Demonic Voter Fraud

If you ever are trying to track down evidence for my assertion that success in America is almost entirely attributable to luck, you need look no further than my fellow Minnesotan Mike Lindell. Lindell is the wealthy founder of the MyPillow company, a prominent media conservative and Trump supporter, and a complete idiot.

To be clear, I'm not calling Lindell an idiot because he's a conservative. Lindell promotes every bizarre conspiracy theory that supports his political beliefs, and is now working with a former occult expert who knows nothing about occultism to root out voter fraud in Arizona. I suppose if you're an occult expert who knows nothing about occultism, being a voter fraud expert who knows nothing about voter fraud is just par for the course.

The Daily Beast's Will Sommer reports that Lindell is now working with Dr. Lyle Rapacki, who pitched himself to law enforcement agencies as an expert on devil worship during the "Satanic Panic" of the 1980s, and who is now apparently pivoting toward being an expert in election fraud.

In particular, Rapacki has been working with the Arizona Republican Party in its effort to obtain ballots and voting machines from Maricopa County, which is the most populous county in the state and which delivered the state to President Joe Biden last November.

"It's been unfair, it's been unreal, it's been demonic," Rapacki said in an interview earlier this month. Rapacki has also adapted his purported expertise on Satanism to the QAnon era, as he's endorsed conspiracy theories claiming that the Democratic Party runs a Satanic pedophile ring.

Rapacki is one of those guys I talked about in this recent post, who presented themselves as "occult experts" back in the 1980's and early 1990's. As far as I can tell none of them knew anything about real occultism and were in fact experts on the various lurid and mostly made-up versions of occultism and "Devil Worship" promoted by evangelical Christians. A lot of that information came from frauds like Mike Warnke and Bill Schnoebelen who seem to have been caught up in making lots of money by telling Christians that what occultists do is exactly what they see in horror movies.

Rite of the Office of the Readings - Year A

For 2021 we will be performing this "Year A" ritual for the Office of the Readings.

We debuted the "Year B" rite last year, and having two versions of the ritual is an attempt to shake this series up a bit and also to provide options for anyone who would like to perform this series and prefers one over the other.

This is mostly the same as the ritual we performed up until the "Year B" last year, but we've made minor changes so I figured a new post was warranted. For online streaming in 2021, some of the directions pertaining to the congregation and physical temple space will be amended appropriately.

This ritual was adapted by Soror Lalitha from Ordo Sunyata Vajra's Diamond Sapphire Gem of Radiant Light and The Office of the Readings for the High Holy Days by the Companions of Monsalvat.

0. PREPARATION

The ritual uses two altars, one in the center of the temple and one in the east or in the direction of Boleskine. The ritual is divided into four phases. The first three are based on the principle stages of alchemical work: Nigredo (March 20-25), Albedo (March 26-April 1), and Rubedo (April 1-7). The final stage is the three Days of the Feast (April 8-10), the three days of the writing of The Book of the Law. The Officiant wears black during Nigredo, white during Albedo, and red during Rubedo. A candle of the same color should be left burning on the eastern altar during each of the three phases along with a statue of Horus and optionally one of Ahathoor. The colors are cycled through in the same order for each of the last three days - black for April 8, white for April 9, and red for April 10. The Officiant directs the ritual from the central altar. On this altar are placed any desired magical tools and a bell or gong. The Lectionary containing the readings is placed on the eastern altar for most of the rite and is retrieved by the Officiant when the readings are given from the central altar. It is then returned.

I. INTROIT

Music is played as the congregation is admitted to the temple. Each member of the congregation is purified with water and consecrated with incense as they enter the temple. The same is then done to the four quarters and the two altars.

II. OPENING

Officiant: BALASTI! OMPEHDA!

Officiant performs the Star Ruby, and when finished strikes the gong.

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

All: Love is the law, love under will.

III. FORMULATION OF THE LIGHT

Officiant performs the Star Sapphire.

Officiant: If they say to you, where did you come from?, say to them, We came from the light. If they say to you, Is it you?, say, We are its children, and we are the elect of the living father. If they ask you, What is the sign of your father in you?, say to them, It is movement and repose. (Gospel of Thomas, Saying Number 70)

All: Now I begin to pray, thou child,
Holy thy name and undefiled.
Thy reign is come, thy will is done,
Here is the bread, here is the blood,
Bring me through midnight to the Sun.
Save me from evil and from good,
That thy one crown of all the ten
Even now and here be mine.
AMEN.

Officiant strikes the gong.

Pisces Elixir Rite for 2021

Here is the video of yesterday's Pisces Elixir Rite. The donation link is here.

The sign Pisces is attributed to the Moon card in the Tarot, and its powers are listed as "Bewitchments" and "Casting Illusions" in Liber 777. This is a power that can be used to cast "glamors" and any other sort of magical operation related to influencing perception in general. As such, it has a wide range of potential practical applications.

Enjoy!

Vis Solis Pisces Elixir Rite - Year Four (Streaming)

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Pisces Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, March 16th. Like the latest 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 Pisces. The sign Pisces is attributed to the powers of "Bewitchment" and "Casting Illusions." So this is the power that you would call upon to cast classic magical operations such as "glamours" and the like. Spells that act directly on your own mind or those of others would also qualify. And, since magical powers are descriptive, not prescriptive, this can be scaled up to include all sorts of contemporary issues in our society. The Via Solis Elixir Rites were written by Michele Montserrat in 2010 for the Comselh Ananael magical working group.

I. Opening

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.

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.

Occult Cold Case Isn't

I'm a big fan of the true crime genre, but the one thing about it that drives me a little nuts is the notion of "occult murders." I've written about several cases here on Augoeides where law enforcement suspected "occult involvement" and - of course - turned up nothing. Because there is literally no viable occult reason to murder someone. Generally when detectives look at a suspect, they put in a lot of effort to assess means, motive, and opportunity. But if they knew anything about magick, they would understand that "occult" is not a motive and cannot be considered as such.

I recently came across this article about a cold case from 1972. A young woman was found dead under unusual circumstances, and law enforcement apparently suspected satanic or occult activity based on "ritualistic elements" found at the crime scene. But recently review crime scene photos show a classic case of pareidola. In the photos, the sticks that were supposedly arranged in the shape of crosses in a "coffin-like" arrangement around the body are just random brush that the body was found in. You can click through to the article and scroll down to see the crime scene photo for yourself. The brush is clearly not arranged in any particular pattern.

When the unrecognizable body of Jeannette DePalma, 16, was found atop a steep, wooded hill that the locals called the Devil’s Teeth in 1972, rumors spread quickly that the Springfield girl was killed in some sort of satanic rite or witchcraft. Police sources leaked to the press that they had found signs they thought might be related to the occult, including crosses made of sticks and branches arranged in a coffin-like outline around her body. The coroner’s report mentions a “rock formation surrounding the body.” The Star-Ledger reported that police even brought a witch to the site to inspect for signs of the occult.

But crime scene photographs released for the first time this week seem to debunk those claims, showing that DePalma’s body was simply lying in a dense, brushy area in Houdaille Quarry, facedown with an arm draped over a downed tree branch. There are branches lying across one another by her head, but they do not appear to be arranged in a purposeful way. Jason Coy, a history professor at the College of Charleston who researches witchcraft and superstition, said he can’t find any sign of the occult or any other symbolism in the jumble of brush and branches. It suggests that investigators, looking for something sinister, saw patterns that weren’t there, or perhaps their initial descriptions of the branches near her body became exaggerated or misconstrued in the retellings of the scene.

Coy was one of several experts featured in “Death on the Devil’s Teeth,” a 2015 book by Mark Moran and Jesse Pollack, who had written about the case for Weird N.J. magazine. Coy recalled being shown a sketch of the crime scene then, drawn based on the memories of people who were there, depicting many crosses around the body. “Everything in that sketch that was marked out as a cross, in these crime scene photos just looks like a pile of underbrush that happened to be in a kind of pattern,” he said. “I think it’s a perfect example of how sometimes in someone’s memory, if they are influenced by the idea that something could be occult, they remember things that way.”

Witchy Beer

Any magician will tell you that much of the "witch" imagery from fairy tales doesn't seem to have anything to do with magick. It's obviously a caricature of something, but until I recently came across this article I had no idea what it might be. It turns out that the explanation is pretty simple - it has to do with making beer and the history of women in the brewing industry.

From the Stone Age to the 1700s, ale – and, later, beer – was a household staple for most families in England and other parts of Europe. The drink was an inexpensive way to consume and preserve grains. For the working class, beer provided an important source of nutrients, full of carbohydrates and proteins.

Because the beverage was such a common part of the average person’s diet, fermenting was, for many women, one of their normal household tasks. Some enterprising women took this household skill to the marketplace and began selling beer. Widows or unmarried women used their fermentation prowess to earn some extra money, while married women partnered with their husbands to run their beer business.

So if you traveled back in time to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance and went to a market in England, you’d probably see an oddly familiar sight: women wearing tall, pointy hats. In many instances, they’d be standing in front of big cauldrons.

But these women were no witches; they were brewers. They wore the tall, pointy hats so that their customers could see them in the crowded marketplace. They transported their brew in cauldrons. And those who sold their beer out of stores had cats not as demon familiars, but to keep mice away from the grain.

Ritual Night Talk for March 9th

Here is the video of yesterday's Ritual Night Talk on Magick, Psychoanalysis, and Consciousness. The donation link is here. The post I mention in the talk on "Psychoanalysis - Science or Pseudoscience?" is here and the article I mention summarizing the quantum information model is here. I also included a link to yesterday's post on support for the quantum information model, which you can find here or just by scrolling down to the previous post.

To wrap up the conversation on psychoanalysis and magick, I wanted to be clear that even though I have issues with the scientific validity of the psychoanalytic model, I'm not down on anyone getting psychotherapy or working with the therapist of their choice. Models aside, we've known since the 1950s that some therapists are just shockingly better than others and the biggest variable there seems to be their individual personalities. I also invite anyone to check out both last week's article critiquing Freud along with the one I included with this video. They outline my objections to the theory with much greater detail and precision than I did last week.

Moving on from the psychoanalysis conversation, there continues to be movement on the consciousness research front. So in the second part of this video, I compare and contrast how modern models of consciousness suggest that we do magick with how magicians of the last century tried to shoehorn magick into the psychoanalytic model. The process turns out to be simpler and a lot less mysterious than you might think. I expect that once we get past the hard problem of consciousness and develop a "consciousness measure" of some sort, we should be able to build an accurate and comprehensive model of magick pretty quickly.

Enjoy!

More Support for the Quantum Information Model

I recently came across this article, describing a paper outlining the discovery of scale-invariant fractal patterns within the information dynamics that are believed to give rise to the subjective experience of consciousness. Yeah, that's a mouthful. The ramifications of this study, should it stand up to peer review and all that, are huge for my quantum information model of magick. So far all the latest discoveries related to consciousness have been consistent with the model, and I actually have been a little surprised at how close they seem to line up. I'm pretty sure none of the folks behind this research are familiar with my work, so it's significant that results emerging from the scientific community and results emerging from the study of magick seem to be coming together.

Major breakthroughs in the study of the physics of consciousness—and information dynamics in general—are occurring through the discovery and elucidation of holographic and fractal principles underlying fundamental properties of nature. For instance, in a fractal organization the degree of complexity of a system is scale-free, or invariant under any translation of magnitude. This means that one can “zoom in” or “zoom out” forever and the same degree of complexity will be observed—patterns of patterns reiterate ad infinitum. This has implications for the science of consciousness, as it is often assumed that consciousness emerges in a system once it reaches a significant threshold of complexity and integration. Yet, if the complexity is scale-invariant, is it not possible that the same information processes engendering consciousness at one observable domain are occurring at smaller scales as well?

The authors of the paper—Dr. Meijer, professor emeritus at the University of Groningen; and Dr. Geesink, a biophysicist who has developed novel EM-shielding technologies and led projects on polymer development and mineral nanotechnology DSM-research —have been performing ground-breaking work in biophysics research that is answering some of the most difficult outstanding questions in biology and other major scientific fields. From a meta-analysis of more than 500 biomedical publications relating to electromagnetic (EM) radiation and interaction with the biological system, Geesink and Meijer identified a novel and specific pattern of coherent EM frequencies that have statistically significant bio-resonances. With the identification of specific EM frequency domains that have significant effects within the inter- and intra-cellular system, the researchers were able to correlate their data with known wave resonances of nucleotides in aqueous solution, proteins and enzymes, as well as sound-induced vibrations evoked in bio-polymers and cellular membranes.

The research describes in detail the interplay of light and sound within the biological system—how photonic, phononic, and solitonic waves are instrumental and integral in maintaining and directing coherence and order of the inter- and intra-cellular system in development and information processing. Solitonic oscillations in large bio-molecules can result in quantum coherence, known as Fröhlich condensation, which Meijer and Geesink have explained can create quantum geometric wave patterns that guide biomolecules and cells much like the pilot-wave structure of Bohmian mechanics. Showing how the living system, and the information processes underlying life consciousness reside at a much deeper, intrinsic level of the universe.

Ritual Night Talk for March 2nd

Here is the video of yesterday's Ritual Night Talk on Psychoanalysis and Magick, probably Part One of a longer conversation. The donation link is here. The post I mention in the talk on "The End of the Unconscious Mind" is here and the article I mention discussing the various shortcomings of the Freudian model is here.

In the first half of the Twentieth Century, Freud's psychoanalytic model was considered both cutting-edge and scientific. However, the neuroscience of today has made various discoveries about the nature of memory and cognition that show the model cannot possibly be correct. Unfortunately for those of us who practice magick, during the period in which the model was considered respectable and scientific, there was a lot of effort expended on integrating psychoanalytic ideas into esotericism.

It is long past time that we as magical practitioners recognize that if we want to cultivate a scientific understanding of magick, integrating completely unscientific models like that of psychoanalysis does not help us. Instead, we need to look at the latest discoveries in neuroscience and consciousness research and adjust our models of magick accordingly.

Enjoy!