Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Ritual Night Talk for August 11th


Here is the video of last night's Ritual Night Talk, on kamea and sigil.

Kamea are magic squares, figures in which the numbers from 1 to the maximum value of the square are arranged in a pattern in which the horizontal and vertical rows all sum to the same value. So, for example, the magic square of 3 is 3 x 3 = 9 squares and contains the numbers 1-9, the magic square of 4 is 4 x 4 = 16 squares and contains the numbers 1-16, and so forth.

Agrippa proposed a method for tracing names onto these magic squares for use in planetary magick. The technique can be extended to zodiacal and elemental operations, or even encoded statements of intent.

Enjoy!

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13 comments:

Shakes said...

Good evening Frater Scott Michael
I have question not particulary in your topic but i would like some explaining and assistance on the: Invoking the Four Powers of Earth on the zealtor Grade ( Golden dawn system of Magic) In the document its written... Invoking the Four Powers of Earth Standing in the center of your circle, turn clockwise (always clockwise) to face the south. Trace the invoking pentagram of earth with your right index finger, in dark green light, as you vibrate the following divine name
The confusion is that this ritual start on the south ( clockwise) but the direction doesnt make sense
Turn clockwise to the west
Turn clockwise to the east
Turn now to the north and perform the same actions
( How can the ritual start from South go to West , to the East then back to the North?
what is your understanding?
I'm a golden dawn student and i do more magic working solo hence i need your help.
Hope to hear from you

Scott Stenwick said...

Fair warning - I am a Thelemite and OTO initiate, not a Golden Dawn initiate, so I am not that familiar with this ritual. But here is how I would interpret it.

How I would read this is that you keep going clockwise until you reach the necessary direction. I assume you would be starting out facing east, since this would be preceded by the Ritual of the Pentagram or something similar.

1. From the east, 1/4 turn clockwise to the south. Trace pentagram.
2. From the south, 1/4 turn clockwise to the west. Trace pentagram.
3. From the west, 1/2 turn clockwise to east. Trace pentagram.
4. From the east, 3/4 turn clockwise to north. Trace pentagram.

I think the reason it's being done this way is that according to the winds model of the elemental directions, Air = East, Fire = South, Water = West, and Earth = North. What you are doing here is tracing the Earth pentagram to the directions in the order Fire -> Water -> Air -> Earth which mimics the elemental attributions of the four Qabalistic worlds from Kether down to Malkuth.

So I think this is kind of like the idea in the talk about using all four color scales for the sigil of the spirit to represent all four Qabalistic worlds and fire on "all cylinders," you are invoking the Power of Earth in each of the four worlds to give you a full and complete manifestation of all these powers. So Earth of Fire (Atziluth), Earth of Water (Briah), Earth of Air (Yetzirah), and Earth of Earth (Assiah).

Shakes said...

Hi Scott.
I really appreciate your time to reply to me.
This is a zealatoer retual for Earth element, im used with other ritual going clock wise like LRP etc... by where you start in East and go around clockwise till you reach North nd close it at East.
But this one is more confusing me.
Will you be okey if i sent you the whole ritual? maybe with your experience you can puzzle out how to go about it?
Thank you

Scott Stenwick said...

If you are looking for a definitive analysis of the ritual you should talk to a Golden Dawn teacher and not to me. There are more differences than a lot of people realize between the Golden Dawn and Thelemic systems, and I never have worked with this ritual.

For example, this guy on Reddit says directions that sound like what you gave me are a typo:

https://www.reddit.com/r/occult/comments/aiusa2/question_about_invoking_the_four_powers_of_earth/

I don't know the ritual, so I don't know if that's true or not. If it is, the analysis that I just gave you is completely wrong - though it seems symbolically solid to me.

Macrocosm/Microcosm said...

Wow, so the Golden Dawn only lasted for 16 years?

Scott Stenwick said...

The original Golden Dawn under Mathers lasted something like that. But the system did continue. After the London adepts split from Mathers, they reconstituted the order as the Stella Matutina. Mathers renamed his branch the Alpha et Omega. Both groups continued for some time.

Regardie was initiated into Stella Matutina in the 1930's. The group he joined was in decline at that point, and he published their rituals under the title "The Golden Dawn."

Alex Scaraoschi said...

After having been Crowley's secretary ;) :D (published that book, that is)

Shakes said...

So im correct to say that Israel regardie created the Golden dawn? if not then where did he get the Golden Dawn from?
why would he publish the Golden dawn rituals? was he not supposed to keep things secret as an initiate?
im just thinking

Scott Stenwick said...

He published it as Golden Dawn rather than Stella Matutina, but the Stella Matutina teachings were all versions of the original Golden Dawn teachings. So it wasn't really inaccurate to call it "Golden Dawn" magick.

And yes, as an initiate Regardie was supposed to keep the teachings secret. There are a fair number of occultists out there who condemn him for that very reason. His rationale was the the temple he joined was dying out and he feared the teachings would be lost, but still.

Macrocosm/Microcosm said...

Did he not write the "Middle Pillar?" (Regardie)

Ramma1982 said...

Couldn't he use magic to revive the the temple? Im just thinking out loud.
On the other side thanx to him that ive become a magician ive learned alot from gis teaching through tapes pdf books.
May his soul resp in peace.

Scott Stenwick said...

Yes, Regardie did write the modern version of the Middle Pillar that magicians use for daily practice. It was based on a Stella Matutina ritual that involved working with the energies of a single godname and bringing that energy down the middle pillar of the Tree of Life.

So, for example, if you wanted to work with the energies of Mercury, you would visualize a godname like Elohim Tzabaoth (Hod, sephira of Mercury) at each of the middle pillar energy points in the appropriate color as you vibrated the divine name. Regardie changed it so that you vibrate the "natural" Qabalistic godname corresponding to each point as a general practice.

Regardie also wrote the Opening by Watchtower, but he adapted that from the Stella Matutina temple opening in the Portal degree. So both the Watchtower and Middle Pillar as practiced today were original works, but they were based on material that he learned from the order that he joined.

As for reviving the temple with magick - no idea, really. If your membership is old and starting to die off, what's the best magical way to get new members in the door? If you have any ideas, I can think of a number of Masonic lodges who would love to hear them.

Macrocosm/Microcosm said...

Hello Scott - Looks like my Kindle edition is the third edition of the Middle Pillar and it mentions Chic and Tabitha Cicero as being credited for the 1998 edition. I never noticed this distinction when I had the physical paper book. And then of course Israel Regardie published in in 1938. Interesting because I distinctly remember you saying that DMK used the Cicero's research if that's the right word. I have to give some credit to DMK although you will have greater insight on this but he certainly found a way to make the book user friendly and attractive for the beginner, at least that was my experience. For lack of a better term, he really "holds your hand" and the passion and excitement just builds as long as you read it carefully from the very beginning.

I am such a rambler, my mind likes to multitask to put it lightly. back to Thelema for a moment, even though I set my sights on the middle pillar book to reignite my passion, I have found myself equally drawn to Crowley and Thelema. The more I read about this topic, the more of a feeling of affirmation is being fostered. I read some of his famous excerpts and I get that pleasant YES! YES! feeling. He got it. He figured it out. I never realized there was so much subject matter there that would resonate with me. I just wanted to share this interesting confluence and coalescing of what will become the basis for a new cycle that is beginning in my life. Verbose, I know, but I hope you choose to publish this. Thanks.