magick-musings

[magick-musings]

Importance of Silence in Ritual Magick

Every time I return to Agrippa, I am amazed by what I have forgotten and the knowledge which he provides in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

Having grown up with a Christocentric worldview from which I make sense of the mundane and magickal world, the idea of silence has always been prevalent. Note Matthew 7:6 specifically, which says: “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." The word occult comes from the Latin verb celara meaning "to hide" or the adjective occultus meaning "hidden, concealed, or secret." In antiquity, the secrets provided to practitioners of the occult were considered valuable so much so that they were often disguised, shrouded in ways that only those holding a metaphorical key could understand the original meaning. To prevent the casting of this sacred spiritual knowledge before swine.

Agrippa expands on this idea in Ch. II of Book III where he notes five reasons for silence or circumspection.

Sharing holy matters with profane minds pollutes them. We see this even today when trying to share sacred, but secret truths granted to us by spirits with those who don't understand. Sayings like "mundane over magical" or a push for critical thought are used to lessen its influence or impact on our understanding. When we share these experiences, sometimes it can be to the detriment of the work the spirits are calling us to do. The shine of pearls is sullied by their environment.

Profane minds cannot grasp holy doctrine. Understanding is a gift to give a deeper insight and penetration of divine truths held by faith, not as a transitory enlightenment but as a permanent intuition. In Catholic dogma, this gift of understanding is granted by the Holy Spirit during Confirmation and assists in penetrating revealed truths, but also natural truths in so far as they related to a supernatural end. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, "In this very life, when the eye of the spirit is purified by the gift of understanding, one can ina a certain way see God." (Summa theologicae II-II, q. 69 a.2, ad.3).

The importance of understanding is further echoed in the Stobaei Hermetica: "But avoid converse with the many. Not that I wish you to grudge a benefit to others; my reason for this warning is rather that the many will think you one to be laughed at if you speak to them as I have spoken to you. Like welcomes like; but men that are unlike are never friends..."

3. It allows the divine enlightenment of the doctrine to occur. Everybody has experiences whereby slowing down and listening we are given directions, instructions, or encouragement from the spirits. But by keeping silent about our work, we ensure our motivations are pure and that the intention is to commune with the divine. Too often I think we miss critical personal truths in favor of using magic for public success. As noted in the Corpus Hermeticum 13.8a, "And now, my son, speak not, but keep a solemn silence; so will the mercy come down on us from God."

4. The futility of attempting to express the inexpressible. Sometimes words are incapable of describing our supernatural experiences with spirits and when we do it comes out much less life-changing than it was. There is a reason occultists gather together in communities - just as any common worldview is the base of a religion, so to do our experiences bring us together and set us apart. Only those who have worked with the spirits can fully understand your own experiences.

5. Silence involves a proscription against translation of the doctrines into other languages because the words themselves are holy and embody power. Although this may be my least favorite reason as a grimoire magician eager to find translations of French and German transcripts, I think it holds true. This idea is noted in the Corpus Hermeticum 16.1b-2 as well: "Translation will greatly distort the sense of the writings, and cause much obscurity. Expressed in our native language, the teaching conveys its meaning clearly; for the very quality of sounds...; and when the Egyptian words are spoken, the force of the things signified works in them."

Furthermore, in academic publications such as Invoking Angels by Penn State University Press, there are entire discussions around how the illiterate laity copying down instructions from holy books led to mistakes in translations, a problem noted by translators such as Joseph Peterson, David Rankine, and Stephen Skinner in their meticulous grimoire translations. Exasperated by the enhanced access to manuscripts in the 16th and 17th centuries, you see books such as the Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet or Book of Oberon with Greek, Latin, and Hebrew translation corrections along with corrections in figures of circles or talismans.

Outside of magick, even, biblical scholars note the loss of Scriptural understanding when reading the Bible in English compared to Greek or even Hebrew, noting minute differences that entirely change the meaning of a text or provide additional context.

Taken together, I think Agrippa makes a solid argument for why keeping silent is important. Do you agree?

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I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

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legend tells that Thoth, god of knowledge and magic, played cards with Khonsu, god of the moon, and won 5 extra days worth of moonlight. he gave them to the sky goddess Nut (who was forbidden from giving birth on any day of the then 360-day year), subsequently allowing her to produce Osiris, Isis, Horus, Geb, and Nepthys, all of them mighty deities

no one knows that Thoth was up to with the whole “leap year” thing. after all, there’s no way Nut could give birth to just 1/4th of a god. unless…..

no way!!!! this has become a CERTIFIED MEDJED POST!!!!!!!!!!

𓅓𓂝𓆓𓂧𓐦

TRUE MEDJ-HEADS REBLOG!!!!!!!!!!

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WTNV Tarot

KING OF WANDS - KEVIN

“Energy, inspiration, and desire.  A natural leader His confidence, energy and enthusiasm infect those around him.  Greatly enjoys social events.  The reversed King of Wands can be intolerant, impatient, overbearing and domineering. He may be childish, selfish, short tempered or jealous. He might lash out at those he believes are not paying him enough respect. Another facet of this reversal may be the King’s abdication. Perhaps the responsibilities of leadership are more than he can handle.”

Hey folks, it’s Kevin!  Just in time for Halloween, ready to make everyone thoroughly uncomfortable.  Kevin is a really fascinating character to think about, given the bits and pieces of info we’ve been fed about him.  It’s interesting that when I was assigning the Tarot cards Kevin fell into King of Wands while Lauren and Daniel fell into Queen and Page respectively, and I didn’t intend for the main Strex players to all fall into the same suit.  I think it’s because collectively they’re different facets of the same ruthless, ambitious, opportunistic force, and I think assigning them as Pentacles only would reflect them at a surface level.

I do love drawing organic things, because I get to play with textures and slick, shiny lighting.  The pose is meant to be a mirror of Cecil’s card, with a few adjustments to fit the composition.  His hair was meant to be somewhat matted with blood; I should have made him a bit filthier looking.

Now that I think about it, Kevin’s studio probably smells so foul that you can’t stand being in the same building.  If there’s standing pools of blood and organic matter everywhere, even at room temperature it’s probably pretty fetid.  If the AC went out for 1 hour probably the smell would be legendary.

Click Here for the Masterpost of WTNV Tarot Cards!

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i was just talking about this after being wrecked by the discovery that the little elf-goblin fellows my parents/family used to tell me warnings and stories about as a little kid are regionally specific, and that you can trace people's geographic origins by what word they use for "little spirit-fellows who live in your house". no matter what you call them (domovoi, kobolde, brownies, so on); for purposes of this post henceforth "little guys"

i think one of the things that i find frustrating about like, idk, modern animist revivalist movements is that very few of them ime spend a lot of time romanticising and spiritualizing human habitation. obviously, we as a culture need to think more about protecting and defending nature/the earth/so on, but like.

if you don't have room in your heart for making up a little guy who lives in the water heater, or who squats under your stove and makes it run 15 degrees off the programmed temperature, and thinking of him with the same kind of respect/affection as you do for the spirits (or whatever) of the wildlife you interact with like.

genuinely: what are you even doing. you are removing a source of richness and fun and whimsy from your life! like, pip @creekfiend made up the concept of "little guys who live in an airport (and are the reason it's so shitty to be in an airport)" and i already like airports like 30% more just knowing it's the little airport inconvenience guys doing that.

more importantly, like. genuinely: interrogate what parts of the world seem ~rich with spiritual meaning~ to you. what parts of the world are "wild"? what does that make the rest of the world - a chore? a burden? who has to carry that burden?

we're never going to like, "return to nature", because that's nothing and the concept of untouched nature is also nothing; we're always going to have some sort of human habitation and interaction and cultivation with nature. if you can't extend grace and whimsy and genuine and sincere meaning to human habitation, including its inconveniences and annoyances, you are making your own lived experience duller!

notably, most of these kinds of little-guy-spirits historically exist in the parts of human habitation that are partially abandoned, partially removed: haylofts, inside the walls, under the house, in the bathhouse, behind the furnace... i've been thinking a lot about urban wildlife lately, and the animals who make space for themselves in and around human habitation. the "natural" and the "wild" persist inside and around the edges of the "tame" and always, always have. if you have a crawlspace, there's a little spirit who lives there and he's the reason the dryer always eats your socks.

LIVE WHIMSICALLY.

[magick-musings]

more stuff about becoming a god being inherently dehumanizing pls

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Psa that your witchcraft is tailor made to you. You can obviously adopt practices from others that you like, but your craft is your own. It can be as messy or as organized as you need/want. It can be inconsistent as fuck, or scheduled. Never feel bad for the way you practice. Witchcraft is meant to be tailored to each individual

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sometimes deity work is a feeling of warmth and love and everything good. mutual support and hugs and kisses and tenderness unlike any other

and sometimes deity work is them patting you on the back after you spilled their whole fucking offering and then saying "congrats lil buddy that's the worst anyone's ever done it"

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Winchcombe, England by Lindsey Renton

#montemagno manor

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“That’s the thing about water—water always tells the truth. There’s no argument to be had. Water goes freely where it must.”

— Richard Lloyd Perry, GHOSTS OF THE TSUNAMI

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Hey!! How do I transmute energy? Like from someone’s hex on me? Or overall how to do this? Do u have any resources or recommendations or anything 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿

So... here's the thing. I'm an intuitive and eclectic practitioner, and pretty private about my personal workings (as you should be too. Can't be giving out the blueprints and schematics of your lair with all the secret passages circled in red ink. There's a reason this shit was supposed to be kept on the down low). All I can say is that there are no crystals and jars lying around my house to break or steal or otherwise render useless. Maybe someone else can point you to an obscure grimoire or a shiny crystal to spend big bucks on to solve all your problems, but that's not how I do things. I don't have a spell for you, only theory.

Hopefully you know the basics of energy work and warding and aura manipulation, and a general understanding of animism and alchemy and whatever divination method you use to receive messages from the many types of incorporeal. Experience in astral workings would also be good too honestly. If not, you can search em on my blog there's definitely more than a few master posts here to get you started.

As we've all heard, good defense is the best offense so start with banishing, cleansing and warding, followed by a recharge. This is a good time for any aura/energy manipulation on yourself as well as your spaces. Gotta start with a blank canvas. If this is gibberish to you... girl idk get to studying bc transmutation is not beginner shit. If you got all that down tho...

First off, having the outer layer of your ward be 'sticky' is a good start. Instead of energy bouncing back, it gets stuck, trapped. this can turn into a layer of grime though, so you have to have a purification process for it. Think like... how plants take in CO2 (deadly to humans) and give us oxygen (life sustaining) and in the same vein, what we exhale is what they inhale. Or oysters, filter feeders in the ocean who take in detritus and sustain themselves off of it while returning cleaner water to the ecosystem. Chicken manure is used as fertilizer for crops that feed us. Spiders catch pests in their webs.

If you're into animism, nurture a symbiotic relationship. Feed the harmful energy to something that lives on it, and in exchange for nourishing it, the 'waste' it gives off is something helpful to you. There are a lot of ways to go about this, I encourage you to use your imagination. Look around at what you got, and do the best you can with that. Transmutation is all around us if you just know where to look.

Either way. Once it's purified, you can apply it to whatever you want. Wards are a great start though. A self sustainable ward goes a whole long way towards peace of mind.

My main piece of advice is never do the transmutation inside your own energetic body. (Well, not never, but that's mad advanced and if you have to ask this you're not ready for all that). (This is said with love and care and concern not condescension). (Exceptions made for shadow work, or any working done with your own energy. That is also transmutation, also related to the aura and astral work i mentioned above, and a whole other beast entirely). Externalize it, separate the malignant energy from yourself if it isn't already (aka caught in the wards before it could get to you and/or banished etc), and then host the purification process outside of yourself. Also, dont be scared to ask your spirit guides/gods/ancestors/etc for help, if you work with any.

Trust your intuition, ask your guides for, yknow, guidance, and don't be too scared to actually try something new or experimental.

#ask #anon #answering this publicly bc ur not the first whos asked but you are the first ive answered #i know ur not anon its just my tagging system #anyways #transmutation #please put up a transmutation ward if you havent already #mine #witchcraft

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Hey I want y'all to know that in ancient Greece, the class of person who administers a mystery rites was called a mystagouge.

Specifically, a mystagouge is someone who initiates new people into mystery rites.

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I don't care what exact bloodlines say, the "dead ends" of your family line who didn't have their own kids but were still there count as ancestors. If your great-great-great-great-great grandfather didn't have a weird gay cousin who Sadly Never Married but did the talking to convince some girl to marry the other guy, that's an ancestor. The spinster aunt who had no kids but made sure that three of the six kids her sister abandoned survived into adulthood counts as an ancestor. You don't need to spawn them yourself to contribute to the family line.

Your family line is an anthill, not a chain of links.

[magick-musings]

Double Entry Magic

This is a little joke about ‘double entry accounting’. In accounting, every transaction is recorded at least twice. I’m an accounting major, so sue me.

Just like double entry accounting, I believe every spell affects at least two things. Let me explain:

Get more money spell: Affects your wealth and your poverty.

Get more love spell: Affects your love life and your loneliness.

Get class canceled spell: Affects your class time and your free time.

Every spell which is a conjuration also banishes something; every spell which is a banishment also conjures something. When you banish class, you conjure free time. When you conjure love, you banish loneliness. When you conjure wealth, you simultaneously banish poverty.

I think it is fitting that the proper part of the spell pays attention to that second effect, whether it be conjuration or banishing.

Suppose you have a candle that is meant to conjure money. Precede it with a candle that banishes poverty, leaving room for that wealth to grow. For a jar spell that conjures self-love, include a knot spell to bind self-loathing.

For every spell there is an equal and opposite reaction. As one thing grows, another shrinks. Anticipate what the opposite reaction will be, and include that in your workings.

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whoever you work with, whoever you talk to, whoever hears you cry out, whoever you're vulnerable with, whoever you pray to, or worship, or love and laugh alongside,

they're glad you're here.

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Digital Offering for Lord Lucifer, the Morningstar. May he open your eyes and shroud you in his eternal flame. 🌟✨⭐️💫

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Even if you can’t hear your deities, they hear you

Even if you can’t see your deities, they see you

Even if you can’t feel your deities, they’re there and they love you