What the heck have the cats been doing?

These are not cats--they are little devils.

One or more of my cats have been down in my ritual room using my magical tools--in particular my Fire Wand and the Banner of the West. I am not sure what type of magical ritual they were doing, but it probably has something to do with getting more tuna. I wonder if other ceremonial magicians and witches have pets that help themselves to the magical tools whenever they feel like it.

(The reason I know that someone has been using my tools is that I discovered the Fire Wand and the Banner of the West on the floor and on the opposite side of the room from where they were being kept. If not the cats, then who?!)

{And if you are wondering when I am going to do a real post, well, my moodiness is starting to improve...so soon.}

[And yes, I borrowed the paintshop photo idea from Stephanie, a friend of mine on Facebook. It was just too good of an idea not to borrow. Why should she be the only one with a demonic cat?!]

And the prize for ugliest magical tool goes to...

Probably the world's ugliest Fire Wand.

I presume that I own the world's ugliest Fire Wand. If not, I am curious to see the Fire Wand that beats mine as the world's sorriest attempt to create a Fire Wand.

This Fire Wand was created when I was living in an apartment, and only had access to handsaw and a ruler...and a box of crayons. I needed a Fire Wand for a working, and didn't have one--therefore, I very rapidly created one out of a wooden dowel.

Now, by Golden Dawn tradition with its emphasis on exactness...and beauty, this Fire Wand should not work...at all, or very, very badly. But it did work, and still works.

If after viewing this Fire Wand, you suspect that all of my Elemental Weapons might be a little non-regulation--well, you would be right. I imagine that Westcott, Mathers, and Moina would be appalled by my lack of caring about my ugly magical tools. Or maybe not--after all, they were using pasteboard for the construction of their Rose Crosses.

Given the teachings of the particular Golden Dawn group (provided that you still believe that we are GD), one might ask: How can such in-exact tools work? If the power lies in the symbolism, how can faulty symbolism still get results? My short answer (inspired by Plato) is that in the World of Ideas, there exists a Perfect Fire Wand; it is from this Perfect Fire Wand that all Fire Wands draw their power from. My Fire Wand does not have to perfect...because the Perfect Fire Wand already exists in the mind of the Divine.

Printing out a large Death card

...and we will update this horrific story of the 2012 nuclear meltdown as soon as we have more information. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, "Who the heck let Morgan into the Golden Dawn?!"

How to use Adobe Reader to print out a really big Tarot card.

One of the things I have been doing lately when I am just too fried from doing too much research to do any actual homework or Russian Bride fiction (damn you History Senior Seminar) is working on the script (really I plan on having a script...that will not be used) and the props for the late June Open Full Moon Ritual (Hearthstone Community Church).

One of the props that I decided that I needed was a really big version of the Death card. And by big, I mean poster board size. At first, I thought I was going to have to use the old grid method or perhaps draw one completely freehand. Then I stumbled across a neat trick using Adobe Reader X.

By clicking on the "poster" button in the print menu, and adjusting the tile scale, you can print out enlarged sections of a picture which can then be glued to a poster board. Therefore, with just a little glue and some help from the Secret Chief in charge, I will have a honking big Tarot card to make the local Wiccans and pagans think that I am completely out of my mind.

Cool, isn't it?



The Secret Chief in charge believes that I need to adjust the sections of the card.



Proof that I also own a copy of Pat Zalweski's Magical Tarot of the Goklen Dawn.



Repairing the Hierophant Sceptre

Decided to take a couple of pictures of the Hierophant's Sceptre as I repaired it today. This particular tool has been in use for eight of the ten and a half years of Bast Temple's existence (for a couple of years, we used a different Sceptre). This one was made from a wooden dowel, red and gold paint, some balsam wood for the crown points, and a giant cork. I am not sure what the support rod is made of (and I did not think about examining it before gluing the crown back onto the shaft). It is not as neat as the one that I saw that used a Pringle can for the crown. This is the first time that I ever had to repair it in the decade it has been in use. It is ugly, but functional.

Link: I have Royal Arch tool envy and who are these deniers

As most of my readers know, I follow several blogs. Today, on Gyllene Gryningen, there is a posting that brings out the tool envy in me; such pretty tools and wands, I have not.

Now my big question is: Who are these people trying to deny the connection between Freemasonry and Golden Dawn? Outside of Howe, I can't think of any serious attempts to do so.

Of course, there are those of us who refuse to believe that a Master Mason is the equal of an Adept Minor. Those of us who refuse to answer to the Masons are simply stating that the systems have went separate ways long ago...and that is merely an administrative issue. (Some of us also refuse to be demoted because of certain curriclum changes and because our lineage is not perfect, go figure that one out...again, an administrative issue.) We are not denying the connection, merely stating that just being a Master Mason grants you no special rights in our system.

(It is much like the relationship between the Elks, Odd Fellows and the Freemasons. They are all related, but different Orders.)

In fact, I think that it is safe to say that the connection between the two systems, if it has ever really been forgotten (or downplayed) has been rediscovered in recent years. If nothing else, my own interest in the Freemasons stems from my Golden Dawn involvements.

The only thing I can think of is perhaps it is different in the circles that VH Frater SR walks in. Then again, it is probably is considering that our two circles have the promotional "free in every box of cracker jack" land mine field separating them. We also have a pond separating us...oh, wait, that is an ocean.

Nevertheless, I cannot help wondering exactly who VH Frater SH is talking about. I am quite sure that I will find out soon enough.

(And guys, if we can't joke about the distance between us, and the reasons for it, what can we joke about?)

Trollish behavior

Over the last few days, I have been watching a troll on one of the Yahoo groups that I am a member of. I am positive that it was just a troll.

It started off when someone mentioned that someone was selling Ambramelin oil on eBay. Now, I am sure that the first post was merely a sales pitch, probably by the eBay seller themselves; but perhaps not, those of us in the esoteric community do tell others of our discoveries of decent priced material and tools.

One of the responses was that one should not buy oil from someone that they do not know, with a catty comment that "I suppose that you buy your magical tools also." And they signed it 93 (this whole story, sadly, is an example of the behavior that the worst of Thelema produces).

At this point, I got involved because yes, I have brought tools and oils from other people. I asked if he grew his own food, hoping that he would see the point that I was trying to make.

Yes, I forgot my father's advice of not arguing with drunks and fanatics. He never said anything about trolls, but I suspect that they fall under the fanatic category.

There was a couple of moments of quiet. Then the troll came back that they did grow all their food and meat, and that no real magician uses tools that other people made. He also made some comments about women only having one purpose---shades of Crowley.

And I dont need to describe the rest; experienced group members can fill in the rest of the blanks.

But it always worries me to see this type of behavior. What if a true Neophyte (someone who knew nothing about Golden Dawn, or Thelema, for that matter) saw this? What if this type of behavior was your first exposure to Our Tradition?

There were some that thought that my responses should have been more impolite, or at least not so subtle. But when I saw how they were signing their posts (93), I knew that indulging in anger would accomplish nothing. And I promptly suspected a troll to boot, someone whose true purpose of posting was to cause trouble.

Now, I know some fine Thelemics, who are very smart, very skilled at magic, and who seek to enlighten others. This person was not one of those. And I refused to stoop down to their level.

So that is my complaint of the day: I hate internet trolls.