Althought the sun was obscured by clouds at dawn, those final
few hours spent in our secret places on the cursus more than
compensated for that. So what we missed in terms of the Golden Dawn was compensated for by a fine lunar omina (a gift of Seth) - which would have been all but invisible in the arc lights of the main drag and henge. From our vantage point we could watch the mahem, sheltered some by trees from the predawn cloud burst - that left the sky clear enough to see some stars rising before dawn.
We even saw off some very officious and intrusive patrols from English heritage. Like all bureacratic types - they can't resist trying to control even what is supposed to be an open access - to a site that is besides that on a right a way. The first landrover crept by in the darkness - the driver only leaving his cab to slam the gate loudly to the cursus barrow enclosure where we lay hidden. Half an hour later a second came - then a young man with a torch asking us what we were doing - his false bonhomie barely able to conceal his nervousness. What a pointless life. When I told him we were pagans engaged in pagan worship and this was the second unnecessary intrusion, he soon shut up and beat a quick and apologetic retreat.
The atmosphere this year was the best i've known. Very little loutishness. Some truly friendly pagan greetings. So maybe JD is right and the place is changing people?
Thought for the day:
Britain's catholic cardinal, the one with the unlikely Celtic name, says he has a Disquiet growing in his garden. He thinks he's found a scientific argument against abortion, but his 'bad faith' is all too obvious. So he is afterall into 'necessary evil', but can't quite bring himself to recommend a condom.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Beltain Bash
Beltain Bash happens every year around this time. That's the end of May rather than beginning so as not to clash with the eponymous religious festival. It's really kym's thing as I'm not into shopping as much as she. But even that has lost some of its lustre since the retirement of Zia, mistress of 'Seven Veils', to the fleshpots of Spain. Zia really was one of the best robe makers and her creations were used in BBC Scotland's Crowley doco 'The Other Loch Ness Monster'. Another unexpected sun seeker is Freya Aswyn, whose gothic looks wouldn't seem to imply a love of the mediterranean sun.
Anyways - we arrive for the second and what turns out to be the quieter of the two days. Lots of familiar faces, some not so. Professor Ronald Hutton is due to speak on sexuality and paganism - so we sit through the Daughters of Gaia, (who have a website) - and have somehow managed to turn some of the slightly overdone pagan chants such as 'we all come from the goddess' etc into new age torch songs. Not quite to my taste but the audience seem to like it. For me it adds to the slightly faded quality of some pagan events these days - they hardly seem cutting edge and I wonder whether they ever did?
Ronald's talk was as entertaining and comprehensive as we've all come to expect - which is amazing considering he is recovering from quite a serious illness AND has to run a large university history department. Makes me feel quite lazy. Some of the ground covered in his talk is familiar to me from my own researches for Katon Shual's slim volume 'Sexual Magick'. I.e sooner or later we all have to face up to the fact that some classical pagans, eg the Stoics, were every bit as puritanical as their Christian nemesis. Although I'd still say not all good things are the gift of the modern pagan. The lifestyle of the high culture of Egypt shows some of the same predilection from 'Sex, drugs and R&R.'
Time for a breath of air, outside I bump into lots of old pals in the smokers circle - and suitably refreshed - I can face an hour with 'Scots' Mary in the incredibly stuffy Bertrand Russell, or is it Mani Shinwell room? I should say that 'Scots' Mary is one of the alumni of Alex and Maxine's 1970s magical coven - so respect. But the talk is hardly rocket science but twenty years ago I would have appreciated this kind of thing - but I'm wondering if the younger members of the audience are impressed? Actually twenty years ago i would have been a bit of a bolshevik and might have protested or even have asked what is it that wiccans actually do with their wands? Or as my friend Alex says, was Gerald Gardner smoking behind the bike-shed when that particular topic was discussed in the Hairy Potheads skool for wizards?
Two lectures under my belt I can safely head for the pub where all the other cynics have decamped for a gossip and another smoke. After an hour I decide to take a look at the valedictory rite more as an anthropological exercise than anything else. It's billed as a two hour psycho-drama based around the mysteries of The Wizard of Oz. The whole crowd of 'munchkins' sighs ahhhh in unison as the high priest enters in his Toto costume - you get the drift. I suppose one shouldn't be too sniffy. Levanah Morgan regularly lectures on the occult symbolism of this and other Hollywood films. Perhaps Julian Vayne is right afterall, we are all Chaos Magicians now. Many moons ago I walked out of an 'Erisian' ritual based around the energy of football - among the other lurkers on the threshold I met my future wife and partner - so chaos magick can't be all bad. - mogg
Anyways - we arrive for the second and what turns out to be the quieter of the two days. Lots of familiar faces, some not so. Professor Ronald Hutton is due to speak on sexuality and paganism - so we sit through the Daughters of Gaia, (who have a website) - and have somehow managed to turn some of the slightly overdone pagan chants such as 'we all come from the goddess' etc into new age torch songs. Not quite to my taste but the audience seem to like it. For me it adds to the slightly faded quality of some pagan events these days - they hardly seem cutting edge and I wonder whether they ever did?
Ronald's talk was as entertaining and comprehensive as we've all come to expect - which is amazing considering he is recovering from quite a serious illness AND has to run a large university history department. Makes me feel quite lazy. Some of the ground covered in his talk is familiar to me from my own researches for Katon Shual's slim volume 'Sexual Magick'. I.e sooner or later we all have to face up to the fact that some classical pagans, eg the Stoics, were every bit as puritanical as their Christian nemesis. Although I'd still say not all good things are the gift of the modern pagan. The lifestyle of the high culture of Egypt shows some of the same predilection from 'Sex, drugs and R&R.'
Time for a breath of air, outside I bump into lots of old pals in the smokers circle - and suitably refreshed - I can face an hour with 'Scots' Mary in the incredibly stuffy Bertrand Russell, or is it Mani Shinwell room? I should say that 'Scots' Mary is one of the alumni of Alex and Maxine's 1970s magical coven - so respect. But the talk is hardly rocket science but twenty years ago I would have appreciated this kind of thing - but I'm wondering if the younger members of the audience are impressed? Actually twenty years ago i would have been a bit of a bolshevik and might have protested or even have asked what is it that wiccans actually do with their wands? Or as my friend Alex says, was Gerald Gardner smoking behind the bike-shed when that particular topic was discussed in the Hairy Potheads skool for wizards?
Two lectures under my belt I can safely head for the pub where all the other cynics have decamped for a gossip and another smoke. After an hour I decide to take a look at the valedictory rite more as an anthropological exercise than anything else. It's billed as a two hour psycho-drama based around the mysteries of The Wizard of Oz. The whole crowd of 'munchkins' sighs ahhhh in unison as the high priest enters in his Toto costume - you get the drift. I suppose one shouldn't be too sniffy. Levanah Morgan regularly lectures on the occult symbolism of this and other Hollywood films. Perhaps Julian Vayne is right afterall, we are all Chaos Magicians now. Many moons ago I walked out of an 'Erisian' ritual based around the energy of football - among the other lurkers on the threshold I met my future wife and partner - so chaos magick can't be all bad. - mogg
Sunday, May 28, 2006
In Frequently Asked Questions about the Occult (i-FAQ)
Vowel Chanting
J writes: 'I have been looking through tantra sadhana again, as I have been using a form of the opening ritual mentioned in the text. As an extension to the opening ritual you mention vibrating the vowels whilst drawing invoking pentagrams. I have come across this idea of vibrating the vowels in both the works of Jan Fries and Peter Carroll. I was wondering if you could give me some tips as to the origins of this method?
For my personnal practice I also use a combination of the elemental tattwas and vibrating of the vowels as a method of getting energy to flow through the chakras that correspond from the root to the neck.
Is there a relationship between the Sanskrit Bija mantras and the vowels? I also thought of it having a more mystical origin, but perhaps someone found pronouncing english more practical and simple?'
Dear J
The issue of the seven vowels is quite interesting - the seven vowels are those of the greek language but of course like all vowels they are part of the universal nature of speech - so will be constant all over - approximately 2000 years ago the egyptian religion went through a great reformation - and the seven greek vowels and attendant mysteries were incorporated and accepted into the mix - it was either because it already had resonance with egyptian practice or that they recognised the value of this part of the greek tradition (despite their dislike of their greek colonisers) Contemporary reports say that egyptian temple musick was essential vowel chanting - It seems natural enough to extend this idea to the hindu realm - which was also in contact via alexandria etc - and also acknowledged the power of mantra, sound and vowel chanting.
The physical postures are i think the sevenfold heptagramme rite of egypt - which has parallels as part of the international language of magic of the classical world.
love and do what you will
mogg
PS as the research continues, one project you (and others) might like to add to yours is the whole business of lunar observation for omens - ie observe the moon and note and phenemena such as halos, patterns, unusual colours etc - these are collated for lunar omina.
'Most descriptions of rituals I have seen involve having the altar at the centre of your working and generally moving around it, but what happens if you haven't got space? However in the "House of Life" you say "be content with the corner of your bedroom, this is what most of us use and it's perfectly adequate". In such a setup the altar would be outside of any circle created with say the LBRP?'
The problem for me with some descriptions of GD rites is that it leaves me wonderering if the folk are really doing it? It's part of a specific tradition that has its advocates - but there are other, equally valid streams of thought. 'House of Life' is closer to the tradition of a domestic shrine or altar - as attested in religious belief from the beginning. Another possibility is some sort of 'shrine box' fixed to the wall. All these things act as a focus but i'm not sure its such a good idea to always have something in the centre of your 'circle' or sacred space. In some outdoor rites, people build a fire then do the ritual around it. However that then gets to be a bit too focussed on one thing - the centre. I've found it handy to move the fire to a place outside the circle - where it is still available for useful things like keeping warm but leaves the circle a clear space to move, dance etc. It also preserves night vision and lets one make things such as veve etc.
In 'chaos magick' there is an idea that all magick is much more about intent than getting the details right. The circle is a virtual space really - and wherever you are, it's always going to be more of an idealised space than a real one - after all most people's rooms are square not circular - so what happens to the folks next door?? See Now That's What I Call Chaos Magick for discussion of this kind of thing.
Mogg (18.3.6) 'Red Moon on the day of Rams'.
Are Kenneth Grant's 'typhonian' books, and indeed other sabbatic titles really worth the premium prices being asked on the secondhand market? Is there another way for the beginner to learn more about this important new current?
I understand the problem. And yes I agree the prices for some things are stupid - and I suspect those books don't quite 'deliver' as promised - as you say - its about 'grass is greener ' complex as much as anything else. The best KG book is probably 'Aleister Crowley & The Hidden God' - but even that commands a very high price on the secondhand market so i'd say do as you're doing and read in a good library or via interlibrary loans. Take advantage of the availablility of stuff when it first appears at the normal price - eg you won't regret that - (for example look at those ebooks editions of Francis King's Secret Rituals of the OTO' (see mandrake Speaks (archive) for details). Are books such as the "Secret Rituals of the O.T.O.," by Francis King, one of the occult’s ‘banned books’ worthy of $25 for a pirated electronic copy? I’d say definitely worth it if you want to read that book – as its pretty much impossible to find otherwise and enormously expensive if you do. Whether there are any real secrets in there - that can't be found elsewhere is a moot point. At least you will have the background to the debate - and for $25 it could work out a lot cheaper than the grade fees you might pay only to find all that glisters is not gold.
I also think that some of the newer books in the 'sabbatic' and 'typhonian' tradition can be equally enlightening - if not in some cases better - eg try Nathaniel Harris' 'Witcha: a book of cunning' and indeed my own books: 'Tankhem: seth and egyptian magick' & 'The Bull of Ombos'. Check out Jack Daw's Cornish witchcraft site - for much info on that current and indeed get a copy of Paul Huson's 'Mastering Witchcraft' before that disappears again. I know I'm recommending lots of my own stuff but I have been involved in various aspects of this mythos for a while now and think you will find important aspects of it in our list and websites.
How do you feel about Kenneth Grant's notion of the 'Tunnels of Seth'?
tankhem has turned out to be a short work more on certain themes that will be
elaborated as time goes by - hence the exploration of temple of Sety I ends
at the shrine of amon ra - kind of homebase - but if you work more with the temple you will in fact discover there is a real live 'tunnel of seth' - (personally i think each individual as they work will find these tunnels individually in different locations within their own 'erotic landscape' - ie not always in the egyptian mythos.
The idea of the klippotic tree is related I guess - also the tankhem mythos is more about the roots that lie behind the tree - but one theme i have noticed is the dialectic between 'plurality' and 'unity' - the equivalent of 'Kether' in the nightside tree, is, I believe called 'thaumiel' - meaning duality - and this is set against the unitary aspect of kether - it's interesting to compare this with ancient (egyptian) kingship - where at various times to ideal situation was thought to be dual rulership - rather than one unitary or despotic (Horus?) king - i think people are led to believe that a good strong solitary leader is better than a collective
entity - but i wonder if that is really true??
Is a 'guru' really necessary in order to learn magick,
especially the 'tantrik' variety?
The Hindu intellectual tradition has several different points of view on this - although one tends to hear the most recent. The personal teacher or mentor is pretty essential although it's obviously possible to get by without them - most people have no choice but to plough on without one. A good teacher can speed one's progress long the path. I'm not sure if the institution was ever meant to be a permanent relationship. People in the ancient world changed gurus as they needed more specific information. The invention of the book in the pagan world, shook things up a lot. The book becomes the teacher and the student is released from the need to memorize text. If the tantrik texts are insufficient without the guru - then why did those teachers bother writing them in the first place?? It's like those modern practitioners who insist they are giving secret knowledge, but if so, why do they put it in a book?? Max 'Moksha' Muller once criticized the Theosophical Society for saying there was a 'secret doctrine' - he maintained there was no esoteric tradition in India - its all there - in the text - the trick is in making it work - doing the practice.
An Indian friend once gave me a little Sanskrit phrase that for me puts the whole thing about teachers and paths into perspective - in my own words I have this as:
A little bit of fun but there is a truth in it - ie the teacher is only one quarter of the conditions necessary for spiritual growth - the others parts come from other students, from yourself or just through the passage of time.
Drugs (Etheogens) and Magick
Answer:
I think at that stage I had in mind what to do whilst preparing for the more specifically magical meditation/visualization -I found at least three buddhist meditation techniques useful:
1. 'mindfulness of breathing' - which could be seen as a form of pranayama anyhows -
2. 'being compassionate' (vipassana)
3, 'just sitting' when you do a visualisation its often the way that you run out of mental stamina at some point- hence unless you want to just stop - its handy to have something up your sleeve to do until the 'visuals' restart or the time runs out - Not too many people favour ACs techniques these days although they probably do have their uses and certainly help to build mental stamina - he seemed to favour a kind of 'one pointedness' technique and that won't suite everyone - so its best, IMO to let it mutate into a targeted vision - or oscillate between various types.
Perhaps all these techniques lead to the same place - ie 'one pointedness' tends to mutate into lurid visions - and vice versa. Magick requires a good imagination - perhaps the tankhem ideal is closer to the tantrik 'overload of the senses' scenario - ie you try to form quite elaborate imaginal worlds - its what been called a 'rule governed creativity' - a middle way between absolute chaos and a blank
slate.
Tankhem only scratches the surface - more is coming all the time. The technology of the ancient world was far more advanced than we think - but was destroyed in one of those taliban moments starting, to be fair, just before the Christian story. Imagine how it would be if we had built on that base with no gap of 1500 years until the renaissance? In medicine alone it was only in the nineteenth century that physicians began again to wash themselves and their equipment before touching the patient!! We have caught up and overtaken now in most areas but probably not in the domain of consciousness and secrets of the body –that, IMO, is where there is still much to play for - imo
Why are the Abrahamic faiths so convinced they are right?
Answer:
As to Abrahamic religions – they too have a hidden history of things like polytheism (see Patai: the Hebrew Goddess) But its the old story of the victor's writing the history - perhaps its also a bit of ethnocentric bias - the way we see things from the western metropolis - Asian scholars find it hard to understand how such a confused theology is given such a positive PR. It claims to be monotheistic yet has a singular male god - true monotheism would require an abstract principle. Besides Hindu scholars long worked out that polytheism was a more reasonable theistic approach to the prolix nature of reality.
Is the Necronomicon and its contents genuine?
Answer:
To borrow some words from the historian Michael Woods – its fake but also real'.
What is 'Occult Crime'?
Answer:
As I write this a self-styled ‘satanist’ is in the news at the conclusion of his trial for the slaying his girlfriend. It is unlikely to be the last time such as crime is in the headlines (The Guardian 22 Jan 05). Coincidentally it is also the week when a picture of prince Harry, an heir to the British throne is also on the front pages. His photograph in Nazi uniform together with friends, one dressed in the white sheet of the Ku Klux Klan, another as a ‘black and white minstrel’ has made quite a splash. I leave it to you to sort out what the theme of the fancy dress party might have been. Of course no-one ever thinks to link those kind of ‘occult’ images with violent crimes. But shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, that’s another story ain’t it? Psychopaths exist in all societies. Restricting the discussion of taboo issues such as sacrifice and cannibalism will not, in my opinion make the world a safer place. Afterall we’ve had the way of restriction for a long while now and the results are every where to be seen. So called ‘occult’ crime has its own causes one of them being ignorance. That’s why I’m particularly keen to discuss this material in an informed way. We may not be able to stop violent crime but perhaps we can discourage the psychos from traducing the ideals of magick. The Hidden God and some taboo practices is undergoing something of a renaissance. The stream of thought leads to the contemporary magical conclusion that there is no need for violent sacrifice. The most powerful of all magical sacraments is freely given and does not involve harm to the donor. - mogg
J writes: 'I have been looking through tantra sadhana again, as I have been using a form of the opening ritual mentioned in the text. As an extension to the opening ritual you mention vibrating the vowels whilst drawing invoking pentagrams. I have come across this idea of vibrating the vowels in both the works of Jan Fries and Peter Carroll. I was wondering if you could give me some tips as to the origins of this method?
For my personnal practice I also use a combination of the elemental tattwas and vibrating of the vowels as a method of getting energy to flow through the chakras that correspond from the root to the neck.
Is there a relationship between the Sanskrit Bija mantras and the vowels? I also thought of it having a more mystical origin, but perhaps someone found pronouncing english more practical and simple?'
Dear J
The issue of the seven vowels is quite interesting - the seven vowels are those of the greek language but of course like all vowels they are part of the universal nature of speech - so will be constant all over - approximately 2000 years ago the egyptian religion went through a great reformation - and the seven greek vowels and attendant mysteries were incorporated and accepted into the mix - it was either because it already had resonance with egyptian practice or that they recognised the value of this part of the greek tradition (despite their dislike of their greek colonisers) Contemporary reports say that egyptian temple musick was essential vowel chanting - It seems natural enough to extend this idea to the hindu realm - which was also in contact via alexandria etc - and also acknowledged the power of mantra, sound and vowel chanting.
The physical postures are i think the sevenfold heptagramme rite of egypt - which has parallels as part of the international language of magic of the classical world.
love and do what you will
mogg
PS as the research continues, one project you (and others) might like to add to yours is the whole business of lunar observation for omens - ie observe the moon and note and phenemena such as halos, patterns, unusual colours etc - these are collated for lunar omina.
'Most descriptions of rituals I have seen involve having the altar at the centre of your working and generally moving around it, but what happens if you haven't got space? However in the "House of Life" you say "be content with the corner of your bedroom, this is what most of us use and it's perfectly adequate". In such a setup the altar would be outside of any circle created with say the LBRP?'
The problem for me with some descriptions of GD rites is that it leaves me wonderering if the folk are really doing it? It's part of a specific tradition that has its advocates - but there are other, equally valid streams of thought. 'House of Life' is closer to the tradition of a domestic shrine or altar - as attested in religious belief from the beginning. Another possibility is some sort of 'shrine box' fixed to the wall. All these things act as a focus but i'm not sure its such a good idea to always have something in the centre of your 'circle' or sacred space. In some outdoor rites, people build a fire then do the ritual around it. However that then gets to be a bit too focussed on one thing - the centre. I've found it handy to move the fire to a place outside the circle - where it is still available for useful things like keeping warm but leaves the circle a clear space to move, dance etc. It also preserves night vision and lets one make things such as veve etc.
In 'chaos magick' there is an idea that all magick is much more about intent than getting the details right. The circle is a virtual space really - and wherever you are, it's always going to be more of an idealised space than a real one - after all most people's rooms are square not circular - so what happens to the folks next door?? See Now That's What I Call Chaos Magick for discussion of this kind of thing.
Mogg (18.3.6) 'Red Moon on the day of Rams'.
Are Kenneth Grant's 'typhonian' books, and indeed other sabbatic titles really worth the premium prices being asked on the secondhand market? Is there another way for the beginner to learn more about this important new current?
I understand the problem. And yes I agree the prices for some things are stupid - and I suspect those books don't quite 'deliver' as promised - as you say - its about 'grass is greener ' complex as much as anything else. The best KG book is probably 'Aleister Crowley & The Hidden God' - but even that commands a very high price on the secondhand market so i'd say do as you're doing and read in a good library or via interlibrary loans. Take advantage of the availablility of stuff when it first appears at the normal price - eg you won't regret that - (for example look at those ebooks editions of Francis King's Secret Rituals of the OTO' (see mandrake Speaks (archive) for details). Are books such as the "Secret Rituals of the O.T.O.," by Francis King, one of the occult’s ‘banned books’ worthy of $25 for a pirated electronic copy? I’d say definitely worth it if you want to read that book – as its pretty much impossible to find otherwise and enormously expensive if you do. Whether there are any real secrets in there - that can't be found elsewhere is a moot point. At least you will have the background to the debate - and for $25 it could work out a lot cheaper than the grade fees you might pay only to find all that glisters is not gold.
I also think that some of the newer books in the 'sabbatic' and 'typhonian' tradition can be equally enlightening - if not in some cases better - eg try Nathaniel Harris' 'Witcha: a book of cunning' and indeed my own books: 'Tankhem: seth and egyptian magick' & 'The Bull of Ombos'. Check out Jack Daw's Cornish witchcraft site - for much info on that current and indeed get a copy of Paul Huson's 'Mastering Witchcraft' before that disappears again. I know I'm recommending lots of my own stuff but I have been involved in various aspects of this mythos for a while now and think you will find important aspects of it in our list and websites.
How do you feel about Kenneth Grant's notion of the 'Tunnels of Seth'?
tankhem has turned out to be a short work more on certain themes that will be
elaborated as time goes by - hence the exploration of temple of Sety I ends
at the shrine of amon ra - kind of homebase - but if you work more with the temple you will in fact discover there is a real live 'tunnel of seth' - (personally i think each individual as they work will find these tunnels individually in different locations within their own 'erotic landscape' - ie not always in the egyptian mythos.
The idea of the klippotic tree is related I guess - also the tankhem mythos is more about the roots that lie behind the tree - but one theme i have noticed is the dialectic between 'plurality' and 'unity' - the equivalent of 'Kether' in the nightside tree, is, I believe called 'thaumiel' - meaning duality - and this is set against the unitary aspect of kether - it's interesting to compare this with ancient (egyptian) kingship - where at various times to ideal situation was thought to be dual rulership - rather than one unitary or despotic (Horus?) king - i think people are led to believe that a good strong solitary leader is better than a collective
entity - but i wonder if that is really true??
Is a 'guru' really necessary in order to learn magick,
especially the 'tantrik' variety?
The Hindu intellectual tradition has several different points of view on this - although one tends to hear the most recent. The personal teacher or mentor is pretty essential although it's obviously possible to get by without them - most people have no choice but to plough on without one. A good teacher can speed one's progress long the path. I'm not sure if the institution was ever meant to be a permanent relationship. People in the ancient world changed gurus as they needed more specific information. The invention of the book in the pagan world, shook things up a lot. The book becomes the teacher and the student is released from the need to memorize text. If the tantrik texts are insufficient without the guru - then why did those teachers bother writing them in the first place?? It's like those modern practitioners who insist they are giving secret knowledge, but if so, why do they put it in a book?? Max 'Moksha' Muller once criticized the Theosophical Society for saying there was a 'secret doctrine' - he maintained there was no esoteric tradition in India - its all there - in the text - the trick is in making it work - doing the practice.
An Indian friend once gave me a little Sanskrit phrase that for me puts the whole thing about teachers and paths into perspective - in my own words I have this as:
Footsteps of the Gnostic Sphinx
‘One foot from the teacher comes;
A second from others on the path;
A third from your very own self;
Lastly through the passage of time.Â’
The Book of Shu
A little bit of fun but there is a truth in it - ie the teacher is only one quarter of the conditions necessary for spiritual growth - the others parts come from other students, from yourself or just through the passage of time.
Drugs (Etheogens) and Magick
'I am currently reading Visual Magick by Jan Fries. I really like it. Also it really resonates with me due to myself also being an artist.What intrigues me though - and this is the reason i am inquiring of you, having searched internet for some feedback about this - is he seems to not value hallucinogens. This is confusing to me, mainly because of my own experiences iwth hallucinogens which have been the most profound experiences in my life, but also from research I have done regarding their significance in shamanism worldwide, and other forms of spiritual movements.
I have also read from various sources that Mircea Eliade, who first claimed that hallucinogen use withing shamanism was a decadenct developmment coming later from non non-hallucinogenic ritual. A view it's claimed he changed in the later stages of his life. I also have read Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda by Dan Russell, who argues the world-wide prolific use of hallucinogens within shamanism and for spiritual inspiration, also influencing mythology--much of the hallucinogenic-plany symbolism being 'hidden' in the mythiologies. So, can you see why i wonder why Jan Fries doesn't seem to take this history into account?
'Its not true to say Jan doesn't value the use of etheogens etc - its just that, IMO, he is just as interested in how people learn to produce these drugs inside their brains by ritual, dance, seething etc - there is a lot more discussion of the things in Seidways - shaking, swaying and serpent mysteries, especially the chapter 'the cauldron of ceridwen' - its not the drug its the trance that is important surely - hence there is quite a lot on plant drugs in this book - but also some powerful physical techniques to replicate the experience that can indeed initially be opened up by drugs.
Varieties of useful meditation techniques
In your 'House of Life' document Mogg (p21 I think), you mention that you practice a Buddhist sitting meditation. Is this something likeinsight or vipassana meditation? I am familiar with this and would tend towards using it daily, although most occult guidence which I have seen seems to favour pranayama. I find pranayama better for concentrating my mind, but vipassana more beneficial all round.
Answer:
I think at that stage I had in mind what to do whilst preparing for the more specifically magical meditation/visualization -I found at least three buddhist meditation techniques useful:
1. 'mindfulness of breathing' - which could be seen as a form of pranayama anyhows -
2. 'being compassionate' (vipassana)
3, 'just sitting' when you do a visualisation its often the way that you run out of mental stamina at some point- hence unless you want to just stop - its handy to have something up your sleeve to do until the 'visuals' restart or the time runs out - Not too many people favour ACs techniques these days although they probably do have their uses and certainly help to build mental stamina - he seemed to favour a kind of 'one pointedness' technique and that won't suite everyone - so its best, IMO to let it mutate into a targeted vision - or oscillate between various types.
Perhaps all these techniques lead to the same place - ie 'one pointedness' tends to mutate into lurid visions - and vice versa. Magick requires a good imagination - perhaps the tankhem ideal is closer to the tantrik 'overload of the senses' scenario - ie you try to form quite elaborate imaginal worlds - its what been called a 'rule governed creativity' - a middle way between absolute chaos and a blank
slate.
What can the ancients do for us?
Whilst reading Tankhem, it has become glaringly obvious the extent of the intricacy of the ancient mind. I have never been crass enough to assume that the scientific mind is superior, or even that it can draw parallel to the ancient mind, but I have been left in awe at just how far the ancient mind excels its modern contemporary. It just leaves me inquiring to the extent of their knowledge. Just how much and what did they know? More importantly for me, is how did it all start and is it possible to trace a genesis point of such thinking?Answer:
Tankhem only scratches the surface - more is coming all the time. The technology of the ancient world was far more advanced than we think - but was destroyed in one of those taliban moments starting, to be fair, just before the Christian story. Imagine how it would be if we had built on that base with no gap of 1500 years until the renaissance? In medicine alone it was only in the nineteenth century that physicians began again to wash themselves and their equipment before touching the patient!! We have caught up and overtaken now in most areas but probably not in the domain of consciousness and secrets of the body –that, IMO, is where there is still much to play for - imo
Why are the Abrahamic faiths so convinced they are right?
Why do they see themselves as so superior?
It is quite clear that the bible is opposed to polytheism, but why? Why do they consider their god superior? It may seem that I have started down the magickal path for the wrong reasons (that being to oppose my early conditioning) just by reading that last paragraph, but I am only asking that question because even though I was christened, I know little about Christianity.
Answer:
As to Abrahamic religions – they too have a hidden history of things like polytheism (see Patai: the Hebrew Goddess) But its the old story of the victor's writing the history - perhaps its also a bit of ethnocentric bias - the way we see things from the western metropolis - Asian scholars find it hard to understand how such a confused theology is given such a positive PR. It claims to be monotheistic yet has a singular male god - true monotheism would require an abstract principle. Besides Hindu scholars long worked out that polytheism was a more reasonable theistic approach to the prolix nature of reality.
Is the Necronomicon and its contents genuine?
Answer:
To borrow some words from the historian Michael Woods – its fake but also real'.
What is 'Occult Crime'?
Answer:
As I write this a self-styled ‘satanist’ is in the news at the conclusion of his trial for the slaying his girlfriend. It is unlikely to be the last time such as crime is in the headlines (The Guardian 22 Jan 05). Coincidentally it is also the week when a picture of prince Harry, an heir to the British throne is also on the front pages. His photograph in Nazi uniform together with friends, one dressed in the white sheet of the Ku Klux Klan, another as a ‘black and white minstrel’ has made quite a splash. I leave it to you to sort out what the theme of the fancy dress party might have been. Of course no-one ever thinks to link those kind of ‘occult’ images with violent crimes. But shock-rocker Marilyn Manson, that’s another story ain’t it? Psychopaths exist in all societies. Restricting the discussion of taboo issues such as sacrifice and cannibalism will not, in my opinion make the world a safer place. Afterall we’ve had the way of restriction for a long while now and the results are every where to be seen. So called ‘occult’ crime has its own causes one of them being ignorance. That’s why I’m particularly keen to discuss this material in an informed way. We may not be able to stop violent crime but perhaps we can discourage the psychos from traducing the ideals of magick. The Hidden God and some taboo practices is undergoing something of a renaissance. The stream of thought leads to the contemporary magical conclusion that there is no need for violent sacrifice. The most powerful of all magical sacraments is freely given and does not involve harm to the donor. - mogg
Thursday, April 13, 2006
'Naked in your rites'?
Mandrake
I travelled up to Cumbria to visit some wiccan friends. They had a house full of people for a second degree initiation on the saturday night. We watched the rather excellent 1960s film 'Legend of the Witches', just released on DVD. It prompted a discussion on the whole topic of 'sky clad' rituals. I should say that our hosts have always been keen on that particular aspects of wicca. But as some of us get older and less 'body beautiful', it become more and more tempting to consider other options.
Why do some magical people think this issue is so important? There are, in my opinion, two main issues here: Firstly there is an implicit eroticism in many wiccan rites. Secondly there is a strong believe in nakedness as a sign of deconditioning, as a visible sign of freedom from societal norms, and this includes an attempt to see the person beneath the clothes, even beneath the bodily shell. Fat or thin, beautiful or not so, it's not supposed to matter.
Mainstream culture is dominated by quite normative views of the body. What was once called 'body fascism' is back with a vengence. So whatever people say, there an awful lot of looking and judging of how others look. The magical community is as much prone to that as everyone else. Perhaps more so, given the current dominance of the commercial form of wicca as evidenced in several mainstream magazines such as 'Witches & Wicca', 'Spirit & Destiny' etc.
For these and many other reasons people's views are changing. Witchcraft & Magick is being eroticised. Nakedness will always retain its role in initiation - but could it be that the sight of older initiates, joyously obese, will become less common? There are many, 'performers' and 'audience', who would prefer it so : ) Eroticism in a rite is a lot more complex than nakedness. Nakedness per se is not erotic. Eroticism necessitates the selective exposure of flesh - the form in which it is concealed being almost as important as what is exposed. Consider the way the ancient Egyptians dressed. None but the gods were ever totally naked, although much flesh was on display, from the kilted, but bare chested men, to the topless women in their sleeve dresses.
On reflection I think eroticism is the way to go, and maybe for the time being forget all the 1960s stuff about 'the real you' which doesn't seem to apply anymore. The naked body is still a surface and can be as much of a mask as clothes. Perhaps our focus can shift to the adopting of a magical persona, which can also include being naked. It's a question of what works for you.
For many years the Sexual Freedom Coalition* has been working with these kind of issues. The magical world can learn something from their experiences. In their social events they are trying to creat a theatre of individual freedom - a pleasure dome if you like, in which a kind of gentle 'flirting' and 'posing' is the norm. Some people are just too sexually predatory or consumerist to really enter this environment without infringing another's space. The obvious example is the platoons of desperate heterosexuals in dinner jackets who are determined to get their money's worth. They often carry with them the same kinds of consumerist and judgemental attitudes that the majority of people in the pleasure dome are trying to avoid. The organisers of such happenings should and in fact do try to restrict their number to a manageable few or exclude them altogether. Perhaps that is one lesson we can learn from the social experiments of the 1960s - you have to learn to be free - it requires training and work - and some people maybe to just too damaged to ever make it to the pleasure dome?
[some of these thoughts sprang from a discussion of these issues at the recent Oxford Talking Stick. The Sexual Freedom Coalition has a conference on 6 May with guest speaker Alison Lapper. See http://www.sfc.org.uk/news-conference2006.htm for details]
Comments?
I travelled up to Cumbria to visit some wiccan friends. They had a house full of people for a second degree initiation on the saturday night. We watched the rather excellent 1960s film 'Legend of the Witches', just released on DVD. It prompted a discussion on the whole topic of 'sky clad' rituals. I should say that our hosts have always been keen on that particular aspects of wicca. But as some of us get older and less 'body beautiful', it become more and more tempting to consider other options.
Why do some magical people think this issue is so important? There are, in my opinion, two main issues here: Firstly there is an implicit eroticism in many wiccan rites. Secondly there is a strong believe in nakedness as a sign of deconditioning, as a visible sign of freedom from societal norms, and this includes an attempt to see the person beneath the clothes, even beneath the bodily shell. Fat or thin, beautiful or not so, it's not supposed to matter.
Mainstream culture is dominated by quite normative views of the body. What was once called 'body fascism' is back with a vengence. So whatever people say, there an awful lot of looking and judging of how others look. The magical community is as much prone to that as everyone else. Perhaps more so, given the current dominance of the commercial form of wicca as evidenced in several mainstream magazines such as 'Witches & Wicca', 'Spirit & Destiny' etc.
For these and many other reasons people's views are changing. Witchcraft & Magick is being eroticised. Nakedness will always retain its role in initiation - but could it be that the sight of older initiates, joyously obese, will become less common? There are many, 'performers' and 'audience', who would prefer it so : ) Eroticism in a rite is a lot more complex than nakedness. Nakedness per se is not erotic. Eroticism necessitates the selective exposure of flesh - the form in which it is concealed being almost as important as what is exposed. Consider the way the ancient Egyptians dressed. None but the gods were ever totally naked, although much flesh was on display, from the kilted, but bare chested men, to the topless women in their sleeve dresses.
On reflection I think eroticism is the way to go, and maybe for the time being forget all the 1960s stuff about 'the real you' which doesn't seem to apply anymore. The naked body is still a surface and can be as much of a mask as clothes. Perhaps our focus can shift to the adopting of a magical persona, which can also include being naked. It's a question of what works for you.
For many years the Sexual Freedom Coalition* has been working with these kind of issues. The magical world can learn something from their experiences. In their social events they are trying to creat a theatre of individual freedom - a pleasure dome if you like, in which a kind of gentle 'flirting' and 'posing' is the norm. Some people are just too sexually predatory or consumerist to really enter this environment without infringing another's space. The obvious example is the platoons of desperate heterosexuals in dinner jackets who are determined to get their money's worth. They often carry with them the same kinds of consumerist and judgemental attitudes that the majority of people in the pleasure dome are trying to avoid. The organisers of such happenings should and in fact do try to restrict their number to a manageable few or exclude them altogether. Perhaps that is one lesson we can learn from the social experiments of the 1960s - you have to learn to be free - it requires training and work - and some people maybe to just too damaged to ever make it to the pleasure dome?
[some of these thoughts sprang from a discussion of these issues at the recent Oxford Talking Stick. The Sexual Freedom Coalition has a conference on 6 May with guest speaker Alison Lapper. See http://www.sfc.org.uk/news-conference2006.htm for details]
Comments?
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Egypt & The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The GD grade signs may have something in common with genuine Egyptian techniques such as what's been called the Heptagramme rite of PGM XIII 824-841 and the Mithras Liturgy , the most widely read of all the PGM. If I remember rightly this also has grade signs used in the initiation of a female adept (That the initiate in this ancient rite was female was omitted from previous translations).
Skrying, astral contact and other freeform ritual work is indeed another important but often neglected aspect of GD. Again, new research is revealing that dream and vision questing was also a feature of the late antique Egyptian magical religion. Some contemporary practitioners tend to write off this feature of Victorian GD type work, thus it is often hidden or edited out in favour of a more masonic interpretations. Same goes for much Crowley ritual work. Doing so restricts your magick to one 'channel' and robs it of the valuble use of music, dance and trance induction. The same goes for ancient Egyptian magic, which for a long time was interpreted through the lens of the (supposed) Victorian GD techniques - which few people find very effective. It's worth thinking about this issue of multi-channel magick (I've borrowed the term from educational psychology.)
A useful corrective to mono-channel type magick come IMO from Chaos Magick and works by Jan Fries, especially Visual Magick. Incidentally it's been quite hard to get this message across - one recent encyclopedia on nature magick refused a piece on Crowley, because their 'crowley expert' said there was no need for him to be in - presumably because they felt he didn't practice nature magic - so the circle of misinformation continues!!
More information on the Heptagramme Rite is available in the modern reconstructed version in Steven Flower's interesting book
'Hermetic Magick: the postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris'
Its also recommended in my own book
'Tankhem: Seth and Egyptian Magick'
and elsewhere.
Because of the sevenfold nature of the rite - it is currently in use by several 'sethian' and 'sabbatic' groups as an alternative to the LBR. The whole business about the symbolism of the number seven, the starry plough etc., is something whose significance is spreading to many other practitioners.
Which leads on the the question of how many of the barbarous names of the occult tradition are based on Egyptian godnames, rubriks and stereotypical formulae? Many of the later were 'mistaken' for god names or voce magicae during the Roman revival. The best example off the top of my head is 'Ouphor' - which is not a god name but the name of the ritual for the opening of the mouth. In the PGM, only the name survives. The rite alluded to is extremely ancient and important in the animation of mummies and other fetish objects.
Thaphthartharath occurs in one such medieval grimoire as an invocation of Thoth.
Chris Lehrich goes through the whole QBL analysis of the name - which is interesting although I would have thought the first place to look would be in the Egyptian language itself - then Greek then Hebrew - I was thinking about it yesterday in my own 'house of life' and it could be something like:
Thaph thar tharath
Which is very close to the name Thoth, 3 times by reduplication -
which is a very egyptian thing - hence Thrice Great Thoth!
Incidentally a new edition (text and translation) of the egyptian 'Book of Thoth'
was published last year - the mss thought to be the work of eqyptian hermeticists.
Skrying, astral contact and other freeform ritual work is indeed another important but often neglected aspect of GD. Again, new research is revealing that dream and vision questing was also a feature of the late antique Egyptian magical religion. Some contemporary practitioners tend to write off this feature of Victorian GD type work, thus it is often hidden or edited out in favour of a more masonic interpretations. Same goes for much Crowley ritual work. Doing so restricts your magick to one 'channel' and robs it of the valuble use of music, dance and trance induction. The same goes for ancient Egyptian magic, which for a long time was interpreted through the lens of the (supposed) Victorian GD techniques - which few people find very effective. It's worth thinking about this issue of multi-channel magick (I've borrowed the term from educational psychology.)
A useful corrective to mono-channel type magick come IMO from Chaos Magick and works by Jan Fries, especially Visual Magick. Incidentally it's been quite hard to get this message across - one recent encyclopedia on nature magick refused a piece on Crowley, because their 'crowley expert' said there was no need for him to be in - presumably because they felt he didn't practice nature magic - so the circle of misinformation continues!!
More information on the Heptagramme Rite is available in the modern reconstructed version in Steven Flower's interesting book
'Hermetic Magick: the postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris'
Its also recommended in my own book
'Tankhem: Seth and Egyptian Magick'
and elsewhere.
Because of the sevenfold nature of the rite - it is currently in use by several 'sethian' and 'sabbatic' groups as an alternative to the LBR. The whole business about the symbolism of the number seven, the starry plough etc., is something whose significance is spreading to many other practitioners.
Which leads on the the question of how many of the barbarous names of the occult tradition are based on Egyptian godnames, rubriks and stereotypical formulae? Many of the later were 'mistaken' for god names or voce magicae during the Roman revival. The best example off the top of my head is 'Ouphor' - which is not a god name but the name of the ritual for the opening of the mouth. In the PGM, only the name survives. The rite alluded to is extremely ancient and important in the animation of mummies and other fetish objects.
Thaphthartharath occurs in one such medieval grimoire as an invocation of Thoth.
Chris Lehrich goes through the whole QBL analysis of the name - which is interesting although I would have thought the first place to look would be in the Egyptian language itself - then Greek then Hebrew - I was thinking about it yesterday in my own 'house of life' and it could be something like:
Thaph thar tharath
Which is very close to the name Thoth, 3 times by reduplication -
which is a very egyptian thing - hence Thrice Great Thoth!
Incidentally a new edition (text and translation) of the egyptian 'Book of Thoth'
was published last year - the mss thought to be the work of eqyptian hermeticists.
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau
'The forty-four cemeteries of New Orleans lend themselves to mystery, ghost stories and occult tourism. Local citizens call them 'cities of the dead'. First time visitors receive a surreal shock - ancient ruins, marble monuments and tall crypts celebrate death and refuse to sterilize, deny or make it merely a medical fact Against the skyline, angels, crosses and statues of grieving mothers make the aura of decomposition exquisite. Mile after mile of tombs resemble houses, small mansions or places of worship - neighborhoods where another branch of the family lives . . . The Creole citizens of New Orleans came to be infatuated with tales of open graves, gruesome deaths and skeletons or ghosts who lead independent lives along the avenues of the cities of the dead. . . (p. 94)
This new biography by Martha Ward is published by University of Mississippi Press, at approx 20 UK pounds (ISBN 1-57806-629-8). Beneath the dull gray cover lurks a colorful hardback documenting the history of the New Orleans Voodoo clan of Marie Laveau and her eponymous daughter. Marie I, born in 1801 died 1881, is buried in the famous New Orleans Tomb which every year is visited by many thousands of pilgrims. She and her daughter lived extraordinary lives, spanning the purchase of Louisiana by the fledgling USA, the civil war, the decline and suppression of Voodoo and the rise of segregation.
Its unlikely that any earlier author had as much freedom to research the subject, using original documentary material, her own intuition and the extensive archive of oral history compiled during the years of the depression by the Federal Writer's Project. Marie Laveau's magick is clearly neither wholly black nor white - she was charismatic enticing her second racially white husband to declare himself black despite the vicious race laws of the time. Time and time again her actions emerge as not quite what they seem - the accusation that she owned slaves changes significance when the author's painstaking research exposes how she and her husband manipulated the law to resist slavery and secure a kind of freedom to anyone in their orbit.
Her daughter (also Marie Laveau) at first resisted but later embraced Voodoo. 'she liked parties, she loved the attention men paid to her striking good looks. She danced the Bamboula and the Calinda in Congo square on Sunday afternoon. There each time she ran into Jim Alexander (Dr Jim not Dr John??) a voodoo practitioner and respected two-headed doctor of Hoodoo, he confronted her; he told her that she radiated power. He offered to initiate her, to be her mentor, to take her through the door to the spirits. She turned him down time after time, because "she would rather dance than make love". One night however ' a great rattlesnake entered her bedroom and spoke to her.' p110.
Some say that in 1999 she returned to a St John's Eve Voodoo gathering on Bayou St John - hopefully she will return. Highly recommended book [Mogg]
Combining Egyptian & Hindu Pantheons
The whole 'Tankhem' project is predicated on the hypothesis that there some sort of synthesis is possible between Egyptian & Hindu religious concepts. How that's going to be, is still to be discovered - it's an intuition that they share something but not yet fully articulated.
Yesterday, in the House of Life, I was reading Jan Assmann's 'Search for God in Ancient Egypt' - which I really recommend, even if some of his theories are very controversial - he does also talk about comparative religion and how it might apply to the Egyptian quest.
Many people talk about different _forms_ of deity or contrast for example Tantrik ‘ideas’. Seems like many people are in their personal religious quest, seeking a common religious experience rather than a narrow cultural expression. Personally I am very drawn to the project of reconstructing this common ground between traditions - including the 'international' language of magick.
Jan Assmann talks about three types of religious experience:
1. Ecstatic/shamanic
2. Mystical / personal piety
3. Historic or religion of personal destiny
Corresponding examples would be -
1. Neolithic 'shamanism' (having no real geographical domain)
2. Hindu mysticism & yoga
3. e.g.: Judaism
Incidentally Assmann says none of these models quite fits the Egyptian material 'as a whole' but there are notable exceptions - which is where we all come in. For example, the cult of Hathor is very ecstatic - involving crazy dancing and consumption of beer - laced with red ochre - (Guinness might work here ;) is very apposite in this context). Another important exception occurs in the Cult of Seth - which probably has all the aspects of ecstatic/shamanic religion, a mystical or path of personal piety and perhaps (as in the case of the King Ramesses) - an notion of personal destiny.
Yesterday, in the House of Life, I was reading Jan Assmann's 'Search for God in Ancient Egypt' - which I really recommend, even if some of his theories are very controversial - he does also talk about comparative religion and how it might apply to the Egyptian quest.
Many people talk about different _forms_ of deity or contrast for example Tantrik ‘ideas’. Seems like many people are in their personal religious quest, seeking a common religious experience rather than a narrow cultural expression. Personally I am very drawn to the project of reconstructing this common ground between traditions - including the 'international' language of magick.
Jan Assmann talks about three types of religious experience:
1. Ecstatic/shamanic
2. Mystical / personal piety
3. Historic or religion of personal destiny
Corresponding examples would be -
1. Neolithic 'shamanism' (having no real geographical domain)
2. Hindu mysticism & yoga
3. e.g.: Judaism
Incidentally Assmann says none of these models quite fits the Egyptian material 'as a whole' but there are notable exceptions - which is where we all come in. For example, the cult of Hathor is very ecstatic - involving crazy dancing and consumption of beer - laced with red ochre - (Guinness might work here ;) is very apposite in this context). Another important exception occurs in the Cult of Seth - which probably has all the aspects of ecstatic/shamanic religion, a mystical or path of personal piety and perhaps (as in the case of the King Ramesses) - an notion of personal destiny.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
A Resh Alternative
(c) Tankhem House of Life & Mogg Morgan
Liber Resh vel Helios is a favourite ritual of mine although it seems a bit garbled. There's probably no hope of ever weaning the born again Thelemic types(1) from the Crowley version - but others might like to consider an alternative version. In Egyptian Theology, Seth was said to be one of the emanations of 'Ra' or 'Amun Ra'. Thus in the famous image of Ra in his night time boat in the underworld, the passive 'authorizing' image of Ra, has various emananations, most famously as Seth to ward off Apophis, the demon of 'non-being' at one of the dangerous twilights just before dawn. The theology of Amun Ra was put together during the so-called Ramesside period. The Ramesside's had a continued loyalty to their Sethian ancestors. Amun was originally a mysterious god of wind and air .Amun-Ra’s role is very like the 'pantocrator' of later Hermetic philosophy - a fact that underlies the Egyptian roots of Hermeticism. Egyptian theology conserved Amun-ra to have three aspects - much as they divided everything else up into three, the day, the years etc. The three are :
Morning sun - Kephra (Beetle)- literally the 'becoming one' (2)
Midday sun - Ra (Falcon)
Evening or setting sun - Tum or Atum (Ram)
Crowley, along with a lot of contemporary magi, felt compelled to cast all ritual material into the fourfold schema of earth, air, fire and water. (see Crowley's reframing of PGM ?? otherwise known as Liber Samech.). I agree this is all very psychologically pleasing to the modern mind but it MAY be alien to the Egyptian mindset. Even so - the above schema lends itself to a fourth, 'hidden' or 'secret name' of the sun at midnight. You might like to remind yourself of the legend of Isis and the secret name of Ra, a version of which is given in my book Tankhem. Now it might be that you prefer to keep this as an individual secret? Alternatively if there is a secret name or midnight version of Ra, then i would think it could be a Hidden god such as Osiris, or maybe even Horus. They all have lots going for them in this role. Whereas 'Kephra' as the midnight sun doesn't really get you very far and seems at odds with the original mythology. So the rite lends itself to personal customization depending on the magicians own will - but one version could be:
1. In a footnote to a new edition of Crowley's Magick - there is a feeble attempt to explain the apparent 'mixed metaphor' engendered by the insertion into the schema of the goddess (A)Hathor - who otherwise really seems out of place - Bast/Sekhmet/Hathor/Tefnut can sometime represent other aspects of the sun in its course, especial the counterpart of Bast (morning sun), Sekhmet (fiery sun)
2. The contemporary Temple of Seth seem to have adopted this as their titulary diety, hence ‘Xeper’ - the ‘X’ is actually Greek 'Kh'
1. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART KEPHRA IN THY RISING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART KEPHRA IN THY STRENGTH
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE UPRISING OF THE SUN
2. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART RA IN THY TRIUMPH
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART RA IN THY BEAUTY
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE MIDCOURSE OF THE SUN
3. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART TUM IN THY SETTING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART TUM IN THY JOY
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE DOWNGOING OF THE SUN
4. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART HIDDEN IN THY HIDING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART HIDDEN IN THY SILENCE
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR OF THE SUN
TAHUTI (or SETH) STANDS IN HIS SPLENDOR AT THE PROW
AND INTELLIGENCE IS AT THE HELM
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF NIGHT!
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF MORNING!
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF DAY
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF EVENING!
Liber Resh vel Helios is a favourite ritual of mine although it seems a bit garbled. There's probably no hope of ever weaning the born again Thelemic types(1) from the Crowley version - but others might like to consider an alternative version. In Egyptian Theology, Seth was said to be one of the emanations of 'Ra' or 'Amun Ra'. Thus in the famous image of Ra in his night time boat in the underworld, the passive 'authorizing' image of Ra, has various emananations, most famously as Seth to ward off Apophis, the demon of 'non-being' at one of the dangerous twilights just before dawn. The theology of Amun Ra was put together during the so-called Ramesside period. The Ramesside's had a continued loyalty to their Sethian ancestors. Amun was originally a mysterious god of wind and air .Amun-Ra’s role is very like the 'pantocrator' of later Hermetic philosophy - a fact that underlies the Egyptian roots of Hermeticism. Egyptian theology conserved Amun-ra to have three aspects - much as they divided everything else up into three, the day, the years etc. The three are :
Morning sun - Kephra (Beetle)- literally the 'becoming one' (2)
Midday sun - Ra (Falcon)
Evening or setting sun - Tum or Atum (Ram)
Crowley, along with a lot of contemporary magi, felt compelled to cast all ritual material into the fourfold schema of earth, air, fire and water. (see Crowley's reframing of PGM ?? otherwise known as Liber Samech.). I agree this is all very psychologically pleasing to the modern mind but it MAY be alien to the Egyptian mindset. Even so - the above schema lends itself to a fourth, 'hidden' or 'secret name' of the sun at midnight. You might like to remind yourself of the legend of Isis and the secret name of Ra, a version of which is given in my book Tankhem. Now it might be that you prefer to keep this as an individual secret? Alternatively if there is a secret name or midnight version of Ra, then i would think it could be a Hidden god such as Osiris, or maybe even Horus. They all have lots going for them in this role. Whereas 'Kephra' as the midnight sun doesn't really get you very far and seems at odds with the original mythology. So the rite lends itself to personal customization depending on the magicians own will - but one version could be:
1. In a footnote to a new edition of Crowley's Magick - there is a feeble attempt to explain the apparent 'mixed metaphor' engendered by the insertion into the schema of the goddess (A)Hathor - who otherwise really seems out of place - Bast/Sekhmet/Hathor/Tefnut can sometime represent other aspects of the sun in its course, especial the counterpart of Bast (morning sun), Sekhmet (fiery sun)
2. The contemporary Temple of Seth seem to have adopted this as their titulary diety, hence ‘Xeper’ - the ‘X’ is actually Greek 'Kh'
1. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART KEPHRA IN THY RISING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART KEPHRA IN THY STRENGTH
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE UPRISING OF THE SUN
2. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART RA IN THY TRIUMPH
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART RA IN THY BEAUTY
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE MIDCOURSE OF THE SUN
3. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART TUM IN THY SETTING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART TUM IN THY JOY
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE DOWNGOING OF THE SUN
4. HAIL UNTO THEE WHO ART HIDDEN IN THY HIDING
EVEN UNTO THEE WHO ART HIDDEN IN THY SILENCE
WHO TRAVELLEST OVER THE HEAVENS IN THY BARK
AT THE MIDNIGHT HOUR OF THE SUN
TAHUTI (or SETH) STANDS IN HIS SPLENDOR AT THE PROW
AND INTELLIGENCE IS AT THE HELM
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF NIGHT!
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF MORNING!
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF DAY
HAIL UNTO THEE FROM THE ABODES OF EVENING!
Friday, November 25, 2005
Mogg's Diary - 1 Sept 05 - 3 Dec 05
Magick vs Religion?
Is there any real difference between magick and religion? I don’t think so – and indeed this issue has been raised in several recent books, including my own Bull of Ombos. On the whole, magick has not been well served by anthropology, starting with the old Frazerian distinction between magic and religion; magic and science. Apparently the eminent historian Ronald Hutton has now entered the fray, with a slightly different take. Speaking at the recent Witchfest, he acknowledged that ancient Egypt is the big exception, (which is a very big and important exception). Even so, he thought a parting of the ways did occur from the early Christian era onwards and only in very recent times was this supposed difference between magic and religion beginning to break down. His views coincides very much with that of the Christian theologians, who were at great pains to persuade people that JC was neither a magician nor exorcist! But is that really true? When looking at the classical roots of magick, the key questions are :
Do the gods practice magick?
Is there a god of magick?
Are priests and magicians the same people?
The answer for ancient Egypt is yes to all of the above
Answer in non-Christian world is yes to all of the above
Answer in Christian world is maybe?
The other issue we discussed at the recent Talking Stick was on the related matter of the roots of magick. The eminent Egyptologist Jan Assmann, argues in his book, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, that liturgy is the root of the Egyptian magical religion and not as you might think, some form of individual mystical experience. Liturgy equals ‘public worship in accordance with a prescribed form’ – for example actions performed at rites of passage such as death. Liturgy is not so far away from magick – especially if one contemplates, as the Egyptians often did, what happens when you threaten the gods to abandon their liturgy unless they give you what you desire!
Reburial
Emma from an organisation called HAD - canvassed my opinion on reburial of museum artefacts. The subject of archaic burial seems to be very much on my personal agenda just now. Here are my initial thoughts - feedback welcomed:
1. Death House
I'd say that the artefacts should, where possible placed in a non-volatile, collective 'valhalla' , 'death house' or 'ossary' in such a way that they can be reexamined or reinterred if necessary. This also makes it possible for people with a reconstructed religious sensibiltiy to have some sort of ongoing interaction with the remains (an indeed future academics to do new research).
2. Cardinality
Special attention needs to be taken with orientation (this could equally apply to human remains in museums)
The first principle is cardinality - the head should be orientated to one of the cardinal directions, probably in the north but facing east. Care should be taken to avoid inversions - eg: skulls should be prevented from rolling jaw uppermost ( a common feature of ancient execration burial) - if the remains come from an existing execration burial then this raises the issue of whether this arrangement needs to be preserved.
3. Ochre:
The collection of 'red ochre' is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of human activities and this is almost invariable a feature of archaic burials - so replenishing the ochre in some actual or symbolic way might be appropriate perhaps as the inner lining of the 'death house'.
4. 'Opening the mouth'
This is another archiac and almost universal practice accomplished via spoken prayers of transfiguration said over the reinterred remains - unknown remains could be given a 'name' or possibly an 'epithet' as part of this process. Otherwise, i'd say the rites should involve other forms of sound especially music - the bottom line being the intoning of the seven sacred vowels and other forms of polyphonic music, such as flutes, didgeridoos, gentle drumming, etc.
5. Remembrance
The eventual resting place should be marked and facilitate at least the occasional ceremony of remembrance.
Remembrance Day
Seems like Samhain continues as a season right up to Armistice day on the 11th, or perhaps Remembrance sunday - maybe even until the end of this moon on 15th November? Although feeling a little blank - I went along to the G.O.D.S. samhain ritual on the 5th November. A dry windy night during which the leaves fell from the trees like departing souls - which reminded me of Omm Sety's account of Thoth's 'Tree of Destiny' quoted in my book, Tankhem:
She says there is 'a belief among the Moslems in Egypt that in Paradise is a tree called 'Tree of Destiny', which bears as many leaves as there are people in the world. Each leaf bears the name of each person living, but in the middle of the Arabic month of Shaaban (which is followed by the fasting month of Ramadan), the tree shakes, and the leaves bearing the names of those persons destined to die in the coming years fall down. It has long been the custom for children to gather in groups at sunset on the evening of the fateful day and go round the streets singing: 'O Lord of the Tree of Destiny, make our leaves strong and green upon its brjanches, For we, O Lord, are your little children.'
Samhain 05
Its been a samhain I won't forget - my mother died just two weeks ago and the funeral a week later. She was 80 years old and had been fading for a few years - so it wasn't a surprise but the her struggles at the end were quite traumatic.
So it was particularly poignant to be again leading the samhain walk and visit to St Cross churchyard for the annual pilgrimage to the grave of Kenneth Grayam, where we read the following extract from Wind in the Willows:
`This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. `Here, in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!'
Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror -- indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy -- but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he turned to look for his friend. and saw him at his side cowed, stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was utter silence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and still the light grew and grew.
Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered. (from chapter 7)
After that we went to the tomb of Charles Williams, Inkling and member of the GD. Being a poet thought he might appreciate Yeats' All Soul's Night. We finished with a sung lament and individual poems. Thanks Wayland for the Irish ghost story, Payam for the poem and Sharron for the voice.
Next stop Bath Omphalos for a talk on Seth:
'contemporary magical practitioners have always been interested in the 'problem of evil' - the nature of good and bad action. Take for example Helena Blavatsky's statement - 'demon est deus inversus' to be found in her highly influential and monument work 'The Secret Doctrine' (1888:1.411). This was later adopted by the poet W B Yeats as his magical motto in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Most practitioners believe that the ancient Egyptian god Seth is the prototype for the contemporary archetype of Lucifer, Satan or the Devil. I want to take a brief look, in context, at the famous image of Seth deriding Apophis, (the demonic / chaotic serpent of 'non-being') as a leitmotiv for the nature or 'personification' of evil in ancient thought. '
here's a report of the talk - someone must have been paying attention:
The Egyptian God Seth: the Personification of Evil?
>A talk by Mogg Morgan for Omphalos 12/11/05
Seems like Samhain continues as a season right up to amerstice day on the 11th, or perhaps Remembrance sunday - maybe even until the end of this moon on 15th November? Although feeling a little blank - i went along to the G.O.D.S. samhain ritual on the 5th November. A dry windy night suring which the leaves fell from the trees like departing souls - reminded me of the Omm Sety's account of Thoth's 'Tree of Destiny' quoted in my book, Tankhem:
She says there is 'a belief among the Moslems in Egypt that in Paradise is a tree called 'Tree of Destiny' , which bears as many leaves as there are people in the world. Each leaf bears the name of each person living, but in the middle of the Arabic month of Shaaban (which is followed by the fasting month of Ramadan), the tree shakes, and the leaves bearing the names of those persons destined to die in the coming years fall down. It has long been the custom for children to gather in groups at sunset on the evening of the fateful day and go round the streets singing: 'O Lord of the Tree of Destiony, make our leaves strong and green upon its brranches, For we, O Lord, are your little children.'
11 September 05 – Ganesha Chaturti
Well actually that was last week on the fourth day of the new moon, but near enough. Ganesha is our house deity and has been ever since I can remember. My interest in the Mercurial/Jupitarian God dates back to my student days in the 1970s, when I travelled to Chennai to study Sanskrit. I was also engaged in spiritual work for the fourth degree of the OTO (Typhonian style). The instructions, such as they were, were based upon the grade-work of Crowley’s Argentinum Astrum. They required a period of devotional work to a deity of one’s own choice. Ganesha seemed more than appropriate although in the end my work was deemed inadequate – largely because it only lasted four weeks – and I had to repeat the whole exercise. Even so, it was quite prescient, as since that time I’ve witnessed the steady growth in popularity of Ganesha among the neo-pagan movement. Some of my ideas have just emerged in a new ebook called ‘Tantra Sadhana’ which can be obtained for a modest $14 from: www.OccultArts.co.uk.
I really enjoy cleaning up the hearth, which can get a bit cluttered over the months. Then rearranging the sacred things, the centrepiece a large bronze statue of Ganesha, which after a good polishing, is adorned with his favourite red and white flowers. Ganeshsa always gets at least one of those India sweets known as Ludoos he loves so much. Ludoos are often the ritual offerengs (prasad)_ at temples such as Tirupati near Chennai (Madras). Every pilgrim comes away with at least one. The sweets are also used the weigh down the eyes of the recently deceased – either as offering to the ferryman, or as some sort of sympathetic magick to ensure a good rebirth. The ludoo’s round shape is supposed to mimic that of the foetus awaiting birth in the womb. I don’t know when Ganesha ate his ludoo, but it’s already gone. A sign of good luck for the coming year – there are already signs that it is so.
This year, another innovation. Like many occultists I tend to accumulate little trinkets from either mine or others travels. Tidying up, my partner and I decided to pile them into the cauldron, so they can receive the blessings of the house god. It’s full to brimming now with good things – all of which will do service whenever we have need of a little offering – or want to pass on the blessings to a curious visitor.
Most years I make little plaster castings of Ganesha to be offered up in the local sacred river on the final day of the festival. This year we took some of the special stones from the cauldron and offered these instead. Seemed the right thing to do – this day is sometimes called ‘stone-throwing’ fourth – and in the poetic invocation, that was one of my earliest efforts in translation it asks the listener to ‘imagine an island, made of seven previous stones.’ Several of these semiprecious stones are now lying on the bed of the Cherwell, near to where it forms a sacred confluence with the Isis. May the god’s blessings be on all who read this.
Is there any real difference between magick and religion? I don’t think so – and indeed this issue has been raised in several recent books, including my own Bull of Ombos. On the whole, magick has not been well served by anthropology, starting with the old Frazerian distinction between magic and religion; magic and science. Apparently the eminent historian Ronald Hutton has now entered the fray, with a slightly different take. Speaking at the recent Witchfest, he acknowledged that ancient Egypt is the big exception, (which is a very big and important exception). Even so, he thought a parting of the ways did occur from the early Christian era onwards and only in very recent times was this supposed difference between magic and religion beginning to break down. His views coincides very much with that of the Christian theologians, who were at great pains to persuade people that JC was neither a magician nor exorcist! But is that really true? When looking at the classical roots of magick, the key questions are :
Do the gods practice magick?
Is there a god of magick?
Are priests and magicians the same people?
The answer for ancient Egypt is yes to all of the above
Answer in non-Christian world is yes to all of the above
Answer in Christian world is maybe?
The other issue we discussed at the recent Talking Stick was on the related matter of the roots of magick. The eminent Egyptologist Jan Assmann, argues in his book, The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, that liturgy is the root of the Egyptian magical religion and not as you might think, some form of individual mystical experience. Liturgy equals ‘public worship in accordance with a prescribed form’ – for example actions performed at rites of passage such as death. Liturgy is not so far away from magick – especially if one contemplates, as the Egyptians often did, what happens when you threaten the gods to abandon their liturgy unless they give you what you desire!
Reburial
Emma from an organisation called HAD - canvassed my opinion on reburial of museum artefacts. The subject of archaic burial seems to be very much on my personal agenda just now. Here are my initial thoughts - feedback welcomed:
1. Death House
I'd say that the artefacts should, where possible placed in a non-volatile, collective 'valhalla' , 'death house' or 'ossary' in such a way that they can be reexamined or reinterred if necessary. This also makes it possible for people with a reconstructed religious sensibiltiy to have some sort of ongoing interaction with the remains (an indeed future academics to do new research).
2. Cardinality
Special attention needs to be taken with orientation (this could equally apply to human remains in museums)
The first principle is cardinality - the head should be orientated to one of the cardinal directions, probably in the north but facing east. Care should be taken to avoid inversions - eg: skulls should be prevented from rolling jaw uppermost ( a common feature of ancient execration burial) - if the remains come from an existing execration burial then this raises the issue of whether this arrangement needs to be preserved.
3. Ochre:
The collection of 'red ochre' is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous of human activities and this is almost invariable a feature of archaic burials - so replenishing the ochre in some actual or symbolic way might be appropriate perhaps as the inner lining of the 'death house'.
4. 'Opening the mouth'
This is another archiac and almost universal practice accomplished via spoken prayers of transfiguration said over the reinterred remains - unknown remains could be given a 'name' or possibly an 'epithet' as part of this process. Otherwise, i'd say the rites should involve other forms of sound especially music - the bottom line being the intoning of the seven sacred vowels and other forms of polyphonic music, such as flutes, didgeridoos, gentle drumming, etc.
5. Remembrance
The eventual resting place should be marked and facilitate at least the occasional ceremony of remembrance.
Remembrance Day
Seems like Samhain continues as a season right up to Armistice day on the 11th, or perhaps Remembrance sunday - maybe even until the end of this moon on 15th November? Although feeling a little blank - I went along to the G.O.D.S. samhain ritual on the 5th November. A dry windy night during which the leaves fell from the trees like departing souls - which reminded me of Omm Sety's account of Thoth's 'Tree of Destiny' quoted in my book, Tankhem:
She says there is 'a belief among the Moslems in Egypt that in Paradise is a tree called 'Tree of Destiny', which bears as many leaves as there are people in the world. Each leaf bears the name of each person living, but in the middle of the Arabic month of Shaaban (which is followed by the fasting month of Ramadan), the tree shakes, and the leaves bearing the names of those persons destined to die in the coming years fall down. It has long been the custom for children to gather in groups at sunset on the evening of the fateful day and go round the streets singing: 'O Lord of the Tree of Destiny, make our leaves strong and green upon its brjanches, For we, O Lord, are your little children.'
Samhain 05
Its been a samhain I won't forget - my mother died just two weeks ago and the funeral a week later. She was 80 years old and had been fading for a few years - so it wasn't a surprise but the her struggles at the end were quite traumatic.
So it was particularly poignant to be again leading the samhain walk and visit to St Cross churchyard for the annual pilgrimage to the grave of Kenneth Grayam, where we read the following extract from Wind in the Willows:
`This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. `Here, in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!'
Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground. It was no panic terror -- indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy -- but it was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he turned to look for his friend. and saw him at his side cowed, stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was utter silence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and still the light grew and grew.
Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered. (from chapter 7)
After that we went to the tomb of Charles Williams, Inkling and member of the GD. Being a poet thought he might appreciate Yeats' All Soul's Night. We finished with a sung lament and individual poems. Thanks Wayland for the Irish ghost story, Payam for the poem and Sharron for the voice.
Next stop Bath Omphalos for a talk on Seth:
'contemporary magical practitioners have always been interested in the 'problem of evil' - the nature of good and bad action. Take for example Helena Blavatsky's statement - 'demon est deus inversus' to be found in her highly influential and monument work 'The Secret Doctrine' (1888:1.411). This was later adopted by the poet W B Yeats as his magical motto in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Most practitioners believe that the ancient Egyptian god Seth is the prototype for the contemporary archetype of Lucifer, Satan or the Devil. I want to take a brief look, in context, at the famous image of Seth deriding Apophis, (the demonic / chaotic serpent of 'non-being') as a leitmotiv for the nature or 'personification' of evil in ancient thought. '
here's a report of the talk - someone must have been paying attention:
The Egyptian God Seth: the Personification of Evil?
>A talk by Mogg Morgan for Omphalos 12/11/05
The existence of evil poses as much of a dilemma for practical
occultists as for philosophers and theologians. One possible solution
was presented by Blavatsky in chapter ten of "The Secret Doctrine",
and may be summed up by the phrase "Demon est deus inversus", which
was subsequently adopted as the magical motto of W.B. Yeats.
Mogg discussed how Blavatsky, whose work drew upon Coptic and
Ethiopian sources for the Bible as well as Vedic texts, saw Satan as
an eternal power "required by the equilibrium and harmony of things
in nature." She used the Qabalistic image of a double pyramid (much
like the Yin Yang symbol, combining black and white as a reflection
of each other). This imagery suggests that Satan is no more or less
than the mirror image of God. Some of the greatest Qabalistic
scholars were believed to be descended from Cain.
Moving on to the iconography of Seth, depicted as a dog-like creature
with a long snout and square-tipped ears, Mogg explained how the
detail of Seth's fork-tipped tail may be identified as the Pesesh-Ket
knife, a ritual tool for severing the umbilical cord. This tool was
made from meteoric iron, a metal associated with Seth. Interestingly,
the name of Apophis, the Demon of Non Being who is slain daily by
Seth, is also the same as the Egyptian word for "umbilical cord".
This reflects an important distinction between the Osirian funerary
rites, which focussed on death and an afterlife, and the earlier
Sethian rituals which looked to rebirth.
Mogg commented upon the genesis of contemporary Setian groups, from
their origins with the Church of Satan, from which a faction evolved
into the Temple of Seth, and then subsequently gave birth to a group
called The Storm. As these groups have developed, their methods and
philosophy also appear to have undergone a radical transformation
from Anton LaVey's original "Word of Indulgence". Mogg eschewed a
rigid stance on the claim that Seth is not Satan, suggesting
that "the jury is still out on that one."
Many Victorian translations of Egyptian texts glossed over attitudes
or ritual methods that were thought to be inappropriate or shocking.
More correct translations are now coming to light, and reveal
Egyptian magicians threatening the gods, much as a Goetic magician
might threaten and compel demons. Mogg quoted from "An Invocation
Against Osiris" and "The Cannibal Hymn", which speaks of the dead
king becoming a god so powerful that he eats all the other gods.
Neolithic Egyptians practiced dismemberment and ritually ate part of
the deceased's body.
Many Egyptian spells involve eating or drinking magical texts to
absorb their power. These practices derive from the oldest forms of
Egyptian beliefs. In the Greek Magical Papyrii, names of power may be
distinguished by the care taken to ensure correct pronunciation, and
this enables us to identify "Seth" as a name of power,
whilst "Typhon" is merely a title made accessible for the Greeks.
Describing a detailed image from the Payrus Heruba, Mogg commented
that the Egyptians may have perceived the greatest possible evil
as "Non Being", represented by the serpent Apophis, who is shown here
being slain by Seth.
An informal and original talk that left me pondering over some of
the "sacred cows" of Egyptian magic.
>
Black Cat
Seems like Samhain continues as a season right up to amerstice day on the 11th, or perhaps Remembrance sunday - maybe even until the end of this moon on 15th November? Although feeling a little blank - i went along to the G.O.D.S. samhain ritual on the 5th November. A dry windy night suring which the leaves fell from the trees like departing souls - reminded me of the Omm Sety's account of Thoth's 'Tree of Destiny' quoted in my book, Tankhem:
She says there is 'a belief among the Moslems in Egypt that in Paradise is a tree called 'Tree of Destiny' , which bears as many leaves as there are people in the world. Each leaf bears the name of each person living, but in the middle of the Arabic month of Shaaban (which is followed by the fasting month of Ramadan), the tree shakes, and the leaves bearing the names of those persons destined to die in the coming years fall down. It has long been the custom for children to gather in groups at sunset on the evening of the fateful day and go round the streets singing: 'O Lord of the Tree of Destiony, make our leaves strong and green upon its brranches, For we, O Lord, are your little children.'
11 September 05 – Ganesha Chaturti
Well actually that was last week on the fourth day of the new moon, but near enough. Ganesha is our house deity and has been ever since I can remember. My interest in the Mercurial/Jupitarian God dates back to my student days in the 1970s, when I travelled to Chennai to study Sanskrit. I was also engaged in spiritual work for the fourth degree of the OTO (Typhonian style). The instructions, such as they were, were based upon the grade-work of Crowley’s Argentinum Astrum. They required a period of devotional work to a deity of one’s own choice. Ganesha seemed more than appropriate although in the end my work was deemed inadequate – largely because it only lasted four weeks – and I had to repeat the whole exercise. Even so, it was quite prescient, as since that time I’ve witnessed the steady growth in popularity of Ganesha among the neo-pagan movement. Some of my ideas have just emerged in a new ebook called ‘Tantra Sadhana’ which can be obtained for a modest $14 from: www.OccultArts.co.uk.
I really enjoy cleaning up the hearth, which can get a bit cluttered over the months. Then rearranging the sacred things, the centrepiece a large bronze statue of Ganesha, which after a good polishing, is adorned with his favourite red and white flowers. Ganeshsa always gets at least one of those India sweets known as Ludoos he loves so much. Ludoos are often the ritual offerengs (prasad)_ at temples such as Tirupati near Chennai (Madras). Every pilgrim comes away with at least one. The sweets are also used the weigh down the eyes of the recently deceased – either as offering to the ferryman, or as some sort of sympathetic magick to ensure a good rebirth. The ludoo’s round shape is supposed to mimic that of the foetus awaiting birth in the womb. I don’t know when Ganesha ate his ludoo, but it’s already gone. A sign of good luck for the coming year – there are already signs that it is so.
This year, another innovation. Like many occultists I tend to accumulate little trinkets from either mine or others travels. Tidying up, my partner and I decided to pile them into the cauldron, so they can receive the blessings of the house god. It’s full to brimming now with good things – all of which will do service whenever we have need of a little offering – or want to pass on the blessings to a curious visitor.
Most years I make little plaster castings of Ganesha to be offered up in the local sacred river on the final day of the festival. This year we took some of the special stones from the cauldron and offered these instead. Seemed the right thing to do – this day is sometimes called ‘stone-throwing’ fourth – and in the poetic invocation, that was one of my earliest efforts in translation it asks the listener to ‘imagine an island, made of seven previous stones.’ Several of these semiprecious stones are now lying on the bed of the Cherwell, near to where it forms a sacred confluence with the Isis. May the god’s blessings be on all who read this.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Mystical Vampire by Kim Farnell
The Theosophical Society still presents many of us on 'the path' with a highly instructive narrative concerning the vicissitudes of magical organisations or 'Orders'. Founded, in the year of Crowley's nativity, it has outlived many of its rivals, although in these, its twilight years, it has become a hereditary clan (See K Paul Johnson 'Hereditary Successors').
One of the Theosophical Society's best selling guides to its ideals is and was Mabel Collins' Light and the Path. This book even made it into the curriculum of Crowley's Argentinum Astrum. Old Crow was obviously a serious admirer, saying of Collins' novel The Blossom and the Fruit, that it was 'probably the best existing account of the theosophical theories presented in dramatic form'. With such admiration I wonder if there is any link between Crowley's 'Star Sapphire' ritual and Collins' novel of the same name, published in 1896? But in the words of this recently published and first ever biography: 'who was Mabel Collins?'
It's surprisingly easy for someone as magically connected as Mabel Collins to suddenly sink without trace, submerged by a pseudo-scandal cooked up, in this instance, by the larger than life founder of the Theosophical Society, H P Blavatsky or HPB for short. HPB was the archetypal 'charlatan and magus', setting the theosophical ball rolling, and at the same instance a magical current that eventually gave birth to the Hermetical Order of the Golden Dawn and all of its neo-pagan successors. Cantankerous and addicted to celebrity, she recognised Mabel Collins' talent but eventually dropped her in favour of an even brighter star called Annie Besant. In hindsight many might now wonder how different the fortunes of the TS might have been, if Collins had been able to fulfil her destiny to lead it after the death of its founder. Perhaps even Crowley would have abandoned his own secret pretensions to take over the reins of power (see The Unknown God/Starr 2004)?
I very much liked the Mabel that emerged from this bitter-sweet biography. Of humble origins, she rose far above what the Victorians might have considered her natural station, to become a popular sensationalist novelist. Later she developed her distinctive brand of the spiritual writing - selflessly signing over the copyright to the Theosophical Society, and this, despite their later callous rejection of her. Undaunted, she soldiered on, still writing and campaigning on the related spiritual issues such of anti-vivisection. That animal welfare is a good barometer of a culture's spiritual health is a truth first attested by the rise of Buddhism. It's a remarkable fact that 2500 years ago, the Buddhist emperor Ashoka built hundreds of dispensaries all over his kingdom for human and veterinary medicine - it should tell you a lot about that civilization.
In the end, Mabel was laid low by the vagaries of the publishing world, especially the ad hoc nature of American copyright law, which seemed to allow any number of pirate copies of her novels - at the same time driving her into bankruptcy. Tolkien suffered a similar fate!
Mabel sunk into genteel poverty and obscurity, eventually dying of heart disease, in the Cheltenham home of one of her remaining admirers. If you think she deserves more than that, why not read her story and in the words of the bard:
'So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.'
Monday, October 17, 2005
Mysteries of Mithras:
Mysteries of Mithras: the pagan belief that shaped the Christian world. By Payam Nabarz,
Inner Traditions, 2005 isbn 1594770271 $14.95 approx £14.99, 230pp, heavily illustrated.
This is an engaging and entertaining book encompassing the author _ s personal journey into the magick of a Roman mystery cult. The author, who has an Iranian background, was drawn to the schema of initiatory work, as set out in Aleister Crowley _ s Liber Astarte. The idea of this particular practice is to counteract the overly intellectual character of the western mystoi, to thereby activate a more devotional mind set. Many on this path find it useful to work in a tradition that already possesses some form of cultural resonance. It was for this reason that the author chose to work with Mithraism. This book is one of the fruits of that labour. Not surprisingly the book therefore presents a lively combination of mystical insight and academic research.
The first half of the book sets out the basics of the Mithraic history and iconography. This section is a mine of interesting information, perhaps a little breathless in delivery; only occasionally inaccurate, well illustrated and often thought provoking. It is here that the author sets out certain facts concerning the influence of Mithraism on Early Christian iconography. In reality this is a minor component of the book, although the one that the publisher, rather misleadingly in my opinion, chooses to make the book _ s chief selling point. Personally I wasn _ t too convinced by this line of reasoning. I agree that Mithraism had some impact on Christianity after its rise to Roman state religion in the third century. However I cannot see how this justifies the conclusion that it shaped the Christian world _ surely if anything, Christianity shaped the Christian world?
The book _ s real core is the revivalist material, where over several chapters, the author sets out the main components of the cult. Here it adheres as much as sources will allow, to the inner workings of the Roman cult. Thus there is a chapter on the celebrated _ Mithras Liturgy _ _ a sorcerous rite used by the mage, whose library of magical books was only discovered in the last century, after two millennia buried in the sands of the desert. Into this mix, the author adds some material from the Persian manifestation of the cult, with a chapter on the pre-Zoroastrian goddess Anahita. This does much to correct the false impression that the cult of Mithras is only for the macho.
Some of these themes continue in what is undoubtedly the core of the book, a modern reconstruction of the seven fold initiatory schema of Mithraism. Archaeological and textual records demonstrate that the cult shared the classical world _ s obsession with the symbolism of the number seven _ seven stars in the starry plough, seven steps to heaven, seven Hathos etc., etc. Perhaps we shouldn _ t be surprised that the actual details of a mystery cult are now lost to us. So the author uses whatever is to hand, grafting material from classical and Persian sources, and indeed where necessary reusing contemporary magical material, until the result is a pleasing revivalist version. I sometimes found it a little hard to see the join. Also, although the material works well as a literary fugue, I wasn _ t sure how it would pan out as an actual set of ritual workings? The rubric was a tad confusing. But I for one was happy to just read it as a literary creation - which is indeed a form of trance or meditation work. Anything else and I wouldn _ t be sure if I was supposed to be breaking off from the train of thought, to put more wood on the bonfire. Seen this way, this book did take me on an interesting and thoughtful excursion into the uncharted territory. - [mogg]
Saturday, October 01, 2005
The Ninth Arch by Kenneth Grant
‘a rush of mephitic air from the unsealed depths’
Kenneth Grant, The Ninth Arch (Starfire Publishing 02) £30
available from www.mandrake.uk.net
‘Can you in good conscience recommend "The Ninth Arch" to someone who is only familiar with some of the early work of Grant? That is, is the new book comprehensible to a neophyte of Grant's work or should I resume investigation elsewhere in his canon, in the improbable event that copies can be found? I've read "AC and the Hidden God" and part of "The Magical Revival".’
Umm good question. I regard myself as a child of the first trilogy, Cults of the Shadow, Magical Revival and Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God. I never really expected the second trilogy to even appear – Nightside of Eden, Outside the Circles of Time and Hecate’s Fountain; and I never even looked at the third trilogy, Outer Gateways, The Mauve Zone and now the Ninth Arch. So perhaps I am a bit of a guinea pig and give it a go. I was surprised how intriguing the Ninth Arch can be. I found it, to use KG’s own words ‘a rush of mephitic air from the unsealed depths’, a ‘Kamsin blast.’ truly something different in a word of publishing mediocrity.
‘The Ninth Arch is an ancient Masonic concept relating to the legend of the three Grand Masters engaged upon the erection of King Solomon’s Temples. After it was completed, the three deposited therein those things which were important to the craft, such as the arc of the covenant, a pot of manna, the rod of Aaron, the book of the law etc.’ Inscribed about it was the lost or unutterable Word.’ The purpose of Grant’s book is to explain this mystery and reveal the word.
The heart of Grant’s book is a 924 verse Book of the Spider, a mystical text channelled to Grants New-Isis Lodge in the 1950s. Around this sutra, Grant weaves almost six hundred pages of comment, mainly in the form of mini essays. It sounds an unpromising structure but it really works and is well suited to the lucid dreamers or to use Grant’s parlance, the inhabitants of the mauve zone to whom this books is addressed. Having no acquaintance with Grant’s earlier work might actually make this book even more evocative. There were some very obscure sections that would only really make sense if I totally entered into Grant’s system, but there were many comments that seemed to throw light on almost any style of magick.
After all it is the books central thesis that something out there is trying to tell us something using a whole variety of mediums and modes of communication. Crowley, he tells us, ‘with prophetic acumen [ ] presaged the massive interest in alien phenomena which erupted soon after his death and which was caused by Kenneth Arnold’s ‘flying saucer’ sighting [in 1947]. Whatever one’s attitude to such phenomena – positive, negative or indifferent – there is no just denial of the fact that the wave initiated an era of psychomythology unparalleled since man conceived the idea of the ‘gods’…. unless, therefore, we are to write off the entire ‘myth’ as an unprecedented mass delusion, we have to accept the fact that something approaching a seemingly new and inexplicable nature began slowly and insidiously to disturb the world in the year 1947.’. (p xix)
Acting on the assumptions that ‘Many a true word spoken in jest’; ‘the ‘ritualists of the New Isis Lodge utilized certain novels and stories as other magicians might use paintings or musical compositions to effect perichoresis and astral encounters’ xxxvi. Apart from the usually occult litany, H P Lovecraft, Algernon Blackwood et al Grant primary source is Richard Marsh’s novel The Beetle which contains the only published account known [to Grant] of the Children of Isis who emerge in the channelled text in rather startling form.
I haven’t read Marsh’s novel but guess that Grant’s reworking of it is likely to be far more evocative. Really Grant’s books are a new artform what I have in the past called ‘auto-romance’. I picked it up near the end of the day, not expecting a factual hit, although there are some fascinating facts here somewhere – but more as a collective grimoire. I take a little snort and am then primed to enter the mauve zone. Here’s a little taster.
The oracle
31-2 below the tunnels of the spider hanging athwart the network of alleys choked in the mud, the sand of the Mokkatam hills …
The comment
The spider is here symbolic of the web of alleys that existed at the time Crowley received from Aiwass “The threefold book of the Law”, not far distant from the Mokkatam hills. This verse sets the scene for a series of events concerning the Children of Isis, of whose activities a fragmentary account was given in fictional form by Richard March writing in the 1890s. It is assumed that he was oblivious of the actuality of the events he described. It may not be so easy to assume that he was not an indirect descendant of that Obed Marsh of who Lovecraft writes in The Shadow over Innsmouth. It is also not impossible that he was related to Dr. Phineas March Black, a great uncle of the present commentator. Details of Dr. Black’s mysterious life are given in Against the Light, which contains much information relevant to this Book OKBISh. Note that the present verse constitutes verse Thirty-One of the Books as a whole.’
Kenneth Grant’s numerology may be suspect, his historical sources unreliable, but his poetical intuition is strangely prescient. I may not want to be part of the only true order but I can’t help admiring his eclecticism, his culture, his generosity towards other artists and writers. So this book is not be quite the triumphal arch many were hoping for to top out the edifice of previous books, but it is a final act from a highly creative magician and writer who has done more than any other living adept to explicate Crowley’s magical universe and to initiate us all into some very sinister mysteries.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
The Bull of Ombos (share your feedback)
Hello Mogg,
Many thanks. Received your books today. Always interested in the deep & wide-ranging work you present.Although I have great respect for your viewpoint, I have reservations about the "central role" that is being given to Seth by yourself & some other authorities. Of course, this is the revival of an ancient argument - within the multi-dimentional world of the ancient Egyptian's belief-systems there was much paradox & contradiction, all of which to our modern & more dogmatic age is still somewhat inexplicable - therefore your viewpoint is quite acceptable, as are others, such as Ptah as the Heart & Tongue of the Gods , or of Neith, Weaving the Universe. If later Egyptian history could be discounted & the psychological importance of Horus as the Pharaonic paradigm could be set aside, then the very importance of the "Sethian Fire" being cast in the role of Shadow & Enemy could perhaps be discounted. Yet who are we to be able to do this? These Neters or divine personas all play their part in a great Cosmic Drama. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us & forgive these words, if they seem critical, for this was not my intention. The subtlety of ancient Egyptian thought which has been my life's study, is all I seek to affirm. - JS
Dear JS - its refreshing to get some feedback - there is always an element of distortion whenever one takes a point of view - i'm not really meaning to minimise the role of the other gods - merely to discuss Seth - who is a little neglected - especially in relation to magick -and in the process to throw a light upon some unusual aspects of his cult - even in ancient Egypt there must have been those who were out of step with the main thrust of Egyptian religion if only because, by accident of birth, or whatever - they find themselves custodians of the cult shrines of that god.
Yes I agree Egyptian thought is not one monolithic whole - there are several trends - I’ve been reading jeremy naydler's new book 'shamanism and the pyramid texts' where he tackles the vexed question of the invisibility of any supposed 'Egyptian wisdom' or 'mystery'. He is criticising, from the perspective of phenomenology of religion, those specialists who say the Egyptians were practical people - not given to introspection - where all this religion stuff is shunted off for some time after death -
In my book I discuss the way in which ‘the dead’ are ‘used’ for the benefit of living. And I wonder whether this might not be further support for the Naydler’s thesis concerning an Egyptian mystery cult – in that it shows how the living think and use magick to benefit their own lives, whilst still living and how this involves a transaction with the dead and the ancestors.
Many thanks. Received your books today. Always interested in the deep & wide-ranging work you present.Although I have great respect for your viewpoint, I have reservations about the "central role" that is being given to Seth by yourself & some other authorities. Of course, this is the revival of an ancient argument - within the multi-dimentional world of the ancient Egyptian's belief-systems there was much paradox & contradiction, all of which to our modern & more dogmatic age is still somewhat inexplicable - therefore your viewpoint is quite acceptable, as are others, such as Ptah as the Heart & Tongue of the Gods , or of Neith, Weaving the Universe. If later Egyptian history could be discounted & the psychological importance of Horus as the Pharaonic paradigm could be set aside, then the very importance of the "Sethian Fire" being cast in the role of Shadow & Enemy could perhaps be discounted. Yet who are we to be able to do this? These Neters or divine personas all play their part in a great Cosmic Drama. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us & forgive these words, if they seem critical, for this was not my intention. The subtlety of ancient Egyptian thought which has been my life's study, is all I seek to affirm. - JS
Dear JS - its refreshing to get some feedback - there is always an element of distortion whenever one takes a point of view - i'm not really meaning to minimise the role of the other gods - merely to discuss Seth - who is a little neglected - especially in relation to magick -and in the process to throw a light upon some unusual aspects of his cult - even in ancient Egypt there must have been those who were out of step with the main thrust of Egyptian religion if only because, by accident of birth, or whatever - they find themselves custodians of the cult shrines of that god.
Yes I agree Egyptian thought is not one monolithic whole - there are several trends - I’ve been reading jeremy naydler's new book 'shamanism and the pyramid texts' where he tackles the vexed question of the invisibility of any supposed 'Egyptian wisdom' or 'mystery'. He is criticising, from the perspective of phenomenology of religion, those specialists who say the Egyptians were practical people - not given to introspection - where all this religion stuff is shunted off for some time after death -
In my book I discuss the way in which ‘the dead’ are ‘used’ for the benefit of living. And I wonder whether this might not be further support for the Naydler’s thesis concerning an Egyptian mystery cult – in that it shows how the living think and use magick to benefit their own lives, whilst still living and how this involves a transaction with the dead and the ancestors.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Magical Art Manifesto
[Label on the outside of a bottle. Sealed inside this bottle was a piece of aged papyrus. After great difficulty the text was deciphered and is transcribed below. Where the manuscript was shielded from the sun, the original red ink was still plainly visible
text inside bottle
Manifesto of the Magical Artist
When we first started out on this project the language was prim-evil. Midnight is now. [...]
Every spirit has its age and every age has its spirit.
Every beginning is a beginning.
Time for another one.
Art, always the spirit of its age, be open. [. . .]
[. . .] We live for one hundred and twenty years.
OK scrub that - maybe its not making sense. Ask yourself why do pagans and liberatarians have an instinctive affinity? What is it about modern musick that drives those, who listen to it, closer to their pagan roots? Should the members of your tribe be blood relatives? What intelligent person thinks that the family is the pinnacle of social evolution? How about 'love, well made, leads to liberation'?
Maybe you are an artist with a pagan heart?
Text Ends
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Interpretation or commentary
Maybe its time to rewrite the surrealist manifestos, as the surrealists in turn rewrote those of the rosicrucians. Art and magick need a new statement of intent. As magical artists we can take as a starting point, any random or found object that comes our way. Thus the importance of the fragmentary statement found in an imaginary bottle. Its seems to be a fragment of a conversation, perhaps between the magi, discussing their own history and the need for a new beginning. There are parallels here with the writing of history. History is a creative act - history has even being called the selection or creation of facts. This is not to deny that such and such an event actually happened at some point in the past. But the number of forgotten events outweighs those that have escaped the ravages of time. The survival of a 'fact' from the past is a fortuitous or magical event in itself. Magi call these things 'apports', surrealists call them 'found objects' and in connnection with them talked of the 'certainty of accident'.
Magical artists are fond of reconstructing the past. You may ask why. Maybe it is because the past provides us with a font of found object, through which we can construct something new. Everyone assumes art is creation out of a vacuum. Some of the greatest works of art have been excerises in rule-governed creativity. The painter of the Sistine chapel may have been surprised when the Pope gave him a list of rules that should be observed in his work - size, number and overall nature of the composition.
The art of the European renaissance, besides being based on pagan principles, was catalysed by 'found objects' - classical sculpture emerging in the back gardens of the rich and famous. The earth has revitalised them, stripping them of their patina, so that they were an illusion of the past. These 'found objects' formed the basis of a new pagan art of the renaissance. The process has been repeated, so that 'objects' seen in theosphical trance become the working stuff of abstract art. The biggest found object of the last two hundred years is the remergence of Egyptian art from the sands of the desert where it had been exiled by the evil Roman emporer Theodosius after the closure of all the temples of Egypt. The early christians hacked away the faces of the gods so that their magick would be turned back, then they systematically looted the temples, burning 'worthless' paper and forgetting the rest in the desert. Egypt will not be with us for much longer and will soon retreat in a feint memory.
For the magical artist, creativity is not mererly the construction of something new but the revealing or uncovering of something already latent in the world, perhaps something secret or hidden. For example when you look up at the clouds and see pictures or faces, you may be bringing to conscious manifestation what is already there. Crowley, when discussing the Devil card from his tarot, spoke of the twin gaze of the artist, one eye creating a universe and the other accepting all that is created.
Art is what artists do. That is to say that the definition of art can only be found in the activity of artists, who are, in a way, like shamans. A shamanic artist like Picasso produced images and metaphors that were new and unfamilar. People said it did not look like the real thing. His reply was that we would come to see it in the way he had described it - his vision would transform ours. To go with this process you need a lot of faith in the integrity of the artist and one part of this is knowledge that he or she has gone through some sort of 'initiatory process', only then can we trust their vision. Perhaps this is what is meant by the well known phrase 'drawing is the integrity of art'.
What is the new artform of the Magical Artist
Something tells me this will be 'auro-romance'; which is defined in the surrealist dictionary as 'the artist entering into the mythology of his or her creation. An early example is to be found in the work of the Marquis de Sade (q.v.), although the principles of auto-romantic art are being redefined in the post-relativist scientific era.'
V.T.Felix
. . . to be continued
---------
Glossary of terms, in group magical artists and, as yet, unused literary apports 'Always astonish' Gurdjieff. 'A preposterous exordium.' Dadaji PEOPLE ARE FREE TO BE FAMILY WITH WHOEVER & WHEREVER THEY ARE, And YES! Of course the time is now, when else would it be? Hey, I LOVE J Jennie asks 'do you think the meaning of the new feminism is the power of hysteria? Science is not cheating. Madness is a spiritual state. All attachments become idolatrous. Trust bed stroke touch let go moult shine sting dream
text inside bottle
Manifesto of the Magical Artist
When we first started out on this project the language was prim-evil. Midnight is now. [...]
Every spirit has its age and every age has its spirit.
Every beginning is a beginning.
Time for another one.
Art, always the spirit of its age, be open. [. . .]
[. . .] We live for one hundred and twenty years.
OK scrub that - maybe its not making sense. Ask yourself why do pagans and liberatarians have an instinctive affinity? What is it about modern musick that drives those, who listen to it, closer to their pagan roots? Should the members of your tribe be blood relatives? What intelligent person thinks that the family is the pinnacle of social evolution? How about 'love, well made, leads to liberation'?
Maybe you are an artist with a pagan heart?
Text Ends
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Interpretation or commentary
Maybe its time to rewrite the surrealist manifestos, as the surrealists in turn rewrote those of the rosicrucians. Art and magick need a new statement of intent. As magical artists we can take as a starting point, any random or found object that comes our way. Thus the importance of the fragmentary statement found in an imaginary bottle. Its seems to be a fragment of a conversation, perhaps between the magi, discussing their own history and the need for a new beginning. There are parallels here with the writing of history. History is a creative act - history has even being called the selection or creation of facts. This is not to deny that such and such an event actually happened at some point in the past. But the number of forgotten events outweighs those that have escaped the ravages of time. The survival of a 'fact' from the past is a fortuitous or magical event in itself. Magi call these things 'apports', surrealists call them 'found objects' and in connnection with them talked of the 'certainty of accident'.
Magical artists are fond of reconstructing the past. You may ask why. Maybe it is because the past provides us with a font of found object, through which we can construct something new. Everyone assumes art is creation out of a vacuum. Some of the greatest works of art have been excerises in rule-governed creativity. The painter of the Sistine chapel may have been surprised when the Pope gave him a list of rules that should be observed in his work - size, number and overall nature of the composition.
The art of the European renaissance, besides being based on pagan principles, was catalysed by 'found objects' - classical sculpture emerging in the back gardens of the rich and famous. The earth has revitalised them, stripping them of their patina, so that they were an illusion of the past. These 'found objects' formed the basis of a new pagan art of the renaissance. The process has been repeated, so that 'objects' seen in theosphical trance become the working stuff of abstract art. The biggest found object of the last two hundred years is the remergence of Egyptian art from the sands of the desert where it had been exiled by the evil Roman emporer Theodosius after the closure of all the temples of Egypt. The early christians hacked away the faces of the gods so that their magick would be turned back, then they systematically looted the temples, burning 'worthless' paper and forgetting the rest in the desert. Egypt will not be with us for much longer and will soon retreat in a feint memory.
For the magical artist, creativity is not mererly the construction of something new but the revealing or uncovering of something already latent in the world, perhaps something secret or hidden. For example when you look up at the clouds and see pictures or faces, you may be bringing to conscious manifestation what is already there. Crowley, when discussing the Devil card from his tarot, spoke of the twin gaze of the artist, one eye creating a universe and the other accepting all that is created.
Art is what artists do. That is to say that the definition of art can only be found in the activity of artists, who are, in a way, like shamans. A shamanic artist like Picasso produced images and metaphors that were new and unfamilar. People said it did not look like the real thing. His reply was that we would come to see it in the way he had described it - his vision would transform ours. To go with this process you need a lot of faith in the integrity of the artist and one part of this is knowledge that he or she has gone through some sort of 'initiatory process', only then can we trust their vision. Perhaps this is what is meant by the well known phrase 'drawing is the integrity of art'.
What is the new artform of the Magical Artist
Something tells me this will be 'auro-romance'; which is defined in the surrealist dictionary as 'the artist entering into the mythology of his or her creation. An early example is to be found in the work of the Marquis de Sade (q.v.), although the principles of auto-romantic art are being redefined in the post-relativist scientific era.'
V.T.Felix
. . . to be continued
---------
Glossary of terms, in group magical artists and, as yet, unused literary apports 'Always astonish' Gurdjieff. 'A preposterous exordium.' Dadaji PEOPLE ARE FREE TO BE FAMILY WITH WHOEVER & WHEREVER THEY ARE, And YES! Of course the time is now, when else would it be? Hey, I LOVE J Jennie asks 'do you think the meaning of the new feminism is the power of hysteria? Science is not cheating. Madness is a spiritual state. All attachments become idolatrous. Trust bed stroke touch let go moult shine sting dream
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Mogg's Diary - 1 July 05 . . .
25th August 05
Talking Stick at the much improved local hostelry - the Port Mahon. The discussion on power animals and animal spirit guides. Which brought to mind how several friends had their first contact with 'power' animals in rather traumatic ways. I remember how Chesca said she was once thrown from her horse and trampled, but from then on, the horse was always a special presence in her magical universe. Another friend, Dwina, was once repeatedly bitten by a venomous spider. She woke from a lucid arachnid dream just in time to prevent further bites. I remembered one of those seminal dreams when I was pursued night after night by a large wolf-like or alsatian canid. It only stopped when I turned and confronted the beast - letting it do its worst. Consummed by the dog, there was always a part of me that could not be eaten - which brings to mind the lines from the Bhagavad Gita - that the transcendental Self cannot be killed.
23 August 05 - Pagan Animal Rights
Judith writes, having recently moved to Carcassonne, France, and rather upset to discover that bullfighting is still practiced locally, despite the fact that in August 2001 it was outlawed in Carcassonne as there was no proof that this blood sport had ever been in existence in the area. But somehow the promoters, aided by the Spanish Mayor got their way. Since that date three days in August of every year have been set aside for the killing of bulls!
She is calling upon one and all to help halt the next round of bullfights (Corrida) in Carcassonne, France. And with this in mind constructed a sigil to help provide a focus for those who want to see an end to this brutal practice. The dates we need to concentrate on are the following:-
Friday 26 August
Saturday 27 August
Sunday 28 August
Please forward to others. - May Set be with you.'
[There's a sigil to go with this which i will try to display here]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OxfordPaganCircle/files/Set%20Sigil%20Aug2005.pps
18 August 05 - Pope attacks Neopaganism
It is worth emphasizing that people of many religions, including magicians and occultists, were arrayed on both sides of the conflict, probably more with the allies than the fascist. It is an important issue that IMO needs careful discussion - several occult authors have, in a way, made similar claims.
See for example Hitler and the Age of Horus or Morning of the Magicians. It is probably one of the most important issues facing the neo-pagan movement and the new Pope is very clever to have found that weakness. Personally I see this as all the more reason to engage with 'blood and soil' runesters - and indeed 'satanists', even 'theosophists' and those who promulgate the so-called 'western way' - engage so that they see the error of their ways. This is not to concede the argument to the catholic church - of course it is a smokescreen – fascism is an economic system developed from capitalism - the 'occult' elements are overplayed - more a symptom than the cause. Some would argue that anti-semitism stems as much from the Christian message, others have seen it as even older, coming from events in ancient Egypt. There is a danger that those who aspire to lead the pagan movement - will have a poor understanding of the issues. For a very informed historical background I recommend goodriche clarke's occult roots of fascism. I'v also posted on this blog an old essay, Fascism and the Occult, that discusses some of the history in more depth
BTW: If you don't think it is still a live issues take a look at this passage, reputedly from an interview with Edred Thorson.
17th August 05
JD asked me to write up the previous meeting on 'Time' even though i wasn't there - not sure I’m up to it really apart from to say that according to Immanuel Kant, Space and Time are both human abstract concepts - or as i understand it they are human mental concepts that we use to order our world - they have no existence apart from us as human beings. Space and Time were concepts personified in Egyptian wisdom - which rather undermines the idea that the Egyptians were incapable of abstract thought.
Last night we discussed Oxfordshire’s very own 'Blair witch'
i.e. wittenham clumps - a site occupied for millennia and
therefore a happy hunting ground for the odd disembodied Ka spirit. It has several classic ghostly phenomena - the spectral coach and horses - racing down the 'high street' at midnight as a warning of impending catastrophe (I wonder if anyone has seen it recently/). A white lady or goddess who appears near the lake and was exorcised by a whole bunch priests in times of yore. And yes - the clumps were one of the resting places of Bran's head on its journey to London - a spectral raven has been seen hovering over the ditch - and this is said to be the location of buried treasure! In the Green Stone saga, Andy Collins and pals discovers one of the 'lights of knowledge' there (Yesod). Wittenham Clumps is certainly a very spirited place, especially the woods between the clumps and the river.
14th August 05
Bath Omphalos to hear Anton Channing’s thoughtful exploration of six key concepts within alchemy viz: the caduceus, the auroborus, the cosmic egg, the spiral, alchemical trinities, and the hermaphrodite. Nice crowd, including people from Friends of the Witchcraft museum. Things slightly overshadowed by a rather bitchy ad hominem attack in the reviews pages of the Cauldron; aimed at the author of Witcha: a book of cunning, and the OGDOS newsletter (Hem Neter). The target is his article on ‘Cain: the first Satanist’. Informed criticism is no bad thing. Dialectics, is, afterall, a science that emerged within the ancient pagan intellectual tradition. However, it is difficult to answer a critic who is convinced you are wrong but can’t say why.
With The Bull of Ombos now at the printers, and Pan’s Road with a reader, I find myself at a loose end. I plan to start work on the final part of my ‘sethian’ trilogy’ in a few months. In the ‘House of Life’ a book on Çatalhöyük caught my eye. It turned out to be a whole new thread that has led me to a rich vein of Neolithic culture that shares many features with the people of Ombos.
The first 1960s excavation has become a cultural phenomenon. The excavation, restarted in the 1990s, the publication of the new finds, with analysis, is due soon. In the meantime, all sorts of snippets are trickling out via the campaign’s website. The latest, just a few days ago, is the discovery of a beautifully made stamp seal that for the first time, reveals the full identity of one of Çatalhöyük’s most famous, and controversial ‘goddesses’. Turns out to be a bear. A beast is every bit as significant to Neolithic magick as the Red Ochre Bull. Bull and Bear are both ‘Sethian’ animals. The bull was associated in Egyptian astronomy with the constellation known later by the Greeks as Ursa Major – ‘The Great Bear’. At Çatalhöyük the Bear ‘rides’ upon the ‘bull’ – which is an image to conjure with, or maybe meditate upon.
According to the press release, the above-mentioned stamp seals were probably used to stamp designs on skin or clothing. This example shows an animal with its front and hind legs raised upwards. Such figures have been known from Çatalhöyük for some time as plaster reliefs on the walls of houses. An example excavated by James Mellaart is shown in Figure 2. These plaster reliefs have often been interpreted as ‘mother goddess’ figures. But the heads and hands of the plaster relief examples have always been cut off, so it was never possible to say whether the figures were humans or not. But now the stamp seal provides a key. Here the head and the hind paws remain. They clearly show that the figure is an animal, probably a bear. So it is probable that the reliefs with upraised arms and legs are not goddesses but bears. Depicting animals, such as leopards, in houses is common at Çatalhöyük, and so it is not surprising that we should find a bear.
For more information visit:
http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk/catal/index.html
5th August - Hiroshima Day
The topic of last night's 'talking stick' moot down the pub, was the Pagan response to current world events. Contrary to what G Fukiyama wrote in his book, 'The End of History' - it's not all over but the shouting. The issue he thought a dead one is our relationship to Islam. For me this is as a pagan. Perhaps the answer is to say we're all muslims really - we're certainly not 'unbelievers' - we pagans are definately believers - some even share the concept of AL & LA (see Crowley, Liber Al vel Legis). The same discussion came up in another forum - and what I wrote there may also be of interest:
Seems like there is a difference between ‘Muslims’ considered as a historic/cultural people – - presumably a community of people who emerged in about the 6-7th century. The ups and down of those people, and indeed whether they still exist, is a moot point, that can be separated from ‘Muslim’ considered as a religious ideal. This could mean that a ‘Muslim’ is anyone who regards themselves as ‘one of the peaceful’. Of course, like any religion, there are centres of doctrinal authority and more dogmatic manifestations of the ideal. As in many other religions, Hinduism, Buddhism etc, the body of primary and secondary texts tends to grow through time – but the essence is the mantra like ‘There is no god but Allah’ – ‘there is no God but the principle of divinity itself’ – who could object to that?
At that point, someone remembered a telling parable from the life of the prophet –
Every morning, whenever he went out to teach, he found his doorstep littered with rubbish, thrown there, so it is said, by a lady of another faith. This went on for some time, years maybe. Then one day, there was no rubbish anymore. The prophet asked why and was told the culprit was ill. So, being a wise and kindly soul, he went round to see her, took her a present, helped to nurse her back to health. Why, she asked, did you help me, when I was your enemy? Because, he says, one should always respond to ‘evil’ with kindness’. Now there’s a thing you don’t hear everyday?
1 August 05 'Lammas Day'
That well known pagan chant can be heard in many a newly mown meadow - 'lammas day is the devil's day' - well not quite. Although someone in the Bath omphalos group did suggest that this was the beginning of the 'Sethian' year - an idea that does has something going for it. The myth of John Barleycorn springs to mind - sung beautifully at last night's ritual by Sharron. Who is JB but another form of the ancient god of the harvest - Osiris - here cut down, dismembered and baked into the lammas loaf - all washed down with beer, the product of fermented bread - died with red ochre - the bloodlike 'desert' of the gods?
31 July 05
There is talk of doing even more work on a local urban cemetary to convert it from a vandalised wasteland to a nature reserve. But having begun to read Ken Worpole's Last Landscapes: the architecture of the Cemetery in the West, I see it from a different point of view. He argues that turning this graveyard into another nature reserve is not necessarily the way to ensure a valued future. People value a space like that when they have some of their own relatives and friends buried there. A space full of the names from a hundred years ago has very little meaning to the current generation. In Europe, they have many fine cemeteries, much loved by the local families that use them. In UK our cemeteries are full, and often neglected and vandalised. The difference is that Europeans allow reuse of the same plot after a decent interval, the bones are re-interred in a charnel house. In UK graves are sold in perpetuity. It might seem counter-intuitive, but the way to revitalise our urban cemeteries is to adopt the European model. Otherwise we are forced, if only by reason of cost, to opt for the ecologically damaging option of cremation - and our once loved cemeteries are places of neglect.
A version of this was published in the Oxford Mail 4:8:05)
30 July 05 - 'The means determines the end'
Is it maybe time for us to devise arguments to counter the fundamentalists but from the more tolerant 'pagan' perspective? One lesson might be that using violent means to achieve some sort of 'Islamic' utopia of social justice - will fail - such efforts usually do. Polical violence is a like the djinn or a genii in a bottle - once used, it's difficult to know when to stop.
25th July 05 - 'When Your Guru Goes Gaga'
I forget the exact date of my initiation into amookos but it was some time in the early 1980s. It was at about the same time as I was being expelled from Kenneth Grant's Typhonian OTO - indeed my membership of amookos was a factor in that whole affair but that’s another story. Sometime in the summer of 1989 a fat envelope dropped on the mat. Amongst its enclosures was the following communication from Dadaji, the last guru of the tiny sect of Tantrik magi that I had joined some years earlier. What I read, with sinking heart, gave me an acute sense of déjà vu:
'Guru Purnima, Tuesday, 18th July 89
THE SPLENDOUR OF THE BRIGHT SHINING
(A Corrective to Corruption) etc etc'
Had my guru gone gaga? Either that or he had turned into a total arsehole like every other guru before him. Certainly over the recent years he had suffered a series of strokes the most obvious symptom of which was his current inability to write cursively (you can see examples of this on ION’s website). There were also several glaring errors of fact in the letters he sent. The immediate one concerning Lokanath, was the possible accusation of a treacherous conventional marriage by conventional Christian based ceremony. Lokanath had in fact married in 1978, just after his return from meeting Dadaji for the first time in India. It was no secret. Indeed contrary to what Dadaji says the nath traditon is very diverse and has often included married householders. Perhaps Dadaji resented it at the time but said nothing for the ten years of highly productive work. He finally snapped in 1998, a few years before his death. The full truth will probably never be known.
When i wrote this, circa June 2004, I was in the middle of an exchange of emails with Kapilnath (John Pilskog) the editor of Open Door and the person who ‘benefited’ most from Dadaji’s volte face. Once upon a time I had the ultra leftist type opposition to marriage but nowadays I must say it doesn’t seem that important an issue. But the fact was that Mike had married way back in 1978 and so it was hardly a recent revelation? When Mike returned from his fateful first meeting with Dadaji in the early part of 1978, he resolved to marry his longtime partner Jan, thus putting his affairs in order. I remember he said how lonely he had been during is stay in India, and that obviously influenced his decision. Perhaps when he wrote to Dadaji and told him what he’d done, he had inadvertently infringed one of Dadaji’s own taboos?? Even so the work continued , AMOOKOS was born and began a fitful, painfully slow growth.
Another issue was whether members of AMOOKOS could claim to be Adi-Naths. The problem started with the original charter, written in Dadaji’s own inimicable style. Whatever the ambiguity of the wording, noone claimed to be an Adinatha sannyasi. The documentary evidence shows that Lokanath certainly made no such claim. In fact, he stated that ‘when my dear Gurudev Mahendranath initiated DC in India in Spring 1978, we decided to transform the tradition into an international and cosmopolitan order. This is in line with the Adinatha tradition of old, who always sought true spiritual values and repudiated the artificial.’(Azoth: 13, Spring 1981). Towards the end of his life perhaps Dadaji did regret the ambiguous wording of the original charter, and, as he had done with the Uttara Kaulas, found it easier to pretend the whole thing had never happened.
It was about 1981 that I made contact with Lokanath, after buying a copy of his celebrated occult fanzine Sothis. Lokanath was an influential member of the UK's growing occult scene of the 1970s, and next in line to be head of the typhonian OTO. What I learnt of Dadaji was from his excellent articles in Sothis magazine. In an important sense - Dadaji and amookos were guru each to each.It represented a new covenant which aimed to transcend the past’s inadequate magical organisations. A switch from the dominant ‘masonic’ model to a more freeform ‘rosicrucian’ mode. When Dadaji went gaga he forgot all this. But whatever these are the bare facts. It was never going to be clear cut. Perhaps it is a good thing that there is confusion right from the very beginning
postscript: well now i've received a communication from a Nath from another lineage -
so perhaps the order blown apart by its own guru will come together - watch this space.
24th July 05 - 'Mystical Vampire' in Independent on Sunday.
Mystical Vampire is the new and only biography of Victorian Theosophist, Mabel Collins. The Independent is really proving its name by publishing Gary Lackman's humourous and informative review of Kim Farnell's biographical efforts. Judging by the review, which takes up three quarters of the page. I love some of the bullets - viz: 'Mabel Collins - a writer who knew what upper-class ladies really did with their lap dogs'; 'Theosophists? I take them two at a time' or 'Kim Farnell has done devotees of gaslight a service.' Gary obviously enjoyed reading it?
22 July 05
'The Day of Rams'
This week, the faceless members of a Pagan Federation 'committee' decide to cancel its national conference, because London was getting too dangerous. They say they were prompted in their action by the withdrawal of three speakers and two stall holders. So at a time when the whole country is discovering a new stoicism in the face of concerted terror - one slightly moribund pagan organisation has decided to bottle out. So all that talk of 'never again the burning times' was just talk. They heard on the radio that the muslims want to get the pagans - and that is it - they crumble. I feel deeply ashamed and upset that this organisation - which I've supported for many years - has whimped out. It must the one the final acts of non-leadership in the last declining years of what was once a good idea.
PS: silly syncronicity - at exactly the time the second lot of bombs were due to go off - the plug shorted out in my room - and one of the computers went down. People near the failed bombers said they could smell burning electrical cables. I only mention that because since 7th July the amount of spam I get has dropped off from 400-500 a day to almost none - not sure why - ghost in the machine perhaps??
17th July 05
A book about magick in the review section of the Independent on Sunday - not Harry Potter - but Now That's What I Call Chaos Magick by Julian Vayne and Greg Humphries, from my own firm - Mandrake of Oxford. Reviews of books from the actual practitioners of magick are rare, but becoming more common. They are usually dismissed by review's editors as either 'genre' or just too 'left field' for their gentle readers. So a third of a page in the reviews section makes me feel very happy. And I really like this book - for me it has the final word on the significance of the neo-pagan art of 'chaos magick'. Gary Lachman's informed and intelligent review, traces the roots of Chaos Magick, to Eliphas Levi's 19th century redaction of magick to its real essence - 'will and imagination' or in Gary's own words 'Free your mind - and your spells will follow.' Independent on Sunday (ABC magazine 17:7:5)
15 July 05
Another very hot day in London. Kym and I are there for the launch of Kim Farnell's biography of Mabel Collins - Mystical Vampire. Mabel, a theosophist, despite her interesting life, or should it be lives, has languished without one. Known outside of Theosophical circles as the 'mistress' of Robert Donston Stephenson - one of the suspects in the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' murders of 1888.
Despite the heat, and the aftermath of the July 7th bombings - there was a reasonably showing. The was still much talk of Islamic fundamentalism - which seems to be becoming more rabid than its Christian cousin. IMO it is that whole 'choosen people' thing - that's the heart of the matter. What the world needs now is a bit of pagan style tolerance and pluralism.
10 July, year 05
A very hot day at Kensal Green Cemetary Open Day. Shame that the WW2 veteran's event was cancelled due to security concerns from the police. Now is the time for us to be strong - as the 500K people at the main commemoration in the Mall demonstrated - I guess. This year took the tour of General & Military graves - included the 'common' or 'pauper's plot' also know as the 'guinea' graves - many of the obligatory military funerals were put in this plot! But there again, what does it matter - the whole story of Kensal Green, is really just a variation on the theme of human vanity afterall.
1 July, year 05
The Connaught Hotel, Drury Lane, right next door to Freemasons Hall - and incidentally it is owned by the craft. I was there to do my 'talking head' bit for a forthcoming BBC4 documentary about Dennis Wheatley - 'prince of thriller writers'. DW is well known to the community through eight 'black magic' thrillers - the first of which, The Devil Rides Out, written in 1934, is still regarded as a minor modern classic. Despite a massive peak of sales, running at 500K per year in the 1960s, all of DW's books are currently out of print. Book Club Associates plan to reprint half a dozen of the occult books later this year. Despite the total lack of political correctness, DW stills has a nostalgic attraction to the many fans of 1960s 'crap books' - everyone i've told about the show has said they now want to get a copy and revisit those glamourous 'satanists'. My line was, although things have moved on - DW did still hold some sort of mirror to the magic of his times, albeit one that was a very twisted and distorted.
Talking Stick at the much improved local hostelry - the Port Mahon. The discussion on power animals and animal spirit guides. Which brought to mind how several friends had their first contact with 'power' animals in rather traumatic ways. I remember how Chesca said she was once thrown from her horse and trampled, but from then on, the horse was always a special presence in her magical universe. Another friend, Dwina, was once repeatedly bitten by a venomous spider. She woke from a lucid arachnid dream just in time to prevent further bites. I remembered one of those seminal dreams when I was pursued night after night by a large wolf-like or alsatian canid. It only stopped when I turned and confronted the beast - letting it do its worst. Consummed by the dog, there was always a part of me that could not be eaten - which brings to mind the lines from the Bhagavad Gita - that the transcendental Self cannot be killed.
23 August 05 - Pagan Animal Rights
Judith writes, having recently moved to Carcassonne, France, and rather upset to discover that bullfighting is still practiced locally, despite the fact that in August 2001 it was outlawed in Carcassonne as there was no proof that this blood sport had ever been in existence in the area. But somehow the promoters, aided by the Spanish Mayor got their way. Since that date three days in August of every year have been set aside for the killing of bulls!
She is calling upon one and all to help halt the next round of bullfights (Corrida) in Carcassonne, France. And with this in mind constructed a sigil to help provide a focus for those who want to see an end to this brutal practice. The dates we need to concentrate on are the following:-
Friday 26 August
Saturday 27 August
Sunday 28 August
Please forward to others. - May Set be with you.'
[There's a sigil to go with this which i will try to display here]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OxfordPaganCircle/files/Set%20Sigil%20Aug2005.pps
18 August 05 - Pope attacks Neopaganism
'And in the twentieth century, in the darkest period of German and European history, an insane racist ideology, born of neo-paganism, gave rise to the attempt, planned and systematically carried out by the regime, to exterminate European Jewry. ' Pope Benedict, Cologne
It is worth emphasizing that people of many religions, including magicians and occultists, were arrayed on both sides of the conflict, probably more with the allies than the fascist. It is an important issue that IMO needs careful discussion - several occult authors have, in a way, made similar claims.
See for example Hitler and the Age of Horus or Morning of the Magicians. It is probably one of the most important issues facing the neo-pagan movement and the new Pope is very clever to have found that weakness. Personally I see this as all the more reason to engage with 'blood and soil' runesters - and indeed 'satanists', even 'theosophists' and those who promulgate the so-called 'western way' - engage so that they see the error of their ways. This is not to concede the argument to the catholic church - of course it is a smokescreen – fascism is an economic system developed from capitalism - the 'occult' elements are overplayed - more a symptom than the cause. Some would argue that anti-semitism stems as much from the Christian message, others have seen it as even older, coming from events in ancient Egypt. There is a danger that those who aspire to lead the pagan movement - will have a poor understanding of the issues. For a very informed historical background I recommend goodriche clarke's occult roots of fascism. I'v also posted on this blog an old essay, Fascism and the Occult, that discusses some of the history in more depth
BTW: If you don't think it is still a live issues take a look at this passage, reputedly from an interview with Edred Thorson.
'Stephen Flowers and the Third Reich
mc> Can you say a little more - the quote you give below is IMHO a bit ambiguous. What does Flowers mean by 'the Third Reich's dynamism got out of hand' -it sound as if he saying that the third Reich had some positive qualities, at least
when starting out. I could never accept that proposition.
Of course the Third Reich had some positive qualities when first starting out -- every social system does, since it's almost impossible for mankind to invent any system which is 100% evil. If there weren't *some* positive qualities to the Third Reich, it never would have gotten the power it had.
The Third Reich offered a sense of pride to a people that had been trampled into the mud during World War I and insulted terribly and treated like mud in the aftermath of that war.
The Third Reich offered a vitality and a sense of hope to a people who had lost such vision.
The Third Reich, or more specifically those people leading and pushing the Third Reich, used horribly wrong methods to gain more power than they otherwise would have had, and they used horribly wrong methods to maintain that power once they had it.
It reminds me somewhat of the Republican Party in the U.S.A. If you look hard enough, you can find some positive qualities in their stated goals of scaling back the federal government, in reversing the moral/ethical decay of modern society, of reducing federal spending, etc. Unfortunately they've hitched their horse to a wagon which has so many negative qualities (belief that morals can come only from
Christian religions seems to be one of them) that it sometimes looks like we're going to have to fight long and hard here to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming yet another Reich.'
end of quote
17th August 05
JD asked me to write up the previous meeting on 'Time' even though i wasn't there - not sure I’m up to it really apart from to say that according to Immanuel Kant, Space and Time are both human abstract concepts - or as i understand it they are human mental concepts that we use to order our world - they have no existence apart from us as human beings. Space and Time were concepts personified in Egyptian wisdom - which rather undermines the idea that the Egyptians were incapable of abstract thought.
Last night we discussed Oxfordshire’s very own 'Blair witch'
i.e. wittenham clumps - a site occupied for millennia and
therefore a happy hunting ground for the odd disembodied Ka spirit. It has several classic ghostly phenomena - the spectral coach and horses - racing down the 'high street' at midnight as a warning of impending catastrophe (I wonder if anyone has seen it recently/). A white lady or goddess who appears near the lake and was exorcised by a whole bunch priests in times of yore. And yes - the clumps were one of the resting places of Bran's head on its journey to London - a spectral raven has been seen hovering over the ditch - and this is said to be the location of buried treasure! In the Green Stone saga, Andy Collins and pals discovers one of the 'lights of knowledge' there (Yesod). Wittenham Clumps is certainly a very spirited place, especially the woods between the clumps and the river.
14th August 05
Bath Omphalos to hear Anton Channing’s thoughtful exploration of six key concepts within alchemy viz: the caduceus, the auroborus, the cosmic egg, the spiral, alchemical trinities, and the hermaphrodite. Nice crowd, including people from Friends of the Witchcraft museum. Things slightly overshadowed by a rather bitchy ad hominem attack in the reviews pages of the Cauldron; aimed at the author of Witcha: a book of cunning, and the OGDOS newsletter (Hem Neter). The target is his article on ‘Cain: the first Satanist’. Informed criticism is no bad thing. Dialectics, is, afterall, a science that emerged within the ancient pagan intellectual tradition. However, it is difficult to answer a critic who is convinced you are wrong but can’t say why.
With The Bull of Ombos now at the printers, and Pan’s Road with a reader, I find myself at a loose end. I plan to start work on the final part of my ‘sethian’ trilogy’ in a few months. In the ‘House of Life’ a book on Çatalhöyük caught my eye. It turned out to be a whole new thread that has led me to a rich vein of Neolithic culture that shares many features with the people of Ombos.
The first 1960s excavation has become a cultural phenomenon. The excavation, restarted in the 1990s, the publication of the new finds, with analysis, is due soon. In the meantime, all sorts of snippets are trickling out via the campaign’s website. The latest, just a few days ago, is the discovery of a beautifully made stamp seal that for the first time, reveals the full identity of one of Çatalhöyük’s most famous, and controversial ‘goddesses’. Turns out to be a bear. A beast is every bit as significant to Neolithic magick as the Red Ochre Bull. Bull and Bear are both ‘Sethian’ animals. The bull was associated in Egyptian astronomy with the constellation known later by the Greeks as Ursa Major – ‘The Great Bear’. At Çatalhöyük the Bear ‘rides’ upon the ‘bull’ – which is an image to conjure with, or maybe meditate upon.
According to the press release, the above-mentioned stamp seals were probably used to stamp designs on skin or clothing. This example shows an animal with its front and hind legs raised upwards. Such figures have been known from Çatalhöyük for some time as plaster reliefs on the walls of houses. An example excavated by James Mellaart is shown in Figure 2. These plaster reliefs have often been interpreted as ‘mother goddess’ figures. But the heads and hands of the plaster relief examples have always been cut off, so it was never possible to say whether the figures were humans or not. But now the stamp seal provides a key. Here the head and the hind paws remain. They clearly show that the figure is an animal, probably a bear. So it is probable that the reliefs with upraised arms and legs are not goddesses but bears. Depicting animals, such as leopards, in houses is common at Çatalhöyük, and so it is not surprising that we should find a bear.
For more information visit:
http://catal.arch.cam.ac.uk/catal/index.html
5th August - Hiroshima Day
The topic of last night's 'talking stick' moot down the pub, was the Pagan response to current world events. Contrary to what G Fukiyama wrote in his book, 'The End of History' - it's not all over but the shouting. The issue he thought a dead one is our relationship to Islam. For me this is as a pagan. Perhaps the answer is to say we're all muslims really - we're certainly not 'unbelievers' - we pagans are definately believers - some even share the concept of AL & LA (see Crowley, Liber Al vel Legis). The same discussion came up in another forum - and what I wrote there may also be of interest:
Seems like there is a difference between ‘Muslims’ considered as a historic/cultural people – - presumably a community of people who emerged in about the 6-7th century. The ups and down of those people, and indeed whether they still exist, is a moot point, that can be separated from ‘Muslim’ considered as a religious ideal. This could mean that a ‘Muslim’ is anyone who regards themselves as ‘one of the peaceful’. Of course, like any religion, there are centres of doctrinal authority and more dogmatic manifestations of the ideal. As in many other religions, Hinduism, Buddhism etc, the body of primary and secondary texts tends to grow through time – but the essence is the mantra like ‘There is no god but Allah’ – ‘there is no God but the principle of divinity itself’ – who could object to that?
At that point, someone remembered a telling parable from the life of the prophet –
Every morning, whenever he went out to teach, he found his doorstep littered with rubbish, thrown there, so it is said, by a lady of another faith. This went on for some time, years maybe. Then one day, there was no rubbish anymore. The prophet asked why and was told the culprit was ill. So, being a wise and kindly soul, he went round to see her, took her a present, helped to nurse her back to health. Why, she asked, did you help me, when I was your enemy? Because, he says, one should always respond to ‘evil’ with kindness’. Now there’s a thing you don’t hear everyday?
1 August 05 'Lammas Day'
That well known pagan chant can be heard in many a newly mown meadow - 'lammas day is the devil's day' - well not quite. Although someone in the Bath omphalos group did suggest that this was the beginning of the 'Sethian' year - an idea that does has something going for it. The myth of John Barleycorn springs to mind - sung beautifully at last night's ritual by Sharron. Who is JB but another form of the ancient god of the harvest - Osiris - here cut down, dismembered and baked into the lammas loaf - all washed down with beer, the product of fermented bread - died with red ochre - the bloodlike 'desert' of the gods?
31 July 05
There is talk of doing even more work on a local urban cemetary to convert it from a vandalised wasteland to a nature reserve. But having begun to read Ken Worpole's Last Landscapes: the architecture of the Cemetery in the West, I see it from a different point of view. He argues that turning this graveyard into another nature reserve is not necessarily the way to ensure a valued future. People value a space like that when they have some of their own relatives and friends buried there. A space full of the names from a hundred years ago has very little meaning to the current generation. In Europe, they have many fine cemeteries, much loved by the local families that use them. In UK our cemeteries are full, and often neglected and vandalised. The difference is that Europeans allow reuse of the same plot after a decent interval, the bones are re-interred in a charnel house. In UK graves are sold in perpetuity. It might seem counter-intuitive, but the way to revitalise our urban cemeteries is to adopt the European model. Otherwise we are forced, if only by reason of cost, to opt for the ecologically damaging option of cremation - and our once loved cemeteries are places of neglect.
A version of this was published in the Oxford Mail 4:8:05)
30 July 05 - 'The means determines the end'
Is it maybe time for us to devise arguments to counter the fundamentalists but from the more tolerant 'pagan' perspective? One lesson might be that using violent means to achieve some sort of 'Islamic' utopia of social justice - will fail - such efforts usually do. Polical violence is a like the djinn or a genii in a bottle - once used, it's difficult to know when to stop.
25th July 05 - 'When Your Guru Goes Gaga'
I forget the exact date of my initiation into amookos but it was some time in the early 1980s. It was at about the same time as I was being expelled from Kenneth Grant's Typhonian OTO - indeed my membership of amookos was a factor in that whole affair but that’s another story. Sometime in the summer of 1989 a fat envelope dropped on the mat. Amongst its enclosures was the following communication from Dadaji, the last guru of the tiny sect of Tantrik magi that I had joined some years earlier. What I read, with sinking heart, gave me an acute sense of déjà vu:
'Guru Purnima, Tuesday, 18th July 89
THE SPLENDOUR OF THE BRIGHT SHINING
(A Corrective to Corruption) etc etc'
Had my guru gone gaga? Either that or he had turned into a total arsehole like every other guru before him. Certainly over the recent years he had suffered a series of strokes the most obvious symptom of which was his current inability to write cursively (you can see examples of this on ION’s website). There were also several glaring errors of fact in the letters he sent. The immediate one concerning Lokanath, was the possible accusation of a treacherous conventional marriage by conventional Christian based ceremony. Lokanath had in fact married in 1978, just after his return from meeting Dadaji for the first time in India. It was no secret. Indeed contrary to what Dadaji says the nath traditon is very diverse and has often included married householders. Perhaps Dadaji resented it at the time but said nothing for the ten years of highly productive work. He finally snapped in 1998, a few years before his death. The full truth will probably never be known.
When i wrote this, circa June 2004, I was in the middle of an exchange of emails with Kapilnath (John Pilskog) the editor of Open Door and the person who ‘benefited’ most from Dadaji’s volte face. Once upon a time I had the ultra leftist type opposition to marriage but nowadays I must say it doesn’t seem that important an issue. But the fact was that Mike had married way back in 1978 and so it was hardly a recent revelation? When Mike returned from his fateful first meeting with Dadaji in the early part of 1978, he resolved to marry his longtime partner Jan, thus putting his affairs in order. I remember he said how lonely he had been during is stay in India, and that obviously influenced his decision. Perhaps when he wrote to Dadaji and told him what he’d done, he had inadvertently infringed one of Dadaji’s own taboos?? Even so the work continued , AMOOKOS was born and began a fitful, painfully slow growth.
Another issue was whether members of AMOOKOS could claim to be Adi-Naths. The problem started with the original charter, written in Dadaji’s own inimicable style. Whatever the ambiguity of the wording, noone claimed to be an Adinatha sannyasi. The documentary evidence shows that Lokanath certainly made no such claim. In fact, he stated that ‘when my dear Gurudev Mahendranath initiated DC in India in Spring 1978, we decided to transform the tradition into an international and cosmopolitan order. This is in line with the Adinatha tradition of old, who always sought true spiritual values and repudiated the artificial.’(Azoth: 13, Spring 1981). Towards the end of his life perhaps Dadaji did regret the ambiguous wording of the original charter, and, as he had done with the Uttara Kaulas, found it easier to pretend the whole thing had never happened.
It was about 1981 that I made contact with Lokanath, after buying a copy of his celebrated occult fanzine Sothis. Lokanath was an influential member of the UK's growing occult scene of the 1970s, and next in line to be head of the typhonian OTO. What I learnt of Dadaji was from his excellent articles in Sothis magazine. In an important sense - Dadaji and amookos were guru each to each.It represented a new covenant which aimed to transcend the past’s inadequate magical organisations. A switch from the dominant ‘masonic’ model to a more freeform ‘rosicrucian’ mode. When Dadaji went gaga he forgot all this. But whatever these are the bare facts. It was never going to be clear cut. Perhaps it is a good thing that there is confusion right from the very beginning
postscript: well now i've received a communication from a Nath from another lineage -
so perhaps the order blown apart by its own guru will come together - watch this space.
24th July 05 - 'Mystical Vampire' in Independent on Sunday.
Mystical Vampire is the new and only biography of Victorian Theosophist, Mabel Collins. The Independent is really proving its name by publishing Gary Lackman's humourous and informative review of Kim Farnell's biographical efforts. Judging by the review, which takes up three quarters of the page. I love some of the bullets - viz: 'Mabel Collins - a writer who knew what upper-class ladies really did with their lap dogs'; 'Theosophists? I take them two at a time' or 'Kim Farnell has done devotees of gaslight a service.' Gary obviously enjoyed reading it?
22 July 05
'The Day of Rams'
This week, the faceless members of a Pagan Federation 'committee' decide to cancel its national conference, because London was getting too dangerous. They say they were prompted in their action by the withdrawal of three speakers and two stall holders. So at a time when the whole country is discovering a new stoicism in the face of concerted terror - one slightly moribund pagan organisation has decided to bottle out. So all that talk of 'never again the burning times' was just talk. They heard on the radio that the muslims want to get the pagans - and that is it - they crumble. I feel deeply ashamed and upset that this organisation - which I've supported for many years - has whimped out. It must the one the final acts of non-leadership in the last declining years of what was once a good idea.
PS: silly syncronicity - at exactly the time the second lot of bombs were due to go off - the plug shorted out in my room - and one of the computers went down. People near the failed bombers said they could smell burning electrical cables. I only mention that because since 7th July the amount of spam I get has dropped off from 400-500 a day to almost none - not sure why - ghost in the machine perhaps??
17th July 05
A book about magick in the review section of the Independent on Sunday - not Harry Potter - but Now That's What I Call Chaos Magick by Julian Vayne and Greg Humphries, from my own firm - Mandrake of Oxford. Reviews of books from the actual practitioners of magick are rare, but becoming more common. They are usually dismissed by review's editors as either 'genre' or just too 'left field' for their gentle readers. So a third of a page in the reviews section makes me feel very happy. And I really like this book - for me it has the final word on the significance of the neo-pagan art of 'chaos magick'. Gary Lachman's informed and intelligent review, traces the roots of Chaos Magick, to Eliphas Levi's 19th century redaction of magick to its real essence - 'will and imagination' or in Gary's own words 'Free your mind - and your spells will follow.' Independent on Sunday (ABC magazine 17:7:5)
15 July 05
Another very hot day in London. Kym and I are there for the launch of Kim Farnell's biography of Mabel Collins - Mystical Vampire. Mabel, a theosophist, despite her interesting life, or should it be lives, has languished without one. Known outside of Theosophical circles as the 'mistress' of Robert Donston Stephenson - one of the suspects in the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' murders of 1888.
Despite the heat, and the aftermath of the July 7th bombings - there was a reasonably showing. The was still much talk of Islamic fundamentalism - which seems to be becoming more rabid than its Christian cousin. IMO it is that whole 'choosen people' thing - that's the heart of the matter. What the world needs now is a bit of pagan style tolerance and pluralism.
10 July, year 05
A very hot day at Kensal Green Cemetary Open Day. Shame that the WW2 veteran's event was cancelled due to security concerns from the police. Now is the time for us to be strong - as the 500K people at the main commemoration in the Mall demonstrated - I guess. This year took the tour of General & Military graves - included the 'common' or 'pauper's plot' also know as the 'guinea' graves - many of the obligatory military funerals were put in this plot! But there again, what does it matter - the whole story of Kensal Green, is really just a variation on the theme of human vanity afterall.
1 July, year 05
The Connaught Hotel, Drury Lane, right next door to Freemasons Hall - and incidentally it is owned by the craft. I was there to do my 'talking head' bit for a forthcoming BBC4 documentary about Dennis Wheatley - 'prince of thriller writers'. DW is well known to the community through eight 'black magic' thrillers - the first of which, The Devil Rides Out, written in 1934, is still regarded as a minor modern classic. Despite a massive peak of sales, running at 500K per year in the 1960s, all of DW's books are currently out of print. Book Club Associates plan to reprint half a dozen of the occult books later this year. Despite the total lack of political correctness, DW stills has a nostalgic attraction to the many fans of 1960s 'crap books' - everyone i've told about the show has said they now want to get a copy and revisit those glamourous 'satanists'. My line was, although things have moved on - DW did still hold some sort of mirror to the magic of his times, albeit one that was a very twisted and distorted.
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