ome-magical-ramblings

[ome-magical-ramblings]

FUUAARK

I remember some prayer in my mind about something from crystal gazing book from the 1902-1920 and then I can't find where I found that prayer and end up spending a good 3-4 hours trying to find it

[ome-magical-ramblings]

wahoo 🎉😁

A Magus Journal: Purifying the Earth Element

Starting over with the elemental work. Addition of cleansing exercises to purify internal energy before going into offering rituals and invocation.

Overall, last night was a meditation on the earth element. Fell into trance, came to a few minutes later having experienced a sort of sense of non-duality. Everything sort of faded for a moment. Able to carry that feeling into this morning's practice.

Smaller struggles with lust. Going to make use of @ome-magical-ramblings radionics rite with some smaller changes. Feelings of floating becoming apparent at times. To do further cleansing before repeating exercise.

Need to finish portfolio for tomorrow. Going to use Radionics Circle, infuse it with a few things before putting coffee onto it.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

My notes from yesterday:

Just did it, night and day difference from the original method that we did last week. A lot more intense, normal water bottle felt like spring water and some other stuff I couldn't exactly disclose everything but the water is literally a whole different thing. having a more systemic approach is definitely a plus

Eucharistic Radionic Arbatel Working

Hello! There's not much to say that you're welcome to join me in my magical shenanigans then you're welcome to read ahead. if you do it today then you can send me an email, message, or my discord. I would be happy to hear any dreams, insights, interesting thing that happens afterward :D

What you will need a printer(to print the amplifying pattern(shown above between the two ace of cups) seven small scrap paper to put in the middle and a glass of water to use.

These two links are useful for the experiment too: https://planetaryhours.net https://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel.htm

Orient yourself toward the east and spray some perfume or cologne just to freshen up a lil bit

You will start this on Sunday ( 6th of October ) and find the hour of Sun(first hour of the day or any subsequent hour of Sun)

Begin by drawn the Seal of Och on scrap of paper, put Och's seal in the middle of the pattern and the glass of drinkable water on top of it.

(You can skip Step #3 and #4 if you have a better method of calling the spirit or your own rendition of this) Read Aphorism 14 from the second link given

Take the glass of water and walk from east to south to west to north to east again then left up the glass and lower the glass toward the ground(without touching the ground) at each directional point you can say the each point of Aphorism 25 OR if you want a simpler formula it would be

"Oh [Directional] Wind and forces bless this water with healing, purifying, and consecrating powers that it may receives the power and blessings of Och"

Read the first section of Aphorism 21 "Omnipotent and eternal God, who hast ordained the whole creation for thy praise and glory,…" and then say the following request on the water:

"Oh Och, I request with respect and honor given to you that this water be an initiation into the solar current of your universal laws. Let me be able to discourse with knowledge and understanding of all things visible and invisible, and to understand the power of every thing, and to what it belongeth. Oh Och allow this Eucharist be an empowerment to perform the works of natural Magick, of what sort soever they be. Oh Och Let me be a good house-keeper both in the Country and City."

Read Aphorism 21's dismissal

Drink the whole glass slowly and write down notes. Och's seal:

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Eucharistic Radionic Arbatel Working

Hello! There's not much to say that you're welcome to join me in my magical shenanigans then you're welcome to read ahead. if you do it today then you can send me an email, message, or my discord. I would be happy to hear any dreams, insights, interesting thing that happens afterward :D

What you will need a printer(to print the amplifying pattern(shown above between the two ace of cups) seven small scrap paper to put in the middle and a glass of water to use.

These two links are useful for the experiment too: https://planetaryhours.net https://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel.htm

Orient yourself toward the east and spray some perfume or cologne just to freshen up a lil bit

You will start this on Sunday ( 6th of October ) and find the hour of Sun(first hour of the day or any subsequent hour of Sun)

Begin by drawn the Seal of Och on scrap of paper, put Och's seal in the middle of the pattern and the glass of drinkable water on top of it.

(You can skip Step #3 and #4 if you have a better method of calling the spirit or your own rendition of this) Read Aphorism 14 from the second link given

Take the glass of water and walk from east to south to west to north to east again then left up the glass and lower the glass toward the ground(without touching the ground) at each directional point you can say the each point of Aphorism 25 OR if you want a simpler formula it would be

"Oh [Directional] Wind and forces bless this water with healing, purifying, and consecrating powers that it may receives the power and blessings of Och"

Read the first section of Aphorism 21 "Omnipotent and eternal God, who hast ordained the whole creation for thy praise and glory,…" and then say the following request on the water:

"Oh Och, I request with respect and honor given to you that this water be an initiation into the solar current of your universal laws. Let me be able to discourse with knowledge and understanding of all things visible and invisible, and to understand the power of every thing, and to what it belongeth. Oh Och allow this Eucharist be an empowerment to perform the works of natural Magick, of what sort soever they be. Oh Och Let me be a good house-keeper both in the Country and City."

Read Aphorism 21's dismissal

Drink the whole glass slowly and write down notes. Och's seal:

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Journaling my burn out.

Where do I start...? I am burned out, I see the messages but it is so hard to put into words that I want to reply but it is just so.. Bleh. All social media, all instant messaging I just feel this abrasiveness to it all. I genuinely want to reply to people but I just feel this feeling of everything "instant" as annoying and everyone is expected to reply instantly. [more rambling below]

I don't mean that people expect me to reply to them FAST but it is just a looming thing in the back of my head. That's what is annoying for me, I just feel it is the whole thing distasteful that I can't just beam my thought away to them exactly what I want haha, but let's not get sad that telepathy is hard lmao. I also dislike and hate that I get burned out from interacting with people, I LOVE talking and chatting up with people, I LOVE writing my thoughts out but it's just that there's just so much in the day and so many people eating away on my time that I just feel BLEH. ANYWAY what's there else to say, social media and messaging apps burned me out, I didn't expect this! I thought I was above getting burned out by the digital applications but sadly I am not so great :( I just wanted to write my thoughts out, so yeah. I feel the grating and abrasiveness of online communication, media, communication, etc is getting to me. So I hope that people who try to contact me understand that I can't really put my 100% for people online. I always try to put 100% of my focus on people, that I want to emphasize before anything else.

just gotta lock in fr fr ong

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Record of Practice: Fire, Spirit(Akasha), and Moon.

Original photography by https://www.instagram.com/daryavaseum/

We are back! and I apologize for not keeping a strict log on the elemental log and I always seem to miss/not properly write for Fire and Spirit in most of my work haha. Anyway what I would say about the Fire, Spirit , and Moon which seems like the moon is the biggest "photo" or player here haha. To Summarize it to the best of my ability it would be:

Fire clarify, banishes illusions, brighten your awareness, and bring you to true reality.

Spirit is both the start, middle, and end of Practice. The space between stimulus and response, the silence between every sounds/thoughts, and the source of it all.

Moon is the combination of the four elements and enliven the four elements. Through it we get Nourishment. Reflectivenesss, Psychological Projection, and many other attributes are part of the moon both personally, inter-personally, and in the real world.

Let me get more into it:

Fire

You will remain eternally pure, and will not be reduced to someone who eats all promiscuously. Only the flame from your viler parts of the body will be a consumer of all things. Everything burnt by your flames will become pure. Brahma to Agni ( Source: Mbh Adi Parva, Chapters 5 to 7 )

The first you can imagine with fire is that it "lights up" literally physically, astrally, mentally, and on all levels. You hit the flint, strike the match and then what? "And said God let there be light, and there was light" That's the Light. Fire is in front of you right now, you're reading these words in the form of Fire(Sight). At least I think most people would prefer to hear my thoughts and actual ideas on it instead of just rehashing the usual. Simply without Fire, most of the practical work we do magically would be aimless, unguided and without direction. If we ourselves don't put the correct lighting, candle, lamps in our communication then the messages comes out weird both ways. Imagine the lighting during dinner, during lunch, during a spooky night time story, or the lighting in places like during sunset. The Light/Fire sets the tone for how stuff are clarified, Yes fire is ever expanding based on the fuel that you gives it. Fire will keep expanding but what's left from the fire would be Ash. What's ash except the purified state of Earth, The water and air get moved out of it through Fire and we come back to...

Akasha: As Ash..

Once a block of earth is enlivened by water and nourished by Air, burned by Fire we get Ashes. Space is created again and all the elements that were once coagulated are now dissolved, solve et coagula. That's in a sense what Spirit give us, the space to both create and dissolve, the space to actually know what we are doing, the space to stop and start anew. Akasha is deep sleep, it is the darkness behind the eyes, akasha is all of this an none of that because once you grasp it then it's not "it" anymore. In a way this is what make akasha as a necessary step because without it we can't really start anything new or stop anything old. Momentum doesn't go endlessly, and if you don't take the time to breath then you can't keep going forever, it's a marathon not a sprint and do you really rush yourself when you go traveling or go on a holiday? same idea. Are there spirits in akasha(?) maybe but I don't know how to contact them haha. Akasha is the rest and the new start, take some akashapill. Between Akasha and the Moon is something related to Merkavah literature and sadly I don't know if I am in the right place to disclose this or talk about it.

Moon: Nourishment, Reflection of Truth, and Misinformation.

The Moon is a lot more subtle and serious this time. If last year the general theme of the Moon was cleansing then this year it would be Nourishment and by that I mean the spiritual nourishment. We need to stop to see if the materials and stuff we are consuming in media, in literature, in practice, and in real life are nourishing us or just "filler" food? Bad food is harder to purge out of our bodies. I definitely encourage the reader to look more into this topic here , but overall? The Moon is seen as this deceptive planet but it is only as deceptive as we are deceptive to ourselves, we have to know where we stand and not to ask excessively. The Moon is part of the "veil" but also part of the whole world, if everything considered psychic or mediumship is under the moon then the moon is where it is at to start the process properly. I did take longer than a week, with the moon because I lacked astral Nourishment and by that it is lacking the "juice" or water to make the whole "thing" work. A Machine would break and crash without grease, and this grease is through the moon. If that analogy makes sense, consciously consuming our mental, astral, and physical world is something we should pay attention and heed it. In the end We can see how the Fire(Screen) Display information/reflections(Moon) and we have to take the akashic space/moment where we can process what we are seeing or consuming "mentally"/"astrally" as we look at it. Until next time :) take care.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

I have been personally a bit silent after the Spirit/Akasha element and the Moon's first week. I don't know where it is going right now but I definitely feel like I might need another week of Moon's work and working it through more thoroughly instead of rushing off the deep end trying to check off the checklist of Chaldean order haha

A Magus' Journal: Air Working,

I remember @ome-magical-ramblings talking about how Air can be understood as Refinement. It is the element of the intellect, falling under the Illuminating Fire and over the Intuitive Water. It binds together the Divine and the Psyche. It is the element of speech, of Logos. Therefore it is the element of prayer, of incense that rises from the temple.

It is expansive intelligence, one which extends beyond the self. It is also the mind that incinerates itself. It is the air which expands into all directions, into the dark and the light.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Review: Spiritual Cleansing by Draja Mickaharic

If there's one book I would always go back to or always look back to or recommend to others it is this book! Seriously, that's how good this book is. To start with, this book is the best because it is direct, to the point, and only 100ish pages. I honestly have to put the following "warning" that the author himself puts in the start of the book:

Because some of these things sound simple and interesting, don't get an idea to “do a variation.” When you try to work “magic” using only your own enthusiasm you are treading in dangerous waters.

How do I sell you on this book? that's a funny way of me saying that this is the best book you will have in your library as a starting beginner. First let me mention some stuff from the book, which is evil eye being the first chapter and get dealt with so swiftly with a beer bath and there's no extra mystification or complicated procedure being given. As this whole book the procedures are simple but application of them consistently will proves their benefits. In the Arbatel itself we find the following:

God and Nature have ordained all things to a certain and appointed end: so that for examples sake, they who perform cures with the most simple herbs and roots, do cure the most happily of all. And in this manner, in Constellations, Words and Characters, Stones, and such like, do lie hid the greatest influences or vertues in deed, which are in stead of a miracle.

Protection while asleep, psychic, attacks, and stuff related to sleep and protecting your loved ones can be seen here where you can help someone who can't help themselves like a child or someone who's too weak to protect themselves at night.

My Favorite Chapter(4) is the bath/spiritual baths chapter. Every part of the bath from beginning to end is filled with gems and wisdom that you will not regret. 4 Cleansing baths, 12 herbal bath, 6 household items baths, 2 love baths, and 4 nut baths, like what's MORE I can say except mention the bath he got the most testimony out of! To add ¼ cup bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the regular bath water is an amazing cleansing bath both physically and spiritually :) of course praying, doing it with the instructions and so on is the best you can do!

Special mentions go to chapter 6 for teaching how to cleanse with an egg and not making it some tiktokized or 30 seconds or 2 minutes version of it. What can I say more is that it is a VERY amazing chapter, for all kind of cleansing emotional or spiritual, for eyestrain, for protection while asleep, cleansing your home, cleansing the sick, and cleansing your pet!

I will jump over chapter 7 and 8 despite them being EXTREMELY good and mention that chapter 9 is a MUST READ. Mainly these methods of washing the head or feeding the head are used to work with the non-physical part of the human mentation, not exactly a replacement for psychology or psychiatry or medical treatment of mental illnesses but it is an AMAZING addition to anyone who's healthy but feel slightly "off".

The last chapter and appendix is about finding spiritual practitioner to help you, and what Draja describe as "Recommended System of Treatment for General Therapy", I am honestly just going to say good read the book, it isn't that long and the weight of it is in gold with how much jam-packed it is with technique you would pick up from here or there. Go buy it, pirate it, I don't know just get it and see for yourself!

[ome-magical-ramblings]

A small break.

If you noticed, taking a small break from writing to organize my thoughts and more reaping instead of sowing too much stuff. I got my books in the mail(almost a month) and I hope that everyone is doing good :) and to take a break letting the astral pipeline manifest stuff <3

[ome-magical-ramblings]

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Sylphs and the Air Kingdom.

We go onto the elementals of Air! The Sylphs!

I don't know honestly what people think of the air elements, and the air elementals but they're anything but the gentle creatures they are. In truth the Air kingdom is more about the open heart and gentle approach to not get overwhelmed. If there's anything that can sum up the whole essence of the air kingdom is that.... It is Refinement. To Quote Vimalananda

"Most Westerners today believe that all their desires, and their sexual desires in particular, should be gratified immediately. But there is nothing speedy about refinement; it takes time and restraint. Refinement occurs automatically in all aspects of life, and especially in sex and in spirituality, if you just slow down. Westerners think the spiritual urge can be gratified in the same way that they gratify their sex urges. No wonder that most of them end up with fake gurus.”

If I already put the main idea is that of REFINEMENT. Then that means I should build on that with certain aspects of this refinement that bring that refinement, I would call them, Appeasement, Detachment, Slowing Down, and Service. I will preface, very explicitly that all work with Sylphs and Air elementals is better to be done through an intercessor, angel, god, etc and whatever else you take as a guiding and protective spirit instead of dealing with them directly.

Appeasing/Praying For Spirits of Air

I feel uncomfortable to even call it appeasing because these spirits usually are full of wisdom and light but often tend to be easily slighted or easily fickle if we are not careful with them. Do I mean that ALL sylphs are fickle or easily offended? of course not but the general flightiness of their elements can make them jump from one thing to another, to have that excessive force without grounding. Don't you find sometime when you get in argument to feel like you're "flying in rage" or flying heedlessly into the situation. That's all there's to it, pray for the spirits because if you die then who will pray for you? who would give you light and stability if you don't give it to them.

Detachment and Slowing Down

The best way to attain the detachment from the rushing winds and tempest is simply to slow down. If you're rushing through the prayer then you will get overwhelmed with it, if you rush through your prayer, exercises, and meditation then you will be rushed by it. If we remember the Undine's post then we can see the same reflective nature of spirits and that they often reflect our tendencies and behaviorism. If we come to the spirits rushing them like a tornado then the air element aspect of practice will start rushing us and pushing us like a tornado and we might want to slow down and take a breather. Even in Writing, in talking, in playing, in working, in praying, in sleeping, in doing your day to day life. Yes, the clock is ticking but the faster you go the more stuck you get. I am not advising people to like detach themselves emotionally or intellectually and become jaded but more of slowing down, so you can have that *space* between you and your life and not get overwhelmed.

Service

Service here implies serving someone something of value, that aspect is pretty weird to think of but when we take the time not to think about ourselves but to think of other we will find a great deal of blessings coming our way. If there's anything that Air elemental can teach you is that humbling presence when you walk out of water and Earth and see the sky above you. People can overlook how humbling the firmament look like, literally when you look at the Sky and see the great expanding heaven above you then you can't say or do anything but be in awe of the greatness of the world. What can we serve? That's a question for you to answer honestly, but that's an essential point I would like to emphasis in the Air. Serving elevates more than just being "here", there's a lot more to just grabbing stuff forcefully and grace plays a huge role in this. Let the Ray of Thine Intelligence and the warmth of Thy Love penetrate even unto us; then that which is volatile shall be fixed, the shadow shall be a body, the Spirit of Air shall be a soul, the dream shall be a thought. And no longer shall we be swept away by the Tempest, but we shall hold the bridles of the Winged Steeds of Dawn, and we shall direct the course of the Evening Breeze to fly before Thee.

Until Next time, with the Fire that doesn't lie. PS: my friend, @witches-bottle is doing a series on elemental work on a faster pace than me, I recommend you go check them out :D

[ome-magical-ramblings]

A Magus' Journal: Tarot Journals and Working With Water

What is a Tarot Journal? We know that it's basically like a Book of Shadows used to log tarot readings, but does it have any major uses outside of just divination. One method is to use it, do a tarot reading in the morning and take notes about the impressions. At the end of the day, the information is compared and we try to take notes about the entire tarot reading, what we either missed or what we got right and we improve our methods of study.

There are other ways, however. One of them is to look for reoccurring patterns. This action can help build your tarot language. Maybe a specific card always shows up before a fight, or another shows up when you're about to undergo a change in career.

You might also note emotional patterns. Maybe, when you're in a bad mood, you tend to pick out the more negative qualities of the guards. So you begin to understand how you need to work with your emotions during a tarot reading, to prevent filtering. You might also note that certain cards appear on certain days. For example, let's say your Date of Birth was on a Tuesday, maybe martial cards appear more frequently during times of self-doubt or anxiety. Maybe specific cards appear more frequently on a Monday than any other day, and those cards represent patterns that occur due to that day's energy (namely, Lunar).

Now how does this come into the World of Water. You might have noticed that I've been doing an elemental series, working with the Chakras and Tattvas, alongside my friend @ome-magical-ramblings.

As of late, the Earth Tattva has been working more, resulting in sort of easier astral projection and detachment from the body. I might choose to do Buddhist Meditation on the body (Patikula-Manasikara), the repulsive nature of the 32 Body Parts. Of course, this isn't to ward off bodily interaction, which is holy and is a part of life. rather, it's to try and maintain balance in Swadhishthana, which has been a struggle for me personally. I know it's been a struggle for other sadhaks.

The need becomes less to overcome the body, but rather to soothe and direct its focus. Which, in context, might be harder. There might also need to be a work with genital breathing but the overall idea is to gently direct the waters, to adapt them rather than force them to go somewhere else. External compassion begins with internal compassion, and that means compassion for the self, its falls and rises.

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If you have any questions that you would to see spoken about in this month's i zine, do not be afraid to message me and I will add the prompt to the Zine on Patreon when it comes out.

[ome-magical-ramblings]

A Magus' Journal: Water and the Nectar

From the Vine Cross Pluck the One And Rip it Apart, The Lamb The Waters of It Stirred with the Destroyer and the Sustainer It Creates Eat the Flesh And Stir the Waters which Breathe Red in Colour with the Clear Mercury Drink of It Birth from Death to Birth The Cup and Its Mercurial Child Born from Substance And Will Fermented and made Whole

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Water, Undines, and Nymphs.

O Vastness wherein all the Rivers of Being seek to lose themselves, which renew themselves ever in thee. O Ocean of infinite perfections!

I love the water, the sea, and all the spirits of water are amazingly beautiful but somewhat dangerous!

Working with water element and undine is an interesting work, on multiple front it is both a tricky topic to deal with because the water is the channel of communication with spirits and reflective of our own nature. If we come knocking on water's door and say this, that without respect to anything then we are asking that demanding nature to be reflected on us and the spirit themselves would be more demanding of us. Water and water spirits really reflect what put into it, it is the channel, the mirror, the fluid, and all the forces and qualities we give it, it gives it back. That's WHY the traditions have moral codes and ethical teachings to allow us to come to the spirits truthfully, honestly, and confident in them would lead them to be confident in us. If we come from a religious or a pious approach then the spirits of water will come pious and religious!

Emotions

That's the first thing people think about when they think of water, water elementals, undines, and nymphs. Of course there's more to it than just the emotional aspect but also hearing, talking, and listening about this first is better than bringing it later on. Watery emotions as most of them are the fluids that animate us, that truly are e-motions, give us that motion stirring out of spiritual fluids. The Water is that animated movement of our divine spark and without we would be dull and jaded, we can easily restrict and cause stagnation if we are not careful. Then what? the water become this toxic, stagnant, stale water full of bugs, mold, and gunky growing inside of it :( similar to the real world stagnant water, when our emotions and spiritual water become stagnant then it become a breeding ground for astral larave and toxic parasitic spirits to feed off our jaded and barely flowing water. It doesn't matter if you get worked up, loosen up because in the end where does it matter? when it reach the fruition of it. If you imagine the stuff at the "start" and the "end" of it, that's where your emotions is most important but in the middle you can let it transform and transform you alongside it. If you try to micromanage the flow of your emotion at every step of the way then you would strangle it but that doesn't mean you shouldn't start positively and choose in the end if the emotion is worth expressing outwardly or not.

River of Enlightenment and Stream.

Sotāpanna or stream entry, a term of someone who have entered the stream of enlightenment in buddhism. It is very similar to the way traditions operate in the worlds. We can often get lost in the "it's all the same" or the over syncretism without the important thing, which mean that you have to follow through the stream, go down the stream into the ocean. You can't just say "oh they're all the same streams leading to same ocean". Walk it out, go through it, that's a motivating thing to say that despite how shallow or how thin and weak your connection to the supreme reality, to God, to guru, to Jesus, or to the divine providence you can foster it. That's the wonderful thing you have the chance no matter how far you're from Divinity to draw yourself and walk toward it and gain the blessings of it, you just have to follow that refreshing stream of water. Next week...Sylphs and Air.

Holy, oblique, who swiftly soar thro' air, Fountains and dews, and mazy streams your care: Seen and unseen, who joy with wand'rings wide And gentle course, thro' flow'ry vales to glide; With Pan exulting on the mountains height, Loud-founding, mad, whom rocks and woods delight: Nymphs od'rous, rob'd in white, whose streams exhale The breeze refreshing, and the balmy gale;

[ome-magical-ramblings]

Earth and Gnomes.

The Gnomes...are wonderful!

I Honestly don't know where to start this piece in a way that REALLY cover my whole experiences with gnomes and earth element in one light. There's so much that the gnomes really encompass than just the usual gnome=money or gnome=material wealth. Gnomes are more alive than we think and working with them it gives a better perspective of the consciousness in stuff we think doesn't have consciousness or a soul to begin with. EVERYTHING have that soul and awareness to it!

It's hard to really stop and say that the gnomes and earth element start and ends here, because they encompass the house, electricity ، water, comfort, attitude, places of worship, etc. What do I mean by that?

House, Electricity ، Water

The house is pretty simple idea of having a house spirit but what the gnomes provide is this buffer zone between you and the house spirit without you having to deal directly with micro-managing the house-spirit, if you're amicable with the gnomes' wisdom and ingenuity then that would lead to a more harmonious house, no? that include how the electricity, plumbing, and everything that make the house goes smoothly. A little bit goes a long way and what the gnome need is usually abnormal by our standards. That buffer zone, between us and the spirits is usually important to cover any compromise or mistakes on our parts.

Comfort, Attitude, and Place of Worship(Feng Shui?)

Coming to one's own place of worship, and even your attitude and how you feel around places...The gnomes awaken that sense of "knowing" how the place is! We all can definitely sense if something is off in a place or not but we often sometime ignore our own place and the places we are usually in. At least for me the gnomes and working with the earth elementals awaken the land, the flow, the chi, the energy going around us and make us feel how the whole place is breathing and operating. The gnomes, once we begin to work with their wisdom we start to EMBODY the place we work with and get grounded in the forces around us.

Embodiment(Etc)

In a Rahuian(Rahu-bodiless world) we are always looking at screen ignoring our bodies and the world around us throwing ourselves into a semi-digital world. We truly start to feel that we are disconnected from the world and if we truly don't go back and touch grass then we start to lose our sense of touch with the world! I tell you, the best reason to work with gnomes is to embody your work, to embody your spiritual path, and to be attentive of the foundation that you're building. That's truly the most important lesson with gnomes. Building the foundation, being attentive, consistent in one's own practice and life. All of these aspects of work culminate to become the structure shock-absorber of other more intensive phenomena of the spiritual realm so they don't get stuck being a purely spiritual thing but grounded and manifested into the real world!

O Invisible King Who, taking the Earth for Foundation, didst hollow its depths to fill them with Thy Almighty Power. Thou Whose Name shaketh the Arches of the World! Thou who causest the Seven Metals to flow through the veins of the rocks! King of the Seven Lights! Rewarder of the subterranean Workers! Lead us into the desirable Air and into the Realm of Splendor. We watch and we labor unceasingly, we seek and we hope, by the twelve stones of the Holy City, by the buried Talismans, by the Axis of the Lodestone which passes through the center of the Earth. O Lord, O Lord, O Lord! Have pity upon those who suffer. Expand our hearts, detach and upraise our minds, enlarge our natures. O Stability and Motion! O Darkness veiled in Brilliance! O Day clothed in Night! O Master who never dost withhold the wages of Thy Workmen! O Silver Whiteness! O Golden Splendor! O Crown of Living and Melodious Diamond! Thou who wearest the Heavens on Thy Finger like a ring of Sapphire! Thou who hidest beneath the Earth in the Kingdom of Gems, the marvelous Seed of the Stars! Live, reign, and be Thou the Eternal Dispenser of the Treasures whereof Thou hast made us the Warders! Amen.

Title: Angels with The Ramparts of Heaven Creator: Sir William Blake Richmond Date created: 1891/1904 Physical Location: St Paul's Cathedral Quire Aisle

[ome-magical-ramblings]

A Musing on Requesting Help from Lord Lao

in Livia Kohns introduction to the The Yellow Court Scripture Volume One: Text and Main Commentaries (Huangting Jing 黃庭經) she mentions how adepts of the Shangqing School of Daoism (predecessors of Maoshan) would prepare to chant the Huangting Jing. They do so by petitioning various Gods for aid and support-- mainly Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun 太上老君 ). This ancient idea of requesting help in chanting, or in my practice, spells and cultivation is something that has survived to this day, and is quite frankly, a beautiful preliminary rite.

I theorize and question why members of the Shangqing school would request help from the Gods to aid them in their chants and other religious activities. My conclusion: Even members of the Shangqing school knew, that we alone are not enough to beget magical transmutations. The Gods must aid us in our magical, religious, and mundane pursuits. We must have sincerity in our hearts, become as passive as possible, utilize the emptiness within us, and request to allow the Gods into our lives and work through us. Doing so, allows us to be a reflection of the Gods in all esoteric and exoteric endeavors. We become the Gods and the Gods become us. Such is what the petitioning the Gods and Divinely mapping them to our bodies is about!

Zhaungzi 23.17.1-2: Master Lao said, “How hard and anxiously you’ve worked at cleansing yourself! But your inner self so overflows with it that you still have what’s bad in you. When one’s outer is fettered, even the utmost dexterity fails to control it, so this blocks the inner; when one’s inner is fettered, even the tightest grip fail to control it, so this blocks the outer. If the inner and the outer are thus fettered, even [one who aspires to] the Dao and its Virtue fails to control them, so how less likely can one who conducts himself apart from the Dao!”

This quote from the Zhuangzi (translated by Lynn) gives way to passivity, sincerity, and emptying oneself to ultimately, as the Sangqing and by extension, Maoshan would have it, becoming vessels for the Gods to allow us to move with Ziran and Wu-Wei. Exercise and display Virtue all you wish, but if you are not empty inside to truly embody Virtue, you still have gunk in you. Try to use control and impose yourself and force the Gods to aid you; this fetters the outer and will bring calamity upon you. Having your inner unfettered, meaning becoming vastly empty and void, allows room for the Gods. Having your outside unfettered, the Gods aid you in your religious pursuits, and thus will position you in Ziran, and thus the self, family, and community will eventually sort itself out and abide with Ziran as well.

Dao De Jing 70 “Those who understand me are rare, and so, those few I treasure. It is for these reasons that the Sage wraps himself in coarse cloth while concealing jade in his heart."

To understand Laozi is to ask for His help, in my opinion. In doing so, your outer is unfettered and thus not displaying Virtue biasedly, but rather Virtue is displayed as Heaven displays its beneficent Virtue, humbly -- unbiasedly. This is a reason for dressing, and appearing humble. Concealing the Jade in your heart means to fast the heart-mind. Emptying the essence of your heart so that you make use of the Gods, specifically for this post, Lord Lao, the ontologically highest God under Dao inexhaustibly.

I cannot help to bring up some passages from the Liezi that I think give philosophical backing to this idea of "requesting help from Lord Lao (and all the Gods by extension).

Liezi 2 (translation AC Graham): 用志不分，乃疑於神. "Set your will on one aim, and be equal to the gods!"

Liezi 4: 在己无居，形物其箸，其動若水，其靜若鏡，其應若響。"If nothing within you stays rigid, Outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond like an echo."

How else does one be equal to the Gods? How else can you alone move like water, be still like a mirror, and respond like an echo? Ask the Gods for assistance! Prayer. Ritual. Visualization. Divine Landscaping the Gods into your body parts! Become the Gods and They become you, in so much as one has capacities to do so. Some have more capacity to become like the Gods, and others less. No one though is completely devoid of becoming like the Gods, and I believe we all should try to strive to become like our Gods, whether you are a Daoist, Christian, Hermeticist, or whatever.

What I am not suggesting is that by doing a Request the Master Spell (Lord Lao is the main "Master" here) will numerically equate with Lord Lao in any capacity. But it will allow you to reflect the qualities of Lord Lao in so much as each individual is capable of, and how it accords with their human nature (xing). Requesting the Master will allow you to bring true power to your inner practice: magic, your cultivation, religious chants, etc. This in turn allows you to outwardly move like water and respond like an echo (Ziran). That is your outward practice...which I think naturally begets one to live like a Confucian...but that is another post for another day once I've studied more (Neo) Confucianism. ;)

I cannot help but assume the Shangqing school had passages such as these in their minds when developing such preliminary invocations to petition the Gods for their magical and religious pursuits. So, how does one go about "Requesting Help from Lord Lao" to aid in their cultivation or other magical and religious pursuits? In @Chinesemagick's (on twitter/x) book Practical Chinese Magic https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Chinese-Magic-Jason-Read/dp/191415312X, we see a certain "opened-door-method" for requesting aid and permission from Lord Lao to aid and assist us theurgist and cultivators. Complete with how to properly set up an altar to Lord Lao, the proper offerings and placements, spells, and proper mudras.

The reason for such requesting and aiding in spells, chants, and the like is to build an ancestral connection with Lord Lao. Simply doing Daoist spells or cultivation methods is just not enough. Others may feel differently and have anecdotal experience to suggest otherwise. More power to them; sincerely, Gods bless them! They should trust the essence of their heart and experience. There is a path for everyone. This is just one path. The Dao of Maoshan. One's inner power is not unlocked just by simple cultivation meditations or chants. At our basest self, we have no real magical power. Connecting to a train of transmission, to the Great Master Lord Lao is what allows the adept to unlock their own inner power to truly cultivate different Qi's, place certain Gods to parts of the body, and thus transmute your own gunk into something either fearful and powerful, or something pleasant and helpful -- you get to choose and act accordingly.

To connect to the ancestral powers of the Master -- such is a fundamental step before any cultivation must begin. It took me 20 days to just get the Request/Permission method I was taught with any sort of efficacy -- then I knew I was ready to cultivate Golden Light (Tian Qi). Then, with the help of this most Precious God, I am beginning to, slowly but surely, transmute some baseness of myself. It's a two-way street. The Gods cannot do all the work for you, but you cannot do all the work either. Be One with the Gods, be One with Dao, for it is all One.

***I do not speak for Shangqing, Maoshan nor the author Jason Read whose book I linked. I speak for myself, and myself only!***

天人合一 tiānrén-héyī “Heaven and Man are One.” 福生无量天尊 fú shēng wú liàng tiānzūn “May the immense blessings of Heaven go forth with you.”