spirituality – Page 3 – Between The Pillars

What “Enlightenment” means within The Occult

May 18, 2020May 20, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged buddhism, ceremonial magick, enlightenment, hermeticism, hinduism, initiation, kabbalah, magic, magick, mysticism, new age, religion, satanism, shamanism, spirituality, witchcraft1 Comment

Greetings. I’m back.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Raven, you said you’d write more regularly. It’s been nine months“

Well, I don’t have much to say. I have no excuses. Without going into too many details, my country was undergoing…economic turmoil. I was not in the best state of mind to write about spiritual matters, and sometimes it’s better to stay silent than say thing you don’t mean because of anger or frustration. I get a lot of emails from people who put a great deal of faith in what I say, and I don’t plan to give anyone bad or misleading information. By the way, I read all your messages and emails, although I cannot reply to all, and I’m thankful to everyone who writes in.

But anyway, here we are again.

Western, Eastern and Modern Ideas of Enlightenment

When I say the word “Enlightenment”, there’s one of three ideas that comes to your mind. First, the most common concept of ‘Nirvana’ that comes primarily from Buddhism, though it has merged to some degree with Hindu and Sikh asceticism. You may think of the myraid of ‘gurus’ parading around with long beards, decked out in orange or white clothing, and teaching really generic “spirituality” to the masses. Many of these dudes either run shady cults or international bodies that primarily attempt to hold political power (especially in the East). I’m not saying there’s nothing to be gained from them, but it’s simple spiritual practices that is packaged for mass consumption, without deviating too much from the standard norms for thinking.

There are of course, authentic mystics that are said to be enlightened, but they don’t normally have a public presence. Real ascetics, like the ones who live in Varanasi, are following a specific spiritual traditions, much like the rest of us. Many of them are also just weed smoking hippies.

Secondly, you may think of the Western televangelists. Generally, they are part of megachurches and to them “enlightenment” means some kind of experience with God, Christ, or an advanced knowledge of the Scripture. Unlike the ‘gurus’, these preachers make no attempt to sell “spirituality”. To them, ‘spirituality’ and ‘enlightenment’ fall entirely within the dogma of their specific sect. Here, we see “enlightenment” presented as a by-product of institutional power. This has lately been extended to Islamic clerics and certain Rabbis as well.

The Pope and Dalai Llama fall into this category. While I have nothing against them, you must realise that they are basically political leaders of different religions, and are said to be “enlightened” because of this authority, not because of anything they’ve done outside of the religion. According to them, to know scripture is to know God. This applies to Buddhism as much as it does to the Abrahamic religions. I would not call these people spiritual or ‘enlightened’, though maybe people find a sense of comfort in listening to them.

Finally, you may think of the word “enlightenment” in the context of the historical era we call the “Enlightenment”, which followed close at the heels of the French revolution, and was the result of the printing press and democratic attitudes spreading across Western Europe, North America and Japan. The spread of the scientific method, coupled with the liberalization of culture, the introduction of the Parliaments, the Age of Exploration and finally, the Industrial revolution and the subsequent end of Feudalism and Religious authority thrust us into what we now call “modernity”.

On one hand, this “Enlightenment” refers to “classical liberal” values, such as Secularism, Democracy, Equality, Liberty etc. Today we take these for granted, but just 150 years ago people would have told you that only “Enlightened” parts of the world followed this.

On the other hand, people who use this term today refer to scientific, materialistic determinism, often coupled with atheism or at least a rejection of traditional religion, with the statement that “subjective” cultural values like beauty, morality, virtue etc. do not really exist. Ironically, while it has improved our quality of life substantially, it has also made people nihilistic, and given rise to the belief that there is no purpose to life, good or justice in the world and a reason for living. After all, if everything is a man made creation that can be deconstructed, what is the point of anything at all? In the past few years there has been a resurgence of traditional dogma.

I’m not going to give an opinion on how “Enlightened” our current time is, because throughout all of history people have always considered their time to be “enlightened” and the past to be “dark”. 500 years from now, we’ll be the ones with crazy dogmas and “unenlightened” beliefs. And, if you’re even reading this blog, I think it’s safe to assume that you aren’t satisfied with being told you’re an insignificant speck of dust on a ball of rust, spiraling around a failing nuclear reactor that’s hurtling through a pointless abyss.

The Dual “Enlightenment”

Within the Occult, the term “enlightenment” often applies to two things.

First, the act of “being Initiated” is and has always been considered important in the Occult. In fact, various occult schools use the terms “Initiated” and “Uninitiated” to distinguish between magickains and non magickians. Some groups like the O9A took it rather far with the term “kindred” and “mundane”, even encouraging violence, deception and manipulation against the “mundane”. But, although I don’t condone treating anyone as lesser, I can see where the anger and frustration stems from.

Over the years, you’ve heard various terms like the “masses”, “NPCs”, “normies” or just “average people” thrown around, and not just by Occultists. This highlights an important point that this type of Enlightenment isn’t just about belonging to a specific magickal tradition or even being an occultist. But who exactly uses these terms? The Elite? Intellectuals? ‘Smart’ people? These are equally vague terms.

You might say perhaps this difference doesn’t even exist, but it does. And trust me, this isn’t an elitist statement, because I despise elitism.

In my opinion, the first thing that can be attained is “Initiation” or “Adepthood”, and is said to be accompanied by the religious experience. Organised religions try to replicate this through various initiation rituals that members are meant to go through either at birth, or adolescence, or whenever they join. Unfortunately, this means anyone who has undergone a certain ritual or been given a position by a tradition, claims superiority due to being an “Adept”.

Next, comes the state of Niravana or Salvation. In Hermetic Kabbalah, this is reached after an experience called ‘Crossing the Abyss’. People who reach this are often called by various names within religions, like Boddhissatvas, Rishis, Ascended Masters, Saints etc. Such people are often regarded with a near God like status. Many, many pretenders claim to be divine as well.

“Anyone who must say ‘I am King!’ is no true King”
~Tywin Lannister, Game of Thrones

The True Meaning of Initiation

From the point of view of any specific tradition, being Initiated, in my opinion, means that you can now teach that system without guidance.

So when a specific School of Magick insists on going through the process of Initiation, they say it primarily to help you understand and internalize the teachings of that system. You may already be an Adept, but you still need to learn the system.

For example, if reached Adepthood through pagan Witchcraft, you may be great magickian. But if you were to decide to learn ceremonial Magick, you can’t just start from it’s Adept rituals. After all, you need to understand the theory and symbols, and work with them so they actually mean something to you. In the most mundane sense, that it why Initiations exist.

People think becoming an Adept involves having special powers, being more knowledgeable than others, having had some kind of psychic vision, or even a Kundalini awakening. ALL of these may accompany Adepthood, but they aren’t what define it. After all, some people are simply psychically gifted since birth. Some people have early Kundalini awakenings. Some people simply are smarter or more creative than others.

Adepthood comes with independent and original thinking.

I know, sounds cliched, but hear me out. The fundamental difference that people see between Initiated and Uninitiated people is the lack of independent thinking. No one is born with this. In fact, each and every one of us is born into a culture and society that restrains and controls our thoughts and beliefs. Even if you ‘rebel’, as many do, you’re usually just abiding by an alternative and often ‘counter’ culture, which itself is most likely the norm for another culture.

Yes, it’s possible that certain social norms, belief systems and systems work better than others on a cultural level. But there is debate over this and people often become foot soldiers in this culture war, slowly giving over their agency either to their own culture or the new one they’ve adopted. It’s also possible that certain modes of thinking are better for an individual than others. For a highly artistic person, altruistic and liberal beliefs probably help him. For a soldier in the military, traditional notions of hierarchy and duty may be better. My point, it doesn’t matter what is better or worse, but your ability to think for yourself and decide this.

What are the ‘masses’. Put simply, people who do not think for themselves. This is most of the human population. Practically everyone sticks with inherited beliefs and social norms. People have a morality and values that are circumstantial, hence one moment you have people talking about unity and empathy, and the next they’re viciously attacking those who don’t think or look like them. I’ve personally seen people’s beliefs change based on what they saw on the News (but this post isn’t about that)

People repeat the ideas of others without ever challenging them. You may think you don’t, but at some point in your life you definitely have. It’s human nature to be tribal.

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers”
~George Carlin
(Funnily, I’m sure people who opposed him thought the exact same thing)

Dr. Jordan Peterson once remarked that most people, were they living in Germany in 1933, would most likely be Nazis. Although many think they would fight against their own society and save the Jews, this is highly unlikely, even in brave and moral people. Like I said, this isn’t about having superior or inferior qualities, but the agency of thought.

Even when a truly transgressive movement emerges, over time it too develops a “group think” that it’s new members simply abide by. Think about Christianity. Think about Communism or Democracy. Each of these were highly radical for their time. Even the very philosophy of Individualism comes with a baggage.

I would like to go in details, but perhaps in a future post. This isn’t the place.

Thinking independently is not something that one is born with or gets by virtue of intellect, knowledge or maturity. It is something you strive for, and in my opinion this is the true meaning of spiritual growth. Everyone, as far as I’m concerned, is moving towards this over the course of their existence. Through the practice spirituality, you slowly begin to care less about what other people think or say, and become more content with yourself. This becomes most evident when you realise that you don’t care about debating with or correcting others, unless it has some real implication. Generally, all that will be achieved is sour the relationship or push the person further into their dogma.

aren’t we all

Ever heard of the axiom “Speech if silver, Silence is Gold” ? The reason magickians don’t go red in the face trying to explain to the others what magick is or convince them that it works, is because they don’t feel the need to tell everyone. Put simply, it doesn’t really matter. This is not apathy, but acceptance of the way things are. It would be far better to improve the world through action, than by arguing with others and endlessly worrying about what the world thinks.

Interestingly, this ties into the values of the Enlightenment era. The scientific method states that nothing should simply be accepted, unless it has been tested and proven effective. Classical liberalism encourages us to live and let live. If you look at history, you’ll see these values didn’t come about in the Enlightenment for the first time, and have existed and evolved since the birth of Civilisation, and often spoken within spiritual and Occult traditions.

The Hermetic Order of the Golden dawn used to insist that the Adept must have three key qualities. Not intellect, nor magick powers. Simply: Persistence, Determination and Humility.

People who are intelligent, or gifted, or rich, or well educated can fail. These things aid people in succeeding, but they do not guarantee success and fulfillment in life. Nor is it that the poor, illiterate, or those who have gone through a lot of hardship always succeed. The only quality common across those who are Adept is their persistence, determination and humility.

When you look at truly great people, you always see that they had a goal that they pursued no matter what, and a strong moral code they lived by. The pursuit of this goal led to failure after failure. But it doesn’t matter how many times they failed, but rather that they continued until success was found.

When you practice magick, you may find that you very quickly start transforming yourself and gaining an edge over others. But we have to constantly remember that we are not superior, or ‘higher’ than others. You have to treat even “lowly” people with respect.

I’m not making a case for pacifism, meekness or servility. Certainly, if someone crosses you, you have to deal with them firmly. Never turn yourself into an unwitting martyr. It’s okay to want things, it’s okay to have desires and ambition, and it’s okay to be aggressive. The Gods favor these qualities. But petty elitism, entitlement, and cruelty toward those who are weak are signs of an inflated Ego. That usually leads to the fall of the Magickian.

The Meaning of Godhood

We have established that the Initiation or Adepthood means the ability to think independently. The key qualities that are sought for in an Adept are humility, persistence and determination.

Most Occult traditions bring about this process through a system of “grades”. Usually, each grade involves rituals, meditations, learning, real world tasks and self analysis. These days, most people self initiate, especially in Western traditions. In Eastern traditions it is still more common to find a teacher.

Every system is different, and it’s not necessary that every person who has achieved a ‘rank’ is actually Enlightened or Spiritual, nor that Initiation can only be attained through this method. The aim is to bring about self transformation.

Every great magickian has only one trait in common, that they truly think for themselves, and would not compromise their principles and values due to social pressure.

The second “enlightenment”, was summed up simply by the Oracle of Delphi:

Know Thyself

Buddhism is the only religion that is the most blunt about how Buddhahood is achieved. It is done through the acquisition of Self Knowledge.

Each person has their own path to this, because each person is unique. The Western traditions call a person’s life path as his “True Will”, and the performance of your True Will is doing the “Great Work”. Hinduism calls it “Dharma” or Duty (in the Bhagavat Gita sense, not Hindu orthodox sense)

These are all simply fancy ways of saying “know thyself”. A person who understands himself, also learns to see himself in others. Each of us will have some degree of insight, and we do various things to increase this. I mean, it is often said that everyone is just looking for love and happiness. Perhaps a better way to put it, would be that everyone is looking for fulfillment.

They want to know what their life means, what they enjoy, whom they are meant to be with, what their profession is supposed to be. “God’s plan” as the Christians put it.

Obscurantism in the Occult has made it seem like ‘Enlightenment’ is some distant, magical privilege afforded only to holy men living in the mountains, or monks living in isolation with nothing but a devotion to God. This is why people allow so called “Enlightened” men and women to take control of their lives, and dictate social norms. This is why people would rather rely completely upon ‘divinely’ inspired scriptures of various political ideologies that promise Utopia, instead of their own intuition and wisdom. Simply put, people do no know themselves, and you cannot trust what you do not know. And so, people seek Divinity in everything but themselves.

Unlike Initiation, there is no specific structure to ‘attain’ Enlightenment’ The simplest way to put it would be to discoverer and follow your unique path. I do not know if everyone’s purpose is Divinely ordained, although I believe this. Even if it isn’t, self knowledge leads the the perception that one is doing what one was meant for, and this brings fulfillment.

As far as I am concerned, Enlightenment means coming to terms with the suffering of life, and then finding something that makes it all worthwhile. If, when my time comes to die, I am not filled with regrets and feel I lived as I was meant to, I think that’s Enlightenment. Sometimes, this means standing against the status quo, and challenging it.

Generally, the Golden Dawn and other such groups stated that integrating the Jungian Shadow and developing a strong moral code, and finally being able to rely completely on your own wisdom, to the point where you do not even need the the symbols of various Occult traditions, is how Enlightenment is achieved. But the point is, it’ll be different for each person, and only each person can know what it means.

It has been described by Western occultists as “the moment where the Individual realises that the entire Universe is speaking to him personally”. The Zen Buddhists speak of ‘spontaneous enlightenment’. In other words, not an elaborate process, but a sudden realisation of Self. Becoming who you are.

For someone, it might mean creating a great scientific invention and for another it may just mean running a bakery in their village. Some enlightened people may develop spiritual powers or take part in the destiny of nations, while others may find fulfillment in gardening or a simple service job. People are different, but, in my opinion, it comes down to Independent Thinking, which then leads to Self Knowledge.

If you can think for yourself, you can act for yourself and do what’s right for you. Over time, you can understand what it is you should do with your life. You can figure this out at 18, or you can figure it out at 50, and then spend the rest of your life pursuing it. This is my interpretation of Dharma.

How to Get On Your Path

First off, I think one should become depolarised. I’ve linked a great video on this topic by Frater Xavier, who explains depolarisation better than I ever could. You don’t have to do “magick” for it, but rituals and meditation certainly helps. Namely, a daily performance of the Middle Pillar Ritual.
A big part of this, as Frater will explain, is learning not to react.

Secondly, learn to be self reliant. During this lockdown, I made an interesting observation. A huge number of people, of all ages, do not know how to perform simple tasks: like cooking, cleaning, and saving money. I suppose I should thank my mother for teaching me everything under the sun. When the lockdown started, and we ran out of Gin, I started brewing alchohol at home using baker’s yeast, burnt bread and a pressure cooker (a Russian drink called Kvass). On the other hand, there were people who are so reliant on immigrant maids cleaning and cooking for them, they can’t even figure out how to make rice.

I’m not trying to pass judgements, but this lockdown brought one thing to everyone’s attention: we simply aren’t self reliant enough: as nations, as communities and as people. We’ve come to rely completely on this interconnected social web that without it, everything starts collapsing. Countries are starting to be forced to open up, even though the virus is still around, because of the very nature of our economy.

I’m not going to say what’s right or wrong, instead I’ll tell you this: this isn’t the first or last time something like this has or will happened. The enormous comfort, peace and prosperity that the world has enjoyed since 1950 is extremely unusual in terms of human history. And let me remind you that everytime things go wrong, people first come after those like us. People like us who are somewhat unusual, do not conform to social norms, have unorthodox beliefs and practices etc. Yeah, we are in an “enlightened time”, but then again, there ARE still countries where ‘witch hunts’ happen. History shows us that things can change radically in just over a decade.

As magickians, we need to learn to rely on ourselves. Learn all basic skills that are needed to live independently. I’m not saying to be detached from society (although some may prefer that), but learn to take care of yourself, so that you aren’t dependent on others. Self reliance is the first Step to Self Knowledge.

Finally, learn. You are part of a vast and complex social network that you were born into. It is not important that you go out and start challenging it, but at least start learning about it. Learn about your religion, your country’s real history, about the political parties you support, what you believe and why. Learn these things without passing judgement, and expose yourself to opposing ideas without engaging it debate or mental justification/retorts. Open your mind, and then open your heart. This is what it means to think for yourself.

And there we go, Enlightenment. It means different things for different people, but the most important thing to remember that it was always supposed to be something the Individual himself can attain, not something rewarded to a few special people.

Until next time.
~White Raven.

Magical Communion with Nature

August 13, 2019November 1, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged alchemy, ancient, communion, folk, gods, herbalism, invocation, magic, magick, mysticism, nature, new age, Occult, philosophy, psychadelics, religion, spirituality, talking to plants, the alchemist, witchcraft1 Comment

Have you ever read the Alchemist?

Yes, that one, by Paulo Coelho. Despite being a book that details some supposedly secretive teachings of the Occult and alchemy, it happens to be the most read book in the world (with the only exception being the Bible, but assuming every Christian family and institution owns at least a few, it is difficult to say which book is actually more well read. Consider also, that there’s many different Bibles, but only one standard version of the Alchemist).

Coelho is an open occultist, even going as far as describing himself as a “magician”. Some Occult circles that take themselves a bit too seriously, and hate books like this because they think it’s all wishy-washy and new agey.

The story of The Alchemist uses symbolism and metaphor to explain spiritual philosophy, and perhaps most people assume that Coelho merely uses fantastical imagery and language to make a point. Similar things are ascribed to Nietzsche, Jung, Watts, McKenna and Peterson.

After all, the Occult and spiritual practices are merely psychosomatic processes, right? It’s all just an elaborate form of visualization and self hypnosis. No one really calls on Angels, influences the weather, summons the dead, heals the sick or makes things spontaneously burn, right?

Oh boy, if only you knew.

Anyway, the reason I’m talking about the Alchemist is because it always struck me how Coleho speaks so frankly and bluntly about certain Occult phenomenon that are considered “crazy” by the modern rational mind. Often, if you pick up ANY book on Occultism written in the past 2 centuries, at least the first 100 pages are dedicated to the author desperately and laboriously trying to justify how magick is compatible with modern science. Even Crowley makes this error, where he desperately dumbs down magick just so that it would fit within the archaic and “materialistic” framework of the early 1920s. Even the Kyballion does this, showing a grave misunderstanding of who is actually reading their book, failing to keep with the so eloquent axiom “Don’t cast pearls before swine”.

I never understood the point of this. Books from the early 20th century, which changed occult philosophy to fit into the science of that period, now inadvertently become pseudo-science, because the scientific knowledge of their period was incomplete and has since advanced quite a lot. In fact, if anything, as Science progresses, more and more aspects of older, seemingly “unscientific” Occult wisdom actually get verified. This also makes me wonder if many of the people writing the Books had any practical experience with Occult phenomenon, or if they simply read the theory and attempted to merge it into the existent world view. Or maybe they were simply trying to avoid becoming outcasts, like pagan Occultist before them who disguised their writings as being Abrahamic.

Books from the East are often a bit more open, because Western materialism never truly took hold in most of the Eastern cultures (no, not even in Japan, Russia and Korea). On the other hand, there’s very, very few modern Occult texts from the East. If anything, most recent books on Eastern occultism are written by Western or Western educated individuals. That’s a different can of worms I’m not keen to spring today.

Whatever your opinion be about The Alchemist, the first thing that struck me is that it isn’t based in any fantasy Universe, but in our world. Yet, despite it’s extremely grounded and realistic stories, there are scenes where the protagonist, Santiago, is able to communicate with the Desert, the Sun and the Wind. There are seers and prophets who can see the future. It always throws you off, and Coelho does not attempt to give any further explanation about how everything has a rational explanation, nor attempt to reduce anything to materialism. It is perhaps this reason why many rationalists scorn the book as childish.

Personally, I couldn’t care less what objections they have. I think it’s futile to try and convince people. I don’t claim to understand the exact scientific process behind magick, and perhaps some day in the future science will discover it. Science isn’t some ideology or philosophy, but merely the process and methodology of discovering new knowledge. If something exists, there simply HAS to be some explanation for it, but that doesn’t mean that explanation must adhere to our current knowledge of science.

So it’s up to you how to take what I write. I won’t pretend to make it reasonable, nor reduce everything to psychological processes. usually, I do this in my blog, when I write about invocations and philosophy, but now the subject matter is so complex and unexplored that this is no longer within my capability. I do not wish to make up an untested pseudo-science to explain it, but nor can I pretend that it isn’t real. Those who feel uncomfortable are free to deny it or build up some logic for it.

The Forces of Nature

Nature comprises of many forces. One common way to categorize this is through the traditional system of four elements: Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The other is by applying the classification system of some particular pagan religion (most often the Hellenic, Japanese or Celtic) to distinguish between different types of spirits.

However, as you’ll see, any method of rigid categorization or classification is bad for communing with the Natural forces. It might work when invoking angels or gods, or even calling on elemental forces, but for the forces of nature, we have to adopt a rather older, folk perspective, rather than some universal and global categorization like the modern individual may be used to doing.

But what do I mean by the forces of Nature? Exactly what it sounds like. The winds and the rain, the spirit of the desert, trees and mountains, rivers spirits or plants, fungi or perhaps a specific rock, animals or even rice. Did you know that the Japanese believed there are seven gods living in each grain of rice? ha. (This was apparently the justification given for why rice should be properly chewed. The Occult is often science not yet understood)

Communicating with these forces is possible, but a ritualistic or religious approach is difficult to work with, since these forces are……let’s say “simple”, or “ancient”. Before organised religions and the worship of cosmic forces in the form of idols and symbols, people revered mountains, sacred trees or holy animals. It is a very intuitive and basic process, and varies from situation to situation.

You have to connect to such forces personally, however feels right to you. This is why, when the protagonist of The Alchemist simply gazes upon the Desert and “talks” to it, we feel disturbed or out of our depth. Usually, you would expect some sort of elaborate invocation, some ritual to call on some specific deity that merely resides in the desert, but it’s a lot harder to envision speaking to the “desert” itself.

We as humans have an evolutionary tendency to anthropomorphize things, and for this reason we feel more comfortable with Gods and demons, angels and spirits, fairies and elves. For things like nature, oceans and winds, we often do not worship them directly, but some deities that preside over them. For example, instead of communing with the Rain, we may seek communion with Zeus or Indra.

I do not want to drag this on, so I’ll just say this: communion with the Forces of nature is distinct from communion with Deities presiding overt them, or any particular spirits that dwell over them. They inhabit the material plane.

To anyone who has read anything about evolution, it is extremely obvious that the sentient hominid races are out of place on Earth. Our bodies may have evolved with everything else, but our minds and souls are at odds with everything else, even from a totally materialistic point of view. In a way, if humanity really is a group of beings that have been sent to the Earthly plane to learn certain lessons and achieve certain things, then you could say that that the things we find in nature are the original inhabitants of this plane. That’s why we are the only thing on Earth, and in fact in the entire material Universe, that is not in harmony with Natural law, because it makes us suffer, to the point where the single most recognized motif on our planet, signifies physical suffering.

Communicating with Nature

Communicating with animals is widely accepted, but some would say communicating with plants is not truly possible as they aren’t sentient. Further, it can be said that communication with rocks, rivers, the winds or the land is impossible as these aren’t even living.

And then, you have the people of the Amazon, who somehow figured out how to take two plants that grow totally apart from each other (one containing DMT and the other having an MAO inhibitor), and figured out how to cook them in a very specific manner to produce Ayahuasca, a potent psychedelic substance used for shamanic rituals. If you were ask them how they were able to learn this, they give you ever eloquent answer “the plants told us”.

Update (2020): If you click the link, it’ll take you to Soul Herbs, who have sponsored me on this post. On their website, you can learn more about Ayahuasca, it’s ingredients, legality, as well as purchase some Ayahuasca tea.

They have a Soul, and a consciousness. They have the same life force as us. Perhaps we cannot communicate on a material level, but maybe on some higher plane our soul can touch theirs. Or perhaps we are simply projecting our own internal psyche onto them, but that could be said for any and all interactions, including those with humans.

The ancient Greeks believed in a concept called the noosphere, similar to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. The Noosphere was said to be the sphere containing all human thoughts and memories, which would later be fleshed out by Carl Jung as the “Collective Unconscious”. maybe such a concept applies to different forces of Nature too, and everything in the end is part of the Great Collective, which is the Universe, the Brahman, the World Soul.

The most powerful form of communication, with both other humans, and with Nature, is through symbols. These are used everywhere, from marketing to mythology, as they resonate with our subconscious, whcih of course, if the gateway to the Unconscious. Therefore, good communication involves the subconscious, and the same is true for natural forces. You must communicate through symbols, visualization and emotion (similar to a magick Ritual)

How this Communion Is Achieved

A few things are important in order to commune with any force of nature. First, meditation and the ability to enter a trance at will. This isn’t actually hard and will become second nature after some time of daily meditative practice. Through meditation upon any object, that object becomes a medium to enter the World Soul. In more technical terms, when the conscious mind becomes quiet, the subconscious directly.

The second thing, perhaps most important, is emotional clarity. Thoughts belong to the Conscious Mind, the Ego, the Ruach, while Emotions belong to the Subconscious mind, the Animal Self, the Nephesch. Women are naturally more in tune with the subconscious (while men are with the conscious), and this may be the reason why most witches and those who commune with nature end up being women. Of course, it is fairly easy for a man to achieve this same communion if he can be in touch with his emotions.

To interface with nature, you must sit in meditative and passive state of mind, ideally around or at least in view of what you want to communicate with. Then, slowly, open yourself up. Imagine you are interacting with another person. You know how you sometimes converse with the voice in your head? Do that, but don’t make the voice speak. Instead, call forth the thing you want to communicate with, and allow it’s mind into you, and your mind into it. This might take sometime, and might have to be repeated over days. Usually, it’s good to do it with something you already know and recognize, and are familiar with, like pets or house plants. Meditate on the thing, and eventually it shall ‘speak’.

You don’t have to force it, or ‘try’ to do something. In the Alchemist, the protagonist is a shepherd from the mountainous region of Andulas. He travels to Egypt, and spends many days in the desert, slowly learning it’s ways, it’s laws and it’s mentality, and becoming immersed. He could, of course, have done the same to the mountains back home, but maybe he was so busy with his routine he never had the chance to pay attention. He begins to understand that the Desert itself is an entity, a thing that functions according to certain mechanisms (very similar, in fact, to most “living” biological organisms).

At one point, he is captured by tribesmen, and manages to escape by transforming himself into the Wind, which he achieves by spending three entire days staring at the Desert, until it speaks to him. Much more could be said here, but not today.

It is our obsession with our mundane life which stops us from noticing the phenomenon taking place around us. You will recall hat, for our ancestors, who had much more free time, to notice supernatural occurrences (not having immediate access to entertainment all the time, they simply payed attention.

The most reliable force of nature that one can commune with is the fungal intelligence of the Earth, and this is done through the consumption of psychedelics. To some degree, it can also facilitate communication with plants. However, this isn’t a post about that, so we won’t discuss it further. Through the meditative methods described here, one can access the fungal intelligence without psychadelics too.

Once, in a lucid state, I communed with the fungal network of mycellium that spreads across the entire planet. It was incredibly profound, but when it was over I could no longer recall exactly what I felt. Only a sense of enormity and humility remained.

Most forces of nature will grant wisdom or insight, or just a general look into their world. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can do the things that are spoken off in ancient tradition; stories of great Masters who could cause the wind to blow, the rain to fall, water to freeze, who could see the future and the mechanisms moving the celestial bodies.

These are not to be thought of as “powers”. You are not controlling nature. Rather, you have been graced by the presence of something greater and it’s important to remain humble and thankful when this happens. Generally, you don’t ask for such things for personal benefit, but with pure intent. A magician may bring about rainfall, not because he wishes to affirm his status or test his power, but because he wants relief for the land and it’s inhabitants from the burning heat of Summer. Sometimes, it may occur when he is doing a ritual, and he will see it as some sort of Divine acknowledgement.

Also, eliminate doubt from your mind. any doubt, or conceptions of egotistical grandeur, or even any pretense of being better than you are, will stop the process.

A Simple Exercise

Do this. Go to a plant, preferably one at your house that you water daily. if you don’t have one, find out outside or get one. For a couple of days, when you take a break from daily work, go and sit with the plant/s and relax. Calm yourself, and meditate. Pay attention to the plants, and focus on their many intricacies, mannerisms, and imagine what life must be like for them.

Do this daily, maybe for 10-15 minutes. When you feel a level of comfort and normalcy, try to initiate a dialogue. Touch the plant if you have to, and call on it to speak with you. If you can go deep enough into the subconscious, you will hear their voice. Through such a connection, there’s a huge amount of wisdom to be gained. Trust me, it’s very real. It’s a distinctive state of consciousness to enter into the collective unconscious of plants (which can occur through invitation, after repeated communion is achieved). You begin to understand their point of view, and they may also understand yours. Remember, they are not absolute or holy. Take everything as it is, and converse like you would with a friend.

Honestly, they have a bit of animosity towards humanity, because they cannot understand our worry and obsession with life, but it won’t be directed at you. Besides, “hatred” is a very human emotion.

Got that? Good, now go ahead and try it.Eventually you should be able to call upon higher forces, like the land, the winds, rain, the clouds, the storms.

These are not things that I can “instruct” you in through the written word, mainly because I can’t describe it myself. I can point the way, but beyond that it’s all personal development.

Remember to follow this blog for more content. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time
~White Raven

I Invoked Dionysus, Pissed him off, then made up

May 14, 2019July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged archetype, bacchus, christianity, daemon, daimon, death, deity, dionysus, drugs, evocation, fertility, god, greece, greek, hellenic, hellenism, hinduism, intoxication, invocation, kabbalah, krishna, magic, magick, mycanean, neopaganism, new age, Occult, paganism, psychadelics, rebirth, religion, secret name, solar, sorcery, spirituality, subconscious, symbolism, theurgy, underworld, wine, wizard, words of power13 Comments

Ey! Hello, and welcome back to my blog! This is a short update for veteran readers (and for any new ones, if you’re interested). Then we will get to the article.

So, I did some soul searching. I noticed how when I started this blog I used to write a lot, but as I got busy, I began to fall short. For 2017 and 2018 I literally just wrote 5 posts each year. But now college is ending and suddenly I’m a lot more free. I decided that I would ignore this blog no longer, and actually update it more often. I was also stuck, both in life and in magick, for two years, becoming very internal and reflective. But recently I’ve made breakthroughs, and once again I’m excited about magick, and life in general 😀

I’ve spent the last month going through every single article, adding new information and insights, fixing grammatical mistakes, and tagging properly, and I’ve already started getting more traffic. If you’re a veteran reader, I really recommend going back and reading anything you liked. There’s tons of new information and thoughts in every post written between 2015-2018.

There are many Occult blogs out there, but they’re very, very theoretical and academic. Now, I love those and I’m sure they are very important. But that’s just not my thing. I’m young, and I know for a fact that there’s a gulf between young, spontaneous occultists who’ll literally explore as far as they possibly can, and the older, more mature middle aged occultists with glasses and goatees, dedicated to reading their 700 page tomes and doing their 5 hour invocations precisely.

Let’s be real, I’m not much into being tied down. Fuck that. College has made me realise why more people aren’t Occultists, why more people aren’t vibrant, alive and courageous. Society has become like a stagnant, infested swamp of boredom. But the world runs because magicians Will it to. And I’d rather be out there doing something of value, than sitting at some abhorrent desk job dying inside every day. And I encourage everyone to do the same. Now, what that is, I do not know.

But enough of my rant, and time to begin today’s post, the Invocation of Dionysus.

Why Dionysus?

You might ask, why Dionysus? I asked the same thing. Being a Kabbalist, I’ve only ever worked with Angels and Demons. In fact, even they’re rare. A majority of the magick I’ve ever done has been planetary and elemental magick.

Sure, I’ve had some encounters with other stuff (mainly Lovecraftian magick), but I think Dionysus was the first true “God” I ever invoked. I think it’s mainly because I wasn’t totally sure how to go about it, and I never really needed to.

The Planetary powers are also Greek/Roman gods, but I still invoked them as Planets, and knew all the astrological correspondences. But with deities like Dionysus, it gets a lot more complex, and it never seemed worth the trouble.

Before I became a magickian, I was exposed to the New Age stuff. Dionysus was an important figure in those spiritual circles, not to mention he’s kind of famous because a lot of Christian rituals were lifted from the Cult of Bacchus/Dionysus.

Since he’s an important spiritual figure in pop culture, I was always intrigued by him. He was said to party hard and impart ecstasy. Being from a fairly stuck up culture that shuns letting go and intoxication, I was very drawn to Dionysus as a young teenager.

Most importantly, when I was young I had taken Pan (who is a deity very closely linked to Dionysus, if not a primordial aspect of him) as one of my patron Gods. This is before I ever got into Kabbalah. I’d always had a plan to invoke Dionysus at the back of my mind.

So, I finally decided to call on him. I was guided to do so by my intuition, so I thought “eh, what the heck”. I was also interested to see what a Hellenic deity is like.

History of Dionysus

Dionysus is a very interesting god, to say the least. Remember, the key to invoking any Being is to have a comprehensive understanding of their history and nature.

Dionysus today is generally thought of as the God of Wine. He was/is one of the Twelve Olympians from Greek mythology, a son of Zeus and therefore a demigod, invented wine, wandered the world and partied with people.

Many say he went to India (where he founded the city of Naragarhi/Nyssa) and for a long time there was the misconception that Dionysus was a foreign God that came to Greece when Alexander expanded his empire across Asia. I can see why people would think that, since ancient Greece and India had a lot of interaction, to the point where Greek manuscripts are a good source to study Indian history (because all the Indian libraries were brunt down. Thanks Islam ), and there’s people of Greco-Indian descent alive today. Dionysus was always seen as a “foreign” God in ancient Greece, and for this reason people thought he was an import from some other culture.

However, when we discovered that Dionysus was worshiped in the pre-Hellenic period as well, and possibly even before Mycanean period, this theory was rebuked.

Now it’s more clear, and it seems that Dionysus wasn’t a “foreign” god, but a God in whom “foreignness” was intrinsic. As I explain the history of his worship, you’ll see why he represents all that is foreign, alien and against social norms.

When he died Zeus wanted him to be an Olympian. For this, it is generally accepted (Thanks to the Percy Jackson novels) that the goddess Hestia, the former 12th Olympian, gave up her seat for Dionysus. Now he spends his days getting drunk and chasing nymphs. Technically, the myth of Hestia wasn’t official canon in Ancient Greece itself, and really is a modern invention. In reality, both Dionysus and Hestia are, based on different sources, said to be the 12th Olympian.

Needless to say, if you were to invoke Dionysus with only this to go on, you’d commune with a very shallow, pop culture aspect of him and at most feel a bit tipsy. So I’m going to do my best to outline a history for you.

Mycenaean Dionysus

To anyone interested in working with the Greek Gods, it is perhaps important to understand that most of our modern ideas about Greek religion, and culture in general, come from Hellenic Greek. This is why Greek neo-pagans of today are called Hellenists.
But Hellenic Greece was a late-comer to the world, appearing only in the 5th century BCE.

Obviously, that’s very late compared to it’s contemporaries like Egypt, India, Mesopotamia, China etc, and hardly befitting the title of “Cradle of Western Civilization”. Interestingly, when we say “Ancient Greece”, we’re talking about the Hellenic period.

Much of Hellenic culture and religion were actually carried over from a much more ancient period, called Mycenaean Greece. This is a mistake I see a lot of neo-pagans make when they try to practice magick from a purely Hellenic perspective, since Mycenaean religion was far more vested in magick and mysticism than the more philosophical and academic Hellenic period.

Mycenaean civilisation existed in Greece during 15th century BCE, until about the 8th Century BCE.

All of the Greek Gods have been found to have existed in this period, in their more ancient aspects. The emphasis was on Cthonic (dark underworld) deities instead of patriarchal sky Gods. In fact, this shift may be seen in all cultures, and there’s definitely Occult relevance there.

In other words, Poseidon was the chief Deity, not Zeus. Those of you who understand the Alchemical elements will see that the shift between these two civilisations was from Water to Air, and finally to Fire in the Roman era and it’s emphasis on Mars. Perhaps before the Cthonic gods of Mycanean Greece, people of the region worshiped Gaia and the Titans, and thus the element of Earth, which then went into Tartarus with subconscious repression.

Dionysus existed in this time as Di-Wo-Nu-Su (the Mycanean script is considerably different from modern forms of Greek). Diwonusu/Dionysus was fundamentally a Cthonic God, ruling Death and Rebirth. This makes him very similar to Osiris, and this is where the association with Rebirth in modern myths of Dionysus comes from. This is also why many people point to the Cult of Dionysus as a proto-Christian religion.

Prior to the discovery of this version of Dionysus, there were many linguists who thought his name was from modern Greece, and had various translations, ranging from “Zeus-limp” to “He who runs among trees”. However, it seems Diwonusu means something much more profound: “He who impels the world tree/mountain”. In other words, the driving force behind the Axis Mundi, the one who compels the spiritual ascent to the god-head, which makes sense if you consider the death and rebirth association.

Initially, this Underworld Deity was simply a Rebirth God, and his cult existed even then. At this time wine made it’s way to Greece, and became associated with the Cult of Dionysus.

We know that the Mycaneans made extensive use of psychadelics mixed with wine (Terrence McKenna thought they made the wine from psychadelics, like ergot).

I personally think the cult of Dionysus may have used psychedelics plants to commune with him, and he may already have had an association with intoxication. Perhaps they adopted wine and mixed the plants into it, because it was easier to consume or heightened the effects, thus making Dionysus the God of Wine as well as Rebirth.

This version of Dionysus was also horned and probably bearded, making him extremely important from an Occult standpoint, as a primal male fertility god, who dies and is reborn. A solar archetype. This is why I believe Dionysus and Pan are different aspects of the same deity. The fertility aspect of Dionysus would later emerge as Pan, who in mythology was his follower. However, when invoking these Gods you should treat them as separate.

Orphic Dionysus/ Esoteric Dionysus

Between the fall of Mycanean greece and the rise of Hellenic Greece, there is a period called the “dark ages” (not to be confused with the Christian Dark Ages which happen after the fall of Rome). We know very little about this period, due to the lack of records. Dionysus was worshiped during this time, but underwent a transformation. Perhaps an important deity within what would later become Orphism.

Orphism was much more concerned with esoteric symbolism. To them, the Underworld aspect of Dionysus was a bit less important that the intoxication and symbolism.

Orphic Dionysus was said to have been the son of either Zeus (Sky) or Hades (Death), and Persephone (Spring). He was, much like Krishna, Christ and Horus, destined from birth to become King. This angered the Queen of the Gods, Hera, and she had the Titans tear him apart and consume him. However, his heart was saved by Athena (Wisdom) and he was reborn. You will notice this death and rebirth also has an association with how wine is made, by taking living grapes (living God), grinding them down (death), storing and fermenting the pulp (heart), and creating the drink from them (rebirth). And yes, this is precisely why the death and rebirth of Christ is celebrated through the consumption of Wine, aka the “blood” of Christ.

This Dionysus was still a horned God, though lacking a beard (making him seen as a younger, more spontaneous God) and represented the liberation from the Ego, and the ecstasy of an uninhibited subconscious that occurs during intoxication. However, the subconscious is also symbolised by the Underworld, so there is still an association with the old Cthonic Diwonusu.

The Orphic cult celebrated the madness, insanity, and a celebration of the Divine. They also sacrificed Bulls. They also attracted a lot of members of Greek society who were of “low status” and oppressed, such as slaves, women and foreigners. The parallels with early Christianity are obvious.

On the other hand, now the dark ages ended, and Hellenic Greece came into being, and the modern Olympic pantheon as we know it was set. In other words, the Cthonic religion had transformed into a simpler, organised, scholastic and “noble” faith. So I guess the average Hellenic priests were not overly keen on the insane intoxicated death cult that was killing bulls and having orgies in the forest, or their weird undead horned God who drove people insane. Still their attempts at suppression failed. Thus, this fringe part of the religion was Orphism, while the mainstream part was Hellenism.

Bacchae Dionysus

So, what happens now? Well, apparently some crazy monarch called Pisistratus tried to popularize the worship of Dionysus to Athens, by trying to introduce a folk festival called the Dionysia. During this festival people carried giant phallic structures, and we see a glimpse of the very old aspect of Dionysus as a fertility God emerge again. People were uneasy at first, but Pisistratus informed them of all the horrible things Dionysus did to those who rejected him (are we sure these aren’t basically just Christians?).

And lo and behold, Dionysus slowly became mainstream. But not fully. A famous play from the 6th century BCE called the Bacchae depicts Dionysus as returning from his exile to Thebes to overthrow a king who outlawed his worship. The people don’t believe that he is a God so he drives them mad, and over time builds a following.

He is captured by the King and chained up, but the young Dionysus just laughs in his face. The King of Thebes presents chained up Dionysus to his followers, who are called the Maenads, as proof of his victory over their leader. He is then promptly torn apart and killed by them in crazed anger.

I think this represents a transition phase, where Dionysus is like a mad, rebellious God with a large following who doesn’t care about society or how people see him. This is most likely an indication of the Cult of Dionysus during this time. He was considered an Olympian and his worship began to spread, despite all the crazy shit he did.

Hellenic Dionysus

As the prosperity of ancient Greece grew, thanks to the establishment of Alexander’s Empire across Asia, the elite became interested in this strange new cult. Partying, intoxication, and excess became more common and Dionysus gained acceptance in Greek society, even though he was watered down to be basically a God of Wine and intoxication, but at least now he was a full fledged Olympian.

There are also accounts from this period which place Hestia, Goddess of Hearth, as an alternative 12th Olympian. Don’t know why this is. Presumably there was a more conservative, traditional part of the population who were more drawn to Hestia, and her assocations with home, family values and the hearth than to Dionysus, the God of Intoxication. Most peasants, who were neither part of the elite, nor the ostracized fringes, probably identified with Hestia more than Dionysus.

This is also the time when the Eleusinian Mysteries, another esoteric Cult, emerged in Greece, Crete and the Near East, and had many of the old Mycanean practices. Supposedly, this was much less fringe and almost all the important philosophers and figures of ancient Greece, including Plato, Socrates, Plutarch and Cicero, had been initiated into it.

This is also the first emergence of High Magick in western society, with the esoteric Mysteries being associated with the intellectuals of society rather than just the oppressed and alienated. Prior to this, it had only existed in Egypt and India in any real sense. You will notice that this is basically the status of most Occult traditions today, which attract the most intellectual and capable members of society as well as the most oppressed, and of course, there is also a strong overlap between the two groups.

The Hellenic myths of Dionysus state that he was born from Zeus and a mortal woman, Samella. While pregnant, she was tricked by Hera into goading Zeus to prove to her that he was a God. He revealed to her his true form, but since no mortal can look upon the true form of a God, she disintegrated, leaving a premature Dionysus behind. Zeus took the child and sowed him into his genitals, and gave birth to him this way (don’t even ask me to consider). This Dionysus grew up to be a dashing young man and gained a large following. He discovers how to make wine and spreads his gift with the world, travelling all around the globe.

He is once captured by pirates, for his beautiful looks They are going to sell him as a slave, but suddenly he unleashes his true fury on them, driving them insane and enveloping the ship in vines. In their insanity, they jump overboard, and he takes pity on them and turns them into dolphins.

To me this shows that even now, the true origins of Dionysus still had a semblance in culture, like an old, forgotten memory. But other than that, he basically just drank a lot and chased nymphs. He once fell in love with a human woman called Ariadne, and upon her death she became his immortal wife in Olympus. Dionysus has become a much more “noble”, clean and watered down God.

Dionysus in Rome and Beyond

In the Roman era, Dionsysus was known as Bacchus and was still basically a wine God. However, by now the Cult of Bacchus had become very important, and their beliefs and practices would contribute to the foundation of Christianity. These people saw Bacchus as a solar god, who had been crucified and then reborn. This aspect of Dionysus is much more important if you are practicing magick within a Christian tradition, but less if you do so in a non Abrahamic one.

Dionysus was also known in another form to the Romans, as Liber Pater. This was a god of fertility, wine and freedom. You see here that he had been split into Bacchus, the esoteric God of Rebirth, while Liber became the fertility side of him.

After paganism faded from Europe and gave way to Christianity, Dionysus, along with the other Gods, became more of a cultural facet than god. It seems some priest led a dance in the honour of Dionysus in Scotland during Easter, in 1282. He was then promptly killed by a Christian mob later that year.

The art and sculptures of the Renaissance often prominently feature Dionysus and Pan. This includes works by Michelangelo. Many during the Renaissance thought of their time as the pagan revival, and this is evident from their art.

Naturally, the neo-pagan movements first sprang up in what is now the UK (which is still a prominent neo-pagan and occult centre) around the 18th century, and most modern neo-pagan movements can be traced back to those.

Dionysus and India

Many of my fellow Hindus today have a complete and utter inability to look at religion and spirituality beyond it’s surface level, and, much like Jews and Christians, are extremely concerned with the ethno-political aspect of Hinduism than any of it’s esoteric and mystical layers.

I have heard people say that Dionysus was a precursor to Shiva, since both are intoxicated deities. This is untrue, since we have just seen Dionysus is MUCH more than a mere wine God (and Shiva is much more than some stoned Hippie). The worship of Shiva in fact predates Vedic civilization, to the Indus valley. Both however, started out as primal fertility Gods and have their core aspect in the Horned God archetype.

On the other hand, I find myself wondering if Dionysus is the precursor to the worship of Krishna instead. You see, Krishna isn’t actually as ancient as people think, and definitely came around AFTER the Vedas. Much later in fact, possibly during the Bhakti movement.

Older Krishna, like Bacchus, has an aspect as the supreme solar archetype. Krishna in Hindu theology plays a more profound role as Law Giver, much like Christ. This aspect of Krishna is linked to Vishnu, to the Higher Self and the core of Vedic esotericism.

However, if you look at the stories of young Krishna, how he was born destined to be King, how he had many female followers (gopis), how he cared little for societal norms, it seems that “young Krishna” is Dionysus. We know the Greeks had a cultural impact on India, and I wonder if the worship of Krishna started out as the worship of Dionysus. But, I’ll stop speculation there, because I just don’t know enough right now, and I despise the Hindu fundamentalists and rather not ruffle any feathers. If our ancestors were here today, they’d remark that they saw no religion around that resembled their own.

Dionysus in Magick

Dionysus is, fundamentally, a Sun god. Due to his association with both death and rebirth, as well fertility and celebration, he is halfway between the dark rebirth deities like Osiris, and the solar deities like Christ and Horus. He has several aspects, all of which could be invoked. The purest, most Occult aspect would the Orphic Dionysus.

Orphic religion is the most important to us as Magickians. You see, it was a Mystery cult.

In other words these people were Occultists themselves, as far as their time period was concerned. Sure, Hellenism has an occult side to it in modern time, but you have to understand that in it’s day, Hellenism was the organised religion of Greece. It was very similar to the Abrahamic religions (and others) today.

But Orphism back then was akin to the Occult traditions of today. It has been traced back to the beginning of the Hellenic period, and was basically a fringe, spiritual group with unorthodox, and authentic practices. They were also shunned by Hellenism, like every organised religion shuns the Occult movements of it’s time. Many of the ideas espoused by Orphism wouldn’t become mainstream in the world until well after Christianity had taken over, such as the ideas of equality among people, and the importance of freedom and liberty. Heck, one might say these ideas weren’t truly established until the French revolution.

In this sense, you may think of Dionysus as “The Transformer”, or a God of Alchemy. This is what the death and rebirth symbolise, and he transforms darkness into light. For example, he can transform anxiety, worry and depression into joy, intoxication, and warmth. He beings forth Beauty and Calmness from Horror and Confusion.

The second thing to remember is that through the intoxication he induces, he breaks down the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious. He allows the magician to relax and let go of his worries, and in this process connect more deeply to himself and allow his deeper, intimate nature to shine through. If you take it far enough, he can also let the celebrant to embrace the animalistic, wild side of himself, being a God of the Wild and madness.

This sort of madness, from what I can see, is rare and I have never personally experienced it. It is possible the the amount of madness that will be produced depends on how repressed the person normally is. A person who is unable to ever express himself freely, either because of constraints placed by himself or by society, will probably benefit the most. In this sense we see the rebellious aspect of Dionysus as well, who pushes against oppressive social norms.

Dionysus, being the transformer, causes rebellion and upheaval which causes the transformation, and he does so by breaking down conscious constraints. At first all these aspects seemed random and disconnected, but if you think about it, they all lead to each other.

Normally, most magicians have already broken down most of the arbitrary constraints placed on them, and usually have a good mental balance, and express themselves more openly. I think it is because of this that occult practitioners only ever experience a relaxation and calmness, instead of full madness. We have less to let go off. For someone who is new to magick and coming from a strong orthodox religious background, the Invocation of Dionysus might be fruitful, especially if he/she is unwilling to work with being like Lucifer or Lilith.

Associations

Important Names: Diwonusu, Dionysus, Bacchus, Iacchus, Agrios, Bromos, Euious

Epithets: Loud roarer, First-Born, Twice/Thrice Born, Wild One, Bull faced, War-Like, The Liberator, The Subterranean, the Thunderer, The Prevailer.

Role: God of Wine, Fertility, Rebirth, Madness, Intoxication, Pleasure, Foreignness

Symbols: Thyrsus (staff covered in vines and leaves, topped with a Pinecone), grapes, wine, leopards, pinecones, phallus, bull, goat (as Pan), oranges

Planet: The Sun/Tiphareth and Mercury/Hod

The Invocation

I used the Orphic Hymn of Dionysus to invoke him. I shall give here the original Greek and the English transliteration, along with the translation I found.

Original

Κικλήσκω Διόνυσον ἐρίβρομον, εὐαστῆρα,
πρωτόγονον, διφυῆ, τρίγονον, Βακχεῖον ἄνακτα,
ἄγριον, ἄρρητον, κρύφιον, δικέρωτα, δίμορφον,
κισσόβρυον, ταυρωπόν, ἀρήϊον, εὔϊον, ἁγνόν,
ὠμάδιον, τριετῆ, βοτρυοτρὸφον, ἐρνεσίπεπλον.
Εὐβουλεῦ, πολύβουλε, Διὸς καὶ Περσεφονείης
ἀρρήτοις λέκτροισι τεκνωθείς, ἄμβροτε δαῖμον·
κλῦθι μάκαρ φωνῆς, ἡδὺς δ’ ἐπίπνευσον ἐνηής,
εὐμενὲς ἦτορ ἔχων, σὺν ἐυζώνοισι τιθήναις.

Transliteration

Kiklískoh Diónyson ærívromon, evastíra,
prohtógonon, diphií, trígonon, Vakheion ánakta,
ágrion, árriton, krýphion, dikǽrohta, dímorphon,
kissóvryon, tavrohpón, Aríion, évion, agnón,
ohmádion, triætí, votryotróphon, ærnæsípæplon.
Evvouléf, polývoulæ, Diós kai Pærsæphoneiis
arrítis lǽktrisi tæknohtheis, ámvrotæ daimon;
klýthi, mákar phohnís, idýs d’ æpípnefson æniís,
evmænǽs ítor ǽkhohn, sýn evzóhnisi tithínais.

Translation/Meaning

I call Diónysos the loud-roarer! Who wails in revel!
First-Born, two-natured, thrice-born, Vakkhic king,
Wild, inscrutable, cryptic, two-horned, two-shaped,
Bedecked in ivy, bull-faced, war-like, howling, holy,
Divine victim, feasted every other year, adorned with grapes, bedecked in foliage. Evvouléfs, counselor, Zefs and Kóri bore you…on a secret bed, immortal Daimon;
Listen happy one to my voice! Sweetly breathe on me with gentleness,
Be kind and grant my desire, with the aid of your chaste nurses!

I had no sigil or image, so I decided to use a large pine cone as a representation of Dionysus. I also had a small one that I would ask Dionysus to bless.

I kept the invocation relatively simple. I had a black lamp, and the pine cone on my altar. Instead of incense, I burned some orange oil, because oranges are favoured by Dionysus as an offering.

Ideally, you would offer wine to Dionysus. Unfortunately, I had none at this time. I’d bought some beer instead, but I felt intuitively that whiskey would be better. So I poured a small glass. I also had a small bowl of fresh green grapes (it wasn’t the season for black grapes and the purple ones aren’t native to my country).

Though this was not an Hermetic or Kabbalistic ritual, I still did the LBRP once. I then made a simple prayer asking for the success of the ritual, then began to chant.

At first I chanted in Greek. After 2-3 times, I thought to chant in English. Then after 3 rounds of that, I returned to Greek again. I developed a sort of patter, and between switching languages I’d vibrate his names DIONYSUS, BACCHUS, EUHOI, EUBOLOUS. I’d vibrate each name 8 times, then repeat.

This continued for some time. I no longer remember how exactly Dionysus manifested, and for some reason I don’t have notes of this. How strange.

But what I do remember is that his coming plunged the room into a state of extreme silence. I felt all the tension in my body and mind wash away, and I felt a bit light headed. I presented my offering to him, and thanked him for coming.

I was urged to drink the whiskey and eat some of the grapes. I did exactly that, and, similar to the Christian communion, I took the essence of Dionysus into myself, completing the task of Invocation.

Now I felt relaxed, and I felt myself loosen up. Till now, I had been sitting cross legged in a meditative posture, as I do in all rituals, but now I stretched my legs out and sat back. I didn’t feel “drunk”, but I felt happy and calm, more than I had in a while.

Dionysus said some things regarding his nature, worship and role in human society. Most of these insights havr already been mentioned above. I listened and I took notes. I also channeled two sigils of him. Although pagan Gods don’t normally use sigils/seals, I was told that these could be used to Invoke Dionysus if someone was so inclined. I did not get a physical manifestation, but his presence was very real. It made the air pressure in the room drop, and I felt warm and there was a mild fragrance of fresh grass.

It was rather odd. I just sat there, totally awake, with an ancient mystery God before me.

I also asked Dionysus to bless a talisman, which was a tiny pine cone. He told me that if I ever felt worried, anxious or agitated, I could hold this in my palm and I would instantly become calm and relaxed. He also said that if I ever felt happy, calm or relaxed naturally, I should hold this talisman and use those feelings to charge it for later. I also put it out in the sun on exceedingly peaceful and clear days. It carries the energy of Spring within it.

What else. Oh yeah, he gave me his secret name.

How? Well, I asked nicely and I guess he trusted me. Well, that was his first mistake: assuming I know what I’m doing. More on that later.

After this, I asked for his help in some personal matters. I then gave thanks and bid him farewell. I finished the ritual with the LBRP.

I did the ritual at night, and now it was nearly midnight and I would be going to bed soon. However, before I did I had to clean up the ritual stuff and make some notes in my diary, which I have to after every magick working.

I often turn off all the lights and use candles when I perform rituals, and at the end I turn on the light again. This serves to dissipate any lingering effects of the ritual, and bring me “back” to the mundane world. After this ritual though, I felt so peaceful that I didn’t want it to end. Somehow, the vibe created by the ritual was so organic, so real, that I knew as soon as the crappy fluorescent electrical lighting came on all this peace would dissipate. So instead, I decided to light a spare white candle, put it on my desk, and write in the candle light.

The fire had a calming effect. Perhaps it tapped into some primordial, evolutionary instinct, that our ancestors developed in the pre-historic days when they lit a fire in their cave to protect them from predators. It brought them safety, warmth, helped them cook their food. No wonder people were sitting by candles, bonfires and fire places until only 2 centuries ago. As I wrote, I noticed my handwriting was strikingly beautiful, and much better than usual.

I think this whole vibe was a mixture of the energies of Dionysus, the whiskey warming me up, and the peaceful lighting produced by the candle. I realised that human beings are adapted to two kinds of light: natural sunlight, and warm moody lighting produced by the fire. Frater Xavier on YouTube has this theory that all of these forms of light have an astrological association with the Sun, and thus with peace, happiness and comfort. He also believes that the modern LED and fluorescent lighting does not have this association because it doesn’t “burn”. Personally, I think it’s because modern lighting is cold and white.

I’ve been experimenting with this idea since then, for the past several months, and will probably write a separate post about it. But with this, my Invocation of Dionysus ended. What comes next though, is perhaps more important.

The Secret Name

So, I now had the secret name of Dionysus. I was warned explicitly against giving it away. You see, having the secret name of any entity (be it a human, god, angel, demons, spirit) gives you a certain power over them. That’s why in Hollywood movies when a priest is performing an exorcism, he asks the possessing demon to “give him it’s true name”.

Perhaps, it is also why your Governments insist that you use your “legal name” in any official processing or document (although your legal name isn’t your “true name”). This is also why most magicians have several personas. For example, I have my legal name, I have my online name, White Raven, and I also have a magickal name which I don’t share with anyone. Names have power. Why do you think orthodox Jews dare not utter the name of the Tetragrammaton lightly?

Well, this was the first time I’d ever asked a deity for their secret name. Having the secret name of a God can help you Invoke them and commune with them more effectively. But I had no experience with secret names.

I wanted to learn more about this name. I wondered if the name was ACTUALLY comprised of real Greek syllables, and had a meaning in ancient Greek.

I performed a Google search on this name, and naturally nothing came up. But, I’m one of those people who specializes in deep research. I began to look at the Greek alphabet, and began to scour every online resource I could find, from lists of Greek root words, to translators, to dictionaries. Very quickly I realised that not only was this was a deep, powerful and mutli-layered name, but also that if I could piece it together, it would shed light on the true nature of Dionysus.

The translations I had so far left me awestruck. I had a couple of meanings for parts of the name. I was very close, but now the trouble began. You see, I was not going to share the secret name, but I had planned to share it’s meaning on this blog. I don’t know in what stupor I thought that somehow sharing the MEANING of the secret name would be better than sharing the name itself.

As I was searching, the the power cut out and my screen went dark. You see, my computer runs on a UPS, but not my monitor. I thought nothing of this, and once the power returned a few minutes later, I continued my search.

However, about 10 mins later it happened again. This was my cue, and it suddenly occurred to me that sharing such a powerful name was a bad idea, and would compromise the God who had given it to me in such trust. So I made a promise not to share it, and stupidly continued. Now I felt a intense pressure on my body, and waves of heat flowing over me. Only now did I realise that Dionysus might be trying to get my attention, asking me to stop before I defiled the sacred pact and knew something I wasn’t meant to.

An old Japanese Shinto saying came to my head “Those mages who use their powers of sight to peer into the true nature of the Gods, stand to loose their power and favour with the Gods”.

And now I stopped, immediately. I was so close, and tempted to continue, but I knew better. I stopped, then I prayed to Dionysus and asked for forgiveness. I felt the anger fade pretty quickly, though I still felt on edge. But after a while, I felt a sense of forgiveness and understanding, and I knew I was forgiven. Perhaps the Gods understood that I had made a mistake.

However, you see, I’m a bit of the rebellious type. I despise being restricted from things, especially the pursuit of knowledge. I hate being told that something if off limits. Maybe I’m just being childish, or maybe I’m right. But one way or another, this is who I am. At the time, I felt unsure about working with a Deity or system where I was more like a follower or “lesser” to the Deities. It reeked of organised religion, and was something I’d seen far too often with my fellow Hindus, who assume a position of subservience to the Gods.

This is not how a spiritual relationship should be. A deity should not have to go so far to stop me. Or maybe the God wasn’t angry at all. Perhaps he was warning me for my own good, and maybe it was just me who perceived this as anger. However, I have not worked with Dionysus since then.

I use the talisman from time to time, and it does work. But, I just can’t follow spirituality this way, where there is fear and arbitrary constraints involved. So yeah, I made a mistake, but I don’t regret it.

Well, so that was it. I hope you liked it. Check out some other articles, and remember to follow my blog for more 😀

EDIT 2020: As of July 2020, I’ve written a new book on the Tree of Life and Kabbalistic theory. I’m quite proud of it, and you can check it by going to the Books tab, or clicking right here.

You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time.
~White Raven

Urban Occultism

December 6, 2018June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged astrology, body, city, Earth, Expereinces, focus, guide, Knowledge, magic, magick, mind, new age, night, Occult, power, prayer, religion, self, spirit, spiritual, spirituality, sun, urban, yoga5 Comments

Written: December 6th, 2018 | Edited: 28th March 2019

I’ve been thinking about what to write next. The purpose of this blog was never really to talk about occult theory or kabbalistic correspondences, because I don’t like to think of myself as a teacher. Instead, it was to talk about personal experiences with magick, mysticism, the occult and other spiritual stuff.

I haven’t invoked or evoked any Spirits in a while, because I haven’t really needed to. I did have a little encounter with Lovecraftian magick, but I’m still not fully sure about the safety and potential benefits of something like that. I don’t think that’s something that should just be put on a public blog like this. More of something the advanced occultist will figure out and engage in themselves, if one should feel inclined to and see a real reason to do so.

So, I thought why not write about the fact that I live in an Urban environment, and that’s a pretty unique, yet such widespread situation. There’s probably thousands of occultists and magicians practicing in the hearts of metropolitan cities, and it’s certainly not how it was traditionally done. So, in the spirit of modernity and pursuing the Great Work against all adversity, this is what today’s post is about. There’s also some stuff about protection against unwanted subconscious control (which everyone in the modern urban environment is subject to, except for one who knows his own mind, and one who lives away from society).

Traditional Occult Practices

There are hundreds of different branches of occult, from various eras and cultures around the world. However, one way to distinguish them is by putting them in two broad categories: organised and folk traditions. Folk traditions refer to most ancient pagan systems, and naturally most neo-pagan practices of today, as well as Tantra, Witchcraft, Hoodoo etc.

Folk traditions were often carried out in the rural areas and the countryside. Some existed at the fringes of civilized society, where the Known met the Unknown. Today, people who continue to live in such areas find it easy to follow such traditions, and there is a great connection with the land, and importance of sourcing everything yourself, going out into natural places like forests and lakes, performing rituals at various odd times like midnight, exploration, and all sorts of other things that require outdoor space and considerable amounts of free time. It is a very hands-on approach to the occult, and it is the easiest way to fully connect to the Source, and to gain understanding of the Self. People who live in the countryside seem to be able to do it without much hassle.

Then, we have the highly organised traditions like the Vedanta, Egyptian magic, Kabbalah, The Mystery traditions, Alchemy (Al-Khemi) etc. These traditions often emerged out of city centers (such as Alexandria, Rome, London, Varanasi, Kyoto, Tenochtitlan, Damascus, Baghdad etc.), and were closely tied to organised religion (since they were probably practiced in close proximity to religious centers). Today, such traditions are still practiced by people who live in towns and cities, and smaller urban settings. There is usually not an emphasis on sourcing material or going into nature, since it would have been, and still is, somewhat tricky to simply go into the forest to do a daily ritual. People in such settings also have less time, even if they do not waste time in pointless tasks.

On the other hand, people in cities would usually have much more indoor space, and access to materials and knowledge beyond what was locally available. This is perhaps why such traditions, instead of working with nature, are usually associated with elaborate, consecrated Temples, which is usually furnished with items having very specific correspondences. The city dweller would usually not have any trouble finding materials, getting access to books and learning specialized skills like herbalism or metallurgy. In addition, one would not have to worry about things like food and water, due to the division of labour. The lack of time, space and nature was made up for by access to materials and knowledge, ability to devote oneself to specialised study, and space for a temple, library, laboratory etc.

This setting is, while less conducive to being in touch with Nature, is extremely good for understanding extremes and confronting the Shadow.

While rural occultists would play an integral part in their community as community leaders (shamans, seers, medics, cheifs etc), urban occultists would play an integral role in a society as specialists (doctors, lawyers, politicians, priests etc). Together, humanity progressed forward,

This has pretty much been the state of things since the birth of organised cities around 3000 BCE.

A New Society

Since the end of World War II, a new kind of society has been emerging. A kind of human habitation that has never truly existed in the past, driven by technological and scientific innovation that cannot even be fathomed by the human mind, an explosion of culture, moral values, cooperation between all nations of the world on a common platform, the rise of the Internet, and, most importantly, Occult knowledge being freely and publicly available, on a scale never before possible. I mean, just think about how common it is for even the most average person, who knows nothing of mysticism or religion, to be familiar with basic ideas of spirituality like meditation, the power of the mind, what is good or bad for the body, and the notion of individualism.

However, as the Law of Polarity goes, this incredible Golden Age, which has really kicked off in the 21st Century, and gone into high-gear after 2012, has it’s various disadvantages and evils, which are just as extreme as it’s advantages, only much more subtle. While there is a steady increase in peace and quality of life as we overcome more problems (which we should all be extremely thankful for, by the way), there is a steady decline in true spirituality, magick and mysticism, along with the increasing attempt to remove these things from all sections of society. The average person might say that the trade off is well worth it, but i’m not sure. There’s a thin line between Utopia and Dystopia.

There has never been this much control and power over the masses. Never before have governments had access to private conversations, or international corporations such reach and resources. Never in all of human history has “mind control” been anything more that a delusion. Now, we live in a time where if Alex Jones gets drunk and starts rambling about conspiracy theories, you have to sit there and question how much of it is probably true. It’s strange when you think that everything he says is probable to some degree, and that’s terrifying. In the past, at best you had to worry about the King sending his troops to burn the crops. Now you wonder if your phone’s listening to you, if there’s an AI directing your daily actions, and if some shady international body has an algorithm that can predict where you’ll be before you know it (*cough* Google)

Now, with all that dark stuff out of the way, let me raise your mood by talking about how practicing Magick in the Urban metropolis may be made easier, and how most of it’s superficial challenges can be easily overcome. I don’t generally live in fear because when I think about just how massive and complicated human habitations have become, I feel like even the most powerful shady organisation is more or less powerless to control anything. If you really think about it, our society has become so intricate that no one really could control it. The only reason everything doesn’t spontaneously go to shit is because of mutual co-operation.

The Urban Metropolis

The Metropolis: a large, sprawling jungle of glass, steel and concrete. Brightly lit and well interconnected, it is usually brimming with a diverse population of hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, or in a few cases, even tens of millions. On one hand, it looks like a City of Dreams, but on the other hand it is also a City of Illusion. You see, that is only from an observer’s perspective. To the people living in a metropolitan city (which at this point happens to be most of the populations of the Orient, parts of the Middle East, Western Europe and North America), it feels like home, like any other place in the world.

From the looks of it, the rest of the world will soon follow. If you’ve seen the design proposals for Pyramid cities, vertical cities, layered cities, aquatic cities, Moon/Mars colonies and heck, a full fledged artificial Moon (thanks China), you know it’s only just beginning.

In the 1920s, there was a dystopian horror film called Metropolis. I suppose back then the idea of such cities was terrifying. I happen to live in such a city, and I recently found out that my city is actually a popular location for horror, mystery and murder novels for people living in other, more traditional places within India.

This is very strange to me, since I grew up here, and as far as I’m concerned it’s a totally normal place. Past the facade of glass and steel, we got our little suburbs, with it’s local parks where children play, and the local grocers where we buy fruits and vegetables by the kilo. We have our schools, which are probably like any other public school anywhere else, and offices where people work (even if they are suspended a hundred feet in the air in a glass megalith shaped like a shoe).

So yeah, let’s be honest, even though metropolises were once the terrifying dystopia, life has worked out pretty well in them. Human beings wont change, even in a jungle of glass and steel, and a majority of the population already lives or is destined to live in a metropolis. Right now, all over the world, villages and towns are changing into cities and cities will change to metropolises. This is not the case everywhere though, but what’s important to note is that there’s a surge of populations into metropolises. Even if villages, towns and small cities remain, they’ll be largely devoid of population. This can already be seen in India and Western Europe.

In a way, it is actually going to solve most of the problems that the Industrial era brought, so I think it’s worth giving gratitude. But I feel a sense of uneasiness.

The problem however, is that the average metropolis, though giving people health, freedom and individual liberty, was designed with material and moral fulfillment in mind, but not necessarily spiritual. Magick has never been mainstream, and probably won’t be for some time still. Religion and New Agery may soon be well accommodated, but this doesn’t mean it gets any easier for actual occultists. So unless you want to renounce worldly life and go off to live in the mountains, we have to make the necessary adjustments.

Essentials

Let’s give a little background to the usual Metropolitan environment. Most people live in apartments (or flats). Based on the size of the building, you may be suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Size of the apartment and number of rooms varies.

Usually residential and economic areas are separated, and multiple forms of public transport carry people from home to work, and back, and this is also when considerable amounts of time are wasted. Public spaces include squares, malls, shopping districts and promenades. Schools and Public service buildings are scattered about evenly. The cities are divided into various sections that have little to no interaction. Commercial buildings are glass, steel and concrete, while residential areas are plaster or brick and mortar.

“Nature” is limited to public parks and trees/shrubbery on the divisions between the large multi lane roads. If you’re lucky enough to be in a country like the Netherlands, you’ve got lakes and canals, though they’ll be off limits. Radio waves, smoke, bright light and noise may interfere with Magickal practice. I suggest working in the early morning, at late night or with windows closed.

Also, probably give up on observing the night sky in any meaningful way for astrology. Either you can’t see anything, or shit is behind buildings. There’s no way to see a full horizon.

Pollution is a thing, though the amount of it is based on how adept the Municipal corporations are, and the population is likely not homogenous, consisting of people speaking various languages, from various parts of the country, and many even from foreign countries.

Food, electricity and water is not a problem, opportunities and jobs are common and there’s a mix of rosy optimism and abject depression in the population. Everyone pulls their weight, there’s almost no idleness, people are always in a rush and have short attention spans.

Nothing is really seen as weird, including strange occult practices and fringe spiritual traditions, and there’s a general sense of comfortable chaos that everyone is used to. Everyone has strong political opinions but no one acts on it because the Left and the Right are forced to live in close quarters and co-operate to run the city. The intellectual nazi and the urban marxist may sometimes talk rather passionately about various subjects they know nothing about, but will usually go back to being busy with their own life. It’s never really dark or quiet. Ambient noises include the footsteps and chatter of thousands of people, distant drilling and machinery, cars, birds, and the low, perpetual hum of generators.

Sound familiar? Good. If you can relate to about 50-70% of the above, then you may find what I’ll write next as useful.

Temple

First off, the Temple. In any ceremonial tradition, the importance of a Temple is usually insisted upon. A general dedicated area where you can do your magick. Usually, a room is suggested. There may be specifications for the room too. You may read that an alchemical lab would need the space and fittings needed to carry out experiments, along with running water and a window or chimney, and heating apparatus. For a Kabbalistic temple, you may be told to use a square, empty room with the windows facing the cardinal directions, and be able to hang stuff on the walls, light candles, and if you’re up to it, install literal pillars. In the Book of Abramelin the Mage, an entire house is needed specially, and an entire room becomes the invocation circle, with a balcony separated by glass being the Triangle.

I’ll be blunt: in magick, you reap what you sow. That is true. The elaborate care taken in building a suitable place for magical work is with good reason. It’s the same idea as religious places of worship. However, we may also adapt our practice to the modern day.

Whatever path you’re following, learn what the core elements of your space/temple are, so you can simplify it. Cleanliness is a must, and it’s good to map out the cardinal directions. Remember, it does not have to be a room, but any dedicated space is enough. If there’s a small cubical gap in your home, you could clear it out of stuff, and put a rope circle on the floor. That’s a good enough Temple. I used one like it for 6 months. The idea is to have a place where you can do magick, and if possible it should be consecrated. All the other stuff can be added however you feel it should. Instead of Pillars, one can use a black and white curtain.

If you can’t find a special area, then you could just make a “collapsible Temple”. Simply put, you have all the implements stored away, and during ritual you can bring them out and establish a temporary Space. Once you’re done you could put everything away. Much like a Temple is meant to be closed to outsiders, I suggest storing the implements discreetly, and not visible to the world, like in a drawer or something. Don’t use the consecrated implements and furniture for anything else, and pick a spot that you will use each time.

It’s a good idea to keep the Temple portable. It’s your choice how many implements you want to use. Make it so that if you’re travelling, you can securely carry key implements. For things like Alchemy and Herbalism, the kitchen is plenty for most of the initial work. If you’re working with metals though, I say find an outdoor area.

You could rent a space or an office and use that for your Temple. Of course, rent is usually high in Metropolitan cities. Better off looking in the suburbs. This is not ideal for daily work, but not a bad idea for occasional work that is more grand.

I do none of that though. Personally, I just do all my rituals in my room, in the space between my desk and cupboard. I just move my chair out of the way, use some chalk to draw the circle on the floor, along with any other symbols needed, and do it that way. I keep the windows open so it doesn’t get stuffy, and that’s it. When I’m done, my few implements go into a drawer, and I wipe the circle off. Done!

Herbs

There’s always this thing about growing sacred herbs in your backyard or garden (something I don’t think even exists where I live) or going out to collect the needed materials (nowhere withing several hundred kilometers for me).

If you have a balcony, get plastic tubs or pots and grow some herbs. Ideally, it’s always a good idea to grow plants, and just because we don’t have a garden shouldn’t be an excuse. Growing local plants, flowers, and herbs is a good idea. Other than that, learn the correspondences of the herbs and spices you have in your kitchen, and use them. This is of great use when making incenses or oils, and most of what you want is usually found in the kitchen. It’s a far easier option than having to go out and buy or order exotic herbs every time you want to make a custom incense of oil, which I’ve seen people do. I’ve seen witches in India go out of their way to track down Irish moss or lavender, instead of use the marigold in their home or cinnamon in the kitchen.

So, instead of panicking when you can’t find Irish Moss or Dragon’s blood, learn to work with things like sandalwood and lemongrass (and yes, i’m well aware that it will vary from place to place. Apply the principle to where you live). And by growing stuff in the balcony, you’ll at least learn how to tend to plants. Do the hedge Wicca thing if you can’t do anything else. It’s an authentic enough spiritual practice.

It’s usually not hard to order very specific things online these days, but you wont be able to find things that don’t have commercial value, so knowing the correspondences of what you actually have access to is paramount. In a way, doing so is not very different from what the village shamans did in the olden days, when they learned about the herbs growing in the immediate vicinity.

Travel

Living in an Urban metropolis means you have little access to both natural places, like forests, lakes and mountains, and great artificial structures, like monuments, temples, cathedrals, museums. If you happen to live in some of the better planned metropolises, you may have intact forests and such nearby. Similarly, in cities of historic significance, you will probably be able to visit monuments.

Even so, travelling is great, and it should be of interest to any magician to explore and experience new things, and push himself out of his comfort zone. But it’s even more important to metropolis dwellers, both from a mystical and non-mystical sense. Being shut up in a city and going about your busy day is not enough. There’s a reason depression can run high in these places. Other than that, travelling will often give you a chance to do important Occult activities that you normally can’t do, like collecting stones, or wood for your wand, or observing celestial bodies, or collecting sea water and collecting dirt from specific places. Most of these are common in more folk paths. For urban paths, you can visit libraries, look at ancient relics, go to places where great events happened, or make a pilgrimage to religious grounds.

I could go on and on about the benefits of travel, but I’ll stop here. Yes, a more skeptic individual will say “Hah! We have the Internet! We have public parks! I could easily do most of this stuff without even leaving my own neighbourhood!”

To him I’d say: yeah, probably. But where’s the fun in that? Trust me, travel! It’s good for you. Some of the most profound mystical moments in my life have been when I’ve traveled. It’s good for the soul.

Remember, most Occult grimoires were written either in a time when people lived in vivid environments, or for people who traveled a lot anyway. The urban metropolis is a strange and modern phenomenon, and most Occult philosophy was probably written with the expectation of the individual experiencing certain things in life that people these days do not. No doubt Hermes Trismagistus would be confused if you told him you couldn’t understand his quote about “finding your haunt in every living creature” because the most complex animal you ever saw was a pigeon.

Get Used to Artificial Materials

Get used to the idea of using stainless steel, glass, plastic and plywood. I’ve sometimes seen people go to unreal lengths to find “natural” materials like Iron, wood, ceramic, natural stone such as granite, gemstones and heck, even pure gold. Look, it’s always important to use the best quality materials you can get when creating implements for magical work.

I find it is not a good idea to shortchange yourself or cut corners, especially if the desired material is within reach, but you’re too lazy or stingy to use it, since these things have a profound impact on the subconscious. Any material will also generate the energy it corresponds to during ritual. However, many a times the “best” materials available to you WILL be things like paper, steel or plastic. My own banishing dagger is made of stainless steel. I spent a lot of time trying to get the best thing I could, and this was what I found. When I make seals, I use good quality cartridge paper. After all, there’s a limit to what I can reasonably find and use, and vellum and parchment are out of the question in a big city, because they have little commercial benefit (and as we know, in the metropolis economy, only things that make money can survive).

Similarly, when I created my first proper Triangle of the Art, I used cardboard and painted acrylic. After all, I don’t just have a garage where I could do carpentry in order to make it out of wood, or cut glass.

I always try to find the best things I can find. The best paints, paper, wood or metal available to me. But, most likely those will be very different that what was traditionally available. So I wouldn’t be too upset if you, say, have to use a plastic stand on your altar. Don’t just make the new age fallacy of regarding all things artificial as “evil”. It’s no more artificial than iron, and ultimately everything is derived from nature. As for energy being generated, all objects have correspondences. A piece of gold will generate the energy corresponding to the Sun, but so will yellow ink and the circumpent (symbol of the Sun). An iron dagger will generate martial energy, but so will a steel one, and so will an image of war.

Recycled Stuff

I probably don’t need to tell you this, but it isn’t a good idea to use recycled material for magical implements, or materials which have been used for some other purpose before hand. If you do so, I suggest a formal cleansing and reconsecration. In my life I have tried to reuse old materials, but I find that over time I naturally accumulate fresh and new things. I actually collect items and materials expressly for magick purposes. Sometimes, it won’t actually be in use, but I don’t use it for anything else either. I store it away, so that if a time comes when I require something, I already have materials that can be used.

However, there are plenty of things that merely aid the magical work, but aren’t key components of it. A simple example would be jars or bottles, to store incense, oils and the like. I’ve seen people run off to hobby stores to buy brand new “antique” looking jars. The most amusing things are those jars that have purposefully made to look second hand, or “raw”, like those which have fake corks.

Ever seen a modern hippie who buys expensive mugs that are made to look like mason jars, and have a lid that’s plastic but looks like a cloth cover? He then pretends to be like the old hippies who used actual mason jars to drink. That’s what this reminds me of. Something stops being “hippie” once it’s mainstream.

Anyway, don’t waste time and money when it isn’t required. The amount of waste produced by big cities is already unreal, so we don’t need to add to that. Most of the stuff you’ll end up recycling, like jars and bottles, are high quality anyway because they’re mass produced in factories for a competitive market. Chances are your bottles of sauce, jam, and other drinks are good enough to be washed and recycles. In the city, almost everything is designed to be reused. Just consecrate and reuse, and save yourself a whole load of hassle. However, do not hoard. And stay away from plastic when you can, especially to store liquids.

Keep Things Very Clean

Speaking of not hoarding stuff, it is common knowledge that most students of magick keep their surroundings clean. You know how Jordan Peterson keeps saying “Clean your damn room”. In that statement he is conveying a deep and profound spiritual truth.

“Clean your damn sword, bucko!”

As within so without. The existence of filth and mess in a person’s surrounding is a reflection of everything around him. Now, this means just a little bit more in a big city.

Big cities represent, at their core, Chaos. Unlike a peaceful and serene environment of a town or village, where everything is Orderly and the magicians sometimes NEED to consciously bring in Chaos as the counterbalance, here it is flipped. Everything is highly Chaotic and the magician has to strive to bring in Order. So you’re not just cleaning up, you’re bringing Order.

Personally, to me cleaning is almost an alchemical process. When I clean up and set everything in Order, I feel like my heart is cleansed of darkness (and no, i’m not even exaggerating). I think this is similar to what the ancient alchemist experienced when refining metals. Gold from lead.

So, cleaning out the apartment or house is the cleansing of filth and removal of entities, the archetypal act of bringing Order out of Chaos, and the alchemical transformation of the mind and soul.

Adding to this is the fact that the air is big cities usually has industrial pollutants or smoke. Not always, but very often (especially if you’re somewhere it doesn’t rain a lot), so that just wafts through your windows and settles on your floor, shelves, carpets. Everything really. It’s enhanced by the dust from construction sites. You could just stay in and keep everything closed, but then I’m not sure what magick you’ll end up doing.

In the United States, Japan and other such countries this is less, thanks to strict regulation, but in India and China this is now probably the single largest concern (and I’m considering wearing a fucking gas mask if we can’t fix it soon. Can’t even leave my window open in winters without feeling like i’m in gas chamber. Fuck).

Update (2019): So I made a talisman that protects me from pollution. It is the post after this one. Click here to read it.

Just remember: unwanted entities dwell in filth and squalor. There’s a reason religions emphasise ritual purity, especially the older traditions.

On the other hand, try not to make things too sterile or perfect. That removes the soul from it. Obsessive cleanliness is as bad for you as untidiness.

Eat Normal Food

This is perhaps the most common thing I have seen in every great city I have visited: a population hopelessly addicted to processed or refined food. I’ll keep this one short because I don’t want to sound like some stuck up nanny, and I don’t think I actually need to tell people to eat healthy.

Simply put: try to cook your own food from good ingredients, avoid the sugar that’s in practically everything around you, and try not to live on frozen or instant meals….unless you’re in London, in which case you can’t buy the extravagantly expensive food anyway.

Sugar and salt directly affect the emotional balance of the body, so it is very important, especially for someone doing magick, to be careful of foods which have too much of either. Not to mention processed sugar practically works like cocaine (did you know the original recipe for Coca Cola used 9 milligrams of cocaine? These days they use “spent coca leaves”. Ha!)

I’m not going to go crazy and demand that you only eat raw vegan organic food. Just try to be healthy, and limit the alcohol. If the body is weak, no amount of mental, emotional or spiritual fortitude will help. Malkuth is the Kingdom on which all else stands. Magicians are very concerned with guarding against unwanted spiritual influences, thoughts and emotions. How about extending that favour to the body as well? Also, work out, because if the body isn’t fit, it will hinder the spirit. This isn’t just me, but one of the direct teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Additionally, try to do some yoga everyday. It is important to do yoga so that you can control your mind, body, and all it’s spiritual extensions.

I’ve known particularly gifted magicians to go haywire, because they ignored yoga and were unable to control themselves and their surroundings. Trust me, when things go wrong, you want to have that strength of Will that yoga produces. In the metropolis, you’re also much more likely to have less physical exertion, and you don’t want to let yourself become fat, weak or pasty.

Guard the Subconscious

One of the common aspects of large cities is that there is advertising everywhere. In other words, there subliminal stimulus everywhere, pushing you on to buy, eat and consume more and more and more.

Honestly, I don’t have a problem with advertising. It’s not that bad, but i’m not just talking about any old advertising. No, i’m talking about city centres, filled with neon lights, sounds and advertisements in every direction. Although I guess the TV and online ads replicate it pretty well now.

Once you’ve done magick for long enough, you begin to under the powerful effect these superstimuli have on the subconscious, and the subliminal stimuli hidden in them. It is important to not let your mind wander off in these situation, or you’ll end up with all sorts of programming entering the psyche. No matter how strong your will is, and how consciously dedicated you are, these things will keep popping up and creating challenges to the work of Self Realisation. I mean, yes, many advertisements these days have a very positive message. A Nike ad telling you to “Just Do It” with the name of the Goddess of Victory on it and an archetypal symbol of success may not be so bad. But an advertisement telling you to buy the latest product from a certain company so you can indulge in a lot of sex is just trying to create an association between consumption and sex, and in turn encouraging more consumption and sexual excess.

Even if you consciously recognize that drinking Coke isn’t actually going to give you a life full of happy memories, your subconscious isn’t that smart. It’ll simply remember that association and give you a craving for Coca Cola when you’re unhappy or lonely.

Look, as I said, i’m not against advertising or the free market. I fully understand that advertising is essential to sell products, and can ultimately be a force for the greatest good in making society better and improving the quality of life. However, it is important in big cities that you be vigilant and pay attention to your surroundings. We city folk have adapted to have short attention spans for that precise reason, to be able to notice everything around us quickly. THAT is why people in big cities have shorter attention spans than people who live in the forest. That also means you notice a lot of things in a short period of time without consciously understanding what it is, allowing all of it to directly go into the subconscious.

Would you ever inject food directly into your veins, without letting it go through the digestive system? No right. This is the same principle. Subliminal programming means that you’ll basically be doing subconscious magick without even wanting to. Maybe you work out each day, but can’t loose fat because you’re subconscious has been programmed to believe that unless you use a specific product, you cannot be thing. You may not even believe it, but your subconscious does. I mean, they’re literally using your own mind to do magick that hinders you. And most people don’t even know about magick. You know, when you live a newspaper lying around, you may ignore it but your subconscious sees everything. It sees all the ads and all the shitty news. You become a conduit to the astral plane for these people (I’m not even sure who ‘they’ are) to manifest their desires. For example, if a nation is flooded with subliminal messages promoting illness or civil war, the collective subconscious force of the population exposed to this propaganda will bring it about! If this isn’t like the Matrix, where the robots where using human beings as batteries, I don’t know what it.

Guard the subconscious!

If you consciously catch everything that you see, it won’t enter the subconscious directly, and will be processed instead. That, by the way, is one of the meanings of the god Anubis guarding the Gates of the Temple, as well as the Hall of Judgement from the dog faced demons.

Lighting

Update (2019): This wasn’t part of the original post, but I’m adding it in now.

Lighting profoundly affects your mood, and it has astrological symbolism. Generally, yellow lighting, such as produced from filament bulbs, has a strong sun correspondence. it will uplift your mood. The same can be achieved through yellow LED lights. That’s why most ‘fine’ establishments has yellow lighting. It calms you down and produces a similar affect to the sun, or fire. Our ancestors evolved to regard such lighting as positive.

On the other hand, white lighting is negative lighting. It is cold, bleak and sterile. It affects our psyche and produces depressive or negative states of mind. It isn’t homely.

Why do you think schools and offices have all this white lighting. It’s so that you’re not in a good mood. Basically, lighting is an important part of magickal practice, and has important occult significance. Remember to get out in the sun, and try to use warm lighting when you can. Avoid cold lighting.

My own room has cold lighting, but I do most of my work during the day. If you’re one of those people that does most of their stuff at night, I suggest buying some new lights. If you’re crazy enough, you can work at night using candles. I do so sometimes.

Alright well, that was fun. I have nothing more to say, and I hope this is of help to someone, or simply makes for an interesting read.

Remember to follow the blog, and you can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time.
~White Raven

Invoking Lucifuge Rofocale

June 14, 2018July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged black, conjuration, demon, devil, expereince, golden dawn, hermeticism, invocation, kabbalah, Knowledge, lucifer, lucifuge rofocale, magic, magick, mysticism, new age, Occult, philosophy, prayer, qliphoth, religion, satan, satanic, saturn, spirit, spirits, spiritual, spirituality, summoning28 Comments

Written: June 14th, 2018 | Edited: 26th March 2019

Finally, we have reached that point. The big one. Everything I’ve put on this blog has been leading up to the big reveal that i’m actually an evil illuminati satanist, teaching people the evil ways, converting them to the darkness, invoking the Anti Christ and bringing about the END of the Catholic Church!

Lol, just kidding. Lucifuge Rofocale is pretty cool, and quite powerful, but he’s not quite the literal devil, and hopefully today I will be able to dispel some smoke and mirrors by sharing a genuine and cohesive invocation of the Spirit.

As for the Church: the rampant pedophilia, hypocritical political stances, corruption and toxic globalism that they spew out like diarrhea these days will bring their end anyway. We don’t need to do anything, because not even most Catholics like the Church.

I’m not a black magician or a satanist, I’m a Hermetic Kabbalist. This may ruffle feathers on both sides, but I don’t worry, because I speak totally from experience. This post isn’t giving opinions about Lucifuge, just talking about my personal experience. Take it for what it is, and the rest is up to you.

Besides, this isn’t the 90s. Being a satanist ain’t edgy anymore : )

Who is Lucifuge Rofocale

Unlike Lucifer or other demons, Lucifuge isn’t actually someone who appears in any prominent religious scripture or even mythology. In fact, it doesn’t look like he is even mentioned anywhere before the 18th Century.

He also has basically no presence or influence on pop culture (although at the same time one might say he has influenced all modern demonic fantasy in existence. We’ll get to that).

This makes him a much more obscure being. In fact, the literature on him is so specific, that either you know exactly who he is, or you have literally no clue. He’s one of those rare figures that appears exclusively in occult literature, with no overlap in mythology, folklore, fantasy, pop culture, or anything outside of practical magick.

Lucifuge in the Grand Grimoire

He is a figure mentioned in the infamous Grand Grimoire (also known as the Red Dragon), which you may or may not have heard of. It is a book from the 19th Century (though allegedly based on material dating back to the 16th Century) and contains all sorts of information, ranging from herbal alchemy to full fledged evocation. It also has a strong political importance.

The contents themselves are quite interesting. For example, much of the herbal alchemy instructions mention exact chemicals, like copper sulfate and arsenic etc, instead of just plants, or, as is more often, symbolic allegory. This is probably because by this time chemistry had become significantly more developed and organised. It’s got a literal chemical recipe for the “Philosopher’s Stone”, which I found very amusing.

But other than that, the more interesting aspect is the list of demons. It diverges from the traditional systems, and has several demons that are not typically mentioned in older works. The most important of this is Lucifuge Rofocale, the Prime Minister of Hell.

The inclusion of modern democratic titles like Prime Minister, instead of usual aristocratic titles like Earl, Count, Duke etc. insinuates that Lucifuge as the Prime Minister is more important to the practitioner than the Emperor, which is Lucifer (in my opinion, an obvious allegory to democracy taking over monarchy, which would have been a growing opinion at the time. The Victorian Era, the beginning of our modern, industrialized world of Nation States.)

The method of evocation itself is very similar to the Ars Goetia (the usual skin-an-animal, draw Jesus’ names, cut a wand from a specific tree at a specific hour and use incense etc.). However, it is a lot more elaborate and instead of letting the magician experiment, it is very specific, and mentions the exact sequence of events that will take place. This of course, can never be true, but I appreciate that they went to the trouble.

Basically, you evoke Lucifuge, ask him to lead you to hidden treasure, and then promise to repay him with very complicated and time consuming rituals for the rest of your life or he comes and takes away your soul, or all your treasure.

This is yet another departure from traditional Grimoires. It greatly simplifies Infernal hierarchy, greatly over-complicates the rituals, filling them with many pointless actions, and instead of offering several things that the magician might want, it basically boils everything down to “treasure”, received from a single “devil”, and in exchange for eternal allegiance/soul. No wonder it caught on.

Update (2020): After more examination, I’m convinced that many “pointless” parts of the book that aren’t pointless at all. Rather, the one who wrote it probably wanted to keep “unworthy” or uninitiated people away from it, and has knowingly filled the book with empty promises of power and false techniques.

This is probably also the truth behind the Philosopher’s Stone.
In fact, one of the Spells for Invisibility is down right dangerous and will most likely end with the person being seriously poisoned and possibly dying. The final sentence for the spell is “…and all of this must be taken very seriously. After all, it’s not included here as a joke!”

So yeah. The Grand Grimoire was written by an edge lord. I bet he’d love 4chan.

I think you must be starting to see why this grimoire is important. This is the first grimoire that brought many of these concepts into notoriety, and inspired the modern Hollywood depiction of any and all Occult practices. If you ever wondered why all the satanic horror films in the 20th Century have some guy sacrificing animals, calling the Devil, and foolishly making a pact selling his soul for something he desires, then this is literally the source.

The Grand Grimoire, probably because of how simply it puts everything, without any allegory or mystical commitment, is very attractive to the average layman who wants to dabble in the occult, much more so than the Goetia. Of course, it has a strong monastic component, especially in the preparation, like fasting, praying, taking astrological times into consideration and biblical symbolism, but all this basically gets ignored when it’s depicted, or the monastic practices take on a negative element, like having to kill someone you love, cause permanent damage to yourself or “leave your humanity behind” (not the humanity!)

Lucifuge in Religion

So that’s who Lucifuge Rofocale is. A spirit from the Grand Grimoire, who can be thought of as the Archetypal pop culture devil, as it is his characteristics you see in most mass media, because he HAS no deeper meta narrative, or any strong mythological basis. You only ever see the Luciferian archetype of a cosmic rebel in deeper storie,s which are more strongly rooted in theology. Lucifuge Rofocale is the antithesis of Lucifer. This makes sense because the modern perspective of the Devil is linked to Saturn (as it should), which is the planet associated with Lucifuge, while Lucifer is the reverse force, associated with the Sun.

After all, illumination, knowledge and rebellion aren’t seen as negative things in the 21st century. But wealth, discipline, obscurity and secrecy are.

If Lucifer is interpreted as a fallen Angel, the cosmic rebel, and the one who brings the light of forbidden knowledge (like Prometheus), Lucifuge is the darkness, the being that flees from God’s light and feeds into indulgence. The one who hides knowledge, protects wealth, and guards gates.

If you take the traditional “Devil” from the Bible and split his two aspects, the Rebellious aspect from the Fall becomes Lucifer and the dark, apathetic aspect that corrupts men is Lucifuge (this is of course, ignoring all other occult significance).

This is what I meant when I said he’s basically unheard of, but also the most influential. The “Devil” most average Christians (the kind who haven’t even read the Bible) fear is Lucifuge, though the more fundamentalist type may also fear Luciferian ideals of rebellion, breaking away from tradition, pleasure and antagonism.

As for his name, it’s a play on the name Lucifer. I imagine that by the 19th Century, it had become abundantly clear that Lucifer means Bringer of Light (I don’t know why New Agers keep bringing it up like it’s some new revelation). Lucifuge, on the other hand, is the literal opposite, meaning “he who seeks refuge from Light” or “the one who flees from the Light”. This also makes more sense when you think of the traditional Christian Devil, and is much less mystical and complex than Lucifer.

The meaning of the second name, Rofocale, is unknown, but there are various interpretations of it. My personal favorite is the theory the Rofocale is an ambigram. If you read Lucifer backwards, it becomes Reficul, which can be further Latinised as Rofocale. It’s a play on the very nature of Lucifuge as the reverse of Lucifer.

If Lucifer can be symbolized by a burning torch, then Lucifuge is the hidden wealth under the Earth, in perpetual darkness until dug up. And isn’t it ironic how the methods that will make you rich are often kept from you, and never taught to us in our lives, unless we seek them out ourselves? These days Knowledge is easy, but wealth has become hard. In the old days it was both these things that were denied to the masses, so who knows maybe in the future both knowledge and wealth will be in great abundance.

Knowledge is Power, Time is Money. Sun and Saturn, the correspondence could not be more clear.

Lucifuge in the Occult

Lucifuge does not play any prominent role in occult mysticism, such as Hermetic Kabbalah, and does not traditionally fall on the Tree of Life, which is the method of classification I follow. However, on the Qliphoth he is placed on the third sphere, Satariel (meaning the Dawn of God), which is the shadow/shell of the Sephiroth Binah.

This cements his Saturnine symbolism. One may say that the Vision of Sorrow is ruled by Lucifuge Rofocale, for he is said to dwell in a maze. This experience, upon being crossed, gives one a clear vision of the supernal light. Binah/Satariel rules the third eye. The Vision of Sorrow turns to the Vision of Light, Mater Dolores turns to Virgin Mary, Kaali turns to Shakti, the Crone reveals the Divine Mother.

Perhaps one might say Lucifuge reveals Lucifer? I’m not sure about that one yet.

Other than that, its basically just the Grand Grimoire. Use any form of invocation to call upon Lucifuge, since he does not have a specific type associated with him.

Update (2019): You may also use the demonic enn of Lucifuge Rofocale to great effect.

From the point of view of archetypes and astrology, I have spent a lot of time thinking about where Lucifuge would fit in. In fact, in my invocation of Lucifer, I said that he was an entity with multiple aspects corresponding to multiple planets. If that was the Solar/Venusian aspect, then this is the Saturnian/Plutonian aspect. It is heavily associated with money, indulgence, and severity. Perhaps, while Lucifer rebelled against authority, Lucifuge might be associated more WITH authority, and the wealth and power that comes with such authority and power.

This makes him a much more tricky figure to deal with, as is the case with ALL Saturnian Gods/Spirits, and it’s probably easy to piss him off. Nonetheless, I don’t feel wary as I write this, nor feel the need to whisper his name. This is the Age of Information, and the longer we speak in whispers, the more we put everyone at risk. Given the sheer amount of dubious information on such topics, I think it’s only fair I give some genuine information, since I have nothing to gain from lying.

(although the way I write will basically put off anyone not actually interested)

After all, I’m not trying to sell you a book or a program which will teach you how to instantly get rich with Lucifuge or use his powers for your darkest desires. That’s up to you to figure out, if you choose to follow such a path.

Why I Did This Ritual

Alright. Now that we’re past theory, we can get to the meat and bones of this post. This is my personal experience. I will say though, that it has been a fairly long time since this happened, and though I have the actual ritual well recorded, I have to rely on memory for some things.

The reason I wanted to do this invocation was, partly, and as is with everything I do, curiosity. I think I’ve known about Lucifuge since my earliest days of magick, when I really didn’t know what I was doing, thanks to a YouTube video by a certain infamous black magician (don’t pretend, we all know who he is).

At the time, I was quite captivated, due the sheer mystery and obscurity of the material. However, I was also afraid, because I was not yet sure I knew what I was doing. Despite having evoked Goetia once or twice, the lack of information around the shrouded entity was enough to discourage me. I was also a teenager, so the idea of calling on an all powerful, supreme dark being to grant my wishes, seemed really tempting. I decided I’d do it some other day, when I was a “real” magician, a sorcerer covered in tattoos, with dark entities at my finger tips, ready to carry out my selfish desires.

I haven’t really had much reason to invoke Lucifuge, and the fact that he does not fit into any traditional framework made me think he was probably just an urban myth created by that YouTuber to make money, probably having little merit.

It was only last year, when I was reading through the Grand Grimoire, which for some reason I’d ignored so far, that I came upon this name. And I was immediately hit with equal parts of amusement, curiosity and surprise. So, he was a real occult figure after all, even if only in one Grimoire. I was about to start something important, and felt that it would be good to raise the monetary gains from it, and maybe get some extra as well. Besides, it sounded fun (famous last words).

The Invocation of Lucifuge

Let’s begin with preparation. In the Grand Grimoire, there is a seal and characters for Lucifuge. I put the seal in red ink on one side of circular parchment, and the characters on the other. I transcribed the name L-U-C-I-F-U-G-E in a circle around the perimeter. You’ll recognize this to be a Goetic style seal. You can read more about how to make seals on my post here.

I made the circle from stones, since I’m preparing to discard my old fabric circle, and also because this ritual is traditionally done outdoors (which I’d do if I didn’t live in the middle of a massive Metropolitan city). On the outside, I suggest putting two candles on either side, similar to how it is recommended in the book, though I did not do this. I did the ritual facing North, corresponding to Saturn and the Earth. On my altar outside the circle, I made a smaller circle of polished stone and placed a black candle in the middle.

I did the Invocation of a Saturday, in the Hour of Saturn (which is always fun), while the Moon was waxing. To further get into the Saturnian spirit, I spent a big chunk of the day cleaning my room, discarding useless stuff, and clearing out the clutter. It’s usually not a good idea to do anything in this sort of timing, only something exceptional. To learn about astrological timings, read my post.

Anyway, I chose to do it at night, when all was quiet and I’d not be disturbed. I darkened the room, as I always do, and began.

I performed all the preliminary banishings, and invoked the Sphere of Saturn. To do so, you must trace the invoking hexagram of Saturn (google it) in black, and vibrate ARARITA, and then trace the Sigil of Saturn in the center in indigo, vibrating YHVH ELOHIM.
Remember to banish at the end of the ritual, with the same procedure but with the banishing hexagram of Saturn instead of the invoking one.

After that, I began the ritual. I first called to Lucifer, and petitioned him to send Lucifuge, his Minister. This was a slightly modified version of what is already given in the Grand Grimoire, and staring at the seal, I slipped into deeper meditation. I then continued to call to Lucifuge via different names, and most epithets came to me naturally. The most key thing is to be genuine and authentic. Don’t be pretentious, don’t be afraid (very important), and don’t treat it like a joke.

It didn’t take long for something to happen. Maybe about 15 minutes. In my last post, I talked about how some of the darker spirits, like Lilith or Samael, have a very intense arrival, but this was perhaps the most intense experience I’ve felt so far.

My vision became tinged with red. But then I realised that the space around me physically appeared to be bathed in red light. It got very, very warm, almost uncomfortably so, as my breathing became fast and shallow and heartbeat increased. It kept increasing, and it felt almost like I’d just finished a long run. Then, all of a sudden, it subdued, and I felt a very heavy, over-bearing presence.

It was Lucifuge Rofocale, Prime Minister of Hell. He had come. It felt cold, yet warm. Or rather, it was SO cold, it felt hot. Like a humid chill. Saturn is associated with scales and balance as well.

I remained calm and dealt with whatever had come. At first, I asked it what it was, and it confirmed it was Lucifuge, though I knew that intuitively.

I felt this presence loom over me, but I tried to remain firm and unwavering. Through meditating, my mind had gone blank, like an empty cup. Slowly, I allowed Spirit’s essence to pour into my mind. Now I know what you’re thinking, “oh my god, you’re supposed to evoke demons, not invoke them”. That’s true for “demons”, as in incomplete beings. Lucifuge falls more into the category of a deity. All biblical demons and darker pagan/eastern gods do. Goetia, fay, ayakashi etc. don’t.

As this happened, I temporarily assumed the personality of Lucifuge Rofocale. He spoke through me, and delivered messages. I felt myself being lifted up. I felt huge, and powerful, like a God. At the same time, I felt my arrogance and ego grow tremendously, and I felt as a lord would. He said that in order to have wealth, you must feel like this. You have to feel like a Lord to be a Lord.

I felt like this is what a stern, traditional state of power would feel like. Firm, earthly, set in stone, without regard to anything. This is what power is. There was no force behind it. It wasn’t assertive or aggressive. It simply was, stern, overbearing, like a monolith in a barren field. Lucifuge stated that that he had no momentum behind him. Under Saturn, he was unmoving, like rock. This is true power. Momentum is not power, momentum is force. Force is like Fire, Power is like a Earth. Lucifuge has no myths or legends, because he doesn’t evolve or change. He stays the same.

He said that to invoke him, a lamp should be lit, and alchohol of some sort must be poured. Do it in a dark room, and have no light in front of you, but on either side (as I suggested earlier). In front there should be incense. Just as Lucifer’s element is light, for Lucifuge it is smoke, which shrouds light and protects secrets from the uninitiated.

At this point I was starting to falter, and Lucifuge told me not to be scared even though he was terrifying. He who is scared gets overwhelmed by the darkness. Fear is the enemy. The true enemy, the true hell, the true Devil.

Fear, the farthermost state from divinity. The black dragon, the poisonous serpent, the typhon and apophis, all are rooted in things we fear, and a fear of the Unknown. But the Occult is literally about confronting the Unknown, to delve bravely into that which is on the edge of civilisation, just as the ancient Occultist, the shaman, would delve into the forest beyond the boundary of the village, in search of medicine, and hunters in search of food. Over time, these acts would become commonplace and standardized, no longer ‘unknown’. The boundary keeps expanding, and at the forefront are the courageous.

I was speaking very rapidly now. He said the true adversary is within. It is hate, greed, fear, filth, anger, envy, disgust, doubt and fear. He said “we are but unmanifest beings existing at various planes of existence. We have no physical reality, and no power over you. We cannot tempt you, or control you. It is the evil inside you that tempts you to the dark side. We have no control over your surroundings, only you yourself do”

At this point, my face slowly and unwittingly changed to an intense frown. I instinctively reasserted control. I had the momentary feeling that I would have to force control over my body again, but I didn’t. The moment I consciously attempted to change my expression, I was instantly in total control. As my consciousness came back, the presence evaporated rapidly, like a dream after waking up. “See, I told you we cannot control you”

It’s interesting. The fear and caution with which we approach these things, with the constant need to be in control and paranoid of loosing it, is an inherent part of the Ego, and I had momentarily given in.

You don’t give in to some cosmic being or demon, you give in to yourself.

I ended the ritual, as one always should, with proper expressions of gratitude, license to depart and banishings. If you invoked Saturn, now would be the time to banish it.

Conclusions and Aftermath

I know what you’re thinking: nothing in this invocation was especially revealing. I mean “in order to be rich you must feel rich” ??
That’s not new information. That’s mainstream man. I mean, not just in the occult, but even well within New Agery, and even outside spirituality. By now, there’s probably hundreds of books on it.

But you see, that’s why armchair occultism is incomplete. Of course, I’ve heard this many times. I knew this too, even before it was revealed in this Invocation.

But knowing and understanding are totally different. Remember, Chokmah (Wisdom) comes AFTER Binah (Knowledge), and ultimately leads to Kether (Realisation). During this invocation, something changed. The understanding didn’t come, but it was as if the idea made sense. It is difficult to describe what happens during any meditation, but I assume if you’re reading this blog, you know, so I don’t need to explain.

I came to realise what exactly it means to “feel” powerful, or rich. That is the key, to power or wealth, or to manifesting anything. Like attract Like, as Hermeticism would say.

The realisation comes throughout one’s life. It’s not a single moment of realisation, but a multitude of them occurring repeatedly over the course of one’s life.

As for money, did I get any? Well, it’s interesting. I never cast to “get money”, but I always strive towards “earning money”. Following this invocation, I ended up doing two different divinations for two different people. One was free, one I did for money.

But, of course, I don’t do occult stuff for a living. The other things that I had begun prior to this ritual worked out well, but bear in mind this was proper work that already had an assured paycheck at the end. On the other hand, for about a month, various opportunities to make cash started coming to my attention. I also ended up saving money in various ways, which is just as important.

This is how it usually works, at least in my opinion. You perform magick directed at something, and it’s rarely given to you, but you’re presented with opportunities to get it. One of the biggest things that presented itself was an art competition, with a considerable reward. However, the work that I was doing ate up so much time and energy that I willingly chose to let this competition slide. Usually, I like to participate in competitions, just to get an opportunity to improve my creative work and test it out against others, but this time, I let it go. I have no idea if the Invocation could have increased my chances of winning. Sometimes, you just gotta cut stuff loose in order to focus on what’s important. Sometimes, it’s just that poverty mindset holding you back, making you participate in every competition that comes your way. Somewhere, deep inside, you feel like you have to jump at every opportunity or miss out on something.

emotional-tech-wellness-silhouette-young-woman-practicing-yoga-on-285186332-1068x601

Update (2019): After this ritual, I left to live in a foreign country for the next 6 months. During this period, I really had to learn to be wise with money, since I had a set amount of foreign currency. While I was there, I also made the offerings to Lucifuge that I’d promised him (food offerings, basically). The whole experience taught me a LOT about money, since I met many people who were successful in their fields. Who knows, maybe the Invocation made it so I was pushed into situations where I had to learn about wealth and power. You know what’s amusing though?
When I was returning my baggage was heavy and I had to pay a fee. This was totally unanticipated, but would have happened anyway. I’d later buy some food and water. After I was done I had exactly 1 euro left.
Ha. The whole time I was there I’d been worried. I thought I was missing out on experiences by being too tight with money, since I was tracking my finances far more than the others. And yet I was left with but a single euro. This means I spent exactly how much I should have, and if I’d done anything more I’d have been short. Maybe sometimes you need to trust your gut and stop worrying.

In conclusion, I recommend anyone with at least a few years of experience to try out this invocation. However, this is one time I will recommend caution.

Lucifuge Rofocale is far too intense to be messed with or taken lightly. I will also mention now, before the Christians come screeching to save my soul, that I am not a Satanist, or Luciferian, or an LHP practitioner.

I do not live my life with fear of the Unknown or the constant fear of damnation, either in context of my own religion or any other. I simply do what I think is right, and live virtuously the best I can. I see the exploration of things like the occult, and experimentation for the sake of knowledge and growth as positive. You are free to disagree, but simply telling me I’m going to hell isn’t going to suddenly convert me from the faith I was raised in (which itself just barely appeals to me. I’m a Hindu by culture, but religious orthodox Hinduism is just as terrified of the Unknown as fundamental Christianity. It wont damn you, it’ll just tell you how you’re a disgrace for daring to think beyond what you should think.).

One final thing to mention is this. We usually Invoke deities so that aspects of our personality which are incomplete, may become whole as we “inherit” the characteristic from the Gods. Lucifer has charm, charisma, and cockiness. Lucifuge has assertiveness, power, and a healthy amount of desire. Perhaps, if you’re not able to stand up for yourself, are ridden with guilt because of materialistic desire, or stuck in a state of poverty, Lucifuge may be the one to invoke.

Well. So here we are, at the end again. I would like to thank everyone who has liked my blog and sent me positive messages. It really drives me to write more.

EDIT 2020: As of July 2020, I’ve written a new book on the Tree of Life and Kabbalistic theory. I’m quite proud of it, and you can check it by going to the Books tab, or clicking right here.

This has been my Invocation of Lucifuge Rofocale, and I hope you found it useful to your own practice, or just enjoyed reading it! If you liked this post, follow my blog, and check out other stuff I’ve written. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

That’s all for now. Take care. Until next time.

~White Raven

Timing Your Magick (Astrology Simplified)

January 1, 2018June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged astrology, ceremonial magick, christainity, cycles, days, energies, hermeticism, hinduism, insight, kabbalah, magick, months, moon, new age, Occult, paganism, planets, power, religion, ritualism, simplified, spiritual, spirituality, sun, vedanta, vedas, years, zodiac5 Comments

Written: Janurary 1st, 2018 | Edited: 24th March 2019

Hello! It’s me, Raven. I have a post about Lilith, and then a few about Lucifuge Rofocale coming in the next few weeks, so be excited. For now, have something more simple and mundane ^_^

Today i’m here to tell you about astrological timing. People sometimes obsess over when is the “correct” time to perform magick, and this happens to a great degree within the more elaborate ceremonial tradition, though sometimes even folk traditions have this, and almost every religion in the world has certain times of the year or month or day that are considered auspicious.

At times these may seem arbitrary. Why is Christmas on the 25th? Why is 3 am the witching hour? Why do certain types of yoga at sunrise? Well, this is largely based on something that is universally shared by all cultures: astrology.

Not only is it universal, it seems most of the time people’s interpretation of astrology was also the same, surprisingly. You could say this was Synchronicity at play, or you could say that ideas were shared by cultures as they interacted with each other, or you could say that we had the same ideas of astrology based on archetypes that are common to all human beings, and the product of evolution.

Regardless of what you think, astrology is important, and thanks to the rapid spread on information on the Internet in this day and age, it is effectively the same across the planet.

And let’s be honest, it works. Anyone who’s delved into spirituality proper, knows that astrology works. We don’t know if it’s due to forces we can’t understand yet, or if it’s simply psychological, but it works, and there’s no denying it.

I mean, they recently did a study in which they found out that the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth’s surface at any given particular time, affects whether people make good or bad economic investments. I mean, just think about how insane that sounds from a traditional scientific perspective, and yet it seems like it’s true. So who knows how deep the rabbit hole goes? And of course, if it works, why not use it?

Credits:Blue Flame Magick

Imagine, if humanity had never utilised the principle of gravity, to make projectiles, pumps, weights etc. until Isaac Newton discovered it. And ultimately, he wasn’t even fully right. Einstein would give a better hypothesis a century later, and even that was only proven to be true in 2017: THIS year.

Bottom line is, humanity would be very far behind if it refused to utilise principles that we knew existed, just because we didn’t fully understand them. That’s the whole idea of the occult.

Astrological times

In most modern systems of Magick, astrology is a preferred way of planning your rituals, spells, invocations etc. Ultimately, I think you should always keep astrology in mind when you go about your daily business. Start viewing planetary hours, phases of the moon, retrogrades etc. the same way you view the days of the week, hours of the clock, months and years. Just like you know that it gets colder in December, and so you go buy clothes for the winter, without thinking too much about it, you should train yourself to know when it’s, say, a Mercury retrograde, or when the Moon is waning.

However, astrology is fairly confusing, especially to someone not fully familiar with reading charts. As far as I know, I’ve never seen a simplified explanation of the various different factors affecting astrological times, or how to plan magick in accordance to them.

Either I see a new age explanation that condemns it, or something that merely tells people to do things at certain times, without actually giving a reason for it. Sometimes, when you do find it, you get an exceptionally elaborate explanation for seeing when EVERY planet is perfectly aligned, and the moon and the sun are in a specific sign and house, and everything is calculated right down to the degree and minute, in a complex chart that many people may not know how to read.

That’s useful of course, but not exactly convenient for the average magician. So, i’ll focus on the most important aspects, and break it up into sections, based on different types of celestial bodies.

Phases of the Moon

Credits: NASA/Bill Dunford

The most basic and simple thing to keep in mind, of course, is the phase of the Moon. The Moon goes through one complete cycle in about 27-30 days. This has two stages, the Waxing stage, in which the Moon grows larger, going from the New Moon to Full, and the Waning stage, in which the Moon reduces in size and goes from Full to New.

By the way, that’s also the reason a Month is around 30 days long. It’s based on the Moon cycle, though I guess it’s been shifting for centuries, and now the Moon cycle usually begins at ends about halfway through each month. I’m sure at some point it matched each month exactly.

(Unless, of course, you’re reading this 4000 years from now, in which case, it probably does. Good for you!)

The only thing to bear in mind is this:

Magick to bring things to you, or invoke, is best done during the Waxing moon, when it’s growing. The waxing moon is a time for activity and growth. It’s a good time to start things.

Magick to send things away from you, or banishing, bindings etc, is best done during the Waning moon, when it’s shrinking. This is a time for reflection and cleansing. A good time to end, not start, things.

The Full moon is usually considered to be a very powerful time to do anything spiritual. The New Moon is considered a dark and empty time. Also powerful, in the opposite way.

One last thing: every two to three days, the Moon moves from one sign to another. During the transition, the Moon is said to be Void of Course. Generally, this is a bad time to do magick, as the Moon is said to be unstable. So, if you’re planning any ritual, it’s good to have some sort of calendar that tells you when the Moon is void of course, so you can avoid those periods, which can range anywhere from 30 mins to 24 hours, if not longer. I’d suggest using an app for this purpose. I have one called “Void of Course calendar” on android.

Planetary Days

Most people probably know about planetary days. A week has seven days, and each day corresponds to one of the seven traditional planets of astrology. Most are named after the Norse gods corresponding to the planet.

Just in case you’re unfamiliar, it goes like this:

Sunday: Sun’s Day
Monday: Moon’s Day
Tuesday: Tyr’s Day – Mars
Wednesday: Woden’s (Odin’s) Day- Mercury
Thursday: Thor’s Day – Jupiter
Friday: Freya’s Day – Venus
Saturday – Saturn’s Day

Credits: Cafe Astrology

Now, you may have noticed that I started with Sunday, and not Monday. This is because the Sun is associated with beginnings, not the Moon. The week is traditionally meant to begin on Sunday and end on Saturday, as Saturn is associated with endings.

In fact, the reason everyone’s so miserable on Monday is because the Moon is associated with emotions and feelings. It’s an unnatural imbalance to start the week on Monday. The reason for this imbalance is because Christians used to attend Church on Sundays. They didn’t END the week with Mass, they BEGAN the week with Mass. Sunday was always the first day of the Week, but these days, few people actually attend weekly Mass, and so Sunday has become considered the Week “end”. This is an ancient concept, and Sunday was originally the day of the worship of Ra in Egypt (and other sun gods, to some varying degree in other cultures). Put simply, the Day that has been named the holy day (holiday, lol) of the Sun, should be the beginning of the week, regardless of culture.

Credits: Mortimer Arms

The real “weekend” should be Friday, associated with love, creativity, gratitude and celebration, and Saturday, the day of rest, reflection and endings. That’s why Jews don’t do shit on Saturdays.

Amusingly, it seems the Muslims got it right. Most Islamic cultures count Friday as a weekend, and usually people don’t work or work half days and then go to Mosque later. There’s a reason you feel so happy on Fridays. It’s your natural instinct. And I’m going to say that’s also why weekends go by so fast and people don’t get anything done. People want to party and make plans and enjoy on Saturday, and the energies of Saturn drain them, and then they spend Sunday recuperating, when they should be starting the next week. Friday, the day of celebration, is wasted on trying to finish work. And hey, i’ve been to Europe and noticed that people there too work halfday on Fridays. I’m beginning to think it’s only here in the East that people work full Fridays. (Maybe that’s why everyone is insanely stressed out, huh?)

Now of course, we can’t change the world around us, but we can use what we have learnt. All I can say to you is: stop working late on Fridays, and stop wasting your Sundays. Finish up everything by Friday afternoon, and then treat it like your weekend’s begun. Get on with your weekend plans. Chill out and rest on Saturdays, and around Sunday noon, start preparing for the coming week. Treat Sunday as the beginning of your week, and Saturday as the end, and follow this as much as you can.

I’m at a point where it’s natural for me to think like this. In fact, in my previous post, I talked about Assiatic path workings, in which one must meditate on each Sephiroth for seven days. I used to start each week long meditation on Sunday, not Monday, and it worked out great.

As for magick: all spiritual and magickal endevours can be classified under one of the seven planets. Do your magick on the Day of the planet under which it falls. And extend this to your daily tasks, and do tasks on their corresponding planetary day. The same would apply to invocation and evocations of any Spirit or deity, who also correspond to planets.

Sunday- Beginnings, Goals, Achievements, Self, Light, Heaven, Divine, Purity, Prayer
Monday- Water, Emotions, Astral plane, Dreams, Visions, Reflection, Cleansing
Tuesday- Fire, War, Victory, Passion, Sex, Lust, Movement, God, Strength
Wednesday- Air, Learning, Magick, Meditation, Knowledge, Divination, Travel, Commerce
Thursday- Money, Finance, Treasure, Leadership, Generosity, Kindness, Expansion
Friday- Earth, Celebration, Love, Fertility, Gratitude, Nature, Goddess, Wealth
Saturday- Darkness, Death, Endings, Rest, Introspection, Delay, Business, Legality, Justice, Destruction, Binding, Banishing

I avoid doing any magick on Saturday, unless it’s specifically Saturnine magick. Sunday is good day for almost any and every type of Magick.

Saturn Eclipsing the Sun, photo by Cassini probe

Planetary Hours

Source: http://www.astrology.com.tr/planetary-hours.asp

Now, a slightly more complicated concept, specifically relating to Magick. Each day has 24 hours, and you know that already.

However, each hour of each day is also ruled by a planet. Any planet, is strongest on it’s Day and in it’s own Hour. So, if you want to do a ritual for Money, you want to do it on Thursday (Day of Jupter) in the Hour of Jupiter, as it would be strongest at this time.

However, it is important to note that the planetary hours change on each day of the week. They’re not fixed like the hours on a clock.

On the day of any planet, the hour in which the sun rises, is the first hour of the Day, and the hour of that planet. So, for example, sunrise on Tuesday marks the beginning of the Hour of Mars, as well as the Day of Mars.

Here, we have another example of how modern standardization affects tradition. The sun rises at different times in different regions, and in the old days people would usually say that the Day began at sunrise and Night began at sunset, and still do, because of natural instinct. This has been the case since the dawn of man.

But, for the sake of international convenience, we have decided that the new day begins in any region at 12 am, or 00:00 hours. Generally speaking, modern systems of time keeping don’t designate a beginning for “night”, and, because of modern electrical lighting, we don’t need to worry about night. We do divide the day into two halves, but that is separated at Noon, 12 pm, or 12:00 hours, exactly 12 hours after our designated beginning of the day. It makes no real sense but it is the accepted norm.

This is good for time keeping, but terrible for Magick. The day, according to astrology, begins at sunrise, and night begins at sunset. I’m sure you can see that a problem arises.

That means, once the clock hits midnight on a Monday, Tuesday begins according to accepted norm, but from a spiritual point of view, it’s still Monday. Tuesday will only begin when the sun rises, which in most places would be between 6 and 7 am.

That is why when I write about my rituals, i’ll specifically use the words like “Day of Mars” and “Day of the Moon” instead of Monday and Tuesday, and I recommend making this switch. It may still be the Day of Moon at 2 am, even if most people would call that Tuesday.

(I know it’s confusing. Try to keep up, i’m trying my best)

Now of course, you can adhere to the norm when it comes to general communication, but, for your personal work and for magick, start viewing the day in terms of astrological hours.

Also, bear in mind that the astrological hours don’t necessarily match the hours on the clock. The sun does not always rise on 6 or 7 am sharp. It may, for example, rise at 6:22 am. And, these hours are not always exactly 60 minutes long. They’ll depend largely on where you live, and naturally, they change with the seasons, with the sun rising early in summers and later in winters, for example.

Update (2019): In ancient Japan, a brilliant man named Hisashige Tanaka created a mechanical clock called The Myriad Year Clock, which was finished in 1871. It has been called the “most complicated timepiece ever made” because the dial shifts with the seasons and years, and tells traditional Japanese time. It’s quite impressive, so you may be interested. I think in 2016 a Japanese artist took inspiration from it and created a wristwatch which did the same thing. There’s a documentary on it, so find it if you can.)

And once again, the best way to track this, is with an app or a program. I have a free app on my Android phone, which takes in your location and then tracks planetary hours for you. Other than that, just remember, the first hour after sunrise is ruled by the Planet of that day. It’s called “Planetary Hours” by ‘thereisonlywe’.

So, the first hour after sunrise on Tuesday is the hour of Mars, and on Wednesday, it’ll be the hour of Mercury. Roughly speaking, only the hour of the Planet that corresponds to that day is really important, and it comes 4 times a day, every 7 hours. The other hours between this are ruled by other planets. Although if you have magick that utilises the energy of two planets, you could mix and match this.

Generally, in most places of the world, since the sun will rise between 6 and 7 am, the hour of that day’s ruling planet will come again between 1-2 pm, then between 8-9 pm, and again between 3-4 am. At least, that is the case where I live, in North India.

And THIS is why 3 am is the witching hour. If you think about it, throughout all of history, and even today, it’s difficult to be open about practicing magick. Generally, you want to keep it hidden and not really get others involved. And of course, you want to avoid distractions too.

That means the best time to do magick for most people is around 3 am. I’m sure there’s much more to it, but from a astrological standpoint, this would be the reason. At 3 am, not only is the planet of that day powerful, but it’s also a time when everyone’s usually asleep and there will be very few disturbances or interruptions. Even most animals will be asleep. And you know, darkness if a good simulator of the pineal gland.

One last thing. You know that every 7 hours, starting at sunrise, is the hour of the planet of that day. But, how do you know which planets rule the other hours, without an app or a program?

Well, luckily, the planets have a set pattern, which is based on their order in astrology. I don’t remember what EXACTLY is the basis for this order right now, but i’ll write about it later if I can find it. Right now, just memorise the order so you know which hour comes after which. The order is:

Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter

You may have noticed that this hourly order is different from the order on which the days of the week are based. Again, I don’t remember exactly why the order is how it is, but I’m pretty damn sure there’s a laboriously intricate 10 page Golden Lecture lecture on it somewhere, like there is on all matters.

Retrogrades

Planets generally have two kinds of motions: direct and retrograde.

Other than the Sun and the Moon, all planets go retrograde at SOME point, and during this period they appear to be moving in the opposite direction in the night sky. This is largely an illusion due to their orbit, but it still affects us. All you need to know is that when a planet goes retrograde, Magick corresponding to that Planet does not work very well. Generally, other aspects of life ruled by this planet also suffer, or are reversed.

Now, Planets don’t go retrograde very often, and when they do, it can be for weeks, months, or sometimes even most of an year. The only retrograde the people generally care about is the Mercury retrograde, because it is common. In fact, as I write this, we’re coming out of what has been an especially troublesome Mercury retrograde.

Keep an eye out for Retrogrades, and you’ll be able to expect crazy shit.

Here’s an interesting anecdote. Pluto, which rarely goes retrograde, did so in 2016, and was in retrograde for most of that year. I remember, when 2016 started, and someone told me Pluto would be in retrograde that year, I remarked that we would probably see some weird shit.

I said that lots of people might die, virus might spread, and, most importantly, some extremely wierd political events would occur. The political authority (establishment) would suffer somehow.

Personally, I thought yet another dictatorship would fall. And, as you all know, in 2016 many, many celebrities died, there was a Zika outbreak in Africa, ISIS lost it’s capital in Mosul, Brexit happened, AND, the big one: Donald Trump won the US election.

In India, we had a big thing: demonetisation, and 85% of the currency was scrapped literally over night, in a bold attempt to catch tax evaders. After all, Pluto also rules money and hidden wealth. All of this was in line with the retrograde.

You can use astrology to predict things, and at least have a generic idea of what may happen. It’s much better than going overboard with weird conspiracy theories and urban legend.

Update (2019): 2020 is a very important year. In the last few years, Saturn and Pluto have moved intro Capricorn, and begun to break down established Order, traditions and societal structures. This is all in preparation of the Age of Aquarius, and the transition is now fully upon us. Hippies in the 1960s kept talking about it, but now it’s literally happening. Next year, Jupiter moves into Cancer. All the pieces are set, and things shall begin to happen.

Source: Inuyashiki (no, I have not seen the anime)

The Sun

That’s the major bulk of it. However, there’s a few other things to keep in mind, and these are largely based on the Sun.

Night and Day

The Night and Day cycle of course. Regardless to say, daytime and nighttime are good for invoking and banishing respectively. As I said, I do almost everything at Night, but you can still keep this in mind. Also, invoking Gods and Deities is better in the Day, while Night is good for Spirits and Demons. The Nighttime is also when one should beware of more dangerous influences, especially ‘ghosts’, and take extra precautions. We’re psychologically wired to feel fear in the Dark, especially in locations away from human civilization. But to face the darkness is an Occult act, to go boldly and encounter the unknown.

The Morning (or Sunrise), Noon, Twilight (or Sunset) and Midnight are especially powerful times. The Sun is pretty important, and it’s energy and influenced rises, hits a peak, then fades and disappears over the course of the Day. Consult the legend of Ra, and how he changes forms as the day goes by. Our mood is greatly affected by the Sun. bright sunlight brings joy, happiness and optimism.

Seasons

The seasons are important for folk magick. Generally, you have Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Sometimes, like in India, you also have a Monsoon. Different folk rituals and festivals are based on this cycle. For example, Spring is full of life and beginnings, Summer is about light, warmth and fertility, Monsoons are about rain, growth and nature, Autumn is about barrenness, transformation and death, Winter is about coldness, endings, rebirth and darkness. Consult your local traditions to understand this better.

From a Eastern spiritual point of view, Spring is the first season of the year, as it brings warmth and life. That’s why most Eastern cultures celebrate New Year in April. This is also a harvest season for the East, but not the West, because in most Western countries it snows in Winter so they don’t traditionally plant anything.

The reason the West starts the year on January 1st is because the Romans considered January to be the first month, as it was the month of Janus, the God of Beginnings and Doorways. Western culture is greatly influenced by Rome, and of course, it’s after Christmas so it ties in to the Western holiday season.

Many in the East have big celebrations in April, and many countries also treat it as the start of the Academic and financial year. It’s largely dependent on whether you live in the West of the East. I recommend going with what’s naturally done in your region. However, I start new, important things in April-May, including important Magickal phases. Both January and April have great power.

Months and Zodiac

The Months are important too, as they correspond to the Sun moving through the Zodiac. The Sun moves through each Zodiac sign in about 30 days, same as the Moon cycle. Of course, this has been shifting for centuries as well, so these days the Sun moves from one sign to the next around the 20-22nd of a Month. The Sign that the Sun is in is important, as Magick relating to that Sign is more powerful. The Moon sign also matters, but not as much as the phase of the Moon.
You may also take into account the Signs that the other planets are in, but the Sun and Moon matter the most.

Solstice / Equinox

Each year, we have a Summer and Winter Solstice, and a Spring and Autumn Equinox. Both are important in folk and ceremonial traditions. On each Equinox, the Day and Night are equal, and so these are days of balance and stability.

The Summer Solstice is the longest day, and the energies of light are very strong. It is the height of the Sun’s power. But, after that days start getting shorter, and it marks the waning of the Sun’s power. The Winter Solstice is the longest Night, and the energies of darkness are more powerful. The Greeks believed that the veil between the Mundane and the Spiritual world are thin, and it is easy for things to cross over. But, days start getting longer after this, and it marks the Sun’s revival. Thus, we celebrate Christmas.

Again, refer to local traditions for more information on this. Each Equinox and Solstice marks the official beginning of each season.

Years, Decades, Centuries, Millenia

Finally, years, decades, centuries and millennia matter, but not that much. Usually, each Year is ruled by a specific Zodiac sign. Each decade, there’s generally a miniature paradigm shift in the world, and about every half century, there’s a major one.

Every century or two, the outermost planets, Uranus (84 years), Neptune (160 years) and Pluto (250 years), complete one orbit. They also move from one zodiac sign to the next every couple of decades, and this causes significant changes in magickal energy and causes major changes in the world, as well as generational divides.
These things matter less for Magick and more for those who like to observe current events and study history. This may give you new perspective.

Some Stuff to Muse Over

And, I want to leave you one last thing. Here, it stops being practical and becomes largely philosophical, abstract and unscientific. It’s based on Hinduism, as well as astrology and some theoretical science. I see no harm in sharing ^_^

Roughly every 2000 years, we move from one astrological Age to the next. As you may have heard, we’re currently moving out of the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius.
The Ages can be grouped into groups of 3, and thus, every 8000 years can be considered on Grand Age or Cycle. After the cycle ends, a new one begins and causes a rise and fall of human civilization. This, in accordance with astrology, could be further grouped into 3 sets of 4, that is 12 Ages ( one for each Zodiac) after which it repeats, making a grander cycle of 24,000 years. Generally, 72 of these grander cycles, or 1.7 million years, is said to be the lifetime of the archetypal Man (Adam, Manu etc.).

Interestingly, about 1.8 million years ago the early hominids spread across Europe, Africa and Asia, from wherever they first originated.

Every 230 Million years or so, the Sun completes one Orbit around the Milky Way. Currently, we do not know if our galaxy has any such cyclical motions. The Universe is about 14 billion years old, and may live for about 5 billion years more. Of course, this is all hypothesis and we barely know anything about the nature of the Universe. However, from a occult point of view, the Universe should also have cycles, of creation and destruction, which in modern science are called the Big Bang and Big Crunch.

If our cycle of creation ends, it should be followed by a cycle of destruction of equal length. Brahma, the Creator, goes to sleep, as to him, one creation cycle is one day, and one destruction cycle is one night, and Shiva the Destroyer, awakens.
After a hundred cycles of creation, even Brahma is said to die and a new Brahma will be born.

Ultimately, we can only theorise. We know nothing, and that’s totally fine.

That’s all for now, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. There’s plenty of other cool stuff here, so stick around and have a look, and follow me for more content like this. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

If you’re feeling triggered about something, leave a comment, telling me how angry or upset you are ^_^

That’s all for now, until next time.

~White Raven

The Tree of Life in Assiah: My Journey

November 17, 2017June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged alchemy, assiah, body, Earth, elements, Expereinces, golden dawn, great work, hermeticism, hinduism, initiation, journey, kabbalah, magic, magick, new age, Occult, order, philosophy, religion, self initation, self transformation, spirituality, tree of life6 Comments

Written: November 17th, 2017 | Edited: 20th March 2019

I just realised I have not written anything on here in about 4 months. Well, you know what Magick is like. Every now and then you’re thrown into a state of chaos and forced to figure things out in order to move ahead, both in life and along the path of mysticism.

Anyway, let’s get to today’s topic: My 10 week long journey, traversing up the Kabbalistic Tree of Life in the Plane of Assiah.

What is Assiah?

There are four planes of existence, and most systems of magick acknowledge this. There’s many variations, and lots of different perspectives of course, but in Ceremonial Magick we classify them according to the four elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire.

Each element corresponds to one of the four Planes of Existence: Assiah (Physical plane), Yetzirah (Astral plane), Briah (Archetypal, or Etheric plane), and Atziluth (Creative plane).

This is a very complicated topic, and an entire book could be written about it (check out Israel Regardie’s The Tree of Life), so don’t get upset if I simplify things quite a bit for the sake of convenience.

Assiah is the name of the first world, and corresponds to the element of Earth. It is the plane of material reality and matter. Put simply, this world in which your body exists, that you currently inhabit and are full conscious of.

The screen on which you read this, and the material it is made of, is part of Assiah. Not just matter, but your family bonds, personal relationships, your career, wealth and psychical well being, are also part of Assiah. From the fundamental particle, to everything you can physically perceive in the Universe, as well as any bonds or attachments you form to material reality, are part of Assiah.

And when it comes to the Magician, the part of him that anchors him to Assiah, is his physical body, and extends to his personal, subjective reality, aka his ‘Kingdom”, or Malkuth, the 10th Sephiroth.

This diagram is mixture between Hebrew and Japanese (Shinto/Buddhist) cosmology I found. They are very similar.

Now, each of the four planes corresponds to one of our four bodies, or vehicles. No doubt you’ve heard of people learning to use their astral body, which new agers dub as “light body”, and sometimes even using their etheric body. It’s interesting how many beginner spiritualists enthusiastically dive into these higher worlds, without focusing on the first, most crucial one: the physical one.

Malkuth corresponds to the GD Grade of Zelator, and it is during the first phase of this grade that one builds his body in Assiah. It is essential that one master his body, and gain a certain degree of mastery before going much further. Even if you don’t follow the GD system, it’s never too late to revisit something simpler. I like to think that it doesn’t matter when we do stuff, as long as we do them.

In this post, I want to talk about each sphere. The exercise basically involves entering each Assiatic House, of which there are 10, each corresponding to a Sephiroth in the Tree of Life. You meditate on each house for a week. During this process, your earthly qualities are brought out, and you’re forced to face them, as they reintegrate into your body, now awakened. Sometimes it’s pleasant, sometimes not. But it’s all worth it at the end.

Olam Yesodoth |Earth | The Elements

Olam Yesodoth is Hebrew for “Sphere of the Elements”, and corresponds to Malkuth in Assiah. This was the very first week and I did not know what to expect. The way I see it, Olam Yesodoth corresponds to the Physical Body and the base physical feelings and desires. It is also as low as a man can go on the Trees. We magicians are used to dwelling somewhere in Yetzirah and Briah, so falling to Assiah can be rough. You must make your way to Yetzirah once again, and re-live all of the material stages of development, which as you may know is the “lower” or “baser” nature of man.

Perhaps it has to do with learning empathy as well. Suffer like those on the lower rungs, those still in Assiah, and perhaps you will see what motivates and drives them, and why you cannot understand them. But, it is also a realisation and acceptance of your own lower nature, and how you’re also human at the core.

After all, each human being in reality spans from Malkuth in Assiah to Kether in Atziluth. He is just not fully aware of this yet.

During this first week, I just lost all will to do anything. I was exhausted, tired and bored. Everyday, i’d come home and just sort of lie on the floor, until I could eat and sleep. I watched some videos, but mostly I just wanted to sleep. It was as if the very vitality was sucked from me. This is how I used to be before I got into spirituality, and I had forgotten how being tired all the time even felt. I’d gotten out of the habit of sleeping during the day, so I never actually did so this time. This week was lazy and uneventful. I shudder to think that many people do live like this on a daily basis. (But the age of Aquarius is starting to I am certain it shall end. It already is starting to appear visibly in society)

Levanah | The Moon

Levanah is the Hebrew name for the Moon, and corresponds to Yesod in Assiah, which corresponds to the genitals and one’s libido. So, what do you think happened?

Let’s just I had a heightened libido during this week, and I took care of it however I could. It was like being a hormonal teenager, or a pervert. Another week of nothing, just realising how perverted one’s mind can be, and how easy and tempting it is to give in to complete lust.

I imagine this is the path that leads to hedonism. Usually, somewhere along that line, people get “saved” by religion or spirituality. I’m one of those people who got into magick early, so I have little experience with such feelings, except as a younger teen, and that’s my only reference point.

Kokab | Mercury

Now, things started to get kind of interesting.

Kokab is the Hebrew name of Mercury, corresponding to Hod in Assiah. This, I feel, must correspond to the digestive system and food habits. During this week, I suddenly had stomach problems, like acidity and aching. See, when I was younger, I used to have this problem perpetually. Then, it sort of improved as I got older and stronger, but now it was suddenly back, and I was forced to take a long hard look at my diet.

Ever since I became a magician, I decided to eat healthy, but I never REALLY did. I quit meat, and cut down on junk food, but I still sort of cheated and ate some shit. During this week, it ALL went. Anything and everything: cafeteria snacks, soft drinks, sugar, chips (or crisps), most biscuits, juices, and processed food. I began to prefer Sattvic food (look it up), and boy, was it great. I didn’t quit delicious food, I just quit the stuff that’s bad but pumped full of enough chemicals to make you think it’s “delicious”, when it’s really just addictive.

My health, body and energy levels improved dramatically, and I ended up saving a lot of money too. It’s strange when you realise how much we actually need to eat, and how much we actually eat. Two balanced meals a day is actually enough, along with fruits and nuts at certain times. Everything else, I see as an occasional luxury. Although, I still drink coffee, the holy nectar : )

Black of course. And home brewed, like it should be. None of that instant 280 g of sugar per cup bullshit (we got Starbucks in India. Not the biggest fan). I’m not saying be a vegan, but all religions and spiritual practices recommend a certain kind of diet, from the ancient Egyptian priests to New Age gurus, from the frugal yogi to the rich Mason. They aren’t just all saying mumbo jumbo meant to keep you from happiness, trust me. Eat clean, pure and high vibration foods as much as possible. It’s worth it. After some time, you won’t even miss that can of coke you drink daily.

Nogah | Venus

Nogah is the Hebrew name of Venus, corresponding to Netszach in Assiah. I can’t actually tell which part it corresponds to, and my best guess is going to be the stomach.

You ever skip a meal or two? Or just go hungry for a day? You start to feel sort of sad, or depressed, or have pessimistic thoughts, and you’re not sure why. Nothing severe, just sort of a negative feeling, that disappears immediately after you eat a nice meal.

Well, it’s because your brain runs on Glucose, and without that, your moods get erratic. Furthermore, low blood sugar is known to cause depression. Well, for that reason or some other, this week I got depressed. Severely.

Like REALLY depressed. People keep pointing out that simply being sad is very different from real depression. Well, what I felt was more like real depression. I wasn’t sad, really, nor was there any particularly negative thoughts. I just couldn’t find the motivation to do…anything at all.

I simply could not get myself out of bed in the mornings. I didn’t feel like playing games, or reading, or even watching a movie. It took everything I had just to do my daily ritual. I couldn’t enjoy anything. At times, I even felt energetic, and motivated, but couldn’t channel it into anything, or be happy doing anything. In fact, not just happiness, I couldn’t even feel angry, or sad, or emotional. It was just dark, and empty. Made me understand what it would be like to have no purpose in life, and no reason to live. It was desolate.

I also had a SEVERE crisis of faith. In magick, in the Divine, in the Self. I didn’t want to continue. Just give up, and become a nihilistic atheist. What if all this was a sham? What if all my prior success was just one big coincidence? What if nothing had meaning after all? What if I was just going mad?

Update (2019): This crisis of faith was basically me passing through Paroketh (The Veil) in Assiah. This lies above Hod/Netszach, and below Tiphareth.

But this was promptly restored. I ended up reading a Hindu blog about the lack of faith. Hinduism approaches the idea of faithlessness very differently than, say, Christianity, so I ended up feeling reassured after that. It doesn’t condemn you for not having faith, but assures you that you need to stay true to yourself, but also tells you rather sternly that no one will save you but you, so get your shit together and figure it out. At the very least, it says that whatever you’re feeling is true and real, that you’re not just “wrong” for these feelings. It says if you’ve ended up an atheist, then it’s better to be one than force faith. At the same time, if you choose to be faithful, then you have to find that yourself. Anything else would be empty.

Go find your salvation, or accept your life. Whatever gives you satisfaction. Don’t worry about what any scripture says, since ultimately your life is yours. Just as Arjuna had to go face a war, and do his duty as a warrior. Krishna was with him throughout, but never raised his weapons, though he was the Lord of the Universe.
No one saved Arjuna. No divine miracles were performed, none of his sins were pardoned. There were no Gods on his side, and no angels singing in the sky. The future for him, looked bleak and bloody. But still he fought, and won.

All he was given was a sermon, and a vision. And the he rode out to meet his fate.

Shamash | The Sun

Finally, in the 6th week, I left the lower spheres behind and entered Shamash, the Sun, corresponding to Tiphareth in Assiah.

The Sun corresponds to your Heart, and what is in it. This is where the Self is.

This was a great week. It’s difficult to put into words, but this week I was at my creative best, and I put in a lot of work. The desire to succeed and produce something good, to improve my skills and let the Higher Genius flow through, became very strong. And so, I ignored everything else, and I put in the work. This week jump-started the main goal of the Zelator grade: that of mastering the element of Earth. Now that the lower nature had been overcome, every week from then on brought more positives than negatives. This was when I felt better again. Christ has been resurrected.

Maadim | Mars

This was an intense phase. Maadim, as you can guess, is Mars, corresponding to Geburah in Assiah. The energies of this week were so strong, that their influence remained with me long after the week was up, and even after the entire exercise was up. Eventually, they faded, but they left a permanent impact upon my beliefs and opinions, which I don’t think will ever go.

Maadim is fiery and intense, and thus, deeply connected to your religious, political and social beliefs and opinions. Even though we magicians should be depolarised, we’ll always have some subjectivity, and certain leanings. Maadim polarised me to a immense degree, but due to this, it changed my thinking. Or rather, helped me think for myself rather than simply be led on by whatever was told to me by any side.

I wouldn’t say it put anything new into my mind, but brought out and laid bare what was already there. In a way, it forces you off the fence, and makes you take a stance in life, and after the week was over, I was much more certain of where I wanted to be in life, and even after I centered and grounded myself later, these things became a part of me, because they resonate with me deeply, though I never realised this before.

I wouldn’t say I, or anyone else is forced to submit due to social norms. Rather, we’ve accepted certain norms from birth, and never truly questioned them, or how we feel and think. Imagine North Korea: most of the world’s actually just a milder version of it. We were taught certain things were good and accepted, and we shunned everything else so strongly we never gave them a chance. For me, entering the occult was part of stepping out of the firelight.

A majority of the people are stuck in such a state of indecisiveness and neutrality, making it easy to sway them to either side, with enough incentive.

I remember, one night I didn’t even sleep, because I was too agitated at my own thoughts, and how far they could go. At the same time, I also recognized an intense hate, and maniacal rage. I understood, for the first time, how The Nazis must have thought and felt as they unloaded their rage onto those whom they deemed to e responsible for their suffering. Though I understood this, I couldn’t help but be swayed by it, and it would be long before I would calm down.

Nonetheless, it is important to understand this inner monster that is Mars. Only by understanding it, can you control it and use this energy to constructive ends. Interestingly, this is not only how the tyrants felt, but also the heroes. Both Hitler and Churchill. Same energy, just depends on where you direct it.

Anyway, i’m much more sure of myself now, and much more confident.

Update (2019): Ultimately, these feelings would stay with me for the next year and a half, and then it would take another 6 months before I could call them “resolved”. I thought everything could be fixed by having a logically coherent political ideology. But humans aren’t “logical”. We’re too complex, reality is too fucking complex.

India was having quite the political crises at the time, and I was too willing to take sides.

I never did anything physically, but mentally I went DEEP. But eventually I went so deep, that an abyss opened up in my belief systems. Suddenly everything collapsed, and I realised the futility of it all. This was partly shown to me by higher forces. They showed me the sheer intricacy of this system and society we have built over 2.3 million years, and our place in the cosmos.

Maybe it was just be transitioning from the idealism of my teen years to the realism and practicality that marks adulthood. But at least I gained the ability to think for myself. I was freed from the fear of social conformity.

Tzedek | Jupiter

Tzedek is the name of Jupiter, and corresponds to Chesed in Assiah. Now, bear in mind that the energies of Mars were still very active and strong.

Tzedek rules our ability to be reasonable and think clearly. Just as Maadim is the Right Shoulder, the force and power behind our dominant hand, Tzedek is the Left Shoulder, the hand of mercy and receiving. I calmed down somewhat. I believe all that really happened is that I was able to see the OTHER side of every argument. I didn’t agree with it, but I could somewhat relate to and appreciate other opinions. At the very least I felt a bit more merciful. During this period I just stopped and began to reflect, looking upon the long, long road ahead of me. The Golden Dawn self initiation is no joke after all. It’s not quick or easy.

I also became confident and my opinions became set in stone, after being tossed up and rapidly changed in the chaos of Maadim, they were cemented by Tzedek. At the same time, I was made to come face to face with my out of control tendencies I started to not enjoy any sort of mindless indulgence anymore.

The paths from Tiphareth to Geburah, and then to Chesed also represent overcoming the Shadow. This was all aspects of my Shadow I’d discovered. You could say this was a period when I became less hedonistic and much more disciplines, and almost monastic.

Shabbathai | Saturn

Shabbathai is Saturn! It corresponds to Binah in Assiah. This corresponds to the Right hemisphere of the brain. It rules intuition, subjectivity and creativeness. The sacred feminine, the subconscious, and Chaos.

With this, I crossed the Abyss (not the big one, but just the “Abyss” in the context of this 10 week exercise. A part of me crossed a part of the Abyss, you could say) and enter the Supernal Triad in Assiah.

This was a strange week. I felt the prevalence of of two emotions: agitation and lethargy. I’d get easily riled up and angry over stuff, especially the news. The Maadim energies were coming back.

For some idiotic reason, I also got the idea of pulling all nighters to work, as Saturn also rules over hard work and rigour. However, every time I tried, I’d always end up falling asleep anyway and waking up tired and annoyed. It’s not like I haven’t stayed up before, but during this time I just couldn’t.

I worked hard though, on all my work, and it felt good. The rigour and pain taught me much, and to accomplish things after giving it your best just feels so much more rewarding, and your work naturally gets better. However, it also brought with it just a tinge of sadness and loneliness…

If I was to use one word for this week, it would be “internal turmoil”, but it was all for the better. By the end of it, I’d made a habit of avoiding any and all agitating and polarising stuff. I had developed a dedication to more important things in life, and all other things just became less important, especially things that simply to satisfy the Ego. My opinions did not change though, but the obsession was over.

Mazloth | Neptune | The Zodiac

Now we enter the great Sphere of Chokmah, to which Mazloth corresponds. This sphere rules over the Zodiac, as well as the planet Neptune. It is the Left hemisphere of the brain, and thus, it is divine logic, higher intellectual thought, the conscious, and Order. The sacred masculine.

This was a good week. I became wiser, and calmer. The Maadim energy finally began to subside and balance out. I began to prefer positivity, and things with higher value.

I felt much, much less drawn to negative, weird, and sensational things. Despite having previously thought I knew the “truth” in Maadim, I now realised that I could take nothing for granted. The rabbit hole goes very, very deep. I mean, I began to read some of the actual history and literature about my own country, and it’s leaders, including Gandhi.

Man! Imagine finding out that you’ve been blatantly lied to, through every imaginable medium, from school textbooks to movies, about every aspect of your culture and society. It’s not a pleasant thought. And this brought with it, a new sense of nationalism. The kind that everyone swears they do not have, or shun, until they actually start looking at stuff objectively. It brought to light both good things and bad things.

Not the lowly, shitty “nationalism” that involves claiming the achievements of your ancestors and finding scapegoats that you can blame. Not the kind that make you insist that anyone who doesn’t see things your way is “anti national”. No, more of an understand of where you’ve come from, and how many sacrifices have been my by your ancestors. I began to think about what it all meant, to belong to a place, to call it your home, and also what responsibility that might bring. What are we meant to do, by “belonging” to a nation. What does it mean to love one’s “Motherland”, or to hate it’s “enemies”?

But. as Buddha said “All is Illusion”.

My country is just one example. I began to develop a habit of looking “deeper” into things, to understand and perceive reality with an objective mind, and learn to follow my gut and intuition.

I had new ideals to strive for. Real ideals.

Rashith ha Gilgalim | Uranus | The Pole Star

You’d think the Crown, the sphere of Kether, would be some kind of amazing, revolutionary phase. Rashith ha Gilgalim corresponds to this highest sphere. It means “The Great Swirlings”, refering to the Pole Star, and the stars that circle around it, as well as Uranus, the Father of Thought.

It rules the Pituitary gland (master gland). Unlike what I imagined, this week was fairly mundane. I had a bitcoin mining craze for a day or two, until realising my GPU wasn’t really fit for it. I went and bought some new clothes.

By the end of the week, I had normalised again. All the energies the past 10 weeks had brought settled down and began integrated. I became whole again.

It felt like I was no longer swayed and controlled by the forces, but instead that all these new forces and energies I had discovered and been exposed to had become tools in my arsenal, reserved for when needed.

As I returned to being a mundane fellow, I knew I had changed internally, and irreversibly. I had become a wholly new person, one who had awakened every earthly force that existed withing him.

Thus, I ended my journey up the Tree of Assiah, and prepared for the rest of the grade of Zelator. There was still a long road ahead.

I follow the self initiation methods given in the book Kabbalah, Magick and the Great Work of Self transformation, by Lyam Thomas Christopher. It’s probably the most popular around right now for those who want to self initiate using the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tradition. Highly recommended if you’re serious about magick and spirituality.

Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading that, and would like to read more of my work. In that case, why not follow my blog?

Trust me, it’s great! And sometimes, it even makes sense! Other than that, do check out some other stuff I’ve written.

If you have hate for me or want to get into a long, pointless, time consuming debate about philosophy, leave a comment!

Well, that’s all for now. Do check out some of my other writings, you’ll probably find something useful. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until Next time.
~White Raven

Invoking Gabriel for Emotional Insight

June 4, 2017June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, archanegl, armadel, christianity, conjuration, da'ath, emotion, emotional balance, encounter, evocation, expereince, gabriel, grimoire, hinduism, holyliving one, invocation, islam, judaism, kabbalah, magick, Occult, paganism, real, religioun, ritual, solomon, spirituality, summoning, watcher, water2 Comments

Written: June 4th, 2017 | Edited: 20th March 2019

I have returned, like Osiris, arisen from the grave, after spending months and months in hibernation.

Okay, I’ll cut the drama. This post is about the Invocation of Gabriel, but I feel like I do have enough people who read regularly, small though that number may be, that I should write a few words about my absence.
I’ve not written anything here in months, and that’s because I was first busy in real life, and then, as I became free, the time had come for me to advance in magickal grade, and I had to finish up everything from the previous grade that I’d been putting off.

I also started putting stuff on the YouTube channel. There will now be a full series on Tarot there, so go check that out if you want.

Surprisingly, in this time is when I think I gained the most readers I ever have, and got a lot of messages. Most were quite nice, and made me feel good about this place. However, several were quite concerning.

I have decided to be a bit more responsible and reserved about what I write, especially regarding the Goetia. I’m merely sharing my experiences, and it’s meant to inspire others. These are not meant to serve as lessons. I am not a professional exorcist, and I don’t want anyone to think so, nor be responsible for anyone doing something stupid and getting trapped. I feel I already put repeated cautions and warnings in these posts, and it’s usually fine. But magick is fickle, and it draws a lot of mentally ill people. And I got nothing against them, but I don’t know how to deal with that either. Usually it’s not even people who’ve done something stupid with magick, they just think they have. Maybe someday I’ll be mature enough to know what to do in such a case, but not right now.

Anyway, now that’s done, let’s get started.

The Name Gabriel (גבריאל)

(remember, Hebrew is read from the right to left)

I shall begin by explaining the name. Gabriel is the Cardinal Angel ruling in the North, over the alchemical element of Water.

The name Gabriel (in which the “A” would be pronounced the way you pronounce Arsenal, rather than how you pronounce Gabe) translates as “God/El is my Strength”, though you may also interpret it as “The Strength of El/God”.

(At times I have seen people say “Gavriel”, and it’s true that in old Hebrew that would have been an alternative pronunciation, but as far as I know, in modern Hebrew it may only be read as Gabriel, as Beth only becomes a Veth if it has a point inside).

It is comprised of the letters Gimel-Beth-Resh-Yod-Aleph-Lamed. By the way, the letter Gimel itself represents Strength. The numerical values of this would be 3+2+200+10+1+30= 246.

Gabriel in Religion

In Judaism, Gabriel, along with Michael and Rapahel, is considered among the most important Archangels. Although not called so in the Old Testament, he/she is called so in the Book of Enoch, and thus one of the Seven Judaic Archangels.
His primary mention is as the “Man in Linen” in the Book of Daniel, where he serves as an interpreter to Daniel’s vision. It is suggested that he is a warrior, and fighting some sort of War. Naturally, he is generally thought of as an Angel of Might and Protection, standing at God’s Left Hand (in other words, on the Pillar of Severity, which related to the element of Water, his element), and leader of the angelic choir known as Kerubim.

In Christianity, Gabriel is fairly important and has more or less the same role as he has in Judaism. He is venerated as a Saint in the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican tradition.

Like all Angels, Gabriel is only mentioned in passing in the New Testament, as Christians rarely venerate Angels by name, probably because the Church has made them terrified of ever doing anything that’s “against” the Bible, including Angelic veneration. No offence, of course 🙂
He is generally considered to be the One who will blow the Trumpet that initiates the Day of Judgement. This is the most striking and common association of Gabriel, as the harbinger of Rapture.

In Islam, Gabriel is called Jibril, and of all Angels, he is the most important in this religion. Jibril is said to be the one who delivered the Quran to Muhammad, their prophet, and is thus highly exalted as the Angel of Revelation. There’s more to this but, honestly, i’m not that familiar with Islamic tradition.

Here’s an interesting thing: due to Islam and it’s spread to the East, Jibril/Gabriel is also the most easily recognized Angel by the people of non Angelic traditions like Hinduism and Sikhism. Eastern Spiritualists, from India, all the way to Japan, will think of him/her as the “go-to” Angel, if they ever need one, and so it is quite common for depictions of Angels in the East (though rare) to bear resemblance to him.

For example, during Rath Yatra these past couple of year, which is an important festival in the Indian state of Orissa, venerating the local deity Jagarnath, I’ve noticed they’ve been putting white angels on all four sides of the roof of the chariots. All of these angels hold a trumpet and are modeled after Jibril. Another instance is that a few years ago, I was in Mumbai, at the airport, and there was a particular set of artistic fixtures, depicting 12 angels. All of them were dressed like Jibril and blowing trumpets.

Look closely at the little golden statues on the chariots. Sorry but this is the best image I could find. Orissa is a bit….behind on the whole mass communication stuff.

Also, in a recent Japanese anime, called No Game, No Life, there’s a winged character called Jibril. She is not meant to be an angel, instead a technologically advanced species, and has nothing to do with religion.

But it is interesting that when the Japanese want to name a winged character that looks like an Angel, they usually choose the name Jibril or Gabriel. In fact, even in Japanese media where they are depicting angels, they like to take Gabriel as the protagonist. Gabriel connects very much to people in the East.

Gabriel in Magick

In ceremonial magick, and some other systems as well, Gabriel is regarded as the Cardinal Angel/Watcher of the West, and thus, she is associated with the element of Water, and the Moon. Since water also corresponds to Scorpio (as well as Pisces and Cancer), so does Gabriel. Bear in mind though, that unlike with the other Watchers, you wouldn’t use the symbol of Scorpio to Invoke Gabriel.

Not actually sure why (yet), but it seems the GD asked us to use the head of an Eagle instead, which symbolises the Holy Living One of Water. The Eagle is apparently an exalted sign of Scorpio. Maybe it is because Scorpio has much darker associations than Leo, Taurus and Aquarius.

She also deals with the subconscious, as it is the dark, shadowy, watery, passive and feminine, much like the West, where the Sun sets (Ra is his aged form, Atum). Thus, she will also be associated with darkness, endings, and the Twilight (fitting for one who heralds the end of the world).

In fact, it may be that using Scorpio would Invoke Gabriel in her darker aspect as the Bringer of the Apocalypse. And ya know, I like my sanity.

On the Tree of Life she is placed on Yesod, the Foundation, which deals with our emotions, the Nephesch (animal soul) and the Sacral Chakra. Her colours are orange and blue, which is from the GD flashing colours. She may also be seen in silver, violet or brilliant light blue (like ice. This is how she comes to me.)

As such, she shall be regarded, like the other three Cardinal Angels, as the highest Authority ruling over the angels, spirits and demons associated with Water.

I used the seal given in the Grimoire of Armadel, which says this regarding her:

“CONCERNING GOD, THE PRESERVER, THE DESTROYER, AND THE CREATOR

(GABRIEL and his Spirits) These Spirits do teach you all kinds of Mysteries. Thus is the Character.

In this Sigil is taught what Mysteries the Lord God is willing to permit to operate in Creation, through the uncontaminate Inner Knowledge whereof also (Abraham) did rule and govern himself and went forth by the command of the Lord God to travel in the Land of Chanaan, wherein also he sojournrned and was buried by his two (Sons) in a Mystical Sepulchre, that is to say in the Cave near unto Cariatarbee, wherein also Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were interred. Now this same Cariatarbee is Hebrew Mambre, and Ephrata. In this land did Abraham behold Three and Adore One, and thus was it counted unto him for righteousness. In this Sigil is taught Who be those Three Persons meet to be adored, and how they do harmonise together; also as concerneth the Angels and Men what Mysteries they do operate; also how they do harmoniously act through Created Beings, Angels and men. All these things be shown forth in the Letters and in the Sigil herewith given, through their Number and Combination.”

“OF THE LIFE OF ELIJAH

GABRIEL is a Spirit who did teach unto the Prophet Elijah all the Mysteries of Divinity. He is to be invoked on a Thursday before Daybreak. His Power is very Great, and he can do you great good, in the which he will instruct you. Thus is his Character

In this Sigil there be taught the Methods of restoring and transplanting both health and mental force.”

An interesting thing that I would point out is that the Preserver, the Destroyer and the Creator are, in Hindu mysticism, the three aspects of the Supreme Being (the All). The Preserver is Vishnu, the Destroyer is Shiva and the Creator is Brahma, and they together form the Holy Trinity/Trimurti in Hinduism: the first emanations of the All, and above all other gods.

Ultimately, they can be thought of as sitting on the Three Supernals on the Tree of Life.

Elijah is a Arbrahamic prophet and one who could work miracles, such as raising the dead and being able to influence natural forces like fire and wind.

Since water is a feminine element, in Magick we visualize Gabriel as a woman.

Associations

Name: Gabriel/Jibril
Rank: Cardinal Angel/Watcher/ Archangel
Quarter: West
Sphere: Yesod
Zodiac: Eagle (Scorpio), Pisces/Cancer, The Moon
Element: Water
Colour: Blue and Orange, Violet, Silver, Light Blue
Metal: Silver
Incense: Jasmine
Numbers: 9 (Sephiroth), 246 (Name)

Prep Work for Invocation

So, the last Invocation i’d done, some months before this one, was of Uriel, and i’d been told that my Altar, which i’d always make by New Age standards, was far too cluttered and lacked a focal point. So this time I took heed of that, and made it more traditional.
I normally have a candle, a crystal ball and incense, but this time I decided to symmetrically work from the outside to the center.

At either side of the Altar, I put a blue and orange candle (a LOT of shit went down in acquiring those candles, for various reasons. But that’s a story for another time)

I used a stick of the corresponding incense, which is jasmine, and kept it to the right, out of view, but close enough that the smoke was flowing over the Altar. The focal point was my crystal ball, and around it a crescent of 9 smaller stones, open towards me. Between me and the ball were the seals.

Finally, towards the back I had a cup with holy water, and a bell and ring, both made of silver. Bells are often rung in Eastern rituals to call forth Spirits.

Simple, clean and stacked with symbolism. I did the ritual on the Day (Monday) and in the Hour of the Moon, while it was waxing. The essentials for this ritual would be a seal, a blue candle, and circle. Water and Incense for extra energy. Everything else was personal choice.

The Invocation

As always, I did my preliminary recitations and banishing, some other formalities, and then invoked the element of Water, and then I began my chant.

Update (2019): For the preliminary work I suggest casting a circle and doing the LBRP. You can also do the Middle Pillar or Hexagram ritual if you want.

To invoke the element of water, trace the invoking pentagram of Water in blue, and vibrate ELOHIM TZABAOTH as you do it. Then trace a symbol of an Eagle (a simple outline of an eagle’s head from the side, with a beak sticking out and a dot for the eye), vibrating EL as you do.

Remember to do the same at the end of the Ritual, this time with the banishing pentagram of Water.

I usually chant whatever comes into my mind at the time, when I’m already moved by emotion after the initial invocations. I don’t record it anywhere, and usually have forgotten what I said by the time the ritual is done. So I can’t tell you what my invocation was, but you’re welcome to formulate your own. Just make sure it’s something that appeals to you and moves your Heart.

Update (2019): These days I prefer to write them out before hand. the Latin Vulgate is a good source for inspiration when it comes to invoking angels.

Anyway, as I continued my invocation, the first thing that happened was that my incense, which was just billowing around randomly, became rhythmic. It’s never done that before, but very soon my incense was circling in a spiral shape, curling around like a helix. It was wafting through my candles. As it did so, it would become illuminated, and glow purple, and then dissipate. It’s hard to describe it in words, but I felt like it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen during a ritual. Part of me was tempted to stop, and take a picture. But i’m not that stupid, so I pressed on.

Eventually, I felt weightless and my vision went blurry, and this continued until manifestation. Interestingly, at the moment of manifestation, all of a sudden I became very alert, and conscious. With Raphael and Uriel I had been overwhelmed with emotion, but with Gabriel I was buzzing with energy, like i’d had a coffee.

Interaction

Gabriel’s manifestation was very strange, and unlike anything else I’ve seen, in that I could not see her face. Her skin appeared black, but not as if it was dark, like with Samuel, but instead as if a bright light was shining behind her, and casting a shadow.

I’m still not sure why this was so. maybe it symbolised the sun shining behind her, setting in the West. On the other hand, her clothing itself, appeared an icy, neon blue flecked with snowy white. Her wings were also light blue, glowing so bright that it looked white, and here hair looked like it was long, and down to her waist.

Imagine a royal bathrobe, but the robes were open down the middle, and where her skin would be, that is her face, hands and the middle of her torso, were just black, as if blank. Very strange. But nonetheless, Gabriel had come, in all her glory.

Update (2019): She’d appear to me again years later (this year). Her appearance was the same, but now I could see her electric blue eyes, dark blue hair, and stern, yet kindly face. Imagine someone who is kind, but for that reason they are stern and rigid, so that they can push people to do the right thing, even if it’s uncomfortable. Her face is very serious, though you can also sense a deeper sense of caring. That’s what she’s like.

Artist: SpecialSpaz/Deviantart

She told me various things, and some of it I’ll write about here.

She primarily told me stuff about my emotional state, and it would be pointless to go into that here without any context. But put very simply, she talked of the subconscious mind, and it’s nature, and how it should be kept in check.

“The subconscious is watery, and much like water, or this incense, it flows freely, as long as it is allowed to. It will spill and spread in every direction, it is untamed and unstable, and that is reflected in the nature of emotions. It is associated with the Moon, which tugs at the ocean to cause waves, and does the same to the subconscious.
The Cup represents the container, and it can be used to control and contain the water. it corresponds to Binah, and thus to Saturn”

Now, as you may know, while Yesod is the Nephesch, Binah is the watery, feminine principle among the Supernals. In a way, you could think of it as a higher manifestation of Water, and Yesod as the lower. It is due to this that Saturn and Moon get along so well.

While the Moon is the raw, untamed animal soul, aka the subconscious, Saturn represents discipline, rigor, hardship and struggle. It represents Laws and Control. Saturn also rules over the Earth, and thus the Physical Body.

When I invoked Gabriel, I was going through a phase of being susceptible to subconscious impulses. Part of magick is surrendering control to the Higher Self, but that’s hard when the Nephesch is just waiting for the opportunity to flood my mind with every imaginable indulgence, constantly resisting. When the Magician tries to make progress, the subconscious is very acceptableness to temptations from it’s lower, darkened realms.

This story should make a little more sense now

But according to what Gabriel said, the key to controlling the Moon, is Saturn. You see, the Moon must be reigned in, indirectly, by adhering to Saturnine principles. Now, Saturn is generally a planet you want to keep more or less out of your life, as it brings hardship, but it seems the only way to control one’s emotions is through that hardship Putting one self through Saturnine rigour, that is restraint, and discipline, is what will teach how to control the subconscious. FYI, this MAY be what Yoga was originally designed for, by the Sages who created it.

(I am NOT supporting asceticism or self harm. I do NOT condone it or recommend anyone to do it. No spiritual enlightenment is found by destroying your body, the anchor of your soul. I make this very clear. I am not a fan even of the mild asceticism recommended by Regardie)

I incorporated into my life, a practice of restraint. I started first with what was most easiest, restraining myself from indulging in food, learning to bear some hunger. This then was extended to my sexual activity, and later it naturally went to my other urges. I was able to remain much more calm, and centred. When the subconscious realises it is no longer being catered to, it naturally changes course, creating positive waves, in hopes that those would be heard instead.

The kind of discipline taught in Martial Arts is another good example

No wonder then, that many religions have mandatory fasting periods. This is an ascetic practice, with the intent of teaching one to control himself.

Gabriel also spoke briefly about the charging of talismans, which basically became the key for me to fully understand the elusive ritual known as the Mass of the Holy Ghost.

Update (2019): You can read about how I make talismans here, and here for seals.

She also spoke regarding the symbolism of her trumpet, and how it signifies the “end times”.

“When the Trumpet is blown, the dam breaks open, and the waters of the Nephesch flood forth into the Consciousness, carrying with them the pollutants that it has acquired. The waters will be purified, but Man must face the horrors it has brought forth”

Most likely, this is a reference to a specific stage of a magician’s progress, as ultimately all Magicians must face their inner demons in full force (although you start dealing with your own darkness pretty much from the moment you become inclined to this path). I think it has something to do with Da’ath.

That is more or less how the encounter went for me, and I must say, it was quite rewarding. I’m still working on many of the issues I had meant to gain insight into, but progress is definitely being made.

And that about wraps it up for now. I hope you had fun reading this, and maybe even learned something, or simply found insight ^_^

Remember to follow the blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Anyway, until next time..

~White Raven

Curses: When and Why to Use Them

March 26, 2017June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged bad, black magick, casting, curses, death, good, harm, hex, justice, karma, magic, magick, morality, negativity, Occult, punishment, religion, ritualism, rituals, sorcery, spell work, Spells, spiritualityLeave a comment

Written: March 26th, 2017 | Edited: 20th March 2019

Hello! I am White Raven, and welcome to my blog. Today, I felt like writing about a more controversial topic: curses, and when to use them. This may not sit well with everyone who reads this, but after all, the blog is dedicated to the balance between duality, so it would be hypocritical on my part to lean solely on the Pillar of Mercy.

What Is A Curse

Curse. noun
1.a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.
2.an offensive word or phrase used to express anger or annoyance.

In Magick, I feel a curse is a culmination of these two definitions. First off, a curse is not just defined as something meant to cause harm to someone, but also as a form of justice. The idea of deities, priests, and sorcerers cursing humans and each other is common in religions. Also note that it specifies that curses are “offensive”. We can say they are offensive as opposed to “defensive”. They “express” our anger. Put simply, curses are a projective form of magick.

Both definitions of curse insist that it is spoken, because when it comes to curses, what we say and how we define it makes big difference.

If defensive magick, which may involve things like veiling or purification, is your shield, then offensive magick, aka curses, binding, banishing, is your sword. Curses aren’t just cast on humans, but also sometimes on Spirits to bind them. Almost always, it is when the other party has actively moved against you and is trying to harm you.

Why I Would Use A Curse

Well, since i’m talking about sword and shields, i’m going to use the metaphor of a warrior.

Why? because I love metaphors and like explaining things in them. The Law of Correspondence: As Above, So Below, is the reason why metaphors work so well.

Anyway, imagine a magician (or witch, mage, magus, shaman, light worker, healer: whatever you call yourself) is a knight. A knight usually wears armor. It is natural for him, as a knight, and this usually protects him from most things. He can walk around a town without fear. He may be pelted with stones, shot with an arrow, or maybe some drunk peasant tries to punch him, but all of it will be deflected by his armor. This is how a magician is, once depolarized, on the Middle Pillar.

However, eventually he has to leave the town’s safety, and enter a battlefield, commanding his army. But, he is shot with an arrow. Now, he has his shield, which he will raise, and deflect it, which was the primary function of shields. Technically speaking, as long as his shield is raised, he should not be affected by oncoming projectiles as he does his work.

However, what happens when he is faced with an enemy in front of him. Maybe a knight, maybe even a peasant with a pitchfork. No matter how strong and noble, the knight can’t just stand their with a raised shield. He is compelled now to strike. Not to mention that in some ways, that is the only way to progress.

That is essentially how curses are. You don’t really need to use them, as long as you follow magickal etiquette, banish properly, cleanse, or whatever else you do. Sometimes, you will have to shield or veil yourself, and you won’t be harmed. It has only been in rare cases, that I’ve had to actively use magick in order to stop someone from harming me. This is usually if the threat if somewhat serious, or maybe someone became too much of a problem for me to ignore them.

Every now and then, you have to be severe. You have to take on a violent persona, and lash out, or this world and it’s shadows will overwhelm you. You can’t always be the Saint, like Jesus, or Osiris, or Krishna. You also need to be the avenger, like Moses, Horus, or Kalki. It was because Osiris, the Egyptian God King was too meek, too trusting and too merciful that his throne was usurped by Set, the God of Chaos. That is one of the lessons of that story.

This is The Last Judgement by Michelangelo. Notice how differently he depicts Jesus from how he is normally depicted teaching or being crucified.

We have strength and the ability to fight for a reason. Being a magician does not mean sitting by as while others harm you, and abuse your lack of courage. Standing for ideals and the Light is good, but that usually also means fighting for them. Just like Jesus got nailed to a cross, in the same way he comes back to fight evil as the Avenger. The romanticized idea that is fed to us, is that we should be humble and keep our head down, to turn the other cheek, and that God/the Gods/Karma will punish the one who wrongs us.

But, in Magick, isn’t the whole point to exalt yourself to the level of Gods, to take responsibility for your own life? Then, naturally, you also need to protect yourself.

Though I wouldn’t say it is your job to judge who is good or bad. I would curse purely out of self interest, for myself or for someone or something close to me, and not become some magical vigilante, because that sounds like a one stop journey to ego inflation.

Certain emotions like “hate, jealousy, self pity, anger” are considered “low vibration”.

These are the emotions of the lower, shadowy part of Malkuth. The Pillar of Severity has things like ambition, pride, honour, discipline, justice, etc. These are what should be harnessed when doing this type of Magick. This is what differentiates offensive magick, from baneful magick, soldier from murderer.

Everytime you do the LBRP, you are utilizing this kind of magick, as you are banishing something. It is the Magick of Mars and Saturn.

If utilized for the correct reason, which will usually be to bring justice or to save yourself and the things you care about from malice.

But What About Karma?

Ah, Karma. Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in today’s world.

Now, first off, I’ve noticed this trend where people refer to karma as a Buddhist concept. Karma was simply borrowed by Buddhism. Karma is a Hindu, or more specifically, a Vedic concept, originating in ancient India. All religions and spiritual philosophies borrow from each other, but let’s not forget who started them.
I might as well be calling Angels an Islamic or Sikh concept. Now, wouldn’t that annoying?

Anyway, back to Karma. These days, Karma has kind of become the go-to thing for deciding “morality” in ceremonial magick and witchcraft.
I guess the Abrahamic religions outright say that Magick is “devil worship” (or rather, they don’t say so, but have been mistranslated and interpreted in this way). So, I guess people looked elsewhere, and they stumbled upon “karma”.
But, Karma has been quite distorted. In the West, it’s become attached to the ideals of “absolute good and bad”, and in the East, it’s become a discarded tool of social control.

Let’s talk about karma for a bit, since that’s probably the only reason anyone clicked on this post. I’ll get to morality later, and stop there.

Karma, you see, is not a philosophical or spiritual concept in the Vedas itself. Karma is just a word. It literally means “action” in Sanskrit, and even in archaic forms of Hindi.

Karma itself does not denote anything. In a spiritual sense, it was usually paired with the word Dharma, meaning faith or duty (in the sense that it is your purpose in life, discovered spiritually and followed with faith).

The whole idea in the Vedas was that your Dharma: what you believe you are meant for, should be in line with your Karma: what you do in the world. And ultimately, it placed dharma over karma, in other words, the mind over matter, thoughts over actions (I know it’s confusing. Dharma is one of those words that does not have a real English translation) This is the central theme of the Bhagvat Gita.

In the sense we’re talking about here, Vedic philosophy said that your karma (actions) would come back to you. They did not make this as a reward and punishment system, as it has now become. There was no God regulating karma, it was simply a cosmic force of nature. The Law of Attraction, the recycling of energy, give and take. For every reaction there is an equal and opposite reaction. All of these things fall under Karma.

So, if you were kind to people, they would be kind to you, if you were cruel, cruelty would come back, if you stole from others, stuff would be stolen from you etc. etc. You know how they say poverty is a mental state, rather than physical one. It’s basically an extension of that. How you think or act would determine how the World was to you. It also meant how you acted would profoundly impact not just your life, but the lives of those around you, your children and perhaps even your descendants for ages to come.

You can pretty much see that this was how the Vedic sages interpreted the Hermetic Law of Correspondence, which states As Within So Without, and is the basis of mental alchemy and the modern New Age concept that everything you perceive is merely a reflection of your internal state. The Vedas took it a step further by stating that whatever you sent out, would return to you.

This is also in line with our Tree of Life, which, as you probably know, is represented as a closed circuit. Whatever you send out from within (Kether) into the world (Malkuth) will simply return to you, and having passed through all the spheres, will be magnified ten fold.

Another thing about Karma was that it carried over into your next life, meaning karma is constant. Everything sent out will eventually come back, no matter how long it takes. In Vedic and Puranic mythology, it is suggested that not even Gods are not free of Karma. People even began to say that karma could be inherited by one’s children, and that one should live “justly” so that his descendants would not suffer. Epigenetics could be said to be at play here too.

That is the concept of Karma. It is a passive, subconscious force, not a conscious one, like some deity. It is a very deep concept, much more than simply a justification to not act and let “karma” meat out punishment. Karma will certainly do so, though it might take generations, or even the person’s entire life. You might live and die without acting against that which harms you, and karma might just have a real affect after you’ve been destroyed. Or perhaps, you were the instrument that karma chose to correct your own life?

Put very simply, whatever thoughts and emotions you have in your head during the casting of a “curse”, is what will manifest on the target, and is eventually what will return, multiplied tenfold.

So What Does This All Mean?

From what I just said, it should be evident what the trick is to cast offensive magick. All magick is done with the goal of aligning yourself with the Will of the Higher Self. You should always stay true to the Will. And if someone crosses your path and hinders you, he is not only trying to lead you astray, but he himself is astray from his own Will, because a person’s Higher Self will never be to stop other’s from reaching their’s.

Thus, you have the right to protect yourself by whatever means necessary. Do not cast for baser emotions, born of gross impulses, like hatred, jealousy, anger etc.
Even if the other person has wronged you and acts on these things, don’t let that affect you. Karma, being passive, won’t see who was in the right and who was in the wrong, it will just fuck you both up. Cast only with the highest intent. So, say, if someone has gone against you, you might want to try casting for justice, which is an incredibly powerful force, or to banish the person from your life. I’ve known a person to do magick to remove a person from their life, but with pure intent. The NEXT morning this person got a job somewhere far away, and disappeared. I’ve known people to call on Saturnine justice, and for the target to die. Apparently that was perceived by the Universe as justice.

There’s a saying in India that “a curse uttered by an innocent man is like the fury of Hell itself”. This is true, because when someone who is normally good, pure and kind is angered enough to curse you, even just in words, then you must have done something incredibly evil, and so the sheer force generated by their anger will consume you. On the other hand, when someone is always pissed off and upset, their anger means little.

If someone is in your way, perhaps you could bind them, with the motivation being self preservation. And personally, I always put in the thought that the target is not “evil” or “wrong”, simply misguided. He has wandered off his path into mine, and I simply want him to be corrected, and be taught a lesson if necessary.
Instead of trying to play God and passing judgement, simply save yourself and leave the Judgement up to the Universe, or, more specifically, Karma. I also have very, very little patience for evil people. I won’t pretend to be a saint.

At time I am tempted to burn someone’s soul and cast it into the Void, and torture it immensely. But I control myself, because I don’t want to end up as evil as them. For a magician, sometimes simply being very angry is enough to cause people to suffer..a lot. Be vigilant of your anger, especially if you’re normally a calm and chilled out person.

The ancient European motif of Orboros, is a very good representation
of Karmic Law, as well as how Energy moves within the circuit of
the Tree of Life

And, don’t hold grudges. Whenever i’m done casting a curse, I always forgive the person and let it go. I’ve done my work, and now i’m protected and can pursue the Will. What has to be done to this person, is now up to the Universe, and his own Will. Not my concern, or problem. I will not let this person become so important that he drags me into the pit into which s/he has cast him/herself.

But be careful here. Even if your thoughts, ritual actions and words are okay, your emotions are raw and can betray you. Especially try to reign in your anger. The emotions are the most powerful in this type of magick, and will ultimately decide what is sent out. I’ve had times when I lose my temper or patience, and really have to struggle to be in a calm state when casting magick, or i’ll just send a torrent of fire towards someone. The anger of a Magician is a powerful and devastating thing, and I think this makes us much more susceptible to the Ego, rejecting which is the whole point of Magick.
Be vigilant of your anger, especially if you’re normally a calm and chilled out person. An apple will first go rotten to the core before it can spoil the bunch. The bunch might be saved, but the first apple is done for, and I don’t want to be the apple.

But Morality Matters!

Yes, but please keep in mind that magick, karma, the deities etc are not bound to morality. Morality itself is a human concept. It has it’s basis in human nature, which is essentially the same among humans and always aspiring to perfection, but even so, morality differs greatly not just among people, but even cultures and changes with time. What was considered immoral 200 years ago might now be perfectly moral, and vice versa. Morality is in Chesed, so it is one of our highest intellectual traits. However, this refers to the “perfect” morality, symbolised by figures like Solomon. Most human morality is relegated to Yesod, since it is usually just repressed emotions and societal conditioning.

Christopher Hitchens once said something like ‘it is useless to say that you need religion to be moral. After all, most people are not really moral. If you were in a situation where no one was watching, you would be immoral. You would steal if you could. Priests have been known to rape children”. Click here to watch the clip. It’s insightful. I’m no atheist, but Hitchens had some very good points.

I mean, if you think casting curses is wrong, is it because you have a genuine love for the aggressor, or are you just scared of karmic repercussions? Perhaps you pretend that you are good and moral, but really you’re just a conformist and don’t like to act in ways that would break this imagined figure of you as the perfect being?

(If this is harsh or struck a chord, I’m sorry. I once had to be told this exact same thing before I could break my own illusion of imagined morality and righteousness)

But still, if you don’t want to do something, or feel uncomfortable or immoral doing it, it’s your call at the end of the day. If you don’t feel like it’s right, don’t do it. Morality is subjective, but so it Magick, and indeed our entire reality. The way I reconcile this is stay true to my gut feeling and instinct, because it is not clouded by societal or religious norms, which will always confuse us and bog us down.

Remember, our personal morality is at the end of the day, derived from evolutionary instincts, which is further refined and made better over time. Your gut instinct can provide a greater moral code than any religion or even Law. They are important, but not absolute. The Absolute Morality of God, which would technically lie in the cosmic Chesed, is not what actually exists down on Malkuth.

Besides, don’t rely on curses for everything. This is only for rare exceptional cases, almost always against other magicians or really fucked up people, who roam this world like hyenas hunting for dead carcasses. Otherwise I restrain myself and fight my battles and resolve conflicts normally. Magick is, after all, a way of life, not specific rituals or “superpowers”.

And If Someone Dies?

Ok, elephant in the room huh? First off, i’ve never actually cast a death curse on someone, because i’m really not keen to know what the repercussions are. If you think about death, it’s absoluteness, and how human society has viewed it since the very beginning, and how causing the death of someone who is not actively trying to kill you is viewed: I’d not want to do it, and no amount of theory and reassurance can convince me otherwise.

Of course, i’m not sure this will apply in every scenario, nor am I telling you what to do, and I can’t really stop you if you’ve decided to kill someone. Killing someone is different from everything else because it means depriving them of the chance to improve. You’ve got no business violating someone’s Will to that extent. The Karmic energy that returns will be dire: pure Plutonian force reverberating through the Tree, magnified 10 fold, hits you one day.
But as we know, nothing is absolute and things change. Just be responsible. Anyway, moving on.

But what if someone died, and you didn’t intend them to? What then? Say, someone you know is getting harassed or abused, and you cast Magick to remove that person from their lives. Perhaps your intent was solely for the benefit of the person, and in fact, you wanted BOTH people to be better off, and the person you cast against still dies. Will Karma kill you? No.

See, you did not intend for someone’s death. You left it up to the Higher Law of Saturn. It was this higher law that decided that this person would die. It’s technically not your responsibility.

But, say you don’t want that (like any normal, sane human). Well, that’s why we have statements of intent, and they are important. When formulating the statement of intent, go ahead an specify what you want happening, and what you don’t, like someone dying or being badly hurt. I’m not a religious preacher, so I won’t say that, but please use your head and don’t do something that will come back to haunt you. You could add “and let neither man nor beast be harmed by this ritual”, or simply “let this person learn a lesson, but not face permanent harm or death”.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you. if you like my content, and would like to see more, consider following my blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time
~White Raven

Archangel Uriel tells me about Manifestation

March 4, 2017June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, Archangel, archangel uriel, armadel, body, conjuration, Earth, expereince, focus, good vibes, grimoire or armadel, healing, kabbalah, Knowledge, magic, magick, new age, Occult, philosophy, prayer, religion, soul, spirit, spirits, spirituality, summoning, universe, Uriel, vibrations, white raven16 Comments

Written: March 4th, 2017 | Edited: 19th March 2019

Hello, and welcome to my blog! There’s all kinds of things here, from New Age to full fledged Ceremonial Magick. Stay a while, see if you like something. I am White Raven, and today I’ll be telling you a story, that I hope you will find entertaining and informative.

I have a tendency to write long posts, but have patience. I promise it’ll be worth it.

In all forms of Ceremonial Magick, there are four chief Archangels, each attributed to a cardinal direction and alchemical element. They are often called the Watchers.

Uriel is the Angel of Earth, in the West. A little while ago, I invoked her, and this is my personal experience, what methods I used, what I learned, and what happened afterwards. I have also got invocations of Raphael and Gabriel.

The Name and It’s Meaning

Uriel, pronounced “Ooriel” or “Auriel” means “God is my Light”, though you may interpret it as “Light/Glory of God” or “God, the Light”.
It also has a more unsettling interpretation as “Fire of God”, but we’ll get to that later when I talk of the more martial aspect of Uriel that has pretty much been dropped in New Age traditions.

It’s spelled אוּרִיאֵל, and so the numerical correspondence is 1+6+200+10+1+30=248. Interesting fact: there are 248 positive commandments in Judaism, and said to be 248 parts of the body in the Torah.

It originates in Babylon, where people spoke Akkadian, an ancient Semitic language from which Hebrew and Arabic come. Many angelic names come from Zoroastrianism and their 7 aspects/children of Ahura Mazda, known as the Immortal Ones.

In Religion

Note: I will refer to Uriel as “she” but it should be noted that in Abrahamic scripture Uriel is male. While undoubtedly of supreme importance in Magick and the occult, Uriel’s standing in the Abrahamic religions is kind of sketchy, and i’ll go over this briefly.

In Judaism, only the first three Archangels are mentioned by name, and Uriel is only ever named when there is need to add an Angel for the fourth cardinal direction, though he/she is usually seen as one of the 7 holy archangels.

She is generally considered to be the “illuminator” and the source of heat and light, but Uriel also turns martial (from a modern perspective) very quickly. Uriel is often identified as the Angel with the flaming sword who guards the gates of Eden. There is an important mystery here, related to the Path of the Flaming Sword, that can be seen on the Tree of Life if you connect all 10 Sephiroth. If the Triad is the Garden, where do you think Uriel would stand? ^_^
Understand this and the entire post will make a lot more sense, as well as her “darker” aspect.

She was also named as the Angel overseeing “thunder, earthquakes and calamities”, as well as the one who checked for the name of God written in blood outside the homes of the Jews in Egypt. So, along with Illuminator, Uriel also becomes the Angel of Repentance. This is mostly due to the Abrahamic perspective of what “illumination” was, being the same to them as conversion to their faith and repenting one’s sin. (Hint: it involved a lot of bloodshed, mainly of Pagans, who were usually actively at war with the monotheists, except hat one time they got together to build Solomon’s Temple, which the Pagans would later lay siege too.)

In The Book of Enoch, Uriel is mentioned first as the ruling Angels of Tartarus, and he is also seen as the ruler of Gehenna, which is the Jewish equivalent of “Hell”, or more specifically, the Greek Fields of Punishment. He guides Enoch, the Abrahamic patriarch and also warns Noah of the Flood. Again, connect this to the position of Uriel on the Tree.

In Christianity, Uriel’s story is dependent upon the source you use, but she is generally thought to be one 7 Archangels by the Pseudo-Dionysus teachings. Though she is depicted in Catholicism when talking of the 4 Archangels, she not canonized ,and so her relevance is only to the Orthodox and Protestants. Some interpret her as the Angel of Light, especially Orthodox, while to others she is the Angel of Fire. The Anglicans consider her a Saint.

Within Islam, the 4th Archangel is Azreal, the Angel of Death, so Uriel is not an important part of the religion.

In Magick

In Magick, Uriel has long been regarded as an important Archangel, and is found in several grimoires and sources. In the Grimoire of Armadel, which I’m using here for her seal, she is mentioned as:

“Spirit who did reveal unto the Prophet Esdras every description of Prophesy, he did also aid the Children of Israel in the Camp of the Babylonians. He teacheth natural Sciences, Physics, and Medicine”.

“In this Sigil there be taught the method of understanding what and of what Kind were those twin Souls (namely) Henoch. The faculties of the Mind and Understanding are purified, and these also in such a manner that they may be exalted from the lowest degree unto that which is most perfect of all. By the which composition also there can be a transmission made of the participating Power or that power of communication of the comprehension of Spirits”

Within the Golden Dawn system, she is the Archangel ruling in the North over Earth, generally depicted holding a book or an Earth Pentacle, strong and unwavering. Her symbol is that of a Circle with an equal armed cross, a “plus” inside. The Arms are generally the colours of Malkuth. The Bull, which is incidentally an animal of the Underworld, can be associated to Uriel, as the Holy Living one of Earth is in the form of a Bull.

Uriel is, strangely, not the Ruler of Malkuth, making her the only Watcher who does not rule a Sephiroth. Nonetheless, she will be placed on Malkuth. She stands instead as the protector of Knowledge, and hers is the flaming sword. However, I invoked her as an angel of Malkuth and watcher of Earth. To invoke her other aspect is not something I am ready for, yet.

And I’m guy who’s invoked Yog Sothoth without any bad consequences. I do know what I’m doing, so trust me when I say I don’t feel ready to Invoke Uriel as the guardian of Knowledge.
Tell me if any of you try though, those who get what I really mean. I’m interested to hear about it.

As for astrology, she is not attributed to any Planet since she rules the Earth itself, and her Zodiac sign will be Taurus primarily, and Virgo/Capricorn secondly.

Associations

Name: Uriel
Rank: Archangel, Cardinal Angel (Watcher), Guardian of Eden and Keeper of Gehenna in Tartarus
Element Ruled: Earth
Quadrant Ruled: North
Zodiac: Earth/Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Sephiroth: Malkuth
Colours: Black and White (Magick), Green (Alchemy), Orange (Abrahamic)
Magick Symbols: Pentacle of Earth, Equilateral Cross, Flaming Sword
Other symbols: Fire, Scroll, Book

Prep Work and Altar

Uriel is the Archangel of Earth, so there isn’t really a specific time or hour when she is strongest. I just did my invocation on a Monday, at midnight, and it worked out fine. Just like with Rapahel, I used the sigil and made a name plate to go along with it, which has Uriel’s Hebrew name in black on white.

I decided to take a slightly more traditional approach than usual, using a crystal ball.

The crystal in question was a sphere of Blue Anhydrite (anhydrous calcium sulfate). The New Agers call it Angelite, so it seemed apt (also, it’s the only crystal sphere I own, and ideally I’d prefer obsidian).

I put it on top of an Earth Pentacle, and used some stones leading out from the centre to divide the altar into 4 halves, the way the alchemical symbol for Earth is, in which I then put the sigil and name card, a bowl of Earth, a bowl of Salt and the Ace of Pentacles Tarot Card. When it comes to the altar, I don’t really have a scheme, and just let my imagination run wild for each Ritual.

I used a Green Candle and vetiver root as incense (though the Golden Dawn recommends patchouli for Malkuth, vetiver is more suited to my culture).

When I felt like the Altar felt complete and the associations were correct, I pointed it towards the North, did all the preliminary stuff, and began the Invocation.

Update (2019): For the preliminary stuff, I recommend the LBRP, and then Invoking Earth. For this, trace a green invoking pentagram of Earth as you vibrate ADONAI HA’ ARETZ. Then draw a black symbol of Taurus in the centre as you vibrate ADONAI.
Remember to do the same again at the end of the ritual, this time doing a banishing pentagram. The LBRP will also suffice, since it also banishes Earth.
You can also try the more complex meditations prescribed by Gareth Knight, but when I did this ritual I didn’t know any of this and still had success. This is all for that extra umph.

The Invocation

I called to Uriel, and she came. Uriel, ruling over a feminine element, appeared to me as a pleasant lady with short hair, wearing something that looked like a dark kimono. It was the same colour as blackish, fertile earth, the way it would look after tiling. Around her waist was a white belt.

She held a book, and that was it. No wings, or anything spectacular. I guess you would say she was very grounded, which makes sense. She had a sort of protective, wise and motherly feel about her, perhaps because as humans we usually regard the Earth as our mother. And of course, that androgynous, ideal perfection that’s characteristic of Angelic beings, which I have always considered breathtakingly beautiful, though somewhat distant and inhuman (which I guess it is).

At first I was trying to manifest an image in the crystal ball, but instead my eyes kept being drawn to the candle flame. That’s where the manifestation began to happen, but I began to try and force it on the ball, but that broke my trance, and I took some time to go back and see Uriel in the fire.

At this point Uriel suddenly spoke, and told me not to have divided attention.

“The key to any manifestation, is to give it complete focus. Stop being divided and make decisions without fear or hesitation. Look at where the manifestation happens. Do not force it, for it is born first in the Unconscious.”

She also told me to not have a cluttered altar, which is how I’ve seen many altars done these days, and how I did them until this point.

“Don’t confuse the mind. Choose one point of focus, build the altar around it”.
Normally, I’d just have a candle, but I had a crystal ball right next to it, and my eyes kept switching from one to the other. I guess that was some valuable insight for me. After all, the ancient grimoires have very simple settings. It’s only these days that people make overly complex altars. Or maybe it’s just me. I used to keep it simply, maybe it’s time to go back.

Update (2019): Since then I’ve always built simple, focused altars, and it’s worked GREAT!

Next, she told me about the physical body, and how to make it better.

“You, as a magician, strive for mental discipline. The same must be done for the body. As Above So Below. You reject negative, depressing, or inhibiting thoughts such as self pity, though they are gratifying, the same must be done for bad physical habits. It will be painful and hard at first, but rewarding. Do not indulge the body! Learn to abstain!”

The body will naturally try it’s best to match your self image, so first, I’d suggest developing a positive one in the mind, before you go trying to change the body itself.

“All four Great Planes are made of vibrations. They vary in degree, but the Earth plane, your body, does not differ from the mind and soul. Sound is what controls this plane, as thoughts control the mental, and emotions control the emotional plane. The body is identical in nature to the mind and soul”

I thought about this. Sound is essentially produced by vibrations, and as you know, EVERY atom in the physical plane vibrates. Everything technically produces sound, even if it’s inaudible to us. I think she meant that what we hear, the vibrations that enter us are what are the major influencing our bodies the most. Light also vibrates, so I guess vision also matters, but if you think about how many people we talk to, how much music we listen to, i’m sure she meant sound. During a ritual, there’s only so much you can decorate the Temple and visualise, but you can speak infinitely. Even as a type this, and even as you read this, there’s a voice in your head narrating this to your mind. Your eyes are not the main input for this data. They are telling that voice what to say.

Finally, I asked about a personal problem, namely, how to overcome my chronic habit of procrastination (as I write this sentence, it’s been almost a month since I began this article. Of course, I was very busy for about 2 weeks, but even so I put it off longer than I wanted to.

“The solution is simple, use Magick”

Gee, thanks. Why didn’t I think of that before.

No, really, I was confused, but then I realised it was very obvious.

“Everything is contained and controlled by the Subconscious, which is altered with Magick. The Conscious mind does nothing but observe and interact with the World. It is not what controls your actions and behaviors.”

I should mention, this ritual was done a little after New Year’s.

“Conscious resolve does not mean anything, if the Subconscious programming goes against it. Right now, think of all the people who have pledged to go to the gym. They are motivated, and want to push themselves, but most of them will lapse, because the subconscious will resist anything that goes against it’s conditioning. Magick is not a short cut, so do not scorn it. It is the KEY! The Key to all change, to all things! Magick is the key to the lock that is the subconscious. With Magick, you can condition yourself as you please.”

That made me think. Magick of course, does not just mean rituals. It is a perspective, a way of thinking. I’ll admit, at this time I wanted to get to working out, but I knew that, like before, I would lapse. You see, I’m quite bad at keeping schedules. Daily workout, or studying back when I was in school, even daily yoga: things which were tough, were things I could not keep up. But, there is one daily thing that I’ve been able to keep up: My magickal practice. When I started this routine, I surprised myself that I had not just let it drop.

I asked Uriel’s help in reaching bodily perfection, and thus sealed this into my subconscious. After that, I’ll happily say I’ve managed to workout every single day. Naturally, it is difficult to properly describe every single change that took place in life. After all, self transformation is an continuous process, but this is a gist of what it taught me.

Update (2019): Since then I’ve always built simple, focused altars, based on her advice and it’s worked GREAT!
I’ve also learned to stop procrastinating in the past 3 years, based on her advice. Heck, now I’ve become that guy who schedules his day hour by hour, week for week. To an extent, life is so different I couldn’t ever go back. If I don’t schedule things or be productive, I feel bored.
I’ve also grown older and more mature, but at the time this was what I needed. I could have never imagined finishing work on time or waking up at 7am then, and I was full of self loathing. I also understand that she revealed some very important mysteries, which I could not appreciate fully at that time. I’m also very fit. At the time I could not even imagine not being skinny and potbellied. Now I feel weird if I don’t work out and do yoga each day. As I’m editing this post, I’m just realising that I’m actually not the same person as 3 years ago. I guess no one is. We all change, like the mutable Earth of Virgo. It’s up to us if it’s for better or for worse. So, I say if you need help and advice for your life in the physical plane, finances, careers, body goals etc, call on Uriel for help.
Many magicians I’ve met become infatuated with the spiritual and mental compenent of magick, but totally lose interest from the material world (aka the “real” world) and withdraw into their homes. They will call on the great Archdemons of the black Legions, but to wake up at dawn or go jogging, to deal with annoying co-workers and keep deadlines is torture to them.
Are they strong or weak? You tell me.
Do not be like that. If you’re like I was, raise yourself up.

Thank you for reading. I hope you found my account interesting and motivating ^_^

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Until next time
~White Raven