Via Solis Virgo Elixir Rite - Year Six

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Virgo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday August 30th, at the Ritual Workshop. We will be starting around 8 PM. I will also be posting a video or the ritual later this week on the Leaping Laughter YouTube channel, which can be found here.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The 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. 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.

Good News for Christian Furries

An article from Religion News Service about Christian furries has been making the rounds lately on the Internet. Apparently, Christian furries worry about their religious communities rejecting them because they are furries, and at the same time fear the furry community rejecting them because they are Christian.

All the same, Christians in the furry community are cautious about who knows about both their furry and faithful selves. Christian furries interviewed for this story, including leaders of the group that calls itself the Christian Furry Fellowship, asked to be anonymous, fearing “doxxing” from within the largely secular furry community for their Christian identity and ostracization from their professional lives for their furry hobby.

“My furry friendships are a blessing,” said one CFF organizer with a red fox fursona who asked to be called “F.” “And for that reason, I am sad to see so much grief within the fandom that could be helped by the knowledge of the Lord.”

Founded in the late 1990s on internet chat forums, CFF is a ministry that views furry fandom as a mission field. In 2010, CFF members converged on Anthrocon in Pittsburgh. Another leader, who asked to be referred to as “AD,” described the 10 days he spent picking up members in their hometowns to share the event with 4,000 other furries in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center as one of his “most dear memories.”

While I'm not that familiar with furry fandom, from the perspective of being an occultist I think that have some good news for these Christian furries. A similar dynamic exists in the magical community. There are occultists who are down on Christianity, and others who point out that much of the Western Esoteric Tradition is rooted in Christian ideas - even though it generally rejects Christian orthodoxy.

So here's the good news as I see it - nobody really cares that you're Christian. If you've explored various spiritual traditions and have decided that Christianity is right for you, that's great. Go for it. Practice your religion as you see fit. But there is a caveat - nobody wants to be evangelized or preached at or have to deal with conversion attempts. That's as true for occultists as I imagine it would be for furries.

When you are "sharing your faith" with others and that faith happens to be conservative Christianity, what you are literally saying is "I can help you, but only if you follow all the rules of my religion." According to the article, many furries are LGBTQ+ folks, which means that those rules are going to require them to reject who they are. And I'm sorry, but nobody is going to be down for that. As a Christian, the best thing you can do in those situations is nothing at all.

The basic problem with conversion-oriented Christianity is not that it's Christian, but that it's annoying. If you really feel like a fundamental tenet of your faith is to recruit everybody, those beliefs essentially turn you into that friend who's in an MLM and wants you for their downline. And just like with MLM's, most of us who aren't already involved really aren't interested.

The Magick.TV Interview

Yesterday I sat down for an interview with the folks at Magick.TV. We talked about my experience with Enochian magick, the approach I take to teaching it in my books, and the differences between how common ritual forms are traditionally taught and my operant field method.

My thanks go out to the folks at the channel - it was a fun interview and hopefully one that will prove informative to viewers as they develop their magical practices.

Enjoy!

Leo Elixir Rite for 2022

Here is the video of the Leo Elixir Rite. The donation link is here.

The sign Leo is attributed to the Strength/Lust card in the Tarot, and to "the power of training wild beasts" in Liber 777. This doesn't just allude to training animals - it also includes working with conditioning of whatever sort. Leo can be invoked to change even long-standing conditioned behavior patterns and to cultivate new habits that better serve your will. It can be used to work with the unconscious "programming" created by reinforcement throughout our lifetimes. In addition, intents corresponding to any quality attributed to Leo by astrologers will also work as appropriate intents for this operation.

Enjoy!

Alex Jones Is Toast

Or at least that's the outcome I'm pulling for, and a recent screw-up by his attorney has now made that outcome more likely. Jones is on trial over promoting the ridiculous conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged. His remarks prompted his fans to harrass and threaten parents grieving over the loss of young children, which is flat-out deplorable. While I understand that mass shootings are politicized on both sides of the gun control debate, that has little bearing on the nuttiness of suggesting that these parents murdered their own children as part of a government plot, or that their obviously-dead children were somehow still alive.

Cracked has a surprisingly good overview of the events in question, which you can find here. Jones was sued by the parents and lost the case, and now a jury is trying to determine how much he should pay. His case was not helped when his inept attorney accidentally sent important evidence of Jones' pattern of lying about, well, everything really. He previously claimed under oath that he had no text messages about Sandy Hook, but his attorney sent all his cell phone records to the plaintiffs. The records prove that Jones lied.

Jones, who was the sole witness for the defense during the trial, did not fare well Wednesday as he was cross-examined by the plaintiffs' attorney, Mark Bankston. In a remarkable moment, Bankston disclosed to Jones and the court that he had recently acquired evidence proving Jones had lied when he claimed during the discovery process that he had never texted about the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.

Bankston said that Jones' attorney had, in an apparent mishap, sent him two years of cell phone records that included every text message Jones had sent.The cell phone records, Bankston said, showed that Jones had in fact texted about the Sandy Hook shooting. "That is how I know you lied to me when you said you didn't have text messages about Sandy Hook," Bankston said.

Via Solis Leo Elixir Rite - Year Six

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Leo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday August 2nd, at the Ritual Workshop. We will be starting around 8 PM. I will also be posting a video or the ritual later this week on the Leaping Laughter YouTube channel, which can be found here.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The 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. 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.