Consequences of Yellow Journalism

You can try to make the case that yellow journalism is harmless. But the problem with histrionic articles is that they motivate people who are already on the edge. Sure, these people aren't exactly stable, and they probably would latch onto something extreme regardless of what's in the media, but still. Today's news is that another fire has hit Boleskine House, which the previous article I critiqued claimed in the headline was to reopen as a "sex magick retreat" - and then, the author admitted in the article itself that there was no evidence of any such thing.

Boleskine House along, overlooking Loch Ness, was badly damaged by a blaze in 2015 and the ruin was sold earlier this year. Crowley was said to have performed occultist rituals at the property when he lived there between 1899 and 1913. The B-listed Georgian building was later owned by musician Jimmy Page, of Led Zeppelin.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said the alarm was raised shortly before 16:00 and two appliances were sent to the property. Crews tackled separate blazes in Boleskine House and the neighbouring coach house. The Friends of Boleskine House later posted on Facebook that the coach house had been saved but what was left of the roof of Boleskine House had collapsed. The group said the fires were started deliberately.

So here's my question - does anybody in their right mind think that this fire wasn't started by somebody who read the tabloid article and completely freaked out? There are other possibilities, sure, but I'm pretty sure at this point that it's by far the most likely one. Just like the argument I made with Alex Jones, the fact of the matter is that speech that incites is inciting speech, full stop. I don't know exactly how free speech laws work in the UK, but arson is clearly a crime and it's hard to think there's no relationship between it and the article.

As the renovations go forward, the site clearly needs better security - especially if more exaggerated media nonsense about the place is on the way.

Via Solis Leo Elixir Rite - Year Three

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Leo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday July 30th, at Leaping Laughter Oasis, our local Twin Cities body of Ordo Templi Orientis. Going forward, we will be continuing to perform one of these per month, once for each of the twelve signs, in a ritual series called Via Solis (the way or path of the Sun). I will be posting the full scripts here on the preceding Mondays so people can take a look at them if they want to attend. Also, if you are in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota) and would like to attend, let me or someone at the lodge know. This is a public ritual and all are welcome.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, banishing dagger, and invoking wand are placed on the altar. In the center of the altar is placed a cup of wine for creating the elixir, within the Table of Art corresponding to Leo. The sign Leo is attributed to "The power of training wild beasts." As I interpret it, this power is related to working with conditioning of whatever sort, yours or that of others, in accordance with your will. So those sorts of intents are most appropriate. This ritual may be performed with one, two, or three officers, who may alternate taking the Officiant role and divide up the reading from Liber 963. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

All stand surrounding the altar. Officiant inhales fully, placing the banishing dagger at his or her lips. The air is then expelled as the dagger is swept backwards.

Officiant: Bahlasti! Ompehda!

Officiant then performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. All rotate accordingly.

Officiant: We take refuge in Nuit, the blue-lidded daughter of sunset, the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky, as we issue the call to the awakened nature of all beings, for every man and every woman is a star.

All: MAKAShANaH

Officiant: We take refuge in Hadit, the secret flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened natures, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: ABRAHADABRA

Officiant: We take refuge in Heru-Ra-Ha, who wields the wand of double power, the wand of the force of Coph Nia, but whose left hand is empty for he has crushed an universe and naught remains, as we unite our awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering.

All: AUMGN

Officiant: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

All: All is pure and present are and has always been so, for existence is pure joy; all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass and done; but there is that which remains. To this realization we commit ourselves – pure and total presence. So mote it be.

Bell chime.

Storm Area 51!

Do you know where you'll be at three in the morning on September 20th, 2019? If you're anything like these brave chaps you'll be busy storming the gates of the notorious Area 51, ground zero for alien conspiracists everywhere, looking for proof of extraterrestrial life. The whole idea is basically something like a Project Blue Book flash mob.

Over 120,000 people have pledged to meet up and ‘storm Area 51’ in the Nevada desert to try and find evidence of alien contact. The audacious plan is set for September 20, 2019 at 3am and is being organised through Facebook. Those taking part will meet at the Area 51 Alien Center in Amargosa Valley, Nevada and then proceed to Area 51 – a classified remote part of the US Air Force’s Edwards Air Force base.

Now, far be it from us to be cynical of such a plan, but the fact the Facebook group proposing the event is called ‘S***posting cause im in shambles’ gives us some cause for concern. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, 129,000 people have indicated they’ll be taking part in ‘Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All Of Us’ and a further 163,000 have said they are interested.

Facebook RSVPs are notoriously inaccurate. "Interested" doesn't mean anything. "Going" is a little more reliable, but still can't be counted on. If 120,000 people claim they are "Going" and ten show up I wouldn't be even remotely surprised. Much as Douglas Adams once observed regarding numbers in restaurants, numbers on Facebook behave entirely differently than numbers anywhere else in the universe.

Yellow Journalism at its Finest

Mysterious Universe is not exactly known for reasonable and accurate reporting of events. And by "not exactly" I mean "not at all." The website is the home of various articles on the weird and potentially paranormal. It features hyperbolic commentary that is fun to read and which also often falls short of this pesky little thing called "truth." This article, though, is one of the worst examples that I have come across. Follow my section-by-section commentary here to find out why.

Back in April, the former home of occultist Aleister Crowley went up for sale. Boleskine House, a reportedly cursed Loch Ness estate where Crowley famously conducted Satanist rituals and black magick ceremonies between 1899 and 1913, has been the subject of lore and legend for decades partly due to the reputation of its infamous former owner and partly due to strange events reported at the site.

Much of this is the basic boilerplate that shows up in every article about Aleister Crowley. He was a Satanist. He performed "black magick," whatever that is. Weird and disturbing events are reported at places associated with him. But I dare the author to get in touch with somebody like Aaron Leitch and ask whether the Abramelin operation (which is the magical operation Crowley actually started at Boleskine House) is "Satanist black magick." I would pay to eavesdrop on that conversation, because I expect it would be hilarious.

After Crowley sold the house in 1913, its next owner committed suicide with a shotgun. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page then bought the home, and the caretaker hired to oversee the estate reported witnessing strange occurrences that seemed to suggest Boleskine House was haunted or otherwise cursed.

Again, classic sensationalism. Note that the "strange occurrences" are never really detailed. Also, mental illness and suicide are a lot more common than many people realize. One suicide at a house is not exactly a trend. Jimmy Page owned the house for years and he's rich and successful, so totally not cursed.

Magick Competition Banned

I had no idea anything like this went on in the world today, and it sounds like a great idea to me. But unfortunately the government of eSwatini, formerly Swaziland, decided otherwise. It recently banned a proposed event that would involve practitioners of witchcraft and magick competing against each other in a test of paranormal powers.

Organizers had planned to hold the competition in Manzini, the second city of eSwatini, a land-locked country in southern Africa ruled by King Mswati III, one of the world's last absolute monarchs. "The proposed competition of witchcraft and magic spells was unheard of in the country and it was regarded as an anomaly in the lives of the people of eSwatini," government spokesman Percy Simelane said in a statement.

"Government will not sanction any competition of that nature. Anyone who will persist with any activity related to witchcraft will face the full might of the law." The statement, released Tuesday, said the Witchcraft Act of 1889 defines witchcraft, sorcery or the practice of voodoo as a punishable offense."Government cannot sit back and watch while the lives of the citizens of this country are exposed to illegal and weird practices that have the potential to poison the minds of [Swazi people], especially children," Simelane added.

And this right here is one more reason that magical research is centuries behind the physical sciences. Imagine if the World Fairs of the last two centuries were banned by their respective host countries because they believed that science and technology should be prohibited! It sounds like a bizarre proposition to any modern person, but this is in fact precisely what is going on here.

Magick is a technology, and when people are prevented from doing legitimate research involving practices and techniques the whole discipline suffers. Likewise, a competition can be a great way to spur such research, along the lines of what the X Prize Foundation has done for space travel and other breakthrough research areas.

We need to work to get rid of the stigmas surrounding our work so that solid research can move at a faster pace. That's the only way that the paranormal arts are ever going to catch up with the state of mainstream science.

It's a Curse!

One of the things about living life as a practical magician is completely forgetting how freaked out non-magicians can become when encountering anything out of the ordinary. This story from Australia is case in point. A woman digging in her garden found an ugly ceramic ball that looked like a bad high school pottery project. But her friends on social media were convinced the object was part of some sort of curse.

A graduate found a "terrifying cursed" object in her garden after moving into her new home. Pals believed Kerri Moran's house may be haunted after she shared pictures on Facebook of a massive ceramic ball with a small coffin. She claimed she "dug the treasure up" but social media users said it is a sign of a creepy curse.

"I recently bought an old house and dug this treasure up in the garden. I have no idea what it is but my daughter hates it and says it’s bad juju," the woman wrote on Facebook. "It’s huge and heavy." But Kerri, of Brisbane, Australia, investigated the find and contacted the house's previous owners. And she soon found the object wasn't as sinister as it first appeared.

"She said her son did pottery in high school a number of years ago and was forever bringing 'crap' home. She would put them in the garden where the earth claimed this piece," Kerri posted. "My yard smells like burnt sage, my house of vinegar. All precautions were taken. Anyway, I have contacted my home’s previous owner. Mystery solved."

Alan Moore once commented that art should be considered magick, but I really don't think this thing has anything to do with what he was talking about. Sometimes a bad high school pottery project is just a bad high school pottery project. It is far more remarkable to me that so many people were apparently convinced that this weird object was some sort of sinister spell.

Actual curses just aren't that common in real life and objects don't cause bad fortune just by looking strange. This is one example showing that people should really know more about magick and how it works so they won't jump to bizarre conclusions.

Via Solis Cancer Elixir - Year Three

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Cancer Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday July 9th, at Leaping Laughter Oasis, our local Twin Cities body of Ordo Templi Orientis. We will continue the momentum of the last two years by performing one of these per month for each of the twelve signs. I will be posting the full scripts here on the preceding Mondays so people can take a look at them if they want to attend. Also, if you are in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota) and would like to attend, let me or someone at the oasis know. This is a public ritual and all are welcome.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, banishing dagger, and invoking wand are placed on the altar. In the center of the altar is placed a cup of wine for creating the elixir, within the Table of Art corresponding to Cancer. The sign Cancer is attributed to "The power of casting enchantments." As I interpret it, this is related to the ability to magnetize or draw things into your life in accordance with your will. So those sorts of intents are most appropriate. This ritual may be performed with one, two, or three officers, who may alternate taking the Officiant role and divide up the reading from Liber 963. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

All stand surrounding the altar. Officiant inhales fully, placing the banishing dagger at his or her lips. The air is then expelled as the dagger is swept backwards.

Officiant: Bahlasti! Ompehda!

Officiant then performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. All rotate accordingly.

Officiant: We take refuge in Nuit, the blue-lidded daughter of sunset, the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night sky, as we issue the call to the awakened nature of all beings, for every man and every woman is a star.

All: MAKAShANaH

Officiant: We take refuge in Hadit, the secret flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened natures, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: ABRAHADABRA

Officiant: We take refuge in Heru-Ra-Ha, who wields the wand of double power, the wand of the force of Coph Nia, but whose left hand is empty for he has crushed an universe and naught remains, as we unite our awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering.

All: AUMGN

Officiant: For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.

All: All is pure and present are and has always been so, for existence is pure joy; all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass and done; but there is that which remains. To this realization we commit ourselves – pure and total presence. So mote it be.

Bell chime.