tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27614548055907725592024-03-14T11:01:46.806-04:00Crossed TorchesBeing the journal of one led by the twin flames of magick and mysticismAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-73245852967104018542017-05-07T03:31:00.000-04:002017-05-08T05:09:09.743-04:00Choosing Not To Mix Paganism and Christianity....Why?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4EYpF99HIs9TDd3Hdo1UkmxTKP2XM7gi062x0v_Fbf4YoI8acSa69WtfD8kHLGgCMqUSG53G6QCI2jntWiERKVLA38oZnyPHi1w-X43B0vUOaR9KPnzlXQFaFdDeIXXabSzglALrkVAB/s1600/Yahweh-blake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT4EYpF99HIs9TDd3Hdo1UkmxTKP2XM7gi062x0v_Fbf4YoI8acSa69WtfD8kHLGgCMqUSG53G6QCI2jntWiERKVLA38oZnyPHi1w-X43B0vUOaR9KPnzlXQFaFdDeIXXabSzglALrkVAB/s200/Yahweh-blake.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ancient of Days, by William Blake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"Thou shall have no other gods before me"</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-Exodus 20:3 (King James Bible)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Anyone who knows me knows I'm a professed Pagan in terms of my identity as a magician. For me, what this means, is that the spirits I have both a reciprocal and devotional relationship with are gods that are considered Pagan deities (the Egyptian gods specifically). I worship in a Pagan style of prayer and offerings that sometimes involves petitioning the gods for some boon while at other times are merely done out of sense of joy and gratitude.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My gods aren't wholly of another kind than myself, the<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">y are more like older siblings or even parents who I honor because they are who they are. But, more than that, not only are they </span>persons, in the sense of having individual identity, but they are also principles that allow me to exist not only in terms of having breath, but in terms of all the experiences of being alive.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For example, a very simplistic snapshot...</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ra is sovereignty and the life giving power of the Sun while also being a distinct divine person. Hathor is sexuality, joy, and aesthetic beauty, while also being a distinct divine person. Osiris is the power of resurrection and renewal while still being a distinct divine person. Sekhmet is the power of war, aggression, disease, and healing while also being a distinct divine person. Each of the gods is a principle, or set of principles, as well as a person.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There is a complex panentheistic, polytheistic, and animistic metaphysics underlying my system of sacro-magickal belief and practice that is the result of education and practice over many years.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For me, religion and magick are fundamentally inseparable insofar as I work with my spirits in nearly all acts of magickal practice. For example, the act of consulting the tarot for guidance is proceeded by an invocation to Thoth who, while being a divine person in his own right is, quite literally, the personified qualities of the insight as wisdom I seek when doing divination.</span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Such a way of interacting with the gods and spirits one has a relationship with has a very particular way of reorientating one to the world. This is an immediate and tangible means by which to accomplish the re-enchantment of the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've always suspected that the ahistorical separation that exists in the modern mind between religion and magick is largely artificial, an artifact of an age wherein magick was seen as inherently transgressive and outside the will of God. The only acceptable supernatural aid (in the Western world) came from petitioning saints for intercession or praying for a miracle directly from Jesus or God Himself. The magician/sorcerer was one who interacted with spirits that granted power and boons outside of the direct auspices of God (and the church), and whose work was not religious in the way those of this time understood religion. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Edward Kelly and John Dee <br />
summoning the dead for divination.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It does seem true that nearly all cultures have a demarcation regarding acceptable and unacceptable, permitted and transgressive, magick but only in the modern world is the magician seen as fundamentally and archetypally other than priest or priestess. The archetypal magicians of the Western world, whether real or fictional, such as Merlin (seen as a druid, but very much the mage), Agrippa, Dee, Gandalf, even very modern incarnations like Raistlin Majere, are all outside the purview of priestcraft.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even those mainstream religionists who allow for the existence of miracles (fewer and fewer with the growing influence of materialism and scienceism) will still claim that the intercession of a saint isn't magick because magick is power granted by forces other than their God. According to the party line, priests don't do magick, priests pray and hope for the best. According to this paradigm, the magician/sorcerer is transgressive, the very opposite of the priest, by nature.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Though obviously I don't share the ahistorical outlook that there is, by nature, a necessary separation between priest(ess) and magician, I have an admission to make. I too share a certain ahistorical outlook influenced by the very same paradigm that created the polarized line between priestcraft and sorcery.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My ahistorical hangup has to do with mixing Pagan and Abrahamic concepts. I don't.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I've always kept my Paganism and Abrahamism separate. Even when I sojourned into Golden Dawn based ceremonial magick for a period of about three years, I set aside my devotional Paganism completely, said farewell to the gods I had been worshiping (there was no jealousy, no anger on their part, only a peaceful allowing) and embraced my new paradigm as fully as I could. I wanted to see what it was all about, the qabalah, the angels, the Hebrew Letters, YHWH, and I both devoured knowledge and practiced with gusto.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, despite myself, I was always fighting a sort of inner resistance and after about three years, and even after a profoundly moving experience of Christ while meditating on Tiphareth, (a story for another time perhaps) I put away my ceremonial magick books and came back to Paganism. Despite the deep intellectual satisfaction that ceremonial magick gave me, as well as the obvious spiritual power of the rites, it simply wasn't my spiritual home.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like a Prodigal Son, I had to leave so that I could return more appreciative of my home, my relationships with the spirits, and grateful for the relationships that had somehow deepened even with my leaving. I, more than ever, felt closer to my gods in a truly Pagan animistic sense. No longer was Isis, Osiris, Anubis, Horus, Ra, Thoth, Nephthys, and the other gods fundamentally transcendent, if approachable, they were here now, immanent and present in the world. Their reality had become tangible in a way it had never been before. Certainly they had transcendent aspects, but they were here now, with me, ever-present.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Leaving and returning had been so important to my relationship with my gods that I sense it is entirely possible that they pushed me out of the nest so that I could experience what I needed to experience so as to enter into deeper relationship with them upon my return.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The gods, they work in mysterious ways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Even since my reunion with my gods, I'll be the first to admit a deeper than ever aversion to mixing my Paganism and its spirits with Christianity and its spirits. Even the idea of continuing my devotion to my gods while keeping Abrahamic based practices (such as traditional grimoiric evocations) entirely separate feels off. I know that there are some Pagans, Christians, and even Buddhists who are dual practitioners but, for me, that seems awkward, clumsy, and internally contradictory. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Because my Pagan magickal practice is a manifestation not of a Will to Power, but instead a manifestation of a religious impulse directing me to an ever deepening relationship with the Numinous as manifest in my relationship with the gods, dual practice seems, for lack of a better word, wrong. It seems like a bastardization of both my Pagan spiritual path and the Abrahamic path embedded in much of the Western Esoteric tradition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And because I am self-aware, I recognize that my aversion to all things Abrahamic is ahistorical, especially in terms of late Pagan magick as clearly demonstrated in The Greek Magickal Papyri, but the aversion is there and it's visceral. My aversion to all things Abrahamic isn't animus toward Christianity, Judaism, or Islam per se (especially in their mystical manifestations) or practitioners of these faiths. It's a paradigmatic aversion that rejects the cosmology and metaphysical assumptions of these faiths.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">Christian Mystic Thomas Merton</span></td></tr>
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I share a lot of common values with, and have a great deal of respect for, Christians who are good and compassionate people, Christian mystics, and Christian magicians. Christian devotional mystics like Thomas Merton, Thomas Keating, and</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Richard Rohr</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">have made me a better Pagan by clarifying the nature of kenotic </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">meditation practices I still use (it's good tech).</span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Understanding the means by which a piece of magickal/spiritual tech works then stripping it down to its core components (ie. the parts that do the work) is smart, historically sound, sorcery. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unlike many who profess modern Paganism, I was never Christianized. My mother is a non-Wiccan Witch and my father was nominally Christian, but no longer. I was raised with complete freedom to seek for myself without any pressure to accept the spiritual beliefs of either my father or my mother. My mother did manage to keep me away from her Witchcraft books until I was twelve years old, for safety reasons. And, to be fair to her, though I didn't appreciate it at the time, I believe her decision, in retrospect, was the right one. No telling what sort of trouble a magickally inclined nine year old could have gotten into.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, despite never formally being part of Christianity and never having been baptized, I did go to Catholic school for eight years (which started me on the path to being a Christian theology geek) and, like anyone born into Western culture Christianity is part of the background noise of life. The culture-wide holidays such as Christmas and Easter, the turns of phrase we use to express ourselves (often from the KJV), those who usually surround us as family and friends, even the way we swear when we're angry or stub our toes reflect Christianity as deep, unavoidable cultural substrate, to a greater or lesser extent. </span></span></div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It isn't lost on me that my aversion, may be, quite ironically, an artifact of being part of a Christian culture wherein the idea of mixing pantheons is not merely verboten, it is unthinkable. The other team is the enemy and one just doesn't pick and choose aspects of each team based on one's preference. You are on Yahweh's team or you aren't.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"<span style="background-color: #fdfeff; text-align: justify;">And in all </span><span style="background-color: #fdfeff; text-align: justify;">things</span><span style="background-color: #fdfeff; text-align: justify;"> that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.</span>"</i></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-Exodus 20:3 (King James Bible)<br />
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Christianity is, at least historically, a path of orthodoxy even more than it is a path of orthopraxy. In other words, Christianity is about belief (a profession of faith) primarily and secondarily about practice (works). Though there is extreme, even historically murderous, divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism regarding the exact means by which divine grace and and one's works converge so as to produce the state of being saved, there is no division regarding the fact that faith is of preeminent importance in a way not seen in orthopraxic faiths like nearly all of modern Paganism or other practice heavy faiths like Theraveda Buddhism.</span></span></span><br />
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Personally, I grapple with the idea of using Christian spirits, or indeed any spirit, in a purely utilitarian fashion utterly divorced from the theology and context </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(ie. underpinning beliefs and metaphysical assumptions) </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that makes them in any way coherent. That kind of "use them because they work" approach reminds me too closely of the lists of gods one would find in old Wicca 101 books (for your love spell, just choose "Ishtar, Isis, Hathor, or Aphrodite"). No cosmology, no metaphysics, no relationship, just tools in a toolbox to use and set aside when finished. This is fine if the gods and spirits are merely personifications of one's personal unconscious, but strikes me as wildly disrespectful if they are, as I believe, extant beings with agency and personality. </span></span></span></div>
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Curiously enough, this manner of practice was the very kind of wild magickal/spiritual eclecticism that was decried and mocked by countless Pagans and magicians throughout the 80s and 90s for it's mix and match, gods and spirits as tools, with no concern for incompatible theologies or metaphysical assumptions. I'm not surprised to see that what was old is new again, because everything in occulture is cyclic, but I'd suggest that a lot of baby Pagans who were mocked for their eclectic practices during the 1990s by those "in the know" are owed an apology.<br />
<br />
The wild west of the occult scene of the 80s and 90s, and its anything goes eclecticism, does bear a greater similarity to the manner in which magick was practiced in late antiquity than it does to more recent efforts at striving towards internal consistency and coherence within broader modern cultic or personal practice. Despite that, I do prefer coherence, as well as internal and aesthetic consistency tending as I do to prefer systematic syncretism to wild eclecticism.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So, like all of us, I've been impacted by Christianity but not in the manner in which I've suspected for a long time. I suspected, for a long time that my aversion was rooted in the adverse effects Christianity has had on culture (for example):</span></span></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The religious imperialism that annihilated Paganism from Europe including the various mystery schools...absorbing and co-opting ideas isn't merely preservation when it extinguishes the original source.</span></span></li>
</span></ul>
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<li>The religious imperialism that destroyed indigenous cultures, often enslaved adults, and forced indigenous children to live away from their families and forget their spirits, traditions, and cultures.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<li>Forcing my ancestors on my father's side to be Christian via the lash.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<li>The misogyny as demonstrated by the pro-life movement and "traditional values" cults like the Quiverfull movement.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christian Dominionism wherein Protestant lawmakers want to religiously dominate the 7 Mountains of culture (</span><a href="https://www.generals.org/rpn/the-seven-mountains/" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Dominionism - The Seven Mountains</a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> ).</span></li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<li>Attempting to force anti-science creationism into school science classes.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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</span> <br />
<ul style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></ul>
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<li>Legislating demonstrably useless abstinence only sex education in schools.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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</span> <br />
<ul style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></ul>
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<li>The Christian religious litmus test that does exist in terms of anyone seeking the office of president. No non-Christian has any hope of being elected president in the United States.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<ul><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<li>The soulless and useless Christianity defanged of its fierce compassion that allows millions and millions of professing Christians to unashamedly support legislators that would vote to remove vital health services from millions of their countrymen and women.</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The soulless and useless Christianity that attacks homosexuals while ignoring the grievous sins of those whose asses warm the pews...the liars, cheats, adulterers, thieves, the covetous, etc. </span></li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The twisted transcendentalism of millions of American Protestants who feel that protecting the environment is unnecessary because Christ is coming back to fix it...all while we are in the midst of a man-made great extinction. </span></li>
</ul>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Christianity that wraps itself up in the American Flag while ignoring the plight of refugees from war-torn nations, edifies the rich and demonizes the poor. </span></li>
</ul>
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<ul><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<li>And so on and so on...</li>
</span></span></span></ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
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Though many of my European friends will not be able to relate to the kind of Christianity I'm describing, it assuredly does exist and it is, in the United States, no mere outlier. In fact, it is the twisted heart and soul of the Conservative Evangelical Christian movement that in played a large part in getting Trump and his cronies elected.<br />
<br />
I know there are many who will be thinking, "but that's not real Christianity!" <br />
<br />
G.K. Chesterson's,"</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Christianity has not been tried and found wanting</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">it has been found difficult and not tried,"</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> notwithstanding, the "</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No True Scotsman Fallacy" is piss poor apologetics. This sort of apologetics is nearly utopian in its clinging to an ahistorical version of Christianity that has only, if ever, existed in the heart of Christian mystical adepts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
Christianity, like all faiths, is, for good and ill, as it is practiced, not as it is on paper or in the hearts of those that are sometimes better than the tradition they profess. There is good and there is bad in Christianity and BOTH of those things are Christianity as magickal egregore, spiritual tradition, and mystical path. Any argument to the contrary ignores both history and current reality. </span></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Getting back to my point, the inner aversion that causes me to reject the idea that Christianity and Paganism are like chocolate and peanut butter (ie. great together) is rooted in the fact I take theology, metaphysics and cosmology rather seriously (I want my personal theology/cosmology to be coherent) and believe these things represent the heart and soul of a given spiritual path much more so that do the smells, bells, outer regalia, spells, icons, and accouterments that many occultists find appealing. Those things are the icing on the cake perhaps, but the beating heart goes deeper than that. The beating heart is the narrative metaphors that introduce us to, and define the roles of, the spirits and gods of a given path whether ancient or modern.<br />
<br />
Myth is spiritual metaphor, and some metaphors can, in my opinion, make poor bedfellows </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">even if they share a common ancient roots</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> due in no small part to thousands of years of cultural accretions that influence how we understand a given spiritual tradition, in this case Christianity. Thousands of years of history and impact do not magically disappear because, according to speculative history, 50,000 years ago all extant religions came from the same Lurasian root source myths. Using the Lurasian theory as argument to justify simply choosing mythic motifs in a utilitarian fashion is an interesting perspective but one that points in a direction I suspect that very few people would appreciate if taken to its logical conclusion.<br /><br />That's a conversation for another time.</span><br />
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<br />
So, is my choice to avoid mixing Paganism or my reluctance to engage in dual Pagan and Christian practice ahistorical?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the Paganism of late antiquity, at least in some cases, yes.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span> <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, I've never made claim that my practice was meant to be a mirror match for either early Paganism or the Pagan magickal or spiritual practices of Late Antiquity. My practice is that of a 21st Century Pagan Magician, based as much as possible on lore, but rooted primarily in my relationships with the gods as both devotee and sorcerer. My path is a results orientated magickal and spiritual path/practice (theory must support results, not the other way around), and is inspired by many, yet beholden to no other, spiritual or magickal traditions.<br />
<br />
There are sound reasons for the choices experienced magicians make even if those choices run counter to the zeitgeist of the moment. </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-52615340070642332332016-04-29T15:39:00.000-04:002016-06-05T02:53:33.899-04:00An Intention to Guide Meditation Practice<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today, as I stand at the axis of the <span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">2</span>Three Worlds, and center of the Seven Sacred Directions<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">3</span>,<br />
I am grateful for the opportunities granted me by the gift of incarnation<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">4</span>,<br />
supported by the blessings of the gods and spirits whose unseen hands<br />
guide my steps. May I continue to be be shepherded by the adepts, mystics,<br />
and masters of old, those upon whose shoulders I stand<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">5</span> so that I, in turn, may<br />
one day be found fit to shepherd others on the path of the Mysteries<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">6</span>.<br />
<br />
Let me not squander this precious opportunity to free myself of delusion, fear,<br />
suffering, ignorance and all things that occlude the vigorous and vital flow of<br />
energy through my channels. May my energy body be healed, healthy, and whole<br />
that it may serve the highest purposes of fate, will, and Ma'at<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">7</span>.<br />
<br />
May I practice this day and every day with discipline, determination, effortlessness,<br />
and equanimity. May I encounter all mind-states without attachment or aversion<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">8</span>.<br />
May I be steadfast in the face of all obstacles and difficulty, allowing<br />
all discomfort to be a means of insight, self-knowledge, and illumination.<br />
<br />
May I enter without effort and clarity of mind into the Sacred Flame<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">9</span> at my center,<br />
the inner gateway of Emptiness, the silent doorway to all worlds.<br />
Let me be ever-guided by its illumination and warmth and the blessings of<br />
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my Akh<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">10</span> who beckons me ever-forward so I may one day be worthy to be called<br />
Justified<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">11</span> among the Ancient and Shining Ones<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">12</span>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqC50hGs6FqTmrYD_BIclUmDRHDdUNiPppNLcdSCm3jHPRfRajgLQqpaYvhGkJLAsubs9yr1oIz3uj4kNe2jfb0w5rl_jEmZhwx8lFIXtrU9TPAk5HMtKn_Oi1fAKparX1Pwq8IEXI41J/s1600/199_2_88179.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqC50hGs6FqTmrYD_BIclUmDRHDdUNiPppNLcdSCm3jHPRfRajgLQqpaYvhGkJLAsubs9yr1oIz3uj4kNe2jfb0w5rl_jEmZhwx8lFIXtrU9TPAk5HMtKn_Oi1fAKparX1Pwq8IEXI41J/s320/199_2_88179.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">*Notes: Included to demonstrate that each turn of phrase has a purpose. Where certain concepts are open to interpretation, the interpretations are my own, guided my by own knowledge and experience.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">1.</span> This Meditation Intention is based both upon the intention I've been using to guide my meditation practice for a few years, but has been adapted to more clearly align itself to the Quareia curriculum.<br /><span style="color: red;">2.</span> Land, Sea, and Sky...Celestial World, Mortal World, Underworld...or any other tripartite conception of the Universe.<br /><span style="color: red;">3.</span> North, East, South, West, Above, Below, and Center<br /><span style="color: red;">4.</span> Acknowledgement that incarnation is truly a gift for which we should be grateful.<br /><span style="color: red;">5.</span> Acknowledgement and showing gratitude for the unseen assistance we receive from those beings that are, essentially, our spiritual ancestors who may or may not be our blood ancestors.<br /><span style="color: red;">6.</span> A pledge of willingness to be of service to those who come after us on the path.</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">7.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Recognizing that Self-Realization/Enlightenment isn't merely a change of heart and mind, but instead rests on the cleaning, aligning, and strengthening of our energy body so that it is reflective of its own natural perfection...without blockages and pollution and dedicating our enlightenment to the principles of Ma'at.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: red;">8.</span> One of the keys to fruitful meditation practice....being ok with what is and rejecting nothing that arises within consciousness.<br /><span style="color: red;">9.</span> Your inner, sacred Flame, doorway to the Void.<br /><span style="color: red;">10.</span> The highest aspect of the multiple soul, the Higher or Divine Self</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">11.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> He or she who, upon being judged worthy, is able to "go to their Ka." (ie. reunite with their Divine Self.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: red;">12.</span> The gods and great powers</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-86396023795951905722016-02-27T04:14:00.002-05:002016-02-27T16:02:44.018-05:00The Witch, an Authentic Look at Witchcraft From the Recesses of the Neurotic Puritan Mind<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizuU9dDnBsauCE-cxNY7u7Txej-5U1IE1ZWJr5e0GbEBKsUEtzoRaM_QSIo4vpik9yArL00g1Qk2DJn4knBka0lxPjcNpRU8f6yzr0Y56Y75I5j6l0RVFkaJBULr56u7ByiJKYKAKDlkN2/s1600/the-witch-movie-poster-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizuU9dDnBsauCE-cxNY7u7Txej-5U1IE1ZWJr5e0GbEBKsUEtzoRaM_QSIo4vpik9yArL00g1Qk2DJn4knBka0lxPjcNpRU8f6yzr0Y56Y75I5j6l0RVFkaJBULr56u7ByiJKYKAKDlkN2/s320/the-witch-movie-poster-3.jpg" width="216" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here are some of my thoughts on The Witch, the incredibly popular occult thriller that has captured the imaginations of so many lately. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(warning spoilers)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In my opinion, the movie was a top notch psychological thriller and a "must see" if you prefer that type of film. <br /><br />The film is grey and dark both in imagery and in atmosphere. The subject matter being what it is, I found the director's choices in regards to cinematography and color palette to be flawless. Naturally, with nearly everything on screen being capable of carrying a symbolic meaning, it seems quite clear that the bleakness and darkness of the film is rooted in the oppressive, soul-crushing, joyless nature of Puritanism that practically oozes from screen from its very beginning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having said that, allow me to state that this movie is not, despite the fanfare it is receiving among many Witches and Pagans, a Pro-Witchcraft movie. <br /><br />"The Witch" is not an Anti-Witchcraft movie either. <br /><br />In regards to Witchcraft, "The Witch" is neither an apologetic nor a polemic film.<br /><br />Instead, the story underlying The Witch it is a tale told both through the lens of the Christian Puritan mindset and extant Witchcraft folklore. It is a story that hews closely to its source material which is exactly what makes it very much worth seeing. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Therefore it is important to keep in mind that "The Witch" is a story told from the perspective of those who would have believed in Witchcraft at the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />If one wants to see what Puritans thought of Witches and Witchcraft, the "The Witch" is the movie to watch.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Witchcraft in, "The Witch" is dark and terrible and by "dark and terrible," I mean unremittingly evil by any rational definition of the term. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wdW6Ave3SKjXoKMOarnyIiXtyxEqcxtUeT8VOQz1N5onf5Ri3Ax2WNa6kbtHyb2q_zuvvtOvDvkJx7IoMDOEvPLvigpfDpADEYx_MTh0EIWWxuFHAKnpUhOjurfp6hL8egMaq2b7MUUJ/s1600/x240-bB8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wdW6Ave3SKjXoKMOarnyIiXtyxEqcxtUeT8VOQz1N5onf5Ri3Ax2WNa6kbtHyb2q_zuvvtOvDvkJx7IoMDOEvPLvigpfDpADEYx_MTh0EIWWxuFHAKnpUhOjurfp6hL8egMaq2b7MUUJ/s320/x240-bB8.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-wdW6Ave3SKjXoKMOarnyIiXtyxEqcxtUeT8VOQz1N5onf5Ri3Ax2WNa6kbtHyb2q_zuvvtOvDvkJx7IoMDOEvPLvigpfDpADEYx_MTh0EIWWxuFHAKnpUhOjurfp6hL8egMaq2b7MUUJ/s1600/x240-bB8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The first encounter the puritan family, around</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> whom the tale is built, has with a witch involves the theft of their infant son who is, in turn, slaughtered and used as an ingredient for a flying ointment (again, true to the folklore of using baby-fat in flying ointments). This first unflinchingly brutal act on the part of the witches in the film is symbolic of their nature. These witches are horrifically dark and, one could argue, barely human any longer...at least not in any way the viewer could understand. What they do, they do for their own inscrutable motivations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />There is nothing to be found in these witches that one could see as sympathetic. The film, thankfully, does not attempt to peer into their psychology because in so doing, the witches would perhaps become relatable and this would fly directly in the face of the subject matter as told from the film's Puritan perspective.<br /><br />If these witches, as cruel and calculating as they are in the film, started out as innocent as Thomasin (the film's primary protagonist), which one could I believe safely assume to be the case, then they are not only dreadful, they are tragic.<br /><br />There is no "romantic darkness" to be found here, no misunderstanding, no sympathetic villains. One may argue that in this bleak spiritual landscape there are no "good" and no "bad" guys. This would not be true. The innocents struck down by witches, Thomasin's entire family, for a total of six victims, are the "good guys" even if the culture from which they come, and the beliefs they hold are noxious to us. They are still victims of a fate they did nothing to deserve. This is especially true of the children, even the creepy twins, who are themselves highly unsympathetic characters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">True malevolent Darkness (pathological selfishness, cruelty, libertine freedom at the expense of the well-being of others, etc.) only seems romantic when the Light ("the good") is defined as oppressive, moralizing, repressive ugliness as it is in this film. There is no joy, no laughter, no happiness, no love in the Light in this film. There is bleakness and debasement.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately for Thomasin she is, because she dwells in a universe wherein Puritan Christian assumptions of spiritual truth are clearly implied (as is obvious in the storytelling and events of the film), doomed. She escapes from under the boot heel of her Puritan culture and its God only to find herself forced to choose a new master if she would retain her freedom. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnouJ10FAMvF40CLIv9snzl_nFGdv7pzpKYoa-T2R5xWBEborMeugquvrQXIDDkTbpnT90baAQmaqPRwhbGhgw4oj6FBOlzhtQ6BZVcVcfeTaXZX9NDYJQ6ymEOvGuQPc5ovEOOMIb8P-t/s1600/The-Witch-Official-Trailer-the-vandallist-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnouJ10FAMvF40CLIv9snzl_nFGdv7pzpKYoa-T2R5xWBEborMeugquvrQXIDDkTbpnT90baAQmaqPRwhbGhgw4oj6FBOlzhtQ6BZVcVcfeTaXZX9NDYJQ6ymEOvGuQPc5ovEOOMIb8P-t/s320/The-Witch-Official-Trailer-the-vandallist-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This new master, who is both directly and indirectly responsible for the brutal deaths of her entire family, does not grant Thomasin freedom out of love for her or respect for her agency, but instead grants her agency so she can in turn serve as a tool of his own rebellion. He is no more noble a figure than the oppressive and joyless taskmaster God of the Puritans....save he seems as such to Thomasin who, at her lowest and most vulnerable, signs his offered pact.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As any occultists knows, should one fail to approach a power of questionable character as anything but its equal or superior, and instead approach as a servant, things are bound to end badly. Thomasin is not the equal of the Devil, and so her fate is to </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">serve him as his creature. She will become the very thing that stole away and slaughtered her infant brother in the earlier portion of the film. In a Puritan universe, this young woman can never be truly free.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Yes, the protagonist's outlook is that grim from within the Puritan paradigm from which this darksome tale is woven. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Devil, in this tale, is no Prometheus, no Lucifer the Lightbringer, bringing illumination even at great personal sacrifice. He is the Satan that is the Enemy of God and man, who waits as a hungry lion to pounce upon believers. This is the Devil/Satan of "The Witch," as the Puritans would have believed him to be in accordance with the truths they believed expressed in their Bible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Devil, in this film as he is rooted in Puritan assumptions, is a malevolent force....even if he is only a slightly less odious figure, possibly, than the conception of God the Puritans worship. That's entirely arguable. One may attempt to, wrangle something of value out of "The Witch's" Devil, to make him somehow a liberator, or, gods forbid, a representative of older Pagan sensibilities, but this seems, in my opinion, to be projecting one's own hopes/preferences/biases onto a character and story that implies no such thing. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If one swaps paradigms, seeing the movie's antagonists through the lens of modern Pagan Witchcraft (Wiccan, Trad, or other) wherein the underlying Puritan belief structure if lost or invalidated, the story loses all internal consistency.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6coulv8rITdg7F8HHLF0-1xKwZkYE9wZ6iS5aYqhqmi3Ggb3pjqt5znVhxqnsKvlhyphenhyphenxqX0LtvK36FNwd99GGuUoR5QS6CVqy8uo5i6YRI6HLUJ_y9DXAHqL6nxIo2srAkoC__jbJfpybb/s1600/the-witch.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6coulv8rITdg7F8HHLF0-1xKwZkYE9wZ6iS5aYqhqmi3Ggb3pjqt5znVhxqnsKvlhyphenhyphenxqX0LtvK36FNwd99GGuUoR5QS6CVqy8uo5i6YRI6HLUJ_y9DXAHqL6nxIo2srAkoC__jbJfpybb/s320/the-witch.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In all instances when</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I refer to "darkness" or "light" in reference to this film, it </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">is from within the paradigm of a dualistic Christian moral universe as presupposed by The Witch and not as these concepts are understood from within various Pagan faiths in general or from within Witchcraft, of any kind, specifically. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This movie is interesting, disturbing, and even fascinating (for the student of folklore) look at the manner in which 17th Century Christians saw the world </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">outside of that which fell directly under the influence of Christendom....this of course includes the wild places of the world....as being under the dominion of the adversary of their God.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-26296782846401024752016-02-21T19:44:00.000-05:002016-02-22T01:41:56.685-05:00The Case against the Case for Satan or What Really Underlies the Desire to Include Satan in Wicca and Paganism? <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfF_LB-ac5M8X1NMgOOR8meZTMCuUTVv3W9JRaurWq6rLERz0YaWEOUrIJuAcB3FLrZB9c_Sn2POSvz8Co2Zvx2UEaVoSnxvwxDjx8ROUKtMObjyinDqpQWf29qeARzrhWeL8NfKuAfycC/s1600/download+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfF_LB-ac5M8X1NMgOOR8meZTMCuUTVv3W9JRaurWq6rLERz0YaWEOUrIJuAcB3FLrZB9c_Sn2POSvz8Co2Zvx2UEaVoSnxvwxDjx8ROUKtMObjyinDqpQWf29qeARzrhWeL8NfKuAfycC/s320/download+%25282%2529.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milton's Satan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is a response a rebuttle, to the blog article making the rounds that suggests that Wicca needs to embrace Satan or at least not reject him outright (<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/commontansy/2016/02/a-case-for-inviting-satan-back-to-wicca/?repeat=w3tc" target="_blank">The Case for Inviting Satan Back into Wicca</a>).<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: red;">*</span>Note: This is an attempt to present a logically consistent
argument against the NEED to include Satan in modern Wicca and Paganism. This
is not an argument against the simple operative sorcery of including Christian
symbolism and spirits in one's eclectic spiritual practice.</i><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
I disagree and in this article I will explain why.<br />
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Satan, as the actual Adversary, the ultimate transgressive
force, makes absolutely no sense outside of <o:p></o:p><br />
his conflict with the dictatorial
(from the Satanic point of view) creator Yahweh. A rebel without a
rebellion.....just isn't. The Good vs. Evil dynamic required to allow Satan to
make any theological sense is not found in Wicca.</div>
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Some theistic Satanists conflate all "dark" gods
with Satan as a sort of archetype of (cue spooky music and thunder) Dark
Power...a sort of LHP overgod. This form of Satanism is nominally Pagan. It
could be argued, by some, that Luciferians belong to this grouping as well, but
many would disagree, as would I....because many Luciferians never reference
Satan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some Witches, though usually not Wiccan Witches, see Satan
as a form of the Horned God, the Master, the Lord of the Wild Hunt, Odin,
Lucifer, etc. This is the folkloric Devil more than it is the Satan of Milton's
Paradise Lost.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikn0ZDCcS3OH6TaP4lEJ5GHiJl6q3niECQ_96q5RRh2bIv2Vcf8J56Iy0sb4rhtUeN6Zetu-ecnfW7danDwjfEWyrAXA47EOJ0uBi0uer8ZfhmEUDMevaABDbniTAhZa2mSiujLR4dYFpw/s1600/Robert_Johnson_by_jugodenaranjo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikn0ZDCcS3OH6TaP4lEJ5GHiJl6q3niECQ_96q5RRh2bIv2Vcf8J56Iy0sb4rhtUeN6Zetu-ecnfW7danDwjfEWyrAXA47EOJ0uBi0uer8ZfhmEUDMevaABDbniTAhZa2mSiujLR4dYFpw/s320/Robert_Johnson_by_jugodenaranjo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Devl at the Mississippi Crossroads</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Colloquially Satan and the Devil are seen as the same being.
However, in practice, the Devil is form of initiator/trickster god/spirit (an
amalgamation of several) whose only relationship to the Biblical Satan is that,
in European folklore, this being was transformed into the Lord of Darkness via
the Catholic Church's relentless campaign to demonize all remaining remnants of
indigenous European Paganism. Thus, to rustic folk (the storytellers and
chroniclers of folklore), this being was Satan/The Devil. This is the only
point of reference medieval folks had once they were successfully Christianized
by the Church...while still clinging to echoes of their ancient Pagan
perceptions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It's quite apparent to me that folks who cling to the imagery of Satan, despite the fact that he is a useless accretion or add-on to any path outside
of one that fails to include the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are those
who are tied to an aesthetic they grew up with as part of a Christian culture.<o:p></o:p></div>
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They are, for all intents and purposes, closet Abrahamics.<o:p></o:p></div>
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LaVeyan Satanists are simply hedonist atheists (some of whom
are unacknowledged Chaos Magicians) many of whom buy into Ayn Rand's Objectivist
philosophy. Again, no Pagans here either.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The whole thing is a clusterf*ck of bad theology and
unrelated, half-baked concepts that make little sense if studied objectively.
There is no case for inviting Satan back into Wicca, because he was never there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I would argue that Satan, for most, is merely a
symbol of transgressive virtues. I would argue that he is a completely
unnecessary symbol in terms of most modern Pagan practice. Satan, according to
the author of the much shared blog post that's been doing the rounds lately
isn't all that dark, he is merely selectively transgressive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlIuH7Imi7eLss6x5dyLVgMsin4ioS24TOH6_1ksfKecE0tdBYIzIExSv1w7fAEtYMhnyv4rXuoU5SP3ht4EYBtr7276OQwPl2juhiK2QyLciLT4u4oYhedk8oWj361l5lmKdPAMwf8zv/s1600/SJW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihlIuH7Imi7eLss6x5dyLVgMsin4ioS24TOH6_1ksfKecE0tdBYIzIExSv1w7fAEtYMhnyv4rXuoU5SP3ht4EYBtr7276OQwPl2juhiK2QyLciLT4u4oYhedk8oWj361l5lmKdPAMwf8zv/s320/SJW.jpg" width="320" /></a>For the author whose <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/commontansy/2016/02/a-case-for-inviting-satan-back-to-wicca/?repeat=w3tc" target="_blank">work</a> I'm referencing the Satan he wishes to shoehorn into Wicca is more about making a cultural statement about sexuality, gender dynamics, the oft-sighted Cis-Hetero-Patriarchy, queerdom, trans-issues, and whatnot. His other blog article about Satan/The Devil (<a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/commontansy/2016/02/prying-open-the-devils-broom-closet/?repeat=w3tc" target="_blank">Prying Open the Devil's Broom Closet</a>) makes this quite clear. The author is really proposing the inclusion of Satan, not as a deep mystery of some kind, but as a kind of Social Justice Occultism. It would have been better had he been more honest in his motivation and approached the subject of social justice more directly instead of couching it in smoke and mirrors the way he has.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Satan isn't required so as to bring issues of social justice to the fore. Modern Paganism is quite capable of
discussing/wrestling with these issues sans Satan and all the baggage that
comes with him. We just don't need Satan as a symbol when most Pagans deal with
entire pantheons of deities, many of which fit the bill for....transgressive
power....quite nicely.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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But, let's be honest here....<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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What does it even mean to be Transgressive in today's
society?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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The truth is that what is, and what is not, truly
transgressive is entirely rooted in the current moral structure of our time and
culture. So much of what was once transgressive thought and values are now
pretty much an inseparable part of
Progressive/PC/Post-Modern/Tolerance/Inclusion culture. What was once
transgressive simply isn't so any longer...assuming of course one lives outside
the Bible Belt or Mormon Utah.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Free Love....Heard of hook up culture?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Witchcraft....go to any bookstore<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Homosexual activity.....depends on where you live<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Magick....again, any bookstore<br />
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Gender Bending....Social media, Tumblr, and depends on where
you live<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Animal Sacrifice....Not exactly supported overall (outside
of ATRs) but legal<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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BDSM....entered pop culture for the desperate housewives set, 50 Shades anyone?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Goetia....kinda hip at the moment<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Grave Robbing......Frowned on even by the blackest of black
magicians <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Human sacrifice.....still frowned on by everyone<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Cannibalism......still frowned on by everyone.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdWKJ-HSbQ_GRxjPS7NRnnDB8nGq0BEcPizIN5wcxZZ94onTGAyGvjeMImBglR0Fs23vFyySzDmgqszDVQ5WJoxYiMJ29c_9s7_UF3XegV530iiBXOCFju5pSjOP6ccnkKhLCv3iOXpiZK/s1600/Puritans.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdWKJ-HSbQ_GRxjPS7NRnnDB8nGq0BEcPizIN5wcxZZ94onTGAyGvjeMImBglR0Fs23vFyySzDmgqszDVQ5WJoxYiMJ29c_9s7_UF3XegV530iiBXOCFju5pSjOP6ccnkKhLCv3iOXpiZK/s320/Puritans.jpg" width="320" /></a>So, one may have to travel far afield to be truly
transgressive in our culture. One has to do some pretty dark things to do it
right nowadays. Saying the Lord's Prayer backwards just isn't going to do it
for most folks anymore.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because we are, in many ways a divided culture, what is
transgressive to the values of New York sensibilities is very different than
what it might be in rural Mississippi.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We are not, like the Puritans of old, a society of
monochrome virtues/taboos. And for blasphemy to have any liberating effect, one
has to violate taboos that, deep down, one holds or fears breaking. If one is
doing otherwise, one is merely cosplaying at being transgressive.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And if one isn't willing to bite the bullet, so to speak,
and be truly transgressive, what's the point of Satan after all beyond the
nostalgic yearning for familiar symbols even if they don't make sense?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
One of the arguments in favor of Satan's inclusion is that Satan/The Devil has been part of folklore <o:p></o:p><br />
and culture for a very, very long time. This is a dangerous argument to make because even more than Satan, THE central figure for the entirety of Western culture, for
nearly 2000yrs, has been the figure of Jesus Christ.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHeZTjyDNZlhEHn-3bSOfd1Yrugzxt7vlS4XwrpIPZ02RsU-t0S6mnff0QXlSdFmFee1ytafyR9nd9QT1isQ5MuvvQF0ct0kTyp0j-UqlowOfl0p4C5dFIRAgePpwpNyLfVFx9RN-2QSi/s1600/Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwHeZTjyDNZlhEHn-3bSOfd1Yrugzxt7vlS4XwrpIPZ02RsU-t0S6mnff0QXlSdFmFee1ytafyR9nd9QT1isQ5MuvvQF0ct0kTyp0j-UqlowOfl0p4C5dFIRAgePpwpNyLfVFx9RN-2QSi/s1600/Jesus.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wars have been fought, lands have been conquered and
colonized, indigenous faiths in both Europe and the Americas snuffed out,
millions killed and enslaved, all in the name of the necessity of belief in
Christ...for the good of the souls of the conquered/colonized/killed.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If anyone or anything has the right to be seen as central or
necessary to Western culture, and by default, Western Pagan and magickal
culture, it's Jesus Christ and, with him, his father Yahweh. In fact, I believe
that whether or not the "pro-Satan in Paganism/magick camp" realizes
it or not....<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Their argument in favor of Satan is, in my opinion, really
an argument for the recognition of Jesus Christ and Yahweh in Western Paganism
and magick. It's an unconscious desire to be sure, but still a reactionary
desire to their deeply held, even though consciously rejected, belief that
Christ/Yahweh is their god and the god of Western civilization/culture.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now, many will bridle at this idea, but consider this, one
of the primary arguments for the inclusion of Satan in Paganism/magick is,
"We need the transgressive in Paganism and magick!" The unspoken
point of view is that "Satan is the ultimate source of
transgressivism!" Beneath that expression of belief is another deeper,
unspoken, belief and that belief is...<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"We need Satan as the transgressive rebel against
Jesus/Yahweh the lawgiver, the lightbringer, the lynchpin of Western culture
and spirituality for nearly 2000yrs!"<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is what is being said, without the words being spoken.
How can one so completely support the shadow of Yahweh/Christ without, albeit
unconsciously, accepting the sovereignty of the very God who Satan stands in
clear rebellion against?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One can't...not in any consistent manner anyway.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reality is as follows...<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBAGDgYCY_aP3or2A5WOMYQYYd6Cd1g1lGDysrx6V4fKEwnQ-Sg7vc7h7ZAezbj6dLZ2uGE-cZmxNl7ysktZkH9LtUC_U6s6E-Mj30HOhGl0D0qx624PnqizjGyWgSTc45UI2dEjVz4Yv/s1600/Satan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieBAGDgYCY_aP3or2A5WOMYQYYd6Cd1g1lGDysrx6V4fKEwnQ-Sg7vc7h7ZAezbj6dLZ2uGE-cZmxNl7ysktZkH9LtUC_U6s6E-Mj30HOhGl0D0qx624PnqizjGyWgSTc45UI2dEjVz4Yv/s320/Satan+3.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Satan opposes the law of only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Satan's rage is against only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Satan steals the souls of men to pain only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Satan is dedicated to deceiving the servants of only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Satan corrupted the Creation of only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Satan deceived Eve to spite only one.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All that Satan does he does not in opposition to Baal, Zeus,
the Great Mother, Cernunnos, Marduk, Jupiter, Shiva, Kali, etc, but opposition
to one power, the singular authority figure that hides in the shadows of the
Western unconscious mind.....<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yahweh/Christ<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It doesn't matter that Satan is a prosecuting angel in the
Jewish OT, Yahweh's servant, because that myth isn't what infuses the
consciousness of 99% of Westerners. The Satan of the New Testament and Milton
is the mythic structure that underlies the Western psyche. It doesn't matter
that Satan, or the idea of Satan, may be built on even older Pagan beings. The
psyche, the deep emotional/intuitive place that hums and buzzes when in the
presences of myths that speak to us, cares little for scholarly nuance. That
part of us resonates to that with which it has been infused over a lifetime.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This deep intuitive/emotional place in the psyche is the
place that rebels when someone speaks Lord's Prayer backwards. This deep place
is the reason that those who claim to reject Christianity still respond so
strongly to Christian symbols.<br />
<br />
The conscious and unconscious mind is only rarely
in alignment. This is the deep place that allows Hebrew psalms to work
effective magick even for those who would find the idea of bending the knee to
Yahweh unthinkable. This is the deep place wherein Christ/Yahweh and
Christianity is both loved and hated, embraced and rejected.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Don't expect the unconscious mind to make sense, reason
isn't its strength. It is perfectly capable of holding contradictory
beliefs/perceptions/worldviews at once without experience the cognitive
dissonance that would cripple the conscious mind. Satan dwells in the deep places of the psyche beyond the
influence of the relatively weak and ephemeral conscious mind and with him
dwells Jesus/Yahweh.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFS4_q5rQ6M59h6gkGR2A3b2JkP0pijhwZI9pYUnqjb45oG4kw6EoRPGrkbeQY5Mn1uMj3zourQtf3FuTd-m2O_RP8Cs-aDnqzY8o1AZgnqA9PI_t3IV4G9TmdODDdJmUVj3XsrOHin5ul/s1600/JsesusvsSatan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFS4_q5rQ6M59h6gkGR2A3b2JkP0pijhwZI9pYUnqjb45oG4kw6EoRPGrkbeQY5Mn1uMj3zourQtf3FuTd-m2O_RP8Cs-aDnqzY8o1AZgnqA9PI_t3IV4G9TmdODDdJmUVj3XsrOHin5ul/s320/JsesusvsSatan.jpg" width="320" /></a>Some can and will be able to caste off all unconscious
remnants of our nominally Christian culture. Those that can should feel free to
walk away from all Christian symbols, gods, and spirits without regret.<br />
<br />
However,
those that cannot or, deep down, would rather not, should not. These Witches
and magicians should continue to use Christian symbols, gods, and spirits and
can do so successfully. Sometimes it is easier to work with the contents of the
unconscious than it is to attempt to change them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 12.88px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No talk of Satan in Wicca, Paganism in general, or magickal
culture, is complete without the equal <o:p></o:p><br />
and opposite recognition that
Christ/Yahweh is the very sovereign being honored while one is arguing for
Satan's inclusion.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-32940587185550530812015-11-22T22:49:00.002-05:002016-06-04T01:23:19.029-04:00Balancing Personal Will and Permissive Will in Magickal Practice<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eY6IyMv8z0rgEv6K63BSqenx5Ok8jJNm9ZKQ5kVaXGtDi5gs5tpmBRjKlf6NyqqD-5jBdJZQPpYvbhI6HNdiu-pfQzLF5QfgPXh36YImoJ4tP7snHQHgheJI5grUlTKhGPbV34sx7w5t/s1600/RockUphill.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_eY6IyMv8z0rgEv6K63BSqenx5Ok8jJNm9ZKQ5kVaXGtDi5gs5tpmBRjKlf6NyqqD-5jBdJZQPpYvbhI6HNdiu-pfQzLF5QfgPXh36YImoJ4tP7snHQHgheJI5grUlTKhGPbV34sx7w5t/s1600/RockUphill.png" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>That word is 'willing.' It's an attitude and spirit of cooperation that should permeate our conversations. It's like a palm tree by the ocean that endures the greatest winds because it knows how to gracefully bend. ” </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>- Stephen Kendrick, The Love Dare</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />There's something inherently curious about the "Will." Anyone deeply involved in magick is well aware that one's will is of great importance...the will directs the intention, the energy, the spirits, etc. toward one's desired end.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Curiously though, I have found over the years that, even as a magician, one should not overvalue the personal will. What I mean to say is that there are times when our will can lead us seriously astray, times when getting what we thought we wanted would have been far worse than not. Sometimes the will can be countervened in a way that makes our magick seem as if it failed when in fact our "failure" to manifest a desired outcome leads us to something better that what we wished for.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then there are times when magick happens without the involvement of our personal will. These times, linked to one's alliances with one's gods, spirits, HGA, Higher Self, etc., and the natural harmony with reality brought about by spiritual practices such as meditation, prayer, yoga, qigong, etc. allow what is best for us to flow to us not by will, but by "willingness" or Permissive Will....which is receptive state of non-doing, non-craving, natural flow. <br /><br />In Taoism, this state of being is called "Wu Wei." Wu Wei is a state of non-doing, non-craving, effortless flow that, within the context of magickal practice, implies a deep trust in the gods, ancestors, spirits, etc. to provide for you that which is in alignment with your deepest needs.<br /><br />It has been my experience that these times of effortless alignment to our own Highest Good (often a good unknown to the personal will) are times when we are granted boons far greater than those we would have received if had impressed the desires of our will upon the universe...thereby pushing for a specific, limited outcome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It seems to me that one must balance one's active "will" with one's receptive "willingness." It seems that one's True Will is to be found more so in the latter than the former, at least until such time as one's personal will is in greater natural harmony with the will of the One Thing (who we may see manifest as God, Goddess, the Self, the gods, etc.) which is, in my understanding, naturally aligned to that which is best for all beings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What is "best" is may or may not be what is, from our limited perspective, what is best for the individual ego-personality, but instead what is necessary for that being holistically (in regards to the entirety of the individual)....even if, from the view of the ego-personality, what is needed appears terrible, tragic, or needless. This is a different perspective, and one, at odds unfortunately with the prevailing paradigm of magickal practice which tends to confuse the True Will with the desires and predilections of the magician's ego-personality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The axiom "As above, so below" comes to mind here. The "above" is that Will that knows more, knows better, and knows deeper than the the personal will (which is the "below") because it has a far vaster perspective. In aligning the "below" with the "above" we naturally come into alignment with experiences, awareness, knowledge, and wisdom that is more in keeping with our needs than than that which we could have manifested without that alignment by relying on the lower will alone.</span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-54475390593143983242015-09-30T09:52:00.000-04:002016-06-06T05:17:51.960-04:00Compassion and Cages<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<div style="color: #141823; line-height: 12.88px;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphxSQJdCvXNsriSCrLDgcYLSEPgezB9L-iMsLeMNvtvhfFEataz4bPu4BrSzIBp7Kw3a1xOKzQtNyoH1VNkF71xkbpnYszQytvWxjhMh-BoVr0-xBL761CnRjROoyIkJ6spyFY-icAnUU/s1600/Caged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiphxSQJdCvXNsriSCrLDgcYLSEPgezB9L-iMsLeMNvtvhfFEataz4bPu4BrSzIBp7Kw3a1xOKzQtNyoH1VNkF71xkbpnYszQytvWxjhMh-BoVr0-xBL761CnRjROoyIkJ6spyFY-icAnUU/s320/Caged.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><i>“You can do what you decide to do — but you cannot decide what you will decide to do.” </i></span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><i><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><span style="color: #666600; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Sam Harris</span></span><span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><span id="quote_book_link_13259270" style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: #666600;">Free Will</span></span></i><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #141823;">Gods know I'm as guilty as anyone else, so I don't excuse myself in the words that follow. This article is just as much for me as it is for anyone reading it.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">We need, collectively, to be able to demonstrate compassion to those with whom we strongly disagree. That compassion is born of, among other things, understanding that, to a large extent, each of us is the product of our experiences and environment.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">I do believe that there are deeper forces at play in who we are and who we eventually become, but for the sake of the discussion that follows, experience and environment are enough.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">The beliefs, perspectives, and values we carry are, to a greater or lesser extent, the product of our culture and upbringing. Like a fish in a lake, our culture is the very substance wherein we live and move, to such an extent that we are often blind to its existence around, or impact on, us.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="line-height: 12.88px;">The cultural realities we have come to accept are not revealed truth, they are merely relative realities that would have been completely different had we been born and raised in a different time and place. </span></span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: 12.88px;">For the most part, we are who we are because of when and where we are. That may be an uncomfortable truth, but truth it is.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">If we can but realize this, we will realize that we needn't hate those with whom we disagree. We can wholly reject another's principles, values, beliefs, and ideals while still recognizing, as they say, "but for the grace of God go I." We may have been those who are the targets of our scorn, mockery, and ire, if only we had their life experience or lived within the confines of their paradigm.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">This recognition does not completely lift the onus of an individual's responsibility or agency. Instead, by recognizing that we are, in many ways, the product of our time and place, we are able to be more cognizant of the limits of responsibility and agency in regards to what we believe.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">Free will is only operative within the constraints of culturally prescribed boundaries. Because most of humanity is not composed of visionaries, mystics, artists, etc., those who seem to be able to see beyond the limits of culture and time, it behooves us to accept the limits of most individuals' capacities to exercise what we commonly refer to as free will.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">Only those who can see the confines of the cage within which they live can exercise the choice to choose freedom. One cannot escape a prison one fails to recognize.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">Culture, traditions, religions, etc. are all, in a manner of speaking, cages. At different times in our lives any of these structures are not only useful, they are necessary to provide the stability needed for healthy growth within a culture. However, it is one thing to know and accept the boundaries of a cage that are at variance comforting, helpful, and stabilizing, it is entirely something else to believe that one's preferred structure is universally valid or divinely mandated truth for all people at all times.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">Recognizing that until we reach a very refined level of awareness, a level of awareness wherein a chosen structure becomes recognized for the purely aesthetic choice it is (as opposed to the vessel of certainty and truth we once accepted it to be) we are all bound to a greater or lesser extent within our personal cage. This awareness, that we too are bound, can be a source of profound understanding and compassion.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">If you or I are not, yet, fully free, then we cannot expect those with whom we have strong disagreement to be fully free of blinders, limitations and boundaries (ie. their cage) either. Our political and ideological enemies are merely trapped in cage different from our own.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">However, despite strenuous and valid philosophical/Ideological conflict with those with whom we share little in terms of values and vision, we needn't hate those who wish us to share their cage because, for them, that cage is the only world they know.</span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; orphans: 1;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 12.88px;">Reject the cage, even hate the cage, but we needn't hate those trapped within.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #141823; line-height: 12.88px; orphans: 1;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-71609044733385075082015-08-27T22:55:00.000-04:002015-08-28T11:39:10.313-04:00Wear Your Label Lightly - Paradigms Needn't Imprison<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_55df56d5672463355563636">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQYon7l5Qs5OUEG79zKtLOzX4ukxKEyiM05NTpUcPWhXl7d4SllO74aK9H4AHh5OnOhhoqh0t4erMktp1ckgbflRPHUljQwE9AxgXMbo8HW5gFjBm4cOS3mkjAzDENyHQfE3qL6kqpaqO/s1600/Prison+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsQYon7l5Qs5OUEG79zKtLOzX4ukxKEyiM05NTpUcPWhXl7d4SllO74aK9H4AHh5OnOhhoqh0t4erMktp1ckgbflRPHUljQwE9AxgXMbo8HW5gFjBm4cOS3mkjAzDENyHQfE3qL6kqpaqO/s320/Prison+1.jpg" width="320" /></a>I tend to wear labels loosely, more for ease of dialog than anything else. A label is a descriptor and nothing more and need only be a box, imprisoning and petrifying, when you make it so.<br />
<br />
Too often many seem inclined to use their chosen label as not only a helpful descriptor, but as a prison that defines, for them, all that they may experience, accept, understand and know. That which falls outside the parameters of the box is ignored or rejected.<br />
<br />
This is, in my opinion, spi<span class="text_exposed_show">ritually deadly because no tradition contains within itself the totality of all possible human spiritual experiences and awareness. Sophisticated traditions will contain more than enough of reality within their paradigm to take the seeker to the point wherein the tradition is no longer needed. Less sophisticated traditions may be barely fleshed enough to keep an aspirant growing past the early years of spiritual practice and experience. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show"></span>Due to the realities of the modern world and it’s abundant freedom to seek outside the commonplace, the paths many of us have chosen are either new, yet informed by ancient myth, principles, and practices, or truly ancient, yet gutted and skeletal due to the influence of cultural forces that ever seek to obliterate and demonize those beliefs unlike their own. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBPKgo04mSSbvfS31r5ont42eJa6t93dTsiZRd2XKedWMjGGQZKzgEiIZJnZKZOLQP6ggvvnzFjsmEpQHHnz25b3RtVWlF6D54CA8Db34_gYKpK4roohhGTFtbsTe-ztPQu5M2DGVoRb8/s1600/pathway-to-sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfBPKgo04mSSbvfS31r5ont42eJa6t93dTsiZRd2XKedWMjGGQZKzgEiIZJnZKZOLQP6ggvvnzFjsmEpQHHnz25b3RtVWlF6D54CA8Db34_gYKpK4roohhGTFtbsTe-ztPQu5M2DGVoRb8/s320/pathway-to-sky.jpg" width="213" /></a>Both new paths with ancient roots and ancient paths denuded of the purity of their folklore and sacred myths, often leave blanks that need filling. These “blanks” are the experiences and awareness that are not within the purview of a given path or tradition to express or comprehend at least in its modern manifestation.<br />
<br />
Thus are many of us called to learn from living traditions. We seek to fill in the gaps left behind by the cruelties of time, war, and forgetfulness. We learn and we grow, gleaning insight wherever it is to be found and, if we are wise, rejecting nothing merely because it fails to fall within the parameters of the labels with which we have chosen to define ourselves. <br />
<br />
What we come to understand, through study and experience, we use, even if such choices violate the purity parameters of those mired in paradigms that reject all truth inexpressible within their own tradition.<br />
<br />
Dare I say, truth is truth, even if one’s chosen tradition doesn't have the language to express it. <br />
<br />
As your needs demand, be part of a tradition or path that suits you. However, it’s best to wear the label you’ve chosen as lightly as possible for truth tends to travel best through traditions, paths, and labels so light as to be transparent.<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-88789654076574795862015-08-26T21:34:00.001-04:002015-08-27T00:27:57.689-04:00Prayer to Isis Panthea - A Modern Pagan's Prayer to the Great Goddess as Ground of Being<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWoVJ7kB2CKNQgnz_nj4gIOOhYxq7ewMFvzsQpEQNPC4AaRQ0ye66t_GLfExq5VoR4ppyFpP-xnC0gQiva2BYc9J905wpwBOjoTIQebttrIsc5mMEPDDohxwFg2Z1_dywHqhZBMQx9bVC/s1600/Writing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPWoVJ7kB2CKNQgnz_nj4gIOOhYxq7ewMFvzsQpEQNPC4AaRQ0ye66t_GLfExq5VoR4ppyFpP-xnC0gQiva2BYc9J905wpwBOjoTIQebttrIsc5mMEPDDohxwFg2Z1_dywHqhZBMQx9bVC/s320/Writing.jpg" width="320" /></a>This is going to be, for me, a relatively brief blog post as its purpose is to impart the words I was inspired to put to paper, so to speak, upon arising from meditation this evening.<br />
<br />
In all my years as a Pagan magician and mystic (30+yrs at this point) I have come to understand that all I need to know or experience, in terms of spiritual awareness, has ever been made available to me via the vehicle of committed spiritual practice. No amount of study, stimulating conversation with either like-minded or challenging souls, or intellectual rumination can help one come to terms with spiritual, magickal, and mystical realities the way dedicated spiritual practice can.<br />
<br />
Spiritual awareness is, in this context, akin to falling in love.<br />
<br />
No amount of reading up on the subject of falling in love can truly prepare one for the reality of what it really means to fall in love. Of course, one can read all about the evolutionary benefits of pair bonding, the neuro-chemical tides released by the brain when one feels love, or any number of brute, and often sadly reductionistic, facts on the subject of love as a biological reality. One may even accomplish being seen as either quite intelligent or as an insufferable bore, depending on the company one keeps, due to the ability to regurgitate such trivia on demand.<br />
<br />
However, despite the fact one's brain is brimming with others' thoughts on the subject of love, none of this second-hand knowledge will be more than a footnote in the awareness of one who has actually fallen in love. The thoughts of others on the subject of love are swept away in a tsunami of personal experience that makes pale and shallow the pedestrian intellectualizing that once served as truth.<br />
<br />
Such is the experience of the Divine for those who are willing to set aside being armchair magicians and mystics and who, instead, are willing to do the work and experience for ourselves what others merely talk about.<br />
<br />
My theology is distinctly monistic (basically Panentheistic Dialectical Monism) in approach and though, nowadays, monism seems to have fallen on hard times within some sectors of the Pagan Community, I've never been one to pay much, if any, attention to the theological squabbles of others, I have always sought instead to follow the path of practice, study, and personal gnosis.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7bYATlZRM_TfuSYoEHdY9m93oQ8siy6gu0A9D30Bw31Q_5tsW85qAqvZRLlYwsql4LLcH5SD5UanISd5zAaza1PdVoNCz4BDQn8-wezbGbUZL84Tum7jBzAP4DX0RrvypKx2d1mdtl6J7/s1600/Isis+Rising.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7bYATlZRM_TfuSYoEHdY9m93oQ8siy6gu0A9D30Bw31Q_5tsW85qAqvZRLlYwsql4LLcH5SD5UanISd5zAaza1PdVoNCz4BDQn8-wezbGbUZL84Tum7jBzAP4DX0RrvypKx2d1mdtl6J7/s400/Isis+Rising.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isis Rising by Gilbert Williams</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Prayer to Isis Panthea</span></h3>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who love, but you who love through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who touch, but you who touch through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who embrace, but you who embrace through
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who perceive, but you who perceive through
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who feel joy, but you who feel joy through
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who weep, but you who weep through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who sorrow, but you who sorrow through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who rage and anguish at cruelty and injustice, but you
whose righteousness is manifest both through the severity of justice the mercy
of compassion who moves through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who reach out, but you who reach out
through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who bring healing, but you who heal
through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not my virtue through which I live in accord
with Ma’at, but by you who are the heart of all virtue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who breathe, but you who breathe through
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are my Mother.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are my Lover.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are my Beloved.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are Sovereign of the Elements.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are Mother of the Gods.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are the Supreme Mystery whose veil none
have lifted.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is you who are both Seeker and That Which is Sought,
both the Sacred Journey and its Destination.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not I who live, but you who live through me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I breathe my last breath, It is not I who shall
die, but you who shall pass through the Gates of Death and it is not I who
shall be reborn, but you who shall be reborn again to participate in the Great
Dance, you who are dancer, the stage, and song.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Praise unto you Mother Isis, you who are
my Guide, my Wisdom, and none other than my own Divine Self.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-81176279652192507422015-07-02T06:55:00.002-04:002015-08-04T16:44:00.142-04:00In the Name of Isis Myrionymos - An Offertory Rite<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHVSOeg6b-mUyqYcs_5MgMuhzP7qZxH58aLtyD3WIkwU7Z6GNPOmZwNaqEoj6q8okErdgwSpLgAzrU0DbXNPhe63ZNdHEbf_APhjTlufLdD0cYdSJvUv7C3-00rrXtbWvpdSqdYAPe5smT/s320/Isis.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="213" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman Isis</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This rite is one I have been using, in one form or another, for a few years and is one that is built, structurally and conceptually, upon that which is found in Jason Miller's (Inominandom's) writings in both his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Secrets-Strategies-Practical-Magick-ebook/dp/B002VDF5IG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437731349&sr=1-1&keywords=strategic+sorcery&pebp=1437731350441&perid=019DXKDV1FNX9S9VBQNT" target="_blank">The Sorcerer's Secrets </a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sorcerers-Secrets-Strategies-Practical-Magick-ebook/dp/B002VDF5IG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437731349&sr=1-1&keywords=strategic+sorcery&pebp=1437731350441&perid=019DXKDV1FNX9S9VBQNT" target="_blank">Book</a> and <a href="http://www.inominandum.com/homelesson.html" target="_blank">Strategic Sorcery Course</a>. Taking inspiration from the above works, I have, as any magician worth their salt is wont to do, reworked the rite so that it is in more direct alignment my personal spiritual/magickal practice and paradigm.<br /><br />This rite is presented, not as a piece of reconstructed ancient praxis, but as the work of a practicing magician and mystic dedicated to the Goddess Isis. The theology underlying this rite is that of theistic monism/panentheism though a practitioner with a more hard-polytheistic theology can use this rite in a henotheistic theological framework just as easily.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The gods are bigger than our traditions, theologies and cosmologies, so allow yourself to experience the rite and draw your own conclusions via your own gnosis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This rite is both an offering to Isis as well as an offering to all spirits both benign and malevolent, allies and enemies, in Her name. In my experience, making offerings in a great god's name, or even self-identifying as a god (directly as in when one assumes a godform or via implication within the language of a rite) grants the magician great spiritual authority and cools the wrath of angry spirits who, though ill-disposed to the magician, respect the authority of dominion of the deity in question.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>What you will need for the rite</b>:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1 Pillar or other tall, long-burning candle (6"-9" or larger is best). The candle should be white, sky-blue, emerald, or turquoise. I prefer white because this candle represents both the Goddess Isis as separate, sovereign Goddess as well as Isis as immanent Ground of Being and Self of the magician/priest(ess).<br /><br />Carve the following symbols on the candle:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The symbolism is multivalent for each of these images, but, for the purposes of this rite, their meaning is in the captions below. While carving the image, concentrate on the meaning of the symbol in question. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Note on the symbol of Sirius/Sopdet below. Feel free to carve only the 5-pointed star image of Sirius/Sopdet alone if the full hieroglyph</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is too unwieldy.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_Q-ywn6V0zbiu5O1YSENWrv6KLspxuRIbpNQ0X5S2mi3clrM7d_4cRevh29qcYUrqhrobIj4HodxV3Mglsd4-eSx4UO03nuIDU2pTcZ0FR0JurF-muLXHiN_03L1XgEPk_ZwVtOxuVx0/s1600/Ankh.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3_Q-ywn6V0zbiu5O1YSENWrv6KLspxuRIbpNQ0X5S2mi3clrM7d_4cRevh29qcYUrqhrobIj4HodxV3Mglsd4-eSx4UO03nuIDU2pTcZ0FR0JurF-muLXHiN_03L1XgEPk_ZwVtOxuVx0/s200/Ankh.png" width="103" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ankh - Symbol of eternal life, spiritual authority, and protection</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrjgqBWrumF54BCNfT5jFfVwvT9zKqcebMGWu0fy3r52PVBJUl-IgpR9FadoXfIQComnSfwNlX_o7nlIJON_FKZqM_i4UwFTcTNLgUmYYzYDnV3Y5AgZ2x0vs2oFl6rBTQYUh5kI34Ugz/s1600/Throne.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVrjgqBWrumF54BCNfT5jFfVwvT9zKqcebMGWu0fy3r52PVBJUl-IgpR9FadoXfIQComnSfwNlX_o7nlIJON_FKZqM_i4UwFTcTNLgUmYYzYDnV3Y5AgZ2x0vs2oFl6rBTQYUh5kI34Ugz/s200/Throne.png" width="76" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Throne of Isis - Symbol of Isis as Ground of Being</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaQ8gNHHkCFsSFea6FU5NYBSxFMqDuoCNSHUnOy_GEIaqpcJT43tVNOu2ueG_VW44FzR_IOPDwobqu7hfbPm4PjlBCjIpMVvo6PMzm6oDryr5aR4xf9KxIpdiZk2IiYjtGB3TWqSvR6MKH/s1600/sirius_heiroglyph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaQ8gNHHkCFsSFea6FU5NYBSxFMqDuoCNSHUnOy_GEIaqpcJT43tVNOu2ueG_VW44FzR_IOPDwobqu7hfbPm4PjlBCjIpMVvo6PMzm6oDryr5aR4xf9KxIpdiZk2IiYjtGB3TWqSvR6MKH/s1600/sirius_heiroglyph.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sirius/Sopdet - Sacred star of Goddess Isis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfeuhBWQbBz9Xq8eQxeN10BXE1WA3bMzh95q-c1HawqE4C7gUN9QcIF4VF5a0B0-SdWRdvVGUUnNeE5-RvNFeXzOqsjXZCCAxRGbGuAPt7YiSXCp4ruaUFplyOphJK5qG-ykq6m-CCY0lV/s1600/heka1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfeuhBWQbBz9Xq8eQxeN10BXE1WA3bMzh95q-c1HawqE4C7gUN9QcIF4VF5a0B0-SdWRdvVGUUnNeE5-RvNFeXzOqsjXZCCAxRGbGuAPt7YiSXCp4ruaUFplyOphJK5qG-ykq6m-CCY0lV/s200/heka1.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heka - Symbol of magickal power</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anoint the candle with an altar oil containing oils and scents </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(at least largely) </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sacred to Isis such as </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 15.5999994277954px;">lotus, balsam, amber oil, cedarwood, sandalwood, cinnamon, myrrh, and sweet orange. Abramelin oil is an all-around good choice.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="line-height: 15.5999994277954px;">Place the candle centrally on the altar Place any and all offerings to be made between yourself and the central candle as altar space allows.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: center;">Begin by creating Sacred Space in the manner in which you are most familiar/comfortable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Calm yourself via rhythmic breath, meditative focus, or self-hypnotic/trance process. Consider that you are entering into a "space between", a liminal space between the worlds so as to commune with gods and spirits. <br /><br />Contemplate for a moment, your sacred space as a timeless/eternal moment, the "Zep Tepi" or "First Time/Occasion", if you will, the very moment of Creation/Being Itself.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Invocation of Isis</span></b></div>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O Great Isis, Nutjeret Weret, thou who art Mother of the Gods, Sovereign of the Elements, Foundation of the the Created Order, First Born Daughter of The Timeless Void, Lady of the Sky, the Earth, the Underworld, the Water, the Mountains, and the Nun, I beseech thee to heed my invocation.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>O Isis </i></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #333333; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Myrionymos</i></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>, Beautiful in All Thy Names,</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee with the breath of my body,</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee with the beat of my heart,</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee with the pulse of my life,</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee with the words of my mouth,</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee with the thoughts of my mind.</i></span><br />
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<i>I call Thee Power and Life and Creation.<span style="color: red;">1</span></i></span><br />
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<i>I call upon thee...</i></span><br />
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<i>Isis Panthea</i> (Isis as All-Goddess....Her aspect as All in All, the Alpha and the Omega)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Nepherses</i> (Isis of the Beautiful Throne...Her aspect as foundation of Creation, Immanent Divinity)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Melaenis</i> (Isis the Dark One....cthonic/underworld aspect)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Psychopompos</i> (Isis the Guide of Souls...underworld/liminal aspect)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Phosphoros</i> (Isis the Light Bringer....liminal/solar aspect)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Pansotera</i> (Isis the Savior of All...solar/transcendent aspect)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Pantokrator </i>(Isis the Goddess of All Things/All Ruling... Isis as Sovereign Divinity)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Light the candle specifically consecrated to Goddess Isis saying aloud 7 times either in the original Latin or in English (once for each of the sacred directions North, East, South, West, Above, Below, and Within and the Seven Classical Planets):</span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">Una</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">quae es omnia</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">Dea Isis</span></i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;"><br />(OOH-NAH KWAY ES OHM-knee-uh DEE-uh EES EES)</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;"><i><br />“Being One, Thou art all, Goddess Isis.” </i>(English translation from the Latin)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 12.1333341598511px;">Draw an ankh with the index finger of your dominant hand over the candle flame, saying:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br />Isis Panthea, unto you All-Mother, Beloved One, Divine Self do I make all offerings and in thy name do I offer unto others these gifts. Great Mother, smile upon this rite and bless all who choose to attend.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(Allow yourself to feel gratitude)</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Purification of Offerings</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Place hands in the shape of the Triangle of Manifestation with palms directly over the offering.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9O8YEQYJ8ZeJkxxlzgKnVsNOYzbI6e5PeTD8Q5WH5uiKmlfRmNJ7GG_Uc_CwwumjFg4bo2KqN9DcAG8yDgOsBsM62P4SjPa4lUjkfxv1a6krm4xkJCRBm0SaLPsMc5ajlkDBGbfsgqGMY/s1600/hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9O8YEQYJ8ZeJkxxlzgKnVsNOYzbI6e5PeTD8Q5WH5uiKmlfRmNJ7GG_Uc_CwwumjFg4bo2KqN9DcAG8yDgOsBsM62P4SjPa4lUjkfxv1a6krm4xkJCRBm0SaLPsMc5ajlkDBGbfsgqGMY/s1600/hands.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Say the following (while imagining, utilizing as many senses as possible, the elemental power flowing over and cleansing the offering):<br /><br /><i>By Earth, the Body of Isis </i>(visualize a great mountain range...involve any senses you can...all impurities are crushed and transformed under the immensity of Earth)</span><br />
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<i>By Air, the Breath of Isis</i> (visualize strong breezes blowing the leaves of trees....involve any senses you can...all impurities are blown/borne away by Air)</span><br />
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<i>By Water, Her Flowing Blood</i> (visualize a wave tossed ocean or perhaps a river...involve any senses you can....all impurities are washed away by Water)</span><br />
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<i>By Fire, Her Everlasting Spirit</i><span style="color: red;"> </span>(visualize a conflagration....involve any senses you can...all impurities are burned away)</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Invitation</span></b></h3>
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ave (Hail or Greetings) Angelos! Ave Daemones! Ave Daimones!</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Come! Come!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Ave Perfected and Timeless Ones!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Ancient, Holy, and Shining Ones!<br />Come Come!<br /><br />Ave Elysian Powers and Duat's Hosts!</i><i>Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Tutulary Spirits, Friends, Guardians and Guides!<br />Come! Come!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Ave Salamanders and Spirits of Flame!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Sylphs and Spirits of Air!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Undines and Spirits of Water!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Gnomes and Spirits of Earth!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Spirits of Place and Sleepers Within the Land!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Restless Spectres and Unquiet Dead!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave Eidolons of Ill Will, Wrathful Spirits, Gods, and Hungry Ghosts!<br />Come! Come!<br /><br />Ave! Ave! Come and be welcome! Be Seated at the table set forth for you in the name of Isis Panthea, Queen of Heaven, Earth and the Underworld, and in her name partake of these offerings, allowing them to become that which is your heart's desire.<br /><br />May these offerings cause there to be continued amity between myself and those spirits who are friend, guide, guard and ally unto me. May those spirits tasked with doing my will, either as boon gift or in the spirit of reciprocity, make haste manifesting that which I desire.<br /><br />May these offerings cause peace to flourish between myself and those spirits, gods, and wights from whom, through my carelessness, ignorance or laziness I have earned enmity or wrath. May their hearts be softened toward me and may their be understanding between us.<br /><br />Ave! Ave! Welcome guests! Partake of this bounty, eat thy fill and be sated. <br /><br />In the spirit of hospitality do I forgive all debts and ask that my debts be forgiven me.</i></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Making the Offering</b></h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you are offering incense, light it at this time. Nag Champa and Song of India's "Indian Temple Incense" make fine offerings for this rite, but feel free to choose according to your own desires and experience.</span><br />
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Place your hands, cupped over your offering(s) in the following gesture. Say the following while visualizing the essence of the offerings arising into your cupped hands and then overflowing from your upturned palms (I generally see this as a vaporous silvery-white mist):<br /><br /><i>May these offerings, multiplied infinitely by the power of Aether... arise to the Celestial Heavens</i> (see the essence of the offering((s) rise into the sky, filling it).<br /><i><br />May these offerings pervade</i><i> this Earthy Sphere, the land, sea, and sky </i>(see the essence of the offering(s) filling the material world).<br /><i><br />May these offerings descend into the Cthonic Deeps of the Underworld</i> (see the essence of the offering(s) descending beneath your feet deep into the earth).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><i>May this (these) offering(s) be transformed into that which is most pleasing to all who deign to share in this bounty.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />After speaking these words, take each offering and lift it up, presenting it in a sense, to the entire space in a sunward (clockwise) direction either walking the circumference of your sacred space or, if space is limited, pivoting from direction to direction.<br /><br />Say in a joyful and generous spirit:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Ave! Ave! Partake! Partake all ye gods, daimons, daemons, land-wights, elementals, and shades.</i></span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />ENOIGESAN AI PYLAI TOU OURANOU!</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>(open the pylons of the heavens)</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Visualize the heavens opening up over your head, all the heavenly realms open to you.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ENOIGESAN AI PYLAI TOU CHTHONOS!</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>(open the pylons of the earth)</i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Visualize the earth opening up beneath your feet, all of the Underworld opens to you.</i><br />
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<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PASAI DYNAMEIS HYMNEITE XAIPETE SYN EMOI!</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>(rejoice with me all the powers) <span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;">2</span></i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></i>
<i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Enjoy! Enjoy and take your fill!</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(Allow yourself to feel gratitude and try to sense the gratitude of those in attendance.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Dismissal</b></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Honored guests at my table, the time of our communion is at an end. Take your fill and leave in peace.</i><br /><br />Wait the span of a few breaths.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ave atque vale</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">! (</span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>I salute you...and goodbye) </i></span><i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This rite is done. </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Allies, guides, guards, and friends may this (these) shared gift(s) strengthen the bonds of respect, alliance, and trust between us. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ave atque vale</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This rite is done.<br /><br />Honored guests who have come in wrath, fear, or mistrust be at peace. May trust, respect and understanding bloom between us.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ave atque vale</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">!</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This rite is done.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Return unto your abodes with my gratitude ye wanderers, ye shades, ye ancient and shining ones. Go with my blessing which I offer in the name of...</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Isis Panthea, She who is All in All</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Isis Psychopompus, Goddess of the Threshold and Guide of Souls</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>and Isis Pantokrator, All-Sovereign Mother</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Be blessed! Be Blessed!</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ave atque vale</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">!</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>This rite is done.</i></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So mote it be! </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(...just because I prefer this closing. Choose another phrasing if preferred)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Snuff or blow-out the candle as appropriate for your path/tradition. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that the rite has concluded, feel free to sit in meditation in the space, being open to all experience and awareness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;">1</span> Borrowed directly from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Cultivating-Relationship-Goddess-Names/dp/1939112001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437730802&sr=8-1&keywords=Isis+magic&pebp=1437730800795&perid=1XXKR7EF1GFMEY8Q4GK1" target="_blank">Isis Magic</a> by Isidora Forrest</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;">2</span> Borrowed directly from the <a href="http://www.inominandum.com/homelesson.html" target="_blank">Strategic Sorcery Course</a> by Jason Miller</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-71872292495371721692014-07-06T22:02:00.003-04:002014-11-30T07:26:13.111-05:00The Weighing of the Heart....or...How Not to Get Eaten by Ammit<div style="display: inline;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Weighing of the Heart</td></tr>
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<em>"Forgiveness and love, cannot be earned, deserved, bought, sold, won, or forced. They are a gift and should never be taken for granted or expected. Only accepted."</em></div>
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<span class="smtext"></span><br />
<span class="smtext"><em>-Hussein Nishah</em></span><br />
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The "Weighing of the Heart" ritual seen in the Book of Coming forth by Day is, for me, like most spiritual teachings, reflective of something deeper than a plain reading would otherwise indicate. On it's face, the Weighing of the Heart appears to be simple "be good or get punished" morality teaching not unlike the Annihilationist view of Hell espoused by some members of the Christian faith. Sure, it's more merciful than the eternal torment motif presented by traditional Christian theology, but it's still a simplistic "be good, get rewarded" "be bad, get punished" morality the likes of which I, admittedly have little time for. Like most sacred concepts, I think that the key to the reality beyond the metaphor is to be found, not in a simplistic "be good and don't do bad things" morality (which is inarguably a wise manner in which to comport one's self), but in a deeper reading of what the <span style="color: red;">*</span>Weighing of the Heart actually implies. <br />
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How does one, even metaphorically, place one's heart and it's burdens against a feather and expect it to weight less? It seems impossible because, on its face, it is. But, like most moral dictates reflective of spiritual mastery, the imagery, the metaphor, is extreme so as to make a stark point. Not unlike Christ's command that those who would choose to follow him must (according to Luke 14:26) hate their families and even their lives in order to be his disciple, the imagery of the weighing of the heart poses a difficult or even impossible dilemma for the soul about to face judgment. <br />
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The heart's weight is, mythically, judged against the 42 Negative Confessions, which are a set of precepts in alignment with Ma'at who is both the goddess of Divine Law and the personification of that Law. Upon reading the Negative Confessions, the reader, if honest, will certainly come to the inescapable conclusion that Ammit awaits and his or her soul is doomed to be devoured by the great beast. The challenge of the Negative Confessions is that it is effectively, in my opinion (and experience of Divinity), impossible to have failed to violate any number of Divine Principles over the course of one's lifetime (many times). The 42 Negative Confessions are a blind, or in other words, a smokescreen through which the uninitiated cannot see. A literal approach to the Weighing of the Soul leads to a decidedly fatalistic conclusion because all humans stumble, fall and fail from time to time. It's part and parcel of the human condition. Fortunately, the 42 Negative Confessions are a symbol that point the way to the truth. When the wise present an impossibility (a hyperbolic spiritual teaching in this case) it is in order to cause the initiate to look at the problem from different perspective. No spiritual challenge is insurmountable because such challenges are corrective, educational or initiatory in nature and not sadistic or punitive.<br />
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In the case of the Weighing of the Heart and the 42 Negative Confessions, one cannot get around the law, one must transcend it, finding the law behind the written law.<br />
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The fact is that we will all do things, even unintentionally, that are ethically/morally questionable at best or cruel and destructive at worst. Such unintentional "sins" against ourselves, others and the gods are unavoidable, though such missteps should sharply diminish in frequency as one gains wisdom. To have a heavy heart, a heart heavier than a feather, is to bear, unto one's death, the guilt of unforgiven regret. This is the weight of one's sins. Not that we won't feel regret, we will from time to time, but we needn't be crushed under it's weight and we certainly do not need to carry until our last breath.<br />
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How then do we transcend the guilt fed by regret and cause our heart to be weightless? <br />
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One lifts the burdens from one's heart through forgiveness, authentic self-forgiveness. Many methods of forgiveness of self and others have been proposed and, depending on the individual, they can work, however, the type of forgiveness I am going to propose dovetails with the bigger picture of the soul's evolution. <br />
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To forgive in such a way as to have a heart lighter than a feather is to do more than try to let go of the pain and emotional charge of one's regrets, but to instead see the necessary letting go as a side effect of a fundamental shift in consciousness. I am referring to a shift in consciousness that allows one to see the thread of one's life from a broader perspective, a perspective more akin to that of one's HGA, Higher Self, or the gods themselves. This is the perspective of clarity and wisdom undimmed by the ignorance of the ego-self, through its selfishness and thoughtlessness, that sinned against the gods and one's fellow man in the first place. The key is getting off the game board entirely.<br />
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Albert Einstein once said, "“We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them," and he is correct. One's paradigm must shift so as to become more expansive, to see more broadly than we have before. The most elegant way, the way most attuned to our evolution as magicians, mystics and the wise is to actively and dedicatedly commit to our spiritual growth. The change in perspective I'm referring to is the natural outgrowth, the reward if you will, of fundamentally transforming the way in in which you view both yourself and life in general.<br />
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Seeking the face of the Divine whether one calls this the quest for god-realization, self-realization, enlightenment, <span class="st">nirvikalpa samadhi,</span> apotheosis, becoming one of the ancestors, etc. is the method by which one develops the necessary lightness of heart the gods require. Consciously attending to one's spiritual evolution through practices in tune with your personal path, practices such as meditation, qigong, yoga, theurgic ritual, devotional rites, or those means that most suit you is the key to the door that grants access to the understanding of the law at work behind the 42 Negative Confessions. With this attainment, you may see yourself as the gods see you, the being that wears the face you wore before incarnation, the being whose essence never left their side and who is essentially of one substance with them.<br />
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For those that fail to achieve the necessary lightness of heart, being found wanting by the gods, the slavering jaws of Ammit await. Ammit's jaws are not the end, they do however represent the catabolic spiritual process by which the personality is scrubbed from the soul in question, leaving in it's place only forgetfulness, basic patterns of consciousness and, usually, mere echoes (at most) of one's prior existence before being "eaten." Thus is the soul again set to reincarnate into the physical world with all of its learnings and lessons. This is the death offered by Ammit, the annihilation of the personality you know, in this incarnation, as you. For most, this is a terrifying proposition.<br />
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The continuation of the personality intact, enlightened, and knowingly part of a far greater whole is true immortality beyond the Wheel of Return This is the gift of the heart which is lighter than a feather. Each of us, metaphorically speaking, has been devoured by Ammit over and over again lifetime after lifetime and most of us will be devoured again. However, those of us who choose to cultivate the awareness that will allow us to stand tall amongst the Shining Ones in the Hall of Osiris will see and know ourselves as they know us.....<br />
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As Divine.<br />
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<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="color: black;">(</span>*</span> Note that what is contained herein is a modern Pagan theological perspective on the Weighing of the Heart, the Laws of Ma'at, the 42 Negative Confessions and what they represent. This is not an attempt to recreate ancient Egyptian models of thought and no claim is made to that effect by the author. This article is the result of the author's personal gnosis, study and understanding and is not for those of a reconstructionist mindset.)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-69661364216793293962014-07-04T09:30:00.001-04:002014-07-04T10:56:02.810-04:00Antinomianism in Modern Pagan Witchcraft Part 1 (The Witch's Antinomian Aesthetic)<i>“Never the spirit was born;</i><br />
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<i>the spirit shall cease to be never;</i><br />
<i>Never was time it was not;</i><br />
<i>End and Beginning are dreams!</i><br />
<i>Birth-less and deathless and</i><br />
<i>changeless remaineth the spirit forever.</i><br />
<i>Death hath not touched it all,</i><br />
<i>dead though the house of it seems!”</i><br />
- Sir Edwin Arnold<br />
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A lot of Pagans love the darkly mysterious paraphernalia, imagery and settings of what I'll call the "Witch's Antinomian Aesthetic." (just Witch's Aesthetic from here on in) Who isn't drawn to that which represents mystery, antiquity, substance, and power? Animal bones or horns on the altar, half-melted candles on authentic appearing human skulls (imagery that represent mortality and the world of spirits), shadowy décor as often as not bathed in the smoke of burning incense, old leather-bound grimoires, fearful (to non-witches anyway) images of gods like Hekate, Cernunnos, Morrigan, colors such as black and red (death and blood, shadows and passion/power), ravens (Pagans seem to love ravens about as much as we love wolves), the moon (naturally), and night in general are part and parcel of the Witch's Aesthetic. <br />
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I admit it, I love this stuff. Sure, it can be kitschy if overdone, but I love the aesthetic and find it more compelling than other potential aesthetic sensibilities. For me, as an issue of personal taste, the Witch's Aesthetic is simply more appealing than, for example, a New Age aesthetic with its bright, sunny, rainbow-kissed sensibility. However, because I have great respect for the power of symbol and metaphor, especially in a psycho-spiritual/magickal context, I don't casually embrace the Witch's Aesthetic in either my life or my practice. In my experience, to surround one's self with symbols not invested with purpose is to diminish their potency should one choose to eventually use them with purpose. In other words, anything of the Witch's Aesthetic that is on my altar or in my personal space is always placed there with a full awareness of its purpose and meaning. Even I feel it looks "cool" and witchy, those qualities are far and away of less importance than the deep meaning of the object(s) in question.<br />
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It cannot come as a surprise that the Witch's Aesthetic embraces a "darker" sensibility when one considers the fact that witchcraft is essentially an antinomian path. There is an inherent rebellious spirit within the essence of witchcraft, even if that rebellion is, for many, unspoken, unrealized and largely unfocused. To be a witch is to firstly, embrace and reclaim terms (witch and witchcraft) that have, historically speaking, been defined as that which is inherently malevolent. Secondly, to be a witch is to, by varying degrees, stand outside of Western culture and the normative spiritual and religious dynamics of that culture and to be, at least internally, perpetually "other" outside of the Pagan/Witchcraft community. <br />
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Whether consciously or unconsciously, the Witch's Aesthetic embraces what I would term "Sacred Darkness." Sacred Darkness is the holy ground where much of what is fundamental, sacred, and powerful in the human experience has been relegated . Within this Sacred Darkness are all of those things our ever-increasingly post-Christian society still, as a matter of course, rejects due to effect of the stranglehold moral dualism has had on the Western psyche for nearly 2000 years. Christianity, as practiced by the masses (ie. exoterically), is a moralistic, solar faith. All that is sinful, according to exoteric Christianity, has been relegated to the shadows. Much of that which is most powerful in the human experience, that which can be overwhelming, transformative, and dangerous, such as, for example, the natural process of death, has been made to seem an aberration not of this world. Death itself has been sealed away into the Sacred Darkness, demonized and turned into the work of The Enemy to be defeated once and for all when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.<br />
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Can it be any surprise that death, darkness and the seemingly macabre play a role in the Witch's Aesthetic? <br />
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That which is culturally repressed will eventually find voice and the Witch's Aesthetic provides one such voice to a greater or lesser extent. To a greater extent when the aesthetic is consciously adopted to knowingly express/reflect the repressed realities in the context of one's spiritual path and to a lesser extent when one is merely the unconscious voice of Western Society's collective neurosis. <br />
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To consciously choose one's aesthetic and approach is to be empowered and powerful, while to serve as the unwitting voice of the damaged Western Psyche is to be disempowered no matter how "Darkly Powerful" one believes one appears. To be unconscious is, in my opinion, to reflect a kind of angst ridden spiritual adolescence, a rebel without a cause, or as it has been termed, "Dark Fluffy."<br />
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To be continued....<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-15474962327266822102014-06-29T10:24:00.000-04:002014-06-29T11:22:38.492-04:00Thoughts on Magick, Mysticsm and Their Meeting in the Place of Devotion<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="irc_su" dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;">Altar of Devotion By Rassouli</span></td></tr>
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<em>"O Love, O pure deep Love, be here, be now,<br /> Be all – worlds dissolve into your<br /> stainless endless radiance,<br /> Frail living leaves burn with your brighter<br /> than cold stares –<br />Make me your servant, your breath, your core."</em><br />
-Rumi<br />
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Though it is often packaged as such in books geared to both a New Age and Pagan audience, spirituality is not merely an assortment of self-help concepts, processes and techniques presented in a flowery, mysterious, or inspiring manner (depending on the audience in question) and dressed up in mythic drag (being granted gravitas via a sense antiquity), true spirituality is instead about service to something higher than one's ego-self. In its healthiest manifestations, spiritual practice can, and often does, bring about profound and healing changes in both body and mind via the power of changed perception, healthier patterns of thought, diminished stress, the release of psychic baggage and an overall health promoting attitudinal adjustment. <br />
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The known beneficial effects of spiritual practice are most notable for those who, against the prevailing point of view of pop-spirituality, choose to ignore, consciously set aside, and temporarily forget these benefits when stepping in front of the altar. Seeing the healing, comforting, uplifting, and beneficial qualities of one's spiritual practice as primary, as opposed to as the side-effects of proper practice, is to place the cart firmly before the horse. To approach one's spiritual practice from a place of "lust for results" as opposed to a place of mystical relationship is to cause one's self long-term suffering in the form of wordless emptiness, an endless grasping and hunger for the shiny and the novel, and an endless seeking but never finding. The real secret is to approach one's spiritual practice from a place of self-less-ness or true self abnegation (ie. surrender). In doing so, the benefits of spiritual practice more easily manifest.<br />
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Paradoxically, by removing one's self from the equation via an attitude of self-forgetting when performing one's spiritual practices, one is immediately placed in a state of greater alignment, and therefore communion, with one's greater Self (Higher Self, HGA, Atman, Osiris, Christ, Isis, Horus, The Beloved, etc.) which is the very same Self partaken of by all things. As it has been said, "you must lose yourself in order to find your Self."<br />
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Not surprisingly, a magician may find himself initially recoiling from the idea of surrender. Early on, we learn that to be a magician is to be powerful and empowered. We learn to exert our intention and manifest our desires via the techniques of magick. Surrender is for the weak (ie. the religious). In some contexts this attitude would be correct. However, in this case, such an attitude toward the concept of surrender is wrong-headed and limiting. In the context of magickally sound devotional spirituality, self-abnegation can be seen as an act great power and will. It is no small thing, via an act of magickal will, to push aside the grasping selfishness of the ego so as to make room for the manifestation, within the magician, of his or her higher nature. To approach the concept surrender from the place of realizing that the "Will of the Gods" is none other than one's "True Will", the Will that transcends the ephemeral, is wisdom not weakness.<br />
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The realigning of attitude achieved through proper spiritual practice is something that is most vividly seen in the act of making non-reciprocal devotional offerings to one's God(s). The act of giving via taking one's time choosing and obtaining the appropriate offering(s), the implied power dynamic of the "lesser" offering service or gifts to the "greater" out of love, with no thought of personal gain, the act of unbesmirched self-offering, pushes the ego directly off the game board thereby leaving room for the reflection of that which is being served to expand within the magician. This happens naturally and effortlessly. If it is forced, devotion fails, becoming an act of ego-service as opposed to an edifying spiritual act.<br />
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Devotional practice is not about slavish obeisance to a power or powers beyond one's self, but is instead about alignment, the alignment of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The power of alignment, of aligning the self with the Divine, the self with the Self, naturally brings about a state of harmony and balance. As dissonance becomes resonance one experiences greater psychological wholeness, spiritual elevation and the healing of psychic complexes buried deep within the subconscious mind. Harmony and balance, the alchemy that takes place as the microcosm is consciously aligned to the Macrocosm creates emotional, psychological and spiritual health. <br />
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Acts of spiritual devotion are, via the attitude of consciously choosing to give of one's self, one's energy and one's intention, magickal in nature. Acts of spiritual devotion are also, via the kenotic nature of true devotional practice, acts of mysticism. The magick, through intent, action and conscious choice, makes room in the practitioner's consciousness for the work of the mystic, via kenosis, which invites (not commands) the effects of the unforced, natural Grace (the freely offered gift of the gods). In time, the Grace bestowed by proper alignment allows the self to realize the Self, the mortal to immanentize the Divine.<br />
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Thus are magick and mysticism made one in love.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-25110918366664840362014-01-31T18:42:00.000-05:002017-08-05T20:06:26.085-04:00The "New Atheism"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Atheism has come into its own over the last few years primarily, it seems, as a reaction to American Fundamentalist Christianity. Led by the "Four Horsemen" (pictured left) this "New Atheism" has grown in popularity. <br />
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However, like nearly anything else, for me, the novelty has worn off. The truth is that, I have grown quite weary of the New Atheists despite the joy I find in watching them intellectually rend the most superficial and farcical aspects of religion....of which there are, admittedly, a great many. <br />
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Over the years of reading their books and watching innumerable debates in which members of the Four Horsemen (as they are collectively referred to) tear down the most preposterous <span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show">arguments for the existence of God I have come to notice a pattern. I have come to notice that the New Atheists are at their best when they are able to intellectually overwhelm the shoddy arguments of simplistic religious fundamentalists. Their weakness is however, where religious thought is concerned, that they never really wade out, intellectually speaking, past the shallow end of the pool. The deepest understanding of God challenged by the New Atheists is...perhaps...the bad argumentation of the oft quoted C.S. Lewis...and that's only because he has the cache of being a British Intellectual of sorts. Lewis did go to Oxford after all. Lewis' arguments for belief in God are still, in my opinion, weak and full of inconsistencies. That anyone still refers to Lewis' Trilemma, his "Liar, Lunatic or Lord" argument still leaves me scratching my head. <br /><br /> None of these professional critics of religion...and that is what they have become...reflect on deeper or esoteric spiritual thought. Through their good arguments against bad religion, countless people reject the possibility that we are more than delusional meat sacks who erroneously believe there is more to reality than that which can be measured and quantified.<br /><br /> When the New Atheists, as a whole, have the courage to look at the God of Meister Eckhart, Thomas Merton, Ramakrishna, Rumi, Plotinus, Jewish Kabbalists or sophisticated polytheistic religious thinkers, I'll have greater respect for their rather extreme anti-theist arguments. I won't agree with them, but I'll have greater respect for their absolutist points of view. The New Atheists will never tackle the issue of a more sophisticated conception of the Divine because one has to study for years....as well as practice certain disciplines...in order to experience the "God(s)" of the mystics. The New Atheists and their devotees seem painfully unaware that there are many sophisticated and nuanced experiences and understandings of what most in the West call "God."<br /><br /> It's far easier to poke fun at the God of Christian Sunday School than it is to look deeper. To be fair to the New Atheists, there is a great deal to make fun of. What the New Atheists...and their nearly cultic following does well is provide a needed counterbalance to the tide of know-nothing, dumb, fundamentalistic religiosity that is growing more and more common in the U.S. For that, I salute them.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-34176235196427371532014-01-02T07:05:00.000-05:002014-01-02T07:05:38.154-05:00Affirmations, Speaking to Your Subconscious Mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(What follows is a subchapter of a book I was writing when I was around 23 years old. This was initially written for a New Age as opposed to Pagan audience and the presentation reflects that reality. Though my current style of writing is arguably more sophisticated and my point of view no longer New Age, the information herein is still valid even now, 19 years later)</span> <br />
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<em>"A powerful agent is the right word. Whenever we come upon one of those intensely right words...the resulting effect is physical as well as spiritual, and electrically prompt."<br />‑Mark Twain<o:p></o:p></em><br />
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<br />Affirmation has often been considered one of the centerpieces of spiritual/emotional change, especially during the heyday of the New Age movement. Though the practice of affirmation can be invaluable in regards to any growth process, it can only be considered an adjunct to inner work, not a replacement for it.<br /><br /> Affirmation, at its best, is literally the construction of thought. I call affirmation the construction of thought because in essence that's what it is. When creating affirmation, you are setting the tone for your thought patterns. In so doing, you are acting in a fully responsible manner in regards to your mental self.<br /><br /> By using affirmation, you are able to consciously silence the voice of your own inner critic, the part of you who is constantly negative and judgmental. This critic, actually your ego, has in its interest your failure because in that way it will be vindicated,<em> "I told you so, see that's how the world really is". </em><br /> Using affirmation allows you to rewrite the subconscious scripts of your reactions. Instead of being at the mercy of past influences, you decide what you wish to think, and when you wish to think it. This ultimate level of responsibility will, with time and intention, afford you the ability to form entirely new positive belief structures. By creating new belief structures you will be able to experience life on more loving, more spiritual and more abundant terms. <br /><br /> At its worst, affirmation is denial and self‑deception. I say this because the use of affirmation is questionable without first changing the subconscious patterns which so greatly impact our lives. Using affirmation without changing the beliefs, releasing the constricting emotions and ending the twisted desires that form the faulty perceptions through which you see the world, is equivalent to using chewing gum to patch a crack in the Hoover Dam.<br /><br /> Two influences, our beliefs and our emotions, are the final arbiter of our thought processes and this is a truth that cannot be circumvented by any amount of positive thinking. <br /><br /> Early on, when I first started to study alternative forms of spirituality and holistic practices, I quickly started to work with affirmation. Up to that point I had read many accounts of those who had transformed their entire lives via positive thinking. Wow, I thought, if someone could seemingly cure themselves of life a life threatening illness, imagine what I could do, with my comparatively small problems. I was very enthusiastic, because I saw these practices as exactly what I was looking for. <br /><br />My greatest concerns ranged from getting girls to notice me to stopping the incessant taunting of my peers. These, besides my interests in metaphysical pursuits, were my greatest considerations at the time, as befitting a fourteen year old. <br /><br /> In earnest, I began composing affirmations. I committed myself to allowing only positive thoughts and feelings. I continued with some fortitude for nearly a year, at which time I, thinking back now, must have seemed either extremely self‑righteous or saintly pious. <br /><br /> I avoided everything I considered, in my very inexperienced perceptions, to by non‑spiritual. Anything from profanity to disobeying the teacher was to be stringently avoided for fear that one misstep would doom the process. In other words, I became an extremely repressed adolescent who felt nothing near the cosmic love I was promised. <br /><br /> All through this period, I continued to compose affirmations and keep a "positive" outlook, at least on the exterior. To the outside world, I must have seemed like the most well adjusted adolescent in all the Wyoming Valley. I seemed kind, always turned the other cheek and respected authority. When I sought to make friends, I always searched among the underdogs and outcasts who weren't "cool" enough to enjoy the company of most others. I guess that I felt that it was my duty to befriend the unbefriendable.<br /><br /> Internally, I was being ripped to shreds. In order to only think positive thoughts, I swallowed all of my anger, hurt, fear and disappointment. In public, and also in private, I was completely inauthentic. Not only was I wearing a false face towards those around me, I was denying the truths of how I felt even to myself. I felt that if I faltered and allowed a "negative" thought to enter my mind, or felt a "negative" feeling, all would be lost. Eventually, any gesture of kindness that I would make would be an act of duty, not an act of love. Because of my repression and denial, my spirituality became a mask as well, a mask I would wear so that I could at least seem like a spiritual person. <br /><br /> In all fairness, I can't say that such denial and self‑deception was recommended in the books that touted the value of affirmation. But sadly these books usually failed to include information on the necessity of releasing limiting beliefs and emotions.<br /><br /> Now seeing my life honestly for what it was at the time. I see that I allowed myself to be mistreated by my peers and turned all the darkness that rose up within me onto myself. Finally, erroneously believing that affirmation didn't work, I turned my back on the whole concept of positively impacting my reality through thought. <br /><br /> Years passed before I learned the truth that affirmation does work, but it doesn't work alone. Affirmation, in order to produce permanent change, must be used in conjunction with the appropriate inner work. This cannot be overemphasized.<br /><br /> The most important concept to consider when using affirmation in the process of Reimagining, is that you are the source of all changes in your life and that your life experience is a mirror image of your inner reality. <br /><br /> Any affirmations you may use to institute changes outside yourself, from your relations with friends or family, to increased financial abundance, or even to bring you a new job, are actually serving to align your inner world to the harmonious flow of the universe. <br /><br /> I think it was the author Emmet Fox who said that no one has ever gained what wasn't already theirs by way of their consciousness, it is because of this that their is no way to manipulate others or your life through any process of growth and change.<br /><br /> <br /><span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Creating Affirmations<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span><br />
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For something so powerful, affirmations are extremely easy and fun to create. By giving yourself the time and effort required to learn this valuable technique, you are acting as a conscious and responsible person who is functioning out of self‑love .<br /><br /><strong></strong><br />
<strong>The Ground Rules:<o:p></o:p></strong><br />
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1.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Write it down.<o:p></o:p></div>
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2.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Be as positive as
possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
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3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep it short.<o:p></o:p></div>
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4.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keep it very
specific.<o:p></o:p></div>
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5.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let it speak to
you.<o:p></o:p></div>
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6.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>State it in the
present tense.<o:p></o:p></div>
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7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use "I"
instead of "you".<o:p></o:p></div>
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8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make sure that
you, not others, are the focus.<o:p></o:p></div>
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9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When creating a
new belief, use an affirmation similar to the belief to be replaced.<o:p></o:p></div>
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10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Begin to think in
affirmation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /><br />These Ground Rules are the fundamentals for successfully working with affirmations. Slight deviation won't necessary doom your efforts to failure, but may make your affirmations less effective.<br /><br /><br /><strong>1.</strong> It is very important to write down all affirmations you wish to use with any consistency. The act of writing seems to make the affirmation more real and less ethereal. Writing also helps you to remember your affirmations. Because your subconscious accepts the repetitive, it is important to always read or repeat the affirmations as you first created them, unless they no longer speak to you. <br /><br />This is most important when you have created an affirmation to counteract a specific belief. When working with a positive belief that you've used to replace a limiting belief, such as during the Halls of Belief meditation, you must read or repeat the new belief exactly as you wrote it during the meditation. <br /><br />When you write your affirmations, don't do it by wrote, instead really feel the letters of the words as you do. Feel and mentally repeat the affirmation as you pen it. In this way you are convincing your subconscious that you are serious and intent upon the work you are doing. </div>
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<br /><strong>2.</strong> Being as positive as possible means that you use only supportive words when creating affirmations, words that accentuate the not only the possible, but the probable. The following words should be permanently removed from your mental repertoire. <br /><br /> <br />Can't Never Should Try <br /><br />Perhaps Maybe Hurt Angry<br /><br /> <br />The subconscious mind has a propensity to focus on any negative words you may use, so it is important that these and other limiting words be excluded from any affirmation that you create. <br /><br />Being as positive as possible also requires that you have some indication of the vocabulary of success. The vocabulary of success includes those words that are positive, uplifting, inspiring and even dramatic. A short list of these words follow:<br /><br /><br />Gorgeous Energized Unstoppable Awesome <br /><br />Captivating Joyous Loving Extraordinary <br /><br />Superb Driven Monumental Brilliant <br /><br />Vibrant Phenomenal Courageous Blessed <br /><br />Excellent Spectacular Fantastic Wonder<br /><br /> <br />These words and others like them will, should they be included in your affirmations, serve to motivate and revitalize both your conscious and subconscious minds. <br /><br />Keeping your affirmations as positive as possible means that you focus on what you do want instead of what you don't. For example, instead of saying "I am no longer judgmental of myself or others", say instead "I am a loving and spiritual person who looks with acceptance upon myself and others ". <br /><br /> <br /><strong>3.</strong> It is important to keep your affirmations as short as possible while still conveying the fullness of the idea you wish to express. A good rule of thumb is this, if you find that your affirmation has become quite a long run on sentence, it's too long. <br /><br />The shorter and more concise the affirmation, the more psychological and emotional impact it's going to have. The longer the affirmation, the more difficult it will be for you to remember it without varying its content.<br /><br /> <br /><strong>4.</strong> When creating an affirmation, in order to work, it must be specific. It should only express one idea at a time. Save multiple affirmations for multiple affirmations. The subconscious enjoys simplicity. Straightforward, direct statements containing the essence of one idea are far more likely to be accepted than long, grandiose pronouncements expressing several ideas at once<br /><br /> <br /><strong>5.</strong> For an affirmation to have the desired impact, it must capture you. You must feel the power of the words being conveyed. It must be able to draw up in you an emotional response such as love, joy, acceptance, confidence, hope, etc... <br /><br />Concepts are driven into the subconscious via currents of emotion, repetition, or both. Because you want the affirmation to override your preexisting programming, you are advised to "feel" the impact of the words you use in your affirmations. Otherwise, it may take your subconscious mind a very long time to accept what you are trying to make it believe.<br /><br /><br /><strong>6.</strong> The subconscious mind works to achieve whatever is currently in its programming to the letter. This means that if you place your affirmations in the future tense with words or phrases like "one day" and "soon", your dreams will always be in the future tense. Your dreams will not manifest in the now if your subconscious always sees them as being manifest someday. <br /><br />For example, instead of "Soon the job of my dreams is going to come to me." try "The job of my dreams is mine in accordance with the truth of my being." <br /><br />Some people can become timid at the idea of phrasing their affirmations in the present tense, perhaps because they think it’s hubris or for fear that affirmation doesn't work and they'll prove it to themselves. By phrasing their affirmations in the future, the latter type of person never really put their affirmations or themselves to the test, the test involves risk and without risk their can be no success. </div>
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<br /><strong>7.</strong> When communicating with the subconscious whether via affirmation or the direct changing of belief, use "I" instead of "you". This is important because your subconscious mind accepts all concepts introduced to it verbatim. The use of "I" makes certain that your subconscious understands that the affirmation is concerning you and not another. This establishes you as the focus of all your positive efforts. <br /><br /> <br /><strong>8.</strong> The outer reality you experience is a manifestation of your inner reality. This, one of the most basic metaphysical truths, also applies when you are working with affirmation. Concentrate on creating changes in your own beliefs and perceptions, not in the actions or behavior of others, this is what will bring about the changes you desire into your life. <br /><br /> Writing affirmations, along with all inner work, is rightfully practiced in order to bring you closer to the truth of your own spiritual nature. The outward effects which occur because of that work, the success, love, abundance and joy are simply manifestations of your true spiritual birthright.<br /><br /> For example, Sarah has a terrible marriage, one marked by constant bickering and emotional abuse. Instead of looking at what this relationship reflects within herself, she decides to use her belief, intention, choice, and affirmation to change his spouse. In this case not only will his attempts very likely fail, she will be acting out of his own sense of powerlessness. <br /><br /> She will essentially be telling his own subconscious mind that her spouse is responsible for her experience of the relationship. By reinforcing her victimhood, she is strengthening any beliefs she may possess regarding her personal weakness and causing the further entrenchment of her own negative patterns.<br /><br />Should you attempt to use affirmation, or other processes, to bring change in others, you are acting out of accord with natural law. By doing this you are betraying your own lack of faith in the truth that you create your own reality by your own beliefs, choices, intentions and desires. You will be only more deeply entrenching your own weakness.<br /><br /><br /> <strong>9.</strong> It is important, when replacing an old belief with a new, to construct the new belief with the same syntax as the old belief. As I have stated before, the subconscious thrives on similarity, and this practice allows it to accept the new belief more rapidly because it phonetically appears similar to the old. This process is enabling you to, in effect, superimpose a new believe over an old.</div>
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<br />For example, if you find that you carry the belief, "My life is so difficult.", change it into, "My life is full of pleasure". You'll notice, the new belief has the same number of syllables as the old, and because of this the subconscious will be more likely to accept the new belief as true.This concept is most important when changing old limiting beliefs; it can be useful to remember it when crafting affirmations to support a new belief. Though it isn't entirely necessary, it can prove helpful for you to give all related affirmations the same syntax structure as the new empowering belief you wish to instill.
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<strong>10.</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Allow yourself to calmly focus on your affirmations throughout the day,
and allow yourself to feel the positive emotions that will spontaneously bubble
up from within you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Make your affirmations the mainstay
of your thoughts, let them come to you while you work, play, or just daydream.
The more reinforcement you give the positive changes you wish to make, the more
likely they are to become permanent.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<strong>Sample Affirmations:</strong><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is a collection of affirmations I have
created regarding a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>number of life
issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These can serve as inspiration
for you when you create your own.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">Love<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></h1>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I love myself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>more and more every day.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love comes easily and
effortlessly to me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow the power of
love into my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The abundant power of
love transforms me.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I embrace myself and
my life with love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My love for myself
allows my life to be filled with miracles.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every day in every way
I allow more and more love into my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I surrender myself to
the power of love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow the love of my
Higher Self to transform my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I express the love
within me to all the world.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am an example of the
power and beauty of love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I give and receive
love easily.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am an expression of
divine love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I live in the
transcendent power of love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p><span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Relationships<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am vulnerable with
those I trust.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow myself to be
moved by the care and love of others.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I attract the right
love relationship into my life now.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My relationships are
filled with the wonder and magic of love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow others to
reflect to me the beauty of who I am.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All my relationships
are built upon the courage of intimacy and trust.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The truth of my
spirituality is reflected in my relationships.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow the power of
love to be evident between (Insert name) and I.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">Health<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I am filled with
energy, enthusiasm and vibrant good health.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I release any
constricting emotions and fill my heart with love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Love is the power of
miracles and I allow my health to be miraculous.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My body, mind,
emotions and spirit are aligned in the power of love.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I trust myself to
create my own optimum health.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Health and vibrant
energy are mine.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every day in every way
I become more and more healthy.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I willingly learn the
lessons of my body, mind, emotions and spirit<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I accept and release
the lessons of my health and watch it improve every day.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">Spirituality<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
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<o:p> </o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I accept the will of
God into my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Every day in every way
I come closer to the love of my Higher Self.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow myself to
reflect the light and love that is God.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I learn from my
mistakes and surrender the lessons to God.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow divine love
and forgiveness to enter my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow myself to
reflect the love of God to all those in my life.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My life reflects the
beauty and transformative power of God.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My spirituality is
reflected in all I do.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<span style="-ms-layout-grid-mode: both; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">Abundance<o:p></o:p></span></span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The universe is a
place of limitless opportunity and abundance.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow myself to
claim the abundance that is my birthright.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I allow my successes
to reflect the truth of my inner nature.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I can have it all.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I trust in my higher
self to grant me my desires of abundance.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The world is a place
of love and abundance.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">My success is
determined by my heart, not by what I am told.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I can be successful
and spiritual at the same time.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I give thanks to the
divine for the incredible abundance in my life.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I step out of the word
I know and claim the abundance that is mine.</i><o:p></o:p><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As a spiritual person
I am willing to meet the obligation of my success.<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I not only create
success, but the results of my success.</i><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Shakti Gawain, author of the bestselling book "Creative Visualization" recommends that you
use references to some spiritual source when creating your affirmations because
it imbues them with spiritual power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am in agreement, as long as your personal concept of divinity supports your
empowerment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Affirmations are not
prayer, nor are they meant to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
creating affirmations you are taking responsibility for yourself, in this case
taking responsibility may require that you uncover what deeply held beliefs you
may carry regarding your personal perception of the Divine Source.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Deep down, if you believe that the
Creator is angry, vengeful, jealous, etc..., it is extremely unlikely that you
will get the same results with your God centered affirmations as the person who
believes that S/He is Love, Light, Happiness and Joy.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In this case I recommend that you
change your beliefs about God, then, and only then, should you include any
references to divinity in your affirmation work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This will not only give you a more real
perception of the divine, it will allow your affirmations to work even more
magically and more powerfully than they otherwise would.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
In some of the above examples,
there are affirmations, outside the category of Spirituality, with references
to the Divine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use these as springboards
from which to create your own spiritually centered affirmations.<o:p></o:p><br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761454805590772559.post-37482694617027421942013-09-25T06:25:00.003-04:002013-09-25T06:25:58.569-04:00Empowered Offerings Technique<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRmfW6qaG7CtQIsVqSDsyqzqFeSX19E24w_PzvCwhnDe4WPxVE5VIGIcdE8YxWZZsBOwn8R_NHySV-cua2qNVr8sC7xHBA-lmeJhN2-aBdB4gdTzIVi-n65MoeWTXW3VXf6qxHHzx1Ffc/s1600/Offering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJRmfW6qaG7CtQIsVqSDsyqzqFeSX19E24w_PzvCwhnDe4WPxVE5VIGIcdE8YxWZZsBOwn8R_NHySV-cua2qNVr8sC7xHBA-lmeJhN2-aBdB4gdTzIVi-n65MoeWTXW3VXf6qxHHzx1Ffc/s320/Offering.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Many of us do daily or maybe weekly offerings to our god(s), ancestors or spirits of place. I recommend daily offerings if possible because the act of making offerings deepens one's relationship with the god or spirit in question via the energy of reciprocity. You can only get if you are willing to give. This is the principle of sacrifice.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">When one gives offerings, it is common to have objects on our altar that have been there for a while. They aren't perishable, so </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">we leave them on the altar as we should, perhaps only removing them when we replace them with another offering. They may feel old, worn, dusty tired or otherwise meaningless at this point. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Don't worry, they needn't be.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Your offerings are touchstones or anchor points of communion with your spirits or gods and as such (if they are valuable and/or meaningful) they can be, in a sense, spiritually/magickally resuscitated.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">This technique is one I "received" in meditation. I call it the "Empowered Offerings Technique." This technique is very effective at keeping the channels of communication open and is very powerful as it uses your own life-energy (often called prana, qi, chi or various other names depending upon the tradition of the speaker) as an offering to deepen communion between yourself and your spirits or god(s).</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Empowered Offerings Technique</b><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">1.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Enter trance in whatever way is familiar to you. Maybe you breathe in a certain manner, maybe you know a process of self-hypnosis. Just do what works for you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><b>2.)</b> Rub your hands together vigorously until your palms warm. As you do this, will your life-force energy into your palms. Intend that <span style="color: red; font-size: large;">*</span>YOUR life force fill your hands. You are not, as during a healing process, channeling the energy of the universe, you are filling your hands with your energy.</span></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">3.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Place your hands over the offering(s) on your altar and intend and feel, to the best of your ability, the energy flowing from your hands into the offering(s). In your mind's eye or just with your "felt sense," whatever is easiest for you "see" or "sense" the offerings growing more and more brilliant as you slowly "pump" your hands (slight up and down movements) over offerings on your altar. On the downward "pump" really force the energy into the offering(s). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">Do this for a minute, maybe two at most. Don't overdo it because you are using your life-force energy and you don't want to weaken yourself. </span></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">4.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Know that the offering(s) are empowered.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">5.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Keep your hands over your offering, but now, turn your hands over so that your palms are facing upward. Cup your palms over your offering. Now, in your mind's eye "see" or "feel" the energy of the offering radiating upward toward the back of your cupped hands and flowing into them and through them...flowing out of your palms.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">6.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Now, as the energy is rising, you imagine it billowing, as a great cloud, out of your upturned palms as smoke (the color can be white or gold or the color that is, for you, representative of life...such as green or red). Allow this smoke, glowing with both the energy of your offering as well as your life force, through the power of your magickal will, to fill all time and and space.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">7.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> At this point, as the smoke is filling all time and space, say a prayer of offering such as:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><i>"May the smoke of this offering rise to the thrones of the gods, may it descend into their shadowed kingdoms beneath the earth. May the smoke of this offering travel the winding current of time and the vastness of cosmic space becoming that which is most pleasing to the gods. May this offering please the gods and draw their favor, bringing me in stronger alignment with their highest purposes for me."</i></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; line-height: 18px;">(Something like this. Of course you can substitute "spirits" for gods and the name of your tutelary deity(ies) for the term "gods.")</span></span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">8.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> Sit with the energy all around you for as long as you wish. If you like you may pray or meditate in this, what is now, sacred space due to your efforts. At this point you may feel a certain power to any devotional work you may do.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></b>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">9.)</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> End the rite with whatever word or phrase is comfortable to you such as, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">"So Mote It Be", "Amma Iset", "Io Evohe Hekate", "Amen", "So it is done"</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">, etc.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">You may do this rite every few days if you wish. If you are fit, healthy, strong and/or practice energy arts like qigong, you may do the rite every day. However, as a couple of my friends who have used this rite have discovered, using your own energy daily can be draining.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Feel what's right for you and go with your intuition.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I have found that when I have a close relationship with a god, this rite is powerfully energizing. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">My awareness and experience tells me that when this type of offering is made to a deity with whom have a close relationship, there is an automatic energetic exchange. It just seems to happen that way. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">You may find, as I have, that if you are willing to offer up a great deal of your energy that this rite may be a substitute for a blood offering. Try it and see for yourself.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Only do this rite, in any capacity, with gods or spirits you trust. You do not want to create a deep connection to just any being that you are not entirely familiar with.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; display: inline; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">(<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">*</span>Note that the Empowered Offering Technique</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> rite can be altered via intent to use universal life energy or environmental <i>chi</i> as opposed to your own life energy in the manner of healers who act as a "hollow bone" for healing energy. In this case, simply draw life energy of the universe into you and empower your offering using this energy as opposed to your own.)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13008346530485638078noreply@blogger.com0