Inept Flat-Earthers Fail Spectacularly

This is not really a paranormal or religious story, but since it has to do with the conspiracy theory that the Earth really is flat and this fact is being covered up by powerful forces, it came across my Augoeides radar. It also is pretty darn funny, which is always a good way to close out the year. Recently a flat-earther couple in Italy decided that it would be a good idea to sail to the edge of the world. Presumably without falling off.

Many flat-earthers believe that the edge of the world is Antarctica and that what every reasonable person calls Antarctic ice sheets are really a giant ice wall keeping everything from falling off the edge. At one point, I covered a proposed flat-earth reality tv show that would send people across Antarctica looking for the non-existent edge - which would be absolutely hilarious to watch.

But these folks apparently believed that the edge was near Sicily, which is kind of like me living in Minnesota and posting that the Earth is flat and the edge is "somewhere over in Wisconsin." What convinced them of this ridiculous idea is completely beyond me.

Despite Italy's lockdown, a couple from Venice recently set out to prove Earth's flatness once and for all by sailing to the edge of the world, which they believed to be somewhere near Sicily. It's amazing how people who live locally never visit famous tourist attractions, like the leaning tower of Piza or the edge of the Earth where the sea meets the infinite void.

"The two left the Veneto during the lockdown for Lampedusa, violating all restrictions," Salvatore Zichichi of the Maritime Health Office of the Ministry of Health told Italian newspaper La Stampa. "In Termini Imerese they sold their car and bought a boat. For them, Lampedusa [an island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea] was the end of the Earth."

The trip, always destined to end in disappointment, hit some snags immediately. Firstly, if you're planning on taking a trip to the very edge of the world, this year, when most of the world has been ordered by law to stay at home, perhaps wasn't the best one to choose.

Using a compass (a navigation system that relies on the principle that the Earth is not a pancake), the couple set off in their boat and attempted to navigate their way through the Pelagie Islands to reach Lampedusa, La Republica reports. You probably won't be surprised to learn that a couple that sold their car in order to reach the end of the world perhaps hadn't thought things through, however, and they soon found themselves lost, tired, and washed up on the island of Ustica instead.

Since the global pandemic is still on, the couple was placed in quarantine by health officials, but in their determination to find the edge they escaped and sailed away once more, possibly figuring the police's authority ends where the rim meets the vacuum of space. They were caught three hours later.

So no, they didn't find the edge. This shouldn't be even a little surprising as an enormous amount of global trade is conducted between nations on the Mediterranean Sea and places that are across oceans well beyond Sicily. How are all those ships supposed to cross the edge? Teleporters? And that doesn't even take into account planes. Pilots would surely at least see the edge, as the airspace over Europe and the Mediterranean is pretty busy.

But I suppose if the ridiculous amount of evidence proving that the world is round won't convince these folks, why shouldn't they think it would be near Sicily? If you're going to buy into a delusion, you might as well go all the way. "Hey, wanna know something? The Earth is flat. I can prove it, because the edge is in my closet. Take a look, it's right there. Don't fall off!"

Ritual Night Talk for December 29th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk. This is my final Ritual Night Talk for 2020, closing out this unusual and difficult year. The donation link is here.

I titled this talk "Odds and Ends" because it covers bits and pieces of magical practice and a couple of specific questions on topics that I have previously addressed. Hopefully my comments on those topics are not too repetitive and offer some additional insights.

Enjoy!

Ritual Night Talk for December 22nd

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on the Holy Guardian Angel, Part 3. The donation link is here.

I previously have covered Liber Samekh and dedicated two talks to discussion of the Holy Guardian Angel, but I wanted to elaborate on those a bit more based on questions I received and bits of online discussion I encountered over the last week. Also, I wanted to say a little bit more about the HGA in the context of the Auto-Talismanic Ritual that we performed on Monday for the Winter Solstice.

Enjoy!

Auto-Talismanic Winter Solstice Rite for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Auto-Talismanic Rite for the Winter Solstice. The donation link is here.

We have been doing the Auto-Talismanic Rite at Leaping Laughter OTO for a number of years now on or around the Winter Solstice, but it can be done at any time. The first part of the ritual is used to cleanse and dispel negative energies and influences in your life, and the second part calls on the Holy Guardian Angel to empower a eucharist in a similar manner to the elixir rites.

Happy Solstice, everyone!

Auto-Talismanic Ritual for 2020 - Streaming

Today's Magick Monday post is the script for the Auto-Talismanic Ritual that we will be performing tonight, December 21st, for the Winter Solstice. It will be streamed on Facebook Live at the Leaping Laughter OTO page. The page can be found here. We will be starting around 7:30 PM CST, but barring any technical difficulties I will archive the video after the ritual so you can view it whenever you have time if you miss it live.

0. The Temple

The temple is set up with an altar in the center, on which sits the Table of Art. A chalice, initially filled with salt water, is placed in the center of the Table. The banishing dagger, invoking wand, and bell chime are placed on the altar. Magus wears white and Sophia wears black. Throughout the ritual, Sophia and Magus face each other across the altar, moving appropriately throughout the various ceremonial forms.

I. Opening

Magus takes up the banishing dagger and performs the Star Ruby.

Sophia: 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.

Magus: 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: ABRAHADHABRA.

Sophia: 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.

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

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

All: So mote it be.

Ritual Night Talk for December 15th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on magick as technology. The donation link is here.

Magick is essentially a technology involving consciousness. Some perspectives treat magick and religion as different or even entirely opposed approaches to spirituality. However, if we consider that the real intent of religion is to codify a system for producing spiritual experiences, they are quite similar. In addition, in this talk I go through how some of the metaphysical ideas from the last couple of weeks can be applied to magical rituals and operations.

Enjoy!

Ritual Night Talk for December 8th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk with more on magical metaphysics. The donation link is here.

This is Part Three of the conversation that I started on November 17th. It addresses some additional questions that came up in response to the last couple of videos in this series, and some related digressions that take those questions as jumping-off points.

Enjoy!

Against Monoliths

I want to start out by saying that I really have tried over the last month to avoid posting on every story I see about Christians being jerks. There have been a lot of them lately, especially surrounding the election, and I have made a conscious effort not to add to that noise. Augoeides is not a political blog, and I try to concentrate only on those areas of politics and public policy where they overlap with religion and the paranormal.

Some background on the story I am covering today. Recently several mysterious monoliths have shown up around the world. While there was a bit of initial paranormal speculation surrounding them, it quickly became clear that they were some sort of art project. And they caught the world's attention, because they were weird and interesting and funky. It left everyone wondering where the next one was going to appear.

But here's the sad bit - Christians who are apparently against... monoliths? A group of these idiots went out and destroyed the California monolith and put up a ramshackle cross in it's place to show how much they "love Jesus Christ." Seriously?

In a video, which was livestreamed and posted online, the group of young men drive from southern California to tear down the structure. Under cover of darkness, they hike up to the structure and tear it down while chanting “Christ is king!”. They then erect a homemade wooden cross in its place and drag the remains of the monolith down the mountain to their car.

During the video, the men also make offensive comments and drink substantial quantities of energy drinks, while also referencing Donald Trump and the QAnon conspiracy theory and their mission is to demonstrate “how much we love Jesus Christ”.

The vandalism angered local officials. “We are upset that these young men felt the need to drive five hours to come into our community and vandalize the monolith,” Atascadero’s mayor, Heather Moreno, said in a news release. “The monolith was something unique and fun in an otherwise stressful time.”

I also want to make it clear that I'm not lumping all Christians in with these folks - many of them are entirely reasonable, decent people who don't care about ruining other peoples' fun. But Christians like these are the exact reason that I will never support politicians who back the conservative Christian agenda. That sort of Christianity is not about spirituality or devotion or even salvation, really. It's about posturing and tribalism and basically wrecking things for anybody who's not part of their club, just because.

It should be obvious that nothing about a featureless, metal pillar in the middle of a desert is in any way prohibited by the Christian religion. The entire fact that it's featureless means that it has no symbols on it that might represent a competing religion - which, while still awful, might at least explain some other reason for doing besides simply being terrible people. But no, it appears that them being terrible people is in fact the real explanation.

Revisions, Revisions, Revisions

Contrary to popular belief, I do occasionally go back and update my posts based on changes in my practice and so forth. Recently I have been going through my elemental work, planetary work, zodiacal work, and path of initiation posts to change the generic Table of Art/Practice diagram that I originally used over to the more elaborate Table shown above from The Digital Ambler. You can read in detail how it was constructed here.

The main reason I went with this particular version is that it includes an additional outside ring with the zodiacal angels rendered in Celestial Hebrew. While I don't make much use of cipher alphabets in my own work, the presence of the zodiacal angels seems especially appropriate given the various aspects of zodiacal magick that I teach, including chart victors and simple electional timing. It's especially ideal for zodiacal operations, though you can still conjure zodiacal angels with the old version and they do show up.

This design is more time-consuming to draw than the old version unless you happen to be a really good crafter - which I am not - so I recommend the same method I used for my traveling Sigillum Dei Aemeth - print out the diagram and glue it onto an 8-inch wooden disk from Michael's or some other craft store. Then you can seal the top to make it more durable.

In addition to changing out the Table diagram I have made a few other tweaks here and there, such as taking out "Let the divine light descend!" from my Greater rituals. That's a technique that I used to use, but over the last several years I've dropped it because in the context of embodied spirituality, the divine light more "emerges" or "fills" than "descends." If you are doing it that way and like it feel free to continue, but as I no longer use it I figured I should remove it from the rituals while I was making updates.

So far I have only done a couple of operations with the new Table design, so I don't have a good sample set for comparison. But it seems like it works at least as well as the generic version, if not better. If you feel like doing some of those experiments yourself, I invite you to try them out and share your results.

Ritual Night Talk for December 1st

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk with more on magical metaphysics. The donation link is here.

This is Part Two of the conversation that I started on November 17th. When I mention what we discussed "last week" in the video, I actually am referring to the talk from two weeks ago. Last week was the Sagittarius Elixir Rite.

At any rate, this talk goes over how the basic metaphysical model that I use applies to the various models of magick proposed over the years such as the spirit model, the energy model, and so forth. I even talk a bit about the psychological model - just because I don't believe magick is psychology-only, that doesn't mean it can't work with psychological processes that you want to change within yourself.

Enjoy!

Sagittarius Elixir Rite for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Sagittarius Elixir Rite. The donation link is here.

The sign Sagittarius is attributed to the Art or Temperance card in the Tarot, and is attributed to "Transmutations" in Liber 777. Since all magick is essentially the creation of change in conformity with will, this is a general power that has many applications for both internal and external transformation.

Enjoy!

Via Solis Sagittarius Elixir Rite - Year Four (Streaming)

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Sagittarius Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, November 23rd. Like the last few elixir rites, it will be streamed on Facebook Live at the Leaping Laughter OTO page. The page can be found here. I will be starting around 8 PM CDT, but barring any technical difficulties I will archive the video after the ritual so you can view it whenever you have time if you miss it live.

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 Sagittarius. The sign Sagittarius is attributed to the power of “Transmutations." It is also the only sign attributed to a vision, the "Vision of Universal Peacock." This vision is a significant step in alchemical processes. Transmutation is a general power with many applications, since in a sense all magical operations represent attempts to transmute or transform some aspect of yourself, the external world, or both. So any intent along those lines would be in harmony with the power of the sign. 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.

Ritual Night Talk for November 17th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on magical metaphysics. The donation link is here.

This is probably Part One of a longer conversation about how the metaphysics of magick work and how our models of consciousness necessarily relate to that process. If we start with the assumption that magick works - since we know it does - we can take a look at some of the ideas that are out there and see which ones qualify as possible explanations for our observations. It allows us to narrow down ideas from both quantum physics and consciousness research in order to build an accurate model of how what we do interacts with the world.

Enjoy!

No Internal Monologue is a Thing

Over the years you may have noticed that I don't have a lot of patience with arguments or ideas that require consciousness to be based on or constrained by language. Some of that has to do with experiences from the cognitive science of the early 1990's that I felt gave way too much credence to "symbolic artificial intelligence." That mostly consisted of linguists arguing that if only you could get the word and symbol relationships right in your AI computer program, it would be the same thing as consciousness. I knew it was nonsense from the start, and it never really did work. As it turns out, a lot of time and money was expended on that particular doomed idea, when we probably should have started working on machine learning ten to twenty years before it became the focus of AI research.

While that story in and of itself isn't necessarily relevant to practicing and/or learning magick, how I knew it was nonsense from the start probably is. I don't think in words. I never have. Or at the very least, I don't think exclusively in words. I don't really have any sort of "inner monologue" that guides my thinking unless I deliberately create one - which, for example, is how I write fiction. I guess that a person with an internal monologue experiences the world kind of like how I experience writing a book. The difference is that for me, it requires some discipline to keep my thoughts running that way. Otherwise my focus expands and my thoughts turn back into - well, thoughts. They're kind of like a combination of images, abstract relationships, dynamic unfolding processes, and memories.

When I remember things I don't "hear" a description of the memory in my mind. I literally re-experience it, but without the same intensity of it actually happening. I can take "the experience" of that memory like an object and relate it dynamically to other memories, ideas, concepts, philosophical principles, and pretty much anything else that I can experience internally or externally - up to and including the sensory information I am processing in the moment. I talk about individual differences between magical practitioners a lot, because there are a lot of them, and while I don't have a set of experimental data to draw from in this respect, my guess is that whether you have an internal monologue or you don't likely makes a difference in how magick will work for you.

Ritual Night Talk for November 10th

Ritual Night Talk for November 10th - Improvisation and Experimentation

Ritual Night Talk for November 10th - Improvisation and Experimentation Donations: http://leapinglaughter-oto.org/donations-and-dues/

Posted by Leaping Laughter on Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on improvisation and experimentation. The donation link is here.

Many people who are learning magick seem to have the idea that there is an exact way to do ceremonial rituals, and if they don't get every bit of minutia correct terrible things can happen. But this is more a horror movie idea than anything real. In fact, usually when you do things wrong all that happens is nothing. Experimentation in magick is a good thing, and all magicians should feel free to work out the methods that are most effective for their own practice.

Enjoy!

All The Wrong Angels

The United States presidential election has been the big story this last week. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump and will become our next president. As you all well know, I can't stand Trump and am very happy to see him voted out. But among the folks who are less happy is Trump's spiritual adviser, prosperity gospel preacher Paula White. White worked herself into a frenzy on Wednesday trying to conjure angels to secure Trump's victory.

President Donald Trump's spiritual advisor Paula White led a passionate prayer event on Wednesday in a bid to secure his reelection.

During a prayer broadcast livestreamed on her YouTube channel, White claimed that "demonic confederacies" were attempting to steal the election from Trump. "I hear victory, victory, victory, victory in the quarters of heaven," White said as she closed her eyes and gestured passionately.

At one point White proclaimed that "angels are being dispatched right now" and appeared to speak in tongues. "Angels are being dispatched from Africa right now," she said, adding, "They're coming here."

Here's the thing, though. It's not like people in Africa particularly like Donald Trump. Neither do people in South America, which she also named. Much of Trump's talk about "shithole countries" was directed at nations on those two continents. As I've mentioned multiple times, spirits including angels have individual personalities just like people do. There's no reason to think that African or South American angels like Trump when people from those countries don't. I mean, it's possible, but I wouldn't think it likely.

So even if Paula White is able to conjure angels - I doubt it, personally, but you never know - she's calling on all the wrong ones. And of course, she's casting a spell. She's getting herself all worked up and then calling on angels to perform a specific task, to deliver an election victory for Trump. She seems pretty "enflamed" in prayer, as Aleister Crowley would say. But no matter how into a spell you are, it won't to work if you call on the wrong spirits to do the job.

I seriously think the world would be a better place if Christians just admitted that casting spells is what they're doing when they pray for specific things. We occultists work with different deities than their version of Jesus, but the difference is one of religion rather than technology and there's rarely anything particularly sinister about it. At least, no more sinister than trying to cast death spells by means of "imprecatory prayer," which granted is pretty freaking sinister.

Biden is a moderate Democrat and more conservative than me. But even so, I will be happy to have a president not beholden to these fundamentalist nutters. There's this guy, who insists people will have sex with cows when Biden becomes president. There's this pastor demanding another election because Trump lost. And there's every person out there who believes that there are enough occultists in the world do anything the QAnon conspiracy alleges.

As of January 20th of 2021 none of these folks will have "their guy" in the White House. And frankly, that right there is a beautiful thing.

Ritual Night Talk for November 3rd

Ritual Night Talk for November 3rd - Political Magick

Ritual Night Talk for November 3rd - Political Magick 777 Magical Powers: http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Tree_of_Life:Magical_Powers Donations: http://leapinglaughter-oto.org/donations-and-dues/

Posted by Leaping Laughter on Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on political magick. The link to the magical powers column from Liber 777 is here and the donation link is here.

In this talk I go through a good exercise for any magician to do when faced with a problem. Liber 777 has a full list of magical powers attributed to the elements, planets, and signs, and when planning a magical operation it is good to consider how any or even all of them can apply to the problem at hand according to their respective spheres of influence. The problem I use for reference here is political magick, since it has been observed that using magick to affect politicians and/or the political process in general seems to be especially difficult. And, after all, this talk took place on the evening of Election Day here in the United States.

Enjoy!

Assessing James Randi

James Randi, founder of the capital-S Skeptic movement, passed away this last week at the age of 92. Over the years I have posted various articles about the Skeptics, and while I consider they methods useful for debunking fraudulent "celebrity psychics," I also think that the movement - and especially Randi himself - took an unnecessarily adversarial position with respect to actual scientific research of the paranormal.

I have been asked on a couple of occasions about this, and why I had a problem with his attitude. I do try to test my magical techniques in as scientific a manner as I can and don't have a problem with the findings of mainstream science. But skepticism - real skepticism, not the movement variety - should be based on an honest consideration of the evidence. Randi's approach never seemed honest to me, especially his constant accusation of fraud when presented with evidence he found hard to dismiss out of hand.

On the occasion of Randi's death, I considered writing up a piece expressing my assessment of the man, his legacy, and my issues with his approach to the paranormal. But before I could do that, I came across this article from Boing Boing which expresses my thoughts at least as well as I would have. It even includes some material of which I was previously unaware.

Born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge in Toronto in 1928, Randi became a celebrated stage magician and escape artist who appeared in prestigious venues and on television shows, including Happy Days. His stage aesthetics and devices were often brilliant and original. Randi toured with rock icon Alice Cooper in 1973, designing a mock beheading-by-guillotine for the proto-metal star. When claiming the garland of skepticism in the early 1970s, the MacArthur-winning Randi announced his intention of exposing phony faith healers and grifter psychics.

Today, many people know Randi from the award-winning 2014 documentary An Honest Liar. But the laudatory and engaging profile tells its story in a fashion that skeptics traditionally decry: including only the magician's successful exposes (some of which were more questionable than the film allows) and obfuscating his darker and more lasting impact: making it more difficult for serious university-based and academically trained researchers to study ESP and mental anomalies, and to receive a fair hearing in the news media. Indeed, Randi ultimately cheapened an important debate over how or whether extra-physical mentality can be studied under scientifically rigorous conditions and evaluated by serious people.

In a typical example, The New York Times ran a 2015 piece about a wave of fraudulent and flawed psychology studies; its lead paragraph cited a precognition study by Cornell University psychologist Daryl J. Bem — without justifying why it was grouped with polluted research or even further referencing Bem's study in the article. (I wrote to the Times to object. The paper has used several of my letters and op-eds, often on controversial subjects — this time, crickets.)

The Bem study is interesting for two reasons. First, while critics have argued that Bem's "presentiment" findings must be the result of experimental error, they can never pinpoint what the problem with the methodology might be. To be fair, that doesn't mean there's couldn't be a problem with the methodology, only that it hasn't been identified. The second reason it's interesting is that a very similar methodology was used in studies constantly pointed to by researchers opposed to the idea of "free will."

Scorpio Elixir Rite for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Scorpio Elixir Rite. The donation link is here.

Scorpio is associated with the Death card in the Tarot and its corresponding power is Necromancy. In this context it refers to working with the spirits of the dead, including "restless dead" such as ghosts and also ancestors who are no longer living.

Enjoy!

Via Solis Scorpio Elixir Rite - Year Four (Streaming)

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Scorpio Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, October 27th. Like the last few elixir rites, it will be streamed on Facebook Live at the Leaping Laughter OTO page. The page can be found here. I will be starting around 8 PM CDT, but barring any technical difficulties I will archive the video after the ritual so you can view it whenever you have time if you miss it live.

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 Scorpio. The sign Scorpio is attributed to the power of “Necromancy." Note that this refers to work with the spirits of the dead, including ancestors, rather than magick involving dead things such as body parts and so forth. 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

Ritual Night Talk for October 20th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk on magical weapons. The link to Liber Armorum is here and the donation link is here.

Most systems of Western magick recommend using various magical weapons, usually related to the classical elements. In this talk I go through Aleister Crowley's Liber Armorum in which he describes his take on these elemental weapons for A.'. A.'. magicians. I also discuss my own set of tools, and the similarities and differences between them and what Crowley recommends.

Enjoy!

The Nuclear Option?

I recently came across this article about a paranormal investigation team in New Zealand dealing with a haunted house. So far, pretty routine - at least in the paranormal world. The article discusses details of the haunting and reports of paranormal activity in the house. It also has skeptics weigh in with their take on possible mundane explanation for the activity. But it was a quote from investigator Karen Williams that really caught my attention.

Williams, a practitioner of Wicca and a British Traditional Witch, said spirits often didn't want to move on.

"A ghost is a person who is no longer a corporeal being, they don't have a body anymore, but they're still the same person that they were before. "They have free will. If they're in a place, they might not want to move. You have to be persuasive."

Williams said she would be using the "nuclear option" to remove the spirits. "This is where my Wiccan training comes in. There's a ritual I like to use which is called the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, it's a very powerful banishing ritual."

Williams shared some details of the ritual with the Herald. The ceremony would be conducted using the Hebrew language and would call on the "divine light" to help cleanse the house.

Willams' comments about ghosts are generally accurate, but hopefully she was being tongue-in-cheek about the LBRP being the "nuclear option." It's the first and simplest ritual that ceremonial magicians learn. It also doesn't banish a space, even though there are people out there who teach that it does - and with a serious haunting that might be an issue down the line.

Her Fiance Ghosted Her

Back in 2018 I covered the story of Amethyst Realm, a British woman who claimed to be engaged to a ghost. But recently things changed, and the engagement is now off. Realm - who has the exact sort of name you would expect of someone who would get engaged to a ghost in the first place - explained that her ghostly fiance kept disappearing on her and went out partying. How ghosts party is anybody's guess, but as I keep saying spirits are basically just like people so there must be some spiritual equivalent.

A British woman who claims she got “engaged” to a ghost has now called off the wedding because he “kept disappearing” and started “partying” too much.

“We’ve called the wedding off,” Amethyst Realm, 32, said on UK TV show “This Morning.” “He just completely changed.”

Realm said she fell in love with a “sexy” spirit named Ray during a trip to Australia in 2018 — and even consummated the relationship on the flight back home.

The paranormal Casanova later popped the question on their nine-month anniversary, and things were going well until a recent vacation to Thailand, she said.

“I think maybe he fell in with a bad crowd when we were on holiday. He just started becoming really inconsiderate,” Realm said in the out-of-this-world interview.

Now I will say that I find it annoying when skeptics accuse anybody reporting paranormal experiences as fakers who are trying to get on television or whatever. But it is maybe a little too convenient that she got herself in the news announcing she was engaged to a ghost and then got on television announcing that the engagement ended. She also accused her fiance of "doing drugs," which I'm not going to accept as a thing ghosts do without evidence or at least a coherent explanation of how that's supposed to work.

Ritual Night Talk for October 13th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, with more information on pathworking and testing spirits.

I had a couple of questions come up over the last week related to my talk on pathworking, so this week I went into more detail on that topic along with more on testing spirits and/or entities that you might encounter while doing this sort of work.

Enjoy!

So Obama Conjured That Fly?

So I'm posting about Mike Pence's effing fly again. Yeah, there were more important takeaways from the Vice Presidential Debate. I just had to share potato soup pusher Jim Bakker's take on what was really a pretty innocuous event. Flies are all over the place, and they do land on politicians every so often. But according to Bakker, the fly was sent by "Obama’s demonic witch doctor army," which combines racism, religious bigotry, and rank stupidity in a single sentence.

“My Chrisitan discernment tells me that that was no ordinary fly,” said Bakker in an online video. “It was a spy sent by Obama’s demonic witch doctor army to distract Pence because he was soundly beating Harris.” However, Bakker, who was jailed in the ‘80s for corruption, is infamous for making ridiculous statements. Last month he accused Joe Biden supporters of backing Satanism.

“A lot of people that are voting this week… the next few weeks… they’re voting for their faith, and their faith is Satan worship… So if they vote their faith, we need a lot of Christians to vote more so,” said Bakker in a video posted to Twitter. However, the fly became an online celebrity overnight. Several memes sprung up to commemorate the fly’s debate appearance. The Biden campaign got in on the fun by selling branded fly swatters.

“Within minutes of the debate wrapping up Wednesday, the Biden campaign tweeted a photo of Joe Biden with a fly swatter and a caption that said, ‘Pitch in $5 to help this campaign fly,’” said CNN. And unlike Bakker, most viewers stated that Harris won the debate.

Idiots like Bakker are one of the reasons that we see so much polarization in American politics. People on the other side of the political aisle from him can't just be people who he disagrees with, they have to be "Satan worshippers" with "demonic armies." The fact is that there aren't enough Satanists (or even occultisist of all stripes) in the entire country to swing a single state Democratic, let alone make up the entire Democratic electorate.

Sex in Church

This isn't your usual boring church service! A Louisiana Catholic priest was recently arrested for filming himself having sex with two women on the altar of his church. They were apparently shooting some sort of adult film right there in the sanctuary. Religious-themed porn is a popular genre, but if you're going to make it you need to observe some precautions.

The priest, identified by Nola.com as the Rev. Travis Clark, was busted after a passerby saw the lights on later than usual on Sept. 30 and peeked inside Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River.

The unidentified witness saw the half-naked priest having sex with the two women, who were dressed in corsets and high-heeled boots. The altar was also adorned with stage lighting, several sex toys, and a cellphone mounted on a tripod that was recording the act.

The witness took video footage of the unholy trinity, then called police. Cops arrested Clark, along with his two altar servers, and booked them on obscenity charges.

The women reportedly told cops they were at the church to film “roleplay” with the priest. Cops determined everything that went on that night was consensual, but arrested the trio on the obscenity charges because they were in view of the public.

Now I do want to point out something that anybody who has seen Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno should know - no matter where you are, if you're shooting porn you need to cover the windows. Full stop. Since passersby were able to observe the action, this clearly was not done and these folks were arrested for their carelessness.

I mean, this sounds like a good time and all, but I doubt that winding up in jail was the ending any of them were hoping for.

Mike Pence - Evil Wizard?

The 2020 Vice Presidential Debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence was held the evening before last. There's plenty of analysis and commentary out there with respect to the issues discussed by the candidates, and the effectiveness of the format and moderation. But of course this is Augoeides, so I'm posting about the effing fly.

About two thirds of the way through the debate, a housefly landed on Pence's head and just sat there for a couple minutes. His hair is white, so the black fly was really obvious. Where this enters into paranormal territory is that apparently there's an old superstition that flies like to land on evil wizards. I have no idea whether or not this is true, but it's funny, so I'm going with it.

According to conventional Christian theology, you aren't supposed to pray for specific things. You're supposed to be humble and have faith, and trust that God has your best interests in mind. The classical example of this is the Lord's Prayer, which is what Jesus demonstrated for his disciples when they explicitly asked him how to pray. But this message has gotten pretty distorted in some modern Christian circles.

What I'm talking about is a practice called "imprecatory prayer," which is engaged in to obtain specific material results. Some of these intents clearly fall into what is generally considered "evil," like this guy who claims that his prayers were responsible for Ruth Bader Ginsberg's recent death. I'm not even going to quote from that - you can go and check out the link for yourself if you want.

Ritual Night Talk for October 6th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, on spirit communication and pathworking.

There are many different methods that can be employed for spirit communication. In general, they involve the activation of and connection with your psychic senses, however that manifests for you personally. Some practitioners argue that eyes-open scrying in a crystal or mirror is superior to more modern "active imagination" methods, but I am not convinced on that. You always need to test the information you get from spirits no matter what method you use, and I cover some simple techniques to do that in this video. I also segue into pathworking, whick is generally done using those same "active imagination" techniques.

Enjoy!

Libra Elixir Rite for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Via Solis Libra Elixir Rite.

Libra rules "Works of Justice and Equilibrium," so it is a good general power for all sorts of operations. With everything going on in the world right now my intent focused on the social and political spheres, but as "equilibrium is the basis of the work" there are many other possible applications of this power for practicing magicians.

Enjoy!

Via Solis Libra Elixir Rite - Year Four (Streaming)

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Libra Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, September 29th. Like the last few elixir rites, it will be streamed on Facebook Live at the Leaping Laughter OTO page. The page can be found here. I will be starting around 8 PM CDT, but barring any technical difficulties I will archive the video after the ritual so you can view it whenever you have time if you miss it live.

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 Libra. The sign Libra is attributed to "Works of Justice and Equilibrium." So those sorts of intents are most appropriate, and as this is a general and highly adaptable power, it can be used for many different purposes, from obtaining justice in the external world to balancing your internal magical energies and/or spiritual perceptions. 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.

Jesus Arrested in Russia

Here's a question for everyone worried about the current state of the world, political and otherwise. Lots of people online have noted that there are at least an unusual number of similarities between Donald Trump and the description of The Beast from the Book of Revelation. Yeah, I know, 666 is Kaiser Nero and all that, so it likely refers to events that happened two thousand years ago.

But stay with me here. What if this guy really is Jesus?

Russian authorities mounted a special operation to arrest a former traffic police officer who claims to be the reincarnation of Jesus and has run a cult based in the depths of Siberia for the past three decades.

Helicopters and armed officers stormed communities run by Sergei Torop, known to his followers as Vissarion, and arrested him and two of his aides. Russia’s investigative committee said it would charge him with organising an illegal religious organisation, alleging that the cult extorted money from followers and subjected them to emotional abuse.

Torop, 59, with long grey hair and a beard, was led by masked troops to a helicopter. The operation involved agents from Russia’s FSB security service as well as police and other agencies. Vadim Redkin, a former drummer in a Soviet-era boyband who is known as Vissarion’s right-hand man, was also arrested, along with another aide, Vladimir Vedernikov.

Torop, who lost his job as a traffic officer in 1989, claimed he experienced an “awakening” as the Soviet regime began to collapse. In 1991 he founded a movement now known as the Church of the Last Testament. Several thousand followers live in a series of remote hamlets in the Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia. Converts to the cult have included professionals from across Russia as well as pilgrims from abroad.

And yeah, I also know there's no evidence that any of the many folks over the years who have claimed to be Jesus are the real thing. Torop's story doesn't sound very convincing either. But again, stay with me. If Trump is the Beast, and Torop is Jesus, then the way forward to fix the world is clear. All we need to do is drop Trump (The Beast) and Torop (Jesus) into an arena and have them fight.

When Jesus wins - which he should since Torop is more than a decade younger and appears to be in much better shape, and besides look at the size of those hands - all of the prophecies will be fulfilled and the world will go back to normal.

One can hope, right?

Seb-Hed Autumnal Equinox Ritual for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Seb-Hed Ritual.

We've been performing this ritual around the autumnal equinox for a number of years now, first with our magical working group and more recently under the auspices of Leaping Laughter OTO in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is quite effective for setting intents for the upcoming year and for general self-empowerment through the invocation of Set and Horus.

Enjoy!

Seb-Hed Ritual for 2020 - Streaming

Today's Magick Monday post is the full script for the Seb-Hed Ritual that we will be performing tomorrow evening, September 22nd, for the Autumnal Equinox. This will be a streaming event hosted at 8 PM central at the Leaping Laughter OTO page on Facebook. This is taking place in the usual Ritual Night timeslot.

The Seb-Hed is inspired by a rite of renewal practiced for the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, updated with modern ritual forms and so forth. It invokes the balanced energies of Set and Horus, who in ancient times represented Upper and Lower Egypt. It will be performed as outlined below, with a few modifications to accomodate the streaming format.

0. The Temple

The Set altar is in the North, and Horus altar is in the South. The material basis is placed on each altar; red wine or juice for Set, white wine or juice for Horus. A statue of each deity is placed on the corresponding altar. A third larger altar with a chalice is placed between them and slightly to temple east. This allows the Officiant and other participants to stand directly between the Set and Horus altar during the ritual. The invoking wand and banishing dagger are placed on this central altar.

I. Opening

Officiant performs the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram using the banishing dagger.

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: AUMGN

Officiant: We take refuge in Set-An, the secret Black Flame that burns in every heart of man and in the core of every star, as we issue the call to our own awakened nature, arousing the coiled serpent about to spring.

All: XEPER (pronounced KEH-fer)

Officiant: We take refuge in Har-Wer, 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: THELEMA.

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

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

All: So mote it be.

Officiant performs the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram (Comselh Ananael or standard version) using the invoking wand, replacing ARARITA with SOTHIS.

Ritual Night Talk for September 15

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, covering containment and targeting.

I've had a couple of questions come up recently about containment structures and how they work, and adding in comments on magical links that can be used for targeting operations seems like a natural fit. Using both of these methods well can result in far more effective rituals in terms of practical results.

Enjoy!

Airbnb for Satan

A family renting an Airbnb unit in New York City got a surprise when they got there and found the place decorated with - well, basically a couple of animal skulls and some implements for casting spells. They freaked and reported being terrified by this display of "devil worship." I do understand that one of the unwritten rules about doing magick is that in general, when dealing with people who get their information from horror films and the like, you should do your best not to antagonize them. At the same time, though, their total over-reaction is kind of funny.

A family staying at an Airbnb property in New York state were frightened upon discovering animal skulls, ritualistic floor markings and “imagery, candles, books, etc for rituals and what looked like devil worship”.

Frederick Joseph, an author from New York City, had booked the house for two nights to spend time with his fiancée, his cousin and his eight-year-old brother, paying $1,150 for the privilege. But as soon as they arrived at the property, they became wary.

“When we walked up to the house we noticed an animal skull hanging on the outside of the house, so I went inside to check it out,” tweeted Joseph. “When I walked I went to the basement and found more animal skulls and ritualistic floor markings and then I went up to the rooms to find much more.

“As we walked through the two rooms we found a bunch of imagery, candles, books, etc for rituals and what looked like devil worship. My brother was terrified, as were we.”

Not a lot of people really engage in "devil worship," so probably the owner of this space is some flavor of Wiccan or Neo-Pagan, which are much larger traditions. Since most of my friends are at least peripherally involved in the occult community I've been in plenty of houses with this sort of decor. The idea that it's scary and dangerous is just silly, but people do have a right to their religious beliefs regardless of what people outside their traditions think of those beliefs.

Ritual Night Talk for September 8

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, covering psychology and magick.

Many ideas from psychology found their way into discussions of magick over the course of the last century or so. Some of those ideas are accurate or at least useful, while others are less so based on the latest understanding of how cognition works. This is part one of what will be a series of at least a couple more talks since this is a reasonably large topic.

Enjoy!

Against MKUltra Umbrellas

Lately the QAnon conspiracy has been getting more time in mainstream news outlets, so that means it's not weird or fringey enough for "prophet" and Christian talk show host Mark Taylor. Taylor, as I have previously noted, has made exactly one accurate prophecy in his entire life. He predicted that Donald Trump would be elected president in 2016. According to Nick Silver, Trump had a 1 in 3 chance of winning a week before the election, so it was at least a little unlikely that he would win at the time.

Since then, though, Taylor has made all sorts of ridiculous predictions and just doubled-down on them when they didn't come true. That's the opposite of being a prophet. That's being a false prophet. In addition to making nonsensical false prophecies, he also passes along every weird bit of conspiracy crap that he can get his hands on. Recently, he explained the existential threat posed by MKUltra umbrellas. Oh, and also Hillary Clinton and the Queen of England. This one's a real doozy.

Relying on the claims of an outlandish conspiracy theorist named Gina Phillips who has appeared several times on Chris McDonald’s program (where Taylor is a regular guest) to spread outrageous tales of “Satanic ritual abuse” and the like, Taylor uncorked a bizarre explanation for the nation’s current civil unrest.

“All these kids we are seeing in the streets, the MK Ultra, it only takes like an hour,” Taylor said. “They have it down to an art. They have it down to a science. They will fragment your mind into a 100 pieces, and each piece is separated with a disassociated wall of amnesia so they can program each piece. The programming is in you.”

“When you see Hillary [Clinton] or the Queen wearing purple, that’s end of the world programming,” he continued. “If they’re wearing green, it means this. If they put out something verbatim like on Twitter, it activates the code, so maybe assassination codes, so maybe other codes. … All these teachers are doing it in daycare, they’re doing elementary, junior high, high school. Churches are doing it.”

“Now with all these guys in the streets, this is why they can’t be reasoned with,” Taylor added. “You can’t reason with someone that’s been mind controlled. Do you notice the guys in the streets with the umbrellas? Those are their handlers. That activates the programming. What that does, the umbrella reminds them and activates the violence programming, saying that, ‘If you don’t get violent, we will activate the tormenting spirits that we have placed in you to torment you until you do.'”

Ritual Night Talk for September 1

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, covering more magical misconceptions.

In the my first magical misconceptions talk, I discussed some popular culture ideas about magick like the "Satanic panic" of the 1980s and the similar reptilian/illuminati/qanon nonsense of today. In this talk I focus more on what I consider technical misconceptions about magick itself, how it works, and how you should approach your practice.

Enjoy!

Evangelicals Denounce QAnon

The QAnon conspiracy cult of Jim and Ron Watkins has finally become prominent enough in the news that Evangelical leaders are starting to denounce it. Not all Evangelical leader, as one commenter defiantly pointed out, but it still is good to see some of them coming around. QAnon has seen its greatest popularity among Evangelical Christians, so this denunciation is a significant and hopeful new development. This article from Christian Post includes statements against the movement from several prominent Evangelical leaders.

The theory has garnered criticism from multiple Christian leaders, including Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler Jr. On an episode of his podcast, “The Briefing,” posted online on Monday, Mohler compared QAnon and conspiracy theories in general to the early church heresy of Gnosticism. “Gnosticism is the belief that only a few, an elite, a privileged few are able to see, have inside information,” explained Mohler.

 

“The ancient Gnostics believed in one way or another that this particular secret knowledge was the key to salvation or illumination, or whatever would be the promise of this particular information. Christianity has nothing to do with the secret truth. It has everything to do with a public Gospel,” the theologian added. “Christians don't have secret beliefs we hide from the world. We're not saved because we have come to some secret knowledge.”

Since this is Augoeides, I do want to point out that "secret information" of the sort Mohler is talking about had little to do with the idea of gnosis. Sure, it means "knowing," but the "knowing" consisted of direct experience, the "baptism of fire" that conferred salvation according to the early Christian gnostics. This isn't "information" that you could read off a tablet or a scroll or in the modern era look up on the Internet. It consisted of spiritual practices that resulted in the gnostic experience. But that's a whole other conversation.

Tyler Huckabee, senior editor at Relevant Magazine, a Christian lifestyle bimonthly, wrote in a piece published earlier this month that QAnon’s claims are “farfetched” and fueled by “confirmation bias.” Huckabee also considered QAnon “a logical extension of the culture war, providing real plot and vocabulary to the ‘us vs. them’ model that became popular with the rise of the Moral Majority.”

Virgo Elixir Rite for 2020

Here is the video of last night's Virgo Elixir Rite.

The sign Virgo is attributed to the powers of "invisibility, parthenogenesis, and initiation." Magical invisibility has to do with directing attention away from you (so it will fool people, but not a security camera). Parthenogenesis refers to the creation of life without the usual process of sexual reproduction, and can be used to create spiritual entities like the "servitors" of chaos magick. Initiation is a general power that can be used in the service of ceremonial initiation, or to start (that is, initiate) some new phase, process, or practice in your life.

Enjoy!

Via Solis Virgo Elixir Rite - Year Four (Streaming)

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Virgo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, August 25th. Like the last few elixir rites, it will be streamed on Facebook Live at the Leaping Laughter OTO page. The page can be found here. I will be starting around 8 PM CDT, but barring any technical difficulties I will archive the video after the ritual so you can view it whenever you have time if you miss it live.

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 Virgo. The sign Virgo is attributed to the powers of "Invisibility, Parthenogenesis, Initiation." Magical invisibility is more about avoiding being noticed than transparency, parthenogenesis can be used to create artificial spirits such as the servitors made by chaos magicians, and initiation is a general power that can be employed to set in motion just about anything in your magical or mundane life. 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.

Ritual Night Talk for August 18th

Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, on magical misconceptions.

There are a lot of weird claims and ideas about magick out in the world, especially in discussion forums and on social media. In this video I discuss a few of the bigger ones, including the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980's and early 1990's that asserted some ridiculous percentage of the population was engaged in what was basically a cartoon version of "Satanism" that nobody actually practices. I also discuss some notions that can create obstacles to magical practice, and how the alleged dangers of magical work can be massively overstated.

Enjoy!

Interrogating Many Worlds

The "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics is an idea that gets thrown around a lot in physics. It also has made it into models of magick and how magick works, such as Lon DuQuette's famous statement "it's all in your head, you just have no idea how big your head is." As I pointed out a while back, DuQuette is not putting forth a purely psychological model of magick with that statement. Instead, he is proposing that practical magick works by means of a sort of "reality selection."

The many worlds interpretation of quantum physics is a way of modeling quantum interactions without employing the "wavefunction collapse" of the Copenhagen interpretation. In Copenhagen, until we measure a quantum event it exists in a superposition that includes all possible values. This superposition is shown to be wavelike by simple experiments such as the slit experiment. When the superposition is measured, this wavelike superposition "collapses" into a single value.

In many worlds, on the other hand, every possible value in the superposition happens in its own "world," or really "universe." By measuring a quantum event, we select which of those worlds we wind up inhabiting. But they all are out there - a practically limitless number of universes, each of which "cleaved off" from the others based on single quantum interactions. Many worlds resolves the issue of what wavefunction collapse "really is" by asserting that it doesn't exist. It only looks like it does because we only perceive the universe we end up in.

DuQuette's idea exploits this concept by viewing magick as a way to "direct" which universe you wind up in, or maybe "navigate" through the various possibilities. He explained in one of his talks that in order to make something happen, you transform yourself into the sort of person that those things happen to. This frames his model of practical magick as a sort of magnetizing influence that results in you experiencing the world that you want to experience - or in Thelemic terms, the world that is in harmony with the change you are casting for.

My model of magick uses a single-world interpretation simply because it is easier to represent "near misses" in single-world where something more like a wavefunction collapse happens. This is more conceptual than mathematical, since many worlds returns the same mathematical results as a single-world interpretation. From a magical perspective, though, it's problematic. Let's say that you cast for a thousand dollars and get a hundred dollars. How does the universe in which you would have gotten the full thousand relate to the universe in which you only got the hundred?