Tools for Druid Comrades

The Use and Abuse of Talismans

2007-09-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

The care and use of talismans is a topic that's been chewing on me for a while. Almost everyone in the self-identified esoteric community understands what one is and how to use it. The national scandal sheets found at checkout stands run ads for them every issue. "Buy this trinket, that bottle of water, this sacred cloth!" the ads implore us. And we, the willing public, consume these in mass quantities, put them aside, and repeatedly purchase new ones without using those we already have.

Dana Corby, as usual, identified the problem some years ago. The difficulty isn't that our talismans don't work, it is that we don''t understand how to use them. The etymology of the word is telling here-

Talisman derives via Arabic from the Greek word "telesma", meaning a religious rite. This term derives from "telos", which means result or end.

This is a clue to the use of a talisman. It is the result or (ritual) end that is desired. In other words it is a symbol for the end result of a magical process to which we have made a commitment. As is true of almost everything in life, the focus needs to be on the follow-through steps needed to get to the results.

Here's an example from my own life-

I own eight books and more than a few magazines on strand-pulling, also known as cable/strand/band exercise. The manuals I have date from the early 20th century to the early 21st century. Among these are two handbooks for official contest pulls in England. I own two different sorts of these tools, an official steel competition strand calibrated to my height and arm/torso length, two Lifeline cables and one Theraband cable. These have been on shelves or in boxes in front of me for the past three years, and I didn't touch these to exercise even once. Why was this so? Largely due to joint pain and depression, but the inner reason I found was-

I didn't have the right talisman. If I kept looking, the right book, manual or graphic that would unlock the secrets of using bands/strands/cables would materialize and THEN I could, exercise.

In May of this year I looked at these exercise tools again, and realized that all of the answers I needed were right in front of me. All I had to do was pick up one of my strands, close my eyes, and start working out then and there. Does this mean that I'll stop reading or thinking about band/strand exercises and how to derive more benefits from them? No, it does not, but I have realized that the endless search for the right thing to do is futile without the application of the tools I have right here, right now.

I've noted before that there is an endless circulation of esoteric and magical materials from East to West and back again, our very own "Kula Ring" of trinkets traded back and forth. The only way to break the endless cycle of redaction, repetition and uninformed use of magical techniques is to actually participate in the ecologies of spirits within the "Body Esoteric"and THEN compare your results with those of others. At the point of attainment it is possible to honestly evaluate the efficacy of a talisman and your techniques, but not before making the journey.

Let me take this opportunity to recommend the sandowplus.co.uk website as the motherlode for physical culture books and instruction. This isn't just a trip to the past, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people using these methods and machines quite productively today, right now, and if interested I would encourage you to participate in classical Physical Culture and its philosophies, which share an awful lot in common with magic. The results might surprise you.

An Art of Memory for Some Of The Rest of Us

2007-05-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Some of my good readers have no doubt wandered over to the AODA website and found this page:

http://www.aoda.org/articles.htm

and the articles

Ars Memorativa I and II

Which details the use of one of the Western traditions of the Art of Memory, used to enhance memory, comprehension and the ability (IMHO) to free-associate information and derive new relationships from existing data.

I truly admire John Michael Greer for writing this article, offering this classic technique to a new generation. The imagery used in Ars Memorative is beautiful, as rich and decadent as a three layer pastry in a party from the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV. It brings to mind classical writings by Plato, Livy and hosts of other authors, in addition to Dante's Inferno.

Sadly, some of us can't wrap our brains around anything that visually complex. So what do we do?

Here's one option: When I was attending college I didn't have the money to register for classes and purchase textbooks. So my marital arts instructor pulled a different memory training technique out of his Tibetan and Chinese bag of tricks. Here it is, just slightly modernized to reflect the difference in technology over the past 20 years:

After or just prior to attending a lecture or class discussion, do as follows: Find a comfortable position, preferably in dim lighting. Get comfortable. Using the Spiritualist and New Thought technique of "Entering the Silence" is almost always good as preparation for a bit of meditative work.

Ahead of you is a short hallway. At the end of the hallway is a large rug with a broom sitting to one side. PIck up the broom, and sweep the rug clean. Replace the broom.

Open the door, listen to the hinges creak, and you are in an audio studio, however you characterize it.

Sit down. Before you is a cd recorder (or LP master cutter, if you are a vinyl enthusiast.). Taking a gleaming cd from a new package and place it into the recorder. Close the lid, breathe, and let all tension drop from yourself.

Focus your breath through your ears, and listen to the voice of your lecturer or professor. Pay attention to the pacing, timing, and accent of the speaker. Keep a focus on listening to them, even if your attention drifts away from time to time. (It will)

Once the lecture is over, carefully remove the cd/lp from the machine, put it in a case that speaks the name of the lecture and lecturer as you place it in position on a shelf.

Repeat as needed.

Does it work? I didn't have the money for textbooks for 3 years of college and I held a 4.0 average. It works well.

Bonus Self-Improvement Section

Once you are comfortable with remembering lectures and other information from a single instructor with this technique, here's a way to extend its utility into psychic realms:

Pick up a book on a topic within that speaker's field of expertise. As you read the book, concentrate on their voice, and listen for comments they may offer in the course of your reading.

Check this data as far as possible with the speaker, without of course telling them what you were doing. Correct any errors in your understanding and repeat as needed.

This technique can be used for the study of esotericism as well as, say, French cooking or Basque stone lifting techniques. When applied to information from an egregore, this is a form of controlled but passive trance speaking. This will take a while---the white noise inside and outside of yourself has to be recognized for what it is, noise and not information. Once mastered, this simple practice can open many doors that would otherwise remain closed.

Nebular, Lunar and Stellar Adorations

2007-04-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

I am certain that those of you who have tried the Solar Adoration have noticed something important about it----

The sun is visible at best, half of a day. What can you do those other times?

Here's a review of the Solar Adoration, Delsarte Style:

Attaining the Silence

The first step in the process is to find the small silent places within yourself. While some can find the Silence in a rave with flashing lights and sirens blaring, most of us need quieter settings to let go of the distractions that we encounter much of the time. It is something of a misstatement to suggest that the Silence can be hold continuously. My experience is that it is an intermittant state that we drift in and out of as our consciousness shifts towards--and away from this as a focus. Find a comfortable position in a safe place with suitable lighting. You don't need any specific seated, kneeling or standing pose. Choose something that is suitable and unique to this procedure.

1. Solar Adoration

Esoteric activities are generally divided into active and passive exercises. This is certainly one of the more powerful, if passive forms. A solar adoration is basically an opportunity to think like a plant in the eye of light, the sun. You'll need to determine the times for greatest intensity of light--generally 10 am to noon. Find a place where you can stand out in the sun.

Begin with your arms at your sides, head bowed slightly. Barefoot, if safe, is preferred for this exercise, and full or partial nudity (if appropriate and legal!) can enhance the experience.

Allow the arms and head to hang down towards Earth, our mother. Ennervate the arms and torso as follows:

i. Straighten your back slowly, taking care to not thrust the hips too far forward. The head will rise with this motion without any undue effort on your part. Begin to shallowly and slowly inhale. Allow all tension to fade from the neck, cheeks and jaw. Simultaneously with straightening the back, take a shallow gliding step forward with your dominant foot. The foot glides across the ground, it does not stomp.

ii. Simultaneously with your slow, insistent breath, ennervate the arms, beginning at the shoulder sockets. Both elbows follow the natural arc created as the upper arm moves forward from the torso. Once the elbow is slightly below shoulder level, extend breath, bone and movement to the lower part of the arm. Feel the arm coming alive, responding to the warm glow of the sun, opening to receive it.

iii. Ennervate the wrists, which will rotate outwards as they slowly rise, still finishing your step. As the wrist rises higher than the shoulder, feel the fingers extend upwards, palms cupped to receive the Solar Blessing. As your non-dominant foot completes its forward glide, the final portion of your inhalation should coincide with this action.

iv. If possible, wear loose clothing or nothing at all. Feel the warmth of the light as it plays on your skin and through your half-lidded eyes--but not for too long, as the strength of the sun is also its sword. Simply breathe, and feel the light and warmth fill you. How long should this take? As long as you need.

Note----as it is hard for a number of folks to inhale and chant at the same time, I suggest finding an appropriate word or sound for each adoration, something that reminds you of the sunlight. Let the chant fill your insides from memory, the sunlight extending this inner sound entirely through your body and down into the waiting earth.

#2--The Nebular Adoration

(This was actually the first one of the series that was written, c. 1997)

IN a foggy or misty day, face the mists, look and listen for the potentialities in mist. In lots of Celtic stories the mists are the unknown, the source of all manifestations. Breathe, but inhale more than the cool air around you. Raise your arms and feel the coolness of the mists flowing into you, filling you with the potential for manifestation. The gift of the mists is the power to create, to shape matter and energy into being out of potentials that lies hidden.

#3--The Lunar Adoration

Pick a time when the light of the moon is visible to you. Traditionally the moon is full seven or nine days, so there is a range of times that you can perform this.

Face the moon, letting its light fall on you. This is the power of the sun, the most active principle, wrought into a more subtle form. It is power, yes, but the energy is that of subtle workings and mechanisms. Raise your arms to it, and feel the song of the moonlight filling you, calling to the places in you where there are things that so far are undone or unfinished. The power of the Lunar Adoration is that of subtlety--a glance, a nod or the indirect application of force. Just as in Tai Chi Chuan a force of five ounces can move a thousand pounds, so can the lunar influence manifest while folks stand around and wonder how something happened.

The Full Series of Adorations as a Day Long Ritual

Taken together, the Solar, Nebular and Lunar Adorations comprise a ritual. You can choose almost any time to start the sequence, though dawn or dusk might be preferred. Pick a day close to the full of the moon. If needed, you could split the ritual into three sections for ease of experience, should your work or other daily schedule make a single 24 hour ritual impossible.

You've already laid out the simple foods and liquids for this ritual, turned off the phones, the computer, the lights and anything else that might prove to be a distraction. Sunscreen and sunglasses are essential to this ritual as well.

Provide yourself with a cleared ritual and practical space suitable for reading, writing and meditation. Ahead of this ritual, select appropriate poetry, passages from liturgies you like, pictures, objects, or anything else that can use words, music or other associations to link you to your day(s) for the Adorations. Keep notebooks, pen, pencils and crayons to hand, should you feel inspired.

One more thing--if at all possible, don't use a clock. Hide it, cover it, whatever. The goal here is to participate as fully as possible in the timeflow of the world as you experience it. The Goddess lives everywhere, even in the heart of Manhattan or Tyler, Texas.

You don't have to perform each adoration only once--they can be repeated throughout the time their energies are manifest. Try to hold a sound, thought or feeling for each adoration as often and as long as possible throughout this day. Write down your impressions, no matter how trivial or erratic they may seem.

Let's assume you choose to begin a bit before dusk, the beginning of the Celt's "day":

Feel the force of the waning sunlight play across the landscape and your body, the light turning into a dusty red color before disappearing entirely. Listen to the differences between day and night, the evening chorus of insects, the scents of night blooming plants, the skittering of raccoons, possums and the other hunters and foragers of the night. Salute it by performing the Solar Adoration backwards--near or at the moment of local sunset, feel the last of its direct power wane and withdraw your body, contracting into beginning position as discussed in the Delsarte Lecture in my main blog.

If near full, the moon assumes prominence in the night sky, softly illuminating the tops of clouds, should any be present. In autumn the moon sometimes assumes a golden color, a "harvest moon". Tides and the length of the day are a product of the moon's influence over earth. Its subtle presence influences thousands of organisms. This is the gift of natural time with its ebb and flow regulating conceptions and life on sea and land.

Let its soft light fill you with the energy of subtle action, energies that flow as gently as rainwaters or as irresistable as the pounding of tides. The gift of the lunar adoration is the power to effect change through subtle means.

The Nebular Adoration -- just as applicable to the interstellar medium as terrestrial clouds: after all, nebulae (clouds) are the places made by the death of some stars, and worlds like our own are born from these clouds. (And what gave birth to the first cloud that birthed the first star?)

As the appearance of the stars of the night fade in the growing light of morning, the Celtic night, the direct power of the sun is too great to look upon safely without protection. While the Solar Adoration fills us with the energy that supports surface terrestrial life, in and of itself the energy is sterile and can come as easily as destroyer as provender.

Solar Adoration ---refer to Section I in its entirety for these instructions.

NB--The Adorations do not derive directly from any extant tradition: they are my creations, though it is fair to say that they have been easily synthesized and developed from the writings of Genevieve Stebbins, Elizabeth Towne, George Hackenschmidt, Ruth St. Denis, William Walker Atkinson and Joseph Greenstein. Further clarification on many points was provided by the opening of a flower, and the morning stretch of an African Grey parrot that graces my life from time to time.

Tuning the Sacred Harp: Voice Lesson #2

2007-04-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have been practicing that bit from The Bard are probably quite tired of it by now. Good, we can move on to applications.

Our voices, like our visages, are the most intimate parts of ourself. People are oftentimes skittish about being photographed or taped. Many of us don't recognize our own voices on tape. Ventriloquism is closely tied to magic and medicine in lots of cultures: A voice originating out of nowhere is downright spooky. Mediums around the world, Western, Chinese and other could throw their voices with the same skill Edgar Bergen had in carrying on a "conversation" with Charlie McCarthy.

Should you find your own voice unpleasant, there are steps you can take to corrrect this. Some years ago I worked as a TDD (telecommunications for the deaf) relay operator for Washington State. To put it mildly, my voice was unlistenable after an hour or so. I fell into a strategy that worked then that's applicable to self-culture in esotericism:

I selected three or four other TDD relay operators who had voices that people liked. I would find a vacant work station near enough to them to listen during times I was not on a call. One operator, Miss Fricke, radiated what I can only describe as "Grandmother" energy. Listening to her speak, even reading off a mailing address made one think of fresh oatmeal cookies, pies gently cooling in the kitchen window, parties and low key vacations. What amazed me was how well this worked over the phone. The TDD relay service was quite new to the public at that time (1991), and Miss Fricke's voice put suspicious voice callers at ease almost instantly. Gosh, who would be rude enough to interrupt a Grandmother? Not me, and certainly not very many of the recipients of her relay calls either. Her voice was disarming, gentle, and interesting.

Another relay operator, Jim, was from Arkansas. His voice was an exemplar of the best speakers of that particular dialect: His tones were slow, measured, and relaxed. He didn't sound like a salesman, which got the attention of the voice callers who might have otherwise concluded that a relayed call was some sort of sales pitch.

A third operator, April, had almost perfect timing when reading text and typing to calling parties. It didn't sound like she was straining to breathe amidst all that speaking.

After a period of study and application, I improved my own voice. Did I sound like any of my three role models? No, not really. What I got was my voice, improved.

Here's how this applies to esotericism: Lots and lots of folks in Hermetic groups try to memorize passages for use in ritual, spitting the words out from between their teeth with a single breath. What almost all of them need to do is s l o w down and listen for the rhythmn of the passage.

You will need a written or typed copy of your chosen passage, printed large enough to read without straining. You will also need the glass marbles so you can practice with them in your mouth.

Here's one way to start:

1.Find the corner of a room where you can be undisturbed for twenty or thirty minutes a day.

2. Place a rock or shiny object in the corner opposite the one you are standing in.

3. Find a prayer, poem or bit of dialog that you find meaningful.

4. Declaim this passage to the rock or shiny thing. Think of your words as waves on the sea, rising and falling against the object. Remember that in Delsarte Voice culture, the words spoken are inferior to the power that animates them. Think of your words as an expression of a state of consciousness or thought that you hold.

Lots of voice instructors would encourage you to video tape or record your exercises. Not here! People are sufficiently self-conscious. The learning process should not produce anxiety in the student. Once you have some confidence with this one passage, prayer or speech, find someone you trust, and recite it to them.

Projection should NOT be confused with volume. Clarity and listenability are not the same thing as a loud, irritating voice. Enunciate, pause, think. Voice originates from the breath, which begins inside your torso at your diaphragm. In 19th century esotericism and high occultism this region, the solar plexus, was considered the energy center of an organism, so in effect, your speech comes from the heart.

Here's an example of one prayer you might find useful for this:

Lord,

Make me an instrument of Thy Peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Wtere there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkenss, light;
Whtere there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.

It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

St Francis of Assisi

Here's a speech that I consider vital for Hermeticists and other ritualists: It is in effect, a "get out of jail free" speech that is good to preface and/or end a ceremony with.

Original language first, close kin to early, Republican Roman Latin:

Dei Grabouie

orer ose persei ocre fisie pir

orto est

toteme Iouine arsmor dersecor

subator sent

pusei neip heritu.

Dei Grabouie

persei tuer perscler uaseto est
pesetomest peretomest
frosetomest daetomest
tuer perscler uirseto auirseto

uas est. . .

This is from the Iguvine Tablets, an early and important source on Roman ritual.

And here's the English--you can remove Jupiter Grabovius and add whoever might be appropriate for your circumstances:

"Jupiter Grabovius, if on the Fisian mount fire has arisen, or if in the nation of Iguvium the owed preparations have been omitted, let it be as if they had been made."

"Jupiter Grabovius, if in your sacrifice there has been any flaw, any defect, any ritual violation, any fraud, any error, if in your sacrifice there is a flaw, either seen or unseen. . . "

For the next voice lesson we'll get into some classical Delsarte acting exercises and then apply them to floor work in a lodge. Until then, practice, practice,practice!

Divination II:The Horse Who Knew Too Much and a Contest!

2007-04-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier, I am going to present several differing models for explicating the mechanisms of divination. The last post might have been titled "In Praise of The Gut Instinct". Today's bit covers the Horse Who Knew Too Much, which begins right after I reveal a sex magic technique I learned from the late and sometimes lamented Dr. Emanuel Bronner, the soap maker par excellance.

Twenty years ago I worked for a large New Age magazine and seminar hosting company that is located on Santa Monica Blvd, in Santa Monica, California. If you've ever seen "Baywatch" on television, we were about 200 feet from the beach access that was featured prominently on that show.

The periodical I worked for did a brisk business in advertising goods and services for the New Age Southern California community. For over a year I was in charge of the day to day operation of the firm--i.e., I made sure that the office didn't run off a cliff when one of the bosses left unexpectedly on a 3 week vacation to purify their chakra crystals or charge their purple plates.

I was answering the phone so Gle`, our receptionist could go out and get lunch. There was a ring on the "sponsors and advertisiers only" line. At the other end was Dr. Emanuel Bronner, an Orthodox Jewish soap maker with some ... interesting ideas about the Almighty's definition of kosher. Dr. Bronner wanted to place an ad in the publication, and had called to check on some detail or other before the ad salesman went over to see him. He asked one or two questions about ad placement, image size, and other bits related to getting all (and I do mean "all") of his soap label writings into a full page advertisement. After I'd gotten the advertising book and answered his questions, he said "Young Man, are you married?" I answered in the affirmative, and this is what he said:

"This is a very old Essene sex healing technique for married couples. Buy a bottle of my liquid peppermint soap and get a red towel. Not green, not black, it has to be red and made from cotton. You are legally married, yes?

Clean out your bathroom sink. Once it is clean, fill the sink with water as hot as you can stand. When the sink is almost full, add two capfulls of my peppermint soap. Work up a very good lather, and work the soap into the red towel, squeeze out the towel in the sink. Carefully rub down your wife's entire body, starting with her back and moving down to the feet. I think that you will find this is a very powerful sexual healing technique. Good day and God Bless!"

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One of the most basic problems with scientism lies with how little actual observation and experimentation takes place outside a laboratory. Studying children in a classroom setting is the best way to learn about their behaviors IN the classroom. Sadly, this same reasoning is rarely applied to animals other than humans, Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey notwithstanding.

Circa 1904 there was a horse called "Clever Hans". The owner contended that his horse was smart enough to add and communicate the result of his computations to all present with the stomping of his hooves. Furthermore, when tested apart from the owner, the horse still knew the correct answer. It was later learned that the horse didn't get the right answer unless someone else in the stable with the horse knew the answer, demonstrating the horse was "simply" reading their body language and responding to these previously unnoticed cues.

If you cruise over to any of the 'Net pages on Scientism you'll find considerably more detail on this that usually ends with a conclusion describing the abysmal ignorance if not outright stupidity of people who believe in ESP or similar phenomenon.

Clever Hans is a perfect example of a subtle communication system. Two animals of different species are transferring informatioin via subtleties of body language. This system requires at least two participants: The horse, and the person who knows the right answer. There's usually a third or 4th person present as well, and the information is conveyed to them by the horse.

Let's consider the case of the nuthatches. Approximately two years ago Chris Templeton of the University of Washington deciphered some of the information conveyed by chickadee calls. Last month Templeton and his former advisor Erick Green released a report detaling how nuthatches listen to chickadees and respond accordingly to that information. Amazing.

I am not an ornithologist. However, in my walks through parks and wooded areas I have never found an area that had just nuthatches and chickadees. If the nuthatch and chickadee can pass information, it is very likely that other birds can listen in as well, and probably generate sounds that convey information to others. Birds aren't the only animals in the woods, either. Quite a few critters can hear and make noise. It is almost a certainty that they generate intelligent responses to the conditions and threats originated by these birds.

If we take each audible and mobile participant in a region of a biome as a node of a communication system, we have something rather interesting going on:

As soon as the initial signal of interest is generated, the communications system that we are observing becomes "robust" and multiple signal pathways form. Increase the threat level to the first node by introducing, say, a fox into the environment, and more sensors and processing/signalling units "come online". Furthermore, this system never shuts down---there are times when little or no apparant information is passing through it, which corresponds nicely to the notion of "dark fiber" in Internet parlance.

Let's think on this a bit further. So far I've described the system in terms of auditory and visual signal inputs. What about introducing, say, the smell of a cougar wafting into an area that the human observer of the biome occupies? The system does several things:

a. More processors and sensors (animals) join the system.
b. The boundaries of system expand to a degree that is probably proportional to the threat---the system gets larger.
c. The participants ("nodes") begin passing information faster and convey a positive change in threat status.
d. If smart, the human pays attention to the signals and doesn't become a footnote to the daily news broadcast.

Mammals and other animals that might be at risk start dumping pheremones into the atmosphere. Predatory animals and prey will now reacting to this mode of communication. If this is taking place in Africa and there are elephants present, elephants will subsonically signal the threat and probably their response, and begin taking defensive actions.

(The plants are in on this information exchange too, though I cannot think of ways this would affect them in the short term. I'll leave that to one of my readers.)

You may well be wondering how this relates to divination. Here's how:

One of the most common tools used by 19th century spiritualsts and mediums was the "Talking Board". You've all seen the 1890's model of this, developed by William Fuld, known as the ouija board. Basically, there is a triangular shaped three legged little device known as a planchette (French for "little table") on the surface of the board that has generally two persons hands or fingers on the board.

In a classical mediumistic use of the talking board, at eight pm on a Wednesday evening, the members of the Circle have prayed, sung an opening hymn, attained the Silence, passed through Concentration, and are now at the stage of the Meditation with the talking board.

I have heard of many strange bits conveyed by a talking board, but I have never heard of one that worked without live bodies moving the planchette. Letters and numbers on the board are revealed by the operators. Here's where the previous post ties into this:

Generally speaking, neither Operator of the board is consciously trying to direct the production of a letter,number or other indicator. But what about all of those neurons in the organism that don't fancy themselves in charge of consciousness? The talking board is a device that allows multiple intelligences to communicate information not easily accesssable through normal consciousness. The talking board gives the participants permission to relate information, so to speak.

Let us suppose that the Circle has agreed to communicate the results of the talking board by slipping a sheet of paper under a door sill where a reporter on the other side will read this message. From this stand point, we have a black box that originates a signal. From the viewpoint of the reporter, it doesn't matter if there are two, two hundred people in the room, or just one person with a telephone taking instructions from someone else somewhere else. The message cannot be said to originate from a single person or from any other group.

Think of the information passed from the talking board as an expression of the unknowing consciousnesses of the operators. Alone, neither participant could generate information from the talking board. It is a cooperative effort that produces data sets.

In an actual setting there may be only two persons using the talking board, but there could be a large number of observers, all of whom are reading the body language of every person in that room. The operators of the talking board are getting all of this as input, along with pheremones, information from muffled coughs and a multitude of other signals.

In simple terms, this gives us a group--the spiritual Circle. The group manifests information from this assemblage through the talking board. In effect, the talking board speaks for the assemblage. It is a bare hop, skip and a jump from this to an egregore.

"Conjuring Up Phillip"

Some years ago in Canada a group of students invented an anachronistic dead King named Philip. The held seances for months, attempting to contact King Philip, with no results. Finally, they started getting table rapping and similar phenomenon. While of course outright fraud was possible, there were no indications of this. (Here's a summary of the events: http://www.pararesearchers.org/Ghosts/Article_Five/article_five.html )

Philip was a conscious creation of that asssemblage. In terms of esoteric theory, they:

Constructed a non-or quasi-physical organism with an intelligence and a history

And repeatedly tried to contact it, feeding it energy.

And expected results.

And got results.

Putting this fairly abstract description of divination out there without a specific is like, well, staging M******(The Scottish Play) without the cast of M*******(The Scottish Play), so next time I'll be presenting a brand new 21st century Divination Tool derived from my CR materials and approaches. And, apologies for the typos in this post, I was rushed.

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Contest Question: Describe any rediscovery or discovery in the field of optics made in the Arab world c. 1200 C.E.

The Winner (The first respondent with a correct answer) will receive one of the following of their choice as a gift:

A Bach Album of my choice

A Sybil Danning movie of my choice

A photography text related to a correct answer to the question, also of my choice.

N.B.---One correct answer is...

The Arabian physicist and mathematician Ibn al-Haytham, also known as Alhazen, experimented with image formation in the tenth century AD. Crusaders would have returned with some references to his work. His main work was with the pinhole. While oftentimes ignored as crude by camera buffs, the pinhole forms images that have uniquely useful characteristics. It has infinite depth of field, transmits all wavelengths of light, and more than a few are in orbit where they are the imaging device for observing x-rays, hard uv and other wavelengths of light that can't be manipulated with glass lenses, as most glass blocks uv and can't focus x-rays.

Don't worry--there will be a new contest up in several weeks.

Divination: Ghosts in the Machines

2007-02-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned that divination of some sort has been a mainstay in most cultures right up to and including modern times--check your newspaper for an Astrology section, usually running on the weekends.

As with most topics in the esoteric world, there are a variety of opinions on the utility of divination, ranging from the almost-official hard line skeptical opinions which hold that divination is not possible to persons who predicate their political careers and nation-building policies on its conversational results.

As my readers can probably guess, I shall offer a range of other positions for your consideration. The first and probably most uncomfortable possibility is that the act of divination, by whatever means, is a conditioned response to information the diviner unconsciously holds.

From this viewpoint, the act of performing the divination is a way to bring into consciousness the results of a messy, largely unconscious series of processes that have made a probabilistic estimation revealing the outcome of a situation or event. This may sound a bit like the tail wagging the dog, but as you shall see, the nature of the relationship between a dog and its tail are not very clear in a discussion of living systems that extend beyond the boundaries of the skin.

Ghosts, Machines and Emulators

Suppose that you are a long time member of a bowling league with decades of tournament experience. While each game is certainly a unique event with variables that cannot entirely be estimated or recognized, the aggregate sum of your knowledge of the bowling team, the quirks of each individual and their performances over time is information already held by a long term participant. This information is the processed data that goes into a "gut feeling" about the game. The term gut feeling is quite interesting-the abdomen is a lively place for neuronal activity. In the 19th century numerous occultists described what they referred to as "the abdominal brain" or Solar Plexus energy center. (This plays a central role in 19th century esotericism, being as important to Western magicians as the Tan tin was to Chinese Taoists.)

Now, regardless of how much neuronal processing power the gut has, it does not have a speech center. Suppose that instead these gut feelings are a signal that your unconscious is sending to the part of your consciousness that fancies itself in charge of you? While not a scientific survey by any means, lots of combat veterans credit a gut instinct with saving their lives in a firefight. Certainly, it is relevant that a number of the Unabomber's victims picked up their package, shook it and said something like "Hey, I bet it is a bomb ha ha!".

The same is often true of people who are attacked in parking lots or other outdoor spots. Many of them ignored their feelings and continued on to their destination, because they didn't want to look foolish. Pride is the most dangerous tendency in our lives, especially when every non-verbal sensation in our being screams that running away will keep us alive. Fear is an ally, not some inner demon to be overcome.

To parse this activity in terms of programming, we have inner emulators that we frequently use to estimate probabilistic behaviors in others. Now sometimes this is really off the mark, so let's introduce a feedback loop into this. Each time we make an estimate, test it against the actions of that person and refine your ability to better determine their future actions. That's a good start, but there's an even better technique available to the esotericist.

The term for a largely unembodied expression of a cohesive emulator is an egregore. An egregore is an intelligence capable of expression and interaction in the wider world. One of the best ways to tap into this is to build a series of inner experiences that are relevant to that egregore. Suppose, for example, that a ceremonial lodge in Chadron, Nebraska decides on adopting the egregore of 19th century organization "The Tribe of Judah Ben Hur" as their main contact for the astral realm. The easiest way for the members to more correctly interpret information from this source is by understanding its grammary and vocabulary, largely expressed as sigils and symbols. Of course, reading "Ben Hur" and studying it for deeper meanings is also a really good idea, though the process of interacting with the inner emulator and outer egregore should involve all of your senses.

I mentioned ghosts a few paragraphs ago. There are two examples I offer as evidence of the ghosts in the machine.

The Walking Somnambulist

I worked as the office manager for a non-profit environmental activist group in Southern California some twenty years ago. My boss was a Dr. L.E., a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and the original designer of the fund-raising model that involved neighborhood canvassing and cold calling. Lab experiments have shown that approximately one person in ten will do almost anything even vaguely reasonable that is suggested to them if the right words and body language are used. If you can "hook" them in the first 30 seconds, they will donate money. The script went something like this---
"Now, you recognize that the pollution of waterways in Southern California is a quality of life issue that affects everyone equally. All of us drink water and bathe, don't we? So why don't you pull out your wallet or checkbook and make a difference by donating ten, fifteen, dollars, whatever you are comfortable with, to us?"

The person had no idea five minutes ago that they'd consider it important to donate to a cause. But now, it makes perfect sense. There's an even stronger manifestation of Walking Somnambulist as a side effect to the popular sleep aid, Ambien. Quite a few people have taken the drug, gone to sleep for a few hours, and then awakened with extremely impaired judgement. A woman was one of many profiled on an investigative tv show last year. She took Ambien, slept for a few hours, woke up, drove to a 24 hour mega-store and filled a shopping cart with merchandise, went home, crawled back into bed, and woke up with no idea she'd gone shopping.

(As for me, do any of my readers need unused iPod accessories?)

The Case of the Autonomous Hand

A stronger and quirkier phenomenon is that of "autonomous hand". For reasons that are not clear, people sometimes lose control of a single limb that seems to act of its own accord. If the person in charge doesn't want their hand attacking them or playing Chopin all night, who is in charge? I know that multiple personalities are out of favor this decade, but from my experience, sometimes something spookier than deception is going on.

"Light as a feather, stiff as a board"

This was a popular parlor game ~200 years ago, and it is still played by teenagers to this day. Basically, ten or fourteen of your closest friends will each place a few fingers under you, and while they and you chant this, they will lift you to waist level. If you "think" about doing this, it is likely that the attempt will be unsuccessful, and the party will probably move into doing jello shots or watching Linnea Quigley or John Waters movies. Think about it and fail. Do it and succeeed.

That's all for now. Next time I'll introduce a different model for divination and reveal a secret Essene sexual healing technique that has never been in print or on the Internet.

Tools for Druid Comrades II

2007-02-19T22:10:00.000-08:00

As most of you noticed in my last post, I left out a critical ingredient for synthesizing mauvine--water.

Water is quite important, and this is a quck "how to" on the topic.

For most esoteric purposes, it is preferable to start with pure, clean local spring water. Failing this, you can filter and boil and let the tap water stand for 24 hours and it is usable--unless your local utility uses chloroform to treat it. In that case, use distilled water for all of your workings. You should still boil ther distilled water and let it cool before use. Whenever possible and safe, use water from your biome.

To start, you will need a way to safely collect, store and probably process water. Brown glass bottles with a shatterproof coating are preferred for storage. They are light-tight, something that will be relevant in a few posts. A glass (not plastic) funnel, new clean caps, a few labels, a large bowl made of an inert substance like glass, and a water proof marker are next on the list. Finally, you will need a small gold object. If you don't own any gold jewelry, go to a hobby and crafts store and purchase one or two sheets of real gold leaf. You might want to pick up a few bits of silver leaf too, remembering to wrap both of them individually in paper and put them away.

The first tool that you are going to make will 'riff off of the first esoteric exercise in the prior lesson--The Solar Adoration. This will show you a few things to do with that bit of work.

The Solar Adoration part II--adding sound

For this, we will add a sonic component to the Adoration. In the last lesson you were instructed to procure a standard telephone, or at least record a file of actual, old fashion telephone dial tone. This will be your standard reference for a while. Dial tone in the States is actually an "A" 440 hz sine wave. With this tool all by itself, you can tune any standard instrument, including your voice.

Repeat the vocal warm up exercises as before. This time, drop your head slightly, relax the jaw and cheek muscles, inhale slowly, and say---

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" five or six times. Listen to the way that the sound will change. Do not fight this--allow the voice to wander as it will. Try to match the sound you are making to the dial tone. When in doubt, open your mouth wider and relax.

The simplest way to enhance the experience of chanting is to use the hood of a heavy robe with stiffening wire in the hood. This will create a sound baffle, making the experience of chanting more intimate, and will allow you to more readily feel the chant of a simple sound. Feel the warmth of the sunlight flow through you, merging with the chant.

Now let's put the Solar Adoration together with a bit of standard sympathetic work. Determine the times of greatest solar intensity for your location for the day. There are standard charts you could use, but they may not be accurate if you have lots of cloud cover. Pick the first day of the week--Sunday.

At the time of greatest light, perform the Solar Adoration with the vowel chant nine times. Using boiled/filtered water that you have already prepared, place a shred of the gold leaf or clean gold object into the bowl. Let the water stand in the sunlight as you chant. As you hold the bowl, focus on feeling the light, the ways that it dances off your body and other objects outdoors. Concentrate on this feeling for a few minutes, then pour the water out of the bowl, into the brown glass bottle with the funnel. Bring the bottle inside and set it into a space where it will not be disturbed. Label the bottle with the date, time and contents of the bottle. Please place it aside for future use.

Tools For Druid Comrades--voice instructions

2007-02-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Vocal Exercises I

For this exercise you'll need the following items:

A comfortably warm room
Loose clothing
A glass of warm water with lemon juice (half a beer or ONE glass of wine 30 minutes before this exercise is also recommended if you drink)
A print out of this portion of the document
A telephone
A set of new, disposable ear plugs (the kind you'd buy before going to an Anthrax concert, not the sort for swimming)
Half a pound of teardrop, fingertip sized glass beads or marbles. Wash these thoroughly and rinse them in running water for five minutes. Place these in a clean plastic bag and put them to one side. (This is your second piece of altar equipment.)

As discussed in previous installments, vocalization is a skill central to the practice of high occultism. It is through the medium (that word again!) of voice that most of our communication happens. There are manifestations around the voice that define identity and create mystery as well. Ventriloquists in most non-Western countries are mediums, or some other category of spiritual expert. Compounding this is the fact that prior to recording technology, very few people could recognize their own voice. We don't sound the way we think we do. Speech and singing are means of expression that can alter physiology and perceptions, and not merely our own.

Here's the first warm-up exercise:

Swallow an ounce or so of lemon water, slowly. Cough once or twice. Deeply inhale. Close your eyes and listen to the dial tone of a phone. Now hum along with this for a few seconds.

This is the foundation of most vocal music, excepting Mongolian and other non-western vocal performance artists. If you can hum along with the dial tone you can learn to chant powerfully.

This is the first bit that you'll attempt. Read through it s l o w l y. Now, speak it slowly. Listen for the natural breaks in the piece that allow for a quick stop and a breath. Try this two or three times.

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you -- tripping on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as Leif the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and as I may say, the whirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness."
Hamlet

Now go back to this piece, fix your eyes at head height on the wall that you are facing, and open your mouth wider while speaking this again. Do this three times.

This is where concentration comes in. Think about the acoustics of speech and singing. Humans are analogous to a stereo speaker with one driver (the voice box) and a resonant cavity (the torso) with a variable diaphragm.

For the next part of this exercise you'll need to work on feeling more than speaking. It is time to feel the speech. Listen to the dial tone until you can hear it in your head without listening to the sound. Put the ear plugs back in.

Now, repeat the selection from Hamlet again. Sense how your torso and air spaces in your throat and head respond to this bit. Repeat this several times until you are comfortable with your ability to sense the movement of your torso as you speak and the way that the air spaces vibrate.

Take out the ear plugs for this next section.

"Project damn it, project!" --My 8th grade diction coach

Take a really deep breath or two. You won't be screaming, but your goal is to face the farthest wall from yourself and strike a point on the wall at eye level with your voice. Speak deliberately with crispness. (If you need a model for this, go over to the BBC radio website and listen to the announcers for an hour or so.) Repeat this six or seven times.

Improving the power of the voice

Dipping into one of the traditional bags of tricks from classical academia, here's how to apply the method of Demosthenes, a Greek orator with a stutter. He trained his diction and voice by putting pebbles in his mouth and trying to speak over the sound of a waterfall. Here's the at-home version:

Put four or five of the cleaned glass beads into your mouth. Do not swallow!

Facing the wall as before, speak this speak again, I pray you. Repeat as needed, but not to the point of mental or physical exhaustion.

First Tools for Druid Comrades

2007-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

Tools For Druid Comrades, Part I

It has been said by the Wise (or at least by press agents!) that everything important should be taught in the first lesson. It will take the student more than a little time to unpack, absorb and apply that first lesson, so additional materials need to be presented.

The Spirit Band

1. Take an afternoon or evening, preferably under a tree or amidst the living green earth, and describe on paper (or into a recorder, or whatever other means you find comfortable and suitable) how it was that you came to be present there, at that moment. And yes, I do mean that you start with the Big Bang (you can truncate the first 13.7 billion years into a few words if you wish), and then tell the story of how your parents or grandparents came to be married or meet. Have any of your relatives said "You look an awful lot like your aunt Germaine!" or something similar? That's good information to have. What were the early and possibly under-recognized influences that made you into the person that you are today, and how will you use those forces to shape yourself into the person you will work to become?

2. Acknowledging the ancestors isn's entirely some theoretical foray into fogginess-you are an incarnation of all of those folks who happened to be direct ancestors on your family tree. Your features, biochemistry and a host of other factors were subtly shaped over a very long period of time. Remember what it is to be a part of a community, one that includes the living and the deceased. Those who have passed over still speak to us, so long as memory is held within the world. It is almost certain that there were people who influenced you who have died. Remember the contributions they made to your life, and find words, dance or other methods to explicate this.

3. Find a way to honor nature wherever it is that you live. Donate a few hours to the parks commission, fund the planting of trees, donate money to an environmental cause, but do something in the here and now.

Attaining the Silence

1. The first step in the process is to find the small silent places within yourself. While some can find the Silence in a rave with flashing lights and sirens blaring, most of us need quieter settings to let go of the distractions that we encounter much of the time. It is something of a misstatement to suggest that the Silence can be hold continuously. My experience is that it is an intermittant state that we drift in and out of as our consciousness shifts towards--and away from this as a focus. Find a comfortable position in a safe place with suitable lighting. You don't need any specific seated, kneeling or standing pose. Choose something that is suitable and unique to this procedure.

Solar Adoration

Esoteric activities are generally divided into active and passive exercises. This is certainly one of the more powerful, if passive forms. A solar adoration is basically an opportunity to think like a plant in the eye of light, the sun. You'll need to determine the times for greatest intensity of light--generally 10 am to noon. Find a place where you can stand out in the sun, lifting your arms towards it, keeping your eyes partially closed. If possible, wear loose clothing. Feel the warmth of the light as it plays on your skin--but not for too long, as the strength of the sun is also its sword. Simply breathe, and feel the light fill you. Repeat as needed. Record your experiences in a journal, even if the entry is only a word or so in length.

Mauvine Synthesis Recipe

Note--(5/28)2007) The recipe given here initially turned out to be quite inaccurate after a considerably lengthy search for the synthesis recipe. Making even a small quantity requires the use of several solvents that are quite harsh and best NOT used by folks who don't have access to an organic chemist and a full industrial or University laboratory. I have therefore pulled it from this post.)

If you look at the range of bright synthetic dyes available at any good crafts or fabric store you should be able to find one color among the selection there that you find appealing. Alternatively, following the manufacturer's recommendations you could blend two or more colors to get a shade you like. For these purposes, something between blue, bright red and purple would be most suitable. It should be a dyestuff that can permanently dye silk.

Following the instructions on the dye bottle scrupulously, dye approximately two yards of raw silk with this dye, and pour the undiluted remainder into an amber bottle, label it and stopper it tightly. You will need this later for constructing an almost entirely authentic spirit mirror that was typical of the 19th century.