The Starry Cave

Lovers in the Forest of Symbols

2012-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”

- Anaïs Nin

As we walk the paths and tracks of life there is a constant urge within that asks us if we should stay or move on at every waymark and fork in the road. The choice to stay, to make the sojourn at an oasis of pleasure, bane or blessing is given at all times – and with this death comes as a shady friend to ask us to stay and accept the state encountered. Our journey in the world brings meetings with other pilgrims, journeymen and lovers – here worlds can collide or merge. In our journey we all take on guides – willingly or by our acts and declarations to the world – and our guiding stars and the intelligence of our daimon will prepare the unique map that is your life – a journey of a thousand possibilities...

At times we restrain our selves, because we do not want to lose ourselves. Quite often we do not want to lose ourselves because we have laid down our anchor in still and safe waters. We chose a state to remain in because it is safe, because it leaves us free from hurt. But is it not through our scars and wounds we give light the call to enter our soul?

In this journey we know as life – this combination of states where we constantly chose to stay or leave – lies at the essence of love with his fiery arrows and flapping wings. The most misunderstood angel of all, Cupid – Eros – the fruit of love becoming mercury and movement when taken as daimon will perhaps give little rest at the stations chosen, but he will inspire loving-kindness, a constant passion and ignite love again and again as the honey drenched steps on the track of life is taken.

Seven Flaws in Mike Howards’ "Children of Cain"

2012-01-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

Or;

Why this broom is not taking flight…

“Witchcraft is something like gardening, something like cooking; it is a little bit of everything starting off with the basic ingredients. We are the stew or potage in the cauldron, the roots, the trunk, the leaves and the tree. It is dependent on ourselves how we flourish or wither with the winter’s storm.”

– Robert Cochrane (quoted from Shani Oates: The Star Crossed Serpent)

To define traditional witchcraft, a term Robert Cochrane coined, is not an easy task – and making a historical study of its key personage is quite hopeless unless you have access to the total array of the many legacies intended to be studied. Traditional Witchcraft is always followed by an unwritten history – its shadow where truth lies and blossom only amongst those sworn to protect the truth and its light. This factor alone makes the kind of historical account Howard attempts to present here impossible – at best biased and distorted.

In ‘The Children of Cain’, recently published by Three Hands Press Michael Howard has proposed the impossible and is of course failing dramatically in his project. After reading the book I am seriously questioning if this work is the product of an unsubtle agenda – hence his mediocre history is a deliberate attempt to present an alternative to truth – or if it is just a testament of the impossibility of the task he assumed in writing a book upon such vital premises as this.

This taken into account, Howard is deliberately inviting problems by writing with authority about The Clan of Tubal Cain, a living tradition he is not a part of, nor has focused upon as essential source of information. Rather he has decided to recreate The Clan of Tubal Cain from within the Craft sodality he himself makes part of, Cultus Sabbati. There is nothing wrong as such in doing this – but given the fact that ‘Children of Cain’ pretends to be a historical study the premise of the book misleads the reader.

The subjective view upon historical facts is the eternal challenge for the historian and the critical academic researcher, because we are always lodged within our own world in relation to what we are studying. I will only remind of Ricoeur and his wise counsel about the possibility for distortions of our presentations that occurs in our dialectic of interpretation of historical facts. This because as Derrida said, facts never speak for themselves – we always give them a voice.

From this more critical perspective upon his scholarship I find his work with source material questionable, at least ‘eclectic’ as he constantly strives to give an image of Robert Cochrane as a dysfunctional madman. This is quite typical for poor scholarship or manipulation of data. Certainly Cochrane was complex and complicated – but this fiery and angry part of Cochrane is given over to obsessive interest from Howard. In this selective work with his data I also find it quite puzzling that he is using a distant nephew of Cochrane as a key informant. Wouldn’t it have been logical to resort to those upholding his spiritual legacy and those in his family that actually had and do still retain any interest in his work? Of course a nephew can shed light upon his uncle – but it is still solely one perspective coloured by the relationship – or lack of relationship – they had.

It is also interesting to take note in how he presents Andrew Chumbley from Robert Cochrane. Chumbley is given a hagiography, following a devotional reverence as in the biography June Jones wrote about Alex Sanders. As a personal friend of Chumbley I do understand why Howard praises him to such extent – but still the contrast between this saintly tale and the pulp fiction he builds around Cochrane – which is quite tough in its beatnik way I must admit - is striking in contrast.

So, from these initial concerns I naturally also question inaccuracies in his book that perpetuate the suggestion of an unsubtle agenda behind various errors such as the dating of a photo of Evan John Jones (image 8) to 1999 while it is from 2003, or if it is just typifies a general lack of care with his data.

As a sworn brother of The Clan of Tubal Cain, having access to all data denied for Howard, I may take the liberty of addressing issues found at the tip of the iceberg that gives cause for concern of this books reliability.

1. With Cochrane's death The Clan of Tubal Cain ceased to exist.

On page 30 Howard states that The Clan of Tubal Cain ceased to exist with Cochrane’s passing and that Evan John Jones revived CTC ‘several years later’. This is simply not true. The work continued and Jane Bowers, Cochrane’s wife, passed the Magistral office to Evan John Jones soon after Cochrane’s passing. Hence the work continued, but away from the public eye – as expected given the circumstances.

2. That Goda within CTC is a fairy wife from Shropshire

On page 48 Howard is referencing an article by a person having no knowledge of the Clan or its mythos (Gary Nothingham), yet awards this person an authoritive view and perspective on the identity of and explanation of Goda, stating that this is disputed by CTC, yet refrains from actually expressing the views of CTC to counter it. He also concludes with Goda stated as being the fairy wife of a Shropshire folk hero, Wild Edric. Now this is interesting in its own right of course, but this is demonstrably dismissed in the article by the current Maid of CTC Shani Oates in Tubelo’s Green Fire and in the article by E.J. Jones ‘The People of Goda’ in ‘The Roebuck in the Thicket’, edited by Howard, where Jones, in paraphrasing Cochrane, makes clear the real meaning of this term: “This (re, People of Goda) translates roughly into ‘The people of the priesthood of the clan of Tubal Cain’ (the first blacksmith in the Old testament…” Clearly Cochrane had something different in mind to that declared by an outsider. So the dispute mentioned mere is solely in Howards mind – for CTC matters are most clear

3. CTC, The Regency and The Royal Windsor Coven are basically the same, one can explain the other.

The assumption that CTC worship a deity named Goda is followed by assumption on page 81 that seems to take matters pertaining to The Regency, the (alleged name) Royal Windsor Coven and Doreen Valiente’s opinions as directive for The Clan of Tubal Cain. In fact Howard is confusing these planes constantly adhering to whatever fits his hypothesis. Howard is here assuming that CTC adopted several guises for the God and Goddess, like Baal, Wayland, Bran and so forth – developing and asserting a very Wiccan format of working that is nothing more than an error, a figment of imagination, true only in Howard’s mind, while for Evan John Jones it was used as analogy, a method to make salient a given principle at work. Again, we find here a matter understandable for those who make part of Cochrane’s legacy but apparently blinds those who is barred from it.

4. CTC worship a triple goddess, akin to what we find in Wicca

If Howard had been privy to the teachings of The Clan of Tubal Cain he would have realized that CTC do not work with a set ‘pantheon of deities’ as he suggests – and in particular his perspective of the triple goddess that he constantly seeks to impose on CTC. Cochrane and then Jones – as CTC still do – have always affirmed that the pale faced goddess is truth and Creatrix; so per se, CTC do not revere a ‘witch goddess’ as such.

5. The Virtue of CTC was lost with Cochrane’s passing

On page 71 and 72 we find so many inconsistencies that I would dare say we are here speaking of twisting facts so much that we are entering the domains of vivid and sensationalist imagination or shameless lies. It is also an excellent example of how Howard is abusing his data and rewrites context so it can support the idea he has shaped in a remarkably biased way. One problematic issue here is Howards’ assumption that the virtue was lost, while even Valiente states that the virtue remained with Jane and was hers to pass on. It was not lost as Howard likes to think. In general the chapter is riddled with comments that ascribe great worth to Valiente albeit only when she is supporting Howards view and quickly discarded when she opposes his view.

6. CTC frequently cursed people

Howard insinuates that cursing was a common occurrence during several of the Cuveen meetings. In fact only once did a heavy cursing take place – and it is this single severe case mentioned in his book. Also in the same pages Howard insinuates that Cochrane was quite a drug fiend – while in truth his use was sporadic and was probably not more dramatic than was common in the counter culture of the 60’s in general. But I must add that indeed he held mastery of poisons and the Green Witchdom, but for Howard this is minor and insignificant as he presents Robert Cochrane the man, the witch (a title Cochrane abhorred) as a dysfunctional lunatic. Of course he had some powers – but as his distant nephew told Howard, this was just a lie.

7. Howard coined the term Luciferian Witchcraft

Howard has for a long time had a near obsession (as I perceive it) with the ‘Luciferian Tradition’. It might seem like semantics of where and how we shall cut the hair – but the implications are profound. In this subject alone Howard contradicts himself throughout the text. For instance on page 81 he states that in his opinion Roy was in touch with Luciferian witchcraft, he even states that the Magister in Cochrane’s Cuveen was considered a representative of Lucifer – but in the chapter itself he doubts this succession because John denied such connection for him. Can it be that John deliberately mislead Mike? Because in a past not that distant it was to invite problems to state such allegiance, this is easily testified to be the case until a decade ago in UK with the tension in the population concerning witchcraft and Satanism linked to child abuse. So, considering these circumstances, how expensive is not the trust given to those we speak with outside of the circle of sworn brothers and sisters.

Howard also states that he coined the term in the 1990s, as this will give him some automatic right to judge who is and who is not ‘luciferian’ - but in truth it was Paul Huson who made the connection between Lucifer and witchcraft in the introductory chapter in his book Mastering Witchcraft from 1970. Huson’s book had a profound impact in Italy and the term ‘Luciferian Witchcraft’ was in use there already in the early 70’s.

On a personal – though informed – note I am in general great disagreement with Howard in how he views the Luciferian impulse. I feel his understanding of this reads more like a romantic fantasy than the poetic reality that underlies its cultic manifestations and hence sheds light on its succession and nature. Howard has earlier stated in a review in his magazine that I have denied the reality of a ‘Luciferian Craft’ – quite absurd considering that I was admitted to the cult of Lucifer in Walachia, at the tree where he fell…

Considering that any critical study of historical events should strive to present a landscape as wide as possible - Howard’s presentation of The Clan of Tubal Cain does not fulfill this obligation and duty to the fact. It does give the impression that Howards’ aim with this book is to present his own tradition, Cultus Sabbati as superior somehow – while I think any mature and well intended study would seek to disclose sympathy and harmony in the Craft and not manipulate the reader into assuming there is a hierarchy at play here in terms of who is better.

In this regard I find reason to question if the way Howard crafts ‘The Children of Cain’ is simply a product of failure to observe the rules for good scholarship or if he has some sort of malicious agenda behind his presentation of The Clan of Tubal Cain. He is far too fond of making conclusions for the reader, insinuating that the reader should or could not make up his or her own mind.

In all fairness I must add that Howard demonstrates in the chapter about the Horseman’s word (chapter 5) a capacity for objective historicity – but in the chapter about Cochrane he is also demonstrating a gift for fiction. So this leads me to question the motives of such unnecessary actions in his discourse of CTC – because in the end of the day his fictional history of CTC ends up being nothing else than ‘His Story’.

Howard has been involved in the study of traditional witchcraft for more than 40 years and has showed a surprising dedication and stamina in his work as the editor of The Cauldron. Given his amount of knowledge and experience I am actually surprised about the tunnel vision he presents in this work. So in spite of his 40 years dedicated to the Craft I must question if not some of us have been more fortunate….

St. Sebastian; Lover of Dignity

2012-01-20T12:42:00.000-08:00

Do not what you desire -
do what is necessary.
Take all you are given -
give all of yourself.
What I have I hold!
When all else is lost, and not until then,
prepare to die with dignity.

- + Robert Cochrane

Ifá states that we are all born good and blessed. Baudelaire said in one of his prose writings that we are all marked for evil. I believe both are right. Ifá further describes iwa – conscience or mind as immature and curious. I believe this is right. And then we have Eros, devil of Venus of the winged heart with arrow and bow that makes life a dance of growth and love. In this dance we are constantly charged in relation to the promise of birth and our mark – in other words there is a battle between manifesting our immortality and sharing our immortality – but not sharing so much that we experience a loss of Self. In this enters the essence of Lilith which frustrates our desires and Self concepts. She dares us to be ruthlessly honest. This is why she is considered prime evil. That daring honesty kills even ourselves – if we are honest…

Lilith brings to us the essence of desire and necessity. She is the consequence of possibility and spirit of phrenzy. She is the angel who took hold of Dionysus and contaminated his maenads and she is the spirit of exile and holy draught that intoxicates at the edge and end of all worlds.

In doing this she provides an example in St. Sebastian, who in the Christian mythology was martyred by treason – while in reality he was given up by friends who broke their word. Seeing that all was lost – he prepared to die with dignity…

And for him dignity was the word and the cure. And as such he gave his flesh to be subject for the death of Cupid – a thousand arrows that melted his flesh into honey so sweet that the beloved Irene took him to her house… and here nursed him back to celestial ecstasy.

It is said that Sebastian and Irene were sanctified for the rescue of Marcellian and Mark, Roman Converts to Christianity, that I understand from the purely mythological material in Christianity as being a rescue of the Marassa, the divine twins, the hands of God that restitute the world constantly. And in this I say only, Aybobo, because so much can be said as I give my silence in this day of St. Sebastian.

Fate Flows in Liquid Space

2012-01-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

“I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living”

- - Anaïs Nin

I live in the woods, but I love the Ocean. I love the Ocean so much that I married her. I am married to the Ocean, to La Siren and I have no fear of depth, but I have fear of the shallowness of disenchanted life. When She is moving your life you live always in a sanctuary of blood and waters where the profundity of the waters is never grasped. This is how our journey and destiny should be, a lantern showing the rainbow and pot of gold at the end of the liquid space of possibility. This is life. Life is not a road, it is space, aerial, liquid or fiery – but our terrestrial journey makes us often narrow in sight…

You can call it whatever you want: it be your will, your destiny, the bane the Fates gave to you, your mission or vision, your curse and your blessing. Nothing really changes from the celestial dictate that tells you are unique and singular. There is no equality – only individual lights in volcanic blossom or flickering and dying in the circuit of life.

I mean, if we go through life as we were the hero in our own incarnation we must at some point end up in the that still place where challenge and ordeal, blessing and reward gives the same amount of peace and exaltation.

Fate is a station; life is riddled with waymarks and signposts – all of them unique to you; star born and bedazzled pilgrim in this world of mystery. This is your world, your journey – your mysteries to venture within, your loves and locks to break and embrace…

Destiny is a full dish. Accept it and walk on, whatever parts you deny will surface again and detours will occur. What is not solved on this mysterious path of destiny will appear and reappear – so what is the solution, what is the compass that leads us towards destiny?

It is the willing drowning in the seductions of life and the joy occurring when we approaching life with utmost interest and abandonment. This is the nail at the compass, the flaming nail that is burning holes in the flesh of time and allows you to touch space, stars and the scales of the godhood…

Go deep – and when you are at those depths that shakes your soul that make your hopes tremble… go deeper, beyond the labyrinths of Oedipus and the gardens of Electra, go down to where the sea devil throws of its own light and embrace the other so you can become the full circle. Go so deep that when life gets shallow you will gasp for air to sustain your life – and in this your purpose shall be found. So accept fate, take her hand and let her lead you to the mystery that is you…. So, let us say as ifá says in Eji Ogbe;

I lift up my arms and walk in joyous

Satisfaction

I lift up my arms and walk with

Dignity and measured movement

The Curse, the Blessing and the Cunning

2011-12-25T06:03:00.000-08:00

Poison supports medicine and resistance forges what is good to take a clear shape, light comes from darkness and the river of Dão is constantly flowing with and against to maintain the greater cosmic harmony of flux and movement. As our hand of restraint set limits in our life – either for ourselves or for others – and our right hand gives and bless in abundance, in such way we replicate the cosmic experience and its flux it be daybreak or full moon, new moon or the sojourn of the Sun to the Halls of Death. The exhalation is life and it is supported by the inhalation and death. Contrast is the cosmic experience and this also takes place in our lives – the problematic issue is when we get too obsessed with defining qualities to what emerges in the experience of being. Recognition of blessings is good – but so is the recognition of antagonism because this supports our blessings. In this lies mystery upon mystery.

If we accept this dynamic we will also become aware of God’s signposts as we are triggering our own self disclosure and becomes the signposts... We will realize that the master and the misguider, the friend and the enemy are solely appearances in the field of experience that forges your good and blessed self to emerge in the splendor of light – or perish in the night of forgetfulness….

All this and more is encoded in the saying; “May the Blessing, Curse and Cunning be…"

With this I want to quote an Adura Ifá collected and beautifully translated by Baba Awo Fa’alokun Fatumbi into a reminder of who we are – if we allow our true self to shine as beacons and torches in the world:

Emi Baba Rere
I am the Soul of the Father of Goodness
Emi Baba ‘jala
I am the Soul of the Father of the Dogs of Light (Warriors)
Emi Baba ‘gbon
I am the Soul of the Father of Wisdom
Emi Baba ‘kin
I am the Soul of the Father of Courage
Emi Baba’wo
I am the Soul of the Father of Abundance
Emi Baba’lo
I am the Soul of the Father of Spirit
Emi Baba’la
I am the Soul of the Father of Light
Emi Baba’ile
I am the Soul of the Father of the World
Ope ni fun Olorun
My blessings come from the Creator
Ire lona Iponri atiwo Orun
Place me on the path of my higher self and bring me the blessings of Heaven

Resistance, antagonism, enmity are powers that support al haqq, the truth – and it is also the darker strains in the field of experience that gives us the opportunity to make qualitative judgments of the experiences we have in life – this is known as contrast – and this contrast can be subject for a host of judgments, ill as well as good. These judgments are rooted in our unique experience and our level of awareness of cosmic waymarks…

I have for years been taken in with Ibn Al Arabi’s disclosure of wujud, that something appears qualified in existence - and the cosmic experience of being and his discourse about ‘waymarks’ mirrored against the 28 letters and lunar mansions. In his Meccan Revelations it is especially one passage (22:32) where the Shaykh speaks of how we can magnifies God’s waymarks on the horizon by we ourselves signifying God’s knowledge. In this we find the importance of being weary of this fact or not. He speaks of Self-Disclosure and this is presented in a dialectic of a hermeneutic nature that lead to one of the more provocative tenants in Ibn Al Arabi’s thinking, namely how Iblis is the divine potency of limitations and restraint that affirms the divine. In this field, we find pure experience of being – and in this we find obstacles and signposts that affirms or challenge al-Haqq, the truth in its play upon wujud.

This is a cosmic truth found in this that are represented by tamasic left hand and the rajasic right hand that supports equilibrium, like the serpents on the caduceus of Hermes and Asclepius.

The Mysterious Addictions

2011-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

Two matters have simultaneously caught my attention the last days, one is concerning the relationship between negative vibrations and truth and the other is concerning addictions. For this I thank my elders that relentlessly educate me and help me seeing the beauty in this world I perhaps too often find too hopeless, macabre, rotten and absurd.

It is quite wicked how this our mysterious world of formation and manifestation works on us, caught in matter our inner light gets as dim as the light of stars. It is like the distance to our starry soul is as enormous as the light-years between Tellus and Spica. This is not so, because distance is ultimately a question of perception.

I rarely participate in discussions with people, because so many of us do not like the dialogue a discussion implies – rather it is exercises in soliloquy aiming to convince the speaker and not the opponent - - but I digress – in one of these forums, I read a commentary about a person feeling attacked and he stated that he felt a negative light was thrown over his sublime reputation in his profession and stated that he was ‘a speaker of the truth. It really doesn’t matter who said or where, my point is related to what one of my elders spoke to me about recently, namely addictions. He told me that we are prone to “addictions like drugs, smoking, food, complaining and negative vibrations of all kinds.” I have been working with addictions in capacity as a therapist for a decade – but the light of truth blazed through me and I realized that yes, indeed – this African Sage spoke the truth. Because truth is not about facts, it is about a perception of the facts that sees the colours of light for what it is – and calls a duck a duck and a fool a fool – without passing judgments or being infested with any form of negative vibration. I asked myself – to what extent can we speak the truth if we see only with the sinister - or dexter eye? And to what extent can we say that we are free from addiction to subtle forms of negativity as quarreling, drama, condemnation, complaining and so forth when we have negative responses to our being in the world? These forms of addictions here that are on the emotional continuum always unleashes in anger, passive or direct – and self loathing projected upon the world where we desperately search out scapegoats.

It is easy for us modern men and woman to be overcome by negativity. We need constant reminders that we are all stars, that we are all blessed and that the world is good - if we let it be good - as Ifá says in one of the verses in Eji Ogbe:

Orunmila says we should measure the length

And measure the breadth of things

The hand reaches much higher than the head

And the young palm fronds extend much higher

Than the old palm fronds

But no forest is so dense that the Iroko tree

Cannot be seen

And no celebration is so loud that the gong cannot

be heard

I mean, when we feel attacked, when we feel the world is absurd, if we feel we are living in a threatening world of evil and antagonism – can we really perceive truth and thus speak of it? Are you addicted to negative vibrations – if so, what it does with your perception of the truth?

May Our eyes be opened so we see The Light of Goodness

May Our heart be vibrant so we can feel the Love in the lands and Heavens

May We supersede our own expectations

May We not fear any enemy, within or without

May We cast the brightest Light on the darkest Shadows

May Our light be cast in the darkest cavern

May Our Light blaze in Love’s victory throughout all Lands

Infernal, Celestial and Temporal

Amen!

Poisonous Stars

2011-12-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

Recently ConjureMan Ali presented some observations concerning friendliness with spirits that you can read in full by a click here.

I think his observations are immensely sound and valuable and he is highlighting some issues of grave importance here. First it is the hermetic axiom, as above so below – but such axioms are often repeated so often that we lose the message behind the axiom. The heavens mirror itself on earth and like a planet can go retrograde and enter malefic aspects with planets and stars so can the human actors in society – as well as the invisible world of spirits.

The world is supported by restrain and giving, by the protection and the blessing – this is the basic idea in the Etz Chaim – or Tree of Life as much as in the metaphysics of odu in Ifá.

We find this dual polarity expressed also in the Godhood it be the face of vengeance of the God in the Holy Bible or beautiful names such as al-Mumit, ‘the taker of life’ and Al-Qahhar, the Crusher’ in the Quran. In a ritual dedicated to Saturn in Ibn Wahshiyya’s ‘The Book of Poisons’ we find the first line of the summoning stating the following: “O God, the great, the violent, the powerful, the luminous, the killer of all who have been killed, and who brought all the dead their deaths.”

Saturn and Mars are traditionally referred to as the Greater and Lesser Malefica – and in this capacity they are also responsible for the transformation of the malefic into poison. Personally I believe it is important for all to contemplate the issue of malefic, evil and poison in all three levels of being. I conceive of the poison as a latent potential within what is malefic. Hence we have an experience of ‘evil’ on the basis of strength, restraint, Saturn and Mars – it is a form of ‘not-Giving’.

We see the states of poison played out most visible in the material world because the material world is a place of distance in all six directions. Between some souls there are a natural animosity, we find this amongst plants, as amongst humans, social groups – and also amongst spirits. We find spell workings in the Munich handbook of Necromancy where the sorcerer in order to generate hostility on the physical plane invokes spirits hostile with one another in order to generate this spiritual antimony amongst human actors. In the same vein we find by analyzing a birth chart using traditional techniques what stellar influences that bring blessing to the native and which brings restraint. Indeed, as above – so below, but profoundly so.

We are all unique souls made unique by the gathering of star and spirit accompanying our birth and becoming which gives various inclinations towards giving and restraint – and so it is with spirits, save the moral dimension which is quite unique for the human realm.

It is in this field we will do well in contemplating who we invite to our home and life. The world is a cosmic mirror and we mirror each other as spirits mirror us. This also implies that what we attract and what we are attracted by on both sides of the mirror can gravitate towards each other for good or for ill – because Eros, the divine vinculum itself – sees only attraction and is not concerned with directions. Hence his symbol is the heart struck by an arrow…

The Victory of the Heart

2011-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

There is an Ifá proverb that says: “The One who have conquered the enemy within will not fear the enemies from the outside”. This proverb states that we ourselves are always our own worst enemy – the greatest obstacle to reach abundance and happiness usually rest in our pride and resistance towards change.

Confronted with offence – offence is often what is returned – but this is like trying to stop a fire by throwing oil and candles upon it…often, in attempts of wiping out undesired energies in our lives we end up rushing to the heart of the undesired energy and generate more of what we do not want.

Like when we feel wronged, for many the first instinct is to attack – for others to run away – but for those who feel wronged the tendency is to grow in a distorted sense of justice where we expand the field of lawful and righteous negative action we can bestow upon the offender.

In these instances, when someone wrongs us we need to take some time to think if we might deserved the offence – or if the offense in question is related to us or not. Often an offense is the result of envy and self-hatred and you have been found the target for such projections not because you deserved – but because you were an unwilling mirror….sometimes the issue is quite different. Every offense gives us opportunity to honest introspection… because in all honesty, he who is without blame should cast the first stone and if we actually forgave ourselves our trespasses maybe we would forgive others trespassing in a greater spirit – namely the spirit of Love…

There is a tendency to never reflect upon this, but rather to stretch to ones weapons to defend ones honor, name or whatever – rarely people give thought to the simple mechanics of action and reaction, of simple polarities that takes place in meetings between men in a great variety of forms.

Quite often when people jump the gun and scream for justice when confronted with personal opinions, even when they take the shape of slander and lies, must question the issue of èké, dishonesty and falsehood.

I believe that we are all born good and blessed – but the world is a market, and at times it moves too fast, so fast that we at times act before we think. We get lost in the opportunities in the market, its thief’s and lost chances…When we get lost and sidetracked it is helpful if we are remembering this primordial good condition we carry within the web of our soul and allow it to take shape into love and kindness.

Inspired by love and kindness we will be humble in the face of the spirits and gods – and we will be Masters of our Fate… by displaying a good and honest character…in this we find the secrets of immortality, purpose and joy

In this scope I find the message in the odú Ifá Ògúndaretè to be worthy to contemplate:

Ògúndaretè

Kúkúndùkún a b’ewé gerugeru dábi

Oògùn l’agbára

Òpò oògùn a gun’mo gàlègàlè

Súgbón bi ó ba l’ópò oógún

Bí ó ba l’ekèé

Èké ó níí jê ó jê

Dandan inúrere jê ewé lo

Dífá fún Oòni Alànàk’èsùú

Èyítí kò gbódò kò oro Ifá sílè

Translation:

Sweet potato with fresh leaves might seem

Like a powerful potion

And an abundance of the magical medicine tends

To intoxicate the possessor

But even if you have a multitude of powerful

Potions,

If you are dishonest,

Your dishonesty will undermine their

Effectiveness

Surely, kindness will be more effective that

Such potions

This was the teaching of Ifá for

King Alanak’ esuu

One who dared not reject the advice of Ifá

Mandragorits Mandragon

2011-12-02T10:44:00.000-08:00

You, dragon man of milk and blood

I see you in the shades and caverns of night

I see you in my hands and veins

You are child - dragon

And I am you - man

I walk the night

My veins hanging loose

You stretch up

To unite within & beyond earth

I hear serpent song and

I hear you

My friend and foe

My distant memory of light

That fell to earth

I take you, my child

My dragon, my master

I know your veins stretch into the flesh of earth

As my blood stretch to my heart

Whenever I see you see I see my last breath

And you are that and is

The breath itself

Stillness and stance beneath

My feet

You my dragon friend

My Dragon fiend

My whisper through the earth

My Brother

And my woman shredding her skin

To reveal the purple within

Open the roads and open the eyes

I am earth

And I am the silence whispering soothing spells

Upon my root

I am you and you are me

As we are he and we are she

They told me you were woman and you are

Beloved by Venus and Moon

But you are mine

Spine and 77 vertebras

This you are

In my transfiguration

Between mole and dirt

I clasp to your veins

And to your blood

And let myself sink in this night of nerves

Where you ride me, as he or she

And there I am – as You.

Your Wolf and your Flower

I am the rider of the dark forest

I am the scales of your body

The root of wisdom

As it paints the world in nerves and borders

I am yours – and we are here at the fig garden

At the end of the worlds

Where I hand down my sickle and

Ask night….

And there you are

I have seen you before

So many times

Brother

Daughter

Friend

Enemy

The root of Saturn himself

Searching the Lovely Lady

Making night itself your playground

And in this night I see

I am not brother, nor friend

But playground and

Garden,

& with this

The night is at peace

Poison…

…and Shades of

Amen!

The Legacy of Cain & Modern Saints

2011-11-30T10:54:00.000-08:00

Cain - First born of Eve with Samael, beloved by Eve’s midwife Lilith

Cain - First Sorcerer and the beginning and end of all corruption by motion.

Cain - Mysterious child of Azazel, -spawned by Lilith and then given to Eve.

Cain - Son of Lilith begotten through the light and seed of Adam, nursed and raised by Eve. Cain - Accursed son of Even begotten by the seed of Shemyaza

Cain - Nursed by Lilith, his mother and wife.

Cain - Ancestor of cymbals and tong who made the anvil and coals his throne

Cain - Man of Nod and Exile, forger of weapons and jewelry

Great Father of Beauty and Seduction

Are you not Legion and One?

Cain - Father of my Blood - my accursed ecstasy you are!

My Hand, Eye, Heritage and Land you are! Amen!

Cain and his pivotal role in the first murder and sacrifice are crucial and integral to the mystery of the worlds. In the apocryphical text The Penitence of Adam we read that the consummation of the fruit that gave knowledge of good and evil led to a rupture in the worlds and a crack in the cosmic fabric. The consequence for mankind was the illusion of dualism caused by the rupture that fragmented our perception of the worlds and being. This was the beginning of seeing the poles of mutual support as counter to each other and not as complementary. This was the beginning of the need fire represented by Cain and how he by the fire of need gave his brother’s blood to the Mothers of the Earth. A sacrifice to the gods before mortal men…

From this primordial act so demonized and hated – and then again repeated by Jesus the Christ and Judas Iskariotes – vilified and demonized in same manner – we find the mystery of being and return bound into one. We find the mystery of betrayal and need flowing through the world like the axis that binds John of the Gospel and John the Baptist together in the apocalypse of the third John – of the Dragon - because the blood of the Dragon is at the heart of the mystery.

The Night of Otherness

2011-11-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

“Define me – and I shall escape it…”

- Liber Combusta

No matter how much we try to define what ‘witchcraft’ is it will still preserve its mystery – and I believe this is how we recognize the presence of the traditional pedigree that constitutes the witches’ arts and crafts.

At the core of what defines a witch we find the mark and the blood. No matter what continent we turn to we find that the icon of the witch is steeped in otherness. She or He is that which escapes definition and by this linguistic poverty the western tendency is to paint the witch with diabolic strokes and the ink of forgotten nights – and indeed; the witch is a child of night – because it is in the night – under the rule and breath of the Moon – that the ancient blood is quickened.

The idea of the witch or sorcerer being someone not of this world, something unruly, untamed and potentially destructive is found from Norway to Africa. We can exemplify this by the practice of the seidr, being an art practiced by the Volva – and commonly understood to be a knowledge possessed by the vanir Freya. Actually this is not true, Freya was taught these sorcerous arts by Hyrrokin or Heid who initiated her into these arts – and by this quickened Freya’s sorcerous blood. The blood in question here is the blood of Ymir, the first giant that was slaughtered and made into creation. The ‘witch’ or fjølkynnig was born from his sweat and blood - a pre titanic race from before the gods of mortal men. Likewise in Japan, China as well as Russia and Eastern Europe the witch and wizard is constantly linked with Dragons and falling stars – something other and outside the solar order. In the same fashion we find ‘witches’ in West Africa described in the corpus of Ifá to have entered the world by deception and trickery – but goes on to define their function in the world – which is one of night, calamity, mystery and birds of night...

In all these cultures the night-flight is a common theme, it be to rescue or damage crops, it be to heal or harm society. The night flight is possible because of the particular pedigree of the witch – it is a heritage and legacy many ascribe to Lord Cain and the fallen angelic host which sets the witch apart from the civic order. Because of this the ‘witch’ will always perceive the world differently, because witchcraft is a living dynamic interaction with the spirit denizens of the world, for good and for ill. This defies the solar order and it defies any profane attempt of making the volatile fixed. The Witches’ art rebels in face of the static, such as disconnected rehearsals of folklore and reenactment of pagan customs. Witchcraft in the traditional sense is a volatile dragon flying through the silver night. It is that other which is seen in the corner of your eye and the nocturnal embrace of that all otherness which calls the blood to quicken.

Leia este texto em Português clicando AQUI

Cain and the Fire of the Pole Star

2011-11-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

“… And his father’s fire was quickened in him & he became god and seed for the accursed race. The fire running like blood in the silence of night and time…”

- The Red Gospel

Cain’s greatness and importance is not to be found in the lies of his heritage but in the divine blessing given on his brow, which can be equated with a particular form for instant awakening. Cain’s awakening was the realization of his role in the world, a great task given to him as he realized who he was, whose blood pounded with purpose in his soul.

In Cain a particular blood was found and this blood is popularly referred to as ‘witch blood’. The blood and the realization of one’s Fate mirror each other and for Cain his Fate was to be absence manifested. He had to be to one who marked the other and the one who moved and transformed the stillness of beginning so the world could have motion. By the first sacrifice, by blood flooding the earth the divine plan could be exacted. It is written that upon the first murder/sacrifice Cain was marked by god in a way that recalls how we mark stars in matter to be carried as talismans and amulets.

Within the Flesh of Pomba Gira

2011-11-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

Pomba Gira is more than just a coquettish spirit with a southern temperament, so much more than a Latin cousin of Lilith – she is the embodiment of all complex possibility we find in mortal woman. It is here in the field of flesh and soul merging with land and motion she finds herself in a constant flash of the spirit and inspires mankind by revealing the kingdoms of passion and blood as map for the route of self.

Her question is always; who are you - and she reads your answers in the ways you judge the world and yourself. She is the precaution in our wishes and desires, the danger of dreams becoming reality…

Like the Holy Spirit she is an intoxication that invites dreams and prophecy, like the legions of Venus under the embrace of Mercury himself she can provoke mastery of life or slavery to the passions that drive you mad and frantic with life.

How you see her is often how she sees you and from this a relationship is build on the premises you come to her temple with. I mean, if you perceive her as a slut made to serve your needs – it is a fair chance she will treat you as a slut for her needs. This is a factor quite important in the dealings with her and a point discussed quite sparingly in the meager literature about her since the early 70s. Perhaps this is caused by us, modern men and women of the triumphant west, approach the world as masters in the making with the god given power to subdue any spirit. We do wise in reflecting on why a spirit that can tear lives apart should respect you and yield to your call and murmur – or even listen to you if you do not feel the devotion burning in your heart, seeking congress.

Star Crossed Witches in the Garden of Circe

2011-11-09T05:33:00.000-08:00

An interview with Shani Oates, Maid of The Clan of Tubal Cain.

In the Isle of Albion midlands, in the shires around Derby that gave birth to D.H. Lawrence the landscape and taverns throbs in memories and history. As we walk the countryside Roman and Saxon remains abound everywhere as we walk the limestone caves at Cresswell Craggs where mound and hill is covered with archangels who drapes the landscape in celestial breath with their golden petals. Here we also find numerous burial mounds from the Bronze Age and quite a few stone circles. It is a magical land, vibrant with blood and memory. Derbyshire is also where the botanical genius Erasmus Darwin (yes, Charles’s grandfather) was born and founded here the Lunar Society and gave the world books like ‘The Botanic Garden’ and ‘The Temple of Nature’ – books many have unfortunately forgotten. This is also the haven of Shani Oates, the Maid of The Clan of Tubal Cain – and it is here in the comfort of her own enchanted garden that we find some time to speak of her, art, visions and forthcoming books.

Q: So far, you have published the acclaimed books, Tubelo’s Green Fire (this book will be published in Portuguese 2012) and The Arcane Veil on Mandrake of Oxford. Both books have been and continue to be praised as important contributions in the literature that discusses traditional witchcraft. Your new book, The Star Crossed Serpent, is quite different from your two earlier books as it is composed of articles both by you and Evan John Jones, could you tell me a bit about the background for this book and also tell me the reason for the book’s title?

Love in the Age of Ruins

2011-11-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

“Unappreciated ability becomes devitalized, breeds a self-indulgent sickness—a self pity that suffers alone.” – Austin O. Spare

We live in a world where man’s dissatisfaction appears to be a chronic condition. Like wounded crows and tigers we ramble around in jungles of stainless steel and fear. In search of our voice and mind, in search of kindred of spirit and lost lovers we roam the nights and tunnels of this world in search for what affirms our beauty, grace and purpose.

A man or woman void of appreciation and purpose will eventually create a purpose; it be bound in lies or the knotted cords of Fate. If the purpose is being created from the ‘unappreciated ability’, the disease and suffering it breeds will of course be that most unfitting attribute of any sorcerer or sage, namely self-importance of the most boring kind. This way ward self importance often comes with a boastful and venomous tongue that tries to contaminate the world with its devitalizing venom.

FATHER SATURN, MOTHER MOON

2011-11-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

On Robert Cochrane and the encounter with Fate

The bane that Cochrane chose for himself, and the ally he went away with can speak to us about the influence of Saturn and Moon in Cochranes life. He chose to go away tempered by Saturn and use the road of the Moon in the ally Belladonna. Maybe in the choice of ally to take him away to the Hidden Company we can understand more about Cochranes approach to the heart of the matter. The Circle of Tubal Cain and thus understand the magical polarities in his pellar craft, that he demonstrated in ways that seem to be odd as far as his ritual suicide is concerned. The polarities I have in mind are those between Chance or Fate and Wisdom (both in its female octave as well as its demanding form of the Horned Lord) as can be seen in the mysteries held within the realms of Tubal Cain and Lady Fortuna.

There is a sixteenth-century French engraving that is striking in the case of Cochranes understanding of Fate as Goddess. In this engraving, depicted in Paul Husons book, we see Lady Fortuna sitting across Lady Wisdom (MOT: 37). Lady Fortuna is blindfolded, holding the wheel of humanity in her left hand. Lady Wisdom on the other hand carefully monitors the cosmos and make sure that her image is reflected within creation. Here symbolized by the proper symbol, the mirror, which she hold in her right hand. The Wheel of Fortune is under the dominion of Lady Fortuna and it need to be mirrored by wisdom, since Fate is conceived of as blind – or should one say, that her blindness forces humanity to open their eyes to the influence of Fate? It is my belief that Cochrane realized some profound teachings during the time of difficulty with Jane, which was used by Lady Fortuna and Lady Wisdom to tamper his soul and aspiration, to rejuvenate his soul if you will into a greater level of perfection and humbleness. This, I believe is how one should better view misfortune, as the lesson who tampers our soul into a better condition. One can get the impression that he simply gave up in the face of misfortune (or Miss Fortuna if you will) and searched for a way out with dignity. By searching in Cochranes own words there is perhaps possible to find a clue to this riddle and also extract a lesson.

Lilith - The Shade of Night and the Eclipse of the Worlds

2011-10-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

“She is Algol and Pleiades, she is Virgo and she is Venus, she is the power of cataclysmic possibility and she is the secret of immortality."

– NdMF: Craft of the Untamed

Lilith is often spoken of as a Dark Goddess, a Black Goddess – but we should be aware of what this really means. Robert Graves said in 1964: “The Black Goddess is so far hardly more than a word of hope whispered amongst the few who have served their apprenticeship to the White Goddess. She promises a new pacific bond between man and women, corresponding to a final reality of love… She will lead man back to that sure instinct of love which he long ago forfeited by intellectual pride”.

What should also be remarked is that She is black and white, wet and dry. She is this paradox that knows no Mercy, because she is beyond good and evil, resting upon the wings of Grace. She – as White and Black is easily evoked by the call of the Red, the steady flow of the red current in the blackness of the Moon.

She is earth, the black earth; Wisdom herself. She is the river of silver flowing over the blackness of the earth. She is the spirit of Ishtar standing naked in the hall of hooks and crooks upon the seventh step.

Queen of the Ladies of the Night

2011-10-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

Sta. Petka or Sta. Parasceve is one of the most cherished and loved saints in the Balkans. This 11^th Century saint who passed on to the Holy Host, embraced by Mary, Mother of God and St, Michael at the age of 27 continued to make miracles immediately after her death and until this very day.

One famous account tells how she appeared in dreams to a monk some nights after her burial, informing him that her resting place was not good, that she was in ill soil. They unburied the body and found it incorruptible and sent the relics to the Church of the Holy Apostles in the little city of Katikratia. Her relics were then moved around in the Balkans, Moldavia and Constantinople. Constantly miracles happened by her intercession – which caused even a Muslim reverence for her where her relics worked its wonder.

Two feast days are ascribed to her October 14 and October 27, representing two different mysteries. October 14^th is marked by a communal festivity, merry making and chain dances. In the past this date marked the first day of rest upon having completed all matters concerning the farm’s survival during the cold months of winter. It was important to observe her taboos on this day, like not wearing woolen clothes, don’t engage in spinning or taking bath.

The Rock in your Shoe

2011-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

The world is a mystery, a beautiful mystery – and everything is perfect – if we manage to hold a wide perspective, that goes beyond our interests and person serving our limited goals and ideas of what and who we are. We are always much more than what we conceive to be. Because of this we should be careful with what I call ‘the rock in the shoe’. This rock is the world – and we encounter it s we walk the world gracefully or in passion. The difference is about the attention we give to this bothersome element that crosses out path.

I see the rock in the shoe as being announced by the declaration of blaming others for our own lack of graceful walk in the world. I mean, if we walk the world in grace, carefully, we will see how the world and its paths are winding – and from this point of view any missteps or stumbling is always made by our own lack of foreseeing what is meeting us around the corner, even if the path itself gives subtle notice about what is waiting ahead.

When we stumble the sad logical move as a human is to find a scapegoat – and yes we can find many… but is your own stumbling really justified by adversaries?

The Honey Within

2011-10-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

I believe that abundance reflects in our sense of contentment and satisfaction. This can vary from person to person in conformity with the goals held and what Fate gave to us. Abundance in one area of life, as for instance money, can at times lead to complaints in other areas of life, such as lack of love, enemies and false friends. I believe the very idea of abundance is about honey. It is about an inner sweetness in how we approach life as our being run along on the cords of destiny and Fate elegantly and gracefully, it be through both the gutters and castles of the world. Abundance is a form of equilibrium takes shape in our journey upon earth.

Life is a journey that leads us to ruins and places, stormy rivers and sojourns of peace and strength. The perfect human journey is the one that is rich in experience and gives us ample opportunity to forge our character and realize our destiny.

The wisdom of Ifá tell us that we are all born good and blessed – and it is as people, good and blessed we start our human journey. The more our travel is done gently and with measured movements, the more we will experience ourselves as abundantly blessed and good. We read in the odù Òdí Méjì the following:

Something Special

2011-10-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

“Just because a man is fucking crazy doesn't make his opinion less fucking valid.“

- Mr. Jack

In Gregory Dark’s Little Fish, Strange Pond from 2009 (renamed Frenemy for its DvD release 2010) the viewer is confronted with the fact that expectation is the bitchy mother of disappointment. Certainly when you see the wild beard of Zach Galifianakis on the cover you do expect a movie that entertains in a childish way, like Hangover (2009). For sure you are not expected to be challenged, having your mind fed or that Matthew Modine is the star of the movie. The movie is the work of a trickster from presentation to last line of the script. Not only this, but the movie, intended or not, has a spiritual relevance as it documents the works of Orisa Èsú (a deity very much like Hermes, Mercury, Janus and similar trickster spirits) in the world masterfully interpreted by Matthew Modine. I have no idea if this was intended or not – but for me it was this that caught my attention and it is from this realization I embrace with extreme joy this little masterpiece.

Most reviewers and critiques hated this movie quite feverishly, and tell things like the following on the www.imdb.com: “Do not watch this. It is a trap from which you will bitterly regret”, “it get completely butchered by terrible writing and equally awful directing”, “ I want my dollar and my 80 minutes back!” – well, I on my side gave the movie 160 minutes and would gladly pay a dollar more for it…

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT

A Witchy Night at the Shores of the Danube

2011-10-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

Just at the South of the Carpathian mountains where the river Danube flow through the centre of Balkan, Serbia, surrounded by Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and a whole network of history told in these lands and amongst its neighbors. Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman remains still linger on as drafts of a memory remarkably close in this land rich in lore and myth. This is the land of the dragon people and it was here the dragon Lucifer is said to have fallen. The river Danube is the home of prehistoric strains of Beluga and several other emissaries of Dagon himself that keep even the water rich in legend and dragon lore. So, here at the shores of Danube the cunning meeting between two witches took place in the days prior to the summer tide washing over the land scolding people, land and waters with its fiery rays. The shores of Dagon’s veins seems a most proper canvas for sharing some parts of our conversations in the form of an interview with Radomir Rade Ristic, author of the book Balkan Traditional Witchcraft. So, with this I welcome you to share this momentum outside time and space with us.

Witches & Heroes – demi gods or ordinary humans living extraordinary lives?

2011-10-07T05:37:00.000-07:00

In our Western society, the concept of demi-gods can be better understood by looking at the dual nature of Greek heroes and the theme of birth which is repeated in several myths. Here we find that always one of the parents of the hero is a God or a Goddess giving the child qualities and abilities that are both human and divine – which allows the crossing and mediation between worlds even after death.

In other Pagan traditions [not to be confused with contemporary neo-paganism] where this fusion of the two worlds, human and divine, were alive we find that the idea of initiation reflected this possibility where the neophyte or pilgrim was considered "reborn" as a "child" of, or protected by its tutelary deity. We find examples of such significance in rituals of initiation were Julius Gaius Cesar was consecrated to Venus and Alexander the Great to Amon. Caesar was, with every right conferred by the priests of Venus, conceived of as a demi-god - a being of two worlds walking the earth, unlike an ordinary human. The idea of guardian saints found in Christianity might be traced back to practice; even thou the Church castrated the more libertine qualities of the deities, in favor of chastity.

A Brief Review Of Palo Mayombe; The Garden Of Blood And Bones

2011-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Palo Mayombe The Garden Of Blood And Bones

"As mentioned in an earlier post, this past weekend I received my copies of both Palo Mayombe and Pomba Gira by Nicholaj De Mattos Frisvold. I havent yet begun Pomba gira, simply because Palo Mayombe has had me engrossed and will require at least a couple more read throughs to begin to grasp, and so it is Palo Mayombe alone that I will speak of in this post.

Although I am usually skeptical about books touching on the subject of Palo, since it is a highly guarded tradition and one previously spoken on only in exalted circles of those lucky enough to be initiates, I has quite hopeful that this book would be something special simply because Nicholaj is an author with whom I am familiar and I know first hand that Scarlet Imprint releases only the best of the best. "...

Red more of this Book Review in The Lion's Den

Ol’ Hornie & the Devil

2011-10-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

In a Traditional Craft cuveen the Magister with his stang represents Ol’ Hornie. By this office he is also referred to as ‘the Devil’, but we cannot confuse this identification of Devil with its normative Christian content, as a force in anti cosmic opposition with the divine plan, hence the content read into the office of ‘a Satan’, or in modern vernacular, a prosecutor. We need to focus on the horns, if they were given to Moses by Michelangelo or by the Church to the uncanny spirits of the land and nocturnal manifestations of domestic beasts.

There is much to say of the stang and its importance, such as its retrieval by Cain after the sacrifice of the shepherd, Abel and how it also took shape as the crosier of the Episcopal station, also seen as an office of Shepherds.

The stang alone represents the world tree, the axis mundi, what enables ancestors to commune with angels in the field of the living. The one who holds the axis is Ol’ Hornie, the Magister, who stands in for the horned one. If the stang he holds is of Yew , Hazel , Ash or another ancestor makes great difference in the world he secure into communion with the quick and the dead.

Celestial Imprints

2011-10-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” - John 3: 27

Sometimes the star of enlightenment hits us profoundly, it can be anywhere and with great power. Today while reading The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet edited by David Rankine I came across a passage of such effects, which I quote here:

“Man is ordained a Magician from the womb of his mother that would be a true magician. Others that have taken upon them this office are unhappy. To this agreeth that which John Baptist saith No man can receive any thing to himself unless it be given him from above.” (The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet p. 71)

This passage is interesting because of many things; one is that some weeks ago a lengthy sequence in Michael Cecchetelli’s most valuable translation of two grimoires in Crossed Keys where from page 177 an onwards the Gospel of John is provided as a universal remedy flanked by the seven psalms, the litanies of the Saints and Our Father.

I find in this some interesting webs meeting that speak of destiny and what we are fated to do. In the past matters were simpler in traditional societies, at birth a divination was done in order to discover the celestial imprint on the newborn. Here was found both psychological imprints and counsel that would bring utmost fulfillment for the infant in question. A blue print was given and upon this crude map of life the walk of life with its blessings, lessons, bane, defeat and triumph could be written as we walked on in life owned or borrowed.

Pomba Gira & the Solace of Woman

2011-09-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

Pomba Gira is the death mask of Venus, she is sensuality, transformation and challenge manifesting in beauty, truth and ordeal. She is every woman and knows the heart of every man. She is the bitterness of scorn and she is the ecstasy of obsession. She is legion. We come to her with broken and confused hearts; she is the spirit of solace and of solution. She is the fire of transformation that all Exu seek to preserve and take nourishment from. As such she is the serpentine heart of the cult of Quimbanda. Any attempt to define her as this or that is something she simultaneously affirms and escapes. She is the embodiment of the sensual and finds her mystery spoken off in woman, both mortal and stellar. Quimbada itself can be seen as a cousin of the cult of Ghede who also walks on the points of death with erotic and sexual steps.

Death and sex, the alpha and omega of human life, our journey’s beginning and end, so often diabolized, is what lies at the centre of Quimbanda and because of this these spirits have also accepted its diabolic imagery in a crooked demonstration of escaping to the centre of the diabolic.

St. Michael, Angel of the Balance

2011-09-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

Michaelmas have been subject for shifting dates, varying from the fast in honour of the Cross in the Orthodox Church spanning from the 14th to 27th of September and until 11th of October as was the day of the Old Michaelmas. Legend tells that on this day Satan was thrown out from heaven and landed in brambles, hence the blackberries should not be collected after this date as Satan defecated upon the berries on this day and made them poisonous. Other stories of probably East European origin informs us that the bramble and blackberry was formed by the Devil as his response to grapes, hence its praise name as The Devil’s Grapes.

Henry Corbin in his brilliant presentation of Ishmaelite Sufism comments that the Balance represents the four pillars of the Temple of the Ka'bah supported by the four archangels Seraphiel, Michael, Gabriel and Azrael, each one of them being conceived as the heart of the four main prophets, Adam, Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad. The four pillars guard the throne where the Black Stone is set. This provides intense dimensions to Michaelmas in the guise of the equinox of the Sun’s entrance in the sign of the Balance, the Black Stone being the heart of Venus.

Michaelmas is today related to the equinox of spring or autumn, depending on which side of the equator you find your habitat. The changing seasons in either way is born from the path of the Sun entering the sign of Libra or the Balance. Libra is ruled by Venus and is the bane of Venus the Sun now enters. The triad of stars used as a belt by Orion the hunter is called the three Mari’s is reflections of Venus as she moves from love to war through ecstasy.

On this day the Great Hunter establishes the Balance between the interior Hell and the interior Eden, hence the rhythm, of perfection moves the staff of the Upright to be established so yet again the Path Direct can appear from the bewildered forest of thoughts and deeds. Yet again we can set the scales, they be of heart and feather, sulfur and mercury or truth with lie and renew the path towards self upon the Compass of Venus, in St. Michaels cloak carrying the double edged sword of true perception.

So on this day, let us bring forth the rose of resurrection, flanked by the Grapes of Eden and the Grapes of Hell and place here the dagger that cuts both ways as three lamps cast its golden light over the mystery of the Balance. Pour milk and honey over the stone of beginning so the memory of the light can again flash out upon the world of Mari under the watchful gaze of the Hunter, under the sword and cloak of St. Michael; let the worlds of promise sprout and blossom. With this let us raise the burning sickle and praise the land, the heavens and the steps taken that led us to this holy juncture! With this I raise my glass, the wine red with oath and blood and I bow in gratitude as I give thanks in the moment I cease myself in you, He and She! Amen!

More about Michaelmas in Meanderings of the Muse

The Devil Elect

2011-09-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

“Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

The Gospel of John 6: 70

The drama around the Last Supper details a Great Mystery, because here we see the cosmic necessity for the Devil, as the one who affirms the design. The role of Devil can be one given according to Fate’s dictate or being caused by one being appointed to uphold this dignity. In all instances, the Devil is the one who marks the outer limits of possibility, the contraction of the worlds in pain or delight as it affirms beauty and bliss. In its more profane activities, the appointed Devil is merely perceived as a troublemaker, a nuance, a slanderer, a liar – a wayward son of Mercury by all measure. Still, by being appointed as the Devil a tension is established that affirms the agenda of him or her who has appointed their accuser – the accuser will then affirm the truth and the lie by mere existence.

Commonly ‘devil’ and ‘demon’ are used interchangeable, but it is important to make a distinction here. If we follow the earliest Greek transcript of the Holy Bible, the Vatican Manuscript no 1209, also known as the Emphatic Diaglott it is interesting to note that in the Gospel of John chapter 6 where Jesus appoints Judas to be his devil the original Greek word is diabolos. In other passages where KJV uses devil, such as throughout the 11^th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke we find the Greek daimone/demon being used. In KJV this distinction is absent and devil is the translation both of diabolos and daimone. Diaglott makes clear to us that the chief of the demons is Baelzebubth/Baelzebub – and it was by the aid of Baelzebub that Jesus the Christ was accused of controlling the demonic host. There is no connection here with demons always being diabolos.

The Outside

2011-09-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

“Those who cannot walk the path alone will be throd upon by those who can”

- - Andrew D. Chumbley

The witch is constantly presented as something from the outside that affects the natural order – itself being a part of the natural order – but who possess knowledge forbidden. This is a true arising from Jules Michelet and his poetic renderings of the perennial themes making up the icon of the witch as from ethnographies and confessions collected both in the pre-modern and modern world. Perhaps the more ill fate has become the people from the outside in modern time where another element has been added to the icon of the witch, namely superstition. George Ewart Evans comments upon this in his exposition of rural folk magic in Britain that this word, from superstant, in the meaning of ‘standing over’ or being guiding principles for cult and culture today invites provocation and violent reactions because it is conceived of as an assault on common sense and reason.

The Russian mystic Maria de Naglowska in her treatise The Light of Sex identifies reason with the realm of the satanic, understood to be what denies life and seeks its annihilation. With the advent of the age of reason the overarching goal of attack was superstition and consequently everything outside the material sphere obtained a renewed demonization. In the pre-modern world the witch was something volatile and unpredictable, but with modernity the witch also became a threat against reason. The witch became myth and legend – still its existence nailed the modern scientific dogmas and interests with the fact that they are still to be found.

The Source of Light

2011-05-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

We humans tend to complicate our lives as we walk on stubborn with our hopes and dreams, cursing every hook and bleeding on every crook. We meet adversities and hatred start to boil, we meet the unusual and we want to convince and from this conflicts upon conflicts raids our life and shake our happiness. It contributes to the alienation modern ambition gave us from the cradle.

Our world is manifesting a cornucopia of miracles and possibilities. Our world carries the manifestation of imagination, joy and fears – it is a miracle in we are walking! Problems enter when we introduce taste, preferences, moral and judgment. We then generate a divide – a dyad based upon acceptance and condemnation where the measure is rooted in our own preferences, learning and conditioning. We perform the absurd act of judging shades of light. Because of this Ifá calls our world Aye Akamara – the World of Mystery.

Ifá teaches us that the principle and Idea of Light is what makes the manifested world possible. The first of the 16 odu meji (pairs) in the oracle of Ifá is called Eji Ògbe. It literally means ‘to lift two hands upwards’. The last of the 16 mejis is called Òfún, meaning ‘beginning of whiteness’ or ‘kernel of Light’. In Ifá metaphysics this principle carries the idea of being a force that gives without discrimination. It is the source for miracles and diversity. While Eji Ògbe is considered the father of the 16 mejis, the last meji, Òfún is considered to be the grandfather. The omega enters as a prerequisite for the alpha so to speak, denoting that every new circle begins with the end of the previous one. We can understand the play between the first and the last in terms of the manifestation of light as the first, Eji Ògbe, manifesting the rays of sun and light – while Òfún is the possibility of this being manifest.

The Natural Law of Eros

2011-05-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Constantly debates concerning the natural and the perverse are surfacing. Homosexuality and ‘unusual’ sexual practices of any variety is often brought to the attention because here in the world of sex all men and women meet their most pure inclinations and their most raw darkness. The scale in these debates are between the personal sensual inclinations as they are mediated upon a universalist moral insisting that we all have the same sensual inclinations – and those who escape the lawful are perverts – or worse. These moral discourses are almost always dictated upon religious motives propagating a most curious scale between freedom from sin and shame of one’s inclinations. In this climate on ‘one moral fits all’ resistance naturally surges to the surface.

The debates we see today can be anchored in the 11^th Century and the ecclesiastical debates concerning the Natural Law – here we find St. Thomas Aquinas who actually told us to look at nature in order to see what was natural as he didn’t considered sex to be particularly holy – but rather something humans shared with all other animals.

In Book 2 of his Summa Thomas discusses the issues of Law. Given the Platonic orientation and the Muslim influence Thomas was subject for we might assume that he in speaking of Divine Law were not speaking of shari’ah but of the essence of Islam itself – to submit to the Divine Law, as Abdullah, a slave of God. This idea certainly entails the doctrine of Fate and how we all are born with a unique conditioning that enables a unique path (law) for obtaining goodness in our lives. To be a slave of God entails that we discover the unique law that leads us to abundance as an extension of the Divine Law. As God’s mirrors we as humans also reflect all his possibilities reflected in his 99 beautiful names. There is therefore a distinction between the written Law and the natural Law.

The Movement of Sin

2011-04-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

In 1589 Peter Binsfeld, the Bishop of Trier, in Germania noted down the demonic influences that provoked the cardinal sins as it was derived in the paranoid and poisonous climate around King James I of England. Shakespeare’s Macbeth was inspired by the reign of King James the I. Certainly the king saw things he wished he had not seen in Denmark and Norway and this spawned his famous work on demonology; because the land keeps the memory of truth as it whispers in our blood, forgotten or alive.

For Binsfeld, this grim paranoid hunter of the supernatural, the most vicious sins were considered to be lust (luxuria) for men, ruled by Asmodeus and pride (hubris) – or vainglory – for women - ruled by Lucifer. Curiously both sins were frequently given to women during the trials. Woman was deemed guilty for exciting the sin in man because of her vain stature. In our modern vernacular this simply could mean that she did not give in for the lustful suggestions of the accuser perhaps?

Palo Kimbiza & the Dragon Cup

2011-04-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

San Luis Beltran has a special role in the kimbiza order, which is evident from his iconography. He can assume several roles, in concord with his role as prophet, linguist, miracle-worker and clairvoyant. In many ways we can say that San Luis Beltrán represents the perfection of the mystical dimensions of the kimbizeiro and is given a particular importance in presentation of the kimbiza mystery. He is the healer and exorcist – the saintly ideal of the kimbizeiro carrying the gunpowder draped cross in one hand and the Dragon`s secret in the other.

A Kongo water made under his auspicious will for sure generate a temple where spirits will vibrate in union and communication with the Tata or Yaya – and will also help the stout piño Nuevo to connect better with spirit in a temple properly fortified with spiritual fumes and attractors.

Take blessed and equal portions of jasmine flowers, bay laurel leaves, orange leaves and rose petals, add three stars of anis and steep it in 60% alcohol over night and shake regularly. Mix this with equal amounts of water and then strain. Call the saint into the lustral water and upon using it, bow to Nzambie Mpungo and make the following prayer/litany upon the dragon’s cup. Upon making the holy water and sprinkling the temple prayers should yet again be repeated. This should exorcise spirits of hostility and exercise the spirits of benevolence...

Nsala Malecum!

Ecstatic linguist, walker between the worlds

Sambi santigualo!

With the Holy Cross draped in gunpowder

Sambi santigualo!

Traveller on the starry road

Sambi santigualo!

Who holds the dragon’s cauldron

Sambi santigualo!

Walker on the point of star and bilongo

Sambi santigualo!

With the dragon’s water we bless this place

Sambi santigualo!

San Luis Beltran, shiny prophet of the dragon’s cup

By your intercession may the starry roads descend upon cup and land

Sambi santigualo!

Malekum Nsala!

The Initiation of Self

2011-04-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Gradually the idea of self initiation is spreading in the format of initiating oneself to a given cult, faith or tradition. In particular this is common in forms of eclectic wicca and witchcraft. It is a curious idea that at the same time as it enters the core bounces off from it. As I perceive the nature of self-initiation, it is about a person that feels a certain calling and administers the rites of induction himself with no intermediary or teacher present. It is an offering of servitude and dedication to a power one desire to evoke. On the good side it denotes a personal choice, and affirmation of belief where the chosen spirit host is evoked to witness the act. It is a symptom of mankind feeling spiritually lost and seeks to reconnect with what they perceive as lost. They want to re-ligare, to re-link their faith, they want to do religion. Quite often what is happening is actually what the crude term self-initiation entails, that you initiate your (spiritual) self. It is a declaration to creation that you are igniting yourself to a spiritual search. This is wonderful – but turns problematic when the same self initiated proclaim initiation into an existing cult, faith or tradition of which they have no link by blood or breath. In this they try to re-link something that is lost or something that was really never there. They initiate themselves to a fantasy of belongingness.

This extended idea of self initiation – that you as a self dedicated votary can appoint a cult or tradition and say you belong is quite erroneous if not even boastful, especially when the tradition in question actually exists and you have been unable to connect with it. From where I stand, this should tell you something, namely that your dedication did not called upon your kin. This is what happens in many cases, which people simply usurp traditions and faiths and self adopt themselves into the stream without any approval or link with the tradition in question.

O Começo da Sabedoria

2011-04-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

Tornar-se sábio é uma conseqüência de uma vida vivida com interesse. Trata-se de aproximar os sinalizadores de nossa vida com interesse. Acredito que a sabedoria começa com amor, honestidade, amor e honra, pois se reflete no humilde interesse que partilhamos com os nossos pares. O que compartilhamos com todos é esta jornada como seres divinos em forma humana.

Vários de nós viajam através do mundo de mistério, experiência e abundância montados em cavalos de ansiedade e de restrição. Estes não são bons cavalos. Estes são os cavalos que sempre procuram o retorno aos seus celeiros enlameados da segurança. A segurança é boa, mas deve ser enriquecida pelas experiências que realizamos em nossa jornada.

É na própria jornada que encontramos abundância, sabedoria e pessoas. São os homens e mulheres em nossa jornada que trazem toda a sabedoria que nos tornam abundantes. Em cada encontro com uma pessoa somos confrontados com restrição e abundância, manter ou doar. É a mão esquerda que duela com a mão direita.

Como o eterno caduceu que somos, é aquilo que corre ao longo da nossa espinha, e com o qual escolhemos nossas serpentes, seja para matar ou para curar. Eu escolhi minha serpente a carregar o nome de Amor - e com isso chega a angústia, a decepção e a agonia, o feliz veneno que salta à garganta do Amor. Esta angústia que o Amor traz é profunda e é um encontro constante com os outros e comigo mesmo. Em sua experiência de Amor você encontra a você mesmo e aos outros enrodilhados em inimizade e desejo.

A sinalização na estrada está onde você pode tomar lições do que é bom daqueles que nada possuem e ser melhor do que aqueles que possuem mais do que você possui. Por que melhor? É ser melhor porque boas pessoas são uma benção ao mundo, desde que servem como espelhos, elas servem como espelhos de abundância e reconhecimento. Porque ser bom traz uma pessoa ao discurso com o Destino! Deste encontro com Destino o conhecimento é estabelecido – o conhecimento sobre sua essência é revelado em seu encontro com o mundo. É aqui o princípio da sabedoria é revelada - como um abraço, como um chicote, como reconhecimento.

O mundo é sempre um espelho para aquele que busca sabedoria, e o espelho deve ser feita de beleza e amor para refletir a verdade. Falhando nisto, o espelho é apenas uma terapia material de distorções profanas que realmente não fazem parte do belo design da busca humana pela sabedoria. Quando nos encontramos, se este encontro é um daqueles interessantes o encontro vai ser bom, porque não haverá nenhuma batalha por superioridade, apenas o interesse mútuo em abundância. Porque precisamos ver nossos companheiros de jornada como abundância, eles são o que encontramos em maioria em nossa jornada.

Se fizermos nossa jornada em Amor, também encontraremos humildade, porque sabemos que o panorama é sempre maior do que nossa encarnação limitada. Somos a abundância um do outro, para melhor ou para pior. Acredito que cada pessoa que encontramos é consumida pelo Amor.

Amor é intoxicação, um vinho bem estocado…

... e alguns devem ficar bêbados da angústia do velho vinho, enquanto o outro o toma em beleza e se torna um profeta...

...As uvas do vinho, a ametista que traz a intoxicação do espírito...

...Está todo lá, o amor...

...o amor que espelha o divinho e o amor que te espelha!

É Amor e é Eros, uma vez que segue a direção de suas paixões, da necessidade que você tem pelo inferior ou celestial. Trata-se do espelho, seja do céu ou de um lago lamacento que você se engana como se fosse sua individualidade. É aqui, no espelho, que a sabedoria se inicia em sua reflexão de honra e hubris, orgulho e a humildade.

Tendo a isto dito, absinto é doce que é dado pelas mãos de um amigo - e amor e humildade devem lhe inspirar a noção do absinto vinda de um amigo assim como de um inimigo, desde que tudo faz parte de nossos primeiros passos na jornada rumo à sabedoria. Quando encontramos sabedoria nossos lábios se abrem, e falamos palavras de beleza – e de amor, e nos tornamos humilde no encontro com nosso próprio reflexo, porque vemos o amor no espelho do recolhimento humilde. Vemo-nos, nossos encontros, as nossas falhas e através deste, o caminho adiante...

…É esta aceitação honesta de nosso espelho que mora a honra, o amor e o começo da sabedoria.

The Beginning of Wisdom

2011-04-12T12:18:00.000-07:00

To become wise is a consequence of a life lived with interest. It is about approaching the signposts in our life with interest. I believe wisdom begins with love, honesty and honour as it reflects in humble interest in what we share with our fellow men and women. What we share with all is this journey as divine beings in the human shape.

Many of us journey through this world of mystery, experience and abundance on the horses of anxiety and restriction. They are no good horses. These are horses that always seek the return to their muddy barn of safety. Safety is good, but it should be enriched by the experiences we make in our journey.

It is in the journey itself we meet abundance, wisdom and people. It is the men and women in our journey that brings across the wisdom that makes us abundant. In every meeting with a person we are confronted with restriction and abundance, to hold or to give. It is the left hand that makes duels with the right hand.

We are the eternal caduceus that along our spine we chose our serpents to kill or to heal. I have chosen my serpent to bear the name of Love – and with this come the anguish, the disappointment and the agony, the venom which happily jump to the throat of Love. This anguish Love gives is profound and it is a constant meeting with others and self. In your experience of Love you find yourself and the others coiled in enmity and desire.

O Cálice Envenenado

2011-04-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

Recentemente, Robert Cochrane, Magister do Clan of Tubal-Cain, atingiu o status de ícone na Arte, e numerosas histórias circularam sobre as circunstâncias de sua morte.

A versão geralmente aceita parece ser de que ele teria se suicidado ritualisticamente usando Beladona no Solstício de verão em 1966, em um resgate da morte do Rei Divino, um sacrifício voluntarioso para a remissão de seus próprios erros, daqueles do seu próprio povo, e para assegurar a fertilidade de seu domínio. Que retrato essa idéia do ‘suicídio ritual’ de Cochrane nos traz? Talvez vejamos uma figura de túnica, prostrado no círculo ritual, lábios escurecidos, olhos fixos em alguma visão no além, dedos ainda prendendo o chifre com a bebida envenenada, para sempre paralisados? Que imagem você tem da cena?

A morte de um bruxo aparentemente automartirizado gera miríades de perspectivas contrastantes.

Algumas destas perspectivas podem servir para cristalizar um efeito altamente glamouroso que age como um veículo para o trabalho individual, enquanto outras podem ser prejudiciais ao trabalho, desviando atenção para especulações infrutíferas e, talvez, para um romantismo descabido. O intento deste ensaio é oferecer fatos com os quais o interessado em Cochrane e seu legado possa temperar suas próprias crenças sobre sua morte e suas implicações.

The Apron Snatcher

2011-03-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ifá calls our world aiye akamara – a world of mystery. Mystery is understood to be both something hidden that moves creation but also it contains the idea of being puzzled by what we meet in the world.

The world is mystery on so many planes, both for good and bad. All these mysteries are lodged down in Ifá proverbs or its oral teachings. Often they overlap. One of these mysteries that keep on puzzling me, no matter how much I understand them are confined in the proverb:

Má sé wó tòbì àràkúnrín ré

It mans simply:

“Do not wear another man’s apron”

This proverb takes on a multiplicity of forms. In its most direct it is a reference to the priesthood of Sángó where it is customary to wear aprons around their waist, in the manner of woman. This is done in honour of the female powers that are the potency of bestowing and removing the crown of kingship. The priests of Sàngó wears the apron of women as a constant reminder of the need for recognizing ancestry, earth and his own position and how it came to be.

This proverb also speaks about the taboo against making court towards the wife of one’s comrades, because in this is revealed greed, jealousy and passions taking most unhealthy directions. To desire your brother’s wife is considered a most base reflection of bad character, a general tendency towards envy is revealed in this desire of transgressing upon another man’s territory. In the obvious manifestations we find various state of war coming from these forms of envy.

Envy can also take the shape of imposing your opinions upon someone else. When we impose our opinions upon people we are by our actions revealing arrogance. By imposing your opinion on another you are by proxy patronizing the person in question. It doesn’t matter if you feel that your opinion is god given, as in the case of evangelization or if your imposing attitude is because of your envy and lack of character as when you target someone just because they make you feel inferior.

In the modern world everybody insist on their right to hold personal opinions. In waging their rights the distinction between holding an uninformed opinion and an informed one is forgotten leading to attempts of taking another man’s apron. Of course there are often veiled admirations in these forms of envy but it still remains that it is rude. Typical for these forms of ‘apron-snatching’ is the irrational discourse. The imposer set out aggressively to convince you that his arguments are better than yours. When the flaws are pointed out a rational ambivalence seem to be triggered where fire is fed to ones opinions and reflected in defamation and personal attacks. It is here the envy becomes evident. When the imposed opinion shatters further distortions of fact and foundation is presented and the lack of fact is substituted with fire and passion. The envy turns hot and violent. It is all a game of passion where a distorted flame of Sángó seeks to besiege what is not his.

It is envy projected upon you; it is the essence of the ‘evil eye’. Ifá understands envy to be like a smoke or ashes thrown against the wind; this can also be the effect of imposing ones opinion upon others. By constantly throwing ashes (judgments/values/opinions) towards someone will make the envy one to be covered in his own venom and in the end will be a monument of shame amongst his peers. Ifá is quite clear in telling repeatedly that unless asked don’t give your opinion to fellow men. At times these personal opinions projected upon one’s person can take quite insane dimensions when we encounter people who are greedy for our apron. Our initial reaction is surprise, contempt and anger. Fire flames up in us as we enter into this vibration. When this link is established we can allow the envy of the imposer to ignite us or we can break this link and avoid being food for envy. Of course both actions tend to make the imposing one entering a state of madness and fury – even enmity. Ifá speaks in the omo odu ìká’wónrín about an extreme concentration of enimity and evil. It speaks about how evil was surrounding Owon, which is the principle of spreading abundance. In this situation Owon was not raging war – but he was laughing. He was laughing because he had sacrificed his passions on the altar of love. The verse tells us concerning the reason of the advice of making this sacrifice:

'So that their enemies would not be able to

Remove them from their positions,

And so that their adversaries would not be

Able to detract from their honour

Anyone who says love should not

Expand in the world

Will be destroyed in the world'

Ifá tells us that the principle of abundance is rooted in joy and love – which are attributes of a person who is interested in cultivating good character. If you do have the growth of good character as a goal, you will also be met with opposition because good character provokes those that possess none and in doing this your character is also put to the test. Character can be like a mirror sparkles in goodness to a blinding reflection of scolding sun rays that might infuriate those infested with envy and a negativity. Ifá says that a good person run the happy risk of provoking the world by its mere presence in the world.

So; in the end; ‘don’t wear another man’s apron’ boils down to not imposing your beliefs, desires or person upon someone else. It is about respect and character supported by love. It is about self awareness and the realization that we should seek what bring joy to our lives and not entertain our envy, hubris and distorted sense of self importance it be about lies and deception of fact or of one’s station and destiny.

And I say, with Ifá, in the end of ìká’wónrín that if love is what marks our steps:

‘May we live long

may the mark we leave not be wiped out in the world’

Os Dezesseis Raios da Roda de Dama Fortuna

2011-03-23T10:24:00.001-07:00

Dentro do corpo de ensinamentos da Arte Tradicional, encontramos os temas, estações e princípios que ocorrem em ciclos não lineares de Fortuna, que exaltam e refinam as qualidades necessárias para que o peregrino alcance o poder do Verbo, de completa conexão com a fonte. Estes processos são tanto internos quanto externos, singulares ou combinados, e se aplicam em cada passo dado pelo peregrino em seu dia a dia.

Minha intenção com este ensaio é o de trazer uma síntese deste corpo de ensinamentos, ainda que de forma reinterpretada, muito reduzida e simplificada visando à compreensão dos peregrinos que iniciam agora sua jornada, o que não impede que estes temas possam ser debatidos em profundidade em outros artigos. Este conhecimento foi legado a mim pelos meus ancestrais na Arte, e está relacionado às estruturas da terra, dos oráculos geomânticos, e aos oito casais pertinentes às direções da paisagem, partindo do Leste.

Junto a cada raio, selecionei citações cujo propósito é exemplificar ou reforçar um sentido. Espero que este ensaio possa trazer algum lume a cada estação onde o peregrino se encontrar, bem como as reflexões necessárias sobre estes processos alquímicos.

The Wise Devil

2011-03-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

F. Goya - El Aquilarre

Para ler este texto em Português, clique aqui

The role of the Devil in Witchcraft can be a confusing mystery for some. After all the image of the Devil is veiled in evil and misanthropy and many Christian denominations and churches have made themselves depending on him to support their gospel. You turn to God because you need to hate evil, translated into the Devil. Evil, like sin, is to miss the point, and hence all good intentions directed by a mind lacking alignment with heart can be a brooding evil insofar as it evokes negative vibrations to the life of others and your own.

The Devil is known by his horns and cloven hoofs, his pointed tail and trident. He is known by many names and as the architect of details. We find him in crossroads and caves, at the tavern and the racetrack, in the dance and in every choice of life. He is someone we can’t escape because he will appear in any crossroad as the one who challenges you to walk the path of destiny. His trident tells us that he possess the knowledge of all three states and his cloven hoofs that he stands at the point where day turns into night and that he possess the knowledge of the dyad – which is often translated into good and evil.

The House of Cards in the Land of Love

2011-03-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Para ler este texto em Português, clique aqui

Ifá is a faith that values Love over all things, because Love is that cosmic glue that appeals to the soul in such way that it desires to discover its station and destiny. The modern ideals are often Love defying, because to love is a sign of weakness in the face of ambition. Ifá teaches us that the immortal ones descended to Ile Ifé – literally ‘House of Love’ and from here kingships were established. Love is understood as a power that contracts upon the cosmic benevolence and give release to peace, tranquillity and joy – what we understand to be iwa rere, a happy or good character which final prise is abundance, the fullness of all good things.

Character/iwa is a complex concept. Ifá teaches us that iwá was born restless and curious; she had a tendency of being drawn towards the world of matter and intrigue by her passionate nature. If we look t the concept of iwa from the perspective of Plato’s Symposium and Timaeus it would appear that iwa – character – IS Love. Love can be directed to the infernal, to the stars, to others – this is a part of the complexity. Iwa takes on a given form as it moves around in the world. With good guidance it will be good because goodness will refine the natural goodness within the beauty of character. Even if we all are born good with a heart of Love the world happens - and we build, like Glaucus, shells and alien forms over our character either to blend in or to defend that flame of Love that is growing dimmer as we walk on in our life.

A Casa de Cartas na Terra do Amor

2011-03-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

To read this text in English, click here

Ifá é uma fé que valoriza o Amor sobre todas as coisas, porque o Amor é a cola cósmica que apela para a alma de tal maneira que ela deseja descobrir sua estação e seu destino. Os ideais modernos são geralmente desafiadores do Amor, porque amar é sinal de fraqueza em face à ambição. Ifá nos ensina que os imortais descenderam para Ile Ifé – que significa literalmente, "Casa do Amor” e foi a partir daqui que os reinos foram estabelecidos. O Amor é entendido como um poder se contrai na benevolência cósmica e nos liberta para a tranqüilidade, paz e alegria – e o que entendemos ser iwa rere, um caráter feliz ou bom, cujo prêmio final é a abundância, a plenitude de todas as coisas boas.

Caráter/iwa é um conceito complexo. Ifá nos ensina que iwa nasceu inquieta e curiosa, pois ela era atraída ao mundo da matéria, intrigada pela sua natureza apaixonada. Se olharmos para o conceito de iwa na perspectiva do Simpósio de Platão e Timeu, pode parecer que iwa – caráter - É o amor. O amor pode ser direcionado para ao infernal, às estrelas e para os outros – e essa é uma parte de sua complexidade. Iwa assume uma determinada forma ao mesmo passo que se move ao redor no mundo. Com uma boa orientação isso pode ser bom, porque a bondade refinará a bondade inerente à beleza do caráter. Mesmo que todos nasçam bons e com um coração de Amor, o mundo acontece - e vamos construir, como Glauco, cascas e formas alienígenas sobre o nosso caráter, seja para interagirmos ou para defender aquela chama de Amor que está se apagando ao passo que caminhamos em nossa vida.

OBEAH – AFRO-SHAMANISTIC WITCHCRAFT

2011-03-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

: reposted here by kind permission of Azoth Kalafou

Obeah is one of the more unknown and obscure African traditions of Sorcery. While Santeria, Umbanda, Candomblè are getting a broader and broader reputation Obeah is still veiled in a great deal of secrecy. This is understandable when you view the complexity in this earth-religion. The word Obeah or Obi is it self a word shrouded and obscured in secrecy. The most understandable meaning of the word can be translated into ”occult power” meaning a powerful engine used to empower spells for witchcraft as well as other forms for practical magic and communication with the gods.

It is assumed that the Ashanti and the Dahomeyans is the carrier of the wisdom of Obeah. That it was slaves from west and-north-Africa that brought this current of power to Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago. The tradition of Obeah captures several lines of occult transmission. The Obeah it self is best seen as an multi-differenced source of extreme power. In a way the Obeah-men are the True Chaos-magicians since they can use any system they want and fuel it with the power of Obeah, without the danger of disrespect for the gods. In Trinidad you will find Obeah blended with Muslim faith with Hinduism and Christianity. Also in Sierra Leone there are certain tribes which declares themselves as Muslim but who use the Quran to perform powerful magic with the help of Angels and Djinns. Similar traditions are to be found in Trinidad-Tobago as well. In the succession I belong to Obeah is blended with Orisha-worship, which is the most common manifestation of Obeah. Orisha worship in Trinidad has two main fractions ”Spiritual Orisha” which are very Christian in its practical way. They also avoid blood offerings. The other one ”Baptist Orisha” is a more pure and ancient line of Orisha-transmission who accept blood-offerings and function very much like Orisha-worship you’ll meet elsewhere in the world. Still I might add that Voudon is perhaps the closest “brother” to ”Baptist Orisha”

Lilium Umbrae Cuveen. . .

2011-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Pathos, Prospect & Pilgrimage
Lilium Umbrae Cuveen is sworn to allegiance by blood and troth to the Maid and Magister of The Clan of Tubal Cain. We have taken the shadow and the lily to speak for us. A mystery from within, but still aside, that rides upon the scales of Hydra as she is mirrored from Draco. Here we find the raven that drinks the chalice of first blood. The mystery repeats in an enigmatic variation upon timeless truths. As above so below – as the poles support each other and gives stability in its fluid flow of light such are mother clan and all daughters. From the starry pyre at the circles heart the blood flew and flows in truth and troth to the ideals of honour and beauty! This shall be our pilgrimage, upon the scales of the serpent to be as one in blessed diversity that always manifests the hunger of union.

The Dragon's Road
The Dragon is father of wisdom and it is here amongst its select pedigree we find that torch of first blood that marked men to become pilgrims of truth, ever hungry for wisdom. The Dragon itself by its scales is the sum of all colorations of truth – even as it borders on the borders of the world where we find the Lie constantly invading the land of milk, wine and honey from whence ancestry is fed. By acknowledging this descent we also acknowledge a being of blood that thrives on in mystery with the silent aim of supporting the pole of truth. The Dragon is truth and the Mother of the Lie – but as the other affirms the one and marks the land in this way shall the twain Dragon be understood, as the path hiding the enigma of light and wisdom as it needs the Lie.

The Cauldron within the Cave
Robert Cochrane was a man of caves. He knew that in the cave we found light taking the shape of great remembrance. The remembrance would enable us to master Fate whom holds your life and purpose supported upon their three legs. Darkness is ever a teacher, where She blooms as the ecstatic lily of transformation. In this flowering of the witch mother herself holding all wisdom of night the mystery of the cave is found in the secrets of womb, it be of Her, She or Earth. The cave is like the moist night where dream and contemplation meets in mutual genuflection. It is about remembering Truth aided by stars, Fate and Land. It is about the absence that makes all things to be – or at least a whisper of it as it lives on in the nocturnal voices that speaks through birds, snakes and breath.

The Starry Anvil
Man is a stellar stone flung to earth, on the altar of the first blacksmith dross is burnt and beaten to reveal the spine of light within. For us, He is the one who transmitted the power of fire and the secrets revealing how to survive, conquer and master it. He is the extension of the dragon, nursed by the Moon and the land itself into the spirit of wisdom. When we meet Him, Qayin, we meet ancestry and we meet crossroads. The first crossroad concerns ambition and truth where he by each stroke of the hammer asks, 'who are you' and shapes in conformity with Fate your true being. This leads to the second crossroad where the true being, or essence forged has been clouded by a social substance, ambitions continuation. This crossroad was in the 4th Century Church defined as vices caput, cardinal vices as the potential for sin arising from the Dragon's head. The so called seven deadly sins are naturally the malefic shades of the traditional planets and in our journey they will constantly challenge us to be true to our Fate – because only in this way can we be its master. This opens the third crossroad where wisdom and folly is mirrored in acceptance and pride. It is here the fire becomes ours and it is here we can burn down cities and alliances and build our ascent towards mastery of its secrets. As the Master of the accursed blood this is the keys that are his to give.

She of Land and Blood
The people of Goda, are Her people. This is also reflected in how Maid and Magister manifest He and She at a unique juncture outside time and social convention, within the compass. It is here at the pyre within the circle it all turn fluid and interacts in the one stream made from the three... Here the People of Goda takes on a new hue and dresses earth and air in honour of Her legacy and births new voices speaking the timeless truths that were always Hers. Truths forged on the holy anvil of eternal becoming and perpetual return. She is Fate and upon her call we are called to the crossroad where we can master Fate. As the Master Cochrane himself said it paraphrased by the Master Evan John Jones:

"Seeing the Lady is just not enough, to serve her and her will by being involved in humanity and the dictates of Fate (the single name of all the Gods) because in Fate, and the overcoming of fate, is the key to inspiration and death itself is gained stayed. There is no fate so terrible that cannot be outfaced and overcome, whether by a concrete victory gained by action or the deeper victory of the spirit engaged in the solitary battle of self. Fate, destiny or doom is the trial, the Castle Perilous, in which we all must meet to win or die." (Jones & Cochrane, ed. Howard (2001): The Roebuck in the Thicket. Capall Bann: pp 161)

And in this we find our pathos, prospect and pilgrimage.
Lilium Umbrae Cuveen can be contacted at llilium_umbrae@clanoftubalcain.org.uk

From:
http://www.clanoftubalcain.org.uk/index.html

The Pagan Sun and the Witches’ Moon

2011-03-01T03:30:00.000-08:00

Micha Brusilovsky (2000) - Garden of Eden/night

Paganism, neo-paganism and witchcraft are all labels that seem to be difficult to define and keep separate. In many ways, I do like things to be fluid and flowing in as tides and moon moves – but it can also be confusing to understand where the waters crosses the boundaries if we don’t really mange to separate the duck from the swan. Robert Cochrane who defined himself as a witch, or more correctly a pellar defied the label pagan given upon him. He not only commented upon the fluidity of the Craft itself but also defined it as a faith. He said: “The Faith is a belief concerned with the inner nature of devotion, and finally with the nature of mysticism and mystical experience” (The Roebuck in the Thicket, 2001: 56). In addition we should also remark his very pragmatic attitude towards rite and ceremony. This inner dimension of devotion is a classical trait in many religions who places importance on inner experience. For Cochrane it was this that rekindled the fire within so we could resonate with truth. Ritual should be designed so a greater perception of the godhead is revealed so this can be revealed within us, because in faith we find the true life. He says about modern witches in his article ‘Witchcraft Today’, ‘that these see the Craft of the Wise as simple pagan beliefs, full of old traditions which are appealing’ (ibid. 48). He clearly made a distinction between his own beliefs and the modern ones that he saw as a rekindling of ‘pagan beliefs’ – or neo-paganism.

The term ‘pagan’ signifies someone who lives in the countryside and it might refer to aristocrats keeping summer houses there – but it does denote peasant. It is outside the cities the land was ploughed and cattle kept. There was a difference between the city dweller and the dweller in the countryside since Antiquity, both in customs and beliefs. Then like now the urban people considered the peasants to be rustic and superstitious. In this pagan fold we had yet other individuals that were subject for ambivalence amongst the pagans – and by extension the city dwellers. These were those who knew about herbs and prophecy. Weird people; not really of this world that possessed knowledge that aided in childbirth and sickness of men and cattle. The peasants went to them when they needed and spoke of them in awe and degradation when they had no need.

The proposition, the argument and the dialogue

2011-02-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

J. L. David (1787) - The Death of Socrates

Today many people seems to feel their personal opinions are somewhat important in a manner exceeding the importance and limited scope of the opinions expressed. This leads to a culture where opinions and discourse is imposed upon others. If we add to this that language, like society, has degenerated to a level where discourse is often done from a personal materialism and political interest this questions the ethos and pathos involved in discourse. What we see is a maze of disagreements and pointless bickering – a battle between formless opinions. At times, when you make clear that you see no use in entertaining dialogue some people see this as a provocation, because they so desperately want to convince themselves by convincing you. I have no interest in debating who is right and who is wrong with anyone, but I do like the good discourse that arises in the field of agreed proposition where the focus is to widen horizon. If a personal opinion is passionately attached to the proposition or even worse – to one of the representations in the field of discourse, chances are that we are wasting time that could have been better used contemplating happiness over a cup of coffee.

Wittgenstein commented upon this complex related to the proposition that this must be able to communicate a new sense in us. This is done better with applying a new use of old expressions. It is crucial that the proposition is a picture of reality by virtue of its representatives and logic inherent in the picture itself. These representatives and what he define as signs must be logically articulated because there can never be representatives of the logic of facts. This means that a proposition equals reality and is judged true or false insofar as it presents a picture of the proposed reality. The impact this has for semantics and language as they take place in a dialogue is as Wittgenstein says in 4.112 in his Tractatus: ‘Without philosophy thoughts are, as it were, cloudy and indistinct: its task is to make them clear and to give them sharp boundaries.”

Palo Mayombe and the Barbarous Civilization

2011-02-18T04:11:00.000-08:00

Last month a mother was charged and indicted on charges of cruelty and neglect of a child she tried to rescue from death threatening illness. For her the solution was found in the traditional faith Palo Mayombe where body, soul and spirit were made subject for healing. As the sensationalist reportage tells, the mother ‘exposed her daughter to the bloody rituals of the Palo Mayombe faith’. The nature of these bloody rites consisted in receiving some cuts to the body where medicine was placed and to consume the heart of a chicken that had been offered to the spirit of healing. The child also witnessed ‘the decapitation of a goat’. When the police went to the paleros house they found the following horrors:

“Dolls, a shrine, religious statues, bones, machetes and bundles of sticks bearing numbers and names were among artifacts found at the home. The items, some of which had blood and animal hair on them”

The defence was of course one of religious freedom, which the judge denied. Instead it was all about the unsanitary conditions, the cruelty of exposing the child for a ‘primitive’ ceremony and the prosecutor was even making a point of the importance of having ‘paleros’ being given state licence to do their bloody rites in sterile surroundings.

The Invisible Fire and The Modern Luciferian Tradition

2011-02-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

Art: Audrey Melo

In my book Invisible Fire (2010: Capall Bann) I stated in the preface to the book the following: “The mysteries of Seth will prove to be provocative for many children of the modern spirit... The spirit of the modern world is marked by a high degree of individualism”. I summarized later on page 162 the objective with this book as it transforms into practice in the following way:

“This is ultimately the goal with all these practices. Through Wisdom the mystery is revealed and man is drawn one step closer to the Promised Land and the return to the Golden Age is enabled. By Wisdom revealed man can understand how to approach the world of matter and use it as a medium for ascent and thus bring the Divine Kingdom upon Earth and in this way restore the original flow of the axis mundi.”

This is of course a provocative proposition, as I stated. I just did not know exactly how the provocation would take shape in the passion rid soul of the critics. I thought my attacks upon the exaltation of individualism would be what gained the hardest toil – and in some way it is, but by a through a detour of sorts, as I see my comments on the modern luciferian tradition was perhaps the most pill to swallow. But before that I need to clarify my understanding of modernity in light of tradition as I see them as defying each other in principle and virtue.

Individualism is most important for the spirit of modernity. We live in a world where our ambition and desire can make any material possibility real. In a way, modernity tells us to look inward and search solutions in what is made, within creation while it exalts our ego as supreme. Tradition proper is concerned with the cosmic belongingness of the individual, about understanding fate so we can master Her – and through this achieve abundance, love and peace of all forms. Tradition proper focuses on who you are and how your substantial being can flow into the world and bring abundance to you and harmony to the world. So, for me modernity represents an inversion of values where strength and ambitious pursuit in the world of matter is seen as superior to wisdom and truth. I see modernity and thus by extension any modern luciferian tradition as profane. And what do I mean with this distinction? I simply mean that a person of a luciferian inclination tend to be light seeking, to be infatuated by the light as it reveals sparks of truth, quite different from someone who wants to solidify this spark into a modern tradition of theosophical succession, which is yet again a product of modernity by Blavatskian avenues.

One critical comment that puzzled me was concerning my lack of understanding of Cain’s pivotal role in relation to Seth. The critique suggested my complete failure in understanding this mystery. What this critic is speaking of is the transformation from the Man of Fire (Cain) to the Man of Light (Seth). We are speaking of a transmutation of the fire to a form that unites the left and right into a focused centre of hot light of being. To use a well known symbol, the caduceus, Cain is the left, Abel is the right – but Seth supports the staff itself, so there can be no separation and the brothers are instrumental in the unification of a higher unit that contains all as One. From this neo-platonic philosophy/theology I based my work upon it has been further been suggested that I see the ‘fallen angels’ and Cain as evil. If my discourse upon fall came across as ‘evil’, I beg apology here. My intent was to present this mystery in light of necessity. Sometimes when we see what we need to and act upon it can be interpreted as ‘evil’. But in reality ‘evil’ is a subtle factor in the principle of poison that needs ‘will’ and/or ‘conditioning’ to be released as I see it. To do what is necessary is a constant theme in the book when I discuss the implications of the fall. From the perspective of modernity the fall is exalted as Cain’ murder, we hail transgression for transgressions sake. But I ask, to what ends? Transgression is an option every time we are in the crossroad. Transgression is a verb, not a quality. As such Cain, as Judas Iskariot, as Mary Magdalena, as Salomé, as Odin does what is necessary within a give mystery. I asked myself; what are the consequences of Cain’s murder and transgression, what is the greater purpose - and a new quest started.... This opened up a new dimension of mysteries, which I recognized as the soothing heat and light of Seth, the origin of Cain’s fire. As I write in ‘Invisible Fire’:

“When Cain murders Abel this is caused by fire, but not necessarily the fire of rage. For instance the rune naud also expresses the principle of fire, but it is the need fire that carries the burden of duty coming with opening the hand of Fate” (Invisible Fire: 24)

Later in the book I am exposing the following in my discussion of Cain in the traditional theosophy of Elus Cohen:

“Reintegration was made possible by Abel and Cain, as a metaphysical necessity. Abel by giving up his blood and breath re-enacted the consecration of the Earth and made it holy. As such Abel reinstalled the truth and Cain, like Iblis, was the one appointed to affirm the truth. By necessity of sacrifice the anima mundi is released from its severity and through Seth mercy.” (ibid: 142)

I can’t really see how these meditations upon necessity and Fate condemn Cain as evil or how this leads to any suggestion that I am disregarding Cain’s importance in this mystery. It is only the children of Cain that can find and return to Seth, who is at the same time origin and continuation. This is the understanding I have of Cain, master of the accursed blood and what he gave to me – and upon this I believe no one should challenge.

My problem occurs when this mystery is subject for solidification and not transcendence. The transcendence finds release in the greater Sethian mystery and its extreme profane solidification in vulgar an immature Satanism, where the subdued individual in a fight for survival, full of hatred, usurps a pathetic position he or she deems superior. I have realized that my perception of these matters are tricky as i do not condemn everything, but just want to understand it s place. I believe that whatever is, has a meaning, great or small. Every person you meet and every situation you confront has a meaning, great or small. The individual or the situation will persist and invade until you figure out how to understand why it makes a part of your life. I see Cain very much like this fire. It is a fire that can strike to the ground in hatred and anger and elevate itself to the realms of understanding – both products of his severity. A modern tradition, born by the spirit of modernity and rebellion, tend to exalt the anger, while in a traditional context Cain is the one that exalts the fire into sense, from and understanding. This is how I see the work of the divine blacksmith; he paves the road for understanding. But as our world is of crossroads, on the other side of choice we can chose intolerance and hatred while condemning the understanding he provides. And it is here we enter into my critique on the modern luciferian tradition at large and question if this is not a child of ill theosophy and the spirit exposed by Otto Rahn. I question if this Germanic superhuman philosophy is not a tormented cry from suffering beings (a beautiful but erroneous consequence of Weltschmerz that I embraced and saught to understand) instead of portents of a tradition in its archaic (Platonic) sense. I find it problematic to celebrate material strength on its own accord. I see this brings only malice and hatred – and I do not want to accept a world of such ideals. I see envy, anger, poison, hatred and all this as enemies of what is good and true and paradoxically this is Cain’s crossroad – to understand the principles of severity or become its slave. I truly believe we are living in Kali Yuga, the age of dissolution – I don’t see this as ‘evil’, but as a fact that we need to embrace with understanding and not brute force. I write:

“The rebellion of the apostate angels thus represents an inversion of the natural order, where the higher falls into the lower by a misdirected eros or love. The rebellion itself was intrinsically linked to the abandonment of destiny in favour of adopting an inferior perspective and a nefarious condition.” (IF:127)

In this I present the fall as a crossroad and as a constant challenge. We can fall at any time in our decisions and in our passions, but only a fool persists in error. The crossroad invites a chance to ascend and understand the current corruption of the matter, not to worship it.

As I say: ‘the Cainite disposition, as it manifests in contemporary humans is one of restriction and heroism Cain went out to build cities and as such Cain in himself represents bondage and conformity to manifest law’ Manifestation invites to understanding solidification and matter as superior to the ideas that made them possible.” (IF: 28)

So we should not mistake the challenge for its essence. My problem with many modern expressions of luciferianism is exactly this unbalanced perspective where strength, might and conquest tend to be seen as superior to any other quality. Many modern luciferians have distorted the powerful mystery of the twins and the first murder and in the glorification of the blade comes the condemnation of Abel – herein lies a dualism that makes evil possible. If we on the other hand aim towards understanding the unifying metaphysical principles involved in the drama we will understand matters on a higher octave glorifies the blade while cursing the. I hold, as I wrote that:

“True tradition is timeless; it is a legacy that speaks of the cosmic laws and the archetypical as the stable poles of all manifestation” (IF: 12)

It is from this perspective I question if the modern expressions of luciferian traditions are really traditional, since I see dualism as presenting a theological and traditional error, as I comment:

‘Luciferian Tradition in contemporary occultism tends to focus on divinized misanthropy and exaltation of the left serpent of the Caduceus’...the left side represents poison, power, resistance and strength’ (IF: 63)

Our modern western world is designated by a profane, materialistic perspective and ideas and if these values are allowed to colour our tradition I at least suggest that this opens for corruption of the golden seed and we need to ask if the tradition in question can be viewed as such upon metaphysical premises.

We can approach Lucifer within the greater metaphysical scope of tradition where his powers consist in the transmission of sparks and light and thus he holds a virtue similar to Phanes or as the instigator of a tradition, which will then set him apart from everything – and naturally the devotees of such cult will be infected by the illusion of antagonistic division. I am of the opinion that ‘a Luciferian tradition’ is solely wishful thinking and clearly an idea of a highly modern origin. I find it far more healthy when a person is labelling oneself as ‘luciferian’ or having a ‘lucferian inclination’ or makes room for this angel in its myths. This will enable us to embrace his form and function by traditional forms of transmission rather than insist on Lucifer being subject for a traditional cult that opposes creation. But in the end of all, I invited to an enrichment of perspectives, but as perspectives are truly Saturn’s gold we can perhaps better understand the fight between matter and spirit. The Luciferian crossroad invites us to either be set aflame in light so we can overcome Fate or accepting Hubris as king of our Fate.

Let me add to this that I am a Cainite who sees Our Master with a purpose, and if this makes me a devil – it also makes me Him! Amen!

Lastly, I am thankful for the opportunity my critiques have given me to clarify matter of the book that might have presented itself as confusing. Let me end here with great blessings to companions as well as those who seek to challenge. May we in this find harmony, union, truth and beauty while we take delight in all of creation!

The Poisonous Hearth

2011-02-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

We all have heard the adage: ‘home is where the heart is’ – and home is hearth, where the fire kindles warmth and companionship, home should be a castle and refuge of peace. When the hearth is overflowing with poison and quarrels and bickering, pride, envy and hatred takes shape in the ill fumes from the hearth there will be no peace. When ones home is poisoned the ugly takes the place of beauty and harm takes the place of healing. This venom is then taken out in the streets and the unrest of the poisoned one will strike to all corners because the world will speak loudly about his misery. The poisoned one will ravage beauty and goodness wherever it shows it face. He will pluck the feathers of the peacock to crown himself – to throw a stolen beauty upon his poisoned state, to hide his ugliness. When a man get’s poisoned at his home his fruits will be bitter and his envy like coals from the caverns of hell will be flung out upon the world.