כמה מילים על האיכויות האנרגטיות של שמן הברוש

כשאני חושבת על הברוש, המילים שתמיד עולות לי הן: מעברים, שינוי, טרנספורמציה והתחדשות. 

כשאני עוצרת לקחת נשימה, צפות ועולות עוד מילים ודימויים שמזכירים לי את מהות סימליותו של הברוש:

“לא נשבר בסערה”, חוזק פנימי, התחזקות הנפש ועוצמה רוחנית, נחישות, טהרה וחמלה.

הברוש –Cupressus semperviren, נפוץ בעיקר ברחבי המזרח התיכון אולם זנים אחרים שלו, גדלים בכל רחבי העולם.

הברוש, עץ ירוק עד, גבוה מאוד-שורשיו טמונים חזק באדמה וראשו נוגע בעננים, עמיד בסופות ורוחות חזקות הוא העץ הנפוץ ביותר בבתי הקברות ברחבי המזרח התיכון. הברוש מסמל את מסע הנשמה מרגע המוות ועד החזרה אל המקור, אל האחד.

כשמגיע אלינו מטופל או מטופלת המתאבלים על אובדן יקיריהם, ברוש יהיה בדרך כלל השמן הראשון שאפתח איתו את הטיפול. הניחוחו הרענן והצלול של הברוש מטהר אותנו ומבהיר את המחשבה. צלילות הניחוח סוללת את הדרך להכלת הכאב, האובדן ושחרורו במטופל, ומשרישה את הכלי החשוב ביותר במטפל – החמלה.

במקרה של יולדת לאחר לידה שקטה, שימוש בברוש מבחינתי, הוא הכרחי כמעט בכל המקרים. 

בלידה שקטה, הברוש מסמל את כאבה של האם שעולה ומציף אותה מהשורש – הרחם, הכאב על אובדן התינוק שנולד אבל לא השתרש בחיים ומאיים לשבור אותה. בדיוק כאן נכנסת האנרגיה של הברוש “שלא נשבר בסערה” ומטהרת בצלילות ניחוחו את המקום הזה שעומד להישבר.

 

Raised by Wolves

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Raised by Wolves a new sci-fi tv series created by Aaron Guzikowski and produced by Ridley Scott.

Starring: Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Travis Fimmel

Raised by Wolves touches on a lot of issues, concepts and ideas (some might even say taboos) that are so weird we rather not think about but at the same time will raise many questions and a deeper look into the concept of distorted time and how our future actions actually affect our past. 

From the first episode, I was hypnotised by the bleak and oppressive atmosphere that was induced by the very clever use of the colour scheme of grey, dark grey, off-white and cream, even the green and the blue had a greyish effect on the viewer’s psyche. 

The idea that the future of the entire human race, is in the caring (?) hands of two very advanced and sophisticated androids (super androids?) is quite unsettling. It raises questions and awareness, about the ethics of investing in the future development of the human-like androids. At the same time, the realization and understanding that surface from our subconscious are that maybe now is the time, that we need to start getting used to these kinds of ideas and concepts. As it seems that the technology is already here. If that wasn’t enough to fill one with questions and the feeling of dread of “what is going on?” it didn’t take long before a new idea crept up to raise even more questions, adding to the overall feel of uneasiness that flows through the series. 

We learned that our future is in the hands of the super-androids, but now we know they can get hurt, badly and even bleed!  I don’t know about you, but as far as I know, or thought I knew, androids are supposed to be machines and when they get broken we either fix or scrap them. But we all know how Mr Scott works, so why do I find myself surprised and unsettled by a very damaged and bleeding android? Maybe it’s because of the whitish colour of the blood like substance that is pouring out of the body of the android that’s just been shot.

To my mind, if androids had veins, I would be expecting to see a darkish maybe even black oily substance coming out of them. After all, they are machines that run on grease and oil. But here, I think, the white substance is representing two things:

1- The white substance might symbolise that these particular androids are “creatures” of light – you will not find any bit of darkness in them, not even in their veins.

2- The white substance resembles battery acid, hence the androids run on some very advanced batteries. The battery powers the android’s nervous system, sending electric charges all over their very complex body-systems, enabling them to think and to feel?

Those of you that have read thus far probably think to themselves, that there is nothing new in these ideas, we’ve seen all before, and I agree. There is nothing new in the concept of human-android hybrid and definitely is a recurring theme in Ridley Scott films such as in Blade Runner, Alien Covenant. In the classic sci-fi TV program Battlestar Galactica, the human race faces a threat from the Cylons, which are another type of very evolved android in search of god, which brings me to the next unsettling thought that crossed my mind while watching Raised by Wolves. The mother android has been programmed to carry out a mission no matter what. It will use all its power, resources, advanced technologies, calculations and its wits (did I just say wits?) to carry out its mission to success. 

Their android technology is so advanced that at times I find myself thinking that the android really believes in its mission and that belief makes it act and behave in a certain way. It even rejects a different human belief – embracing its maker’s belief as an atheist and rejecting the belief in the all-powerful god – Sol. 

All through the series the theme of believers versus non-believers is slowly advanced as we watch our non-believer heroes beginning to accept the idea that there might be something out there, some kind of power that just might pull the strings on its behalf if they just believe in it. 

On the other side, some of our heroes from the believer’s camp are starting to realize that maybe some aspect of their belief is not acceptable and based on lies. Belief versus non-belief is, of course, the ultimate human dilemma, but now there’s a new player – an atheist programmed android that starts to believe (or is it just malfunctioning?) Throughout the episodes, we watch our heroes, both human and androids trying to understand and work through the complexities of surviving on a cold and dark planet. It gets even more complicated when the android realizes it can dream – and why not, if we go with second theory: (The white substance resembles battery acid, hence the androids run on some very advanced batteries. The battery governs the android’s nervous system, sending electric current all over their very complex body-system, enabling them to think and to feel?) so why not to dream too, deep android electric dreams. The dreams are so deep and mystical, the android becomes some kind of a seer into the future or maybe the past of humankind. 

The last episode blew my mind, the possibilities of a new theory, well new to me anyway, of where we came from and where we are going, made my head spin. And like all of this wasn’t enough, there is a serpent too. A sacred serpent. 

Many of the ideas that unsettled me are not new to sci-fi fans. The difference in Raised by Wolves is that it is done in such a brilliant way that you have to face these ideas while at the same time processing the information. With each episode, the ideas are getting more complex and presented in such a way that they seem completely real and feasible. The horrors of those ideas coming true might make some of us think that Raised by Wolves is another sci-fi horror and gore tv series, but it’s not. There aren’t any Alien type monsters and gore on this planet, and hardly any blood crazy scenes (if at all). What makes us feel this way is how we are presented with those far-out ideas and concepts.

I wish I could say some more, but then it would contain spoilers. Raised by Wolves definitely won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, and I think it might raise some questions and a few eyebrows even with hardcore sci-fi fans. I think it was great, definitely made me think and hope for a better future so we can have an even better past.

You can watch the trailer HERE

The Autumn Equinox, Sandworms, The Tower and the Hebrew letter Pei – פ

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“My awareness flows into that timeless stratum from where I can view time, I sense the available paths, the winds of the future, the winds of the past, The one-eyed vision of the past, the one-eyed vision of the present, and the one-eyed vision of the future, all combined in a trinocular vision that permits me to see time become space.”  Paul Atreides, Dune

“My awareness flows into that timeless stratum from where I can view time”

It is nearly the autumn equinox and you can feel the change in the air, most of the trees are still in their bright and deep green but there are more leaves on the ground and the horse-chestnut trees are turning brown. It is two days before the autumn equinox and my awareness flows into that timeless stratum from where I can view time. On Tuesday at 2:30 pm, we will get a glimpse of time manifesting itself, like a secret door that closes behind us and opens again but to a new and different direction. The astral compass points to the west.  This Time we face The Great Spirit Of The West, which at this point of time, for me, it will be represented by Leviathan, some may refer to it as Apophis or Tiamat or in our case the great beasts of the sand ocean of Dune, the mighty Sandworms.

Sandworm

Thinking about Leviathan, I can’t help but keep going back to the story of Jonah that has been “swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to giving thanks and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out”.(Wikipedia

Jonah and the Whale by Pieter Lastman

Basically what this story tries to teach us is that Jonah had to be swallowed by a whale before he could “see the light” and be reborn. On a personal level, Jonah’s story always reminds me of a little saying that circulates among my friends the spies drinkers, “you will never know your truth, until the Serpent spirit devourers you and spits you back out again.

Serpent spirit by symbolika.com

The belly of Leviathan, Tiamat, the Queen Serpent call it what you like, symbolises the abyss we are standing in front of. Once swallowed or devoured by Leviathan and co, symbolises the full-on head jump into the abyss knowing that the only way through it is by looking at the raw guts of Leviathan and taking responsibility for our actions.

Time to take responsibilities

“I sense the available paths, the winds of the future, the winds of the past”

The realization or gnosis one undergoes in the belly of Leviathan directs us to a better understanding of the paths we already took and the ones that lie ahead of us. Once we open our eyes, and our truth has been registered within our body and soul, we become like undigested food in the belly of Leviathan waiting to be spat out like the precious Ambergris and reborn into a new reality, a new path.

“The one-eyed vision of the past, the one-eyed vision of the present, and the one-eyed vision of the future, all combined in a trinocular vision that permits me to see time become space.”

Reading these lines made me think of the Tower.  It is only now while writing this I can see the connection with Jez’s post about the Orfordness Lighthouse. The lighthouse combined vision is focused on the sea and on the West, guiding the ships ashore and lighting the way to those souls crossing the West Gate on their journey beyond.

For the Equinox rite, we decided to head west and visit the ancestral land of Glamorgan. The call of the western land was very strong this time and after driving for a couple of hours we stopped at our favourite beach. It’s the new moon and the tide is so far out it feels like we are strolling on an endless beach with no sight or a glimpse of the Celtic sea ahead of us.

I couldn’t avoid the eerie feeling while walking on that vast sandy beach. The landscape stretching to the horizon. At the back of my mind, a little question kept nagging me, would the sea ever come back? 

The Westcoast has its fair share of bleak and eerie landscapes but that afternoon on the eve of the autumn equinox, the beach felt more eerie than usual. Another thought crossed my mind; I came to look for Leviathan but instead, I probably will find a huge beach sandworm…

We walked along the deserted beach and before long we came upon a 19th-century Watchtower and immediately the pennies dropped and I saw the connection to the tower from Jez post to the tower card and the autumn equinox. 

The Watchtower is situated to the West, watching the rise of the tide, measuring its highs and lows, calculating the length of the days and nights, light and the dark. Tonight we will face the darkest of the moon and the lowest of the tides but tomorrow we’re gonna wake up into a beautiful balanced day and the west gate shall be opened.

The watchtower

The Tower

In the Thoth tarot deck, the tower card is attributed to the letter Pei – פ  which means a mouth(Peh-פ), it also refers to the planet Mars and as it happens, the autumn equinox this year falls on a Tuesday. Lady synchronicity pulling her strings again.

Let’s go back to the letter Pei and how it’s related to our equinox work and Leviathan. For a while now I wanted to share some insights which come to me while meditating and studying some of the popular and respected books in my own culture. 

“The letter Pei symbolizes the channel by which freedom would reign throughout the cosmos. It also represents our meditative channel for altering the future events of our lives. The letter Pei gives us the power to redirect our energies to higher, more productive states of consciousness and understanding, that yesterday, today and tomorrow, are all one and the same, once we released the limits of rational consciousness.” Rav Berg, The Energy Of The Hebrew Letters. 

 This made me think of  “The one-eyed vision of the past, the one-eyed vision of the present, and the one-eyed vision of the future, all combined in a trinocular vision that permits me to see time become space” (Paul Atreides, Dune, as mentioned above)

It is only when we unbind ourselves from the limitations of rational consciousness and understanding that there are alternatives, and different perceptions, our consciousness is altered and we start seeing/understanding/experiencing a new perspective of time.

By understanding the energy of Pei, the mouth, we are advancing into the highest level of our inner and encircling light/mysteries and awakening to the realization that we can challenge the authority of the cosmos and succeed in altering its direction. 

The understanding of the power of the voice, the spoken word, is ancient and probably exists since the beginning of time when we became aware of our voices for the first time. I don’t think I have to explain the power of the spoken word/s. We can make or break, bless or curse with our words. The written word is also very powerful, but we all know that to make it real, to have an impact, you have to say it out loud. Like praying, we can pray very quietly in our hearts but when we become the prayer we let it all out, we sing and we cry and we shout to our favourite deity, we let it all out by making a sound, by using our mouth. We make spells and release them by spelling out each word, sometimes each letter spelling it by using our words and whispers.                                                                                                The power of Pei פ.   

The realization of the magical formula that combines all the magical powers of the mouth into one letter – פ, it is quite amazing. The shape of the letter Pei resembles a serpent that hides its head within its body – פ, this, of course, made me think of the biblical Leviathan all curled up in the bottom of the sea waiting to be awakened. 

The destruction of Leviathan by Gustave Dore

The awakening of Leviathan can be linked to the destruction of the tower – the destruction of the illusion of the world and the matrix of ‘organized’ life which confined us. The swallowing of Jonah by the Leviathan symbolizes also the awakening from the illusion – the falling from the tower. The insight, the gnosis of new perceptions, a new reality, new life.

The letter Pei also symbolizes Malchut which governs the physical body just as the serpent that hides its head symbolizes the physical awakening of the body – the female genitalia can be symbolized as the mouth – Pei, while the man genitalia can be thought of the serpent, both are awakened within the kingdom – Malchut of the physical body. 

While writing this I find myself pondering how all this physical awakening stuff has got anything to do with the autumn equinox. So I set my time machine a few days back to Tuesday morning. This time we headed to a different beach, a secluded one, a quiet place for our annual season ritual. It’s a grey day and the beach is deserted. Unlike yesterday, the tide is not so far out but also not too high, the word balance comes to mind. The coastline looks wild and primal, we are the only people on the beach and we are looking for the best spot for the autumn equinox rite. 

I think we walked for about half an hour before we found the perfect spot. I must admit that rituals in nature are my favourite, no need for fancy clothing or an altar as each stone, tree or a flower can become the altar if needed, even better, We become the altar. Our mouth becomes the cup that holds within it the essence of the magic itself, the spoken words of the invocation or the spells we utter.

Facing the west we started with our invocation of Leviathan. Leviathan is a creature of the sea so to invoke it, it only makes sense (well, to me anyway) to invoke the ocean first. So we call upon the mighty ocean, asking to open up and show us the ways, hoping that our small offerings of coins and ancient prayers will awaken Leviathan, awaken us from another layer of illusion.

All through the ritual, the air was very still and quiet but as soon as we said our farewells and license to depart, a sharp cry and the fluttering of wings above our heads. I looked up and two magnificent birds were circulating above us, while at the same time a huge wave crashed onto the shore. I couldn’t avoid the symbolic situation and the line from Crowley’s writing about The Tower from The Book of Thoth crossed my mind: 

Bathed in the effulgence of this Eye (which now assumes even a third sense, that indicated in Atu XV) are the Dove bearing an olive branch and the Serpent.”

I don’t think the birds were doves and a whale (Leviathan in Hebrew means whale) did not jump out of the waters at that particular moment, but somehow we knew that our offering and prayers had been accepted.   

Not a whale in sight but a very cool spider web on the ancient rocks

Many thaks to Steve D for the inspiration. 

A Sand Book, Poems by Ariana Reines

Reviewed by Mogg Morgan

 

A Sand Book, Poems

Ariana Reines

ISBN 9780141992693 (2019) 388pp, Penguin UK £12.99 

 

“To you? There are nectars hidden in your body. Suck your own tongue.” (Son of a Jar/Ariana Reines) p.4

I’ve been reading this book for a couple of weeks now, like any collection of poems; it’s quite an intense journey and best accomplished in manageable sections. So the collection is arranged into chapters, which makes that easy, although I still have a few to go, I thought it was time to write something of it now, and then finish it off in my own time. Maybe it’s my imagination but it does read like a continuous narrative, I’m guessing its talented author intended it so. It feels like being a fly on the wall in the author’s magical playroom or reading the record that magicians often keep. I was offered this book to read because the publicist said it covered a number of occult themes, as indeed it does, and they seem to be increasing, as the book progresses. 

One theme that I recognised as it recurred several times looks like what’s become known as tantra. The little couplet with which I opened this review is a good example. Like one of those tight packed sutras, one finds in old Hindu texts from the eponymous sutra period, during which the Yoga and Samkhya sutras were conceived. Each couplet is a distillation of a whole lot of complex, magical ideas. They are like seeds, waiting to germinate in the mind of the reader; which is another common Tantrik metaphor.

Poetry was and indeed is a common form of magical exegesis – so the results of magick are often expressed in bardic speech. That’s the result but the methods also involve the tongue and the mouth. The tongue that intercepts and thereby tastes the elixir, thought to emanate from the brain, dripping down the spinal column. The tongue that tastes the elixir in another’s mouth, usually a lover. And as Tantrik texts always have at least three possible meanings, the elixir can also be that which flows from the so-called “lower mouth” – all very Tantrik. I’m sure I haven’t exhausted all the meanings.

So returning to A Sand Book, which again might also allude to those marks in the sand made by spirits, who cannot speak apart from in signs and symbols, thus are geomantic.

Not all the poems have this same magick, but they do all steadily build up a picture of the poet as she moves from one moment to another in her life, interesting, disturbing, mundane, magical. And, as my partner remarks, the poet is very readable with a knack of painting vivid pictures with her tongue. So, being in the mood, she read the whole poem to me as the valediction to our ritual; and though it is quite long it slips off the tongue. 

The author’s magick is astrological and involves a technique she called “lazy haver eye” which I think might be a kind of dissociative, defocused perception of her world, which is also often ours. She even uses a poem to tell us elegantly about her influences – thus in the title poems of “Arena” she says “Because I had studied the dust bowl, the architecture of Delphi, Judaic and Islamic legends of Moses, Midianite theology, the history of Haiti, Aryan horsemen of ancient Iran, the collapse of Sumerian agriculture, Kundalini yoga, etc etc.” p18

 

The fine title poem of “Gizzard” – is inspired as it is by the destruction of the Yezidi sanctuaries at Sinjar – so she takes modern events and sees the mystic background.

 

“ I’ve seen the iridescence 

On the surface of spilled oil, I’d seen

Rainbows. Until the fan spread

Across my vision I had mistaken

Peacocks for decoration

Were they secretly Quetzalcoatl

The phoenix, guardians at the gates

Of Eden …” p121

 

As I write this review when the sun goes down, it will be Thursday, and today I found another favourite poem in a chapter called Thursday, headed up by what I believe is the veve, or mystical diagram (perhaps yantra) for voodoo Loa (Maman) Brigitte. It begins with an invocation, which I’m am sure I will use again:

 

“Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter

Jupiter

 

Bring me my gold

My serpent my rod

Pour hot gold into my teeth

Bind my silver tongue

Soak it in soft white gold

Jupiter

Unbind my tongue Jupiter 

And loose it on the world” p 191

 

Later we learn, in the same long poem, how the author will marry Jupiter. Then someone, perhaps the Mama, says she has the rings. The poet protests that she is already married to Mercury but no difference. In the poem we come full circle to where:

 

“Your tongue is in my mouth

I will suck you through the god in my mouth

 

He lives in the back

I am his student

 

I will suck you through the god in my mouth

Whatever man you say you are .”p 192

 

Which seems as good a place as any to finish this review of a highly recommended collection which I am still analysing and learning from. 

 


Mogg Morgan works in Oxford for innovative ‘new edge’ publisher Mandrake,  described as a ‘respected literary catalyst’, and responsible for the discovery of many new authors, including his friend and one-time mentor Jan Fries.

Mogg regards himself as a practitioner-cum-scholar of all aspects of occultism. He was a Wellcome research student at Oxford, where his teacher was the late Professor B K Matilal, a widely respected expert on South Asian thought. Over the years Mogg has been exploring the connections between the popular magick of ancient Egypt and its continuation/crossover with the living magical traditions of the Middle East, and the Kaula/witchcraft of south Asia and beyond.

We have some free copies of A Sand Book, to give away – enter your name & email here.
Winners picked at random on last day of August

About The Senses

Working with horses taught me how to see and hear. Training as an aromatherapist, have to help me to develop a very strong sense of smell and a sensitive nose. Usually, a good sense of smell affects also the sense of taste and we become more sensitive to tastes and textures in our mouth — as you can see, already we have three of the senses interlaced together — 

It doesn’t matter how beautiful the cake looks if it smells bad, you will not touch it, or. If the cake is really tasty but looks like a pile of unrecognised something, again, you just won’t touch it.

In these 2 examples, you can see how the sense of sight affects our senses of taste and smell and how the sense of smell affects our taste.

In the last few days, I have learned from a very old and sick mare how to use all my senses at once.

Thinking back on that day, I know now, that the mare knew her time is up, and having no owner to care for her, she chose me to walk her last walk with her.

A few days ago when I came to check on her, I could see that she is not well. Soon after, I could smell her illness on her breath and I could hear her diseased lungs when she was gasping for breath.  All this time she was craving for touch and when I brushed her, I could feel how her body lost tension and relaxes to my touch.

Yesterday, her condition got worse, I could see it in her eyes and her stressed body.  I could hear her tight breath and her chesty cough. I could smell her infected lungs, but she was still craving for touch…

Today I took one look at her and I just knew her time is up. My senses were so clear, it felt like I could ‘taste’ her infection.

I took her out of the stable, thinking the fresh air will ease her pains, she seemed happy enough so I left her and went back to get something from the stable. About 10 minutes later I could hear her calling for me.  There was no sound, I just knew. I rushed back to see her wobbling on her 4 legs, collapsing. I could smell and taste death all around her, waiting by her side. I could see death vibrating all around her. She gave a real fight for her few last breaths, but it was her time to go. 

Just before she died I held her head in my arms, it was very strange to feel her body changing vibration from being alive, and then, death. At that moment, I could feel all my senses becoming one: I could see what I hear, what I smell, taste and feel, It was an explosion of life and death.

Thank you old mare,

May you ride forever in the green tall grass of the Autumn skies.

 

The Spider

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Last night I dreamt of a huge spider sitting on the wall and looking at me. I have no fear of spiders but neither got the need to have a pet tarantula. When I woke up I couldn’t help the feeling that the spider in my dream was trying to tell me something, to deliver some kind of totemic message.

 So what does the spider mean to me?

The spider symbolizes a few things:

  • Patience
  • Receptivity
  • Feminine energy
  • Creativity
  • Weaver of life’s fate
  • Shadow self, dark aspects of life or personality

The spider has 8 legs that resemble the 8 points of chaos, the all-seeing eye. The Hunter – the spider weaves its web so very finely and transparently, so the prey won’t notice it and will fly straight into the deadly trap. When weaving its magical trap, the spider is actually weaving its life story, home, food and creation.

The spider, though not reptilian, is somehow connected. The Serpent represents the male/yang/kundalini energy; the spider the feminine. Like the serpent who is the keeper and guardian of knowledge, so is the spider guarding fiercely at the gates of the unknown.

A while ago, I saw a spider catching a fly. Watching the spider hunt was mesmerising and made me think of how we humans are conditioned to think with our emotions, and feel everything. By doing so we are actually missing the beauty (and maybe the secrets) of nature.

Nature is like a spider, weaving its web of flora and fauna all over, and when it is time, hunting them down with fire, storms, floods etc.

Sometimes nature is the prey as when we cut down the forests or pollute the air and the sea.

The spider reminds me of my skills as a huntress, as the creative weaver of ideas and dreams, or as my dear friend Steve D. wrote in My Spidey  Sense is Tingling, “she skillfully walks her web rather than getting caught within it like a fly!”

“Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted”

 To Erik 

 

A few days ago an old friend that I haven’t heard from for a long while contacted me. She wants to know about Chaos Magick and handed me a list of questions.

I met L’ a few years ago on an ayahuasca retreat.

So “how is the plant medicine related to Chaos Magick”?  She asked me

I must admit that I had to stop and think about her question, I found it surprising not to have a straight forward answer right there and then.

For the last ten years or so I’ve been journeying the parallel paths of ayahuasca and chaos magick. The more I drank ayahuasca I felt that my magick my craft, Chaos Craft, is evolving and becoming like second nature to me. I learned and practice as much as I could but the real teaching always came in the form of a very dark and bitter liquid – the ayahuasca tea, the pure essence of probably one of the most powerful and wise plants entities. 

“So how did you start with Chaos Craft and how do you practice? And how are the results?”

L’ bombarded me with all those questions and all I could think at the time before I managed to say anything was, ‘wow, slow down woman!’ and while I was trying to get my head around all of this and taking a breather she drops the final question: “If nothing is true, and everything is permitted, then how do you choose?”

How do you really? And where do I start? I told L’ that I need some time to think and I’ll get back to her. And here I am, still thinking and not sure at all how it all started. It is funny how we journey on our paths for a long time thinking we know it all and everything is sorted and then we meet a neophyte, a beginner, along the way with all those questions and you find yourself sitting down and revising all you know, but thinking about all this stuff, “it’s cool, it’s like food for the soul”.

I met SteveD on the ‘Apophis Club’, an online forum for the discussion of Michael Kelly’s fantastic book Apophis. The Apophis Club was and still is a great virtual meeting place for magicians on the Draconian / Sethian current. It didn’t take long for me to notice Steve’s unique way of thinking and writing, and after a while of communicating on the forum, I asked Steve if he can be my mentor (I had to really twist his arm to agree) and once we establish the ways of mentoring communications (we were living in deferent countries at the time) I followed Steve’s guidance onto the most fantastic and magickal path – Chaos Craft. 

I had many questions, and at certain times I probably overwhelmed SteveD with the intensity of my curious mind. But I was blessed with the most patient mentor and even at times when I was a pain in the ass he managed to see through all my bullshit and guide me through. I couldn’t be here without his mentoring and I feel blessed that our paths had crossed at that particular moment in my life, that he is still part of my life. Kheper!

Chaos Craft was the perfect way for me to weave together my shamanic and Sethian practices and progress in my own personal way and time. What appeals to me at the most was that I didn’t have to climb the usual system of magickal schools of collecting grades and titles but advised to focus on creativity and an open mind. Before you know it, I could see the magic everywhere and without any manuals or “how to do” books, I just knew what to do and how to attract the magic into my life. 

So you asked me ‘how do you practice and where to start?’ 

The best way to start anything is by collecting information about it and nowadays it’s very easy, just google Chaos Magick and start reading.

You will find lots of stuff, it won’t take long to find the Chaos Magick classics and you probably should read through some of them but the most important in my opinion is to use your intuition and read what you find the most interesting for you. Anyway, a good place to start on the Chaos Craft path is Here and Here

I find it very helpful in starting a personal journal to record your observations and dreams and maybe learn some divination technics, most popular are the Tarot or Astrology but there are lots of divination technics around so just pick the one you are most attracted to and start learning it.

Personally, I use dream divination and find the Tarot a great tool to learn about dream symbolism. 

I think that it’s a very good idea to start and connect to the cycles of the year and the moon and to the rhythms of the earth.

Make an altar – an offering table to Baphomet, to focus and connect with Baphomet. 

The next step is banishing, there are many ways and many rituals for that, my personal favourite is The Gnostic Pentagram Ritual Here 

So, Get a notebook and turn it into your personal journal, start documenting your dreams, insights and observations.

Learn some form of divination.

Connect to the cycle of the moon and the rhythm of nature.

Invite Baphomet into your life – make an altar.

Start practising  The Gnostic Pentagram Ritual

While you practising all of that, carry on reading and learning and if you can find a mentor to guide you through it ‘s even better.

And now for your final question “If nothing is true, and everything is permitted, then how do you choose?”

                                “لا شيء حقيقي وكل شيء مباح”

In the words of Hassan-i Sabbah  

“Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted” 

although we may no longer understand the exact context, these words seem relevant to our times as chaos magicians, where it is a kind of formula similar to, but I’d say better than Crowley’s “Do What Thou Wilt…” etc.

I found Erik’s words on that matter resonate with me and my understanding of the concept.

‘Nothing is true’ “means that truth can only be experienced by each individual for themselves- for me, it is a gnostic paradigm that tells me that only through experience can you come to know the true nature of things and ultimately reality itself. 

‘Everything is permitted’ is in my interpretation literally that we are free to take responsibility for our own actions and that there is not one moral authority who can dictate to us.” 

So, my dear L, 

I hope I’ve answered some of your questions or at list gave you a few ideas of how and where to start.

I’m adding my personal favourite booklist but remember that what works for me not necessarily will work for you, there are many books out there so find what you like and start creating your own path.

Io Baphomet

Booklist

Rhythms of vision by Lawrence Blair

The Sea Priestess by Dion Fortune

All of Julian Vayne’s books, 

Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychadelic Ceremony

Seidways by Jan Fries

Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll

Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine

SSOTBME Revised an essay on magic

Apophis by Michael Kelly

Chaotopia by Dave Lee

From Shakti to Kali – The cycle of the Kalas

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Each lunar day is said to have its own unique magical quality and in the Hindu tradition is called a Kala. The following poem is inspired by one couple’s intimate exploration of one cycle of the Kalas.
Shakti
That’s how you named me
And yes why not
I am beautiful
And wise
Like Shakti
I am kind
funny
sexy
and happy
I love
and I am loved
In the mornings
when I wake up
by your side
two suns rising in my eyes
Shining light so bright
I can see your body
sparkle with golden dust
I could see your heart
melting into the stones
When we kissed the
Golden dawn

For 15 days and nights
We are shining bright
Happy
Dancing
Kissing
Telling little love stories
to each other
The stories of Kameshvari and her
ankle bracelet
Duti The impossible girl messenger
and ChitraMalini-
The bright one
The full one
The one who initiates her twin sister-
Kali
Tonight is the 15th night of
sweet love
Long kisses
Passion and desires
I am Shakti
The lady of desire
Messenger of love
Bright garland
The kiss of life
I am Shakti
My eyes shine like
Two bright suns
but if you look closely
You will see
Two black suns rising inside
I am Kali
I am the dark one
You can only see me
when the moon is full
I am Kali
My eyes are 2 black suns
Which will darken your days
And blacken your sight
I am Kali
I’ll spread my darkness
Slowly slowly
You will not even notice
When it touches your heart
But on the 7th day
When a black tear will
Drop on your shoulder
You will know only confusion
and darkness
Your heart will be broken
Only then you will know
That The Terrible ,
The Formidable
Has been awakened
I am Ugra
I am darkness
From now till the end of the cycle
You will know only darkness
The night sky will grow darker and darker
You can only see the artificial stars
I am Ugra
I am a night crawler
I will dim the lights
In your heart
One by one
Till you won’t
Be able to see
Only darkness
Only me
And on the end of your cycle
You will not
Be able to tell
Was it Mita

I am alive !