Via Solis Leo Elixir Rite - Year Ten

Today's post is a full script for the Leo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday August 11th, at the Ritual Workshop. We will be starting around 8 PM.

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.

Bell Chime

Book and Media Store Updates

Earlier this week I took a look at the Books and Media page here on Augoeides and realized I had not updated it in 7-8 years. The last book I had listed was Trump Card, so Ipswich, Written in Blood, and Mastering the Thirty Aires were nowhere to be found. I also had not added anthology contributions or reviews since then either. Obviously I needed to correct that, so I've spent the last few days working on the page. I renamed it "Book and Media Store" since that was the original intent, to serve as a catalog for my books and a central page for all my reviews.

I also went ahead and added a link for the Enochian Master Class, and I am planning on eventually creating more classes and adding them there. To round it all out, I embedded my various YouTube videos at the bottom of the page when you keep scrolling down. All those videos can be found individually here on Augoeides, but the page provides a single location where you can peruse them. If you are a beginning I recommend watching them in order, but if you are more experienced feel free to just watch the ones that interest you.

Check out the newly updated Book and Media Store page today. If you have been thinking about buying a book, now is the perfect time to order and help to support Augoeides.

The Parents Television Council is No More

This article is from back in October, but I smiled when I recently came across it. The Parents Television Council, a Christian organization founded to promote censorship of television programs such as South Park and Family Guy, filed for bankruptcy late last year. And as far as I'm concerned, good riddance to them.

Christian media censorship has always confused me. Having read the Bible multiple times, I can say with some certainty that there's nothing in scripture that prohibits media of any kind. Sometimes people try to argue that "taking the name of the Lord in vain" prohibits exclamations like "Jesus Christ!" or "God damn it!" but that's not at all what it means. It means swearing to do something in the name of God and then not doing it. So integrity, not family-friendly language.

The PTC hated South Park and Family Guy more than either of them could ever hate each other, and, for years, the Christian censorship organization regularly denounced the shows while orchestrating write-in campaigns urging the FCC to take action against them. Unfortunately for the perpetually triggered parents of the PTC, this week, the once-feared organization filed for bankruptcy amidst mounting debt and following a steep, decades-long decline in their political influence. The ancient and common enemy of crass cartoon comedy seems to be defeated — the PTC might even have to sell all those pearls they’ve been clutching.

Conservative political activist Leo Brent Bozell III founded the PTC in 1995 to combat what he perceived to be a decline in “decency” in mass media. Officially, the PTC advocated for “responsible, family-friendly content across all media platforms,” but, in practice, that meant using public shaming and the mass filing of FCC complaints to pressure networks into censoring or pre-empting any material that didn’t align with the PTC’s socially conservative politics. While the PTC was most famous for lambasting networks whenever a performer in a live broadcast would slip in a swear word (or, in Janet Jackson’s case, slip a nip), the group was also accused of being a deeply homophobic organization that fought against the rise of gay representation in television that coincided with their own cultural ascent.

What the fundies never seem to understand is that their religion doesn't prohibit me from doing anything. I don't follow their strict interpretation of Christianity - and as a matter of fact, a lot of Christians don't either. So if we non-fundies want to watch comedy show with adult themes, that should be none of their business. I get that they don't want their kids watching, but you deal with that issue by actually being an attentive parent and knowing what your kids are doing. You don't deal with it by policing everyone else unless you're an asshole.

Christian censorship is especially annoying because it doesn't just target obvious obscenity. It targets any mention of the fact that gay people exist. It targets any mention of pagan religious beliefs. It targets anything remotely related to sexuality, even educational programming. It's basically the media arm of the Poor Oppressed Christian movement, since as far as I can tell they consider themselves oppressed by the mere existence of a lot of things that are just part of the modern world.

These folks really should abandon this idea that the world needs to be sanitized to their idea of "family friendly" and instead pay attention to their own families. They may not believe it, but the rest of us are perfectly content to leave them alone with their regressive beliefs.