Stupid is as Stupid Does

There's a famous photo from the original fundamentalist Christian revival in the 1920's of a preacher on stage with a huge banner behind him proclaiming "Read Your Bible!" I was unfortunately not able to find it searching online, but if only certain modern conservative Christians would follow that advice. It could save them from a lot of embarrassment.

For example, check out the strength of this guy's devotion. He's so committed to hating gay people that he's had Leviticus 18:22, the Old Testament verse prohibiting male homosexuality, tattooed onto his right arm. That's a whole lot of ink, so he must be really sincere about his beliefs, right?

There's just one little problem with that sort of display from the standpoint of Biblical literalism - Leviticus 19:28:

You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks on you: I am the LORD.

That's right. If this particular zealot had been willing to read even a few more pages of Leviticus he would have found that Old Testament Jewish law not only forbids homosexuality, it forbids tattoos as well.

Really, with the recursion there it's amazing he didn't implode on the spot.

H/T Religion Gone Crazy

A Glimpse into the Past

Many esoteric schools contend that a "golden age" of magick took place at some point in the distant past. From the legends of Atlantis to those of the Hollow Earth to those of the time before Noah's flood, the idea is the same. At some point in history a society existed in which magick was practiced more openly and effectively than it is today. Over the course of my life I've spent a lot of time researching various fringe theories including those of the "golden age," and I've been forced to conclude that there is no evidence out there suggesting that they are anything more than stories. Some are perhaps based on historical events, such as the tale of Atlantis possibly being derived from that of the volcanic eruption that nearly destroyed the island of Thera, but while the civilization of the Minoans was grand for its period it were nowhere near as advanced as some New Agers claim the Atlantean civilization must have been.

The real historical past is filled with accounts that describe the persecution of those suspected of practicing magick, much like what goes on around the world today in societies with widespread fear of paranormal practices. Magick has been deeply hated by religious authorities around the globe, and much of that hatred remains. Despite this uncomfortable fact, I think it's safe to say that if a "golden age" of magick has ever existed its time is now, at least in the developed world. Today we can post blog articles and correspond openly about our experiences before a potential audience of millions without fear of harm or reprisal by our neighbors. We can share information, models, and experiments in a way that would have seemed unimaginable to the secret societies of old that jealously guarded their esoteric teachings, and engage in peer review that helps move our discipline forward rather than allowing it to stagnate.

As a reminder of the troubled times hundreds of years ago when persecution awaited anyone accused of magical practices, the Centre for Heritage Imaging and Collection Care of Manchester has recently published online the diary of English Puritan Nehemiah Wallington, which includes firsthand accounts of witchcraft trials and executions from the middle of the seventeenth century.

The document reveals the details of a witchcraft trial held in Chelmsford in July 1645, when more than a hundred suspected witches were serving time in Essex and Suffolk according to his account.

"Divers (many) of them voluntarily and without any forcing or compulsion freely declare that they have made a covenant with the Devill," he wrote.

"Som Christians have been killed by their meanes," he added.

Of the 30 women on trial in Chelmsford, 14 were hanged.

Wallington also recounts the experiences of Rebecca West, a suspected witch who confessed to sleeping with the devil when she was tortured because "she found her selfe in such extremity of torture and amazement that she would not enure (endure) it againe for the world." Her confession spared her.

The diaries themselves can be viewed here. When I last checked the link the site was reporting problems with the image collection, perhaps because of heavy network traffic, but hopefully the diaries will be available again soon. They really are worth a read, if nothing else to remind us of how far we've come as a society since then and how lucky we all are to be practicing magick today rather than in 1645.

UPDATE (3/10/2011): I checked the site this morning and it looks like the problems are resolved and the diaries are back online. Enjoy!

Information and Energy

I stayed out of the first couple of rounds of the ongoing energy debate between Jason, Patrick, AIT, the Scribbler, and others but after reading over most of the discussion I think I finally have something worthwhile to add. This is in some ways an expansion of the comment I left on RO's blog the other day. So let's get to it.

The root of the debate seems to be that the strict version of Patrick's information/semiotic model disappears the experiences of "energy work" practitioners. Patrick has added comments suggesting that he believes anyone using "energy" in a magical context can only mean physical energy that would be measured in joules, but this strikes me as a bit of derail - I don't see anyone in the debate conceptualizing Chi or Prana that way, and the only example offered so far has been some ignorant New Age website talking about "crystal energy" and trying to relate it to the piezoelectric effect.

It seems to me that the best resolution to the debate would be to work out, in signal processing terms, what this "energy" could consist of in the context of the semiotic model. Until we do that there's a lot of apple-to-oranges comparisons being made. So here's my take - the signal sent by a magical ritual has three essential components: coherence, content, and intensity. The content of the signal consists of the information being transferred, the coherence refers to how clearly that information is communicated, and the intensity refers to the signal strength.

This diagram shows how a modulated signal is encoded into a carrier wave. In the case of magick, the resulting function is the full content of the information transmitted, the Modulated Result. Some have apparently asserted that the carrier wave is the "energy," but this is not really correct, as in the context of consciousness the carrier wave also consists of information. The fact is that we're not entirely sure what consciousness consists of, but we are fairly sure that it is not composed of any known form of physical energy. I've hypothesized that it may occupy the same "space" as quantum wavefunctions, given studies that show consciousness can affect quantum diodes, but that's pretty speculative at this point and pretty much impossible to measure reliably given our current level of technology.

In this simple example the regularity of the wave represents its coherence. According to the schema I'm proposing, coherence refers to the precision with which the content is transmitted. Coherence can be degraded by nonsensical or imprecise content, and also by the quality of the magical link to the spell's target. Patrick's model focuses on these aspects of magical operations - make your signal logical and precise, and clear the link to the target as thoroughly as possible. The working semiotic model hypothesis is that when magical operations fail one of these aspects is responsible for that failure and this is where the magician must concentrate his or her efforts to improve the spell.

However, from the standpoint of communications theory signal intensity also must be a factor. A radio signal contains the same information whether it is being broadcast from a 100 watt or 100,000 watt transmitter. It is my contention that the "energy" that energy work practitioners are referring to is directly related to the signal intensity, not the signal content. Enough research has been done to at least suggest a mechanism behind this as well - breathwork techniques like Qigong increase the oxygenation of the blood which allows for higher firing rates throughout the nervous system. This is what produces the tingling sense of "current" when you're doing it correctly, and since neural firing is electrochemical in nature "energy work" is in fact not a bad term for this sort of practice.

The relationship between neural firing rates and states of consciousness has also been measured to some degree. In Zen and the Brain neuroscientist James Austin cites a study in which advanced meditators' brainwaves were monitored as they reported reaching a state of samadhi. The state seemed to be strongly correlated to high-frequency gamma waves, which would be facilitated by the heightened level of oxygen in the blood produced by breathwork. As Patrick points out, consciousness is still essential to this process because without it there's nothing for the electrochemical energy to facilitate. But this energy also influences how consciousness processes information and by extension should also affect the intensity of a semiotic communication.

I see the semiotic model as useful because it focuses on the quality of the communication rather than merely its intensity. Many energy model practitioners in my experience tend to do the opposite, concentrating their efforts on increasing the intensity of their communications rather than tuning their signal quality. Energy practitioners who work exclusively on signal intensity could be seen as akin to the ignorant tourist who believes he or she can make a foreigner who speaks a different language understand English by shouting. Both aspects of the work are important, though, and it should go without saying that the most effective magician is going to be a practitioner who can do both.

Today's question for Patrick from Jason was what sort of "energy" is contained by a fluid condenser. His response is pretty clear, though it seems to me that he's imparting all sorts of beliefs to people who talk about "energy" that I don't personally share. He also has no problem talking about "power," which has a physics definition just like "energy" does and seems to me just as easy to misinterpret. In the combined schema I'm proposing, a fluid condenser is a substance linked to a field of consciousness that has been modified by a magical operation, in terms of both semiotic content and field intensity. Sending Chi into the condenser does not alter the information bound to the field, but increases its intensity. Communicating a magical charge to the field changes the information that the field contains to serve a particular magical goal.

The existence of spirits in this schema remains open to debate. There's no good empirical test to determine whether (A) consciousness requires some sort of matter or physical energy in order to remain coherent or (B) consciousness can be coherent and self-sustaining without a material body or anchor, because we still don't have a clear physical model of what consciousness is. My experiences suggest (B), in that my probability shifts are better if I augment my own abilities with that of a spirit, and furthermore many spirits seem to have their own agendas, but there's always the possibility that a belief in spirits could simply allow me to access a higher percentage of my personal magical power (note: I didn't say "energy"). I went into this a bit in my comment over at RO's, but it's really a separate subject that deserves its own article.

So under the semiotic model can we describe "energy work" as "work to increase signal intensity?" If so, that implies that the whole discussion is over nothing more than terminology. If, on the other hand, the semiotic model is set up in such a way that signal strength is irrelevant I'd like to see some further explanation as to how that makes sense in the context of consciousness when it is extremely important in communications theory overall.

My follow-up article on how spirits can be considered within this schema can be found here.

Misuse of Magick

Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile know that most of the time when somebody claims this or that to be a misuse of magical powers I generally think they're full of it. I strongly believe that magick is a natural human ability, and that there's nothing wrong with using it for practical goals. The idea that using magick to achieve your goals somehow constitutes "cheating" is ridiculous, and I think it should generally be left up to individual magicians to decide which ethical system should guide their practices.

But then there's this.

A trio of Salem witches, offended by Hollywood hell-raiser Charlie Sheen’s proclamation that he is a “warlock,” are planning a spiritual housecleaning for the “Two and a Half Men” train wreck in the Witch City on Sunday.

“If he doesn’t get some spiritual help, he could end up dead,” said a witch who goes by the name of Lorelei. Just Lorelei. She’s hosting the Sheen-orcism at her witchcraft emporium Crow Haven Corner.

So what will you do Sunday, Loreliei?

“Sacrifice him,” deadpanned the witch, who was immediately chastised by her conjuring colleague Christian Day.

“We’re going to use high ritual and high magic to give him all the help he needs,” declared Christian.

I'm thinking that Loreliei's initial response there was the truth. Christian is just more media savvy and realized that it wouldn't play well in a news story. How do I know? Well, for one thing, "hexes" usually aren't considered "help" in modern parlance.

Two More EMF Experiments

The two most recent EMF evocation experiments were conducted on days when the baseline EMF was low, in both cases around .08. These were failures from the standpoint of the .4 threshold, but did show below-threshold EMF elevation in the presence of the spirit.

Trial 6

This trial was performed by 5 magicians, all experienced. Based on our prior research I made the prediction prior to trial #6 that the EMF would rise from the baseline .08, but not high enough to set off the alarm that kicks in at .4. Based on the previous observation that the presence of a spirit seems to add about .2 to the baseline EMF, I predicted for the first experiment that the peak EMF would be .28. Trial 5 from the same baseline peaked at .25, but at the time I considered that a statistical variation based on the presence of an experienced by unfamiliar person in the group.

This proved not to be the case. EMF did rise in conjunction with the presence of the spirit, but only to .22. Given the percentage difference between the predicted and observed values it struck me as unlikely that this was simply statistical variation, but I came away from the operation feeling like more trials would be necessary to establish a better working model to explain the strength of the EMF increase.

Trial 7

This trial was also performed by the same 5 magicians as trial 6. For this trial the temple baseline was the same as for trials 5 and 6. This allowed me to run another test from the same baseline level with the same group of people to see if I could get any more insight into developing a formula for deriving peak EMF from baseline EMF. This trial went much the same as trial 6, except this time the peak EMF only rose to .2 from .08. So the data points we now have for trials from this baseline are:

Trial 5: Baseline .08, Peak .25
Trial 6: Baseline .08, Peak .22
Trial 7: Baseline .08, Peak .20

This yields an average peak of .22 for this baseline, and since we had one more person for Trial 5 that may have been part of the reason the result of that trial was slightly higher. The other trials can be summarized as:

Trial 1: Baseline .20, Peak .41
Trial 2: Baseline .05, Peak .18
Trial 3: Baseline .12, Peak .41
Trial 4: Baseline .18, Peak .40

In all these cases the peak level occurred between the conjuration of the spirit and the license to depart, so the effect does seem to be linked to the spirit's presence rather than happening at random, but so far a completely predictable pattern has yet to emerge in terms of degree.

At .05 we got .18 for a multiplier of 3.6
At .08 we averaged .22 for a multiplier of 2.8
At around .17 we averaged .41 for a multiplier of 2.4

It seems like the multiplier increases as the baseline decreases, though the single .05 trial could turn out to be an outlier. What's clear is that the multiplier does seem to vary with the baseline, so it is not a straight additive effect as I previously hypothesized.

Beyond Bad Luck

Seeing as I haven't worked as a professional sorcerer, it never has occurred to me to think through what some of the hazards of the job might entail. This story from New York City highlights one of the potential problems with doing luck magick for clients - the people who need it badly enough to come to you are going to be profoundly unlucky. Reading it over I now have a much deeper understanding of why Jason Miller needs to be an expert at protection and reversal magick in order to keep his business going.

Candles ringing a bed in a voodoo ceremony that included sex ignited sheets and clothing strewn nearby and caused a fatal apartment fire last weekend, a city official said Friday.

The blaze started around 6:40 p.m. Sunday, when a woman visited a fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn and paid a man $300 to perform a mystical ceremony that would bring her good luck, according to fire marshals with the Fire Department of New York.

The man was known in the neighborhood as a priest, and the two were either having sex, or had sex when the fire started from the candles on the floor, though it's not clear if it was part of the ceremony, said the official, who had direct knowledge of the case but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Instead of calling 911, the man first tried to put out the fire himself using water from a bathroom sink. As smoke began to gather, one of the other apartment occupants opened a window and propped the hall door open in an attempt to dissipate the plume. But instead, wind gusts shot the flames back inside, creating "a blowtorch effect" that pushed the fire into the hallway, the FDNY said.

The occupants fled as the flames spread. Several 911 calls were made, but it's not clear if the man also phoned. The blaze engulfed the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, causing the floor and part of the roof to collapse. It took nearly 200 firefighters about seven hours to bring the five-alarm blaze under control.

Such worst-case scenarios are why I keep a fire extiguisher in my temple, since it's always possible something as simple as a knocked-over candle can start a serious fire. But at the same time, you would think that anyone with ready access to water would be able to put out something as small as a candle flame starting to burn part of the floor - at least unless a whole lot of negative luck came into play. This toxic luck seems to have even extended to the emergency response, as dispatching errors are rare when the luck plane is behaving normally.

The FDNY is also reviewing a dispatching error that delayed getting water on the fire. One of the engines that had been sent to the fire was already at another emergency. The Uniformed Firefighters Association blamed the delay on recent firefighter staff reductions, though Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it had nothing to do with staffing.

As far as that good luck spell goes I'm guessing it didn't work. That means this particular individual is still out there somewhere and just as unlucky. So if you happen to be in New York City doing spellwork with candles keep the fire extinguisher close at hand.

You know, just in case.

A Saint Paul Goat Sacrifice?

Of Minnesota's Twin Cities Saint Paul is generally considered to be the more dull and conservative sibling. Downtown Saint Paul practically shuts down after 8 PM and even by 6 PM much of the place is almost deserted, in contrast to the much larger and busier downtown of Minneapolis with its clubs, restaurants, and theaters. But the weekend before last a Saint Paul resident made a discovery that undermines the city's staid reputation - possible evidence of a goat sacrifice.

A woman walking in a St. Paul park Saturday made a gruesome discovery — a goat's head.

She called police at 5:15 p.m. to report the finding in Marydale Park. The head was in a paper grocery bag, just off a walking path.

The woman looked in the bag, saw the goat's head and phoned police, said officer John Keating, a department spokesman.

Police put the animal part in a freezer at the St. Paul Animal Control building. Animal Control is keeping it on ice for an investigation, said Angie Wiese, spokeswoman for the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, which Animal Control is part of.

Animal Control will be investigating, in conjunction with police. For now, neither department has information about the circumstances of the goat's death or how the head wound up in the North End park.

Oddly enough, I lived in the North End neighborhood of Saint Paul for about 15 years before moving to my current home in Minneapolis. It's not a particularly high income neighborhood, but we never had much trouble with crime or anything like that and overall it was a nice enough place to reside for more than a decade. We only moved when it at last became clear that my growing family needed a larger home.

My house was only five or six blocks from Marydale Park and I've walked through there more times than I can count without seeing anything resembling a sacrificial occult rite. It's likely, of course, that the goat was killed elsewhere and the park proved a convenient but in retrospect perhaps unwise disposal site. Police investigating the head were able to trace it to a live market in Wisconsin a few days after it was found.

It was a pygmy goat, said Angie Wiese, spokeswoman for the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, of which Animal Control is a part. A tag in its ear from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture traced it to a market, "but that's all we know," she said Wednesday.

Police and Animal Control still don't have information about the goat's death or how the head came to be in the park.

Investigators haven't been able to determine who purchased the goat from the market and continue to investigate, said officer John Keating, police spokesman.

If they find the person, he or she could be cited for illegal dumping or littering for leaving the head in the park, Wiese said.

"If there was something illegal about the manner that the goat died, that could be something separate," she said, "though people are allowed to slaughter animals for their own use."

If the head does turn out to have been severed in an occult ritual, maybe that means Saint Paul is finally coming into its own as far as weirdness goes. Even a few years ago, this would have been the sort of thing that only happened in Minneapolis.

Catching Up

I've been busy over the last couple of weeks so I haven't had a chance to update the blog. But here's some of what's been going on and will be happening over the next couple of months. I hope to be able to get back to more substantial blogging soon.

New Job: I started a new job at the end of December. The good news is that I'm making more money than I've ever made, but the bad news is that it takes up more of my time than the last one did.

New Manuscript: I just finished off a new manuscript, for a non-fiction book on working with John Dee's Heptarchia Mystica. I'm in the process of shopping it around to publishers, starting with Pendraig who published Arcana. I've wanted to formally publish my work with the Enochian system for quite a few years, and hopefully this will be a good start.

Planetary Magick Presentation: I will be giving a presentation on planetary magick for Paganicon, which will be happening here in the Twin Cities over the weekend of March 24th and 25th. I plan on covering the Intelligences and Spirits from Agrippa, so it will definitely have an "old school" feel to it even though the ritual forms I use incorporate a number of modern elements.

Underground Film: Later this month I'll be acting in a short underground film, playing (of course) an evil magician. This will be my first acting role outside of my own experimental film work, and I'm looking forward to doing it. Bad guys get all the good lines!

Arcana for Kindle: My novel is now available on Kindle, for any of you who might have missed the announcements on Facebook and my author web site. While the print version of Arcana was a bit pricey for a paperback, the Kindle edition is quite inexpensive even as Kindle books go. If you have a Kindle, iPad, or anything else that reads the format check it out.

I'll add that the weird news hasn't been what it used to be lately. In the past, a lot of the times that I've been too busy to write up a longer article I've been able to check the weird news and come up with something interesting or amusing that tied back into religion or spirituality. But recently it seems that the religious, spiritual, and paranormal stories just haven't been showing up as often. Hopefully this is just a dry spell and not an overall trend, because I would much rather read about ghosts or Jesus sightings or the Apocalypse than stupid criminals and odd pets.