May 17, 2008
-
The Cube
I went to a New Age Expo today and bought lots of books! Yay! lol
Moonlore by Gwydion O’Hara
Geomancy by Franz Hartman
The Mystic Thesaurus by Willis F Whitehead
The Occult Mind by Christopher I Lehrich
The Book of Stones by Robert Simmons and Naisha Ahsian
The Mysteria Magica by Denning and Phillips
Sacred Number and the Origins of Civilization by Richard HeathI got most of them from a vendor from Connecticut called Mondazzi Books. They advertise up to 85% off “books, music, and more” though the stuff they had at the show was only 50% off. The price of commuting maybe?? They were there last year too, but it was so crowded, I didn’t get a chance to look much then.
Another plus… most of the publishers of the books I bought were not Llewellyn. I hate Llewellyn books. I mean, they’re okay for beginners, but they really suck for any one else. They’ll pretty much publish anything, even stuff that is erroneous, but they’ve almost cornered the market on magickal studies. You have to be pretty savvy if you want to buy from them, and know a bit about the subject before you buy. I mostly only buy books from them that are summaries… case in point the Moonlore book. I probably have books that cover everything in it, but now I have a book that has much of it in one place. Convenient. The Mysteria Magica is also published by them, but it’s a reprint, so somewhat safe. I also found a new publisher… Ibis Press which is apparently a subsidy of Weiser/Red Wheel. That’s a good publisher of esoteric volumes. And besides, Ibis is a form of Thoth, and I’m sure he wouldn’t steer me wrong.
The other publishers are Cornell University Press, Inner Traditions, and North Atlantic books. Surprisingly, I bought no Dover books. They have some really good reprints of turn of the century mystic texts, but there were none shown at the expo. Oh well.Yes, I am a book snob. lol Some of the best new magickal texts being published right now are coming from college presses. Go figure. But their prices are usually exorbitant. I have a paperback “volume” of less than 100 pages called Magic in the Roman World that was originally about $40. Eh, small press. What are you gonna do? At least I got it for 1/2 price.
So many vendors with gemstones (drool) but I try not to buy. For one thing, I have a metal sensitivity that makes buying most jewelry a avaricious exercise and nothing more. It’s not like I can wear any of it for more than a few hours before I get a rash/blisters. Even my glasses give me a reaction and my body chemistry corrodes the metal too. It’s quite a pain in the… butt. I’ve been told I could probably wear platinum, but honestly who has the money for that? There’s also the fact that we take too much out of the earth. As much as I admire the stones, I’ll accept them if they’re gifted me, but I won’t buy them myself.
I would have liked to check out some of the psychics, but they were so expensive! The cheapest was $30 and that was for 15 minutes. There was one that had up a sign: “$5 a minute” and in small print, “minimum ten minute session.” Uh, yeah, I’ll just stick to reading my own fortune, thanks. Though they did have a guy there who had a sign up to read hair… that was intriguing. They only had one aura photographer there this time, as opposed to the three different ones last time. She’s been at every show I’ve ever gone to actually. I have had my picture taken by her twice, once years ago and once last year…. very different pictures. Maybe I’ll post them tomorrow. I don’t know where they are right now…
* * * *
jaeyounglee posted a cube exercise a couple days ago. I’d done it years ago, and I don’t really recall my original descriptions, but I don’t think it’s changed too much.Describe a cube………. It represents yourself
Describe a horse and its position in relation to the cube………. It represents your mate or inner male
Describe a ladder and its position in relation to the cube……….. It represents your friends
Be as imaginative and detailed as you like.
My cube is transparent on all sides but the front which is open. As you peer inside, the eye is led to an impossible, unknown distance. It is larger on the inside than out. It’s true depth cannot be seen, but is as well lit on the inside as the outside. From the inside, nothing of the outside can be seen, but the light gets in somehow. From the outside, the cube is barely visible. With the exception of the front of the cube, all other sides merely show you what is on the other side of the cube with little distortion.The horse is one of those miniature Shetland ponies. It is lying down and nearly obscured by tall, golden grasses. All round are tall, golden grasses stretching off in all directions, just like the inside of the cube. The horse is sitting to the right of the cube. It has on a blue halter and rope. It’s hair is a rich, earthy brown with a short mane, darker than its hair. It’s tail is hidden by the grass. It is trying to eat an apple. There is a tree just behind the horse and it is sitting just outside of its shade. Its hind quarters are pointed towards the tree while its head and front legs are pointed in the same direction as the portion of the ladder which sits outside the cube.
The ladder is woven from rough hewn branches with the bark still on and rope made of grasses. The bark is grayish and both smooth and rough, perhaps beech wood. The wood is fresh, but the grass rope is pale like the surrounding grasses. The branches have either not been properly cleaned, or they are coming back to life. There are small twigs and healthy leaves on some of the wood. One part is lying inside the cube and diagonal, it’s other end is to the left and outside the cube.
May 16th
On this night it is customary to pay homage to the fairy guardians of blackthorn trees. They are wizened little stick figures with long arms and fingers for climbing between the thorns. According to one legend, they only leave their trees during full moons.
The famous Italian spiritualist-medium, Eusapia Palladino passed away in 1918. She is most famous for her ability to enter a state of trance and levitate during seances.
According to the ancient Egyptian Calendar, the Netjerts (Goddesses) feast in their temples.
The Savitu-Vrata is an Indian festival.
May 17th
Dea Dia was honored today in her aspect as the cosmos, mother of everything.
Childless couples in Obando town in the Philippines dance at a special fertility festival today.
If you choose to participate in the cube exercise, you can post your
descriptions below, then go back up to the instructions and highlight
them with your mouse. The interpretation is there, but don’t do it
until after you are done with your description. You can tell me why mine means if you are so inclined.
Comments (22)
Not even going to comment on those authors. If you ever want to read real books, there is of course The Equinox on my site, but even better, and I may add them later, is The Egyptian Revival, The Brides Reception, and of course, The Anatomy of the Body of God, all by Frater Achad; otherwise known as Sanford Jones.
@BADBOYDOOMDADDY - I have read the Equinox, but I don’t know the others.
The Equinox is great source material…a compilation more than anything…Achad’s work is earth shaking…too much so for some, including Crowley. When the three books were first released Crowley declared Achad to be his magical son, born forth from his vile experiments. Over the years the works became too much for Crowley and Crowley too much for Achad. Crowley, in his twilight years declared the magical son not yet born and Achad nothing but “a glorified architect”.
The Equinox I have a first edition of. Achad’s are the first edition of any size, the actual first one being very limited and not of the quality of the one I purchased back in the sixties.
@harmony0stars - More on books. Those books you mentioned buying and even such as The Equinox are all mere dogma. They are read and things known from them by accepting to some degree what is related in the book. The Achad Trilogy is very different. The first two in the series are indeed short concise works of dogma necessary to “working” rather than just reading the third book, “The Anatomy of the Body of God”. In working that third in the series, things are known in a way quite unique from absorbing dogma. There is no better example of contemporary gnostic writing; the term gnostic here meant as was originally intended and seldom understood in these times.
@BADBOYDOOMDADDY - I tend to go for books like this, not to follow any prescribed formula but to familiarize myself with what others have already done before doing my own thing. I tend even more so to go for books like these which allow me fast reference so that I might instead form my own path to my goal. I feel that everyone’s take on magick is highly personalized so while I can read books that others have written on the subject, what others have done won’t necessarily work for me until I make it my own by altering it to my personality. I am really a “low magician” in terms of the kinds of spells I do. I am not much given to rituals or dropping names to get what I want. I tend to employ my own power, rather than borrowing from the divine, by forming syllogisms of whatever tools I have on hand (symbols, herbs, thought, etc). No matter how much I read on the subject, I do so mainly to have a broader understanding of possibility. I read what others have done and consider how I might also do it, in my own way. I would have to say that I never use anything that I have learned verbatim from the way I learned it, and I truly despise collections of “spells” wherein you are told “this is how it is done and this is only how it can be done.” More often than not, I go for books that explore the historical aspects of magick over practical application precisely because I do not want to be told how to work. But really, my first love in terms of books was history and mythology and mysticism or gnosticism is only a close third.
BTW, I just did a search on Frater Achad and found his works here
@harmony0stars - What is typically thought of as gnosticism is not at all what is referred to. The Achad Revelation is not a dogma in spite of the first two books. It is a demonstration of the true art of gnossis. Gnossis is not a “way” but has over the many centuries become associated with the way of those who once laid claim to it. It is a thing. A trance state induced by a set of pure thought relationships. Gnossis actually means knowledge, but western man has a notion of knowledge that tends to relativity. Gnossis is not one, but a set of absolute and objective states of mind, that when mastered, afford the revelation of true Christ, Krist, or LUX.
@harmony0stars - It is also maintained by some that these pure thought states are not magick, or mysticism, but the source of all such things. My research with higher primates other than man bares this out. Macaques use a limited set of these states in their everyday lives.
@harmony0stars - Just thought you might find this “junk” interesting.
@BADBOYDOOMDADDY - Of course I find it interesting, and it’s not junk.
One of my core beliefs is that all beings exist to learn and experience. I consider each incarnation to be a larval/neotenic state before we are reborn to an existence of pure thought wherein we are true adults. Our current state allows for changes in perception and application through experience whereas a state of pure thought is somewhat limited to it’s own experiences without the benefit of outside uncontrolled influences. But I’m no stranger to the application of thought as a form of ritual. My rituals are performed in complete silence; I think out my supplications/rituals rather than speaking. I don’t think you can properly hear the divine when you fill the silence with yourself.
I firmly believe that other animals are at least as intelligent as we are, and I even did a research paper in college on animal intelligence and emotion. While you have an affinity with the apes however, I feel more comfortable with Ravens and to a lesser degree, snakes and spiders. Have you ever wondered why birds like shiny things? I think it is very much like your description of your teacher, and ravens tend to swipe shiny things more than most birds. They are also the most intelligent avians. It might even explain why I am so attracted to stones myself, though I try to avoid buying. Like I said in my initial post, we rob the earth of too much.
I do tend to shy away from systems based in Judeo-Christian ideology and therefore “high magick.” I haven’t had too many bad experiences this lifetime with that branch of religion, but have had major events in past lives that I’ve been working through. Did I ever mention how often I’ve been murdered in past lives? Yeah…. Of all the world’s religions, I am most wary of those based in Christianity and to a lesser degree, Judaism. So I haven’t done much research into Kabala or high magick rituals and have flat out stopped reading any time Christ or Krist is brought up. Just using the word Christ smacks of dogma to me. I feel I can be an enlightened being without latching onto this word to describe enlightened beings. It just… rubs me the wrong way. I know it’s just a psychological hangup, but knowing it and doing something about it are two different things. I mean, you get stabbed in the back a thousand years ago by a Christian priest, you tend to eye others of the same faith or who use the same terminology with a certain amount of anxiety.
Darlin’, it is all junk until transmuted into gold within. You wont find what I witnessed in apes in any book I didn’t write. Most researchers are looking at social structure and seeking signs of man like intelligence. My research focused on signs of spirituality rather than intelligence. I have noted what you have in the raven. Also the seemingly lowly pack rat (for a rat, not that lowly). There is a correlation between the ‘crystal gazers’ and intelligence, but a falling away from mystical capacity with the evolution of linear problem solving skills in chimps, for example. It is my contention that there is no species on earth, not even man, more mystically endowed than the lowly macaque.
I have had terrible experiences with “Christians”. The worst possible. Then I discovered something. They aint Christians! They are Constantines. Christ warned that the Antichrist was near…that it would happen soon after His transition. Constantine, the Antichrist, is the pagan emperor responsible for all the so called “Christian” gospels and all the myriad churches as they exist today. The fundamental truths Christ taught were such a threat to any governmental authority that Constantine convened his council to establish the false church, not to propagate the true teachings but to obscure them. Those very truths are as true now as then. 1. The only way to the Father/Mother, is in realizing you are Its only child. 2. Put no man, not even Jesus, before the Father/Mother. 3. The only legitimate temple is within; all external churches are false. 4. The only legitimate authority or governing principle in life is found in our relationship with Father/Mother as Its only child. 5. We are not one, but legion, and salvation is in becoming one…born again within. It is in this legion of self made one that we can approach Father/Mother.
Huh… that might explain why I never liked Constantine. I was always much more fond of Julian the Blessed. But let’s not forget that I am a Pagan also. I can’t say that I believe I am the only child of the divine, unless you are meaning that all beings must unite as one being. As the Mayans said, “in la kesh,” I am another you. That, I can get behind… however, I believe we are the Divine and only in uniting can we reform. Otherwise, there are many, many spirits out there which have been called gods. And they all have their diverse agendas, but are also part of us.
It is a frame of mind. What is implied is how one senses deity, as an object of LOVE…and never faith or belief. When one can manage a personal LOVE affair with deity it transcends the need to believe or hold to faith and releases forces far beyond any in spells and incantations.
I would be pagan if I weren’t so be busy being a heretic.
Well, that is definitely how I feel about my deities. The way some Christian fear their deity is absolutely abhorrent.
Heh. Pagan, heretic… not much difference really. Either one’s an easy label for the ignorant to throw at you if you happen to voice a different opinion.
What you are referencing is what we call AdAm CAdmAn. It is our spirit destiny to become one sensory sum and that a tiny tingle on the tip of Its tongue. But that is when and this is now. We are separate for the joy of union. We are NOT one within, so how then can we all be one between us as AdAm CAdmAn? We must first become one; steward of our many inner selves, that in our present state as legions each constantly betray us, leading us to sin…to defy our own purpose and natural focus.
I tend to view asexuality and bisexuality as the next step to removing the separation between sexes. Right now, there’s too much division between male and female for there to be true union. I think asexuals have Bodhisattva tendencies, while bisexuals have more interest in physical unity. I can’t say that either one is better, though obviously I’m asexual, so I’m sure you can guess which one I am biased towards.
A heretic is just an ‘in your face’ pagan, I think. But it also, with me, is taking back the high ground false christians try and steal from us. I once, during a very brief period of trying to fit in as a very young man, studied to be a minister, and began preaching at the age of ten. Lost some of its luster when on the day of my old fashioned river baptism (with fried chicken and ‘tater salad on the side), caught the minister who had just dunked me diddling the little nine year old girl I had a crush on. So confused by it I never spoke out. Later the rumor got out that he was doing her mom. Ministering to the flock full time, he was. Didn’t preach anymore after that, but didn’t give up hope on the church until I witnessed a minister beat, er, chastise, his daughter in front of the congregation, for no other reason than to demonstrate how one deals with female adolescence. Sick Fuck! That was it for me…and to cap it, it was less than a year after that the incident described in Peacock Sufi Pimp happened.
I see deity as Father/Mother yet beyond sex. It is source…that is all that matters.
See now, that kind of stuff makes me so angry I just want to tear it all down any way I can. So I know some good Christians… I often think, they’re the exception, not the rule.
My article “A Spiritual Showdown” may interest you.