The subject of invisibility had cropped in a couple of places on the internet lately, so perhaps I should share the little experience I have with the subject.
(For the record, the reason I kept silent when Pat Zalewski recently stated his opinion was simply the fact that I heard someone else say something really inane on the subject a few years ago. After hearing their opinion, it takes a lot to get me to step forward and say anything about the subject. What Pat said was nothing in comparsion to this another opinion.)
For the record, I have not tried the full-blown Z operation for invisibility (another reason to remain silent). What I have tried is more in line with the "Do not notice me" or "I am someone else's problem" school of invisibilty. My results for the most part might be completely delusional; after all, it is impossible to field-test this under strict scientific conditions.
(Since then, I had a few choice tidbits fall into my lap...but considering I have not the time to test them yet, who really knows if they are tidbits or just more crackpot theories.)
Some of my results may also be pure paranoia. For instance, after doing some of this work, I thought that drivers had a hard time seeing me for quite some time. I never had so many people try to run me over in my entire life in the space of a couple of weeks...and cell phones were not common yet (at the time, they were still pretty big and almost no one had them). But it may just be paranoia and not an actual result.
I learned not to "go invisible" when someone I did not want to talk to had not noticed me yet, but was in line-of-sight of me...for some reason, they could see me instantly if I tried. On the other hand, if someone passed between us, I could "go invisible" and not be troubled at all.
I have noticed that a lot of people do not notice my presence whan I am "deep in my own world."
The strangest story I have to tell involves the grocery store and a week that I had very little time to mediate. I have learned to mediate in less than ideal conditions; much like a cat I can keep a partial eye on the world while deep in my own ponderings. (Ok, it is not mediation if your mind is not a complete blank...I know, I know.) Anyway, I am resting my brain while keeping one eye on the cashier. (No matter how I tell this story, someone is going to say that I am in the wrong...hence why I did not share it on Martin's forum.) Finally, I get to the front of the line. Suddenly the guy behind me is screaming, "Where did you come from? Did you just cut in front of me?" The cashier, bless his soul, looked at the guy and told him that I had been there all along.
Make of that story what you will. For me, I associate it with invisibility because this was around the same time that I had been experimenting with this particular subject. Obviously, if the cashier saw me, then I was not invisible. I am not sure how to explain the guy behind me in the line, but I do have a few theories. If you have a theory to share, please leave it in the comment section.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Necromancy and roadkill
There are just some things that you should not do: Trying to raise roadkill from the dead is one of them.
If you are really curious about the story behind that subject, slip over to Augoeides and read his latest entry. One thing is for sure, none of the stories from my drinking days (long since past---I have long ago gave up drinking) are as colorful. Thank goddess for that.
If you are really curious about the story behind that subject, slip over to Augoeides and read his latest entry. One thing is for sure, none of the stories from my drinking days (long since past---I have long ago gave up drinking) are as colorful. Thank goddess for that.
My friends also do this
A Roman visiting Corfu was sitting in a bar when they saw a strange man walking down the street. The man was dressed in a white robe and wearing a nemyss, and around his neck hang a gold cross with a red rose in the center. In one hand, he carried a long multi-colored stick with a white lotus flower on the end; his other hand he held with forefinger pressed tightly to his lower lip as he walked along. All the people in the street ignored him and went about their business.
The Roman asked the barman what that was all about and the barman said ,“Shhh, that is Aleister Crowley; he thinks he is invisible.” The Roman asked, “Why is everyone pretending that he is?” The barman said, “Have you ever spoken to Aleister Crowley? It is much better that we pretend we can't see him.... besides he might want to read us some of his poetry if we notice him."
The Roman asked the barman what that was all about and the barman said ,“Shhh, that is Aleister Crowley; he thinks he is invisible.” The Roman asked, “Why is everyone pretending that he is?” The barman said, “Have you ever spoken to Aleister Crowley? It is much better that we pretend we can't see him.... besides he might want to read us some of his poetry if we notice him."
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Last night's Open Full Moon Ritual
Last night, I attended the Open Full Moon Ritual hosted by Hearthstone Community Church. For me, it was a red letter day; after all, this ritual had been inspired by one of my newsletter articles.
Now, I will admit walking into the ritual, I wasn't sure that I wanted any credit (blame) for the ritual. I had other people be inspired by my actions, people that I wish would not say that fact out loud.
There was also the fact that the current article arc is building towards what I plan on doing at the June 2010 OFM. There was a slight fear that I might have to revise part of my ritual plan. (I will be revising the ritual, for I am going to borrow an idea.)
Now, I wasn't too worried. I knew that there was a good chance that I would find the ritual acceptable considering who was doing it (Cynthia and Arynne). And they are more wicca oriented than I am; plus I am doing something that I have seen done publically before, so I figure that I was safe from both grief and revision.
What they came up with was very nice. They had a lot of interaction with the audience (attendees). And they came up with some new ways of doing stuff (I have never seen a circle cast that way before---I must remember that idea). My only complaint is the standard choppiness that all public rituals seem to have (you lose energy everytime that you stop to explain something---it is a standard problem that I have yet to discover a good solution to). Overall, I am very happy with the fact that I helped inspire that ritual.
Oh, and on the news front, Hearthstone Community Church is trying to make sure that next year (2011) that they present twelve different styles of ritual over the course of the year (which is actually the ideal, though for the last couple of years, there have been groups that have done more than one ritual per year). The slots will be filling up fast if this year is any indication. By the way, Bast Temple has already spoken for the June 2011 OFM.
Now, I will admit walking into the ritual, I wasn't sure that I wanted any credit (blame) for the ritual. I had other people be inspired by my actions, people that I wish would not say that fact out loud.
There was also the fact that the current article arc is building towards what I plan on doing at the June 2010 OFM. There was a slight fear that I might have to revise part of my ritual plan. (I will be revising the ritual, for I am going to borrow an idea.)
Now, I wasn't too worried. I knew that there was a good chance that I would find the ritual acceptable considering who was doing it (Cynthia and Arynne). And they are more wicca oriented than I am; plus I am doing something that I have seen done publically before, so I figure that I was safe from both grief and revision.
What they came up with was very nice. They had a lot of interaction with the audience (attendees). And they came up with some new ways of doing stuff (I have never seen a circle cast that way before---I must remember that idea). My only complaint is the standard choppiness that all public rituals seem to have (you lose energy everytime that you stop to explain something---it is a standard problem that I have yet to discover a good solution to). Overall, I am very happy with the fact that I helped inspire that ritual.
Oh, and on the news front, Hearthstone Community Church is trying to make sure that next year (2011) that they present twelve different styles of ritual over the course of the year (which is actually the ideal, though for the last couple of years, there have been groups that have done more than one ritual per year). The slots will be filling up fast if this year is any indication. By the way, Bast Temple has already spoken for the June 2011 OFM.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
March 26 2010 Open Full Moon Announcement
Here is the blurb advertising Friday's Open Full Moon Ritual, for those who do not recieve the newsletter. I am curious to see how this one turns out considering that I was the person who wrote the article that inspired the ritual.
Hearthstone meets the Friday before or the Friday of the Full Moon in the upstairs chapel at the First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette in Denver. The church doors open at 7, and we like to start at 7:30. (We are NOT big proponents of Pagan Standard Time, but if there is weather related driving trouble or a problem on the freeway, we've been known to wait a bit longer.) This month's ritual is FRIDAY, March 26, 2010.
At the March 26th OFM, the ritual will give participants the experience of exercising their own will, through the use of words, to create the Circle, call the Quarters, invoke the Gods and manifest their will in magical circle using Words of Power. The ritual was created in response to the inspiring article on "The Use of Positive Statements in Ritual" in Hearthstone's January newsletter. Cynthia Lefevre and Arynne welcome you to join them in empowering ourselves and honoring the seed moon of March.
"If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud."
--Emile Zola
Hearthstone Community Church, Inc.
Hearthstone meets the Friday before or the Friday of the Full Moon in the upstairs chapel at the First Unitarian Church at 14th and Lafayette in Denver. The church doors open at 7, and we like to start at 7:30. (We are NOT big proponents of Pagan Standard Time, but if there is weather related driving trouble or a problem on the freeway, we've been known to wait a bit longer.) This month's ritual is FRIDAY, March 26, 2010.
At the March 26th OFM, the ritual will give participants the experience of exercising their own will, through the use of words, to create the Circle, call the Quarters, invoke the Gods and manifest their will in magical circle using Words of Power. The ritual was created in response to the inspiring article on "The Use of Positive Statements in Ritual" in Hearthstone's January newsletter. Cynthia Lefevre and Arynne welcome you to join them in empowering ourselves and honoring the seed moon of March.
"If you ask me what I came into this world to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud."
--Emile Zola
Hearthstone Community Church, Inc.
Bringing the labels back
After seeing the feedback about removing the labels from my blog, I decided to bring them back. I guess that I was the only person that had a problem with how long my label list has gotten. All the feedback I got was in support of having the labels, and having them in an easily findable list on the side. So the labels are back. Yea! for labels.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Magical East
Today, one of my Facebook friends was rather annoyed that someone called her a lazy magician because she was using substitutions. From the sounds of it, the person saying this either did not understand the system in question, or they never worked a spell in their entire life. My money is on both options. My friend is a working magician actually doing the work.
I wonder what their accuser would say about the substitution that I use all the time: Magical (Mystic) East.
For those who do not work lodge, which is probably most people, Magical East is used when you are using a meeting room that is just not oriented right for ritual purposes. Like for instance, the current ritual space that the Golden Dawn lodge I belong to uses. It is shorter on the east/west axis than it is on the north/south axis. The east/west axis of the room is so short that I cannot imagine doing a Zelator (1=10) initiation in the room without using Magical East.
(Pop quiz: Did you notice when I spelled the directions with lower case letters as opposed to upper case?)
Most people in Golden Dawn know the concept of Magical East (if they know it at all) from the works of Pat Zalewski. In particular, one of his Z-5 books. From that one could argue that it is not traditionally Golden Dawn, but rather something that came out of Whare Ra.
That conclusion would be so wrong. One of the things I discovered from doing research in lodgekit, Freemasonry, and the various other Orders around the turn of the twentieth century is that the concept of Magical East (or Mystical East as it is generally called outside of Golden Dawn) is that it was part of standard lodgekit among the various Orders.
For most Orders, Mystic East is merely a symbolic thing. In Golden Dawn, it is something more.
According to Pat Zalewski, at the start of a lodge meeting where Magical East is being used, the Hierophant says the following prayer:
Creator of the Universe, Lord of the Visible World, who hast by Thy Supreme Will set limits to its magnitude and conferred special attributes on its boundaries, we invoke Thee to grant that whatever hidden and mystic virtue resides in the radiant East---dayspring of Light---the orgin of Life---may in answer to this our prayer be this day conferred upon the Throne of the Hierophant of this Temple, who is the emblem of the Dawning of that Golden light which shall illuminate the Path of the Unknown and shall guide us at length to the attainment of the Quintessance, the Stone of the Wise, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
There is a disadvantage to using Magical East for years and years; after awhile, that direction is the direction that you point to first when someone asks what direction east is in...if you treat East as a secret, you will actually not open your mouth until you actually figure out where you are, allowing you to point in the right direction.
There is also an advantage to using Magical East for years and years; when people start talking about certain rituals being elemental and directional in nature, you can spot the flaw in their logic---after all, your rituals work just fine and you are not doing it perfectly by the book. This insight carries over to allowing you to question some of the other requirements that some people claim spells and rituals need. It also allows you to see that maps do not automatically have north at the top of the page.
And if you feel like accusing me of the heresy of being lazy, you know where the comment section is.
I wonder what their accuser would say about the substitution that I use all the time: Magical (Mystic) East.
For those who do not work lodge, which is probably most people, Magical East is used when you are using a meeting room that is just not oriented right for ritual purposes. Like for instance, the current ritual space that the Golden Dawn lodge I belong to uses. It is shorter on the east/west axis than it is on the north/south axis. The east/west axis of the room is so short that I cannot imagine doing a Zelator (1=10) initiation in the room without using Magical East.
(Pop quiz: Did you notice when I spelled the directions with lower case letters as opposed to upper case?)
Most people in Golden Dawn know the concept of Magical East (if they know it at all) from the works of Pat Zalewski. In particular, one of his Z-5 books. From that one could argue that it is not traditionally Golden Dawn, but rather something that came out of Whare Ra.
That conclusion would be so wrong. One of the things I discovered from doing research in lodgekit, Freemasonry, and the various other Orders around the turn of the twentieth century is that the concept of Magical East (or Mystical East as it is generally called outside of Golden Dawn) is that it was part of standard lodgekit among the various Orders.
For most Orders, Mystic East is merely a symbolic thing. In Golden Dawn, it is something more.
According to Pat Zalewski, at the start of a lodge meeting where Magical East is being used, the Hierophant says the following prayer:
Creator of the Universe, Lord of the Visible World, who hast by Thy Supreme Will set limits to its magnitude and conferred special attributes on its boundaries, we invoke Thee to grant that whatever hidden and mystic virtue resides in the radiant East---dayspring of Light---the orgin of Life---may in answer to this our prayer be this day conferred upon the Throne of the Hierophant of this Temple, who is the emblem of the Dawning of that Golden light which shall illuminate the Path of the Unknown and shall guide us at length to the attainment of the Quintessance, the Stone of the Wise, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
There is a disadvantage to using Magical East for years and years; after awhile, that direction is the direction that you point to first when someone asks what direction east is in...if you treat East as a secret, you will actually not open your mouth until you actually figure out where you are, allowing you to point in the right direction.
There is also an advantage to using Magical East for years and years; when people start talking about certain rituals being elemental and directional in nature, you can spot the flaw in their logic---after all, your rituals work just fine and you are not doing it perfectly by the book. This insight carries over to allowing you to question some of the other requirements that some people claim spells and rituals need. It also allows you to see that maps do not automatically have north at the top of the page.
And if you feel like accusing me of the heresy of being lazy, you know where the comment section is.
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