abracadabra-macabre:

A lot of this post-modern talk that is embedded in much of the neo-pagan movement is very tiresome. What do I mean when I say tiresome, and just what exactly am I referencing when I talk about post-modern talk in neo-paganism?

What I am referencing is this notion, most people exploring the…

See, there’s some very good points in here, but that’s a big, huge, broad brush that you paint eclectics and Chaos magicians with.

It occurs to me that you’re not really talking about me, but since you brought up eclecticism and Chaos magic, I felt a need to respond. You poked a stick at my labels based on some really incorrect assumptions, and I won’t just pass by that peacefully without saying my $.02.

We’re not all asshats. Not all of us go crazy like a kid in the candy store just grabbing whatever we feel like. No. Some of us look for a common thread between the differing paths that call to us and carefully weave our own way from that thread. Some of us try VERY hard to avoid cultural appropriation. Some of us are trail blazers and simply look to other paths as guideposts along the way. 

I won’t apologize for making the Pagan community look bad, for anyone outside of the Pagan community not taking us seriously. You’ll want to blame the flufftards for that, but don’t blame those of us who work very hard.

Postmodernism might not be something that you understand, and quite frankly most of the people who practice it (and don’t even know it) don’t understand it.  Most people who go this route are extremely shallow, but that’s not the fault of postmodernism. It’s a bad interpretation of postmodernism, which is really complex, touches on a lot of different areas, and that causes the problem.

All that Postmodernism says is that objective explanations are not adequate to explain all of reality, that nothing is really all that cut and dry. That’s it. The truth of it seems pretty obvious to me. No matter how you try to slice it, this truth will always be staring you in face. I guess some people can ignore that better than I can.

Some of us do view spirits as having less solid lines between them keeping them separate and different and in neat little boxes. From my personal point of view (speaking only for myself, here) there is very little separating anything in the Universe and I have experience, science, and philosophy to back that up. (See the Hermetic Laws and Quantum Mechanics for more info.) I don’t have all day to go into that, and it might not be relevant to your path, but it is relevant to mine.

Eclectics are not a homogenous group. We don’t all do things the same way. We don’t police each other. I certainly don’t want to be bogged down with the control mechanisms that most religions find so expedient.  It’s not my responsibility and I don’t have it in my power to try. That means that there’s going to be a large number of asshats among us.  I’m TOO BUSY following my own very rewarding, experiential spiritual path to be trying to hunt down every flufftard in all of Pagandom.

I want you to understand that your broad brush is really inaccurate for the serious practitioners that fall into the eclectic/chaos side of things. So you listed some things, and I thought I’d go over those…

-A.) A metric fuck-ton of appropriation from First Nations/my heritage with little regard for what you’re doing

I don’t  mess with First Nations spirituality or any other customs of disenfranchised indigenous peoples. I don’t have a right to. And it’s my heritage, too. I have Apache and Cherokee blood. I’m just not a card-carrying member of a tribe. 

Some flufftards borrow liberally without knowing what or why, but I don’t. I use chaos magick, hedge-riding, and all manner of folk magic and as many newage technologies I can learn from to Craft in my own style. I learn from Ceremonial Magick and various occult philosophies, and go further to learn from the cultures that influenced those. I dig deep into the latest scientific discoveries in quantum mechanics, and I’m finding more and more that the Universe is magical and everything is already there laid out to learn. I only have to dive into it. Strict traditionalists would like me to put on blinders and pretend that I don’t see what I see and know what I know from my experience of walking between paths. They want me to pick one. But I already have. MINE.

-B.) A large problem of people just stopping their seeking to just go play fantasy dress-up to escape their issues

I don’t do this either. Costume parties aside, of course.  Again, you’re talking about flufftards, not serious practitioners.

-C.) A crap-ton of inaccurate books on the lores of the Gods that too many people take seriously and call any fact-based book “stuffy and not fun”

I have been known to swallow some inaccuracies on the way to finding the facts and good sources. It happened. I’m not proud of it, but I’m past it. It’s part of the nature of the current day and age to dole out a product without quality control.

I like facts, truth, and I like boring stuffy books. I’m an intellectual. I hardly ever read fiction, and when I do, I want it to have some real philosophical meat for me to enjoy it. I can spot a fluffy book a mile away, and that’s because I’ve been at this a while. I can still find something useful in most fluffy books, and don’t find it difficult to discard the fluff to get at the real meat and potatoes.

-D.) Using the gods as fashion accessories

My goddess is not a fashion accessory. She likes me to dress nicely, to grow my hair long in her honor, but  I’m not exactly sure that’s what you mean. Do you mean like T-shirts with a bleeding Jesus on the Cross, or movie Thor on a Dr. Pepper Can? Anubis statue at an airport? Do you mean goth kids wearing pentagrams to the mall? Do you mean “warriors” who play video games? Elven princesses who are also lycanthropes with demon blood and also cosplay? I’m pretty sure eclectic spirituality and Chaos magic is not responsible for all that. Nope, that’s just commercialism, which has a HUGE effect on modern Neo-Paganism and the occult, and there’s no denying that. It’s the society we live in, though.  Don’t think I haven’t noticed how popular Loki has become since he was in a movie. He’s dark and sexy and the kids love him.  If that’s what you mean by fashion, then I suppose I’d have to agree with you. But that’s not me nor the eclectics and chaotes I correspond with.

-E.) Putting your ass in hot water when your ritual using garbled sumerian grabs the attention of an elder sumerian spirit who thinks raping you in every possible way in the definition of the word rape constitutes a just punishment for your half-ass ritual

You assume that just because a person isn’t apart of one path that they only have a shallow understanding of any given system they undertake. Smart people exist, and they don’t all follow stringent rules, but have figured out how to learn quickly, apply their knowledge with wisdom, and be good at seeing patterns and where things fit.  Problem is, you only see the stupid people. You see what you want to see because it validates your viewpoint.

Magic is magic, in any context. Basic protection operations are pretty standard. A crucifix is as powerful as the Seal of Solomon, as “Firey Wall of Protection” oil, as a well-crafted energetic shield. Once you understand the broader category of “protection” after having looked at several different systems, you can pretty much adjust to any system. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only chaos practitioner that is cautious when approaching a system I don’t fully understand and unwilling to try something until I KNOW I can handle it.

-F.) Makes the rest of the neo-pagan community who puts the time and effort in look like a bunch of collective jackasses for daring to call the post-modernist drek when they see it.

Boo-effing-hoo. Poor you. All the flufftards make you look like a flufftard. Join the club. Now suck it up.

-and finally G.) Makes the whole of the neo-pagan movement unable to be taken seriously by our well meaning allies

Well-meaning allies of other paths seriously try to get to know people based on individual merit and align themselves with those that they have no objection to. And if they do have a problem, it is because they are doing the same thing that you are doing, painting everyone with a broad brush. Why on Earth would you want to befriend anyone who judges you based on what someone else is doing? That’s just stupid.

As far as standards are concerned, I have my own standards. You wouldn’t be able to cut it on my path. Neither would the flufftards. Various practioners from many different paths (both traditional and eclectic) probably could, but it would depend on if they were called to do what I do, and most of them are quite comfortable where they’re at.

So, there’s my take. It occurs to me that there needs to be a bit of separation between the occult community and the Pagan community, even at the points where they cross over. Those of us who are truly occult will never sit right with those who really like there to be boundaries, limitations, and boxes and plenty of light to see where those clear lines are to make everything nice, neat, and orderly. I suggest you get over it and ignore us if you can’t be bothered to try to understand us. Trust me, it is not folks like ME who are making YOU look bad.

The deserts in South Eastern New Mexico was once the provence of a coral reef in a vast inland sea during the Cretaceous period. Fossils of sea creatures are abundant and many rocks of fossilized coral can be found. Like many ancient habitats, deep underground still contains deposits of crude oil and coal which is, as we all know, routinely sought after for fuel. Also deep underground in some areas are ancient tar pits. Once in a while, these tar pits heat up through natural seismic activity and send tar bubbling up to the surface where the tar hardens.

This hardened tar is called “asphaltum”, what we commonly call asphalt, but completely natural. In the deserts of the Middle East, asphaltum was often collected and used in incense. It is not pleasant to smell on its own but can balance out incense mixtures that are too sweet and cloying. It was a common ingredient in Kyphi recipes, as well as incenses used in Ceremonial Magick and Medieval grimoires. Use sparingly.

This asphaltum is hard but can be easily chipped off or crushed. The outside of the nodules contain a small amount lime and silica sediment (sand), but most of it has been cleaned off. If you do not wish to use as an incense, whole pieces can be used in mojo bags. Crushed finely, it can be added to magical powders. Some scrying mirrors are made with a layer of melted asphaltum on the back side of the glass. Native Americans used asphaltum melted down as a glue or pitch to fasten arrow and spear heads. It is also a long-standing substance for water-proofing.

The magical properties of asphaltum are banishing, binding, necromancy, protection, clearing, exorcism, and destruction.

Prosperity votives

When it comes to the spirit world, I find that trying to categorize things and using book research tends to be inadequate. Sure, going to the library or internet is great for research as a jumping off place to begin to understand what’s going on across the veil, but the real research is actually climbing over the hedge and seeing what’s out there.

The longer I’ve been exploring the spirit world as a witch, the more that I’ve seen the lines blur between what is out there and what is within, the more I’ve discovered that the difference between demons and fairies and gods and even ancestors is sort of blurry. How easily one guiding spirit can change form, how easily another can change personality. How odd to be attacked in one instance only later to befriend such a frightening entity because I approached “it” with curiosity and respect. How easily they could all be chalked up to a vivid imagination!

I had a conversation not long ago with a high priestess about this, and she immediately cut me off: “The Sidhe are NOT gods!!!”  I didn’t say they were (I didn’t even mention the Sidhe—I guess she classifies all fairies as Sidhe?), and how I worded my observation here is very much the same as how I worded my observation to her, so I think that either I was misunderstood, or she was being obtuse because my observation made her uncomfortable. Either that, or my status doesn’t afford me the benefit of an intelligent conversation with someone so titled. (An attitude that really doesn’t sit well with me.)

Many people who are of some religious traditions are taught things a certain way like to keep things in their nice little boxes. I’m just not comfortable in asserting my ideas about the spirits and how they should behave on the spirits themselves.

I approach the spirits as both an outsider and as a spirit myself. I know that I, as a human being, am complicated. How can I expect any other person or spirit to be one dimensional? How can I classify spirits into good and evil, when I can’t even classify someone I know better than anyone else—myself—into such? How can I begin to even legitimately understand a being if I go into a relationship with that being with preconceived notions?

I don’t know jack shit when it comes to the spirit world. I don’t ever pretend that I do. The second I think I have it figured out, the scene shifts and I’m shown something completely different, or gain some new piece of insight that shows that I really don’t have anything figured out. I don’t think that the writers of grimoires had it all figured out, nor the inheritors of any tradition, or any religion can possibly have a corner on what these things called spirits really are. My own scope is severely limited compared to that of those who have danced closer to danger than I’m willing to go at this point in my life. My Sight only sees a fraction of what the genuinely gifted seers can.

We are, after all, dealing with senses that most of us have barely tapped into, and even those with the benefit of titles, degrees, initiations, enlightenment, and psychic gifts can only see so far before their own scope fails them.  I would accept some living seers as legitimate sources more so than any grand tome written a thousand years ago, and yet, I know that each person goes into it with their own interpretation of what they are seeing. How much can we really understand?

By the way, I definitely don’t knock traditional teachings… they are valid and useful. But it would be the height of hubris to ever think we can really fully understand as humans who have only evolved so far, and have only explored so far. Things really aren’t always as they seem, and as for my practice, I will continue to rely on direct experience, and forever push the boundaries of what senses I was born with, what I’ve been gifted with since birth, and try to figure out that very bizarre world just beyond our own, hopefully without inviting trouble.

I fully admit that the blurred lines I observe could just be my own limited sight and insight.

I find this inexplicably funny.  Jolly good fun. Now I’m hungry for cole slaw, but I’m not sure about having a side of old Aleister.

witchyways:

avenging-superwholock-with-loki replied to your post: don’t let it wilt shall be the cole of the slaw.

thedawnrenewed:

bedazzlecat:

from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cthulhu-Hand-Luke/244334115758

Those ghosts from Super Mario were a bit like the Weeping Angels from Dr. Who. If you look at them, they stop. If you turn your back on them, they get you.

Don’t blink.

I think this is John Dee. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER DEE FUCK.

No shit, Sherlock! LOL! I didn’t fall off the occult turnip truck yesterday. Yes, it is John Dee and Edward Kelley.  I expected occultists to recognize this without me having to explain it.  Because you shouldn’t have to explain jokes. The “ghost” (FROM SUPER MARIO BROTHERS) is photoshopped into the picture. I remember it well from my childhood.  Most people also get the Dr. Who reference, but if you don’t, I’m bored with trying to explain the details of the workings of my mind as it pertains to a fucking JOKE.

Original here.

Ghost from Super Mario here.

It must suck to be so humorless that you can’t see how funny this is, and I’m quite concerned for your well-being. Life is too short to go through life angry and lashing out at people for no good reason, especially when you just make yourself look like an idiot in the process. You show you don’t have respect for yourself when you don’t take the time to think through things, and go and try to start shit with someone old enough to be your mother, who has also been at this since you were in elementary school.

The books that are out there now, such as the ones above, can give you everything needed to be a successful magician. But in order to succeed at magick you must do one thing:

Do the work.

by Donald Michael Kraig

from https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cthulhu-Hand-Luke/244334115758

Those ghosts from Super Mario were a bit like the Weeping Angels from Dr. Who. If you look at them, they stop. If you turn your back on them, they get you.

Don’t blink.

Psychic/spiritual development/True Gnosis/High Magic  and prosperity magic.

2. Your least favourite type(s) of magick. 

Ineffective magic

3. How you feel about the Trifold Law (if you follow it) 

n/a

4. How did you first meet your spirit guide/animal. 

Found an injured mourning dove after a storm.  It died in my arms.  The next morning, a cacophony of mourning doves cooed in the woods near my home.  I took this as a sign.  Mourning doves appear before great change in my life.  I have other spirit animals, but mourning dove was my first.

5. Your opinion on death (murder) curses. 

99.99999999% unnecessary.

6. When do you feel your most powerful. 

When I’m on a tangent of learning new things or when I’m inspired to be creative.

7. How would you keep a hex at bay. 

Cleanse self and home.  Do a reversal spell.  Shield and ward.

8. Do you work with the dead

Ancestors

9. How do you feel about using dead animals. 

Ok with it.  I don’t go out of my way to procure roadkill, though.

10. Do you use blood for any casting. 

Usually in those “Oh shit! I need this done right now!” moments

11. What’s your opinion on complicated rituals/spells. 

Not sure what complicated means.  I’ve never looked at a spell and said “Meh, too complicated.”  

12. How did you begin your Craft. 

1998.  I was 20, into nature, and heard about this thing called Wicca in an AOL chat.  Bought Amber K, Silver Ravenwolf, Scott Cunningham, and Buckland and started a Geocities website with annoying graphics and stupidity.  Did spells, sabbats, and esbats right off and never looked back.  It only took a year to figure out how to not be fluffy.  I no longer consider myself Wiccan.

13. What magicks have you used on yourself. 

Mental, emotional, energy, cleansing, protection, health, motivation, love, friendship, dreams, astral projection, divination, visions, prosperity, luck, memory, servitors, warning, time manipulation, manifestation, attraction, beauty, invisibility, glamour (to be perceived as someone not to fuck with when alone at night), 3rd eye opening/closing, other chakra work, healing

14. What magicks have been used against/at you by another/others.

Attempted mind control,  evil eye, seduction, dream invasion

15. What type of record do you keep of your information (spells, potions, charms, etc). 

Various composition books, journals, a data backup external hard drive, and a huge master grimoire/scrapbook

16. What type of curse was the last one you used. 

Magically exposed corruption and bad behavior which resulted in career/reputation of someone really deserving worse.

17. What magickal artifacts do you use most. 

A few choice crystals, mortar and pestle, cauldron, pentacle/peyton.

18. Which of your magickal artifacts did you make yourself. 

Wand, besom, smudge fan, jewelry, curse box

19. What are your personnal beliefs regarding:

19a. Gods/Goddesses. 

Exists as rulers over certain forces, aspects of the Universe, guardians/guides of lower beings.  Ascended beings, may have once been mortal.  I have no one theory or opinion and my mind shifts through various perceptions of the divine depending on my current paradigm.

19b. The Fae

They are an amalgamation of ancestors, genius loci, elementals, deities, and multi-dimentional beings.  Not cute girls with wings as we are often led to believe.  

19c. Demons. 

Aspects of human conscious and subconscious mind…  which is why they’re so tricky.

19d. Gremlins, brownies, pixies, ghouls. 

Falls under faeries, except ghouls, which are human enslaved spirits.

19e. Black vs White magick. 

No such things

Wow.  I know the internet is a funny thing, but what a rude question!  If I refuse to post pics of me in my underwear does that mean I don’t wear any?  Well, sometimes I don’t…  but that’s private and you don’t get to see!

If I create something I think other Chaotes will find beneficial, I’ll post it.  But mostly, when I do create sigils, they are personalized, and wouldn’t do you any good, and it seems self-defeating to publish.  

Besides, I’m a spiritual Chaos Witch, and to me, that’s different from a Chaos Mage.  Even day to day existence is a lesson in the raw Creative Principal that is Chaos…it is something I hold in great reverence.

Besides, what about the no dogma part of Chaos…nothing is true, everything is permitted. This is my scrap of nowhere.  You run and get your own.

So, um…there you go, anon.  Go live vicariously through some other Chaote’s sigils.  Buh-bye.

lyingintheswell:

If you stay at a friend or relative’s house, do any of you carry your tools or books with you?

I didn’t. And I wish I had.

It happened Saturday night. I was staying with my aunt, and it was about half midnight. I was lying in bed, all warm and curled up, when I suddenly got a horrifically bad…

This is why you shouldn’t rely too much on tools.  What happens when you don’t have any with you?  Well, there are techniques that can be relied on.

1.  Simple gestures like mano figo, protects against the evil eye.  You don’t need the amulet, just make the fig sign with your dominant hand.  

2. Banishing pentagrams.  Draw them in the air with your finger.  Or use the LBRP.  (Pagan versions exist, google it)  Or cast an effing circle with no tools… 

3. Basic shielding here, here, here.  Oh and here.

4.  Books:

Psychic Self Defense by Dione Fortune

The Witch’s Shield: Protection Magick and Psychic Self-Defense by Christopher Penczak

5.  A strong Will is your best friend.  Stand up for yourself against spirits that harrass you and tell them to GTFO.  Don’t be a victim.  If you don’t feel strong enough on your own call upon your ancestors, gods, guardian spirits, the Elemental Watchtowers, angels, animal guides or whatever falls within your path.  Archangel Michael makes reliable housecalls…he’s not strictly Judeo-Christian and can be called on by anyone.

This doesn’t answer your actual question but will help you regardless.

Next time, ask a question and say private or not.  Your first card is a ten of pentacles, which is a good foundation, but it indicates people in a relationship not noticing or appreciating one another.  Maybe they are busy, maybe too caught up in their own personal dramas, but even with love, no one’s really feeling like they matter to others in the situation.

In the present moment you have the Fool, who is to start edging toward a precipice, either out of ignorance or they just don’t care, while a little dog tries to warn them of the coming danger.  Sometimes the Fool indicates someone about to embark on adventure, and this could be the case, but you need to know you’re not alone.  That you have someone that cares is really important right now.

The Knight of Swords in your future show that when the time comes for a choice, you’ll have the strength and will to choose what is right for you rather than going the lazy way.  It indicates the need to show anger rather than ignoring it.

Now you can decide if readings have to always be in person from your own experience.

This listing is for one CANDLE BOMB spell kit with instructions. A candle bomb is a fast burning candle spell. No, it does not explode, but packs an extremely powerful punch in the metaphysical realm! 

Whether you are being actively cursed by another, prayed for (to fail) by busy bodies, or are just a victim of your own negativity, this spell will blast that negative energy out of your life, neutralize it and then set up a mighty barrier of protection around you.

This kit includes instructions, Protection and Banishing oil (adorned with a wire-wrapped shark’s tooth amulet), Witch’s Black Salt, Rue herb, black candle, a specially prepared spell parchment, black spell thread, and a black tourmaline crystal.

This spell kit was created on the last quarter of the moon so that the buyer can take advantage of that timing at their own convenience. 

ATTENTION! This spell uses an unconventional candle burning technique with up to 6 inch tall flame. You MUST follow the instructions carefully and remain with the candle and materials until it burns completely out. Use a 6-8 inch fireproof bowl/cauldron of sand or salt to burn the candle in. Keep away from curtains and other flammable material, Have a fire extinguisher handy and keep away from drafts. Buyer accepts responsibility for fire safety upon purchase.