Author Archives: dtmorgan68

The God posture and the sound of music

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The most important tool in the magician’s toolbox is his/her ability to create stillness within and without, listening and observation skills. One of the ways to achieve these skills is through a series of exercises and meditations. My favourite exercise was and still, is a meditation I learned at The Apophis Club as part of the First Head of The Dragon curriculum – The God Posture.

I love the God posture.

It seems to come naturally to me, I can sit in this posture and breath for ages. Maybe it’s because of my affinity to the Egyptian pantheon, trying Unveiling Isis all those years…   Or maybe it’s just that I like sitting on a chair and imagining I’m a goddess on a throne.  

Meditating in the god posture, made me think of sounds and music.

I think that a lot of people on this path (LHP), love to listen to metal (heavy, death, black etc) music, and I understand the psychology behind that; Metal music vibrates on an earthly frequency which is low and magnetic which affects us in the “here and now” and also have a strong effect on the Blood. Its vibration makes you excited and gives you an adrenalin and blood rush, the feeling of your heart pumping blood in your veins — a good and satisfying feeling… 

But can you meditate with this kind of sound in the background? And how will it affect our breathing rhythm?

It is always amazed me how the “high clerks” of all religions found out in very early stages of history the use of fine sounds, harmonics and higher notes to reach “the light” or God. Think of the beautiful sounds of Medieval chants and the angelic chants of Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian chants, or the repetitive rhythm of the Hindu mantras.

The Shamans use in their rituals very specific sounds that vibrate with the higher frequencies, the sounds of overtones, feathers, leaves, and hypnotic drum beats, to awaken the higher consciousness/gods.

I’ve been very fortunate to be part of a community with some very gifted musicians.

We use lots of music and sounds in our rituals to guide us into the darkness and through it.

Can you imagine what darkness sounds like?

For me, it sounds like a big deep forest at night. Imagine the creepy crawlies, the night birds, the sounds of the trees and the wind and all the creatures of the night. These sounds will guide us through the darkness of the forest till we get to the darkest shores of the void. Where there are no sounds, and everything is quiet and still.

In the void, it feels like you are floating in the cool dark nothing of blackness. There is no day/night, and you don’t know if you are dead/alive. A feeling of being consumed by a big giant serpent. Only then do you start hearing again, the most beautiful sounds and it feels like it is the first time you ever used your ears. 

The inner knowing and understanding, that those harmonics vibrations you are hearing are the very first sounds of creation, leads to the realisation that to be able to create you need to listen…

Once you learn how to listen and you can really hear, you start to SEE beyond the illusions.

Imagine that.  

The Jitterbug Cult

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This chapter is written by my dear friend Miryamdevi, high priestess of the Jitterbug Cult.

Tom Robbins,

 our prophet

***

The highest function of Love is that it makes the loved one a unique and irreplaceable being.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Imbolc is celebrated on February 1st, which is about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. At this time of the year, flowers are starting to come back and little buds start to form on the trees. This is the first sign of Mother Nature slowly waking up after the long winter sleep and reminds us that we are also reawakening, letting go of the past and making space for new beginnings and new plans.

Most of the snowdrop species flower in winter. In the language of flowers, the snowdrop is synonymous with 'hope', as it is seen as 'heralding' the new spring and new year.

Snowdrops

Most of the snowdrop species flower in winter. In the language of flowers, the snowdrop is synonymous with ‘hope’, as it is seen as ‘heralding’ the new spring and new year. 

Green is the colour of nature and it resonates with growth and expansion, stability and endurance. Green also symbolises harmony, healing, fertility, hope, love and protection. These qualities make us broaden our hearts and fill them with the love and excitement of a budding new dream.

On February first, just before dawn, if you listen very carefully, you just might hear the hypnotic melodies of the magical panpipes of the ancient god, and if you are lucky you might just see him skipping along the shadows doing his crazy Jitterbug dance.

Pan Archmus Herkalion

Herodotus wrote that according to Egyptian chronology, Pan was the most ancient of the gods

A couple of weeks after Imbolc, on February 14th, we are celebrating St. Beetaroota day. On this day we immortalise the love story between the field maiden Beetaroota and Pan. We also learn how the humble winter root is a key ingredient in two of the most important magical formulas of all time.

Jitterybug Perfume oil (K23)

Grape seed oil & beetroot extract

Horny Goat weed extract

Leather fragrance

White Musk fragrance

Oud fragrance

Amber fragrance

***

Vetiver

Palma Rosa

Jasmine Sambac

Jasmine Officinale

Bergamot 

Lemongrass

The above 4 fragrances are representative of the scentual aroma of the body of Pan:

  • Leather for flesh and blood. 
  • White Musk for its earthy, animalistic, sensual qualities like the animal pheromone secretion.   
  • Oud also known as agarwood, is extracted from the fungus-infected resinous heartwood of the agar tree, which is primarily found in the dense forests of Southeast Asia, India and Bangladesh. It is either extracted by distillation from the wood or by melting the resin. The unique fragrance of Oud is rare and precious, just like the characteristics and charisma of Pan.
  • Amber is a ‘fantasy’ perfumery note. It consists of a few ingredients (natural and synthetic) such as vanilla, patchouli, labdanum, styrax, benzoin and a few more, to create a warm, powdery, sweet scent. The God Pan is the wildest fantasy of mother nature.

The second stage of making the Jitterybug perfume oil was to recreate a scent that will represent the sweet earthy – tangy aroma of the beetroot.

The beetroot is the taproot portion of a beet plant. It is one of several cultivated varieties of Beta vulgaris grown for their edible taproots and leaves (called beet greens). Beetroots are a great source of many essential vitamins and minerals. It’s packed with essential nutrients and is a great source of fibre, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C and also it contains high concentrations of the element Boron, which is believed to play a key role in producing human sex hormones.  

Beetroots have long been considered an aphrodisiac in many cultures.

Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of Love, Pleasure and Fertility, was irresistible among the Goddesses and desired by all. Legend tells us that eating beets was the secret to her ageless beauty. The Oracle at Delphi decreed beets to be worth their weight in silver because of their deep mystic potency. (Wikipedia)

Aphrodite, Eros & Pan (National Archaeological Museum, Athens/Wikipedia commons) In the picture above both God and Goddess seem stimulated after (probably) indulging in just a little too many beets, Poor little Eros above them, not sure if to separate the two or join in…

As I mentioned above, beetroot contains high concentrations of the element Boron, which is thought to have a major role in adjusting the body’s natural production of testosterone, and estradiol – a type of estrogen.

Both Aphrodite and Pan were well aware of the benefits of the beetroots. 

Unfortunately, beetroot doesn’t produce any essential oils, so I used a little beet extract as a symbolic gesture. To recreate the scent of the beetroot I used the essential oil of Vetiver and palmarosa. 

Vetiver essential oil has a deep smoky, sweet earthy-woody aroma like the earth which resonates with the deep earthy scent of beetroot, connecting us to our deeper roots, to the pulsating heart of nature. (For more details about vetiver see the chapter Black Magick).

Invocations to the green power should begin with self-love; an attempt to see the wonderful side of every self one consists of, and then proceed into a ritual affirmation of the beauty and loveability of all things and all people. Suitable god forms for the Love-self include Venus, Aphrodite and the mythical Narcissus…

Peter Carroll/Green Magic/Liber Kaos

With all respect to the mythical Narcissus,  this chapter is dealing with the ancient god of Nature and earth, a god that some might say is long dead. But for us, of the Jitterybug cult, he is very much alive and kicking. He is the god of the Green Magick season.

Io Pan

Invocations to the green power should begin with self-love

When we think of self-love, we must take into consideration the differences between Pan and Narcissus.  

The path of self-love is a narrow one and could lead to destruction through self-delusion, obsession and isolation. This was pretty much Narcissus’s way. On the other hand, we have the wild, beasty, earthy way of Pan which can teach us self-love through the appreciation of nature, music and dance. Through pleasures of body, ecstasy and trance, we can learn to see the hidden beauty in every living being and situation. Pan teaches us to have the courage to be wild and leads us to liberation.

Palmarosa Cymbopogon martinii 

Cymbopogon martinii

Palmarosa is a wild herbaceous plant with long grasslike fragrant stems. It is native to India and Pakistan but also grown in Africa, Indonesia, Brazil and the Comoro Islands. Palmarosa essential oil is pale yellow or olive liquid with a sweet, balsamic, somewhat citrusy, geranium-like scent.

While vetiver is related to the earth element which resonates strongly with Pan and his affinity with the land and nature, Palmarosa is related to the water element which resonates with the flowing nature of love and healing. Both vetiver and palmarosa are under the planetary rule of Venus, which might explain the strange and wild attraction between Pan and Aphrodite in the picture above (Aphrodite, Eros & Pan). The flowing nature of palmarosa oil soothes the mind and can help heal broken hearts and overcome negative emotions and move forward with our lives.

Pan is dead?

In the story, De Defectu Oraculorum Plutarch wrote:

 “[the] ship drove with the tide till it was carried near the Isles of Paxi; when immediately a voice was heard … calling unto one Thamus, and that with so loud a voice as made all the company amazed; … the voice said aloud to him, ‘When you arrive at Palodes, take care to make it known that the great god Pan is dead.’ … this voice did much to astonish all that heard it, and caused much arguing whether this voice was to be obeyed or slighted…” 

The announcement of Pan’s death was spread throughout the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Tiberius.  As the ancient empires began to grow, the wild suffered, as did Pan’s life essence. 

Pan was the God of the Wild and his essence filled his surroundings with life and vitality. Nature was at its most bountiful when Pan was present.

Pan’s death and his symbiotic relationship with nature represent the crisis over the loss of nature and pagan worship and the shift to Christian monotheism. The growth and spread of the Roman Empire led to many new roads laid through woodlands, fields and forests. New settlements started to flourish and spread along those new and modern roads, destroying the natural habitats of flora and fauna.

Pan’s name could also mean “all”, which leads to the assumption that his death had been that of all the demons of the pre-Christian era. The goat-legged god became the image of the devil and Pan’s image was vastly used in Christian literature and art as the image of Satan.

However, besides Plutarch’s work, there was no indication that Pan had ever died. In fact, a century after Plutarch’s time, Pausanias described shrines, grottos and sacred caves devoted to Pan that were still very much in use for rituals and pilgrimage.

In the second aeon, Men knew me as the Horned God, Pangenitor Panphage 

Verse 0 Book 1: Sacred scriptures of the Jitterybug cult

Pan is not Dead. He is Just resting

Verse 1 Book 1: Sacred scriptures of the Jitterybug cult

The only way Pan could shake off the satanic image the New Christians attributed to him was to go underground. But Pan, being the God of nature and a fertile symbol of the land, knew he would be found and hunted till the edge of the world. The new lords of the land will track him down and sniff his beasty pheromones out. The only place they will not be able to track his scent will be if he hides (or make them think he is hiding) in the depth of the sea. 

The rumour about Pan’s death started onboard a ship cruising the Ionian Sea when Thamus, an Egyptian sailor, sailed to Italy. As he passed by the Greek islands, he heard a divine voice call to him from across the water saying – “The great god Pan is dead!” 

Plutarch ‘forgot’ to mention, that Thamus was a devotee of Pan (some say he was one of Pan’s most celebrated high priests) who started the rumour as part of Pan’s manifesto to keep the balance and harmony of the land by letting the wild things be wild at heart and nature.

The sacred scriptures of the Jitterybug cult tell us how Kudra created a special scent, a perfume to mask the scent of Pan, so he can walk free among us without being detected or recognised, the K23.

Kudra had to apply all her perfumery skills, aromatic knowledge and scentual abilities to cover the scent of Pan.  As you know, Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat. For those of you that have never experienced the farmyard smells of a goat pen, there are not many ways to describe the distinct smell of goats, especially male goats — They stink.

Creating a perfume that will be suitable for a god is a serious task, even more so if the perfume in mind needs to conceal the scent of one of the stinkier gods around. 

Kudra was somewhat vague about the ingredients she used to create the k23. We know she collected the very rare pollen of the beetroot to balance out with earthy tones and the animalistic stench of the goat, and then she added the best quality Jasmine oil she could find. In Kudra’s case, it will probably be ok to assume she used Jasmine Sambac. 

Jasmine has the honour of being one of the highest-priced plant scents and has often been called the king of flowers. (Scott Cunningham:1997). 

Earlier in the book, Jasmine was also dedicated to the Amrita Kala (Amrita means “immortality”) and resonates with the sexual magic elixir. She is also associated with Lalita. Lalita is a Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of the supreme goddess Mahadevi. The intense scent of Jasmine can affect our emotions by producing feelings of optimism, confidence and euphoria in the hearts of the devotees at the time of worshipping the gods.

The powerful aroma of Jasmine will be sufficient enough to tone down the stench of the goat, and at the same time will support its life essence and vitality, sexual appeal and stamina, which are so vital for the man-goat-God Pan. 

The last of the ingredients of the perfume according to Kudra should be a light and airy note of the citrus family.  Without much thinking, I reached for the bottle of Bergamot and added a few drops to the perfume oil blend. After all, what is better than the fresh fruity sweet aroma of Bergamot to lift the spirit and keep the vital essence of life, flowing freely and smoothly throughout the body and mind. However, after letting the blend settle, I noticed that one high keynote is still missing to make the perfume whole.

So what would it be? 

It was very difficult to decide between the fresh, grassy-lemony scent of the Lemongrass with the equally fresh, lemony, fruity-floral fragrance of Lemon-Verbena, so after a few trials, I decided to ‘keep it in the family and chose Palmarosa older cousin – Lemongrass. As already described in Octarine Magick’s chapter, the intensity of the fresh lemon-herby scent of the lemongrass can bring up fragments of deep and long-lost memories of ancient wildlands and open spaces. 

This version of the K23 is a very complex and paradoxical blend of scents, aromas and fragrances. The journey to create a perfume that at the same time will represent the essence of the God Pan, and conceal it within its unique scent, took me on a journey exploring the rhythms and vibes of Green Magick which I never expected when I started writing this chapter. I am grateful for the author who recognised my skills and knowledge of the sacred teachings of the cult of the last God who can still dance the Jitterbug.

Before I go, I entrust you with the cult’s most sacred scripture — the teaching of St Beetaroota and the secret of the beets.

February 20k23

Miryamdevi, Jitterbug priestess 

 

The Anubis ritual

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The Anubis ritual is based on an ancient Egyptian ritual which is similar to a seance. The priest/ess of Anubis invokes Anubis’s Godform into the medium which will channel Anubis’s knowledge concerning the other deities which will be invited into the “table”.

This year we invite to the table: Geb the God of the Earth, and Nuit – the Goddess of the sky (Geb & Nuit are lovers and the parents of Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephtis and Horus the Elder). As is the time of Green Magick we also think that we have to invite the God Min – which is the most ancient form of the God Pan.

Min

Min is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in the predynastic period (4th millennium BCE). He was represented in many different forms but was most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his right hand and an upheld left arm holding a flail.

As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min became identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. One feature of Min worship was the wild prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola (the domestic version of which is Lactuca sativa (lettuce)), which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produces latex when cut, possibly identified with semen.

Celebrations of Min’s birthday are recorded on Egypt’s oldest memorials such as the 1st Dynasty Palermo stone. But his cult is even older reaching back to the prehistoric era when he was a deity of fertility, sexual reproduction and natural phenomena such as storms. His erection is his most famous attribute — combined as it is with his raised arm and flail some have speculated that this is all part of an aggressive/protective posture. 

His main centres were Koptos (Kuft) & Panopolis (Akhmim). His symbols are the Thunderbolt, the White Bull, the Flail and the Phallus. Wallis Budge speculates there was also a lunar component to his cult. Min is also called ka-mwt-f “Bull of his mother” a reference to the incestuous impregnation of his mother, an epithet of various gods, including Horus, also Geb who kills his father Shu in order to ravage Tefnut. Before getting too outraged, it’s as well to remember this is an agricultural motif and refers to the reproductive activity of bulls and cows. Min’s archaic shrine was a phallic-shaped hut, woven from two significant and emblematic plants — the White Lotus & the (narcotic) Blue Lily (Nymphaea caerulea). 

The blossoms and foliage of these flowers are to be woven into a model phallus or perhaps a crown. The traditional hymns are referred to as “Danced”, implying they are rhythmic chants.

Danced Hymn for Min 

who is on his staircase

Hail to you, 

Min, Min Ra

Welcome

On your staircase

Hail to you

Min, Min Ra

And the crown you wear 

on your forehead

Hail to you 

Mysterious Min

“Bull of his mother”

Much that you do remains in obscurity

You are unique

To whom praise is given

You have power to give life 

To those you love

Powerful to give him to be propitiated

He is unique here

To whom has been conferred the function 

of the unknown god

While you go out of the great door

And are standing on your stairway of truth

Speaking with Osiris hour by hour

See, that which you ordain

For protection

Against all bad things

Min justified before your enemies

In the sky and on the earth

By the judges of all the gods

And all the goddesses.

NWT/ NUT/ NUIT & GEB

Nuit is the daughter of Shu and Tefnut. Her brother and husband is Geb. She had five children – Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephthys and Horus the Elder. She is considered one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found in the creation story of Heliopolis. 

Her name means “The watery one” which may also symbolize the uterus. She represents the sky but not as the lifeless roof of heaven but as a dynamic entity, creating and destroying. She also represented the entire sky. Night and day as well as large features such as the Milky Way.

The female sky is the realm of the dead, whereas the Earth is for the living. This perhaps explains the male rulership of the Earth.

Nuit is intimately connected with the stars, especially those that are close to and appear to envelop our world. According to The Book of NWT, creation begins with the ambisexual Amun-Ra or Sungod Ra. he has the power to emanate part of himself, creating other Gods and Goddesses. He starts with Shu and Tefnut, who represent the principles of air and fire respectively. The process of emanation continues and they generate NWT the sky Goddess and Geb the Earth.

Nwt and Geb are locked together in a sexual embrace, almost a single entity. It is Shu, the God of the winds and the air who separates them, creating a space between all these elements in which our world can exist.

Geb was the Egyptian god of the earth and a mythological member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. He could also be considered a father of snakes. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb’s laughter created earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow.

The oldest representation in a fragmentary relief of the god was as an anthropomorphic bearded being accompanied by his name, dating from king Djoser’s reign, 3rd Dynasty, and was found in Heliopolis. However, the god never received a temple of his own. In later times he could also be depicted as a ram, a bull or a crocodile.

Geb was frequently feared as the father of snakes (one of the names for snake was s3-t3 – “son of the earth”). In a Coffin Texts spell Geb was described as the father of the mythological snake Nehebkau of primaeval times. Geb could also be regarded as personified fertile earth and barren desert.

In the Heliopolitan Ennead (a group of nine gods created in the beginning by the one god Atum or Ra), Geb is the husband of Nwt, the sky or visible daytime and nightly firmament, the son of the earlier primordial elements Tefnut (moisture) and Shu (“emptiness”), and the father to the five lesser gods of the system – Osiris, Seth, Isis, Nephthys and Horus the Elder. In this context, Geb was believed to have originally been engaged with Nut and had to be separated from her by Shu, the god of the air. Consequently, in mythological depictions, Geb was shown as a man reclining, sometimes with his phallus still pointed towards Nwt. Geb and Nut together formed the permanent boundary between the primaeval waters and the newly created world.

His association with vegetation, healing and sometimes with the underworld and royalty brought Geb the occasional interpretation that he was the husband of Renenutet, a minor goddess of the harvest and also a mythological caretaker (the meaning of her name is “nursing snake”) of the young king in the shape of a cobra, who herself could also be regarded as the mother of Nehebkau, a primaeval snake god associated with the underworld.

Sources: 

Egyptian magick (Morgan: 2021) 

Demonic Calendar (Morgan: 2021)

 

Invocation of The 7th Head of the Dragon

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The Seven Heads of the Dragon are the foundational system of philosophy and practice of Apophis Club Initiates. Each head symbolises and embodies a layer of the primordial power of the Serpent.

The 7th head invocation was inspired by the book Apophis by Michael Kelly and the work curriculum of The Apophis club which was and still is a big influence on my way of thinking and being. 

Xepher!

APOPHIS By Michael Kelly

A practical handbook of Draconian Left-Hand Path Initiation. The Primordial Serpent lurks in the deepest, darkest roots of human consciousness. Each of its seven heads embodies a power which may be awakened within the psyche. ‘Apophis’ outlines the transformative process whereby the human Initiate becomes something much more than human. It provides the weapons necessary to win the war of consciousness against conformity. It openly teaches the means of immortalising the Self.

Invocation of the Typhon (2018)

The head of the Typhon or the ‘7th head’ represents the future self, the guardian angel, or the demon, your personal demon if you like.  

The head of Typhon was something I thought nobody would ever go through with, that is to say, I never imagine that anyone I know, let alone me, will ever go through with the invocation of all of the 7 heads. 

A few days before I set for the invocation I prepared my space by cleaning and sorting out everything I might need for the ritual. Music always helped me to focus when I need to plan a ceremony or an invocation, something about the rhythms of the tune I chose that afternoon is that before invoking one of the heads it is recommended to do the ritual of ‘opening the eye’ and then invoke myfutureself… 

Just to make it clear, by the time I felt ready to approach Typhon in a ritualistic way and invoke the 7th head, a few years have passed by, and the intense days of study and practice of the Apophis Club curriculum, were long behind me, and I was no more an active member of the club.

 Once you ‘open the eye’ and invoked your futureself it is the time to call upon one of the heads. There is no point leaving the eye open with no one to guide you through it – and by having your futureself about, the sense of security and reassurance to cross the abyss and reach out to the final head. I was a little nervous I must admit.

Am I really going to invoke the 7th head? 

It’s a myth, isn’t it? 

Deep breath, and here I am, getting ready to call upon Seth, the lord of darkness, the principle of ​Isolated intelligence, god of the Unknown future. 

Before midnight I started with banishing and soon realised I needed to repeat it a couple of times. Before I noticed I got carried away, and end up doing three different kinds of banishing — just to be on the safe side…  

You can take the girl out of the chaos, but you can’t take the chaos out of the girl… 

I went out to the garden altar and lit a candle and burned some incense and made a small offering of beer and bread. I put a little ​cake of light on the incense burner and looked up to the sky for the Ursa Major constellation. As soon as I saw Him, I stood in the Apophis and Typhon posture and chanted IAO for a little while. Satisfied, I went back inside and started singing and dancing, Open Up by P.I.L. Leftfield’s remix is always a favourite in raising the energies.  

 Earlier in the day I drew the sigil of the 7th head and mixed Dragon’s Blood powder into some red wine, I never tried it before, but what can be more symbolic than drinking actual dragon’s blood, especially when part of the invocation reads:  

‘Here I stand, initiate of the Dragon Mysteries…  And I am as you are, a void dweller.  The blood of the Dragon pulses through my veins;  My bones and flesh are of your substance’   

So I call upon my futureself, charge the dragon blood wine and drank it. 

It is stronger than I thought, the tingling sensation rushing through my veins. It’s time to invoke the Typhon.

I stare at the sigil and start chanting the words of the invocation. 

Everything becomes quiet for a few seconds, minutes, dead quiet. I’m not sure for how long I stood there until I felt something behind me.  It didn’t spook me, which is surprising.  

Seth is present in the room, I felt Him immediately, strong, stable and daring. Everything I say, he’s daring me to question and think it over. I find myself saying laud what needs to be done, speaking in such a confident way, using some hands and arms mudras like I was casting a spell. This led to a very bizarre conversation, between me, myfutureself and the Typhon. I started by saying all I needed to say to the Mighty Seth, and for one second, a thought crossed my mind — what are you doing woman? 

It was like staring into a mirror, into the void. I was staring into the eye, and I knew that now is the best time to say things as they are, that there is no god, apart from that I am a god/ess. We are partners in this journey, I do my bit, and you do yours. 

 I was trying to think about how I’m going to end this conversation when He just says; ‘Drink, Partner!’ and I’m thinking to myself, yes, ‘Partner’ sounds so much better than ‘My Lord’ or ‘Prince of Darkness’!  

 This might sound weird to you, but I’ve let you into my head now, and that’s the way things are in there.  

 Everything around me is slowing and quietening down, like I’m watching it all in slow motion, at times the sound of silence is quite alarming, my heart racing and then Typhon says, ‘I need some beer, so drink!’ 

​I knew I just did something incredible, but not sure what it was. We had some beer by the altar, then He said go, go and feel what it is like… 

 My blood is tingling and the music sends me far, far away. I lie on the sofa, I’m flying high with the music. The room is pretty dark but new thoughts and ideas keep bubbling up in my mind. I write them in my journal, like little messages, some private, some to share later.

I wait for the playlist to finish, before getting up and consigning the 7th head back to whence it came from. The circle is closed with as many banishings as I could remember and do. It is 4 am, and the sun is just coming up. I wind my whistle to the four corners, welcoming the new dawn. 

It is done!

***

That was a year ago, and what a year it was!

Soon after the invocation, I decided to leave my old job and at the same time, I got an offer for a much better one ( a dream job in a way at the time ). Before starting the new job I took a little holiday and went to Stonehenge for the Summer solstice, and what an amazing experience that was! A beautiful golden dawn, a good omen I would say. I found love, a soulmate and a magical partner and all in the same person! 

I went on the most fantastic holiday to Cairo, where we were very lucky to have the Red Pyramid at Dahshur to ourselves. We were the only people inside, so we took our chances and did a little ritual (our version of the open-the-mouth ritual) in the King’s chamber, at the heart of the pyramid!

We have been experimenting with crazy dream work, which gave us some very interesting results. And oh yes, there’s a book nearly finished,  in which you will find much more of my magical adventures in hyperspace reality…

So, it Is Done!

Xepher!

About Altars

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Babalon the Scarlet woman

The altar is raised structure or place that is used for sacrifice, worship, or prayer. 

A working altar could be a table or anything similar to it. 

The height of the Altar is equal to the height above the ground of the navel of the Magician. (Liber ABA, chapter III).

The altar is the place in which we focus our magical work and consecrate and keep our ritual tools. There are all sorts of altars, which usually correspond to different types of magical work and deities. 

When we start working with a new deity, or one that we never worked with before, it is advisable to dedicate an altar just for it. In this way, we can fine-tune ourselves into the subtle energies of the deity. Only when we learn enough and get familiar with the deity, we might want to try and add another deity to the same altar. 

Some deities even though belong to the same pantheons, would not approve of sharing the same space with one another. I realize that this might sound a bit nonsensical to the neophyte, but it is easy to detect, as soon enough you will notice the disharmony flowing around your house and affecting everything you do. Some traditionalists would even go as far as separating certain deities completely from the rest and dedicating a whole room to them.

But we are Chaos Magicians, I hear you say, how does this apply to us?

To master the art of Chaos magic, we need to learn first the order of things and how they work, only then we will know how to turn chaos into magic. To live in chaos does not make you a chaos magician…

I have many altars around the house, each one of them is like a PowerPoint of certain energy and information that I can stop by whenever I need or want to, and charge myself with. The main altar in the house is like an ongoing creation of itself, always changing according to the seasons and the sabbats or the main magical work of a specific time. 

***

The Altar should delight

A personal magical altar should be a delight to behold. Keep things simple and aesthetically pleasing. For starting out, you need only a very few things. A basic altar usually has on it symbols of the five elements. Candles or lamps for fire, a cup for water, incense and burner for smell, a plate or pentacle for earth, a bell for spirit. Try to put aside any doubts you have about the need to have these things actually there. You will come to see these doubts as just another kind of conditioning that you need to work through. 

Optional things for your altar are perhaps a special knife or wand to point with when doing an invocation. At this stage a finger does just as well. A wand you make now may not please you in a years time but you will nevertheless have great difficulty abandoning it. To avoid this problem, why not do without a wand until you really feel the need for one – perhaps you never will. Other useful things include a robe or cloak (black cotton is the most widely used variety). Robes and cloaks work well for standing up rituals, but for sitting down, of which there is a fair amount in Magick, they can be a bit restrictive. If your room is well heated then going naked might be an option, otherwise comfortable leggings, sarong or yoga trousers might be better. 

One last recommendation, try using real incense, which is burnt on self lighting charcoal. Clouds of incense have long been used by magicians as an alternative to the ancient animal sacrifice. Real incense is more expensive, but can be more potent than joss sticks. But even the later vary a lot in quality, so investigate the best. Ask about reputable magical incense suppliers or details about how you can make your own – as with anything there are good and bad suppliers of such things. 

(From Thelemic Magick: Mogg Morgan 2022)

***

From Liber ABA

CHAPTER III

THE ALTAR

THE Altar represents the solid basis of the work, the fixed Will

footnote: It represents the extension of Will. Will is the Dyad (see section on the Wand); 2 x 2 = 4. So the altar is foursquare, and also its ten squares show 4. 10 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4.

of the Magician; and the law under which he works. Within this altar everything is kept, since everything is subject to law. Except the lamp.

According to some authorities the Altar should be made of oak to represent the stubbornness and rigidity of law; others would make it of Acacia, for Acacia is the symbol of resurrection.

The Altar is a double cube, which is a rough way of symbolizing the Great Work; for the doubling of the cube, like the squaring of the circle, was one of the great problems of antiquity. The surface of this Altar is composed of ten squares. The top is Kether, and the bottom Malkuth. The height of the Altar is equal to the height above the ground of the navel of the Magician. The Altar is connected with the Ark of the Covenant, Noah’s Ark, the nave (“navis,” a ship) of the Church, and many other symbols of antiquity, whose symbolism has been well worked out in an anonymous book called “The Cannon,”

WEH footnote: written by William Stirling

(Elkin Mathews), which should be studied carefully before constructing the Altar.

For this Altar must embody the Magician’s knowledge of the laws of Nature, which are the laws through which he works.

He should endeavour to make geometrical constructions to symbolize cosmic measurements. For example, he may take the two diagonals as (say) the diameter of the sun. Then the side of the altar will be found to have a length equal to some other cosmic measure, a vesica drawn on the side some other, a “rood cross” within the vesica yet another. Each Magician should work out his own system of symbolism — and he need not confine himself to cosmic measurements. He might, for example, find some relation to express the law of inverse squares.

The top of the Altar shall be covered with gold, and on this gold should be engraved some such figure as the Holy Oblation, or the New Jerusalem, or, if he have the skill, the Microcosm of Vitruvius, of which we give illustrations.

On the sides of the Altar are also sometimes drawn the great tablets of the elements, and the sigils of the holy elemental kings, as shown in The Equinox, No. VII; for these are syntheses of the forces of Nature. Yet these are rather special than general symbols, and this book purports to treat only of the grand principles of working.

{diagrams on this page, at top the microcosm of Vitruvius from the title page decoration (not frontispiece as is sometimes said) to Robert Fludd’s “Utriusque Cosmi Maioris scilicet et Minoris Metaphysica, Physica, Atque Technica Historia”, based on a Renaissance copy of Vitruvius’ 1st century “De Architectura” as interpreted by Cesariano in 1521, minus Fludd’s rope, clouds and winged fawn+hourglass, with the caption beneath “DESIGN SUITABLE FOR TOP OF ALTAR”, and below that a geometrical figure of the planets and stars from “The Cannon” fig. 3, p. 30, chap. II. with the under caption “THE HOLY OBLATION”}

{diagram on this page: Inside a dashed equilateral triangle are a scourge, chain, dagger and a wide, low perfume bottle shaped like a woman’s breast with nipple, below this is a scale in inches and below that the caption “THE SCOURGE, THE DAGGER, AND THE CHAIN; ENCLOSING THE PHIAL FOR THE HOLY OIL.”}

 

The Hierophant – Love and do what you will

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Chapter 3, verse xi: “Let the woman be girt with a sword before me”.

The symbolism of Crowley’s Thoth tarot is much more profound than the usual tarot meanings and symbolism. Crowley had a wonderful underlined subtext and messages communicating his ideas and beliefs through the Thoth tarot deck. I find his ‘secret’ symbolism and messages fascinating. 

Before we start to explore the symbolism of this card, remember we are only approaching it from the Crowlian point of view and a very specific one – which is mine. 

Let us understand first who is the Hierophant and what it represents.

The Hierophant is a person, especially a priest, who interprets sacred mysteries or esoteric principles. 

According to Wikipedia, a hierophant (Ancient Greek: ἱεροφάντης) is a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy.  As such, a hierophant interprets sacred mysteries and arcane principles. In Attica, Hierophant was the title of the chief priest at the Eleusinian Mysteries. It was an office inherited within the Philaidae or Eumolpidae families. The office of Hierophant, High Priestess and Dadouchousa Priestess were all inherited within the Philaidae or Eumolpidae families, and the Hierophant and the High Priestess were of equal rank. It was the task of the High Priestess to impersonate the roles of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone in the enactment during the Mysteries.

The Hierophant is associated with the element of earth.

From the above, we can understand that the hierophant is a top religious figure like the Pope, or the chief Rabbi if you like, whose job was to be a conductor, a channel, funnel or mediator between the gods and the people. In this particular card, focusing only on the hidden symbolism, the hierophant is the representation of the goddess Nuit.

Nuit represents the element of infinite space. The mother of all stars – after all – “Every man and every woman is a star” (chapter 1, verse 3). Nuit is also the place each star is return to when his or her light diminishes. She is also the divine law. The law that the hierophant needs to transmit to her followers. 

 “Let the woman be girt with a sword before me” 

At the front of the card, before the hierophant, we can see the woman girt with a sword. 

According to The Book of Thoth, “she represents the Scarlet Woman in the hierarchy of the new Aeon” or in other words, representative of the ‘new woman’, ie, no more just a housewife or a pretty decor on the arm of her husband or boyfriend, but armed and militant, seeking her truth and equal rights. 

We can see how all of this manifests in the feminist movement of the 70s and the Me Too movement of our days. 

The woman girt with a sword , “The woman is the priestess; in her reposes the mystery. She is the mother, brooding yet tender; the lover, at once passionate and aloof; the wife, revered and cherished. She is the witch woman.” (Freedom is a two-edged Sword, Jack Parsons)

The deeper you look into the hidden symbolism and meaning of this mysterious woman, the clear it gets, that she can be Nuit herself, guarding the divine law.  

The law is simple and clear and it’s the hierophant’s job to pass it to his congregation:

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”

“Love is the law, love under will”

Or in our words 

Love and do what you will

***

“The symbolism of the Wand is peculiar” – Solve et Coagula

Crowley describes the three interlaced rings of the wand, as a “representative of the three Aeons of Isis, Osiris and Horus”. However, on a closer look, we see that the hierophant holding the wand with its three rings aspiring upward, in his right hand (solve).  

As a Setian/Typhonian, I couldn’t help the thought that the three interlaced rings, would be much more comfortable in the right hand of destruction (solve) as a representative of Set, Osiris & Ra. 

Set and Osiris are both Ra’s grandsons and make a sacred triad. Both brothers have to sacrifice themselves for the continuation of Ra — of life — Osiris by getting killed by his brother Set, and Set killing his brother and becoming the ‘outcast’ God. (Aromagick)

The demonstration cycle of life through destruction and creation is continued with the symbolism of the hierophant’s left hand.

His left hand (coagula) is pointing downward in the Shamak mudra hand position. I must admit that this never occurred to me before, but once I become aware of it, I could not un-see it. 

The Shamak mudra also calls the kidney mudra, is the perfect hand position to deliver the message of Solve et Coagula (destruction and creation). In the beginning, I couldn’t see the connection between the kidney mudra to the word coagula and what it represents in the occult symbolism, especially here, to the hierophant and his wand. 

Coagulation means The action or process of a liquid, especially blood, changing to a solid or semi-solid state.
“a supplement that inhibits blood coagulation”

The main function of the kidneys is to cleanse the blood of toxins and transform the waste into urine.

The hierophant’s right hand in the Shamak mudra, suggests that before we can coagulate, we must be cleansed and purified of all toxins. Only then can we coagulate into our new and transformed selves. 

“The Throne of the Hierophant is surrounded by elephants, which are of the nature of Taurus; and he is actually seated upon a bull.”

At first look, the card seems to resonate with the symbolism of the zodiac sign Taurus, which is an earth sign. The element of earth is represented in this card as the Bull Kerub and symbolises the earth element at its most balanced and strongest. If we look at the symbolism of the bull from the Setian perspective, it takes us back to the cattle cult which is probably the oldest cult in the world. 

Cave painting from the Tassili n’Ajjer mountains

All Egyptian male deities have bull avatars. The Bull of Ombos is the avatar of Set. The Bull Cult probably sprang out of the Cattle cult linking deities like the Heavenly Cow/Hathor which represents the female aspect of the cult. 

The bull symbolises male fertility and potency and is connected with energy, stamina, endurance, protection, and aggression. As a symbol of strength, the bull was worshipped throughout the ancient world. From the astrological point of view, the zodiac sign of Taurus is linked to Spring in the agriculture calendar. Symbolising the season of rebirth, wealth and abundance. The bull also stands as a symbol of stubbornness, ferocity, tyranny and brutality, all the characteristics of a powerful God/s, and will make an honourable sacrifice for the almighty.

We might think, that we have moved on from the religious practices and worship of the bull’s cult, but today, the cattle cult assumed a different structure — the dairy and meat industry, that most of us are pretty much worshipping still.

Just to remind you, a hierophant is a person who brings religious congregants into the presence of that which is deemed holy.  As such, a hierophant interprets sacred mysteries and arcane principles.

In this card, the hierophant symbolises the link to the secret of the rhythm of time and the ancient practice of the worship of the bull. 

The secrets of the time lords are encoded in the divine law which is guarded by Nuit/NWT and delivered by the hierophant.

Timelord (?)

On magic and miracles and of Beit Shami tradition of Lighting Hanukkah candles

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Recently I learned of Beit Shamai Hanukkah tradition of starting with all eight candles on the first night and going down to one candle on the eighth. The more common Hanukkah tradition follows Beit Hillel – on the first night you light one candle and add another each day so by the eighth day you have all the candles burning in your Hanukkiah (Hanukkah’s special candle holder).

Once I understood the reason for this minhag (custom), it seemed to me the appropriate way for us Chaos Jewitches to celebrate Hanukkah 

To remind you, Hanukkah or the festival of lights is a holiday that is celebrated for eight days, in memory of the victory of the Hasmoneans in the rebellion against the Greeks, the rededication of the Temple, and the miracle of the oil jug. The holiday is marked by the saying of praise as well as the lighting of Hanukkah candles, on the eight days from the 24th Kislev to the 2nd of Tevet.

The Miracle of Hanukkah is an Aggadah (story) depicted in the Babylonian Talmud as one of the reasons for Hanukkah. In the story, the miracle occurred after the liberation of the Temple in Jerusalem during the Maccabean Revolt, and it describes the finding of a jug of pure oil that was just enough to light the lamp for one day, but that then lasted for eight days. 

There are two ways to understand the miracle: 

  1. You can focus on how the miracle power grew day by day, and by night it came to its full potential.
  2. Or, you can argue the opposite: that the magic was at its peak on the first day and by the eighth day its potential was already established in the hearts of all, but no longer visible.

Beit Hillel follows the first argument above, and as far as I know, it is the more common and popular tradition followed by most Jews around the world, celebrating the miracle getting bigger and stronger each day.

Beit Shamai focuses on the potential of the divine miracle and how the magic was much greater on the first day than on the last day. If we replace the word miracle with the word magic, suddenly it seems obvious why Beit Shammai chose to focus on the potential of the power of magic on its first day

This phenomenon, according to Chaos Magic, is described in one word — Gnosis, which is one of a kind and an extremely powerful experience. But as most of us know, the feeling and the memory of it, fade in the days that follow.  Beit Shammai’s Hanukkah tradition also focuses on the gnosis’s full potential or the miracle of the light that shone bright and strong on the first night.

I assume that most of you if you have read this far, do not follow Beit Hillel or Beit Shamai, but rather swim in the fertile waters of Chaos Magic or Chaos Craft Consciousness, and miracles, wonders, magic and sorcery are part of your path. Therefore, this Hanukkah, we would be celebrating by focusing on the divine magical potential for the entire eight days of the holiday. That means, eight candles every day for eight days!

When we focus on the divine potential of magic and its possible power, we are connecting and resonating with energy and information vibrating throughout the cosmological grid of the torus doughnut.

Overcoming Apep

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Part of my day job is reading and editing books, recently I was preparing the ebook edition of Seth & The Two Ways (Morgan 2019). Reading Appendix 2 – Book(s) of Overthrowing Apep (Bremner Rhind Papyrus 3), a papyrus found in Thebes (in Upper Egypt), probably from the tomb of a priest from the Ptolemaic period, filled with the most powerful and hostile of curses. To get the editing job done, I had to read the nine books in one go. Working on these texts I noticed a strange feeling creeping over me. As I read the first two books, I felt upset and unsettled, as if the disturbing words of the text caught me off guard and were now literally directed toward me. By the time I got to book three, the heavy feeling of despair changed to something else, difficult to describe. By books three and four, I could feel a surge of energy shooting up and down my spine and I could sense a powerful circle forming around me. When I started book five, The Book of Knowing The Creation Of Ra And Of Overthrowing Apep, I could almost see the circle of power enclosing me, on all sides. I felt protected and at the same time strong and ready, but for what?

By the time I finished reading book six, I had an insight into the nature of cursing and the importance of the god Seth in Egyptian Cosmology and its pantheons.

The ninth book vibrates the victorious rhythms of mission accomplished, the priest ferried through the most horrendous and atrocious curses, his spirit never failing, his heart never broken, his body fully charged with the primaeval power of the ancient serpent that vibrates with the secrets of creation. He is one with the Dark Lord, with the Red God, with the Black power of the North, he is ready to take on the ancient worm.

By the time I finished reading the ninth book, I felt powerful, strong, determined, and mighty. I was ready to slay a dragon.

Most of the curses and “grimoires” we are familiar with are working on a very specific psychological level – earthy and primal, to intimidate and bully a person, in the most extreme and influential ways, to make them believe they are cursed. As we know, this power is indisputable and when a person believes in something, it can be nearly impossible to argue with them or to change their minds.

This type of cursing is directed straight to the emotional centre, resonating with the lower and earthly vibrations to cause fear and upheaval in the lives of the ‘victim’. On the other hand, the person who does the cursing is as much trapped in the emotional realm of aggression and intimidation as the target is. 

In order to curse an awesome and primaeval power such as Apep, the priest who conducted the ritual, needed to be as strong and as powerful as Apep, probably stronger. 

I have come to believe that the Book(s) of Overthrowing Apep was meant to be read and performed as one ritual without a break. Like many other Egyptian texts, the Bremner Rhind Papyrus 3 is a text that takes us on a journey of becoming. The priest or priests build up their mental and physical resilience by vibrating those hostile words, channelling the power and assimilating them into themselves, transforming those nine books of curses into a powerful and mighty weapon of protection and strength. 

I mentioned above how these texts were probably found in the tomb of a priest. They were included in the funeral rites and preparation for the underworld or night journey. Whichever way one looks at it, one can’t avoid the awareness that Apep is eternal, bornless and cannot be killed. This realisation could cause a psychological battle in the mind of the priest, leading to doubts, despair and resentment of his beliefs, and losing their ability to perform their roles properly in the temple. By turning the tables and learning the secrets powers of the curse, the priest acquires a tool of power, channelling the powers of the cursed one onto himself, freeing himself from the mundane state of existence, transforming and attuning his mind into the cosmic rhythm of the eternal.

Being equipped with such a papyrus, with such a powerful curse, in the tomb on your final journey, would be like the ultimate insurance policy against the immense forces of Apep the eternal, to protect his “soul” (Ba, Ka, Akh) on the final journey.

The Names Of Apep Which Shall Have No Existence – Book nine is like a repetitive mantra to be chanted and written on papyrus and to be burned in the fire. In the mantra, the name of Apep is repeated twenty-nine times! Each repetition is written with one of his terrible and horrific powerful characteristics, for instance – (21) Apep Kher Amam (Apep, The Fallen, The Devourer) (25) Apep Kher Kenemmti (Apep, The Fallen, The Dark One) (28) Apep Kher Sekhem-her (Apep, The Fallen, The Potent of Glance). Ostensibly it looks as if the priest is chanting and writing a very fierce curse. From my personal experience with mantra chantings, I can say that the more you repeat the same word,  vowel or seed mantra, the more one can actually feel the energy gathering, charging and vibrating around and within you. You are becoming one with the rhythm, like the physical vessel of the mantra vibrations. The repetition of Apep’s name is the way in which the priest channels and charges the power into himself. 

According to the instructions on the Abydos Temple walls, the daily temple ritual was performed three times a day.  Based on information from Temple Ritual at Abydos by Rosalie David (2016), before entering the temple, the priests had to purify themselves in the water basins, the sacred lake or any other convenient pure water source. Weapons must be left outside the temple and only then can they approach the shrine door. 

They open that door while saying: “I remove the finger of Seth from the Eye of Horus” step into the shrine and look at the God, saying whatever comes into their mind as a greeting. Perhaps something like this: “Be not unaware of me (Ra), If you know me, I will know you”. They

move into the shrine and stand before the altar and clean away any debris, tidy the place, lighted the fire and anointed all the deity’s statues and figurines with the daily perfume and made an offering of food etc saying: “Hetep di nesew asir neb djedu neter Aa neb Abdu” Which was the standard offering formula in Egyptian rites and can be adapted to any deity. Once all this was done, the priest positioned himself in front of the offering table and started to read the Book(s) of Overthrowing Apep, building up the energy to the triumphant crescendo of the chanting the words of book nine – The Names Of Apep Which Shall Have No Existence, finishing the rite by throwing the papyrus into the purifying flames of the temple fire. 

One can almost see the rite taking place, almost feel the vibrations of the chants resonating within the temple.  Now imagine how would it feels to visit that temple when the ritual of Overthrowing Apep has been performed a myriad times, since the Middle Kingdom when its existence was first recorded. For the uninitiated and the laymen, the temples in which this rite has been regularly performed must have been the most forbidding and eerie of places, haunted by wild-eyed priests. For the cult and its initiates, this was a place of power, a place to immerse yourself and to be charged with the endless baraka of the eternal one.

The Sethian myth is established on the sacred triad: Ra, Seth & Apophis, none could exist without the others. It is the battle-dance of creation, one dies, another must kill and one must shine.  

 The complete version of the Books of Overthrowing Apep (The Mother of all Curses) is reproduced in Mogg Morgan’s Seth & The Two Ways

Seth & The Two Ways
Ways of seeing the demon god of Egypt
Mogg Morgan
Format: Softcover/illustrated/many in colour.
ISBN: 9781906958831
£18/US$26
Subjects: Ancient Egypt/Egyptian Magick

Click HERE for Seth & The Two Ways / UK / £18

Click HERE for Seth & The Two Ways / USA and Worldwide / US$26

 

Chaos Monk – An interview with Steve Dee

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Click here to buy Chaos Monk

I am a big fan of Steve’s writing. At first, it was his posts on the Blog of Baphomet that drew my attention to his writing. His very unique and personal take on chaos magick resonates with everything I wanted to learn and explore for myself at the time. Steve and I corresponded for a while, I can’t recall for how long, but I can say that his teaching, guidance and mentoring had a profound impact on my life. 

Chaos Monk is an invitation to spiritual intensity. In the face of life’s brevity, it seeks to offer a challenge to consider what truly matters and how we might find skilful means for exploring such a question.

From my own personal experiences of working with Steve, I can say that his ‘monastic ways’ always help and guided me in the most intense and crucial times of my life.

Sometimes the deepest and highest forms of gnosis are in simplicity, faithfulness and accountability and stillness.

Other titles by Steve Dee:

A Gnostic’s Progress: Magic and the Path of Awakening

The Heretic’s Journey: Spiritual Freethinking for Difficult Times

Chaos Craft: The Wheel of the Year in Eight Colours 

 

Chaos Monk

Can you introduce yourself and say a little about what you do, and your aims and objectives with Chaos Monk in your writing?

Yes, I’m Steve Dee. I live in Devon in the UK where I work as a Psychotherapist within the National Health Service. I like surfing, walking and leading a fairly quiet life. My writing is generally the over-spill of my own exploration, research and magical practice. I tend to make sense of things by trying to write about them and hopefully what I write can be helpful to others.

If you haven’t already, can you say a little more about your family background, ie past and current – ie are you married, children, work – people like a little bit of personal stuff if you ok to share?

Sure, I come from Cardiff in South Wales but also spent a chunk of my childhood growing up in Australia. I studied theology when I was in my late teens-early 20s and came close to becoming a monk and an Anglican Priest but this all changed when I bumped into the Gnostics and Carl Jung.

I identify as being Queer. I have a long-term partner and we have two young adult sons together. I am quite introverted by nature and friends often describe me as being either a contemplative or a hermit.

When my Christian faith expanded in my mid-20 I decided to train as a social worker (rather than the priesthood) and eventually trained as a psychotherapist specialising in family work and working with people who self-harm.

Do you call yourself a magician/chaos magician, witch, or monk –  if so what does this mean to you? And is it important?

I would probably describe myself as a magical practitioner or Gnostic explorer as these are vague and talk about the doing of stuff. Other words like Witch or Yogi also apply but I use them less as people tend to have more preconceived ideas about what they mean.

You are primarily interested in what I think is called Chaos magic?- can you explain what that is and what it is that attracted you to that way?

For me, Chaos Magic focuses more on what you do rather than having to believe in a specific worldview or metaphysical scaffolding. These things can be helpful but they can also be limiting.

Personally, I am more interested in what happens when we use Gnostic technologies for opening up the body, the heart and the mind. This has a lot of similarities with how I see the early Yogis trying to use the whole of their lives as a laboratory for exploration.

You’ve written 3 previous books – can you say a little about them

Chaos Craft (2014) was co-written with my good friend Julian Vayne as a result of us running a magical group for a number of years that sought to explore a form of Witchcraft heavily inspired by Chaos Magic. The book maps the 8 colours of magic from Pete Carroll’s Liber Kaos onto the Pagan wheel of the year and then describes some of the bold magical adventures and ideas that resulted from this work.

A Gnostic’s Progress (2016) Seeks to explore how the cosmologies and practices of the early Gnostics can be of value to contemporary magicians. It’s full of fun experiments and strange ideas for triggering experiences of awakening from sleeping states of consciousness.

The Heretic’s Journey (2018) explores what it might mean to be a Spiritual Freethinker in response to attempts in society to create dogmas and orthodoxies. It looks especially at Queer theory, Surrealism and the Ma’at current as a form of Post-Crowley Thelema.

 Is the journey in your books for everyone or is it only for the expert or indeed aimed at the beginner?

People often describe my writing as being clear but some of the ideas that I reference are quite complex. So I hope that a newcomer would find something helpful and inspiring, but I write because I find it interesting and personally illuminating rather than having a specific audience in mind.

That’s a lot of questions – can you try and summarise, in a nutshell, the enduring message of the book – Chaos Monk

I don’t think I can do better than quoting myself in the book’s introduction :

“This book is an invitation to spiritual intensity. In the face of life’s brevity, it seeks to offer a challenge to consider what truly matters and how we might find skilful means for exploring such a question. As the pace and pressures of daily living seek to crowd out our ability to find space and silence, I believe that those traditions and techniques associated with monasticism provide vital keys for regaining our balance. While some may view such paths as ones of restriction or severity, as we travel together I hope to demonstrate the profound value of what simplicity, faithfulness and accountability might bring us when viewed through dynamic and responsive lens of Chaos magical practice.”

Anything else you want to add?

Your greatest magical act is to fully manifest to the world the uniqueness of who you are. That’s what the world needs. Know Thyself! Create Thyself! Become the One you know you are.

Do you have a webpage or blog?

Yes! https://theblogofbaphomet.com/

 

Serpents everywhere

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The snake charmer/Emil Otto Hoppe

A couple of weeks before Samhain/Day of the Dead, I had an insight.

This year, on our pilgrimage, to visit the ancestors, we going to perform The  Headless ritual in the graveyard. I’m not sure where this insight came from,  perhaps I was reading again too much Crowley’s stuff again.

When I asked M what does he think about performing The Headless ritual for our day of the dead extravaganza, he said it was a good idea and we should give it a go.

Later on that week, I had another insight – we must sing the headless ritual. When I say sing, I meant singing the power words.

The tune that was stuck in my head was – Schuberts’ Ave Maria…

Now, I can sing, not too bad actually, and when I’m really going for it, I can make some very cool shamanic howling, but I’m certainly not Maria Callas.

We arrived at the old farmhouse on Samhain eve, exhausted from the long drive, neither of us feel like performing any ritual, instead, we end up snoozing in front of the TV.

We agreed to do try the next day on our visit to the cemetery.

After a week or so of practising singing the power words, I felt more than ready. 

The next morning, we drove to the cemetery armed with a candle, joss sticks, and a printed version of the Bornless ritual. As soon as we start driving the weather changed from a nice sunny morning into a grey and wet one. As we turned a corner, the most beautiful rainbow appeared and a thought crossed my mind: 

The Serpent and the Rainbow

The Serpent and the Rainbow, our two ancient Haitian serpent deities that probably stand at the top of the Haitian Vodou system.

The serpent – Dambala Wedo is the ancient sky father, he is the origin of life and the ancient source of wisdom. His wife, Ayida Wedo is a water serpent with rainbow-coloured scales and her symbol is the rainbow.

The story goes like that – Dambala Wedo gave rain to the world, as the raindrops fell from the sky they formed a rainbow colour. Danbala fell in love with Ayida the rainbow serpent. They married and joined as a double helix of snakes, giving birth to the human race. (from Vodou Visions by Sallie Ann Glassman).

The rainbow reminded me why the Headless ritual would be good for this particular work (part from the urge to sing it). In the second part of the ritual that sometimes comes under the title ‘Assuming of the God form’, you can find a line that says: My name is a heart encircled by a serpent.  So the headless ritual has a serpent in it and somehow also felt connected to the energies of this time of the year.

The Orphic egg, not exactly a heart, but you get the idea.

By the time we got to the cemetery, it was very wet and we could sense a tempest was coming which reminded us that Set is a storm deity after all, aka the voice of the storm. So we lit the candle and the incense but again, something about the timing of the ritual didn’t feel right, the weather so bad we got back in the car and raced for home.

I was looking for a picture that will capture the essence of the Headless ritual, and my research led me to a very familiar one that can represent the line – My name is a heart encircled by a serpent, but also connected to the double helix formed by the serpent and the rainbow I mentioned earlier.

The more I think and study the picture and my relationship with the deity in it, the realization of why we didn’t get to perform the headless ritual as planned, was sinking in. In my opinion, preparing for a ritual sometimes is just as good and powerful as the performance itself and by the time of the ritual, sometimes you feel that things are already in motion.

For the best part of about 3 weeks, all I did was explore the ritual in so many ways so I would find the best way to sing it. In that period of time, I read it over and over again and sang the words of power numerous times. By the time we arrived at the specific date planned for it, I felt saturated and full. I didn’t want nor feel the need to do it. This resulted in a very quiet and peaceful space in my head, something like the feeling of when a ritual is completed and we say the famous words 

IT IS DONE!

XEPHER!

2 serpents circling up and around the heart

So our friend Baphomet here, got a double helix sort of serpents, possibly symbolizing the rising of the kundalini through the lingam wisdom. Both of the serpents heads point in the direction of the sternum, which is the protector of the heart. 

When we prepare for a ritual, to make it successful, we need to put ‘our heart’ into it, some will say we need to put ‘our heart and soul’, but this can be open for discussion. However, by putting ‘our heart’ into the preparations, we are consumed by the ritual, the more we study we become one with it, and we start to initiate certain elements’ energies and powers into motion, while at the time doing so we are probably not aware of it at all. By the time the day arrives, there is nothing more to do. 

The Bornless One Ritual

“I summon you, Headless One,
Who created earth and heaven,
Who created night and day,
You who created light and darkness;
You are Unas, the beautiful whom none has ever seen;
You are Iabas;
You are Iapos;
You have distinguished the just from the unjust;
You have made female and male;
You have revealed seed and fruits;
You have made men love each other
And hate each other.”
“I am Moses your prophet to whom you have transmitted your mysteries celebrated by Israel; you have revealed the moist and the dry and all nourishment; hear me.”

“I am the messenger of the beautiful Pharaoh Unas
This is your true name,
which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel.
Hear me, Hear me,
arbathiaô reibet athelebersêth [ara]
blatha albeu ebenphchi chitasgoê ibaôth iaô
Listen to me and turn away this daimon”

“I call upon you, awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit,
arogogo-robraô
sekhmet
modoriô phalarchaô ooo

Holy Headless One. Deliver us
From the daimon which restrains us,
roubriaô mari ôdam baabnabaôth
ass adônai aphniaô
ithôlêth abrasas
aêôôy;
Mighty Headless One,
Deliver us
From the daimons that restrain.
mararraiô ioêl kotha athorêbalo abraôth,

Deliver us:
aôth abraôth basym isak sabaôth iaô”
“He is lord of the gods;
He is the lord of the inhabited world;
He is the one whom the winds fear;
He is the one who made all things
By the commands of his voice.”

“Lord, King, Master, Helper, save the Soul-Ba (Psyche)
ieou pyr
iou pyr
iaôt
iaêô
ioou
abrasax sabriam
oo yy ey oo yy
adônaie,

Immediately, immediately
Good messenger of the God
anlala lai gaia
apa diachanna choryn”

Assumption of the God form

“I am the headless daimon with my sight in my feet;
[I am] the mighty one [who possesses] the immortal fire;
I am the truth who hates the fact that unjust deeds
are done in the world;
I am the one who makes the lightning flash and the thunder roll;
I am the one whose sweat is the heavy rain, which falls upon the earth that it might be inseminated;
I am the one whose mouth burns completely;
I am the one who begets and destroys;
I am the Favour of the Aion;
My name is a heart encircled by a serpent;
Come forth and follow.”

“Subject to me all daimons,
So that every daimon,
Whether of the heavens
Or the air
Or earthly
Or under the earth
Terrestrial or aquatic,
Might be obedient to me
And every enchantment and scourge
Which is from God.”

Closure:

When you want to finish do so by for example repeating the first part of Tankhem opening and then a “license to depart”:
“I release any spirits entrapped by this working,
May you go in peace to your lovely abodes.
Farewell Headless One,
Lord of the inhabited world,
Farewell Akephalos,
The son of Nuit
Leader of the company of heaven in their diurnal motion,
Senebty, great Bull of Ombos.”

After which pour any remaining offerings such as those of the chalice on earth and clear equipment, extinguish lamps etc .

This version of the Bornless ritual was taken from Egyptian magick by Mogg Morgan

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Inspired by the work of the 4th head, The Serpent, from Apophis by Michael Kelly.

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Another interesting view on the serpent, you will find in the YouTube link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72T2bW8bkfA

MMM