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Post by Admin on Dec 20, 2020 22:36:52 GMT
WINTER MUSINGS ~ WILD AWAKENINGabeautifulresistance.org/site/2020/12/11/winter-musings-wild-awakeningThere is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more” ― Lord Byron The world is imbued with spirit. Divinity can be felt, seen and heard. Our spiritual and magical practices should ring loud with these truths for they form the very essence of all that is and all that may be. The mundane and the magical do not exist as separate entities but are instead entwined and one could argue that the reason we find ourselves on the precipice is because we have forgotten these truths; that we have tried to untwist the threads that hold everything together. This is how we have found ourselves in the Anthropocene, the age of man. The age of destruction. We have torn the spirit from the mundane, ignoring the call of the wild; the feel of spirit as we walk beneath the canopy of the forest or traverse hills and mountains. We have come to believe in our power and our power alone. Such folly. As we stand on the precipice, our magicks must become wild once more. They must transform to fit the age, as they ever have. We must transform if we are to fight back against the injustices Capitalism forces on nature and on ourselves. Our magicks must become that of dirt, blood and bone. My own practice is a blending of witchcraft, the kind with no dogma, that belongs to the Devil (the biggest and most well known scapegoat of all) and the wild, as well as Vodou of the bokor variety, serving the loa with both hands, and Obeah. Some will inevitably call appropriation, ignoring the fact that such traditions are mine by my heritage, by my blood. By the spirits that walk beside me and my ancestors whose blood courses through my veins, blood of my blood. And besides, they mesh well together for each recognises the world of spirit, recognises that we are a part of that world and act within it. Each honours the wild, indeed prefers the wilds and are more potent when worked outside beneath the sky, with feet bare and hair loosened. Each transcends the labels we put on them. And so, as my practice dictates, as I feel the call of the wild, of the spirits and divinity, I find myself outside more and more often. Sometimes it’s the closest woods to my home, named after the Devil himself, sometimes I meander along the riverbank, other times it’s over field and along rutted path with the dog running free. Sometimes it’s only in my garden where trees and bush have dominion, where the wild clings even in this concrete jungle. It is in these places where Divinity speaks the loudest, where spirits reach out and their touch felt. And sometimes in the cemetery where the bones of my beloved dead lay and the yew tree spreads it’s boughs. The natural world is imbued with spirit, so much so that their call is so loud I’m amazed others don’t hear it through the fuzzy cheap glamour of ‘real life.’ The natural world is where the gods can be found, for they do not yearn for temples or buildings. It is enough to be in nature, to feel it. To love it. Indeed it is trees that act as conduits between the realms. It is through trees that the loa descend and ascend. It is in the wild wood where we meet the Devil in sabbat. It is in the darkest depths of the forest that Sasabonsam fills our bones with Obiya. It is the water of rivers and lakes and ponds that spirit can emerge forth to teach us how to truly live. It is from the earth which our ancestors have enriched with their bodies, returning to it as they came from it that we call them forth and ask them to walk with us through this age of man, through the Anthropocene. It is outside beneath the great sky in which we learn the lessons given freely, if only we open our eyes wide enough and our hearts just a little. It is the lessons taken from spirit, from gods and from ancestors that in turn transforms our magicks and makes them as weapons to fight back against the decay that has set in like a cancer. But first we must remember simple truths, almost forgotten. The world is imbued with spirit. Divinity can be seen, heard and felt.
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Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2021 22:35:29 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2021 23:56:15 GMT
The essential function of the rituals of the Pentagram is to assert the dominion of the magician over the chaos of the elemental realm or phenomenal world. This is done through symbolically signifying and magically identifying the magician’s alignment and participation in the spiritual ground of the cosmos. When first learned, these rituals are usually engaged with in a strictly performative manner. Words and gestures are memorized and used without deeper reflection. Familiarity with the ritual can often breed forgetfulness that it is not merely a performance piece, however, but rather a profound prayer and moving meditation. Actual, not merely symbolized identification with the absolute is the true goal of the ritual. This requires mindfulness and concentration in the performance of the visualizations, gestures and vocalizations. Personal issues and problems should be set aside before the manifestation of the sacred space of the ritual. For the sake of clearance around the concept of white or black magic, before we get into practicing ceremonial magic, we need to ask ourselves to what purpose the establishment of elemental dominion is directed. If this is not to be a ritual of black magic, of mere dominion, this control must be directed by and towards the True Will of the magician. Much attention has been paid in the explanation of these rituals to the Pentagram itself as a symbol. Just as important, however, are the other features of the ritual — the manner in which the movements and visualizations define the space of the performance and into which the Pentagram is inserted and integrated as a component of a larger ritual gesture. We can break the general structure of the most basic Pentagram ritual — the Lesser Invoking or Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (hereafter referred to as the LRP) — into a few basic components, which we will discuss in turn. [3] The Kabalistic Cross – Opening The Formulation of the Pentagram The Evocation of the Archangels The Kabalistic Cross – Closing ____Continue reading: www.gnosticserpent.com/knowledge-base/ritual-of-pentagram/
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Post by Admin on Jan 2, 2021 13:35:32 GMT
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram: A 21st Century Grimoire by Michael Benjamin
"The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram – A 21st Century Grimoire is the most comprehensive examination of this foundational Magickal ritual as originally taught within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In this work, author Michael Benjamin extracts deeply from his two decades of experience as a practicing occultist, mystic, and esoteric scholar. Drawing from such erudite resources as Eliphas Levi, Israel Regardie, W.Y. Evans-Wentz, Alexandra David-Neel, and various charter members of the Golden Dawn, the author adds his own insightful perspicacity gained from several years of habitual daily performance of this ritual. In addition to holding a B.A. in History, and advanced black belts in four different martial arts, Michael is a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Freemason, was a formal initiate and 12-year student in Dr. Paul Foster Case’s order, the Builders of the Adytum (an historical successor to the Golden Dawn), and is a former member of the Thelemic fraternity, the Ordo Templi Orientis.
In this book the author presents an expertly crafted practical handbook, as well as an historical record and academic analysis, of why this ritual was rightly described by Aleister Crowley as, “The Medicine of Metals and the Stone of the Wise.” Utilizing both Western and Eastern philosophical sources indicative of the Right-Hand Path, this unprecedented study offers an in-depth and integral understanding of the esoteric insights provided within, as well as the psychological development facilitated by, this paramount occult exercise.
Drawing from such varied Occidental systems as Rosicrucianism, Qabalah, Tarot, Alchemy, Astrology, Thelema, Theosophy, Freemasonry, and Wicca, along with such Asian schools as Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism, Kundalini Yoga, Vedanta, and Karate, The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram reveals the universality of this practice as a potent means of encouraging mental self-discipline, facilitating personal evolution, and spurning spiritual awakening. As such, this tome will prove itself to the reader as no less than a pragmatic modern grimoire, a veritable 21st century Book of Shadows. Today’s occult practitioner of any school or system will find provided in its pages a clear window into the wisdom fostered by the Magi and Sages of various cultures and locales throughout humanity’s spanning ages."
Quote from Amazon
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Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2021 17:00:52 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 7, 2021 10:01:21 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 7, 2021 11:47:32 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 7, 2021 13:16:03 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 7, 2021 17:07:38 GMT
Magic and Ecology: Apocalyptic CraftCRASSH (the Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) are running an online event, MAGIC AND ECOLOGY, a symposium and art exhibition which brings together historians, philosophers, and anthropologists of magic with environmental scientists, ecological thinkers, and practitioners of contemporary magical techniques. Apocalyptic craft In February, Peter Grey and Geraldine Hudson will discuss their experiences of apocalyptic witchcraft and its role in in contemporary occulture, art and activism. The talks will be released as a podcast, followed a week later by a live Q&A. 19 February 2021: Podcast I Peter Grey and Geraldine Hudson 26 February 2021: Live Q&A I Peter Grey and Geraldine Hudson (chaired by Beth Dubow) Since the beginning of the modern witchcraft revival in the 1950s, witchcraft has often been understood as counter-magic that challenges the authority of “man” (anthropos) and of human reason. The oppression of human bodies, particularly those of ethnic minorities, remains connected structurally and historically to the oppression of earth and environment; the logic of witch-hunting remains with us and remains at the core of the climate crisis. Peter Grey and Geraldine Hudson are both authors and artists who have explored the political significance of witchcraft in the Anthropocene, and in this panel they discuss their own experiences of apocalyptic witchcraft and its role in in contemporary occulture, art and activism. scarletimprint.com/journal/magic-and-ecology-apocalyptic-craftFrom the organisers: 'Magic and Ecology': symposium and art exhibition brings together historians, philosophers, and anthropologists of magic with environmental scientists, ecological thinkers, and practitioners of contemporary magical techniques. In recent decades ecological thinkers and cultural theorists Isabelle Stengers, Jane Bennett, and Timothy Morton have given critical attention to magic and to the way in which it operates as a technique for paying attention to things and to clarifying, rather than confusing, human dependence on the other-than-human that is also more-than-us. Such magic is seen as a counter-force to the powers of capitalist 'sorcery' and an alternative to the mindless enchantments of modernity; it is interested in the practical (ethical, political) consequences of not only 'including' the nonhuman in one’s circle but working with them, 'invoking' and recognising dependence on them. An entirely new politics of the nonhuman opens up at this point, one that is distinctly non-secular even as it persists on the fringes of 'theological' respectability. It is a question of approaching nonhumans as formidable agents and figuring out, from there, how best to make oneself attractive as potential working-partner in their eyes. What changes - modifications to human lifestyles, habits of consumption - must be attended to first before setting up the working space and invoking the other? Magic and ecology have a long and entangled history. Western magic historically has been concerned with discerning connections between the human (microcosm) and the world (macrocosm), and modern magic (in similarity with many types of folk magic) especially digs deeper into these efforts of discernment by encouraging practitioners to work with all sorts of objects: not only specially designed props or celestial talismans but ordinary everyday things. Thinking with that tangled history and bringing it to light is the purpose of this event. We look at magic and ecology from the perspective of ancient practices as well as contemporary expressions, where the turn towards the magical in recent ecological thinking responds to a well-established tradition of environmental activism, art, and writing by magical practitioners, among them Starhawk, David Abram, Rae Beth, Josephine McCarthy, Sabrina Scott, and Charlotte Rodgers. Magic here becomes, as Isabelle Stengers has argued, a practice of 'attention', or, as Timothy Morton has put it, of 'attunement', a way of looking receptively ('openly') rather than selectively, 'attuning' to what there is and noticing it, as just as it is. These thinkers propose that living ecologically cannot be about saving some things to the exclusion of others (that would be tyranny, not ecology) but about attending to the connections between this thing and that, and between oneself and everything one touches and thinks about, in such a way that things can be felt and responded to, regardless of their supposed value. The suggestion, coming now from cultural theory, that really useful and effective ecological thinking is more like magic than the policies usually referred to as environmental is at the heart of this event. Challenging the secular normativity of ecological thinking, 'Magic and Ecology' also aims to confront the religious normativity of ecological spirituality. It considers the resources of magic, animist ontologies, occulture, earth-based religions and minor spiritualities often overlooked by mainstream eco-theology and environmentalism alike and thinks the critical potential of 'spirituality' from the perspective of its own insurgents. 'Magic and Ecology' aims to give a clear sense for the decolonising effect of magic not only as it confronts Western society from without, but also as it disrupts Western society from within. 'Magic and Ecology' proposes that disdain for magic has produced a distorted rather than enlightened sense of the nonhuman world. In a step towards redressing this state of affairs, this symposium and art exhibit examines the ecological thinking in magic, in order to test the hypothesis that magic is not only a misunderstood phenomenon in industrialised society but an experimental technique inviting a politics of invocation and working-with that is much needed today.
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Post by Admin on Jan 8, 2021 16:31:05 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 8, 2021 16:41:05 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 9, 2021 4:38:04 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2021 12:34:39 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2021 20:33:17 GMT
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2021 21:26:36 GMT
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_HuttonHere is a book that brings witchcraft out of the shadows. The Triumph of the Moon is the first full-scale study of the only religion England has ever given the world-modern pagan witchcraft, otherwise known as wicca. Meticulously researched, it provides a thorough account of an ancient religion that has spread from English shores across four continents. For centuries, pagan witchcraft has been linked with chilling images of blood rituals, ghostlike druids, and even human sacrifices. But while Robert Hutton explores this dark side of witchery, he stresses the positive, reminding us that devotion to art, the natural world, femininity, and the classical deities are also central to the practice of wicca. Indeed, the author shows how leading figures in English literature-W.B. Yeats, D.H. Lawrence, and Robert Graves, just to name a few-celebrated these positive aspects of the religion in their work, thereby softening the public perception of witchcraft in Victorian England. From cunning village folk to freemasons and from high magic to the black arts, Hutton chronicles the fascinating process by which actual wiccan practices evolved into what is now a viable modern religion. He also presents compelling biographies of wicca's principal figures, such as Gerald Gardner, who was inducted into a witch coven at the age of 53, and recorded many clandestine rituals and beliefs. Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always thoroughly researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception. It will appeal to anyone interested in witchcraft, paganism and alternative religions.
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