbolic value, the goal is merely to use the tools as a method to contact spirits and sustain the magician while in the process. The task of acquiring the tools, performing the consecrations, exorcisms in order to contact a spirit and then the gaining of knowledge in the process makes up the mystical aspect of this system.  The practical magical is of course is accomplished when said spirit accomplish the tasks set out by the magician via threats, bribes of offerings, or contract.


There are of course some overlap. While the lodge-magician will use divine and angelic names as part of their symbolic language, some spirits no doubt might be attracted to and or work with said magician. These spirits may interact along with the magician on a mental level through visions, dreams, or auditory hallucinations which are very similar to some grimoiric-magician experiences.

There has been some discussion lately about political worldviews and occultism. I must say that I am increasingly annoyed with the predominant liberalism found in occult organizations; it has certainly become such a barrier for someone with more conservative views like mine own.  Most importantly, if your are into culturism like me you can forget about joining any occult organization; you just won't get very far. This is how one-sided the occult world is. So let me express mine openly.

Liberal occultist: We are all one people, one race.

Me: Well, perhaps at one time we were, but we have all diversified since then. Each racial group has a set of unique gifts and genetic evolutions that are specific to their culture and environment. You see when we were all in Africa we were photo-racial(non-racial), but as we departed and journey we entered different climates and encountered different experiences that shaped who we are as people, genetically, not just psychologically and technologically. This is evident in forensics where the investigator can guess the racial group of the skeletal remains, and also why one will have difficulty receiving bone marrow from other racial groups, or why cyclical anemia is almost exclusively found in african(non-white) population to protect against malaria. To deny the existence of races(genetic family groupings) is kind of misleading at best, and a lie at worst.

Liberal Occultist: Multiculturalism is about embracing and respecting the diversity of the world.
Me: Wrong. Multiculturalism destroys cultures and identity. It is admirable to want to embrace other cultures and learn about them, but true diversity means letting those cultures exist without interfering.  Here is what happens. Lets say you have Japan, full of Japanese people, and therefore Japanese culture. Now, lets say you start pouring in thousands of Nigerians. At first the Nigerians will participate in the greater Japanese culture because they have to, to work and to survive. But, once there are enough Nigerians in Japan to support a pocket Nigerian culture in Japan, they will no longer have to participate in Japan's culture. Now lets say that the Nigerians have a higher birth rate than the native Japanese. Now the Nigerians potentially present a threat to the existence of Japanese culture and the Japanese people; they will eventually cease to exist as a culture and a people. No. Multiculturalism is the opposite of diversity and respect. It destroys unique cultures by forcing other cultures in like a cancer to eat away at the previously sovereign and unique native culture.

Liberal Occultist: Opposing multiculturalism is racist.
Me: Well maybe. But don't you think all races have the right to exist on their own as unique expressions of God? Or do you think we have to thrust every race upon eachother  and encourage miscegenation until there is only one mediocre, boring single race of people? Where is the diversity in that? And don't you think that is a step backward in evolution, since that is how we started and we have evolved into diverse, unique racial groupings?

Liberal Occultist: You must hate non-whites
Me: Nope! Quite the contrary. I enjoy all racial groups as each have their own unique gifts and cultures with which the world is seen through. I just think they should all be allowed to flourish, and multiculturalism will not allow that to happen.



At this point conversation ends with the Liberal Occultist continuing to shout names and shutting doors. You see, liberals talk a big game about being tolerant, but somehow they end-up being some of the most intolerant people I ever meet. I only wish that there was a place for Culturism to also flourish in the Western Occult world.

Why?!

I'm not sure why so many occultist a are Far Left liberals, nor why they are self defeating any-white racists!

The Recent Struggle

A few years ago I dumped Qabalah for a couple of reasons.
The first reason was that I was going down a more grimoiric style of practice, and most of the grimoires are not qabalistic in nature.
The second reason is purely political, which I don't think this is a proper place to write about.

Anyhow.

As I moved forward in a more neoplatonic style and approach to magic, I began to really understand the writing of Agrippa's with much more clarity. The reason being is that many concepts that are hinted at in the grimoires and expounded upon in Agrippa's Occult Philosphy are not found in the qabalah. For Instance, the World Soul, and the Great Chain of Being are key neoplatonic concepts which are the bedrock of most grimoiric works.While Agrippa does mention the qabalah with certain aspects of angelology and numerations, it is certainly not a cabalistic text. And so I felt quite vindicated in my approach of dumping qabalah for neoplatonism.

Now fast forward a few years..

As I was steadily working my grimoiric work and studying neoplatonism via Iamblichus, Proclus and Agrippa I found myself realizing that the origins of Qabalah are neoplatonic. The Letter number associations had to come first from the Greeks. The Greeks were the ones known for number mysticism. The Greeks were also the first to come-up with emanations through the Neoplatonic schools; and as the Greeks once occupied what is now Israel, it is safe to assume that a lot of the concepts were absorbed by the local population. And by the medieval/renaissance era, the glyph was created.

So now the struggle…

Now that I can see some similarities between the two paradigms(Qabalah and Neoplatonism), I find myself in a struggle between the two. One one side, I find myself missing the lodge-style mysticism of the victorian period which is built around the qabalah such as the Golden Dawn. On the other hand, I find the ladder of spheres within neoplatonism a slightly better model when working with spirits.
Whats a magician to do??

Understanding Agrippa's Scale of Four.


Agrippa's scale of four is a simplified scheme of Great Chain of Being.
It starts off with Original World. This is the world the First Mover aka God.
It then moves into the Intellectual World. The Intellectual World is the world of Angelic beings.
Flowing from there we enter the Celestial World, the home of the celestial bodies which imparts the virtue upon the Elemental World below. Not all neoplatonists separate the celestial and intellectual worlds, but Agrippa does. Below the Elemental world comes the Infernal world, home of the evil and destructive demons(though that doesn't mean they can't be put to good use).

Now currently there is some discussion in the blogosphere about whether or not the demons are in a sense elemental spirits, as RO puts it here: http://headforred.blogspot.com/2013/04/demonic-agendas.html
But this theory does not fit in with Agrippa's scheme, the grimoires of the renaissance, nor the Elizabethan world view.

Let's go back to Agrippa's Scale of Four for illustration.

The argument that the demons/infernals must be elemental in nature because Agrippa lists "Four Princes of Devils, offensive in the elements", doesn't hold much water.
Because if you notice, (in Agrippa Book II, Scale of Four) you will see that the "Rulers of the Elements" also appear in the intellectual world. Does that mean that the angels of the intellectual world are elementals? Absolutely not.

Notice also that the Intellectual World and the Infernal World are opposite reflections of each other. For instance:
In the Intellectual world you first have the Four Angels ruling over the four corners of the world, then you have the Four Angelic rulers of the Elements.
In the Infernal World you have the four princes(which also means ruler) offensive in the elements, followed by the four princes ruling over the four angles of the world.
See how they are inverse reflections?

What that tells us is that the Demons/Infernals are not elementals any more than Angels are, only that the elements have roots in both directions from the elementary world, a world in which Agrippa refers to as where the law of generation and corruption is.

So the Elemental world being a middle ground between the Angelic and the Infernal makes much more sense for terrestrial being of mixed nature, the kind mentioned in the the Theurgia-Goetia of the Lemegeton.

Visualization, and the Traditional Art of Magic??

Now, I like to consider myself as being a more traditional magician rather than a "modern magician" as the latter usually comes along with some preconceived notions of Golden Dawn techniques and fringe-freemassonic styled occultism. Though there are some who are much more hard-core traditional than me, as I will never own a lion-skin belt any time soon. But, for the most part I would say I am traditional.

I like to create a dividing line in the history of magic by the use of Mesmer. So occult practices are usual either considered (by me of course) to be be pre-Mesmer or post-Mesmer.

The reason I do this is that it seems to me that Mesmer's Animal Magnetism was the starting theory that led to the modern use of "spiritual energy" (not to be confused with philosophical "energia") in the west. This then was carried onward by the Theosophists, to Lodge-occultists, to the new-age section of your bookstore.

Prior to Mesmer there was no concept of energy as a form of spiritual force like we hear about today in the occult field, but instead what we had were the concepts of Soul, Passions of the mind, and Phantasy. These concepts at times have similar results and actions.

According to Agrippa, the phantasies work upon the passions of the soul, and the soul of course works upon the body. And certainly when the phantasy works upon one's soul it could definitely produce effects called today as self-hypnontic states of hypnotic auto-suggestion. Agrippa hints at this in his opus, Three Books of Occult Philosophy.


"So the soul sometimes is, by a vehement imagination or speculation, altogether abstracted from the body, as Celsus relates of a certain presbyter, who, as often as he pleased, could make himself senseless and lay like a dead man, so that when any one pricked or burnt him he felt no pain, but lay without any motion or breathing; yet he could, as he said, hear men's voices, as it were, afar off, if they cried out aloud."--Agrippa

Not only that, but one's own phantasies and passions can certainly work on another's soul and thus their body.

"The passions of the soul which follow the phantasy when they are most vehement, cannot only change their own body, but also can transcend so as to work upon another body"--Agrippa

So where am I going with this? Well what I am eventually trying to illustrate to some hard-core traditional magicians is that visualization(phantasy) is still a useful part of traditional magic, and its effects are pre-Mesmer even when spiritual energy of the modern magician school is not.

So while I agree that visualizing an entity during a conjuration is purely mental-masturbation and useless, I also know that visualizing the divine names while uttering them or visualizing Christ while speaking of his divine attributes can and often does raise the passions and exert a sense of enhanced divine authority by its action upon the soul/body.

"and, lastly, they have much greater power in the mind; for this, when it is fixed upon God for any good with its whole intention, doth oftentimes affect another's body, as well as its own, with some divine gift. By this means we read that many miracles were done by Apollonius, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Philolaus, and many prophets and holy men of our religion, which things we shall now consider."--Agrippa

This definitely does not mean that circles drawn on the ground via phantasy(visualization) will protect you from ghouls. And it certainly does not mean visualization is the key to make magic work, but within its context can in fact be helpful to those working within the traditional magic field.

P.S. This of course also has an import on scrying, which I will try to get to later.

Via Media Evocation

Ok there is a lot of talk on the blogosphere about whether physical manifestation of spirits during evocation is necessary and or needed. And I have to say that I agree mostly with what Inominandum stated on his blog here:
http://www.inominandum.com/blog/?p=683

I agree with his stance and levels of experiencing spirit contact during evocation. I would like to add that within the levels, as he puts it, there are also sub-levels in each one. For instance in level three he says that the spirits are external to the magician's mind. But this can also happen on several sub levels. Lets say that S1 of 3 means that the magician sees a misty form of the spirit, but the other attendants in the ritual space can not. SL2 of 3 would mean in my opinion that the magician sees a fully complete form and the attendants in the space see perhaps a mist or shadow. SL3 of 3 would mean that all of them see/experience the same image of the spirit evoked.

And then Inominandum turns the topic from physical evocation into the actual practice of evocation. First let me state that I do not agree with his stance that the word "Tetragrammaton" on the wand was meant as a clue for the magician to write YHVH on the wand instead. If this were the case, why wouldn't they just write that. Clearly YHVH(even the form of Jehovah) is written-out in other grimoires of the same era. And the word "Tetragrammaton" itself is used in the text some grimoires of the conjurations themselves, which means that particular word was deemed as powerful in its self. Basically I don't buy into the theory that "blinds" were included into grimoires to throw off casual readers. That is such a victorian after-though to reconcile errors and or changes in various grimoire manuscripts.

Ok moving back to the topic. I do agree with Inominandum that there are currently different approaches to using evocation, and that it isn't necessary to have all the traditional tools, though the traditional tools do create more spirit activity(paraphrasing here).

Yes there are in fact different approaches to evocation and I will give my personal definitions to each practice below:

1st: The Traditionalist will go completely by the book(which ever grimoire he is using), and will not make any substitution or deletion in any tools, conjurations, and or curses.

2nd: The Modernist may either dispense with some of the traditional tools and combine the instructions of grimoire with massonic/lodge style occultism, or the modernist may in fact dispense with the book(which ever grimoire used) and lodge style altogether and just "wing" it in a minimalist style.

3rd: Then there is what I like to call the Via Media Magician. This VMM will more often than not go by the book, but is not afraid to make small tweaks and changes when needed. These tweaks and changes has nothing to do with laziness or short-cuts, but instead is based on a knowledge of what those elements being changed really mean and making appropriate alternatives using sound reason and logic.
For instance, when we look at Lemegeton's Goetia with its requirement of the lion skin belt, obviously there may be future magicians out there who will have no way of obtaining that. Afterall it is illegal to hunt lions in most countries(some countries allow for it but in unethical means), and the remaining antique lion skin rugs will eventually be gone or stored away in private collections.

So, a wise magician would break down what the lion-skin belt means, its associations, its practical aspects, and then formulate an equal alternative which s/he can use effectively in its place(making sure to stay within the spirit of the grimoire). That and I would say that a reasonable VMM would try to keep from making tweaks and changes if at all possible.

I would almost say that the Via Media Magician is probably even more traditional than the Traditionalists, because it is a fact that even the same grimoire(take your pick) had variations from one manuscript to another manuscript.

The formula of offering.

Every spirit should be rewarded some form of offering for the services rendered unto the magician/sorcerer.  But offerings should differ accordingly, as each spirit has a class each offering needs to be particular to the spirit's nature and be presented in an intelligent and formal fashion.

So here is my personal formula:

Super-celestial and Celestial Spirits:
+Angels receive a set period(days, weeks, months) of prayerful praise at one's oratory altar. The words themselves are the offerings, but candles and religious/biblical incense which has been consecrated according to the arts of Solomon or the Church may also be used in conjunction to the prayers.

+Planetary Spirits may receive a set time of praise like above except any incense and candles must be appropriate to the nature of said planetary spirit. Thus a Solar spirit should receive incense that is corresponding to a solar nature and candles which are golden in color. One may also keep the seal of the planetary spirit upon the oratory altar for a given time as an offering.

Sub-celestial, Aerial, Terrestrial, and Infernal Spirits:
 +Aerial Spirits are of mixed natures and thus the way one places offerings unto these spirits differ for the individual spirit that was used. The more gracious of the aerial spirits may have their seal placed near the oratory altar in which the spirit receives praise and thanks for a period of time. If the aerial is more of the unruly kind, it is better for the magician/sorcerer to draw their seal at a crossroads and offer praise and thanks there..

+Geni Locii/Nature Spirits are often location specific and so their offerings should be placed where ever they exist. Good offerings for these guys would be left overs from harvests/gardening, food, grain and beer.

+Infernal Spirits should have their seals drawn at a crossroads with consecrated chalk onto which one may place libations of alcohol, beer, meats, fruit, incense, and etc.

The Hierarchy as I know it.

As stated in the previous post, I am a ceremonial magician. But I am not of the qabbalistic variety. No, I quit that forest a long time ago because I feel more drawn to the Christian-Neoplatonic model instead. So I journeyed backward to the source of the theory of emanation which is rooted in European (Greek specifically) philosophical mysticism aka Neoplatonism which is at the heart of the Grimoires and their philosophical worldview.
Neoplatonism was for the most part a pagan-philosophic and esoteric movement that believed there was a single source from which all things came to be, known as the unknowable Monad. From here all sorts of things, ideas, and gods emanated from to form the world in which we live. This philosophical movement encompassed several schools, with slightly different doctrines throughout the Greco-Roman world. As the world changed through politics and through other forces, pagan neoplatonism started to dwindle. But this neoplatonism was picked-up by many early christian mystics. So the Neoplatonic golden-thread extends from Plotinus, to Iamblichus, to Augustine, to Pseudo-Dionysus, to Trithemius, to Agrippa, to Ficino and etc.

Divine Hierarchy as I know it: Part one

1.God the Father=  This is the Nous(Divine Mind) of the old Neoplatonists. Here is where all the ideas of the universe flow from. Everything in existence started with an idea.
2.God the Son= This is the Logos(Word/Logic) of the old Neoplatonits and of the Christians. He becomes Jesus when incarnated into the world through the Holy Spirit.
3.Holy Ghost= This is the Psyche(Soul of the World) of the Neoplatonists which upholds the "chain of being".

*Those three above make up a singular God who sits at the top of the hierarchy. Moving on.

Divine Hierarchy as I know it: Part two


1. God
2. Metattron= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as the Seraphim in the primum mobil.
3. Ophaniel/Jophiel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir of the Cherubim that exist in the Firmament which corresponding to the zodiacal ring.
4. Zaphkiel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as the Thrones that exist in the seventh heaven which corresponds to the Sphere of Saturn.
5. Zadkiel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as the Dominations that exists in the sixth heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Jupiter.
6. Camiel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as Powers that exists in the fifth heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Mars.
7. Raphael= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as Virtues that exists in the fourth heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Sun.
8. Haniel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as Principalities that exist in the third heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Venus.
9. Michael= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir known as Archangels that exist in the second heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Mercury.
10. Gabriel= the angelic intercessor for the angelic choir of Angels thats exists in the first heaven which corresponds to the sphere of Moon.

*The above is a list of the hierarchy which combines the intelligible and celestial world. Below this is what is known as the sublunar/subcelestial world. The divine order below the celestial is confusing and depends upon the actual nature of the spirit and less on its classification whereas above the angels and celestials are generally seen as good, those of the terrestrial can be good or bad with the exception of the internals.

Divine Hierarchy as I know it: Part three


1. Ancestral spirits= these are the departed family members who continue to look after the family in the spirit.
2. Aerial spirits= these are spirits of mixed nature that exist between the terrestrial and the first level of the celestial world aka sphere of the moon.
3. Nature spirits= these are also of mixed nature but exist mainly on the terrestrial zones
4. Geni Loci= these guys are of mixed natures and exist in specific locations only.
5. Elementals= these are beings that live only in one particular element.
6. Ghosts/poltergeists= evil spirits of the departed, or hijacked shells of the departed by an infernal being
7.Infernals= these are the purely evil beings that are typically thought of when the word demon shows-up in print.

*Just like in typical Neoplatonic fashion the further away you get from the Monad/God, the more corrupt and imperfect you are. So...
God is more pure than angels.
Angels are more pure than other spirits.
Spirits are more pure than the infernals.
All spirits are more pure than ensouled bodies(things that exist in the physical world)
Man is more pure than all other animals
Animals are more pure than plants.
Plants are more pure than rocks and stones.
etc etc.

*But here is the exception to the rule: A normal human ranks below all bodiless-spirits, because the normal human is usually more animal than soul. However a human who has been purified though spiritual means is above most spirits and many angels. This is why before any grimoiric work there is a penitential/purifying rite.

About an Upcoming Offering to the Spirits of My Land

There is something about the Autumn season that gets me thinking about the nature spirits of my property. Perhaps it is the subtle signs that the land is about to go dormant. Or perhaps there is just a little bit of old folklore lingering in my soul about how mischievous nature spirits can be when not appeased. Either way I know that I need to make an offering to them soon. I usually do this in the Fall aswell as in the spring. But I need to get on the ball because another holiday is quickly approaching, and that is All Souls/Saints day.

Yes, it may come as a shock that I am a Christian and not a pagan with all of this nature spirit business. But I am indeed a Christian; most importantly I am also a Ceremonial Magician(of the grimoiric not quasi-massonic variety), and there is a divine hierarchy of spirits that I work with and or that need attention.  I will probably write a little something about this Divine Hierarchy, as I see it and how I work with it, later on.

But for now....I need to get some goods ready for the actual offering like apples and whiskey.

Here is an interesting link for crafty magicians!
http://www.johnnealbooks.com/

Spiritual side-effect. My poor love.

I'm surprised sometimes when little operations cause so much havoc.
For instance last wednesday I performed a small operation to consecrate new wicks and oil for my holy lamp complete with prayers, psalms, and spirits/names of power. Later that night my spouse terrifyingly woke-up to a television mysteriously turning on by its self in the middle of the night. I had fallen asleep on the couch  and was not in the bedroom when this occurred. Such an event wouldn't have scared me so much, but I was quick to console my lover, and go back to sleep in our bed.
This all happened hours after I consecrated the materials. It makes one wonder if the actual consecration of the materials happened after my actual ceremony when the TV phenomenon happened or just was it just a spirit-based side-effect later on.
I am not a stranger to such things when I summon an entity. The spirits sometimes actually disturb my space for days, weeks afterward. But after a tool consecration?? Interesting.

Arrrgh!

Sometimes other magicians just make me SO effin' irritated. And no, they are not more open-minded to new ideas or even open to logical debate.

Ummmm

Is anyone else out there who is just a bit annoyed by certain "grimoiric" mages fawning all over the ATR cults?
I know that I am WAY over it.. I mean is it really all that great?
I don't think so.

Michael over Mercury.

There is a question in the traditional occult world on where Michael resides. It normally comes down to two possible choices; Michael is either solar or mercurial.
Now I have always had him over mercury, but I took a deeper look into this particular question because of such a trend I started noticing lately. So I made out a list for both expressing the qualities that are fitting to Michael set over the Sun, and another one set over Mercury. When I was done, it still seemed to make more sense to have him corresponding to the sphere of mercury. Here are my notes:

1. According to Pseudo-Dionysius in his book, The Celestial Hierarchies, there are nine major angelic orders divided into three sets. These are in descending order Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. The last triad(Principalities, Archangels, and Angels) are the only group of angelic entities that directly interact with the general populous with the exception of initiated mystics and magicians. If we were to label each order with the spheres in an ascending order we would get Angels set over the Lunar sphere, Archangels over the Mercury sphere, and Principalities set over the sphere of Venus. We know that the regular people who attend religious services often ask Michael to intervene on their behalf, but if Michael was set over the Sun then he would not be in the triad of angelic orders that regularly intervenes on behalf of the common populous(Principalities, Archangels, Angels).

2. If we look now to the common practice of those who honor Michael we can also see mercurial elements. Already stated above, Michael is venerated as a divine messenger lifting the prayers of the people to the heavens. This sounds a lot like Hermes and Mercury of the Greco-Roman pagans. He also carries the soul of the dead to their place of everlasting, which traveling naturally corresponds nicely under the attributes of mercury. Some may point to his images with the scales and say that judging the dead isn't a mercurial attribute but a jovial one. I would agree. But according to the doctrine of Christianity it is Jesus who Judges the quick and the Dead and not Michael. Michael holds the scales to show that he is involved in the scoring and measuring process much like Thoth would have been in the hall of Maat. Some may also speak of Michael as a soldier stating that he is even Martial rather than Mercurial. I would say that they don't understand the role of mercury in classical astrology; he is changeable by his nature and thus receives the nature of the other planets. He is beneficent with some planets and destructive with others. But either way, Mars is not even a question here. It is between Sun and Mercury where the confusion lies. The multiple roles Michael plays also helps to once again demonstrates his ability to change from one to the other which of course is another attribute of Mercury.

Moments in prayer

Quite frequently in prayer my skin becomes all goose-pimply and my hair on my head feels like it is standing on end. Sometimes tears also begin to fall from my eyes from the experience which is quite complex. It is joyful, pleasurable, beautiful, and saddening all at once.

Energy a no go.

Let me explain this plainly. I do not use the "energy model" of occultism.
The whole concept of psychic energy is a modern concept to the Western Magical Tradition stemming from the Theosophic movement and post-Mesmeric theories on animal magnetism.

Mesmer's experiments were proven false and unscientific, and the theosophic spiritual energy concepts were taken from the Eastern Magical traditions.

What I do practice is classical Western Magical Tradition magic minus the qbl stream. Though I understand the qbl and have used it in the past, I prefer to stick with the neoplatonic stream which is older, simpler, and just as efficient.

Where I am as an Anglican/Episcopal

My church is in shambles over several issues regarding policies. I will explain them further below and elucidate my feelings on them.

Women Priests/Bishops: I am ok with that on a personal level, but I would probably go to a Male orchestrated Eucharist if I have the choice.

Gays and Homosexuals: I'm not offended by them, especially if they are seeking Christ. I'm not sure how I feel about having one as a Bishop or Priest, but then again I don't have to go to that particular parish if I didn't want to. I probably would go at least once just to see. Moving on...

Fashion Chasubles and Mitres: Oh God, could we please put this to an end. I hate seeing my bishops and priests looking like hot-air balloons or psychedelic nightmares.

Themed Communions: Just like the "fashion" chasubles, the themed eucharists have to go. Nothing is funny or cute about a "clown mass". Its scary, not traditional, and makes me want to cry.

Seven Sacraments: If I remember correctly, there are only two official sacraments listed in the 39 Articles. Lets get back to that. We can still have the others, but get real they are not sacraments.

1928/1979 BCP: Does it really matter? Both have strayed quite a bit from the 1662 BCP which is supposed to be the true foundation of the Anglican Communion. So lets revamp the BCP to bring it back closer to the 1662 tradition.

Contemporary Language: Again just like that above, contemporary language is what we use everyday. The traditional language of the 1662 BCP is special because we don't use it everyday. And that is way I dislike contemporary language in the Eucharist ceremony. Keep it special.

There are Many paths to God: Since when did this become the official mantra of the Anglican Communion? Per Jesus, "No one comes to the Father, except through me". Islam does not offer salvation, neither does Judaism.

Zionism: I never quite understood this. I have heard an occasional priest still call the Jews the "Chosen people". I wonder if they just happened to forget that the Jews turned away from and rejected God in Jesus. At that point they ceased to be the "Chosen people".

Der Blutharsch - Der Sieg des Lichtes ist des Lebens Heil - VI

TEC-Anglican?

I purchased a new prayerbook (BCP) to replace a very old one. I bought it at the new Half-Price book store here in town.

I'll guess I will use this 1979 version until further notice. I still don't know where I stand in the fall-out of the Diocese drama.
I want to stay Episcopal because it is in communion with Canterbury whereas the new "Anglican" one (under Iker) isn't. But, it is getting harder to find Rite One parishes. And if the Iker-Anglican make their own prayerbook, I would hope it would be closer to the 1662 version.

I like liberal policies, but traditional eucharists. Nothing makes me want to cry more than seeing funky chasubles and experimental masses. They seem to strip away the real magic that takes place at the altar. And can we please turn the altar back around too?

Anyways, I guess I will just have to wait and see what is to become of my area. Will it be TEC or Iker-Anglican for the win?