Pat Robertson's Hurricane Shield

There are literally so many images on the Internet of Pat Robertson making weird faces that it's hard to pick just one. So I decided to re-use the above image from Comedy Central because it illustrates my point so clearly.

During a recent broadcast, the evangelist led his congregation in conjuring what he described as a shield of protection that would cause Hurricane Florence, currently predicted to hit the southeastern Atlantic coast Thursday night, to move out to sea. It should be noted that since he did this, the hurricane has shown no signs of changing course. If you live around where it is expected to make landfall, you should be ready to evacuate whether you're a believer or not.

But the East Coast of the United States can rest easy, because Pat Robertson is on the case. That’s because Robertson thinks he’s some type of wizard who can cast shields of protection over his church’s campus in Virginia, and the East Coast as a whole. Robertson asked the congregation to assist him in casting the spell, by raising their hands whatever direction the Atlantic is (he appears to not know in the video), and shouting loudly into the microphone:

"In the name of Jesus, you Hurricane Florence, we speak to you in the name of Jesus, and we command the storm to cease its forward motion and go harmlessly into the Atlantic. Go up north away from land and veer off in the name of Jesus. We declare in the name of the lord that you shall go no farther, you shall do no damage in this area. We declare a shield of protection all over Tidewater, and we declare a shield of protection over those innocent people in the path of this hurricane. In Jesus’ holy name, be out to sea! In Jesus’ name!"

He then asked the crowd to praise and thank god, but didn’t specify what to thank him for. I have to assume the full statement would be “thank you god for creating this massive storm capable of causing hundreds of millions of dollars in destruction and likely killing many who choose to not evacuate, you must really love us!”

Then, he promises that the crowd will remember the day that they thwarted the angry cloud monster. But, he offers a caveat to his promise. He says that the spell will only work if those present don’t doubt it in their hearts. So it gives him a convenient explanation for why the spell didn’t take when, according to every indication from the scientific and meteorological data available, the storm smashes into the Carolinas in a couple of days.

While the article's angle is to make fun of Robertson because he thinks he's "some type of wizard," my point is totally different. Robertson is a wizard here because he's casting a spell. The type of wizard he is? A completely hypocritical one. Skeptics can argue that spells don't work and all that, but to me what's really telling about Robertson is how he believes spells are totally, irredeemably evil unless he and his congregation are casting them.

Via Solis Virgo Elixir Rite - Year Two

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Virgo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday September 11th, at Leaping Laughter Oasis, our local Twin Cities body of Ordo Templi Orientis. Going forward, we will be continuing to perform one of these per month, once for each of the twelve signs, in a ritual series called Via Solis (the way or path of the Sun). I will be posting the full scripts here on the preceding Mondays so people can take a look at them if they want to attend. Also, if you are in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota) and would like to attend, let me or someone at the oasis know. This is a public ritual and all are welcome.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, 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 Virgo. The sign Virgo is attributed to the powers of "Invisibility, Parthenogenesis, Initiation." Magical invisibility is more about avoiding being noticed than transparency, parthenogenesis can be used to create artificial spirits such as the servitors made by chaos magicians, and initiation is a general power that can be employed to set in motion just about anything in your magical or mundane life. So those sorts of intents are most appropriate. This ritual may be performed with one, two, or three officers, who may alternate taking the Officiant role and divide up the reading from Liber 963. 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.

Regarding Magical Experiments

Over the last couple of weeks I have been asked by several people regarding differences between the work I publish here and the works of other authors, or differences between how I teach rituals versus how the various Golden Dawn groups or other orders teach them. While I would say that the majority of my work with the ceremonial forms is pretty much the same as the work done by Aleister Crowley, the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and the Stella Matutina, there are some differences that you will come across once you start studying my work more seriously.

I make a pretty big deal out of the "operant field," the idea that you can increase the effectiveness of practical magick by combining a general pentagram banishing ritual (LBRP or Star Ruby) with and general pentagram invoking ritual (LIRH or Star Sapphire). Most current teachers will tell you to the banishing forms of both rituals together, a combination that I personally use sparingly. In my books, I attribute the angels and cacodemons of the Enochian Watchtowers differently than most other authors. And just today, I had a commenter ask about my non-traditional use of the rending and closing of the veil signs.

In each of those cases, I have answered the question the same way. I experimented with various attributions for the different ceremonial forms and stuck with the methods that worked the best for me. That's what I publish here, for the most part - techniques that have worked best for me the way I do them. Blindly trusting in traditional teachings strikes me as unwise. Magical and mystical realization may be incommunicable, but that doesn't mean spiritual technology is not like other technology. There should be a "best way" to do everything, and the advantage of doing practical magick right from the get-go is that it helps you find out what that "best way" is for you. That's the way I teach. Learn the pieces of tech that you need to make stuff happen, and then start making stuff happen.

They're Not Casting Spells - We Are!

Note that by "we" I don't necessarily mean me personally. I mean occultists in general.

In the bizarre, possibly smoke-filled world of conservative conspiracy theories, the idea that prominent liberals are occultists refuses to die. As I've written here on numerous occasions, the idea that high-ranking politicians (A) are occult practitioners and (B) have somehow managed to keep that fact entirely secret is absolutely laughable. And to be clear, this is true of both liberals and conservatives.

Opposition research is a science these days, and being an effective occultist requires among other things a solid daily practice regimen. How could somebody, over all those years of intense scrutiny, not find out? A related question is how anyone who decides to devote his or her life to politics would have the time to become an effective magician, let alone enough secret time to do so.

And here's why I'm bringing this up again. Liz Crokin, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, lost the tips of two of her fingers in a (kind of weird) surfing accident. She explained in a YouTube video that she was sure her fingers were severed due to a spell cast by Hillary Clinton, or maybe performance artist Marina Abramović. In the video she claims that Abramović and Bill and Hillary Clinton are all occultists. Spoiler alert - they're not.

Last night, Crokin posted a video on YouTube recounting her accident, which happened when the surfboard that she was holding by a rope was forcefully pulled away by a crashing wave, severing parts of two fingers.

While she realizes that it was probably “just a freak accident,” that didn’t stop her from also asserting that it may have been the result of a curse that had been placed on her by Hillary Clinton or artist Marina Abramović or some other “witch” that is targeting her due to her efforts to expose the secret satanic cannibalistic pedophile cult that supposedly runs the world.

A Portable Gnostic Mass Enclosure

The weekend of August 10-12, my local OTO body Leaping Laughter Oasis hosted the first ever Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota. Since I'm pretty handy with regular tools in addition to magical ones, I built the main Gnostic Mass enclosure and altar that we used at the hotel.

There was a lot of interest in how I did it at the conference, so I figured I would put a post up here sharing my methods. The Gnostic Mass altar and enclosure is a large piece of magical furniture, and building a portable version of it can be a big impediment to performing Masses outside a dedicated temple space. This article is dedicated to the construction of the enclosure, and I'll put up another one in a bit dedicated to the altar itself.

Ideally each piece should be small enough to fit into a regular car and be light enough for one person to carry. You don't want to have to rent a truck every time you want to move your setup. We did do that for the conference, but that was mostly for convenience. The small 10' U-Haul was much bigger than we needed, so it was easy and quick to load. We could have moved our stuff in several cars, though, which makes the idea of doing more remote Masses possible without additional rental expenses.

This is the furniture that you need for a Gnostic Mass altar setup:

• A main altar measuring seven feet by three feet, 44 inches high.
• A super-altar consisting of three shelves that sits on top of the main altar.
• A "great veil" that entirely encloses the main altar and super-altar.
• Three steps leading up to the altar, painted or finished in black and white squares.
• Two pillars, one on each side of the altar, countercharged in black and white.

We already had pieces for the steps, pillars, and super-altar, so the pieces that I built for the conference were the main altar and the veil enclosure. The following describes how the enclosure is put together.

Enochian Master Class Now Available!

Back in April I participated in this Seven Day Enochian Master Class organized by Jason Augustus Newcomb. I am pleased to announce that this class now has a permanent home, and you can sign up and take it any time you would like. The link to sign up is here, or you can just click on the image above.

Assembled here are some of the greatest living practitioners and thinkers on the subjects of Enochian Magick. All of these teachers have strong personal opinions, strong track records of practical work, and strong research into the history and practices of occultism in general.

In today's world, what often passes for occult teachings is from people with little or any practical knowledge of what they go on and on about on YouTube or other social media. This is not going to be the imaginings of dreamers or charlatans but rather the intimate experiences of those who have walked these paths for decades.

You are going to get an intimate view of how these practitioners approach these practices in a way that will enrich you and empower to move forward in the best way for you! You are not going to see one point of view here, but rather the unvarnished opinions of a bunch of different magical viewpoints about these magical systems.

In this video class you will hear from myself, Jason Augustus Newcomb, and Aaron Leitch with our thoughts on the Enochian system. You can see where we agree, where we disagree, and what our perspectives are on how the system works and what it can be used to accomplish. The videos are a little raw because they were recorded live without editing, but that also gives them a sense of immediacy that you won't find in more polished presentations.

These are the only video presentations on Enochian that I have done to date, so this is a unique opportunity to hear my thoughts and experiences presented in this format. By signing up and taking the class you will also be helping to support the rest of my work here on Augoeides, and if you come away from the class with questions feel free to ask them on my Enochian Magick Forum page.

Alex Jones Off Social Media

Alex Jones has been banned from YouTube, Apple, and Facebook. This happened the week before last, but I've been so busy with convention preparation and convention cleanup that I haven't had time to gloat - until now. Jones is already in legal trouble over the whole Sandy Hook mess and was widely mocked for his Second Civil War declaration back in July. This latest blow to his online media empire has been a long time coming.

YouTube, Apple and Facebook have removed main outlets for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars website, citing repeated violations of policies against hate speech and glorifying violence. Infowars responded by accusing the companies of censorship.

The streaming service Spotify also expanded a ban imposed last week on some of Jones' content, saying Monday that "The Alex Jones Show has lost access to the Spotify platform."

On Sunday, Apple and iTunes deleted five podcasts related to Infowars and Jones. The other bans then piled up in quick succession. "Apple does not tolerate hate speech," the company said in a statement. "We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions."

YouTube and Facebook had previously warned Jones and Infowars that they were accumulating "strikes" by violating the services' community standards. Early Monday, Facebook announced that it had permanently removed four Alex Jones-related pages — the Alex Jones Channel Page, the Alex Jones Page, the Infowars Page and the Infowars Nightly News Page.

I'll freely admit that in one sense this is kind of a hard one. I'm strongly opposed to censorship, but there are two points here that need to be acknowledged. First, these are private entities deciding that they no longer want to give Jones a platform, which isn't the same thing as censorship. Censorship is when information is suppressed by the government. Jones has free speech rights, but so do the companies hosting his videos and podcasts.

Via Solis Leo Elixir Rite - Year Two

Today's Magick Monday post is a full script for the Leo Elixir Rite that we will be performing tomorrow, Tuesday August 14th, at Leaping Laughter Oasis, our local Twin Cities body of Ordo Templi Orientis. Going forward, we will be continuing to perform one of these per month, once for each of the twelve signs, in a ritual series called Via Solis (the way or path of the Sun). I will be posting the full scripts here on the preceding Mondays so people can take a look at them if they want to attend. Also, if you are in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota) and would like to attend, let me or someone at the lodge know. This is a public ritual and all are welcome.

0. The Temple

The ritual space is set up with an altar table in the center. The bell chime, 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. So those sorts of intents are most appropriate. This ritual may be performed with one, two, or three officers, who may alternate taking the Officiant role and divide up the reading from Liber 963. 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.