Messages

"I notice the posts that I find cool and valuable, above all I see and feel the dream of the current itself, and the rest I just kind of brush past."

This perfectly summarises my view -- Thanks, Ringtail! Let me also repost what I wrote in FB:
"We'll see if he'll return. I miss him too, but wish him all the best no matter what
(I will say that I disagree with many of his complaints though. I found a lot of help, inspiration and just good times in the DKMU and don't see why he focusses so strongly on the negative...)
Sheosyrath expressed it quite well recently: "What is the "assault on reality" and when does it end? But then again, that was never the purpose of the group.. it was just a project which had no end. The purpose was something along the lines of a social group based on active people who wanted magickal innovation in practical application, like with daily life/work/art and beyond.""

Thanks a lot for sharing :) A lot of respect from a fellow forest-wanderer.



Edit: That waterfall is just stunning! Thanks for that as well

Nice to hear :) Then see you later. No news from Branch so far, as far as I can tell.

The account that wrote this is deleted... and I don't guess that this is the real Branch. Branch, are you here :) ?

Edit: Ehem  :( It is his real account -- the one he wrote all his posts under. That is really confusing, given that he just started a bookclub etc. Does anyone know anything?

Thanks to Jay and Branch for an informative and pleasant session  :) 

For everyone else: next one or two sessions we finish with Branch's "Mysticism, Initiation and Dream" by Chumbley. We're already halfway through, but you can still join, since it's a really short book. Only 50 pages of text.

After that, I suggested Chapman's "The Camel Rides Again" -- https://archive.org/details/the_camel_rides_again__a_primer_in_magick which contains some quite interesting views on magic, it's praxis and it's purposes  8)  And it's also quite a quick read.

We meet at the same time, next saturday, 8th July :)

[Arjil: "When you think about magick, how do you Wish the process worked? Do That. Keep at it till it works. And it will."]

Thanks Branch :)

This is quite a cool website! And I agree, The Strenth and the Ace of Wands encompass a lot of what I'm getting at.

"when passion is put into it." -- continuously  8)

Let me try to express all my thoughts here in a condensed fashion:

> "Smiling inwardly at all things" (Carrol in Psychonaut) -- while seeing reality as it is. Knowing that your inner state is your decision.
> Energy manipulation --  Using concentration to draw energy into the LS- network and oneself. ("See the pure energy floating all around you. [..] feel its presence with your mind. Pull this energy toward your body and let it enter your skin, merging with your own energy and filling you with vibrant power.")
> Optimising for future positive consequences: doing the right things practically, not wasting time.
> Daily Meditation: Chapman -- "Be aware of what you are experiencing. Let thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations arise and pass away of their own accord. " or "Bring your attention on to the object and keep it there [...] as soon as you realise you are not concentrating[, ...]  bring your attention back"
> Just Doing Magick: "intentionally infusing ones Will with magick" -- "Summon the vision, and more importantly, summon the Feeling, and Pretend like a kid that you're casting your spell, and like a kid, Believe it.".
a.) Influence your life directly. A friend said: "The universe amplifies/gives exactly what you focus your attention on. What you carry in your thoughts and feelings increases in your life." The clearer the focus (more or less "Gnosis") and the longer you do it, the stronger the effect. You can use the time where your thoughts would chase idle worries etc. to do something useful that way.
b.) Empower your Spirits. ("Throughout the centuries, witches kept servitors, some of these relationships have even spanned lifetimes. This is achieved by calling the servitor by the name given to it, and breathing more light energy into it, reaffirming its mission"*)
> As last point, do Magick often, so that you improve, just like in everything else. Practice works even if I don't understand the mechanism.

Arjil: "When you think about magick, how do you Wish the process worked?
Do That. Keep at it till it works. And it will."

Gracco: "just do it. that is literally the clearest terms"

* Found some shockingly good texts on a Satanist page :D http://www.angelfire.com/empire/serpentis666/Satanic_Magick.html (What I liked most were the "Three Steps", the "Advanced Thoughtforms" and their material on Energy Work.)

[The first Book Club Meeting is at 12.00 (pm) (i.e. noon) Pacific Time on Saturday 30th June.]

Let me make that a bit more readable  8)

The first Book Club Meeting is at 12.00 (pm) (i.e. noon) Pacific Time on Saturday 30th June.

This corresponds to 15.00 (3 pm) EDT (New York) and 21.00 (9pm) CEST (Central Europe)

Meet at the #bookclub channel on the hypersigil irc. When you're in the normal channel, you can just type "/join #bookclub" in the chat. Or you can go there directly: Link

The meeting will take place via Skype.

(Spam: I want this Sticky Topic to be above my own sticky topic, as people probably want to read the basics first. Will posting here accomplish this? Test. Edit: Yes it did. Now I need to insert something useful into this spam post :D I'll look for something.  I do think that Tags are important enough for DKMU to be a sticky topic :) )

Okay, let me use this to ask a question: I'm sure some of you folks remember the LS-Variants.
->      -- normal
-X     -- stunning energy
-O     -- converting energy
-<     -- absorbing energy

Different arrowheads would replace the usual ones and you could make an LS for a specific purpose. Like to only drain a place. You could also combine them (say, stun some specifiic energy, absorb it, convert it so something specific and then use if for something specific.). This was drawn as an LS with 4 different arrows and two arrows around it forming a circle and called the "Smart Glitterbomb". Does anyone still have those documents? I couldn't find it in my rather big DKMU-library....

[just do it. that is literally the clearest terms]

Hey, more stuff :) This time copying out of Facebook

I wanted to know about energy and emotions, so I asked this question:

"Recently we've discussed transmuting emotions. Multiple folks said that they transmute negative emotions into positive, or into energy or so. My question is, when there are negative emotions (by your personal definition) -- is that _additional_ (negative) energy moving you away from normal? Or is that a _lack_ of something?  Why might that be important? Let's say I ask Ellis to use the LS-Network energy manipulation capabilities to transmute negative emotions, e.g. around a sigil, or my own ones. If they are _additional_ energy, she can _convert_ it and use it for her own plans. If they are a _lack_, then to help me she has to _use up_ energy. That changes how I would use this application. And I guess that also changes to which extent she'd do it or not.
Or does that question have no answer? Very interested in your views :) Thanks in advance."

I'm still interested in your views of course.

But here are some replies that helped me. As usual, I omit the names.

A: "[...] "Transmutation" is most often done by the old practice of making them conscious, observing without judging - thus they can dissolve in time. But be aware that what you focus on grows, so it's not an easy task.  [...]
One can't simply say that "emotions move you away from normal", there is a reason they surface. In order to properly 'convert' them, one will have ot make them conscious, work on it, analyze the possible causes and reasons..."

B: " "negative" emotions are more like just a different color of light from "positive" emotions". They're still the same sort of energy, just different wavelengths, so to speak."
To which A replies: "The same sort of energy", so when someone goes and multiplies via love it's the same like someone starts killin' because of hate & such?"
Which gives me just the right impulse, I write: " In this example, yes. Both requires energy to do. Both transforms Negentropy into some result and entropy. It's of course the same _only_ in this sense "

And my final preliminary :D thoughts at this moment:
"Wow, you two just helped me a lot. Thanks!
Energy is what does work. What changes the world. So when love makes you help folks or kiss your girlfriend. When hate makes you go out and yell at someone. When depression makes you lie in bed. Obviously these are all choices, I'm not trying to get to Determinism here. But when these choices, in the energy model, are somehow aligned with energy or correspond to it, then "[negative emotions are] still the same sort of energy, just different wavelengths, so to speak." makes total sense.

That's amazing. Because that means that Energy transmutation is indeed fruitful and one can use the _force_ of the subjective negative to create a (maybe smaller) but positive amount of energy. Yeah. Now that I have a satisfying conceptual understanding, I'll try to put it into practice :) "



2. Another awesome person, C, added:
"Energy has some kinds of characteristics. It can be "pure" or in forms of emotions.
Emotions can be transmuted into others or energy.
Ellis can redirect flavors of energies where they are needed into the web without conversion"
I totally didn't think of that. She might have uses for who knows what.


3. Quote by Gracco from IRC: "direct the flow of your own life. it requires constant upkeep. the basics never stop."
(Context. Me: "My basic idea is something like: Start with self-discipline and energy. These allow you to 1. keep control over your emotions -- keep the useless negativity out and 2. do the correct activities, not procrastinate, not waste your time. | When you're in control of your emotions, you can do the continous magic that you Gracco mentioned in a way that is benefitial to you. That makes both your life go better externally and your reactions to bad stuff better." [...] I'm trying to express those basics in the clearest terms I can --- 16:11   Gracco   just do it. that is literally the clearest terms)

Some more Gracco: "everything is energy. anything you do is energy work, like you can not keep from doing magick"

3. A short thing from Liber LS:
"So  we  all  know  about  channeling  various  energies, right? Research it. Learn how. Focus on the LS, and channel that power  just  like  you  would draw  down the  moon, or  tap an element or any other energy source-mix this in with your own  *Voo*    anduse  this  for  everything  from charging  and firing  a  sigil,  to  charging  talismans,  to  infusing  it  into  ritual work,  to  direct manipulation"

So. This was a bunch of stuff that inspired me or helped me. I tried to create a summary, which is in my next post. Thanks to all of you folks who helped me and to Ellis for keeping me going while I didn't sleep enough to put all this together :) I'll try to give back 8)

Edit:
Sheosyrath gave a nice line about the DKMU in the IRC, which I wanted to save:  What is the "assault on reality" and when does it end? But then again, that was never the purpose of the group.. it was just a project which had no end. The purpose was something along the lines of a social group based on active people who wanted magickal innovation in practical application, like with daily life/work/art and beyond.

Wow,  Ringtail... ;D I thought about what I'd answer after reading the questions, and it's almost the same  :)

1. Try to achieve full activation if you intuitively feel it's desirable. It's certainly not a duty, a magickal necessity etc. (at least from my Chaos Magic perspective). But if it feels right, why not? (I'd also consult my Tarot Deck, ask what it suggests me to consider about that. I would not ask it to make the decision for me though)

2. If you feel that this Gnosis has to do with magic, then you can probably charge sigils with it. Let me quote some Arjil:

"any method that you think should work, should do it.
the basic components are Intent, and some act that means *magick* to you.
[...]
Really, it doesn't much matter What you do to make the magick work, only that you do something that you can believe in.
If you were a witch, say, and you were going to cast this spell, what would you do, if you had magick at your fingertips? - Imagine.

now Do That, and mean it.
believe in it." ( https://www.dkmu.org/forum/index.php?topic=380.0 second post. "2.1" in the first post might also be interesting in this regard)

3. Yeah, you can use this as a model, sure :) As Ringtail says, everything is applicable. Chaos Magic will, in my view, merely tell you not to "take it for 100% metaphysical truth that everyone else also must believe in or be a fool". But for yourself, you can use whatever helps you :)

Khaos provides :)

This was quite interesting to read. (Mark the text so that the colours invert, then you can read it, folks :) )

Did you make it black on black intentionally? If not, would you mind changing that? (I considered changing it myself, apparently I can do that now, but decided not to, in case you want it to be hard to read :) )

A parallel view: With a friend we recently discussed that one can only easily take advice about life from people who live well, who can follow their desires. So yeah, if I suck and am miserable, why would anyone take my views about AoR or "Magick is Real" or "Happiness is a Decision" ( https://www.dkmu.org/forum/index.php?topic=380.0 ) seriously? Conversely, if you "live your magic", you automatically show that there is something to this entire "business" ;) So I totally agree with you. Thanks for the inspiration  :)

That would seem to be 21.00 for me, which on a saturday is okay. Let's try  :)

We have an LS on a paper in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem  8)  and also one in the very north of Israel. Be certain that I don't travel anywhere without my stickers and pens.


Edit: Just so you know, there are literally hundreds, if not thousands of LS-tags which are not on that map. I think it contains only a small fraction. I myself have dozens for sure which are not there. And I'm only one.

[Edit]

Since we see a forum revival, let's maybe also revive the Glitter section ;) ?

I'll post a few of my newer ones and later try to revive all those dead links. Please also share your stuff, if you took pictures and want to :)


I recently posted this on FB in a comment thread, but here it is again :) Be as the River, Cleave your Way.
Edit: Can't find this right now...


This makes for a simple rhyme in German and thus makes more sense, but it roughly means "Do you live yourself or do you not live?"

By the way, this website allows to upload a picture, resize it and then publish the link. Just what I need! https://postimg.org (Note to self: 640x480 and after uploading, select "Direct link" :D)

Edit 23.10.18: That website lost all of my pictures! So I can't recommend it anymore. Now I pull them from Google Photos.

Hi folks :)

This sounds like a good idea. I might not be able to make it because of 9 hours difference to Pacific Time, though :D But I'll post my times anyway. I'm on CEST (Central Eurpean Summer time) or CET (Central European time).

You can compare your time with other timezones and see which times are which with this handy tool Branch showed me: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?pl=1&lid=2912621,8,5128581&h=2912621 This link already had US-East Coast, West-Coast and Germany selected, but you can add other places too.

During the week, I could spend an evening (any evening I think) from 19.00, for maybe two hours. That is 10 a.m. in Pacific time. I don't see how anyone has time at 10 in the morning during the week, but who knows ;)

On weekend, I'm only really free on sundays. Here I could take some hours anywhere from 9 am to 9 pm really, though probably not every week. This is from midnight to midday 12.00 pacific time. That's more reasonable. Like 19-21 for me would be 10am-12am for you.

Edit: I can also do 20.30-22 on saturday, which is 11.30am-13 am pacific.

Let's see if we find something :)