Magicka Ovriana

Part Two

Wiccan Version

The Wiccan versions of the Witch-bottle which follow are more suitable for the Wiccan view of the world, magick and ethics. They are often intended to capture the negative energies or prevent it from ever arriving and – what's important – prevent it to harm the home and its inhabitants. Many of these Wiccan versions are very much like the basic bottle described above, so it isn't necessary to repeat everything over. However, you can use wine, (apple) vinegar or blessed (salted) water instead or in addition to urine. The nails used may be new, etc.

Many Wiccan Witch-bottles use herbs, with the herbs being chosen according to their magickal qualities. There are sometimes very specific instructions given for the gathering of each herb and other items, including correct phases of the Moon. The herbs and other objects may be put in the bottle the previous day, letting the bottle stand by the witch's bed over the night. In the morning, you can add (morning) urine to the bottle, after which the bottle is closed and sealed utilizing Wiccan rituals. Some instructions state that the bottle will be placed in a cupboard or closet, so you don't necessarily have to carefully hide it.

The following instructions are a basic version of a Wiccan version of the Witch-bottle, using herbs. You can do everything using a longer/more complex or a shorter/simpler route, depending on your own inclinations. You can for example start collecting the necessary items on a given phase of the moon (for example on the day before New Moon) and perform the ritual on the next Dark Moon. Or, you can collect the items when you have time for it and build the bottle at any phase of the moon (with protective spells, you don't always have to wait for the right phase of the moon – you do it when you have to). You can utter a suitable spell with every item added to the bottle, summoning the spirit of the item/accessory and meditate for a while – or you can speak your chosen words after the bottle is filled. You can make the bottle as part of a ritual, or you can construct a ritual especially for this occasion. One reason why I'm being so vague with the instructions is that I'm not Wiccan myself.

Materials

* Bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap or lid * Sea salt * Crystal or stone, for example turquoise, obsidian or black onyx. * Herbs, for example acasia, aloe, lilies, lime, lotus, agrimony, corn, cayenne and black pepper, dried onion, salvia, frankincense, basil, mint, myrrh, garlic, rosemary, mistletoe, pine needles. * A few nails or needles * Wine, (apple) vinegar or urine * Thread * Black candle for sealing * The usual tools used in the ritual section

Preliminary Preparations

You can choose the herbs and crystals you are going to use according to their special qualities or use some of those I've listed. You can also use a drop or two of an essential oil instead of a herb. You can choose the number of herbs and solid items in general (in this case, essential oil is counted as “solid”) to put in the bottle on numerological grounds either so that the number of all solid items is a specific one, or that you will use a certain number of herbs. Suitable numbers are 7, connected to protection, or 9, connected with the Goddess.

Gather the necessary items. Clean the bottle you are going to use. Wash it with warm soapy water carefully (if you can use a specific soap made for protective purposes, so much the better) and dry it well. You can leave the bottle over night in the light of a full moon to charge it. Choose a place to hide the bottle. For a bottle to be filled as part of a ritual or ritually, it is a good thing to have all the necessary tools at hand, on your alter. You can also construct your ritual and spells and chants beforehand.

The purpose of the crystal (which isn't absolutely necessary, the list is given as an example – including the liquid items) is to use it's magickal qualities, the same goes with the herbs. The salt is there to purify and bless the target of the Witch-bottle (the person(s), home to be protected). The nails and needles ground the negative energy and you can also visualize it being then sent back to its sender, threefold. The thread tangles the negative energy in a knot similar to what you are tangling the thread into and to bend the energies away from the builder of the bottle. You can also visualize the negativity tripping over to the thread. The urine represents the builder of the bottle. When using wine or vinegar you can visualize the negative energies drowning in the liquid, with vinegar acting as a purifying element as well.

The Actual Making of the Bottle

If you're constructing the bottle as part of a ritual, you can perform the ritual opening as usual.

Start filling the bottle with the salt. After the salt, add needles or nails, bent or straight. After this, it's time to add the herbs. The crystals and the thread you've tangled into a “ball” can be added next. If you are adding liquids, that is done after the solid items.

When the bottle is otherwise finished, you can raise energies with a suitable chant (I've seen the traditional “Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna” recommended for this purpose) and directing it into the bottle, after which you close the bottle and seal it with the wax of the candle.

End your ritual as usual and bury the bottle into a suitable place or otherwise hide it. You can burn incense on the hiding place to seal the spell properly.

Witch-Bottle to Show Off

Witch-bottles that are intended to be left out in plain sight are not usually made to that much protect their makers, but to bring the one who has cast this bottled spell something she or he wants. The usual reasons are the reasons so common with other types of spell as well: the wish the gain more love, material gains, happiness, creativity.

I won't give any specific instructions, only basic principles:

Select the bottle or jar used according to its color, shape or the simple fact that it is pleasing to the eye. Go through the magical qualities of herbs, colors, essential oils, metals, crystals etc and choose the ones you'll use in the bottle according to how well they suit your intended purpose. You won't normally use any liquids (except for a few drops of essential oils) in bottles left in the open, they are “dry bottles”. Aim for a harmonious whole. That means: don't try to squeeze in your bottle every single herb or crystal associated with, for example, wealth. Too much is too much!

Pick a few suitable herbs or oils, one suitable crystal, one suitable color. To represent the color you can add (silk) ribbon to the bottle or tie a ribbon around it, or paint a symbol representing your goals with the chosen color. You can also make a “hat” to cover the lid of the bottle, making it out of black cloth and painting a symbol on it with fabric paint or magic marker, or use the color of your spell as the color of this “hat”. You can use colors as colored sands or salts. Even metals have their own magickal correspondences, so you might want to use metal dust or chips.

If you are following the phases of the moon or other celestial objects in your magick, take them into consideration while constructing the bottle. It is up to the bottle's maker whether to use a formal ritual or not.

As a basic principle, it could be suggested that sands (and metal dust/chips) usually go to the bottom, herbs and oils on the sand and the crystal in with the herbs.

Final Words

You can easily develop a large number of versions of the basic Witch-bottle to suit your (and others') needs and life situations. Even during the time historical Witch-bottles were in use, there were new versions being developed, so why not today?! There is no One True Witch-bottle (even though there probably are people who would like to claim so), only bottles more like the traditional ones and bottles of more modern variety. I have run into all kinds of bottles myself, some being love-raising bottles on the brink of going over the level of good taste and ethics (some actually going overboard) to bottles constructed to bind a given bad person very tightly. The many varieties speaks volumes for how effective this type of spell work can be and how versatile it is.

— [1] Oxoniana, vol. i. p. 232, tells how the bottle got its name: “One of the Fellows of Exeter (College), when Dr Prideaux was rector, sent his servitor, after nine o'clock at night, with a large bottle to fetch some ale from the alehouse. When he was coming home with it under his gown the proctor met him, and asked him what he did out so late, and what he had under his gown? The man answered that his master had sent him to the stationers to borrow Bellarmine, which book he had under his arm; and so he went home. Whence a bottle with a big belly is called a Bellarmine to this day, 1667.”

#Witchcraft #Paganism #Magick

Part One

Witch-bottles are probably quite familiar to many Pagans, at least as a concept. Witch-bottle isn't a poor little Witch in a bottle, or hold something Witches drink in their gatherings. They are more akin to a “bottled spell”. The tradition originates from British folklore, traveling with British immigrants to the Americas, if not further. Many modern Pagans have included Witch-bottles in their collection of spells, widening and diversifying this old tradition – and making it more comparable with their personal ethics.

A Bit on the History of Witch-bottles

The history of Witch-bottles goes back hundreds of years. The origins of this tradition has been dated to the 1500's. They were used most actively for a couple of hundred years. This is the same time when the Witch-hunts were going on. After this period, the tradition slowly waned. The last historical Witch-bottle was found in a cabin built in mid 19th century, in Pershore, Worcestershire (UK).

The actual bottle of a traditional Witch-bottle during the 16th and 17th century was a German stone bottle called “bartmann” or “bellermine” bottle. Similar bottles of stone material were manufactured in Holland and Belgium. The technique wasn't mastered in England before the 1660's and bartmann bottle manufacturing was rare in Britain.

The bottle got its name from a cardinal called Bellarmino only after the Witch-bottle tradition had already begun. These bottles had a round belly and they were decorated with a facial image of a grim looking bearded man and a medallion of stylized floral or natural imagery.

Even though these bottles were being manufactured actively in Germany long before the time of Bellarmino – who was against the Reformation – these bottles were given their familiar name as a satirical comment on the Cardinal. His bearded figure resembled the typical bearded man depicted on these bottles.[1] Later on, the bearded image was taken to represent the Devil, which suited well for Witch-bottles, after all — witches were considered as people allied with the Devil.

Glass bottles were also used, but according to my sources they were never as popular as Witch-bottles as were the bartmann ones.

Old Witch-bottles contained things like bent iron nails, human hair (head hair and pubic hair) and urine. Urine as an important ingredient of a Witch-bottle has been long known in folk traditions, but actual findings with the bottle still containing urine have been rare. However, all of the Witch-bottles found in England which were tested for urine, did prove positive. Other traditional items contained in Witch-bottles include small bones, thorns, needles, pieces of wood and in some cases heart-shaped pieces of cloth.

The bottles were most often found buried under the fireplace. Other sites include under the floor, buried in the ground there, and plastered inside walls. The fireplace is, from a magical point of view, a security risk as it has a straight connection with the open skies above. It was believed that the curse of a Witch or even a Witch herself in a shape-shifted form could get into a house through the fireplace. Another security risk was the doorway, as doors are opened and closed several times throughout the day. In addition to the fireplace, the bottles were often hidden near the doorway.

On the Original Uses

The most active period of Witch-bottle usage and the Witch-hunts don't coincide by accident. The fear of Witches produced ways of protecting oneself against them during times when slightest misfortune was easily interpreted as being caused by a curse put on one or another member of the family. From the point of view of a present day Witch, the original purpose for building a Witch-bottle wasn't that pleasant: they were intended to keep Witches and Witches' curses away. The contents of a Witch-bottle was designed to not only divert an attacking Witch, but also to cause her to suffer the agonies brought on by all the nasty things inside the bottle. To put it simply: to turn the curse back to the curser.

The urine in the bottle symbolizes the target of the curse. The curser and the target of the curse were believed to have a strong connection and the curse was believed to target not only its intended victim, but also the bodily fluids of the target. When the bottle was placed in a way that made it easier for the curse to meet with the urine (in the Witch-bottle) before the actual target, the curse hit the bottle and not its intended victim. This is why the bottles were usually hidden where they were. The importance of pubic hair and hair was similar to that of the urine.

Witch-bottles are very much a part of age-old traditions of sympathetic magic with its intentions of causing pain for the Witch with the contents of the Witch-bottle. According to folk beliefs, the use of Witch-bottles sometimes brought the Witch herself, writhing in agony, knocking on the door – begging for somebody to break the Witch-bottle and promising to reverse the curse.

The Witch-bottle was believed to be active as long as the bottle remained hidden and unbroken. People did go though a lot of trouble in hiding their Witch-bottles. Those buried underneath fireplaces have been found only after the rest of the building has been torn down or otherwise disappeared.

Modern-Witch-Bottles

Very generally speaking, the modern day Witch-bottles are very similar to historical Witch-bottles in their basic structure, even though their intended purpose has changed. The most common purpose for constructing a Witch-bottle today is capturing negative energies targeted at the constructor of the bottle, her family or her home. Even though some bottles are “mirroring” in nature, they aren't normally built to cause agony to the sender of negative energy/caster of curses. Some Witch-bottles are intended to change negative energy into positive one and then release it into the surrounding area. This kind of bottles could be classified as “guard and protect”-bottles.

The basic structure of Witch-bottles can be used for purposes other than protective: for financial gain, for helping with artistic creativity, to call forth positive energy (instead of “just filtering out negative energy”), for improving health, etc.

One could say that the basic principle is the following: practically speaking, a Witch-bottle is a container of some sort, usually a jar or a bottle, which is filled with objects and often also liquids which fill a given magickal purpose. The person making the Witch-bottle, or in other words, the one casting the bottled spell, can charge the objects magickally beforehand and build the bottle to work on this charging until the need of renewing the spell arises. Witch-bottles can also be built to recharge themselves by the energy they 'capture' for as long as the bottle stays unbroken, whether it be years or centuries.

Instead of magickally charging the items, one can build a bottle whose the powers are based on its contents, but cumulatively so, resulting with powers stronger than the sum of its parts. Also this version can be designed to be seasonal or “one time lasts a life time”.

What Do Modern Witch-Bottles Contain?

The typical contents of the basic protective Witch-bottle today is quite similar to that of the traditional one: bent iron nails (some say they are better if old and rusty while others say clean and unused are best), thorns, rusty razor blades, broken glass or pieces of broken mirror (some say breaking a mirror for Witch-bottle use causes bad luck, others claim that breaking a mirror for this particular use will not cause bad luck except for people sending negative energies to the bottle builder), or other sharp and dangerous “nasties”, urine of the bottle's builder, often also menstrual or other blood. One could use semen as the masculine counterpart for menstrual blood. The bottle is often a common tight-lidded glass jar, or a bottle with a rather wide mouth.

Other types of Witch-bottles may contain sand or different colored sands, crystals, stones, knotted threads, herbs, spices, resin, flowers, candles (no, you won't burn them inside the bottle), incense (you won't burn it either), votive candles, salt, vinegar, oil, coins, saw dust, ashes etc etc. Actually, everything used in “normal spells” can be used in this bottled version of a spell, the Witch-bottle.

Additional materials include candles and/or wax to seal the bottle/jar with. The rest of the materials depend on the ritual in question (if any) and the religion of the builder of the bottle.

On the Hiding Place

A Pagan living in their own house may be able to hide the Witch-bottle in the traditional way under the fireplace, under the floor, or in the walls. However, it is more common to bury the bottle in the yard in a place where nobody will accidentally break it while digging in the garden. One such place is behind stones under the stairs. For a Pagan living in a terraced house burying the bottle in the garden should work well – as long as you are careful not to attract too much attention to yourself while burying an odd object (the bottle) during the correct phase of the Moon, at night, with just candle light, wearing suspicious looking ritual garments.

Apartments can be a difficult place to live in when you're trying to find somewhere to hide a Witch-bottle. Or, at least it may seem like that! Digging a hole and burying the bottle in the yard may be not only difficult, but also quite likely not allowed. Nosy kids can dig the bottle up and hurt themselves on the contents. Not to mention that in the right (or wrong, to be more precise) neighborhood could cause lots of trouble for the Pagan attempting to hide a bottle in the yard.

However, the situation is not that impossible! The bottle doesn't need to be situated near the home in order for it to work. If you are constructing a bottle intended to be a personal safety guard, it can be buried in a forest or sunk in a swamp. With a Witch-bottle designed to guard a given home and those living in it, you can use a large flowerpot by the front door or on the windowsill to bury the bottle in to. In this case, the bottle should be small enough to fit in the flowerpot – with the plant!

Another idea I've heard is putting the Witch-bottle into a closet next to the front door, where it could easily do its job as a guardian and protector of the home and its inhabitants. However, this solution might cause some trouble if the same thing that happened to one Pagan happens to you: the Witch-bottle she kept in her closet worked very well – until it one day literally blew up. The bottle was of the very traditional type, so cleaning up after this wasn't that pleasant, as you can well imagine! While refining the idea further, we ended up putting the bottle in a covered bucket filled with soil and then putting the bottle inside the bucket in the closet.

For a Pagan still “in the closet” or living in something like student housing with a room mate these ideas may not be that usable. There's still no need to panic, as Witch-bottles can be made in miniature size, too. One witch working with test tubes in her professional life worked out recycling methods for test tubes as miniature Witch-bottles small enough to fit in the flowerpots on her windowsill. If you want to use test tubes, make sure you can close them tightly. There are also miniature bottles and jars available at various gift shops which can be used as well.

It should be noted that not all Witch-bottles are designed to be hidden away. Some are intended to be left out in the open, for example on the windowsill, on your altar or on your (work) desk.

Some Instructions

The next part contains some instructions for making Witch-bottles. I won't be including any particular instructions for rituals. First, because the exact rituals used depend on the religion of the person crafting the Witch-bottle and rituals aren't even always necessary. One doesn't even have Pagan religious inclinations for constructing a Witch-bottle. One of the persons who has made a Witch-bottle with my instructions is completely unaffiliated religiously, doesn't consider himself a Pagan, and is more or less an Atheist. He is, nevertheless, very happy with the results. Second, planning the ritual (if one decides to have one) can be considered an important part of constructing a Witch-bottle. As important as planning and gathering the objects used. Third, if you are using a pre-made ritual, you can easily end up repeating somebody else's words and copying somebody else's motions, without proper emotions. Finally, modifying things to suit you better is in this context not only allowed, it's recommended!

Basic Bottle for a Modern Witch

This is the tried and tested basic Witch-bottle, suitable also for modern day Pagans. The bottle is intended to be one that protects its maker, often also the maker's home and family, from negative energies. Depending on how the bottle is made and on the maker's Will, the bottle can be one that gathers the negative energies in itself (capturing), one that sends the energies back to where they came from (mirroring) or one that changes negative energy into positive (transforming). I would say, however, that this traditional Witch-bottle isn't the best suited one for the last option.

Materials

• Glass, earthenware or stone bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap. Size depending on how big you can easily hide. Size doesn't matter that much, so be reasonable.
  • Protective gloves for handling items you'll be putting in the bottle. A Witch-bottle won't help you much if you manage to get a blood poisoning while constructing one.
  • Wax or candles to seal the bottle. Black is a good choice.
  • Another jar for “potty” if you don't have one. Aiming isn't that easy, especially if you're trying to hit something like a Witch-bottle. So, you'll need something to pee into – and of course you'll need your urine.
• All kinds of “nasties”: Nails, rusty and bent (you can bend them yourself, too). Pieces of barbed wire, thorns, burrs, pieces of glass and/or mirror, needles etc.
  • Some things to choose from: Menstrual blood or semen. You can drain menstrual blood from your menstrual pads or tampons. In order to get semen – well, you do know how to get it. Word of advice, though – if you are using sex magick as a part of your Witch-bottle building ritual, do try to remember that you were supposed to collect some of the semen to use in the bottle. It's not that easy to collect it out of your partner, you know. Other blood – get a sterile needle from the pharmacist and remember to buy some band-aids as well. You can also add your pubic or other hair to represent yourself. An egg can also be included.
  • Bandages should be readily available, in the case something happens. A lot of the stuff you're putting into the bottle is sharp.

Preliminary preparations

Gather all the necessary items, your bodily fluids being the very last ones as you don't want to store them even for a day. You can collect other items intended for a Witch-bottle over a long period of time, storing them until you have all the necessary items and enough of them. Items found on the ground suit the purpose well. Cut metal items into smaller pieces if necessary so that they fit into the bottle you've chosen. If you're using a very small bottle, remember that will need only a very very small number of each item or alternatively small items (broken needles, tiny nails etc).

Choose a date to suit your magickal workings best and plan your ritual, if these things are important for you. Waning moon is often considered a suitable time for building a Witch-bottle. The ritual can consist of just the visualization of the bottle's intended use.

You can use the following to help with your visualization:

Your bodily fluids are intended to symbolize yourself, they are part of your essence and are traditionally used in magick. Instead of having the negative energies hitting you, they hit your “representative” in the Witch-bottle, the part of your essence.

For a capturing bottle: The “nasties” inside the bottle are intended to capture the negative energies – the metal captures them, the glass confuses and cuts them, the thorns puncture them and iron (and egg) dissolve them. You can visualize the negative energies drowning in the urine. If you are building a mirroring bottle, visualize the glass and mirror mirroring the negative energy back to its sender or to grounding it to earth. For a transforming bottle you can use colored glass and visualize the negative energy transforming into positive one before continuing on its journey forward to benefit you, your home or the universe.

Choose the place to hide your Witch-bottle before you make it. Be sure you have all the necessary equipment like a shovel. By the time the bottle is finished, it's too late to start pondering “but where will I put this thing?” If you are going to bury the bottle in the ground, choose the place so that people or animals will not dig it up.

The Actual Making of the Bottle

Have all the necessary equipment and items at hand in a place you consider best suitable for the task, at a time most suitable for you. Cast a circle, if you feel one necessary. You can build the bottle and have your ritual at the site of where you will hide it or do everything else in one place and then take the ready bottle elsewhere to be buried.

Fill the bottle with items you've chosen until they form a disgusting mixture. Shake the bottle to mix the items, if necessary. If you are including an egg, don't break it and add it as the last of the solid items. Remember to leave enough room for it as well.

After this, add urine, menstrual blood or semen, or prick your finger with the sterile lancet and add as the very last thing a few drops of your blood. You won't need large amounts, blood and semen are considered potent, so few drops will do.

Close the cap or lid and seal the bottle. You can carve symbols of your choice (for example runes, a sigil), being careful not to break the seal. If this happens, remove the wax and start the sealing process again.

If you are going to go to another place to hide the bottle, clean up after yourself especially if there is any chance that somebody else will get to the place where you were building your bottle before you come back from hiding it! If you did cast a circle before starting, take it down. Remember to ground yourself (if you are creating the bottle at the place where you're hiding it, you can do this afterwards).

Travel to the hiding place and hide your Witch-bottle in a suitable manner. Banishing words suit the situation well and if you don't know how or don't want to use traditional banishing spells or something similar, you can even swear like a drunken sailor! You can bury the bottle upside down, putting more nasties in the hole you buried around the bottle before covering it all up. If you are hiding the bottle somewhere inside your home, hide it the right way up.

#Magick #Witchcraft #Paganism

At some point of the journey there comes a time when you feel like you're ready to cut lose from just reading and talking, proceeding to actually doing something – in this case, to performing rituals. There are plenty of pre-made rituals available in books and on the net, so it's only the question of taking the texts in one hand and starting to ritualize? Well, that is one approach and nobody is saying that it couldn't be a workable and giving one. However, this time the approach is somewhat different – one stating that it's good to not only know how something is done, but also why.

1. Know the Backgrounds

When you're practicing your religiosity and magick alone you are lacking (out of your own initiative or simply due to the lack of a suitable group) people who would be there teaching you the basics hands-on. So, your own initiative is of prime importance. Texts and descriptions of rituals do tell much, but they don't always explain the backgrounds any closer.

To start a ritual project, you can head out to research with the help of various sources the very meanings of a ritual. Why you're supposed to say what is said in the ritual and why you're supposed to do what is said you should do. In every single better constructed ritual the words and gestures mean something and you will get so much more out of the ritual when you are aware of the meanings. Do not settle for knowing the right words – know why you are supposed to say them. Do not (for example) just call on certain deities – find out why you are calling them in this particular ritual. Do not think gestures are just gestures – know what they mean. All this may take time, but it is worth it.

2. Learn the Ritual

You can do a ritual while holding the script in front of your nose, but it won't be that smooth.

You can split the ritual into suitable sized pieces, rehearsing them one by one until you know them by heart. This way you can eliminate the “but… do I really remember what I'm supposed to do?” -factor by the time you move to actually doing the ritual and concentrate on the actual rite. Rehearsing and refining gestures can make a nice evening schedule and going over the texts in your mind can give you something worthwhile to do while you are, say, waiting for the bus to arrive. When the little pieces are going smoothly, you can combine them to larger fragments and finally piece all the fragments together to form a whole.

When you are at that stage, you can go through the whole ritual “without the spirit” – that is, without trying to achieve anything other than rehearsing – as many times as you need.

3. Make It Yours

When you have actually performed the ritual so many times it goes smoothly and gives the results it is supposed to give; it's time to make the ritual yours. In this context, making the ritual yours doesn't mean developing your own versions of the texts and gestures, as writing your own ritual is quite another subject indeed. You could compare this to the world of acting, as rituals could be likened to plays. Psychodramas, one could say. The same play can be performed in a multiple of ways, even if nobody changed a single word in it. Each actor past the stage of mimicking another actor's style brings in his or her own interpretation, making the role alive.

When you're only starting out, you are always more or less a “mimicker” while doing rituals other people have written. With the confidence brought on by doing you can little by little develop into a “virtuoso” of your own religiosity and magick working.

#ritual #magick #paganism

A Creation Story

In the beginning there was Chaos. Chaos was not being, nor non-being. There was no light, nor darkness, no depth nor undepth, nor height nor unheight. There was absolute nothing, filled with potential to everything and the Potential and the Nothing were One.

Ages went by as they will always do and the Chaos of nothing and everything in one and neither stirred. Nobody and everybody knows why Chaos stirred – it was what was to be.

The Will to Live was born, but with hir was born hir ever-present twin, the Inevitable Death, as there will be no life without death, nor death without life, as there is no Light without Darkness, nor Night without Day. Neither Will to Live nor Inevitable Death are good nor evil.

Then Will to Live and the Inevitable Death breathed onto and into each others, making love to each other, with the blessing of the Chaos who never seeked to be Divided, nor to be Unified because with Hir everything is already nothing and everything.

And they created all forms of life and all forms of death as none will be without the other.

So the Will to Live created ever new ways to live and the Inevitability of Death silenced them, but Death is always a step behind the Life, as Death will not take the yet unliving, as there is nothing for Death to take. Nor will Life be born without the yet undied, as there is nothing for Life to grow on.

Thus will the dance of Life and Death ever go on, until Chaos stirs again.

And Chaos looked at it all, and said -

I am the Beginning of it All. I am at the Unborn and the Undying. I am not evil. I am not good. I am. I was here before there was here and will be here after it All has ended. Fear me not, though I know you will as the fear of me is in you lest you look beyond the Will to Live and the Inevitable Death. Embrace me and never stay the same.

#Paganism #Deities

The general public is usually familiar mostly with the so called Olympian gods and goddesses along with a few others, but the Greek pantheon includes also other lessed known deities. Some of them were “lesser know” for even the ancient Greek, as there wasn't proper cult or organized worshipping connected to these deities. One of these is Khaos (Chaos). There's rather little information available in our time about Khaos, considering her part in the birth of the world and other deities in the Greek mythology.

The earliest written references on Khaos can be found in the book “Theogony” by Hesiod, who lived in the 700's before common era. In Theogony, Hesiod describes the birth of the world and the Gods, as well as Greek mythology.

The word “Khaos” means space, gap, darkness and void, referring to Khaos as that which is between heaven and earth. Khaos was also calles – albeit rarely – as Poros ('passage, contriver, intriguer') and Aeros ('air').

When the world begun, Khaos was there. She is the goddess who predates everything else – gods and even the world. After Khaos arose Gaia (earth), Eros (love) and Tartaros. Without a mate, Khaos gave birth to Erebos (darkness) and Nyx (night). From the love between these two, were born Aether (light) and Hemera (day; according to Bacchylides, Hemera's father is Khronos). Nyx also bore other children – Moros, Ker, Thanatos, Hypnos, the Oneiroi, Momos, Oizys, the Hesperides, the Keres, the Moirai, Nemesis, apate, Philots, Geras and Eris1, who are all spirits affecting human lives (daimones).

Hyginus, who wrote in Latin in the 100's, relates a slightly different story in his listing of gods Mythographi Fabularum Liber. He wrote: “Ex Caligine Chaos” – Khaos woas born out of moisture, fog. Hyginus continues to tell how out of Khaos and fog were born also Nox (Nyx), Dies (day, Hemera), Erebus (Erebos) and Aether. That is, Khaos is the mother of not only night and darkness, but also day and light.

Khaos with her offspring form the more “etheric” side of the world in the Greek mythology, consisting of deities of seasons, personifications of states of consciousness (from dreams to deaths) and spirits of feelings and states of mind. Some sources do say, that Khaos was originally an ancient goddess of ear, mist and fog.

There are few mentions of Khaos in addition to her role in the birth of the world. In his account of Zeus' fiery fight with the titans, Hesiod describes how an astonishing heat took over Khaos and how it seemed as though Gaia and Ouranos had rushed towards each others and met. This gives an impression of Khaos moving away from her usual place between earth and heaven. Later on Hesiod tells that titans who lost the battle are now residing behind the gloomy Khaos, far away from all the gods.

In his Birds, Aristophanes offers a glimpse of Khaos as something other than “the first one of all, who merely exists”. He gives and account of the beginning of times, when the only ones existing were Khaos, Nyx, the dark Erebos and the deep Tartaros. There was no earth, air or sky yet existing. The dark-winged Nyx laid and egg in the bosom of Erebos' endless depths and after times had passed, gold-winged Eros hatched from this egg. Eros made love with Khaos in Tartaros and Khaos has wings as golden as those of Eros. This union gave birth to the birds – the first ones to see the light. Birds tells about birds and at this point, relates the story from birds' point of view, so describing the gods as having bird-like wings makes sense. However, many Greek deities, especially those who descended from Khaos, were often depicted having wings, so Aristophanes' story can give you a clue of what Khaos might look like.

Khaos is also present in the story of Alkmene, the woman who got seduced by Zeus who took the form of her husband and who then bore Zeus' son Heracles. Zeus had just won the battle with the titans: the highest among the gods were now the Olympians and on the top-most spot was Zeus himself. However, he was well aware that those closest to Gaia's (the source calls them “relatives”) Okeanos (sea), Nyx and Khaos still existed, hiding and lurking at the far corners of the universe and that some day, the gods would be defeated like the titans were.

Later sources often describe Khaos as nothing but a chaotic mixture of the elements – lifeless and formless, nothing-yet. Khaos is described as merely a state before the world and order, not as a goddess or even a deity. Paraphrasing Ovid (from his book Metamorphosis): before there sea, earth or the heavens arrived, there was only the uniformly desolate Khaos, primitive and undeveloped. Khaos didn't achieve anything other than heaviness and just being a tangled mass of all the elements. These later accounts may be the result of the increasing importance of the Olympic gods in the expense of other, earlier gods. “Khaos as an impersonal nothingness, the beginning of it all but lifeless” is the description you are quite likely to run into in books dealing with Greek mythology (if there actually is any mention of her), as well as in general books on mythology.

What about Khaos today? Can Khaos be worshipped, honoured? Is it possible to include Khaos in one's own personal religiosity? I don't see any reason why not. Khaos may be “a goddess without myths”, but this doesn't make her “a non-existing goddess”. Neither does lack of historical cults worshipping her. Personal gnosis – one's own personal revelation and information derived from interacting with a deity – may get more importance in addition to historical information with Khaos and other deities like her, especially when compared to those gods where there is a large amount of information available in this day and age.

Khaos may seem primordial and maybe even distant, but even the ancient Greek didn't declare her dead. Why should we?

1) Moros – doom; Keres – death-spirits, personifications of violent death; Thanatos – death, personification of non-violent death; Hypnos – Thanatos' twin brother sleep; the Oneiroi – dreams, the most skillful and important out of thousand Oneiroi were Morpheus, Ikelos / Phobetor and Phantasos; Momos – mockery, blame, criticism (he was expelled from heaven for mocking the gods...); Oizys – pain, woe; the Hesperides – the three daughters if evening; the Moirai – the fates; Nemesis – anger and retribution; Apate – deceit; Philotes – affection, friendship; Geras – old age; Eris – discord. Eris, who is nowadays best known for being the “Goddess of Chaos” of especially Discordianists, is the grand-daughter of Khaos.

Sources:

• Aristofanes: Birds
• Hesiodus: Theogony
• Hyginus: Mythographi fabularum liber

• Ovidus: Metamorphoses

• Bellingham, David: En Introduktion till Grekisk Mytologi

• Leeming: Encyclopedia of Creation Myths

• McLeigh, Kenneth: Myths and Legends of the World, the Complete Companion to all Traditions

• online: Theoi project http://www.theoi.com/

#paganism #deities

Liber III vel Jugorum as a tool for self-control

When using magick, being able to control one's primary tool, oneself with all the different sides and features one has, is very important. By being able to harness one's whole essence including the mind, body and language to the working at hand gives the magick worker a more powerful set of tools than what a mage with less self-control and weaker self-awareness has.

One method of training yourself to be a more effective for magick is to use Aleister Crowley's Liber III vel Jugorum[1] as your tool. At the same time, you are also able to get yourself more into your own control – thinking what you are saying and doing, as well as controlling your thought patterns.

Jugorum, “book of the yoke” divides the fields to be trained into three beasts: the unicorn, the horse and the ox. All these should be yoked “in a triple yoke that is governed by One Whip” instead of having them running wildly. Jugorum can be used not only as a stand-alone practice, but also as a part of preparing for a larger workings; especially before starting more persevering and continuous operations requiring not only self-control but also self-awareness – for example larger invocation/evocation projects or starting to learn a new system/technique.

As a stand-alone practice Jugorum works well as a periodical “re-gaining self-control” and a working intended to be compared to previous results of practicing the Liber III. It can also be used as a changing point between one phase of life and another – to create an intermediate period of “no phase”, devoted to self-contemplation, in preparation for the next phase. Furthermore, this versatile exercise can be used to pulling oneself back together when practicing has turned sloppy and to stop a working that has started to pall on you or is going badly, in order to study possible reasons for things not going the way they are expected to go.

References towards being wild and unruly can be interpreted as pointing out how “automated” people usually are in their day-to-day life. Their speech is littered with unnecessary refrains like “you know” or simpler “umm”, as well as with fixed expressions and points of view. Certain stimuli trigger always the same kind of response, without thinking. Even manners repeat the same habits – you sit down and lift one knee over the other, fidget your pen or your hair… All in all, there are many kind of mannerisms you don't usually pay any attention to. Thoughts are ruled by old and tried trains of thought and strong but often unquestioned ideas of who “I am” and how “I” usually do things.

Jugorum's exercises make you pay attention to your own actions, remove what you've deemed unnecessary, map yourself and train yourself to be your own master. Each of the exercises last a week minimum and in addition to the exercises given in Liber III, Crowley advices you to make up your own exercises.

Jugorum isn't a quick route to magickal innovations or stronger capabilities and the results gained vary according to the goals set by each practitioner. However, the exercises do help along the way. There's no use in starting an exercise and then stopping in the middle of it, even though you might feel like you weren't gaining anything from it. Even though the changes would be small and even unnoticeable, in the long run (the only one that really matters) they can be remarkable.

Unicorn, Speech

Rule thy Speech! With the speech (and other communication) exercise, you start by picking a target which is then removed from use of language. In the first form of this exercise, you'll avoid a word you commonly use, for example “and”, “but” or “the”. In the second, you'll avoid using a certain language. In the third one, what's being removed is “self” – the every pronoun and adjective referring to first person. With each of these, you will not simply miss the word to avoid, you'll work your way around it.

The level of difficulty can be fine tuned from very easy to such difficulty where you need to shift the gear of your brain completely. Very easy – too easy to be of any practical use and also too easy to be in accordance to the spirit of Jugorum – would be, say, to choose to remove î or “oui” and then communicate solely in English. On the other end of the scale would be removing a whole set of concepts or means of expression from your speech. In any case, you should reconstruct the thought patterns affecting speech and to really pay attention to what you are about to say or write, before the words get out of your mind. The target should be a word, letter or concept (like “I”) you are using constantly, maybe even too often. For this exercise to be of use for you, do communicate with people as much as you usually. Spending a week alone and in silence gets you off easy, but you won't gain anything from it.

While following the speech part of Jugorum, you'll notice how much you are actually using a certain expression in your daily life without actually thinking about it. At the same time, you'll likely start noticing other people's methods of communication better then before, how much others are (over) using the expression you are avoiding – which is naturally where your attention will most likely be concentrating on in others – and how much of their communication is “automated”. Insights upon yourself and finding new points of view are rather common “by-products” from doing Jugorum. The over all results will vary according to the exercise and the practitioner.

My own standards set for myself when doing a communication exercise, be it Jugorum or Jugorum-based, is that people who are not aware of the exercise going on, would not notice anything being different from normal. Going around the target should happen skillfully enough to not draw any attention towards itself. The slightly longer pauses in speech can be noticed, but it shouldn't be too obvious as to get people asking questions.

Generally speaking, you'll just return to your normal language usage after the exercise. Exceptions from this rule are the occasions, when the target has been those manners of speech or expressions you intended to rid your speech from, completely or partly.

This kind of communication exercise is a useful tool for training, as language affects the mind, mind affects the reality, reality affects the language and vice versa.

Horse, Actions

Rule thine Action! The examples given in Liber III point your attention to ordinary everyday gestures and motions – the kind of which you don't usually pay any attention to. The first example advices avoiding lifting your left arm above your waist, the second mentions avoiding crossing your legs.

As the gestures are so common, controlling them can be surprisingly difficult. Our bodies “live their own lives” and small everyday motions come naturally. When you're thinking, your fingers may fidget with your pen. When you sit down, you'll adjust yourself to your favourite position. When you're feeling puzzled, you may start running your fingers through your hair. When your spouse walks by, you may give him a little pat on his bum, etc. Being aware of your own gestures brings along an extra loop of thinking to your daily life, even when there is only one gesture you are focusing on avoiding. When you're focusing on gestures that are usually controlled not by thought, but “come from your spine”, you are also training your mind to be more focused and alert.

You can use the horse-training part of Jugorum to train yourself out of addictions and other so called bad habits, but the results may be considerably weaker than using the same exercise for culling out automatic gestures for a week or more. If you're a caffeine addict, a cup of coffee may well feel worth the punishment you get from slipping. When it comes to bad habits, you are usually aware of them even before the exercise, so focusing your mind to concentrate on something you don't usually think about doesn't happen.

This exercise of gestures or motions helps to heighten awareness of your own body and to train it to act more according to your will. Extending your consciousness to the smallest gestures of your body fine tunes not only your mind, but also your body to be better in using magick. Many rituals include certain gestures and signs, which aren't there only to bring flamboyance to the ritual and to help the Mage to move from one point to another. By fine tuning your mind to be more aware of your body, you can gain more understanding of these gestures and make them more meaningful for you. You aren't just doing the gestures or signs, you are starting to be more aware of them and to experience their meanings on a practical level, instead of just reading the meaning of a gesture from a book and thinking in some level of your consciousness the meaning if it while doing it. Furthermore, gestures and signs used in rituals may appear in your dreams while doing this exercise, giving you more information about themselves, possibly providing you with better insight than before.

Ox, Thoughts

Rule thy Thought! Jugorum includes two differing exercises for training the mind. The first one is similar to those controlling speech and action: you are avoiding thinking about a certain subject and everything connected with it. You're advised to pick a target you are usually thinking about rather often, something that sensory input or other people's conversations stir in your mind frequently.

The other example given differs from the earlier ones. This one advices you to create two clearly different personalities (A and B) for yourself. What personality is “on”, is defined with some type of tool, for example by switching a ring from one finger to another. The created personalities should be distinct, with the main features being connected to the basic needs of life. When the ring is on the Person A's finger, you shouldn't let any Person B's thoughts to enter your mind and vice versa.

In Crowley's example peson A is passionate, skilled in Qabalah, a vegetarian and “reactionary” politician. Person B, in turn, is an ascetic thinker, occupied with work and family, eats meat and progressive politician. You can choose the opposites better suiting yourself by looking at everyday issues important to you and then dividing your opinions in two camps.

In effect, you can choose between a paradox and a paradigm. The paradox is created by completely avoiding thinking about something, but still being aware of it. The paradigm is connected to controlling the paradigms of two different personalities, without unbalancing your own mind.

The mind is the most important tool of the Mage, so training it shouldn't be considered of minor importance. Looking closer at the example exercises given by Crowley, you can spot benefits of doing the ox-part of Jugorum to your magick usage. Shutting a certain subject out of your mind trains yourself to be able to shut out of the reality of your mind thoughts, thought patterns and frames of mind that could be negative from the point of view of your different magickal workings. Having trained with working with two different “I”s, you may be better able to “put on your Mage's personality” when you switch from everyday reality to the reality of magick use, helping with the change of the state of consciousness for those who do not differentiate between everyday life and magick, too.

With the paradigm exercise you can also allow your more sceptical sides to exist without disturbing the usage and results of magick. You do not need to cull your scepticism – that doesn't pay, it is a useful too – when you can allow it to manifest, separately from the strong belief in magick while practicing.

Tools of Control

Earlier on, I mentioned the punishment you get from slipping. The main tool of control in Jugorum is very primitive – physical punishment you are giving yourself. In addition to this, you should keep a diary on your exercise.

The advice given by Crowley is grim: “On each occasion you slip to say/do/think that what you have sworn to avoid, cut yourself sharply on the wrist or arm with a razorblade.” Advancement is monitored in two way: “Your arm then serves you both as a warning and as a record. You should write down your daily practices, until you are perfectly vigilant at all times.” (quotes paraphrased) Perfectly vigilant. That is, no avoidable words should come from your lips or your pen, no forbidden gestures from your body, nor uprooted thoughts should enter your mind.

Razorblade as a punishment is very demanding and most people who do Jugorum exercises aren't using it. The most common form of punishment seems to be a rubber band around the wrist. When you slip, you snap the rubber band, hard. I have used that method and while doing my first exercise, I sometimes considered switching to the razor blade method as a less painful option…

Other methods I've heard or read about include a pocket-size gizmo which gives electric shocks (which truly isn't advisable!), slapping yourself on the cheek and one apparently very effective method (probably due to the embarrassment factor included) of dropping down to do push-ups no matter where you happen to be. Some consider the embarrassment you get from knowing you've slipped to be punishment enough.

If you choose to use rubber band or other methods of punishments that do not leave marks on your skin, the “book keeping effect” (counting the number of mistakes from your own skin and comparing different times of doing Jugorum with each others) is lost. The rubber band will leave red marks, but they are hard or even impossible to count. However, you can take to carrying a pen and drawing a line on your arm after each punishment. You can then mark down the lines into your diary daily and keep an eye on your development this way.

1) Liber III vel Jugorum is a class D publication, official rituals and instructions, in the classification of Thelemic literature.

#Magick #Thelema #Rituals

Visualization: the ability or skill to see something that doesn't 'really' exist in front of your eyes, either keeping your eyes closed or open. Also, forming and using a clear mental image, used in magick. Simple! Everybody can do it, if they only practice hard enough! But what if you simply aren't visually oriented and your visual imagery works better when “images” are actually heard, felt, smelt or tasted, or when they are metaphors? What if you can't see anything when you close your eyes, but your other senses or one of your other senses work quite well?

When you look at basic articles dealing with visualization, almost every single one of them will concentrate on visualization as something sight-based, as if there were no other options or if the other options were quite unimportant or effective in magick or meditation. The importance given to sight can be seen in the terminology used: visualization is the general term used to cover also the practice of forming mental images with other senses than sight.

When it comes to dominant senses, people who are visually oriented form the largest group, but there are still plenty of people who don't think or dream in pictures. According to some statistics, audio-oriented people are the second largest group, while people who have touch or movement as their strongest sense, or who have scent/taste as the strongest sense when it comes to dreams, memories, and mental “images” are left to form smaller minorities.

When your strongest sense is something other than sight, all the talk of visualization as something connected only to seeing can cause feelings of being inadequate and even worrying if one can even use magick. This is quite understandable, as visualization is explained as something that is very important for being able to use magick, even a precondition for it. When given practices center on developing sight, trying and failing can make you doubt your own skills and make you feel like there's nowhere to go. If the instructions of your traditions tell you that you should be able to see the circle cast with your mind's eye and you can't do it, it isn't that strange you'd start doubting if you can do a ritual. What about spells? If you are supposed to see the result in order to succeed – are you doomed to failure if you simply don't function visually?

Visual “visualization” isn't the only possibility there is, so you shouldn't be too worried if you can't do it. Working magick, rituals, spells, meditations and what have you are perfectly possible for 'sightless' people as well! It can require somewhat more work, as texts and instructions are written for those who function in sight, but it is possible. By modifying exercises and instructions you can make them work for other senses as well. That modifying requires a bit of (creative) application, but you can do it. By working on your strongest sense, you may with time be able to make your other senses stronger. Even if you are visually oriented, doing exercises on other senses can help you in creating a more complete visualization experience.

Some Exercises

Here are some short, simple exercises to get you started:

As usual, it's good to have the place where you are doing the exercises somewhat dim and peaceful. Having people buzzing about and having other disturbances around don't exactly help with concentration. Part of the preparation is to sit comfortably, as you will be staying in one position for a length of time and relaxing yourself to a light trance state.

As a side note: it pays not to train yourself to be able to meditate or get into a trance only when it's perfectly peaceful. Total quiet or nearly so isn't always possible in situations where you need to work magick, nor is requiring such sensible. When you get basics in order, start doing your exercises where there are external disturbances.

Sight

A basic exercise one is often given is a candle-based one. Here's one version: Light a candle and have it stand at your eye-level about two feet away. Look at the flame, inspect and study it, its movements and colors, how the flame stands out against the dark background. Concentrate all your attention to the flame until it's practically all you can see. Then close your eyes, still facing the candle, and start building up the image of the flame using your mind's eye. In the beginning you may see only a faint glimpse of the flame, but don't panic – exercises take time. If your concentration breaks and the image disappears, try building it again without opening your eyes. When you can keep the image in your mind for a long period of time, try adding the movement of the flame, then expanding your exercise later on so that you can see the whole candle. You can also start modifying the image in your mind by making the candle larger, changing the color of the candle or the flame – whatever you can think up. Clarity is more important in this exercise than the time you can keep it up. With time you won't need stimulus to start with, that is, the candle to watch.

Note that some people can visualize in two dimensions, but not in three. If you're one of the two-dimensional people, work with that ability – don't feel lacking because you aren't a “three-dimensional visualizer”.

Hearing

If you're one of those people who has an internal jukebox playing songs and sounds out on its own initiative, or who remembers discussions down to the tones of voices, you can learn to “visualize” sound. Starting to exercise with “auralization” (“visualization by the ear”) doesn't really need stimuli. However, it pays to rehearse your aural memory to work under your will, also to meditate on soundscapes. You can add concentrating on a certain sound and examining it while meditating; rehearsing single sounds, tunes, rhythms, repeated words (starting with, for example, type of mantras with no personal importance), sounds of nature, etc. If you have trouble clearing your mind of thoughts while meditating, you can try using soothing nature sounds like rainfall to “fill up your mind”.

One useful exercise is to transform a persistent “ear worm” (a piece of music, often a quite unwanted one, playing as a loop in your head) to something else, like a mantric sigil. For those who are less hearing oriented, the starting point can be meditating on repeated words, mantras or simple sounds, with a stimulus to reconstruct in your mind's ear or without one.

Touch

When it comes to exercising this sense, you can approach the subject through feeling touch, temperatures, air streams or presence. However, it's good to practice all of these. It is quite difficult to give any direct exercises, as the way each individual feels is rather personal. Therefore finding the way that fits you best is left to your own activities and aptitudes. It helps if you know a relaxation routine when you concentrate your thoughts on one part of your body at the time until it starts to feel warmer and it feels like a stream of air / gentle touch would be around that body part – that exercise can be modified to be used here.

Scent and Taste

The basic principle with “scent visualization” is the same as with sight visualization. Light incense and breathe in its scent. Let the scent fill your whole consciousness, excluding everything else. Concentrate on the scent, examine it in your mind from all angles, studying its effects on you – what it brings to your mind, how it feels. Let the incense burn all up, keeping the scent alive in your mind as long as you can. Later on, after the scent has all but disappeared from the air around you, concentrate and strive to bring the scent back to your mind using the associations you created. There's no need to worry if you can't do that straight away – you can always practice more. In fact, you should always practice more. Let the incense burn for a shorter period each time you do this exercise, trying to keep the scent 'visualized' a little longer than before, until you are able to 'visualize' it at will without the help of the actual incense.

For taste, you can work using the same principles as with scents. Other possibilities?

In the introduction to this article, I mentioned metaphors. You can use and develop 'word/verbal visualization' not only as a technique of its own right, but also in aiding and strengthening other imagery. You can use the previously described visual-visualization as the basics. Work otherwise like you did in the earlier exercise, but after closing your eyes describe – with words – the candle flame and then the whole candle as vividly as you can. Keep in your mind complete certainty of the candle's existence. Why wouldn't you be certain it is really there? After all, it does exist, even though you can't see it at the moment. If you would extend your fingers towards the flame, the flame would still burn your fingers – even though it is “visible” only as a description in your head. Take that certainty and be that certain when you are, for example, describing to yourself deities called in rituals. Yes, right, but what about all the rituals and stuff like that?

Exercising different senses as such doesn't solve the original problem, that is – how to manage with a weak or totally nonexistent visual-visualizing ability while meditating and working magick, and how to enrich one's sphere of visualization.

You could say that the basic idea is that of “mixing sensations”. That is, observing stimuli often associated only with one sense, with other senses as well. At the same time, taking into consideration all senses if possible, finding out your own strong and weaker senses for example by using the different exercises. Even “in real life”, what you experience of the world surrounding you is formed by all of the senses you have working together, not through one singular sense. So, why would things be one-sense-dimensional in the world of magick?

You can start bringing down the walls separating each of the senses by, say, asking yourself what does the taste of a given feeling sound like, what a taste feels like, what does the sound of a scent look like, what does the sight of a tune scent like, etc. To put it in other words, by questioning the limits of possibilities and bending your mind to accept the idea that the possibilities of different senses are not set in stone – especially when the senses in questions are inside your own mind.

Instead of concentrating on what any given object (or 'object') looks like, you can concentrate on how they sound, feel, smell, taste. You can add sensations even to quite abstract subjects, choosing the associations according to your own experiences or the 'tables of correspondences' used by your religion or tradition, searching for connections crossing the boundaries of senses. One tool to use can be, for example, Aleister Crowley's Liber 777.

Discovering and writing down your own associations and correspondences is also quite a good exercise. You can expand your overall magick usage through building a network of correspondences speaking to you on a very personal level.

I'd say that one big reason for exercises, instructions for rituals, and so forth concentrate so much on sight is that it's the easiest way to explain. Unfortunately, at the same time many other possible approaches get overlooked. What also can get overlooked is that no matter what approach your visualization takes, the certainty in what you are doing and experiencing is more important than whether you are able to reproduce something in your mind. This “mere reproducing” happens all the time in your normal, everyday thought processes and few would call thinking visualizing. It may not even be possible to 'cut down' a visualizing or magick working experience and even when sight is playing the major role, it is (most often) only part of the experience.

With rituals, you can instead of (or in addition to) seeing symbols and other visualized parts, hear sounds associated with them, draw them as a trail of scent or feel their presence. While meditating, you can sense colors as scents, sounds or feelings. With spells, you can 'visualize' the result of the spell by hearing clearly, say, the company you applied to calling you and telling you that you got the job.

Bathe in imagery, whether the images were pictures or something else.

Some things you could ponder...

• What does blue smell like?
• What is the sound of a pentagram?
• What does a magickal circle feel like?
• What does a deity you are invoking (or evoking) taste like?
• How would you sense the energies of magick with all your available senses?

#Magick #Rituals #Meditation

The Ritual

Let the Adept be armed with his Magick Rood (and provided with his mystic rose).

In the centre, let him give the L.V.X. signs; or if he know them, if he will and dare do them, and can keep silent about them, the signs of N.O.X. being the signs of Puer, Vir, Puella, Mulier. Omit the sign. I.R.

Then let him advance to the East and make the Holy Hexagram, saying: “Pater et Mater unus deus Ararita.”

Let him go round to the South, make the Holy Hexagram and say: “Mater et Filius unus deus Ararita.”

Let him go round to the North, make the Holy Hexagram and then say: “Filia et Pater unus deus Ararita.”

Let him then return to the Centre, and so to The Centre of All (making the Rosy Cross as he may know how) saying: “Ararita Ararita Ararita”

(In this the Signs shall be those of Set Triumphant and of Baphomet. Also shall Set appear in the Circle. Let him drink of the Sacrament and let him communicate the same.) Then let him say: Omnia in Duos: Duo in Unum: Unus in Nihil: Haec nec Quatuor nec Omnia nec Duo nec Unus nec Nihil Sunt. Gloria Patri et Matri et Filio et Filiae et Spiritui Sancto externo et Spiritui Sancto interno ut erat est erit in saecula Saeculorum sex in uno per nomen Septem in uno Ararita.

Let him then repeat the signs of L.V.X. but not the signs of N.O.X.: for it is not he that shall arise in the Sign of Isis Rejoicing.

What?

This ritual is “related to” Lesser Hexagram Ritual (LHR), similarly to The Star Ruby being “related to” Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP). Before you start learning this ritual, it would be for the better if you were familiar with the three other rituals beforehand.

Let the Adept be armed with his Magick Rood

Rood is the mage's staff, lance. From a traditional point of view, “rood” isn't just another staff, but a longish staff with a shortish crossbar. Rood is also a phallic symbol, or when it comes to a male Mage, his penis, lingam. Rood is the active participant, the tool with which the mage is “armed” with.

(and provided with his mystic rose).

Of Mage's tools, the Mystic rose is the cup, the chalice. It is a feminine symbol, the yoni. Literally speaking, it is the vagina of the female Mage. In this ritual the mystic Rose is passive factor and a tool with which the mage is “provided with”.

The Rosy Cross demands both tools (or “tools”) to be present.

In the centre, let him give the L.V.X. signs

The sings of L.V.X. are the signs mentioned in LHR, points III-VI.

or if he know them, if he will and dare do them, and can keep silent about them, the signs of N.O.X.

This refers to choosing the sings according to the Mage's skills and knowledge. Keeping silent tells the mage to be silent and not say out loud the names of the signs, if he chooses to do the signs of N.O.X. With the signs of L.V.X., the names are spoken.

Skills and knowledge are advised to be taken into account, as different signs refer to different manners in which to connect the ritual with the Kabalistic tree of life. The signs of L.V.X. are connected with the Tiphareth and the signs of N.O.X. from Geburah to Binah.

being the signs of Puer, Vir, Puella, Mulier. Omit the sign. I.R.

The signs of N.O.X:

(N) Puer (Boy): Stand with feet together, head erect, right arm in a square (upper arm straight out from the shoulder, forearm straight up) and right thumb between its index and medius (called in Italy “mano in fico”), left fist at groin with thumb extended and pointing forward (attitude of the Gods Khem, Mentu, et al).

(O) Vir (Man): Stand with feet together, fists with thumbs thrust out forward held to the temples, the head bowed and pushed out, as if to symbolize the butting of an horned beast (attitude of Pan, Bacchus, etc.).

Puella (Girl): Stand with feet together, head bowed, left hand shielding the groin, right hand shielding the breast (attitude of the Venus de Medici).

(X) Mulier (Woman): Stand with feet wide apart, head thrown back, arms raised so as to suggest a crescent (attitude of Baphmet, Isis in Welcome, the microcosm of Vitruvius).

The fifth sign, Isis Rejoicing (I.R.) is not given.

Then let him advance to the East and make the Holy Hexagram

Interpretation on what actually is the Holy Hexagram used in the Star Sapphire varies. Often used variation is based on Alester Crowley's Book of Lies, chapter 69 “The way to succeed – and the way to suck eggs!” and the comments of that chapter. The chapter begins with “This is the Holy Hexagram” and describes, how “The Red Triangle is the descending tongue of grance, the Blue Triangle is the ascending tongue of prayer. This Interchange, the Double Gift of Tongues, the Word of Double Power -ABRAHADABRA!– is the sign of the GREAT WORK, for the GREAT WORK is accomplished in silence.”

The commentary to this chapter explains, how the number refers to Levi's (Eliphas) drawing of a hexagram and the criticism of, or improvement upon, it. “In the ordinary Hexagram, the Hexagram of nature, the red triangle is upwards, like fire, and the blue triangle downwards, like water. In the magical hexagram this is reversed: the descending red triangle is that of Horus, [..] It is the flame descending upon the altar, and licking up the burnt offering.) The blue triangle represents the aspiration, since blue is the colour of devotion, and the triangle, kinetically considered, is the symbol of directed force.” The explanation continues: “In paragraph 5 the symbolism of tongues is further developed. Abrahadabra is our primal example of an interlocked word.”

In the context of the Star Sapphire, the hexagrams used in LRH (Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram) are often recommended. However, of those hexagrams, only one (the hexagram of earth) fits the description of two interlocking triangles pointing in two different directions. Levi's hexagram is indeed the hexagram of earth.

(east) saying: “Pater et Mater unus deus Ararita.”

“Father and Mother (are) one god ARARITA”

(south) say: “Mater et Filius unus deus Ararita.”

“Mother and Son (are) one god ARARITA”

(west) say: “Filia et Pater unus deus Ararita.”

“Son and Daughter (are) one god ARARITA”

(north) “Filia et Pater unus deus Ararita.”

“Daughter and Father (are) one god ARARITA”

In the speeches of the four quarters, the Father, the Mother, the Son and the Daughter are interpreted to point to the formula of the tetragrammaton (Yod, Hé, Vau, Hé).

In the east, the hexagram is formed by Yod and Hé. Yod is the primal force of creation, the father who created himself. When he is combined with Hé, there will be formed the union of Father (Abba, Chokmah) and his equal Mother (Aima, bright fertile Mother, Binah). The Mother is the reflection of Nuit, as the Father is the reflection of Hadit. This is the first stage of creative process. Yod represents the fast and violent force of creation, which is followed by calmer but even stronger flux of will.

In the south, the hexagram is formed by Hé and Vau. The union of the earlier hexagram creates a Son, Vau – heir, redeemer, sun. The Son is the reflection of Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the descendant of Nuit and Hadit, who takes his father's place. The creative force gains a form. In the tree of life, this covers the sephirots from Chesed to Yesod (Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod).

In the west, the hexagram is formed by Vau and Hé (Hé final). Hé is both the twin sister and daughter of Vau. The duty of the Son is to redeem the Daughter by making her his bride. In this, the Daughter takes the Mother's place at the throne. The form is manifested and tensions released. The Daughter can also be seen as the Joy of Endlessness. With the arrival of Daughter, we have reached the final, tenth sephiroth – Malkuth.

In the end, there is the hexagram of the north, Hé and Yod, which returns the tetragrammaton to its beginning. Having taken the throne of the Mother, the Daughter Nukba de-Zauir (Malkath – “queen” and Kalah – “bride”), enlivens her father and returns both the tetragrammaton and the tree of life to their beginnings. This creates a cycle instead of linearity.

Ararita is and acronym of a Hebrew phrase – “One is His Beginning: One is His Individuality: His Permutation is One.” In the hexagram rituals it reinforces, that deity is, in the end, uniform in nature.

Let him then return to the Centre, and so to The Centre of All (making the Rosy Cross as he may know how)

In Magick in Theory and Practice Crowley talks about “Formula of the Rosy Cross” in a chapter dealing with blood sacrifices and similar. In this chapter Crowley refers to highly guarded secrets of the initiates, hints at the power of the ritual and discusses animal sacrifice. However, at the end you can find a note: “You are also likely to get into trouble over this chapter unless you truly comprehend its meaning.” In the reference, there is a reminder how Adepts are quite likely talking about something completely different, when they appear very straight forward…

By looking at the beginning of the ritual, you may get a hint on what Rosy Cross refers to in this context. Rose: feminine symbol, the vagina. Cross: rood, staff, masculine symbol, penis. That is, you can interpret the Rosy Cross as being sex magick.

You can also interpret the instructions in the ritual as referring to drawing a symbol. This symbol can be the Rosy Cross use by Golden Dawn – a cross inside a circle (like a 'sunwheel'), or the unicursal hexagram with the five-pedal rose in the middle.

saying: “Ararita Ararita Ararita”

Three “Araritas” make the final number of them seven.

(In this the Signs shall be those of Set Triumphant and of Baphomet. Also shall Set appear in the Circle. Let him drink of the Sacrament and let him communicate the same.)

Set Triumphant: The feet are together, the left arm is curved as if it supported a child; the thumb and index finger of the right hand pinch the nipple of the left breast as if offering it to that child. Baphome: see Mulier above.

You can interpret the appearance of Set in the circle as his appearance through the Mage (and as the mage drinking from the cup as Set), but also as an instruction to interpret the myth of Set and Horus, where Set is said to have claimed having had sex (anally) with Horus. The circle can in this context refer to Horus' eye, which is described in the Egyptian “Book of the Dead” also in the following manner: “My buttocks are the buttocks of the Eye of Horus.” Drinking the sacrament, in turn, can be interpreted as sexual pleasure.

Theodor Reuss of O.T.O. interprets the ritual in the terms of a sex magick rite: when the rood is the penis and the rose the vagine, the phrase “Let him drink of the Sacrament” means consuming the juices resulting from the ritual sex straight from the source. The sign of Baphomet fits this interpretation well, enabling mutual drinking for both sexes.

Then let him say: “Omnia in Duos: Duo in Unum: Unus in Nihil: Haec nec Quatuor nec Omnia nec Duo nec Unus nec Nihil Sunt. “

“All in two: two in one: one in nothing; these are not four nor all nor two nor one nor nothing.” Everything centres on two, the tools of the ritual, rood and rose, combined in the Rosy Cross. As the ritual progresses to Set Triumphant / Baphomet, this one vanishes into nothingness (Abyss). The rest refers to the hexagrams of the quarters and the tetragrammaton.

“Gloria Patri et Matri et Filio et Filiae et Spiritui Sancto externo et Spiritui Sancto interno ut erat est erit in saecula Saeculorum sex in uno per nomen Septem in uno Ararita. “

“Glory be to the Father and to the Mother and to the Son and Daughter, and to the Holy Spirit without and within, which was, is and shall be, world without end. Six in One through the names of the Seven in One, Ararita.” The text celebrates the ritual, the personifications of the tetragrammaton, the blurring of boundaries between inner and outer while the Mage is one with the universe, the hexagram (six in one) and the seven Araritas / in Ararita.

Let him then repeat the signs of L.V.X. but not the signs of N.O.X.: for it is not he that shall arise in the Sign of Isis Rejoicing.

L.V.X., lux, 'light'. N.O.X., nox, 'night'. Even if you had started the ritual with the darkness of the night, it isn't proper to return to it by the end of the working, but to rise into light and continue from that. When it comes to the last sentence, I've seen it explained to mean that Isis Rejoicing is a Magister Templi -grade sign and as such isn't for an Adept to do at the end of this ritual. That is, the signs of N.O.X. aren't told not to be repeated at the end of the ritual because they include Isis Rejoicing – that sign is left out even at the beginning of the ritual, but due to the light/dark aspect.

Sources include:

Aleister Crowley: 777 Aleister Crowley: The Book of Lies Aleister Crowley: Liber XXXVI The Star Sapphire Aleister Crowley: Magick in Theory and Practice The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn: The G.D. Glossary Budge (translator): The Egyptian Book of the Dead Nu Isis Working Group & Frater Ananael Qaa – Star Sapphire -commentary

#Magick #Thelema #Rituals

This ritual is to be performed after the “Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram”1 (more commonly called Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, LBRP).

The Ritual

I. Stand upright, feet together, left arm at side, right arm across body, holding the wand or other weapon upright in the median line. Then face East, and say:

II. “I. N. R. I. Yod. Nun. Resh. Yod. Virgo, Isis, Mighty Mother. Scorpio, Apophis, Destroyer. Sol, Osiris, Slain and Risen. Isis, Apophis, Osiris, IAO.”

III. Extend the arms in the form of a cross, and say: “The sign of Osiris Slain.”

IV. Raise the right arm to point upwards, keeping the elbow square, and lower the left arm to point downwards, keeping the elbow square, while turning the head over the left shoulder looking down so that the eyes follow the left forearm, and say: “The sign of the Mourning of Isis.”

V. Raise the arms at an angle of sixty degrees to each other above the head, which is thrown back, and say: “The sign of Apophis and Typhon.”

VI. Cross the arms on the breast, and bow the head, and say: “The sign of Osiris Risen.”

VII. Extend the arms again as in 3 and cross them again as in 6, saying: “L.V.X., Lux, the Light of the Cross.”

VIII. With the magical weapon trace the Hexagram of Fire in the East, saying: “ARARITA” (atirara).

Which word consists of the initials of a sentence which means “One is His Beginning: One is His Individuality: His Permutation is One.”

This hexagram consists of two equilateral triangles, both apices pointing upwards. Begin at the top of the upper triangle and trace it in a dextro-rotary direction. The top of the lower should coincide with the central point of the upper triangle.

IX. Trace the Hexagram of Earth in the South, saying: ARARITA.

This hexagram has the apex of the lower triangle pointing downwards, and it should be capable of inscription in a circle.

X. Trace the Hexagram of Air in the West, saying: ARARITA.

This hexagram is like that of Earth; but the bases of the triangle coincide, forming a diamond.

XI. Trace the Hexagram of Water in the North, saying: ARARITA.

This hexagram has the lower triangle placed above the upper, so that their apices coincide.

XII. Repeat I-VII.

The Banishing Ritual is identical, save that the direction of the Hexagrams must be reversed.

Commentary

In the Golden Dawn system, LRH is a ritual one receives after being initiated to the Adeptus Minor2 grade, which means it has been preceded by few years of study. It pays to be thoroughly familiar with LBRP before starting with LRH. The LRH introduces the practitioner to working with solar powers (the symbol used in this ritual is hexagram, a symbol of the sun) connected to the elements, in connection of both invocations and banishings. In the esoteric sense the solar power is manifested in all four elements, so one can “tap into” sun's energies in all its manifestations through LRH.

The ritual seems to be fairly simple, but closer look reveals a number of dimensions. As with so many other significant rituals, the deeper connotations will “open up” with studies. For this particular reason the meanings given in this commentary of the ritual are rather superficial.

One is advised to practise this ritual until the hexagrams drawn appear very vividly in air, almost strong enough to be seen by those witnessing the ritual.

Looking a Little Closer

I. – “Wand or other weapon”. Weapons include wands, staffs, swords, daggers and other “penetrating” tools of the Mage.

II. – “I.N.R.I.” This is a magickal formula, study its gematria. You can choose to use the meaning familiar from Christianity, it definitely isn't the only available option and even then it refers to an archetype, not a historical person. LRH is a solar elemental ritual and the I.N.R.I. formula has correspondences in elements, zodiacal signs, planets, gods etc.

. “Yod, Nun, Resh, Yod.” This is I.N.R.I. in Hebrew alephbet.

• “Virgo, Isis, Mighty Mother.” Virgo associates to Isis as a virgin, the Great Goddess, mother of Horus and wife of Osiris. This part, like all the others, have also qabalistic meanings.

• “Scorpio, Apophis, Destroyer.” Scorpio associates to Apophis, the Apophis-snake who destroys chaos in the Egyptian mythology.

• “Sol, Osiris, Slain and Risen.” Sol, that is, sun, associates to the slain and risen Osiris.

• “Isis, Apophis, Osiris, IAO.” IAO is a magickal formula. In its most simplified interpretation: I, Isis, nature who is spoled by A, Apophis the Destroyer and brought back to life by O, Osiris the Redeemer.

III – This sign is the Qabalistic cross, familiar from the LBRP.

IV – Mourning Isis, the sign represents also the swastika.

V – Typhon, the trident.

VI – Osiris risen, the pentagram.

VIII-XI – The hexagrams are situated in different directions according to astrological order. Each of the hexagrams used consist of two different triangles, but these triangles form four different hexagrams. Only the hexagram of south is the most familiar hexagram, known also by the name of “Star of David”.

The hexagram of fire represents the solar energy we can connect to. The hexagram of earth in turn represents solid, mobile and tangible solar energy, which forms matter. The hexagram of air represents the solar energy we can internalize and draw inspiration from. The hexagram of water in turn represents solar feelings we can sense.

The hexagrams are considered to be formed from two basic triangles, the basic forms of creation: fire and water. Therefore the hexagrams can be visualized bi-coloured. The upright triangle is the blue triangle of water and the downright triangle the red triangle of fire. The one exception is the hexagram of fire, which has both triangles one point up. With this hexagram, the first triangle is red and the second blue.

While drawing and visualising these hexagrams, you can meditate on each of them separately. With the hexagram of fire, you visualise fire as part of yourself and at the same time yourself as gaining the radiating power of the universe through the symbol. The hexagram of earth is visualised as being the expanding, inspiring and cleansing forces of the universe. Through the air we breathe, these forces become attainable and usable. The hexagram of water brings along the feeling aspects of sun and yourself, as well as love. The hexagram of earth in turn is the perfect material embodiment of creation. With this symbol, the qualities of the three other hexagrams are combined in perfect balance.

In the banishing form of this ritual, performed after the more microcosmically, internally cleaning and sealing LBRP, the LBRP banishes and protects the mage from outside forces and influences.

This ritual is said to have many effects on those who have internalized it; physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. All these because solar workings affect one's whole being.

Sources include:

• Crowley, Aleister: Liber O vel Manus et sagittae sub figura VI.
• Crowley, Aleister: 777
• Stavish, Mark: Notes on the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram

#Magick #Thelema #Rituals

Short Background Info

The first version of the Star Ruby was published in 1913, as the 25th chapter of “The Book of Lies” (BoL) by Aleister Crowley. Later, there was another slightly altered version of the ritual published in the Appendix VI of Crowley's “Book 4, Part III: Magick in Theory and Practice” (MTP). The ritual is also the Liber XXV in A.'.A.'.'s class D-publications (official ritual and instructions) and Liber XXV of OTO.

Star Ruby has been left in the shadow of the more widely known LBRP (Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram), even with Crowley pointing out in MTP's chapter dealing with banishings and purifications: “'The Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram' (as now rewritten, Liber 333, Cap. XXV) is the best to use” (p.104, Liber 333 is the aforementioned BoL). Some Pagans choose to rather use Star Ruby with its more Pagan symbolism than the clearly qabalistic LBRP with its archangels. Some Thelemites even consider Star Ruby as a joke played by Crowley on his students, which would explain why the ritual is less used. Another reason might be the less common – for a Ceremonial Magickian – choice of language and culture (Greek), which makes the symbolism of the ritual less easy to understand. Crowley didn't explain the ritual much either, basically only comments on numerological values and the commentary in BoL: “25 is the square of 5, and the Pentagram has the red color of Geburah. The chapter is a new and more elaborate version of the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. It would be improper to comment further upon an official ritual of the A.'.A.'.”

Analyzing beyond the traditional Thelemite sources combined with qabalistic analysis on numbers has pointed out that Star Ruby isn't just LBRP gone Greek, written as a jest with the archangels of Qabala replaced with Greek “archangels”, but a carefully constructed banishing ritual with thought-out symbolism.

The Ritual

The structure of Star Ruby is familiar for those who know LBRP. It begins with a qabalistic cross, there are pentagrams placed in each of the quarters, the pentagrams are charged with divine names, there's a part corresponding with LBRP's “Sign of Silence”, followed by an invocation. The ritual ends as it began, with a qabalistic cross.

Here are both versions of the ritual, provided with “pronouncing instructions” and translation. A small guide to read the text:

BoL-version / MTP-version in Latin alphabet pronunciation translation

***

Facing East, in the center, draw deep deep deep thy breath, closing thy mouth with thy right forefinger pressed against thy lower lip. Then dashing down the hand with a great sweep back and out, expelling forcibly thy breath, cry:

APO PANTOS KAKODAIMONOS apo pantos kakodaimonos Completely away (from here), Evil Spirits

With the same forefinger touch thy forehead, and say

SOI SOI Unto thee

thy member, and say

O PHALLE O phalle O phallus

thy right shoulder, and say

ISCHUROS ischuros strength

thy left shoulder, and say

EUKARISTOS eukaristos “honor” (blessing)

then clasp thine hands, locking the fingers, and cry

IAO IAO

Advance to the East. Imagine strongly a Pentagram, aright, in thy forehead. Drawing the hands to the eyes, fling it forth, making the sign of Horus, and roar

KHAOS / THERION khaos / therion

Retire thine hand in the sign of Hoor pa kraat.

Go round to the North and repeat; but scream

BABALON / NUIT babalon / nuit

Go round to the West and repeat; but say

EROS / BABALON eros / babalon

Go round to the South and repeat; but bellow

PSYCHE / HADIT psyche / hadit

Completing the circle widdershins, retire to the center, and raise thy voice in the Paian, with these words (io pan) with the signs of N.O.X.

Extend the arms in the form of a T, and say low but clear:

PRO MOU JUNGES... Pro mou junges Opiso mou teletarchai Epi deksia synocheis Eparistera daimones / Eparistera daimonos Flegei gar peri mou o aster ton pente Kai en th stele o aster ton hex esthke

Before me Junges Behind me Teletarchai On my right hand Synoches On my left Daimones / Daimonos About me flames the pentagram And in the column stands the six-rayed star.

Repeat the Cross Qabalistic, as above, and end as thou didst begin.

What Are You Saying and Doing?

The rituals begins with a command, determining the purpose of the ritual – banishing. In this context “All evil spirits” mean much more than just the common conception of “evil spirits”. It is used to banish away all spirits that could be harmful or restricting to the True Will of the person doing the ritual. Forcing the air out of the lungs symbolizes blowing these evil spirits away. “Kakodaimon” also refers to “evil genius”, the dark side of the Holy Guardian Angel of the Thelemite world view.

The Cross Qabalistic

The first part of Star Ruby (SOI – IAO) forms the qabalistic cross, with the basic form being the same as in LBRP and having the same purpose.

In the second part of the cross one touches one's genitals, saying “o phalle”. The “o” in front of the word phallus makes this a short celebration of that part of our bodies. Women don't say any other phrases here, as in this context phallus doesn't refer to manhood only, but sexual vitality – the “immortal essence” of both men and women. The only real explanation of Star Ruby given by Crowley advises one to search the meaning of this word by using numerology.

The Divine Names of the Quarters

As in LBRP, the next part consists of drawing the pentagrams and visualizing them in each of the quarters. The Sign of Horus mentioned is the same as the “Sign of the Enterer” of LBRP, the sign of Hoor-paar-Kraat in turn is “Sign of Silence”.

East – KHAOS / TERION

Khaos – Chaos refers to “the state of nature in the universe before order was born”, symbolizing the infinite unorganized dimensions of existence. Furthermore, Khaos is one of the primitive Greek pre-Olympian deities, the personification of space. Here, Khaos represents the element of earth.

Therion – “Beast”, wild and animalistic, masculine essence. Element: earth.

North – BABALON / NUIT

Babalon – The mother of mysteries, the great harlot... The “counter-couple” of Khaos as the primordial and primitive male/female polarity. Here, Babalon represents the element of air.

Nuit – The eternally expanding, representing the archetypical mother. Element: air.

West – EROS / BABALON

Eros – The Greek god of love, sometimes referred to as the child of Khaos, represents the earthly aspects of love. Represents the element of water.

Babalon – The significances are the same as those given for Babalon above – the archetype of femininity, counterbalancing Therion. Element: water.

South – PSYCHE / HADIT

Psyche – The one complementing Eros, spirit and life – soul as the counterbalance to body. Represents the element of fire.

Hadit – The counterbalance and complement of Nuit, eternally contracting. Element: fire.

Paian

The midmost part of the ritual is Paian, celebration of Pan. Another name for this part is “NOX of PAN”, that is “Night of Pan” (nox = night). In Paian, there are five signs of N.O.X and while giving each sign one says “IO PAN”.

(N) Puer (Boy): Standing with feet together and head erect. Let right hand (the thumb between the index and middle fingers) be raised, the forearm vertical at a right angle with the upper arm, which is horizontally extended in the line joining the shoulders. Let the left hand, the thumb extended forwards and the fingers clenched, rest at the junction of the things (Attitude of the Gods Mentu, Khem, etc.).

(O) Vir (Man): The feet being together: The hands, with clenched fingers and thumbs thrust out forwards, are held to the temples; the head is then bowed and pushed out, as if to symbolize the butting of an horned beast (attitude of Pan, Bacchus, etc.).

Puella (Girl): Standing with the feet together, head bowed, left hand shielding the area of the groin, and right hand shielding the breast (Attitude of the Venus de Medici).

(X) Mullier (Wife): The feet are wide apart, the arms raised so as to suggest a crescent. The head is thrown back (attitude of Baphomet, Isis in Welcome, the microcosm of Vitruvius).

Mater Triumphans (Set Triumphant, Isis Rejoicing): The feet are together, the left arm is curved as if supporting a child; the thumb and index finger of the right hand pinch the nipple of the left breast as if offering it to that child.

Invocation

The fourth part of the ritual is an invocation. The word translated as “column” means stele as in “Stele of Revealing”. A stele is made of stone often in a shape of a pillar or a post. They were used as a monument or a declaration of a covenant. The differing spellings of the two versions, “daimonos” and “daimones” are not the result of a misspelling. Instead, they are two different words with slightly differing meanings. Both fit the ritual in their own ways.

As was mentioned above, the names Junges, Teletarchai, Synoches and Daimonos / Daimones have been considered to be just Hellenized names of the archangels. This isn't the case. They aren't names made up by Crowley either. They originate from the late Neo-Platonic Pythagorean school's Chaldean Oracles, dating back to approximately second century current era.

The names aren't those of any singular “beings”, but refer more to “classes” of semi-divine “beings”. When reading the Chaldean Oracles, one should consciously try to distance oneself from the usual meanings of many words used. For example “intelligible” and “intellectual” don't refer to the intelligence and understanding of our common usage of the words. These words are used to mean the highest accomplishes of consciousness beyond the abyss. “Father” shouldn't be understood to mean the Judeo-Christian Demiurgos. It is a gendered – unfortunately so, one could say – term referring to “the All, the Undifferentiated”.

Junges

In the east, the target of the invocation is Junges (alternative spellings: Iugges, Iuggec, Iunges, Iynges). Aeschylus used this word to metaphorically refer to “spell, charm, passionate yearning”. The word comes from the Greek word IUGMOS denoting a shrieking sound and it was used, due to the voice of the bird, of the wryneck. The wryneck is connected to the symbolism of the wheel, as it is said that ancient Greek Witches tied wrynecks to wheels in order for the bird to collect `souls' while turning the wheel.

Junges is said to be (paraphrased) “the giver of life-carrying fire. it fills the life-giving bosom of Hekate and plants the enlivening power of Fire, ended with mighty power, into Sunoches.” According to Pletho, Jungers are “the Intellectual Species which are conceived by the Father; they themselves also being conceptive, and exciting Conceptions or notions, by unspeakable or unutterable Counsels is as much as unmoved, for speaking consists in Motions”;

The possible meanings are connected to a higher class of beings above the void; love spell; witchcraft or lust; or void or bottomless depth itself.

Teletarchai

In the west, the target is Teletarchai (alt. spellings: Teletarxai, Teletarkai, Teletarch`). As the one performing the ritual is standing towards the east, the Teletarchai in the west symbolize what he has left behind, that what's behind his back. The word Teletarchai is thought to mean “those responsible for initiations”, being connected not only to the initiation itself, but also the result of an initiation. Teletarchai represent the result of Junges fertilizing Synoches. Placed behind the Mage, the symbolic value is that of stepping on the initiatory path.

Synoches

In the invocation, Synoches (Sunoces, Synoxec) are in the south. The word doesn't seem to come directly from any known Greek word, but it has been deduced that it derives from a word meaning binding / holding together, referring to the notion of eternity. Where Junges is a conjuration, Synoches is a binding, with love (see Love under Will), connecting and strong.

Junges, Synoches and Teletachai are part of the Second Mind, “Empyrean world”, in the system of the Chaldean Oracles. They are intellectual and intelligible, forming the “Intellectual Triad”, the Supernals.

Daimones / Daimonos

“Daimon” refers to god and goddess. Even though it is the basis for our term “demon”, this more malevolent meaning dates back only to the times of the creation of the New Testament. Daimonos, used in the later version of Star Ruby, is the plural of Daimon and refers to spirits or “beings of the spirit world”.

In the system of the Chaldean Oracles, Daimonos are below the demigods. When compared to the previous three groups of beings, Daimonos represent a much more “earthly” concept. “The direction of the greatest darkness”, north, belongs to them.

Daimones seems at first to refer to the same beings, but the meaning of the word is a different one. Hesiod used this word to refer to ““the souls of men of the Golden Age, forming a link between gods and men”. Daimones is a group of people who have reached their True Wills – the former masters now gone, who “had their genius.” A Couple of Final Comments

Some people recommend that Star Ruby wouldn't be performed as a stand alone ritual, but that it should be followed by some kind of invocation. The reason usually given for this is that Star Ruby is even more effective as a banishing ritual than LBRP – at least for those who know and understand it. The ritual creates a type of “vacuum” and unless you “fill” it with something you've called yourself, the vacuum may attract less welcome visitors.

As a small hint: this ritual can be performed dance-like.

Sources included:

Aleister Crowley, The Book of Lies Magick in Theory and Practice Frater A.L.,An Analysis of the Star Ruby Ritual E.A.O.A., Ritual of the Star Ruby, Text, Translation, Commentary William Wynn Wescott, The Chaldean Oracle

#Magick #Thelema #Rituals