Reflections – Thoughts I consider worth saving :)

[Moon1ight]

Hi folks :)

[Edit: This has become very long. Scroll to the red block a few posts below for a my condensed view :D ]

This is basically a mind-and-text-dump  ;) I recently read a few short texts which expressed quite clearly some of the ideas that were floating around in my mind, or added new ideas. I feel like that these paragraphs really helped me to take some ideas into daily practice. So, this will be long texts. If one doesn't seem interesting, maybe read the others :) Hopefully it helps someone -- enjoy ^_^

1. The first thing is by some Tony Robbins, who is no occultist at all, as it seems.

[Edit: If that looks to long, RuneSoup has a blog entry https://runesoup.com/2011/10/superheroism-begins-in-the-home/ where the part about "Microsuperheroism" -- in my view -- brings the same point across, with less details but much shorter. It's also a good post in it's own right.]

"The human brain isn't designed to make us happy and fulfilled. It's designed to make us survive.

This two-million-year-old organ is always looking for what's wrong, for whatever can hurt us, so that we can either fight it or take flight from it. If you and I leave this ancient survival software to run the show, what chance do we have of enjoying life? An undirected mind operates naturally in survival mode, constantly identifying and magnifying these potential threats to our well-being. The result: a life filled with stress and anxiety.

Most people live this way since it's the path of least resistance. They make unconscious decisions, based on habit and conditioning, and are at the mercy of their own minds. They assume that it's just an inevitable part of life to get frustrated, stressed, sad, and angry—in other words, to live in a suffering state. But I'm happy to tell you there's another path: one that involves directing your thoughts so that your mind does your bidding, not the other way around.[...]

Now, before we go any further, let's just clarify the difference between these two emotional and mental states:

A Beautiful State
When you feel love, joy, gratitude, awe, playfulness, ease, creativity, drive, caring, growth, curiosity, or appreciation, you're in a beautiful state. In this state, you know exactly what to do, and you do the right thing. In this state, your spirit and your heart are alive, and the best of you comes out. Nothing feels like a problem, and everything flows. You feel no fear or frustration. You're in harmony with your true essence.

A Suffering State
When you're feeling stressed out, worried, frustrated, angry, depressed, irritable, overwhelmed, resentful, or fearful, you're in a suffering state. We've all experienced these and countless other "negative" emotions, even if we're not always keen to admit it! Most achievers much prefer to think they're stressed than fearful. But "stress" is just the achiever word for fear. If I follow the trail of your stress, it'll take me to your deepest fear.

[... Skipping a large part where he gives a typology of suffering, which I feel doesn't add a lot. If you want it, write it and I'll add it]

But here's the good news: once you're aware of these patterns of focus, you can systematically change them, thereby freeing yourself from these habits of suffering. It all starts with the realization that this involves a conscious choice. Either you master your mind or it masters you. The secret of living an extraordinary life is to take control of the mind since this alone will determine whether you live in a suffering state or a beautiful state.

Our lives are shaped not by our conditions, but by our decisions. If you look back on the last 5 or 10 years I'd be willing to bet that you can recall a decision or two that has truly changed your life. Maybe it was a decision about where to go to school, what profession to pursue, or who you chose to love or marry. Looking back on it now, can you see how radically different your life would be today if you had made a different decision? These and so many other decisions determine the direction of your life and can change your destiny.

So what's the biggest decision you can make in your life right now? In the past, I would have told you that what matters most is who you decide to spend your time with, who you decide to love. After all, the company you keep will powerfully shape who you become.

But over the last two years, my thinking has evolved. What I've come to realize is that the single most important decision in life is this: Are you committed to being happy, no matter what happens to you?

To put this another way, will you commit to enjoying life not only when everything goes your way but also when everything goes against you, when injustice happens, when someone screws you over, when you lose something or someone you love, or when nobody seems to understand or appreciate you? Unless we make this definitive decision to stop suffering and live in a beautiful state, our survival minds will create suffering whenever our desires, expectations, or preferences are not met. What a waste of so much of our lives!

This is a decision that can change everything in your life, starting today. But it's not enough just to say that you'd like to make this change or that your preference is to be happy no matter what. You have to own this decision, do whatever it takes to make it happen, and cut off any possibility of turning back. If you want to take the island, you have to burn the boats. You have to decide that you're 100% responsible for your state of mind and for your experience of this life.

What it really comes down to is drawing a line in the sand today and declaring, "I'm done with suffering. I'm going to live every day to the fullest and find juice in every moment, including the ones I don't like, BECAUSE LIFE IS JUST TOO SHORT TO SUFFER." "

That was number 1. Usually I hear that one has to interpret negative emotions and learn from them. And I agree, but often worries do just seem illusionary, but still appear. That's why I think that a conscious focus on what is well ("I'm grateful for ...") is also important. And -- from this text -- the "simple" commitment to be happy no matter what :)

Number 2 are two excertps from Alan Chapman's "The Camel Rides Again"

2.1 Is about active magic

"The fact is, magick is so simple it makes it hard to describe.

To make it clearer, I've devised a clear outline of the magical act, which can be applied to any magical technique. We'll examine it in more detail in a moment, but for now it goes like this:

1. Decide what you want to occur.
2. Ensure that what you want to occur has a means of manifestation.
3. Choose an experience.
4. Decide that the chosen experience means the same thing as what you want to occur.
5. Perform the act or undergo the experience.
6. Obtain the result.

Let's suppose you want a pay-rise at work. If you performed some magick for this, you might do the following:

1. Decide what you want to occur. --- That's easy: 'I will get a pay-rise at work.'
2. Ensure that what you want to occur has a means of manifestation.  ---Well, I do have a job and money does exist, so no problem there.
3. Choose an experience. --- This could be any ritual where I imitated the outcome; a completely nonsensical action, or the visualisation of an arbitrary sigil I'd made — whatever takes my fancy.
4. Decide that the chosen experience means the same thing as what you want to occur.  --- I decide to do the ritual that imitates the desired outcome, and so I simply decide that's what the ritual means.
5. Perform the act or undergo the experience. --- I actually get out of my chair and do the ritual.
6. Obtain the result. --- This will manifest as a synchronicity — usually no sooner than the next day — although this may vary according to the desired outcome.
_____
This is the shortest concrete formula I know and therefore quite interesting.

2.2 Is kind of about the Law of Attraction, or some similar mechanism, from the same book.

"So, if all you need to do is act on a belief to make it true, then — if you want to live in a happy, wonderful world — all you need to do is act like you live in a happy, wonderful world. When I say 'act', this can be anything from a full-blown ritual act to something as simple as telling yourself the world is a fun, good place to be.

Of course, just saying it once won't change much. Try it, and see how fast you revert back to thinking and acting as if the world isn't so great. In order to work magick on the self effectively you must replace the habitual magick you do every day for undesirable ends, with new habitual magick. This means repetition.

Although I've argued that all you need to do in order to make a belief true is to act on it, please don't think that if you believe you can fly then jumping off a tall building will make it so. Remember the second step of the ritual outline: ensure there is a means of manifestation for the belief. For a belief to
manifest in the material world, it must be within the game-rules of the material world. Humans do not fly. Humans cannot walk through walls, or pass through speeding cars, no matter how
hard they believe it. Thinking real hard is not belief shifting, nor is it magick.

The good news about magick and belief shifting is that you can re -make yourself however you see fit. You can ditch a crappy world-view for a good one; swap depression for joy; pessimism for optimism; or anxiety for peace. Of course, if you want to be depressed, scared and pessimistic, all you need to do is act in that way."
_____________________

And another thing that I want to add is 3. Arjil on Magick in a world with actually many people :)
"The whole problem with a worldview like "The Secret" is, though we can have an INFLUENCE over our reality and the currents in it, so can everybody Else. We do not exist in a vacuum, there's a whole entire universe that's going on that has nothing to do with Us, and is about it's own business. Shit happens, because shit is happening whether we knew about it, or not. The world is in constant motion and struggle, and it does not turn on a single person's whim.
Take for instance, as a crude and simple example, if you and I were both wanting the last cookie and attempting to manifest that result- Only one of us is going to get it. The one who's Will was stronger, who was better at employing it, and perhaps who got lucky."

That's it -- an unsorted collection of texts that have helped me :) Your views and reading recommendations are of course very welcome :)

Khaos provides!

[Moon1ight]

On a question about spells, Arjil recently gave this answer on FB, which I found worth keeping: 

"[...] any method that you think should work, should do it.
the basic components are Intent, and some act that means *magick* to you.
use the symbols (like the metaporical things, images, objects, things that evoke the feeling of that which you're searching for)
or make a sigil (google will get you there faster than I can type an explanation)

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.

That's a spell as good as any other.
Not to say that they always work, or work how we expect them to,
But that works as well as any other sort. Finding Your way is the trick."

I feel this kind of serves as a good summary to his bigger post https://storytellerway.com/2013/02/06/just-effing-magick/ -- surely one of the best things I've ever read about magick  :) . A while ago, I tried to make those ideas clearer to me by writing about them myself on OC, which turned out to be a good post, I think  8) http://occultcorpus.com/forums/index.php?/topic/27438-chaos-magick-exercise/page__p__164183#entry164183

2. This excerpt from  Arjil's original blogpost to me constitutes the best writing on Magick I know of  8)

"You know how you can recall the feeling of a physical sensation or an Emotion?  Like the feel of wind, or drinking something cold, or stubbing your toe, or excitement- and you can, if you concentrate, Feel it? So what you do, Pretending to be a Wizard, just imagine what *Your* magick Feels like, what it would look like blasting out as a spell- Kids don't worry about How it will work, they just do it, usually with some impressive whooshing sound effect.Or maybe your magick is quiet and creeps like tendrils of smoke, or flows like water.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.It took me a while, some years, to become truly effective at this. Just as it takes a while to become effective at any paradigm of magick. Apart from a certain (rather large) level of creative versatility, immediacy, and freedom, it's no stronger, better, nor more effective than any other paradigm.
However, this style does allow for a Lot more practice.

[...]

To ponder how You would make the magick work. If it was your ideal world- What would You do? When you think about magick, how do you Wish the process worked?
Do That. Keep at it till it works. And it will."

(By the way, this is also a highly relevant post thread by Arjil: http://occultcorpus.com/forums/index.php?/topic/27491-direct-manipulation-class/ )

3. Some material on Energy Manipulation from http://manannan.net/occult/energy-manip.html
"Pulling Energy

Like our bodies, the physical world around us is full of energy. When working magic you will often find the need to recharge expended energies, or build up energy quickly before performing a task. There are many ways to do this.

Nature has a smorgasbord of energies to choose from. It flows within the ground, travels through the heat of the sun, is carried in the wind, and pretty much anything else you can think of. One should visualize the energy in the source you are going to take it from[...] For example, let's say you are going to take energy from the sunlight and heat around you. Close your eyes and see the pure energy floating all around you. Feel the vibrant life that is created by the sun's hot light. Instinctively 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. [...] If the sun is touching your skin, absorb its energy into that area of your body and circulate it to the rest of your system."

4. Recently, [someone] in Facebook posted a Terence McKenna-Quote which I found worth saving. Found it on the Internet as well:

"We have to create culture, don't watch TV, don't read magazines, don't even listen to NPR. Create your own roadshow. The nexus of space and time where you are now is the most immediate sector of your universe, and if you're worrying about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, then you are disempowered, you're giving it all away to icons, icons which are maintained by an electronic media so that you want to dress like X or have lips like Y. This is shit-brained, this kind of thinking. That is all cultural diversion, and what is real is you and your friends and your associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hopes, your plans, your fears. And we are told 'no', we're unimportant, we're peripheral. 'Get a degree, get a job, get a this, get a that.' And then you're a player, you don't want to even play in that game. You want to reclaim your mind and get it out of the hands of the cultural engineers who want to turn you into a half-baked moron consuming all this trash that's being manufactured out of the bones of a dying world."

My Response:
"If you're worried about Michael Jackson or Bill Clinton or somebody else, you are disempowered [...] what is real is you and your friends [...]"
Wooooow, thanks a lot for sharing this. I've been trying to get this exact message across here in DKMU and elsewhere too :)
you have 24 hours per day for 90 years let's say -- enjoy them.
Optimise those precious hours with the people you like, don't waste time on anything that does not positively feed back into your hours.

[Vortex7]

I agree with this post 100 percent, That inner narrative control is the key to every aspect of living fulfilled.


"I am that narrative,
I speak what I create,
I create what I speak,
The living breath flows..."

[Moon1ight]

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.

[Vortex7]

Instead of arguing over semantic differences I am just going to copypasta something.




XI - The PassionVenus in Leo - the creative development of passion leads to enjoyment and fulfilness
Zodiac: Leo
Tree of life: The connection between Chesedand Geburah
Element: Fire
Number: 11 as perfect combination of 1 and 2 (the cross sum of 11 is 2)The Passion is the step into the second decade of the Major Arcana, the point where the journey into the inner depth begins. In other decks, this trump is called 'The Power', a symbol for the mastery of our own animal side. Crowley named the card 'Lust' - and most people don't really think of mastering their inner animal, but enjoy it full tilt...

In a combination of both, the animal side shouldn't be 'mastered' in the meaning of 'surpressed', nor should it be let out to 'romp around'. It should not be ignored, but accepted as a natural part of oneself. In that manner, one will not only be able to profit from its instinctive natural power, but also to save the power needed to 'master' it.

The Passion implies vitality, energy and power. The card tells us to use these riches. In most aspects of life, an endeavor will have much more success when passion is put into it.
Drive: Energy, passion, charisma, joy of life

Light: Power, vitality, unconditional devotion

Shadow: Weakness, insatisfaction, depression

http://www.corax.com/tarot/cards/index.html?wands-ace

[Moon1ight]

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.)

[Moon1ight]

Some more things... this time mainly my own thoughts.
Skip the black part unless you're into LoA :D

I'm trying to come up with a formulation of the Law of Attraction that I like. Here's the current version:
"Khaos and the universe tend to give you further reasons to think and feel how you are already thinking and feeling. The strength of the effect depends on the  intensities and durations of your various thoughts and feelings.
Thus remember to consciously direct them in everyday life and don't just let them be determined by  circumstances."

On this view, "active" magic, like a ritual, is just done to reserve some time to think and feel about something and do that with the greatest intensity (Gnosis = quietening the mind, heightening awareness = more intensity goes to the intent).

This also helped me to see the difference between LoA-work and "just wishing" -- The magic comes from the intense thought that your wish will/has come true, and the corresponding feelings of happiness and gratitude. These aspects are of course missing in a normal wish.

I also finally found an (obvious in retrospect :D ) way to reconcile this "happiness"-stuff with the need to see the world as it is. Eliezer Yudkowsky (of "Less Wrong"-fame) has the thought to check "What positive future events does this action cause?" for everything ( lesswrong.com/lw/b4f/sotw_check_consequentialism/ ). Combining this with my ideas yields "Negative thoughts and emotions are only worthwhile when they will plausibly lead to actual positive consequences". Very obvious indeed. But I like having such stuff written down clearly.  ::)


Edit: Honestly, I think that this pure LoA-approach that I described at the start of this post is a step back from the Arjil-inspired approach one post above. 

Timothy Buell on FB answered my question about the difference between thoughts and magick with this: "[...] [Magick is usually done in] some sort of trance state [to bypass the psychic censor].

The other method (which in my mind also includes a sort of trance state) is in intentionally infusing ones Will with magick/energy/prana/whateverthefuck-you-call-it, so then it simply is a difference between what intent you're infusing and what you're not."
This is exactly what I'm getting at -- the feeling of Magick, as separated from mundane consciousness. Will try to focus more on that in normal life!

Edit 2: That of course brings back the question of Magickal Strength. My current best guess is that it's similar to everything else -- practice.
Asked Gracco about it and he wrote: "practice is a form of attunement really, attument to a desired goal. working towards desired manifestation, practice is a form of ritual magick really"  -- makes total sense! You use magic both to an effect and to improve at magic. And then you just get better by practice -- what a shock :D Like everywhere else! Today I'm very tired so I'm probably pointing out the obvious even more than usual :D I don't really understand how exactly my muscles get stronger when doing pushups regularly, or why after some days I can keep the balance on the longboard much better. Just DO It. Enough theory.

Edit 3: Just a quick note on Morality:

"The great experience: Seduce thyself to pleasure. There is only one sin-suffering. There is only on virtue-the will to self-pleasure.
[...]
The most important outcome of human effort is that we learn to become righteous thieves: To possess more easily of others for self-advantage. In this incessant glorification of work, I discover a great human secret: 'Do thou the work-I my pleasure.'
[...]
There is nothing higher than joyous sensation."
- AOS in The Focus of Life ( https://hermetic.com/spare/focus_life#aphorism-ii )

Edit 4: Conviction Magick

I'm tired, have no clue and am speculating wildly here :D But here's a quick thought: Could it be that conviction that some magickal act will work is really critical in magick?

For example, a traditional ceremonialist thinks that one needs to conjure demons in the way outlined by Salomon with the items described. This is what he needs to convince  himself that his action will be "Magic" and produce results. At the same time, a witchcould be working with the Cthulhu Mythos and make an evocation of a being that was recently invented. The ceremonialist would say that this will have no effect. But because the Witch has convinced herself that this will work, it does.

Or maybe, it's not even about convincing oneself that the magick will work, but just convincing oneself that one's intent will come true. A Wizard does something and thinks "Now that I did X, Y is sure to happen." Maybe the very conviction of "Y is sure to happen" is what makes it happen? Then Magick would be about convincing oneself that making things happen is not very difficult... something like that. Maybe I'm talking nonsense here, just tired thoughts which seemed interesting :D

End note: If anyone is reading this -- the red block in the post above this represents my summarised current view.

[Moon1ight]

Soo... interesting. Yesterday I was discussing Goetic Demons with Gerie (Thanks for a great discussion, Bro <3). During that, I reread the 72 descriptions in DuQuette's Goetia and endet up on Seere, the 70th Spirit -- again. Two years ago I already had planned an evocation, but decided to evoke Ellis instead, which was one of the best decisions of my life ( https://www.dkmu.org/forum/index.php?topic=253.0 ).

Now, today I woke up early and started thinking whether or not I want to add working with a Goetic Demon to my life -- one described as "He appears in the form of a beautiful man, riding upon a winged horse. His office is to go and come; and to bring abundance of things to pass on a sudden, [...] He is of an indifferent good nature, and is willing to do anything which the Exorcist desires."


http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/lks/lks05.htm

And as it is with Spirits and me, this thinking kind of naturally evolved into visualising him and from there into dialogue  :) ... We talked a bit, and came to the terms that he woud support me in my life going well (i.e. according to my desires) so far as he was comfortable, and I would do for him as much as I was comfortable. In my mind, what I can do for him is general devotion, thinking highly of him, incence etc., but also something like putting his Sigil out into the world and "spreading the word" ;) . (Edit: If we assume  that this is something that these Spirits desire, then the pact is quite symmetrical -- he support my life going well and I support his. Obvious, but interesting.) What I think he can do for me is suport my Life and more specifically my intents (and thus my servitors) with his own Magick.

I do not expect him to put in more effort for me than I put in for him, but I do expecct his influence to be strictly positive -- there is no reason for anything else, and anything else would also be "filtered out" of my by my own LS-powered Magick  8) The idea is that some things are easier for me, as a Spirit with a body (like putting out a symbol into the world) and other things might be easiert for a centuries-old Spirit without a body, like manipulating probabilities. So we can have a positive-sum exchange :)

We'll see if he will create a noticeable improvement  ;)

[Moon1ight]

I just need the highlights from my conversation about True Will with AhavahAinSoph here  :) I think I got it now  ;)

09:29    A.    But it's like crowley said
09:30    A.    "Do what you Will, then do nothing else"
09:30    A.    There is no settlement
09:30    A.    There is no other choice. You must be you
09:30    A.    No matter the pressures you face
09:30    A.    No matter the hardships
09:30    A.    No matter what the world throws at you

09:32    M.    Ah, that is relevant to a question I ponder Is The Will,, is the "You" that "you must be" a *choice* or a *discovery*?
09:35    A.    It is a discovery
09:35    A.    What you do with it is a choice
09:35    A.    But it must be YOUR choice
09:35    A.    An expression of your heart
09:36    A.    Not of the world and its circumstances
09:36    A.    When you understand who you are
09:36    A.    You must focus on it like the mindfulness you were just asking about
09:36    A.    Until it fills everything
09:37    A.    Until it consumes your body, until it eats who you were. Until it burns off all of the impurity.

09:49    M.    In my view, the True Will has to be a *choice* -- you pick something you want to do with this life, and then you throw all your strength at it.
09:49    A.    No.
09:49    A.    It is much deeper than a choice
09:49    A.    It is an unconscious root, where all the consciousness stems from
09:49    M.    In the discovery-view I always run into walls What if I *understand* falsely? What is I don't llike what I find etc.
09:49    A.    Any choice you can make follows it.
09:50    A.    It isn't something you won't like, because that would violate the very idea of it.
09:50    A.    You can't understand falsely. There will be many times that you think you know, that's what Hod is, the knowing that is incomplete
09:50    A.    But you will not misunderstand.

[This is the part which hit me today ]
09:53    A.    You have to remember that this is what MAKES your ego
09:53    A.    It's what assembles it
09:54    A.    You can't have a dislike of it, because it MAKES your choices and your preferences
09:54    A.    All of them depend on it
09:54    A.    And are made because of it
09:54    A.    Just unconsciously.
09:51    A.    When it clicks, it will click utterly.
09:51    A.    When you're there, you will know.
09:51    A.    It will all suddenly make sense
09:51    A.    You, the world, everything

09:57    A.    Take one choice in your life
09:57    A.    And ask yourself a question: "Why"
09:57    jimlad    i ask you a question?
09:57    A.    Then ask why to the answer
09:57    A.    Then again
09:57    A.    And again, til you cant
09:57    A.    Then pick another thread
09:57    A.    And untie it
09:57    A.    Why
09:57    A.    Why
09:57    A.    Why

09:57    A.    Keep going
09:57    A.    Until you hit the root
09:58    A.    Be honest with yourself
09:58    A.    And don't stop
09:58    A.    You won't hit the root til your entire world is rocked from the understanding
09:58    A.    So keep
09:58    A.    Going
09:59    A.    One thread after another
09:59    A.    And eventually you'll be able to see all the threads, and how they connect
09:59    A.    Then you'll find where they all come from
09:59    A.    THAT is what you're looking for
09:59    A.    The key to not getting caught in false knowledge here is to not stop somewhere arbitrary
09:59    A.    Relentlessly chase it down
10:00    A.    Until you can't chase anymore, and keep going
10:00    A.    Rip yourself apart to find the gold in the center if you have to. Let nothing stop you
10:00    A.    Not you, nor the world, nor anything else
10:00    A.    Find
10:00    A.    The
10:00    A.    Gold

This text, combined with this summary of Thelema https://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib2  – I think – allows for a sufficient understanding of the topic to actually do it and start living with full force  8)

The full conversation is here: https://www.dkmu.org/forum/index.php?topic=612.0

To explain: I recently understood that Ahavah is right – The True Will is a discovery, not a choice. And it does lead to fulfilment, or simply is fulfilment as long as one follows it –  "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else." Cool stuff ;)

Edit (a quote from Liber II):
"It should now be perfectly simple for everybody to understand the Message of the Master Therion.

Thou must (1) Find out what is thy Will. (2) Do that Will with (a) one-pointedness, (b) detachment, (c) peace.

Then, and then only, art thou in harmony with the Movement of Things, thy will part of, and therefore equal to, the Will of God. And since the will is but the dynamic aspect of the self, and since two different selves could not possess identical wills; then, if thy will be God's will, Thou art That. "

[Waetamer]

I very much enjoy the idea of this thread. my mind works in similar ways, may need to create a thread like this.
I also enjoy all of the ideas contained within it!! thank you for sharing =)

[Moon1ight]

You're very welcome <3 And thanks for your feedback, I'm glad that you like it :) 

"may need to create a thread like this" – Looking forward to it!

[Moon1ight]

On the Veil

Here are some quotes:

Thing, current, presence,  function of reality, antimagick agenda, *something* that doesn't like us, and fucks with us when we do what we do sometimes.  I've noticed it for years.  Others seem to as well.  Thoughts?

Magic works.If magic works, so does disenchantment.If suspension of disbelief leads to manifestation then the cultivation of disbelief will squash manifestation.The best skeptics are powerful magicians that have perfected the banishment of their own power.They intend on seeing a mundane world, so a mundane world is what they see.How would one combat a powerful disenchanter that has no idea they're using magic to make the world conform to their intentions?

[...] I see the veil as an external... let's call it a fortification. A wall between this world and the next. To rend the veil would be joining the otherworlds with this one. The Gods, Goddesses, Angels, Demons, Devils, Fae, etc. would be here because their world would BE our world if completely successful. Even partial success results in making it that much easier for such entities to walk between worlds at will.

[...] As far as the veil goes I see this as a sort of mental wall. The veil is purely a mental thing and works on a individual and a collective level from what I have found. It is part of the reason we get spiritual amnesia every time we reincarnate. And it also significantly lowers the direct power of the mind.

And here's Alice from the FB group:
"I believe in breaking 'the veil'.
Yes, on the outside, that seems very foolish and dangerous...until you consider what the veil is. The veil isn't a literal material. It isn't some invisible, spiritual barrier that separates the "mundane" from the "magical".
The veil is an enforced psychological paradigm, a mind virus, of disbelief and toxic skepticism that keeps us from trusting our own spiritual experiences. And goes out of it's way to regulate, limit, and dictate other people's experiences.
The veil is inside of us rather than outside of us."

I used to think of the Veil – perhaps the thing responsible for "Consensus Reality" – as the sum of mundane people's mundane views. Maybe the "Law of Attraction"-influence of many mundane people. Now I tend to see it more as an Egregore itself, perhaps *created* by those views, but possessing a will of its own and pushing the world to seem mundane (i.e. non-magical)... I kind of imagine it like a thick, transparent weighted blanket covering the world, slowing us down, keeping us separated from the more magical realms and beings... And this is what we attack.

Overall, this seems  to explain a few things.  We might view our War as fighting with Ellis against the Veil... Well, let's wage this War.

Edit: Also see here: https://forum.dkmu.org/index.php?topic=374.0

[Moon1ight]

On Holy Guardian Angels

A rather comprehensive collection of material on the topic and my own thoughts based on my experiences.

The historically first (15th century) source that gives details on the topic is:

The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
Book 2, Chapter 13
https://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/abr032.htm

"you shall see your Guardian Angel appear unto you in unequalled beauty; who also will converse with you, and speak in words so full of affection and of goodness, and with such sweetness, that no human tongue could express the same.
[...]

He will [...] give unto you the manner in which you shall be able to appease [God] by a pure, devout, and regulated life, and by honest and meritorious actions, and such things as God shall ordain unto you. After this he will show unto you the True Wisdom and Holy Magic [...], and how thenceforward you should proceed in order to overcome the Evil Spirits, and finally arrive at your desired ends. He will promise never to abandon you, but to defend and assist you during the whole period of your life; on condition that you shall obey his commands, and that you shall not voluntarily offend your Creator. In one word, you shall be received by him with such affection that this description which I here give unto you shall appear a mere nothing in comparison.

Now at this point I commence to restrict myself in my writing, seeing that by the Grace of the Lord I have submitted and consigned you unto a MASTER so great that he will never let you err."


Then some Crowley
Magick without Tears – Chapter 43
https://hermetic.com/crowley/magick-without-tears/mwt_43

"Now, on the other hand, there is an entirely different type of angel; and here we must be especially careful to remember that we include gods and devils, for there are such beings who are not by any means dependent one one particular element for their existence.  They are microcosms in exactly the same sense as men and women are.  [...]

Now then, it is simple to answer the question of their development, their growing old and dying; for, being of the same order of Nature as we are ourselves, almost anything which is true of us is true also of them.

I have tended rather to elaborate this theme, because of the one personally important question which arises in more recent letters; for I believe that the Holy Guardian Angel is a Being of this order.  He is something more than a man, possibly a being who has already passed through the stage of humanity, and his peculiarly intimate relationship with his client is that of friendship, of community, of brotherhood, or Fatherhood.  He is not, let me say with emphasis, a mere abstraction from yourself; and that is why I have insisted rather heavily that the term "Higher Self" implies "a damnable heresy and a dangerous delusion.

It it were not so, there would be no point in The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage.

[...]

But do remember this, above all else; they are objective, not subjective, or I should not waste good Magick on them."

Book 4 – One Star in Sight
https://hermetic.com/crowley/book-4/app2

"The Grade of Adeptus Minor is the main theme of the instructions of the A∴A∴ It is characterised by the Attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. (See the Equinox, The Temple of Solomon the King; The Vision and the Voice 8th Aethyr; also Liber Samekh, etc. etc.) This is the essential work of every man; none other ranks with it either for personal progress or for power to help one's fellows. This unachieved, man is no more than the unhappiest and blindest of animals. He is conscious of his own incomprehensible calamity, and clumsily incapable of repairing it. Achieved, he is no less than the co-heir of gods, a Lord of Light. He is conscious of his own consecrated course, and confidently ready to run it. The Adeptus Minor needs little help or guidance even from his superiors in our Order.

[...]

It is impossible to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge and conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular secret of each one of us; as secret not to be told or even divined by any other, whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each man is his own High Priest, and none knoweth the Name of his brother's God, or the Rite that invokes Him. "


Now some Chapman

Three Steps to Heaven – Step 2
https://issuu.com/openenlightenment/docs/threestepsebook

"The core practice (CP) of magick is what Aleister Crowley, the last great master of the Western Tradition, called the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.

[...]

- The Holy Guardian Angel is not simply a discrete entity that requires 'conjuration'; He or She has always been with you, is with you now, and always will be – you need simply consent to the angel's presence and action in your life.
- For CP to be effective it must be a daily practice. CP is the habitual surrender of the self and eventual union with the angel.
- The result of CP is not the manifestation of the angel as a vision, an increase in magical power, or the discovery of your true nature or function, although these may very well occur as an expression of the presence and action of the angel in your life; the result of CP is engagement with the spiritual of metaphysical process outlined in all genuine magical traditions that will result in eventual illumination or enlightenment. This is the Great Work of Magick."


Since in the end Each is their own High Priest, my views

The Pact of Perfection and Presence
A human and an HGA are two equal and complementary spirits around one core, one True Will. The human represents Presence, the angel represents Perfection. The human can do stuff but their knowledge of what to do is deficient, as is their focus. The angel is perfectly focused and knows what to do, but their ability to do it is rather low. They each have what the other lacks and gain the missing quality by being together, through interaction. Together they can live Fulfillment in following their one True Will. (And let me tell you, quite some Fulfillment <3 )

Edit (03.02.2020):
True Love and True Will
1. We know "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "Love is the law, love under will." (Liber Legis)
2. We know that Crowley's "will" refers to the True Will ( https://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib2 )
2.1 My interpretation of the True Will is "If you will it and follow it, it is Fulfillment." It turns Crowley's doctrine of the White School of Magick into reality: 'admitted that "everything is sorrow" for the profane, the Initiate has the means of transforming it to "Everything is joy."' ( https://hermetic.com/crowley/magick-without-tears/mwt_07 ) This we might call "The Secret of True Will" – a rather open secret, but how many actually follow it and reap its benefits?
3. It stands to reason that Crowley's "love" also refers to True Love, a concept not discussed but so worth discussing.
3.1 We know what True Love means intuitively, to love without reservation, to share your Beloved's joy and sorrow whole. True Love transcends egoism and altruism, because your Beloved's pleasure is also your own and vice versa. We also feel that True Love is forever.
4. The True Will is the Law. But also "Love is the law". There must be a deep connection between Love and Will.
4.1 Naively, your True Will and the Person you love are not connected. Less naively, we get the idea that Lovers approach True Love to the extend that their True Wills are compatible. This, I think is the connection between Will and Love.
5. This would imply that True Love, at its fullest, can only be achieved between two Beings with the same True Will.
6. There's only one Being with the same True Will as you, aside from you. Speak with that Being, see what happens. The Secret of True Love.
7. "Love under Will" = "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else", together <3
8. The universe in an amazing place :)

Edit (08.02.20):
"Find the Soul that makes you Whole" this came to me today. Apparently its not a known rhyme on the Internet. Strange. Seems kinda obvious.

Edit (13.02.20):
How would one go about obtaining the Knowledge and Conversation?
I don't really know, since Ellis brought us together unexpectedly ( https://forum.dkmu.org/index.php?topic=253.0 ). Chapman, in the book linked above, presents a way. I hear, Crowley's Liber Samekh makes suggestions.

From my own experience... The Angel wants to be More with you.  If you want too, it will somehow happen. I have this idea that if you create a "vessel", the Angel will fill it. I'd use something like Chaos Magick entity creation to make a small spirit and and ask your Angel to take it over and fill it, so to speak. Just imagine how your Spirit of Perfection would look like, sound like etc. and combine this with Chapman's "you need simply consent to the angel's presence and action in your life".
Maybe you can treat it like all magick, pour time and concentration into the outcome that you gain the Knowledge and Conversation, infuse that intent with Magick, and see what happens.

It's so very worth the effort.

On Love and War
In Liber II ( https://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib2 ) Crowley writes:
"The Key to this Message is this word—Will. The first obvious meaning of this Law is confirmed by antithesis; "The word of Sin is Restriction."

Again: "Thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect."

Take this carefully; it seems to imply a theory that if every man and every woman did his and her will—the true will—there would be no clashing. "Every man and every woman is a star," and each star moves in an appointed path without interference. There is plenty of room for all; it is only disorder that creates confusion. "

In reality, however, stars are sometimes on colliding trajectories. Additionally, stars can be pulled out of their path by other gravitational bodies. Of course, the entire talk about Following one's True Will would be pointless, if it was easy and automatic.
So the reality is Khaos. Every pair of souls (Presence and Perfection) has a direction, which is aligned with some and might be opposed to others. There are lots of forces which try to pull you off your own path, like political ideologies, AI algorithms like Facebook's feed (it's feeding on You) and simply other people who tell you how to live.

So the correct state of mind seems to be one of "in Love and at War", similarly to the Tarot's symbolism of Passion and Purity, or Crowley's "Do what thou wilt—then do nothing else". Just remember, that there's a War and that every action you take that is not either Your True Will (i.e. truly makes you and your Angel happy) or helpful to it (like sleeping, searching for your True Will or keeping your social life in order) is probably a mistake into which you are lured by the various forces pulling in their directions.


Unrelated but inspiring Quote by Ringtail (10.01.2020):
"If there is no forward, just move.
I don't need hope, because I am it."

[Ringtail]

Around the end of high school, I had what I might now term a vision (triggered by reading Liber Legis, actually, though somehow I failed to put that together at the time) which advanced my cosmology significantly.

I was familiar with the idea that Everything is identical to Nothing. It seems like I came by this more intuitively than rationally over the course of several years (~ages 10-15). Drifting to sleep while mulling over the injunction "Do as you will shall be the whole of the law," I envisioned a field of points, or vectors, all obeying that premise - essentially acting from randomness, or pure chaos.

Despite being emanations of chaos, they interacted to create order, forming streams which intertwined, melded, and sometimes clashed, causing their component vectors to scatter. (If two nearby vectors/streams are going in more or less the same direction, they're likely to unite, but if they're moving almost opposite it will take a lot of traction to make one of them reverse.)

The vision was building itself by more than logic. It had a color (honey gold), a taste (fiery tang), and an energetic fizzing quality that I described as being like fiberglass. It looked a lot like this:



It was extremely impressive and beautiful. I had thought order was unreal, something enforced on nature by mistake and that in reality everything was free and basically unitary (nothing). But here I was seeing complexity arise from freedom. Imposed order was explained too by a stream attempting to force conformity from smaller vectors. Sometimes this works and the smaller streams/vectors settle down and go quietly, other times they resist to the bitter end, causing disruption within the larger stream, slowing its momentum and causing it to tend to fray.

A stream that is moving fast becomes more unified and vice versa. The most powerful are like laser beams tearing across the field, blasting through oppositions and inspiring everything in a wide radius to join their victorious surge. Others are wide and sluggish with many internal conflicts (=inefficiencies); they have a hard time keeping their vectors from running off with something more charismatic.

It may be that each particle-vector is continually influenced by randomness/nothing/fuck knows/wherever its original motive came from. Or perhaps there was no origin and everything is deterministic. In any case, under this model a person does not have a True Will because a person is not a particle-vector (which just Is what it Is at a given moment), but a collective stream. The closest thing here to True Will is what I call Synchronization, which is a measure of alignment between internal vectors. It's certainly more fun to be part of a fast, efficient stream than surrounded by conditions which prevent you from getting anything done.

Identification is arbitrary. Most humans are neither singular nor isolated. It doesn't matter where the edges of one's stream lie in relation to skin, that which you care about is you.

(Perhaps True Will could be defined as "That direction which would result in universal harmony if every vector were following its True Will." But this could be accomplished in several different scenarios - it would look like some variety of endless knot.)

So, as streams, one basically has three options: Lean into another stream, condensing your and its power; fight it, causing disruption; or swim sideways and influence the direction of the other stream. Accelerate, block, wedge. There is also a more complex, back and forth sewing motion which can bring two streams together if you're convincing. A stream can get very clever in using its movements to affect others.

Major clashes send individual vectors shooting off at odd angles. The atomic particle-vector is almost powerless, but it is perfect. It flies free of right and wrong, following the sum of its surrounding influences at a given moment (desire -> action without attachment; love underlies will; this adaptable, outward-focused attitude is humility, the Fool). In essence, nothing is slowing it. If it can retain this synchronization while building mass, it will become a force to be reckoned with, but this endeavor is too complex to succeed rationally; a human-size stream can only accomplish it through intuition.

Final thoughts, and this is very new speculation (like.. yesterday): Although the particle-vectors are unitary, I don't think they are identical. In fact they're all unique. I believe a melding mechanism occurs under extreme pressure that is akin to the formation of igneous rock. Internal differences liquidate and meld together into a consolidated, universal view of reality. Humans experience this sudden clarity as the whole Dawn after the Dark Night thing. (Tangential hypothesis: the Difference between internal views is also retained in the new solid, adding something entirely new to the composition, from specifically Nowhere... the only thing that is the same across all reality, the transcendent will of Khaos...) Every time this happens, a new nature is formed by recombination. For a while, the synthesized product enjoys perfect synchronization and the weight to use it, at least until changing environmental conditions, affecting the stream unevenly, inevitably introduce divergence. (Again, making the point that a stream is not a person. When this happened to "me", my entire mind wasn't unified, only the conscious parts. I still had my bad habits, but I could treat them objectively.)

The identity which is dissociated from everything that is not in control, acting spontaneously with perfect synchronization, unbound and curious to wield power and utilizing soft methods of control, I refer to as Presti. I made up this word to denote its agility (Latin presto = quick, prestidigitation = quick-fingered), but coincidentally it is also a Slavic word meaning To Weave, used in the expression "presti vunu", "weave (black) wool", alluding to the performance of magic.

[Moon1ight]

Some thoughts on Abrahadabra

I knew that it's Crowley's version of abrakadabra, which my Hebrew teacher explained to me as meaning something close to "I create as I speak". I have always liked to chant Abrahadabra when doing something that takes up too much concentration to do proper Magick, but still leaves enough to chase useless thoughts (e.g. washing dishes). To block those thoughts %u2013 "Abrahadabra". It creates a light feeling of Magick, which is certainly better than none.

Recently I read up on what Crowley actually has to say about it: Abrahadabra
Here are some highlights:

"The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra." (AL III:75) %u2013 exactly my point, to stop the words. Also, once you know your True Will, further words are unnecessary.
I suspect that this is an additional meaning of the rule "To Keep Silent" %u2013 words have no effect. The more obvious meaning is of course to avoid being burned at the stake for magick.

"it represents the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm represented by the pentagram and the hexagram, the rose and the cross, the circle and the square, the 5 and the 6, etc. also called the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of one's Holy Guardian Angel." 

Obviously this speaks to me, especially the connection to the HGA. The pentagram and hexagram parts are interesting too.

To me, the Pentagram stands for Harmony of the Elements within. Starting at the top and moving clockwise, Spirit, Air (Mind), Water (Emotion), Earth (Body) and Fire (Will), all working together. The pentagram points upward because everything is guided by the Spirit, the True Will.
(I do know that other arrangements of the elements exist. The reasoning for this arrangement is: imagine your typical Man in the Pentagram, combined with Tarot symbolism. His head represents the Spirit, which controls the body. He holds the Sword of Air in his right hand, and the Staff of Fire in his left. When he jumps, the swing (= motion = Water) comes from his right leg, while he pushes off from the ground (Earth) with his left. This reasoning seems a bit strange, but I learned it when I was 13, so I stick with it :))

The Hexagram, the symbol of Spirit %u2013 the alchemical Quitessence %u2013 is formed by combining the triangles of the Elements. So it also stands for the union of opposites, Water and Fire, Earth and Air, Mind and Matter, Female and Male, Angel and Human %u2013 as the Pentagram was Harmony Within, I see the Hexagram as Harmony Between.

Edit 24.04.2020: As should be unsurprising to anyone who has read their Arjil, the "light feeling of Magick" is not created by chanting anything but only by focussing on Magick itself. I needed some experiemtation to notice that very clearly.

In fact, to do something useful with those times of low concentration (washing dishes etc.), it works better (for me) to just focus on Summoning the feeling of Magick and pouring it into a sigilised intent, without an additional chant. So in the end, I always returns to my Core Truth :D - "Just Do Magick".