More Archives Coming Soon

I've been having a busy summer and haven't been blogging as much as usual, but more content is on the way. As some of you know, I was blogging for a couple of years before I moved the site over to blogspot from the dedicated Scoop server that ran the original version. Running a dedicated server was easy to do at the time because back then I was a partner in a local ISP and could just keep the server hooked up at our office location without paying any expensive co-location fees. The ISP eventually folded, I moved the blog here, and the server went into storage, which brings us to today.

Back in March I took advantage of the Internet archives to load some of my older articles onto the site. As I mentioned then, though, I was only able to load in the shorter posts. Anything with a "cut" between the introduction and the story body could not be fully retrieved because of how Google's automated spiders read the pages from web sites into the archive. Soon I will be getting access to the articles from the original server and will be adding those as well, so this site will finally span my entire blogging "career" such as it is.

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer, and I'll be making another announcement once the rest of my archived articles have been added to the site.

This Happens in America, Too

According to this story from Washington state it sounds like America has its own version of the "magic powder" scam that apparently was quite successful in the United Arab Emirates until it was recently shut down by police. Only over here there's no pretense of doubling the bank notes, no powder, and no counterfeit money. The scamsters just get ahold of the cash and take off.

Police said a mysterious woman known as Senora Monica offered to spiritually "cleanse" money for at least seven Hispanic families, but it was the families who got cleaned out. The woman vanished with $140,000.

This certainly is a lot simpler than switching the cash for fake bills covered in flour or whatever - just take the money and run. It also is more tailored to a Western audience. In American society the perception is that a strong dividing line exists between the physical and the spiritual, so most Americans would likely just laugh at a con artist who claimed to be able to double cash with a magick spell. On the other hand, as long as the supposed spell operates on a strictly spiritual basis by "cleansing" the money rather than doubling the physical bills it seems that the scam is much more readily accepted.

In truth, the division between matter and spirit is not as sharp as most Americans believe it to be nor as blurry as it is seen in older and more traditional societies. Some distinction exists but the divide is not absolute. Rather, it depends upon the precise nature of the spell. Doubling a physical stack of bills is quite difficult simply because of the probabilities involved in countering the law of conservation of mass and I would expect any magician to be skeptical of such a claim. On the other hand, the law of entropy is more flexible and in many cases magick can produce paranormal effects similar to those observed in hauntings simply by concentrating energy that would otherwise be diffused throughout the magical working space, or manipulate probability so that favorable events surround just about any object including a bank note.

The victims told police they met Senora Monica at a swap meet or heard her advertisements on Spanish-language radio. She advertised that she could help with anything from palm reading to infertility.

The families turned over their money for "cleansing" and were supposed to get it back Sunday night at the woman's storefront. She never showed, and police say much of the information on the business license for the store is false.

It's really too bad when people claiming to work magick for hire turn out to be scammers, both here and overseas. The news coverage makes the magical arts seem more like some sort of hustle than a legitimate field of study simply because if everything went according to plan and the victims got their money back instead of having it stolen there would be no story. That's part of the reason that I have mixed feelings about the skeptic movement, as I've mentioned in the past. Sure, many of them are closed-minded jerks with the spiritual awareness of a toaster, but one of the valuable services they perform is discrediting fake practitioners like this woman.

One wonders if someone in America might come up with a version of the scam that incorporates the counterfeit money angle from the UAE method. You take the money, pretend to cleanse it, and then replace about half of it with counterfeit bills. When the money is in a box or a suitcase or whatever nobody is going to go through it checking every bill. Of course, that does depend on the con artists being able to get their hands on decent counterfeit American money which has become more difficult with the new designs, watermarks, threads, and so forth. If you ever do decide to go and have your money cleansed in some way it is at least an angle to watch out for.

No, Not Just Ceremonialists

Awhile back we got into a discussion about how widely used effective magick really is. In the course of that discussion a number of readers got the idea that I was implying only people who use magick the way I do are actually using magick, which couldn't be further from the truth. Lots of people from many different religious traditions use magick, whether they refer to it as prayer or spellwork. I stand by the position I took in that discussion, that while the majority of people may attempt to make use of magick in some form only a small subset of that group can do so in a particularly effective manner.

Just to make sure there are no misunderstandings this time, let me be clear that in no way do I think that this "effective" subgroup is composed only of ceremonialists or pagans. I've met plenty of witches and ceremonialists who cast lousy spells, and I've also met esoteric Christians who really can work wonders with heartfelt prayer. The following two news stories show the diversity of magical practice around the world, and only time will tell if these attempts to make use of magical methods will prove effective.

This first story from Switzerland has an interesting history. In the seventeenth century the longest glacier in Europe caused a lake to flood into the villages of Fieschertal and Fiesch. The inhabitants of those two towns made a formal vow that they would pray against the glacier's expansion.

In 1678, the inhabitants of the Alpine villages of Fieschertal and Fiesch made a formal vow to live virtuously and to pray against the growth of the Aletsch glacier, Europe's longest, which had caused a lake to flood into their homes.

To reinforce their prayers, they started holding an annual procession in 1862, when the glacier reached its longest during the mini-Ice Age Europe suffered in the mid-19th century.

However, in the modern age of climate change those prayers appear to be working too well. Swiss glaciers have shrunk at the rate of 12% over the last decade, and the villagers are seeking an audience with the Pope so that they can receive his approval to change their vow so that they can instead pray against the glacier's retreat.

But the villages now want to seek permission from Pope Benedict to change their vow as the glacier is melting fast due to climate change and have requested an audience with him.

"The residents of Fiesch and Fischertal hope that this will happen in September or October and are optimistic that the Holy Father will decide in their favor as he has repeatedly spoken out about climate change," they said in a statement.

Roman Catholics use all sorts of magical practices, many involving veneration of specific saints. However, the top-down structure of the church in which everything needs to be approved by the hierarchy has always struck me as inflexible and impractical. Fortunately you don't have to go through a process like this every time you call upon a saint for help or guidance.

This second story from Israel involves a group of Kabbalistic rabbis determined to stop the swine flu epidemic by combining ancient magical methods with modern technology. In ancient times they would have walked around the city, but this time they decided to fly over it.

The rabbis prayed and blew seven times into ceremonial ram's horns known as shofars as they flew over Israel on Monday, the Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported.

"The aim of this operation is to stop this epidemic so that people don't die any more. Following our prayers, we are certain the danger is now over," Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri told the paper.

Israel has recorded five deaths from swine flu, while about 2,000 people are infected by the (A)H1N1 virus.

Traditional Jewish Kabbalah tends to be a secretive school that doesn't make it into the news very often, so it's interesting to hear about them taking action along these lines. While swine flu hasn't proved to be a particularly dangerous epidemic statistically speaking, let's hope that there will be no more deaths. This provides us with a good benchmark to evalute the magical power resulting from this ritual. If there are indeed no more deaths from swine flu in Jerusalem that will be a strong testament to the effectiveness of these practitioners and their magical school. So we'll be watching.

Both of these stories highlight the use of magick in Christianity and Judaism, though probably neither group involved would define their actions as such. Whether or not these operations succeed they still shed some light on the fact that magick is an integral part of human religious history across many traditions, and that it's not just ceremonialists who are out there practicing the art.

The Trouble With Magical Ingredients

In many traditions ingredients that are rare or hard to come by are highly prized for their magical powers. Whether or not scarcity has anything to do with genuine magical efficacy, the biggest problem with such ingredients is that there is generally a limited supply. That means that as soon as too many people get it into their heads that an ingredient has magical power it can simply disappear.

On the island of Cyprus legend has it that dust from the tomb of Saint Agapitikos, whose name means "lover," is a particularly effective ingredient when concocting love potions. Unfortunately, so many people have bought into the legend over the years that a quarter of the tomb has disappeared.

Dust from the grave in the courtyard of the church in the village of Arodes in Paphos district has been used for centuries by the lovelorn, who are supposed to slip it into the drink of their objet d'amour.

But in recent years so many have been filching shards of stone that a quarter of the tomb has disappeared.

Mayor of Arodes Matthaios Stefanou is unclear whether Cypriots' love lives are becoming more troubled.

"A lot of people have said it works," he said. "In the last few years I don't know what's come over people, but they are flocking to the tomb for the stuff.

"Just the other day locals saw some people visiting the tomb, and they were there for a very long time, in the end they walked off with a huge chunk of stone, maybe even half a kilo of it!"

It sounds to me like would-be spellcasters have moved on to making talismans, which would explain the transition from dust to bits of stone. The antiquities department on Cyprus is working to prevent further damage to the tomb, which probably will mean tighter security around the tomb itself.

"You're very welcome to come and see the tomb, but please don't go taking any of it with you now," Stefanou said.

Aspiring lovers may soon be stuck with switching back to courtyard dust, though that doesn't necessarily mean potions are will be making a comeback. Dust can be placed in a small pouch and enchanted just like a piece of stone into an effective talisman, so perhaps some will go that route.

Off to NOTOCON!

This weekend I will be attending NOTOCON VII, the seventh biannual national Ordo Templi Orientis convention, in Seattle. I've attended the six previous conventions as well, and say what you want about the OTO, they do know how to throw a great party. The speakers and presenters they manage to line up are also interesting and thought-provoking, so unlike some other conventions I've been know to attend I actually try to make it to most of them rather than spend the whole weekend just hitting parties and chatting with people. It's nice to get a chance to socialize with brothers and sisters from around the country and there are some folks who I really only get to see at these conventions every other year.

I'm looking forward to a great weekend. Here's wishing all of you the same!

UPDATE: I'm back and a good time was had by all. I always enjoy opportunities to connect with my brothers and sisters, and this time I picked up some interesting information about John Dee's Sigillum Dei Aemeth - one of the presenters made the case that some of the names that appear on the standard image were derived incorrectly. While I'm often skeptical about different ways of reworking Enochian, doing a new set of derivations based on the original text looks promising. I'll keep you posted on that when I finally get around to working with it.

Not This Trick Again!

We've recently been discussing spells using magical powders, but this takes it to a whole new level - that is, it would if it really worked.

Remember these guys? The confidence artists in Dubai who were arrested for claiming to be able to double any amount of money using magick? In the United Arab Emirates, this appears to be the scam that will not die, this time in the city of Abu Dhabi.

Two men were arrested in Abu Dhabi for swindling a large number of people with claims they possessed "magic powder" that doubled bank notes, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

The men would show their victims what they said were the supernatural powers of the powder, which if sprinkled over a banknotes in a bag, would double the amount, The National cited the interior ministry as saying.

I'll say it one more time - if you really have magick powder that does this, why not just start with a low denomination bank note and double it every day? You'll wind up with billions at your disposal without the need to con anyone out of anything. I suppose the explanation could be that the money could only be doubled once, but still, the very existence of the con makes its premise dubious.

After the victims handed over a large number of notes, the "magicians" would swap the money with fake notes covered with the powder, which lab tests showed consisted of flour and washing powder, the paper reported.

"A massive number of people, not some, lost to them," said Colonel Maktoum al-Sharifi, the director of the Criminal and Investigative Directorate, without saying how much money the men had swindled.

The two men were caught in an Abu Dhabi hotel after they played the trick on an undercover policeman posing as a potential customer, the paper added.

Like spam e-mails, I suppose people are going to keep this up as long as there's money to be made and individuals who can be taken in by the con. I will say that it's a pretty ingenious method to get counterfeit currency into circulation - I'm guessing that nobody will want to admit they got the fake notes from a sorcerer if they're caught passing them.

Your Own Haunted House

I've previously mentioned that I've always wanted to own a haunted house. Well, this would be my chance if I were rich, and if any of you happen to be millionaires looking to move to the Twin Cities it might be yours.

The Griggs Mansion, 476 Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, is currently on the market. This mansion is considered by many investigators to be the most haunted house in Minnesota. The building was used as an art school from 1939 to 1964 and was once owned by Carl Weschke of Llewellyn Publishing, who I suspect purchased it because of its spooky reputation.

While a lot of "supernatural activity" seems to be centered around the 4th floor, many parts of the house have been visited by entities as well. Six or seven entities have been felt, heard, made their existence known by various means and have actually been seen throughout the years. The mansion's spiritual occupants are a young maid, a gardener, a child apparition, a thin man in a black suit, a teenager, Amy, and a Civil War general, perhaps Chauncey Griggs himself. The 7th sighting could've been any of the male apparitions, because only the head of an unclear, male apparition appeared.

In addition to the apparitions all sorts of paranormal activity apparently goes on in the house.

Many unexplained, but typical incidents common in haunted houses have been reported, though no specific entity has been found to be responsible for the noises, annoying behavior that makes the living uncomfortable or befuddled. Windows that had been firmly closed, even nailed shut, have been found open in the morning. Footfalls have been heard traveling up and down the staircases. Shadowy presences have been seen. Unsuspecting students who rented the apartments, have been shaken awake, to find an undistinguished apparition head floating above their beds. Doors open and close by themselves. "Rasping coughs" have been heard coming from empty rooms. Light bulbs suddenly shatter, paper bags have been known to jump off the shelves, and jump across the floor. People in the mansion have felt presences walk by them. Some of the presences happen to appreciate art. While working in the art studio room, with the skylight on the top floor, students had felt presences peering over their shoulder to get a good look at their drawings in progress, perhaps studying with interest the student's efforts.

Unfortunately for me, the old movie trope of being able to buy an amazing house incredibly cheaply because of paranormal activity doesn't happen in the real world. The asking price for the place is 1.8 million dollars, well outside my housing budget. Here's the real estate listing - check it out while it's still available and take a look at the interior photos. The place is just beautiful, and for me ghosts would be a real bonus. The area even has some personal significance - my wife and I were married at 490 Summit, right next door.

I guess I need to work harder on those lottery spells...

Thoughts on "Psychic Attack"

SoulJournings has an interview up with Jason Miller of Strategic Sorcery in which Jason discusses his views on psychic and magical attacks. Jason and I have disagreed on this topic a number of times in the past, both here and over at his blog. He believes that effective magical attacks are relatively common, whereas I'm of the opinion that a person claiming to be under such attack is much more likely to be mentally ill than under some magician's curse. Some of that disagreement is undoubtedly due to differences in our experiences. Just about every person who has ever approached me for help with a psychic attack situation has turned out to have serious psychological problems. From the interview it sounds like Jason, on the other hand, has run across a lot of people who he believes are dealing with genuine magical attacks.

Throughout the last 20 years, even before I started officially doing magick professionally, people always seemed to find me when they needed this kind of help. Even other Witches and Magicians, with more years of practice behind them, have looked for help because when the situation came up, they were not prepared for it.

As an aside, it really surprises me that anyone with years of experience practicing magick wouldn't be able to do an effective banishing ritual, but I guess the question here is whether these people had years of practice or years of study. Just knowing how to do something won't necessarily solve a problem if you have little or no experience applying that knowledge. There are methods you can use to cast a curse that can't be easily banished, but most practitioners I've run across aren't familiar with them so I doubt that they are widely used. The LBRP/LBRH combination will shut down most curses, and anything that can survive a banishing field like that can still be stopped by a decent Saturn or Mars evocation. Those two planets can be used for cursing, but they can also shut curses down because they are the "rulers" of that class of phenomena.

Though it is true that many people who seek help with psychic attack are either bringing their problems on themselves or just having a normal run of bad luck, it is also true that some practitioners, especially those with training in Western systems like Wicca or Ceremonial Magic, tend to dismiss any claim at psychic attack out of hand. This is because, in an attempt to make Witchcraft and magick more palatable to the general public, the books all reiterate how safe it all is and how no real Witch or Magician would ever do harmful magick because of the Wiccan Rede or Karma or something like that.

If somebody comes to me with a claim of psychic attack, I do have a tendancy to dismiss it - but not because I believe in the Wiccan Rede or the bizarre Western notion of how Karma works. I also couldn't care less whether or not magick seems "palatable to the general public." Rather, I think it's a simple matter of mathematics. In my experience only a small percentage of the population has the requisite combination of aptitude and training for producing effective macrocosmic magical effects, and while most of those magicians will cast a curse on someone from time to time it isn't what they spend the majority of their time doing. On the other side of the equation, about one person in four in our society has some form of mental illness. These numbers suggest that while there are a lot of people with psychological problems, far fewer will have actually been targeted with curses performed by effective macrocosmic magicians. However, Jason follows the comments above with a good point that I had not really considered.

The truth is that most magickal attacks do not emanate from other people, but from spirits or nature or places that are reacting to how our human lifestyle (air pollution, damming rivers, dumping trash, country music, etc.) infringes onto their space. The primary role of the shaman was to address these imbalances, and even today, this is a huge part of medicine in traditional cultures.

My image of a psychic attack is one individual or group using some sort of magick against another, and perhaps this is a bit shortsighted of me. I tend to separate out curses cast by individuals or groups from what Jason calls a "crossed condition," which is caused by exposure to certain sorts of environmental magical energy rather than the result of an targeted attack. Jason groups them together on the grounds that from a practical standpoint they are addressed in much the same way, so perhaps part of our disagreement over this is just terminology. Most magicians including myself have at times found themselves in situations where something environmental seems to be disturbing their spiritual energy, though I will say that I have yet to come across one of those that survives my usual daily practice regimen. Also, as far as I can tell magicians who keep up a solid, regular practice seem to be less susceptible to them.

That said, attacks from other Magicians and Witches do happen more often than most people are willing to admit. Anyone that stocks a lot of material used in Hoodoo, for instance, will find that cursing materials are a big seller.

I don't deny that there are a lot of people out there trying to curse other people, but what I dispute is how effective those people really are. Casting a spell with a targeted, measurable macrocosmic effect is not easy. If it were the effectiveness of magick would be an undisputed scientific fact. Part of the reason that spells are so difficult to test empirically is that so few people can perform them in such a way that they produce noticeable, tangible results. An effective curse consists of a lot more than hitting up the local occult store for some Anna Riva war water and splashing it on somebody's doorstep. The power comes from the magician, the materials just help to focus the effect.

Often, however, people that have been cursed or suspect that they have been cursed will have someone in mind as the attacker. They either know that they have ticked off someone that knows magick and is not morally opposed to using it for justice or revenge (largely a matter of perspective), or they know someone that might seek a professional’s services in doing the same.

One of the things that makes me most skeptical about any claim of psychic attack is when the purported victim has no idea why they have been cursed or who might have done it. I would go so far as to say that I think anybody who is under a curse cast by a magician (as opposed to a crossed condition or other environmental effect) is going to know what they did to provoke it and who they did it to. That's because cursing is not generally done casually or on a whim by practitioners experienced enough to get tangible results. This is also true of individuals who hire magicians to cast curses for them - I have a hard time imagining somebody paying a practitioner a lot of money to cast a curse "just for the heck of it."

Thankfully, the treatment for imaginary attack and real attack is the same. Just do the cleansing and protection; It wont hurt. If people keep coming back again and again because they are claiming that they are constantly under attack, then there is a good chance that they are imagining it or creating the situation for drama.

See, the latter is what I keep running into whenever I get approached by somebody who's supposedly "under attack." In those situations, psychiatric drugs generally work better than counter-curses. It's always possible that in reality I'm the one with the unusual set of experiences and genuine attacks are much more common than I currently believe, but so far I haven't seen much evidence of it in my daily life. It would be interesting to try and put together some sort of a study to resolve the question, if such a thing is even possible given all the variables that would have to be taken into account.