"Cheating?"

A couple in India have been charged with cheating thousands of people who believed that they could perform effective magical spells. The couple apparently charged substantial fees for spellcasting and their notoriety spread mostly by word of mouth.

`Black magic' Woman, Husband Held For Cheating

Interestingly, though, the article does not really explain how these individuals actually cheated their clients, implying that anyone casting spells for money is automatically a fake. While this is true more often than not, if the spells really worked one would expect the casters' fame to spread by word of mouth without deceptive advertising - which is exactly what seems to have happened in this case.

Maybe they were getting good enough at making things happen that someone important was starting to get worried. You can never be sure.

Reverend Billy Graham Confused About Paganism

I probably would have just ignored this one if it came out of the mouth of a Dominionist, but unfortunately it was written by one of America's foremost Christian ministers, the Reverend Billy Graham, when asked about a group that practices some unspecified form of paganism.

Only God Can Fill Pagans' Emptiness

Here's the troubling quotation:

I have often asked myself why people such as this turn their backs on Christianity and embrace something that is almost the exact opposite.

I would expect Reverend Graham to state that pagans are following a false religion because Jesus teaches that he is the one way to God. Graham is a Southern Baptist and that's his theology. What I find troubling is that he characterizes paganism as "almost the exact opposite" of Christianity. It's a sensational comment that belongs in a tabloid article, not a piece written by a serious clergyman.

"Almost the exact opposite" of Christianity would be something like heavy-metal Satanism, which I have a hard time believing is practiced by anyone as an actual spiritual path. The "almost" leaves some wiggle room, but in fact a number of magicians have commented that paganism as practiced today is almost exactly like liberal Christianity with a different set of deities in place of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Threefold Law and Golden Rule, for example, are remarkably similar concepts.

Both Paganism and Christianity essentially teach that you should treat the people around you well, act with integrity, and make spiritual values a priority in your life. So do most other religions. While there is some disagreement on the exact details of those spiritual values, it seems to me that to characterize paganism as the "almost opposite" of Christianity is to imply that Paganism teaches its adherents to treat people around them poorly and act without integrity.

That's a smear job, not genuine theological criticism, and it's a shame to see it coming from someone who should know better.

Devout or Just Stupid?

This one made me laugh out loud. The original story was pretty familiar - another case of a supposedly devout Christian protesting kids reading the Harry Potter books. The original article stated that a British teaching assistant refused to let a child in her class read one of the Harry Potter books, was disciplined by the school, and resigned from her position. I considered adding the story as an update to my last Harry Potter entry, but decided that there wasn't much too it besides the usual self-righteous censorship.

Well, I was wrong. The assistant turned around and sued the school for religious discrimination, claiming that it was unreasonable for the school to discipline her because of her beliefs. And what were those belief, you ask? Why, she was frightened of the spells in the Harry Potter book!

Teaching Assistant Quits in Fear of Potter Spell

Yup, that's right kids. As a practicing ritual magician all I have to do is wave my wand and vibrate AVADA KEDAVRA in order to kill you! In fact, here's my entire Grimoire detailing the extent of my arcane and esoteric skill and knowledge. Fear my awesome power!

You know, I'm not sure what I find more pathetic about this story - that this idiot actually believed that Harry Potter had anything to do with real magick, or that her motivation had nothing to do with faith or morality and everything to do with cowardice. Wouldn't an actual devout Christian believe that her God is powerful enough to keep her safe from a ten year old mumbling imaginary curses? Or even real curses?

But hey, at least she provided me with a laugh.

UPDATE: (June 12th) The legal tribunal hearing the case didn't take very long to rule against this idiot.

'I don't do witchcraft' teacher loses tribunal

I'm still surprised that she believed she had any chance whatsoever of winning, given that the Wicca religion has absolutely nothing to do with the Harry Potter series and that if the Potter books were found to be discriminatory the same logic would apply to the entire fantasy genre. C.S. Lewis has spells in his books, too, and just like in the Potter books, they aren't real spells.

Thelemic Ritual for the Deceased

Recent events prompted me to put together this ritual designed to impart the soul of an individual with the power and impetus to accomplish their will following the death of their physical body. Thelema has a very open attitude toward death that is expressed in the Gnostic Mass, that the experience of the world beyond death corresponds to the individual will rather than any universal process or experience. Some souls may choose to reincarnate, others may choose to be reabsorbed into the infinite, while others may choose to remain at peace, in contemplation, or with their chosen and preferred. About the only dogmatic concept of the afterlife in Thelema is The Book of the Law's complete rejection of a "hell realm" or any sort of "dread hereafter."

Nonetheless, when an individual dies their will may not be purified or developed sufficiently for them to sort out how to proceed once their body no longer functions. This is especially true of someone who is not a spiritual practitioner. The process of death is confusing enough that without some significant practice it may seem less like an opportunity for the expression of will and more like a fearful ordeal. This ritual is designed to strengthen the will of the deceased so that they can not only pass through the confusion of death but traverse the spiritual realms in accordance with their True Will.

This ritual is a work in progress. It could probably be improved by adding in some sort of part for an audience to play so that it could serve a social as well as a magical function. So far, it is designed as a ritual for a single magician casting on behalf of the deceased. I'm also still thinking over the closing - I don't think that the banishing should be repeated so it currently ends with the dedication. I might want to add one more step in there to "seal off" the rite without banishing the energy. Credit is due to Aleister Crowley for the Star Ruby, Star Sapphire, and the selections from the Gnostic Mass, and to Sam Webster, who wrote the Dedication and whose work inspired the Refuge and Awakening sections.

The temple setup is very simple. An altar should be placed in front of the magician, upon which is placed a photograph of the deceased. Other implements and tools may be present as the magician deems appropriate. The ritual should be performed on the first Saturday following the death of the individual for whom the ritual is being performed. The plural forms (we, us, etc.) used in the ritual refer to the magician and the deceased.

1. The magician begins by joining hands at heart level and stating the Death collect from the Gnostic Mass.
   
   

   Term of all that liveth, whose name is inscrutable, be favorable unto us in thine hour. So mote it be.



2. The magician performs the banishing Star Ruby.
3. Refuge is taken in Nuit, Hadit, and Heru-Ra-Ha.
   
   

   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 - AUMGN.
   
   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 - AUMGN.
   
   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 own awakened natures with those of all beings everywhere and everywhen, dissolving all obstacles and healing all suffering - AUMGN.



4. Will is then awakened.
   
   

   For pure will, unassuaged of purpose and delivered from the lust of result, is in every way perfect. 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. So mote it be.



5. The magician performs the invoking Star Sapphire.
6. The Greater Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram for Saturn is performed. The godname used should correspond to the spiritual tradition followed by the deceased - Babalon for a Thelemite, YHVH Elohim for a Judeo-Christian, and so forth. Corresponding names from many traditions can be found in Liber 777 and it is not usually difficult to determine the proper godform governing death and the afterlife in most religious traditions.
7. The magician then performs this slightly modified form of the End collect from the Gnostic Mass upon the photograph.
   
   

   Unto (the deceased's name) from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen, may (he/she) be granted the accomplishment of (his/her) will, whether (he/she) wills absorption in the infinite, or to be with (his/her) chosen and preferred, or to be in contemplation, or to be at peace, or to attempt the labor and heroism of incarnation on this planet or another, or in any star, or aught else, may (he/she) be granted the accomplishment of (his/her) will, yea, the accomplishment of (his/her) will - AUMGN AUMGN AUGMN. So mote it be.

   
   The magician then touches the photograph and visualizes energy flowing to the soul of the deceased, strengthening the will and providing a vector of motion in harmony with its individual nature.
8. The ritual is closed with the Dedication of Merit.
   
   

   May the benefit of this act and all acts be dedicated unto the complete liberation and supreme enlightenment of all beings everywhere pervading space and time - so mote it be. May the benefits of practice, ours and others, come to fruition ultimately and immediately and we remain in a state of presence - AH.

So far, the ritual has been performed once and felt quite effective, keeping in mind that any sort of empirical validation is rather difficult to obtain when casting spells for those who have passed on.

Liber A'ash and the Duck: Mystery Solved!

The 1996 Weiser edition of Commentaries on the Holy Books contains a commentary on Aleister Crowley's Liber A'ash written by Charles Stansfield Jones, also known as Frater Achad. Line 21 of the text reads:

These animals are sacred unto me; the goat, and the duck, and the ass, and the gazelle, the man, the woman and the child.

Jones arrives at interpretations for most of these, but writes:

"duck". I don't know why, unless on account of symbology connected with its eggs.

To this, Crowley replies "Nor do I."

Thanks to the wonders of modern science, I can now reveal the secret that eluded Crowley. It's actually quite simple.

Liber A'ash is essentially a piece of "phallic mysticism" in that it is written regarding the practice of sex magick with an emphasis on the "Gnarled Oak of God," the phallus. Well, as it turns out the duck has an enormous phallus! In fact, biologists have recently discovered that not only is the duck one of the few birds to have any sort of phallus, but a duck phallus can be as long as its entire body, as shown in the image above.

So did Aleister Crowley correctly predict what would become a current scientific discovery many years after his death? This aspect of duck reproduction was not well-understood by anyone in 1947 when Crowley died, let alone when Liber A'ash was written. If nothing else, it certainly makes you wonder. What else could Crowley turn out to be right about?

Harry Potter Foes Losing Ground

In Georgia, a judge ruled that Harry Potter books can remain on the shelves in schools despite arguments made by parent Laura Mallory, defeating yet another attempt by conservative Christians to have the books removed.

Mallory's failed argument is that Witchcraft is a religion and therefore making the Harry Potter books available in schools is a violation of the separation of Church and State. She might have a point if anything in the Harry Potter series resembled the tenets of the Wicca religion, but of course what the books really feature is fantasy novel-style spellcasting with no religious overtones aside from a generic good-versus-evil plotline.

On a personal note, I find it interesting that some conservative Christians get up in arms about how "separation of Church and State" is nonsense until they find a case in which they can use it to attack ideas that run counter to their beliefs. Mallory might have a point about consistent application of the law if the Narnia books of C.S. Lewis were banned by the school because of their Christian allegorical content, but I seriously doubt that is the case here.

In other Harry Potter news, it has been announced that a Harry Potter theme park will open in Orlando, Florida in 2009.

All Aboard for the Harry Potter Rollercoaster!

When you have your own Florida theme park, you've made it as far as popular culture is concerned.

Happy (Belated) May Day!

With everything going on this last weekend I haven't had much time to update the site. This last Sunday was the annual May Day Parade at Powderhorn Park, right next to my house. I actually wound up missing the parade because of our open house which we hold every year for the parade. Last year, so people had showed up while we were out watching the parade, so this year we had somebody (me) at the house the whole time. Thanks to those of you who made it - I hope that a good time was had by all.

From a magical research perspective, my weather control continues to get better. The night before the festival I summoned up a strong wind from the east to keep the storm fronts in western Minnesota away from the Twin Cities. Because I was casting so close to the event I used the full operant field to increase the spell's effectivness. My wife informed me that the wind continued throughout the day until 6 PM, the end of the festival, and then suddenly stopped. This matched my statement of intent precisely, and I hope that everyone at the festival enjoyed the day.

Slate Takes On "The Secret"

Emily Yoffe of Slate has a new article up discussing her attempts to apply the techniques published by Rhonda Byrne in The Secret for two months.

I've Got The Secret

As I've discussed in several articles, The Secret is essentially a rehash of the basic postive thinking methodology that originated with the New Thought movement in the early 1900's. That does not make it worthless by any means, but as Yoffe discovered, its power is substantially more limited than Byrne's sweeping claims. Positive visualization and affirmations constitute a system of magick, but one that is less precise and effective than systematic ritual work.

UPDATE: Slate has another article today (May 17th) that gives the pessimistic counterpoint to The Secret.

Think Negative!

The trick that allows a person to always think positively and at the same time be effective in the world is actually pretty simple - keep your emotions positive while maintaining an accurate view of facts. This is done by cultivating the realization that how you feel has less to do with your external surroundings than society normally implies.

UPDATE #2: Slate is really hammering these folks. Yet another article today (May 29th) on the "power of negative thinking."

Pessimist Nation

To be fair, negative thinking has little to do with these testimonials and contingency planning has everything to do with them. That's a good lesson - never assume that any magical method is all-powerful. Visualize success, but always make sure that you have a plan solidly in place for those times when the method doesn't work.

UPDATE #3: (May 30th) Some Christians don't like The Secret either.

The Secret: A Cosmic Dream Machine

Take a look at the references at the end - they cite me! Unfortunately the author's logic is something like (1) This ritual magician (me) says The Secret is magick, (2) Magick is bad, so (3) The Secret is bad, rather than anything constructive or interesting.

To materialize non-matter into matter, and to effect causal change through the power of thought is a hallmark of sorcery/magick. In essence, this is an attempt to be one’s own god, deciding for one’s self what is best and what is needed, and then endeavoring to create that desired reality.

I suppose what distances me from most Christians is that my first response to this assertion is "and?"