The Book of Shadows

To Main Page

1801

Paganism is by some estimates the fastest growing religion in North America and too
few initiates.

Best of all: Thanks to science, we are not limited to what we know today. We
understand that even our best picture of reality is only an approximation, that we
will have a better picture tomorrow. This gift promises to upset the creeping
authoritarianism that has ruined so many paths of initiation and created so many
religions.

These are potent advantages. I believe they allow us the possibility of
success. But not the certainty. As we approach the crossroads, there are a number
of things that need doing. Some of these steps are simply a matter of keeping our
attitudes in the right places. Others involve research, development, and artistic
creation. Others still involve magical tasks. We need to understand that modern
Paganism, though built on the past, is not limited by it, that we are capable of
improving on our ancestor's wisdom even to the extent that their wisdom is not a
product of our own romantic imagination, which is large measure it is. We need to
recognize, once and for all, and say so, that our origin myths are just that: Wicca
is not a survival from the pre Christian past, but an eclectic/creative construct
meant to imitate what such a survival should ideally be. Its resemblance, and that
of Neopaganism in general, to ancient paganism in any of its multitude of forms is
slight and ultimately besides the point.

We need to do these things because they will allow us to take the next step,
which is to expand Paganism, as a path of initiation, to its potentia. We cannot do
that so long as we are locked into an old model real or romanticized. The
initiatory paths of the past have failed. Therefore, we need something better than
what has gone before. We can take the essentials of Neopaganism, the broad strokes
of its mythology and ritual, as a starting point, but we must go beyond that start.

First, we need to penetrate beneath the level of religious symbolism to what
might be called the physics of magic, the nuts and bolts and laws of nature that
account for what magic does and is. Next to the initiatory experience itself, which
can never be communicated or replaced by anything that point cannot be emphasized
too much or too often the physics of magic would be the deepest level of
understanding, accounting for all forms of symbolic knowledge. I have
developed on system of laws which I believe to be workable. (An account of those
laws will appear in an upcoming issue of Enchante.) It is the duty of
every
scientifically minded reader to rip them apart as best as
possible, to test them, and improve on them.

1802

Secondly, we need to improve our tool chest of spiritual methods. Much of the
work has already been done by initiates outside Paganism. All we have to do is
translate it and incorporate it within our own framework. At the same time, an ex-
panded and improved body of poetic ritual would be useful.

Note from Ellen Cannon Reed:

I received permission today from Skytoucher to upload the article
preceding this message. I found it one of the best articles on
paganism I've found. I do confess he is using paganism where I would
use "Wicca", and I do not mentally apply what he says to the other
pagan paths such as Asatru, but I do think the article is an important
one with regard to Wicca.

--- Maximus 2.00
* Origin: Mysteria * Be ye mystic * 818-353-8891 (1:102/943)

1803

Witches Rede of Chivalry

Magical Rites from the Crystal Well, Ed Fitch and Janine Renee, 1987, Llewellyn
Publications.

Insofar as the Craft of the Wise is the most ancient and most honorable creed of
humankind, it behooves all who are Witches to act in ways that give respect to the
Old Gods, to their sisters and brothers of the Craft, and to themselves.

Therefore, be it noted that:

1. Chivalry is a high code of honor which is of most ancient Pagan origin, and must
be lived by all who follow the old ways.

2. It must be kenned that thoughts and intent put forth on this Middle Earth will
wax strong in other worlds beyond and return... bringing into creation, on this
world, that which had been sent forth. Thus one should exercise discipline, for "as
ye plant, so shall ye harvest."

3. It is only by preparing our minds to be as Gods that we can ultimately attain
godhead.

4. "This above all... to thine own self be true..."

5. A Witch's word must have the validity of a signed and witnessed oath. Thus,
give thy word sparingly, but adhere to it like iron.

6. Refrain from speaking ill of others, for not all truths of the
matter may be known.

7. Pass not unverified words about another, for hearsay is, in large
part, a thing of falsehoods.

8. Be thou honest with others, and have them know that honesty is
likewise expected of them.

9. The fury of the moment plays folly with the truth; to keep one's
head is a virtue.

10. Contemplate always the consequences of thine acts upon others.
Strive not to do harm.

11. Diverse covens may well have diverse views of love between members
and with others. When a coven, clan, or grove is visited or joined, one should
discern quietly their practices, and abide thereby.

12. Dignity, a gracious manner, and a good humor are much to be admired.

13. As a Witch, thou has power, and thy powers wax strongly as wisdom
increases. Therefore, exercise discretion in the use thereof.

14. Courage and honor endure forever. Their echoes remain when the
mountains have crumbled to dust.

15. Pledge friendship and fealty to those who so warrant. Strengthen
others of the Brethren and they shall strengthen thee.

16. Thou shalt not reveal the secrets of another Witch or Coven. Others have labored
long and hard for them, and cherish them as treasures.

1804

17. Though there may be differences among those of the Old Ways, those
who are once-born must see nothing, and must hear nothing.

18. Those who follow the mysteries should be above reproach in the eyes of the
world.

19. The laws of the land should be obeyed whenever possible and within
reason, for in the main they have been chosen with wisdom.

20. Have pride in thyself and seek perfection in body and in mind. For
the Lady has said, "How canst thou honor another unless thou give honor to thyself
first?"

21. Those who seek the Mysteries should consider themselves the select
of the Gods, for it is they would lead the race of humankind to the highest of
thrones and beyond the very stars.

1805

_____________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _
((___)) ((___))
[ x x ] [ x x ]
\ / \ /
(` ') (` ')
(U) (U)
HISTORY OF THE BOVINOMICON
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by The Raver

>>> A CULT Publication......1988 <<<
-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
__________________________________________________________

The history of the great Bovine mythos cycle is a lost and twisted one. Of the
tales of the Bovine unknown, one literary work, one tome of Bovinity, does stand
out. Yes, brutal reader, the BOVINOMICON.

This being a short but complete outline of the history of this book, its
author, The Raver, presents this work. The outline follows its various translations
and editions from the time of the writing (AD 730) of the BOVINOMICON to the present
day.

=================================================================

Original title AL AZIF - Azif being the word used by the Arabs to
designate that nocturnal sound (made by Bovine creatures) supposed to be the howling
of daemons.

Composed by Abdul Alhazred, a mad cow herder of Sanna, in Yemen,
who is said to have flourished during the period of the Omminade Caliphs, circa AD
700. He visited the ruins of Babylon and the subterranean secrets of Memphis and
spent ten years alone in the great
southern desert of Arabia - (the Roba El Khaliyeh or "Empty Space" of
the ancients and "Dahna" or "Crimson" desert of the modern Arabs) -
which is held to be inhabited by protective evil spirits and monsters of death. Of
this desert many strange and unbelievable marvels are told by those who pretend to
have penetrated it. In his last years Alhazred dwelt in Damascus, where the
BOVINOMICON (AL AZIF) was written, and of his final death or disappearance (AD 738)
many terrible and conflicting things are told. He is said by Ebn Khallikan (12th
century biography) to have been seized by an invisible cow in broad daylight and
devoured horribly before a large number of fright-frozen witnesses. Of his madness
many things are told. He claimed to have seen the fabulous Irem, or City of
Pillars, and to have found beneath the ruins of a certain nameless desert pasture
the shocking annals and secrets of a race older than mankind. (Editors Note: A full
desc- ription of the nameless pasture, and the annals and secrets of its inhabitants
will be found in the t-file THE NAMELESS PASTURE, written by the author of this
outline). He was only an indifferent Moslem, worshipping unknown Entities who he
called Yog-Elsie and Bob-Sothoth.

In AD 950 the AZIF, which had gained considerable, though
surreptitious circulation amongst the philosophers of the age, was
secretly translated into Greek by Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople
under the title BOVINOMICON. For a century it impelled certain
experimenters to terrible attempts, when it was suppressed and burnt by the
patriarch Michael. After this it was only heard of furtively, but (1223) Olaus
Wormius made a Latin translation later in the Middle Ages, and the Latin test was
printed twice - once in the 15th century in black letter (evidently in Germany) and

1806

once in the 17th (probably Spanish); both editions being without identifying marks,
and located as to time and place by internal typographical evidence only. The work,
both Latin and Greek, was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232 shortly after its Latin
translation, which called attention to it. The Arabic original was lost as early as
Wormius' time, as indicated by his prefatory note; (there is, however, a vague
account of a secret copy appearing in San Francisco during the present century, but
later perished in fire), and no sight of the Greek copy - which was printed in Italy
between 1500 and 1550 - has been reported since the burning of a certain Salem man's
library in 1692. A translation made by Dr. Dee was never printed and exists only in
fragments recovered from the original manuscript. Of the Latin texts now existing,
one (15th century) is known to be in the British Museum under lock and key, while
another (17th century) is in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. A 17th century
edition is in the Widener Library at Harvard, and in the library at Miskatonic
University at Arkham; also in the library of the University of Buenos Aires.
Numerous other copies
exist in secret, and a 15th century one is persistently rumored to form a part of
the collection of a celebrated American millionaire. An even more vague rumor
credits the preservation of a 16th century Greek text in the Salem family Pickman;
but if it was so preserved, it vanished with the artist R.U. Pickman, who
disappeared in 1926. The book is rigidly suppressed by the authorities of most
countries, and by all branches of organized ecclesiasticism. Reading leads to
terrible consequences. It was from rumors of this book (of which relatively few of
the general public know) that R.W. Chambers is said to have derived the idea of his
early novel, "THE KING OF CUD".

1807

--------------------------------------
CHRONOLOGY

One - AL AZIF written circa AD 730 at Damascus by Abdul Alhazred.
Two - Translated into Greek as BOVINOMICON, AD 950 by Theodorus Philetas.
Three - Burnt by Patriarch Michael AD 1050 (ie, Greek; Arabic text now lost).
Four - Olaus translates Greek into Latin, AD 1228.
Five - Latin and Greek editions suppressed by Gregory IX - AD 1232.
Six - 14..? Black letter edition printed in Germany.
Seven - 15..? Greek text printed in Italy.
Eight - 16..? Spanish translations of Latin text.

================================================================

PERSONS interested in learning more details about the nameless
pasture mentioned in this outline, where Alhazred spent much time,
should read the t-file THE NAMELESS PASTURE by THE RAVER, which gives a detailed
description. The file is also a cDc communications release.

This t-file is dedicated to my favorite author, H.P. Lovecraft,
who, now that we have had time to take his work into perspective, is, no doubt,
unsurpassed as the twentieth century's best practitioner of the horror tale.

"No weird story can truly produce terror unless it is devised with all the care
and versimilitude of an actual hoax."

-- H.P. Lovecraft to Clark Ashton Smith (17 October 1930)

========================================================
(c)1988 cDc communications by The Raver 4/22/88-57
All Rights Worth Shit

1808

___________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _
((___)) ((___))
[ x x ] [ x x ]
\ / \ /
(` ') (` ')
(U) (U)
THE NAMELESS PASTURE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scribed by The Raver, Teller of Strange Legends

>>> A CULT Publication......1988 <<<
-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
____________________________________________________________

The tales of the Bovine mythos cycle are strange and diverse. Although some of
our terrible order's members prefer to scribe tales of present day Bovinity, I opt
for tales of a dark and terrible past, a time when the Bovine stalked the earth
unheeded by mankind.

"...The wailings of the mad are but the birth-cries of
the new man - the old man gone like dust in the desert
wind. Cleansed of the lies of mankind, the new man -
the man of darkness - is free to absorb the beauty of
nothingness, to glory in the stark night of the utter
void. As your useless reason dissolves, rejoice in the
knowledge that others in as diverse places as Texas and
North Carolina have walked the same path, have drunk
the same blood, have reveled in the same prospect of
everlasting night, as you..."

-- Keeper of the Bovine Gate

'Tis true, we are evil in our potent writings and scriptures of the Cow. But
this is only for a reason. The following passage describes this point very well.
Much better than I could, indeed.

"...You do not yet know the true gods. Everything you
know is a lie. The Great Bovine Ones - these are the
true rulers of the Universe; these and others you have
not yet heard of will be the objects of your adulation,
your emotion, your love. You are the fortunate ones -
the time may come, if you give your selfless devotion,
that you will worship in the flesh in the Temples of
the Nameless Pasture, whose glory is beyond your
comprehension."

-- Catechism of the High Priests of the Bovine

The following tale is a true one and depicts the place that many Cultees desire
to be... the dreaded Nameless Pasture, where Bob-Sothoth rules supreme and the blood
of thousands runs rampant through the stalks of Cow-Bane. This tale is not for the
faint of heart. Nay. You have been forewarned.

1809

==========================================================

In a distant land, in a distant time, the mad arab, Abdul Alhazred, began a
horrific journey into the Roba El Kaliyeh ("Empty Space"), the vast desert of
southern Arabia. The time was AD 715 and Alhazred was quite mad. After traversing
the ruins of Babylon and the strange subterranean catacombs beneath the archaic
ruins of Memphis who would not be? Alhazred, in his demented mind, thought that the
vast desert would allow him the peace and tranquility that he so desperately needed.
Unfortunately, this was not to be...

As Alhazred traversed the shifting sands, his mind wandered back to the days
when he was but a simple cow herdsman. All was well, until that day... the day that
he heard a cow utter the following phrase in an ancient tongue: "Ia! Ia!
Bob-Sothoth fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Bob-Sothoth wgha-nagl fhtaga!" Ever since
that time seventeen years ago Alhazred had not been the same. He had afterwards
began a vast quest to discover why the cows he had herded had talked and exactly who
and what Bob-Sothoth is... or was. Alhazred began his quest almost a score of years
ago and felt that he was close to the
ultimate answer. During his nights with the cows those years past he had heard
their urgent mooings. What did they mean? Were the cows possessed of daemons? What
in the hell was going on?

As Alhazred continued his bizarre cycle of thought he noticed not the paved
stones peeking up at him from the sand below his sandled feet. Only when he tripped
on a large crack did he notice the fragmented pavement beneath him. "What?" thought
Alhazred. A road in the middle of a vast expanse of desert? Filled with curiosity
Alhazred decided it best to follow the ancient road. Soon darkness overtook the
world and day became night.

As the moon climbed higher in the sky he began to see that the slopes of
desert began to rise. Urged by an impulse which he could definitely not
analyze, Alhazred scrambled with difficulty up the dunes... Upon reaching the
top of the tremendous circle of dunes he stood silently, gazing into the
stygian depths where no light had yet penetrated.

All at once his attention was captured by a vast and singular object on the
opposite slope, which rose steeply about a hundred yards ahead of him; an object
that gleamed brightly in the newly bestowed rays of the ascending moon. He assured
himself that it was merely a piece of gigantic stone; but he was conscious of an
instinct impression that its contour and position were not altogether the work of
Nature. A closer scrutiny filled him with sensations he could not express; for
despite its enormous magnitude, and its position in
an abyss which had yawned in the middle of a vast desert since the world was young,
he perceived beyond a doubt that the strange object was a well-shaped monolith whose
massive bulk had known the workmanship and perhaps the worship of living and
thinking creatures.

1810

Dazed and frightened, yet not without a certain thrill of the scientist's or
archaeologist's delight, Alhazred examined his surroundings more closely.
The moon, now near the zenith, shone vividly above the towering steeps that hemmed
in the chasm revealed that far below rested a great area of flat land. As he
inspected the monolith more closely he noticed that, though eroded by the billowing
sands, it was still identifiable as... a cow. Footholds were aplenty and Alhazred
began the laborious trek downwards into the vast chasm.

As Alhazred dropped from a low ledge to the base of the chasm he uttered a
slightly audible groan. His feet had hit not sand but wheat. As he regained his
feet he surveyed his surroundings. For hundreds of yards the great field reared
into the distance.. far off he thought that he saw a mass of some sort but it was
dark and he was unsure. He slowly set off towards the mass. Somewhere off in the
distance he thought he heard the frenzied mooings of some unspeakable Bovine beast,
but he convinced himself that it was probably just
the wind.

When Alhazred was within earshot of the vast mass he did hear the frenzied
mooings of some sort of beast. Shaking with fear he moved closer only because of
fear of what might be lurking around the vast pasture. As he got closer he saw that
the mass was indeed a building, a temple.. broken colonnades paraded around the
temple and strange bas-reliefs covered its face...it was too dark to clearly make
out what the reliefs depicted. Alhazred began to circumvent the temple looking for
some means of egress. Soon he found a rubbled hole in
a wall. The hole poured with a dim light and the smell of greasy smoke. He
crouched down so that he could peer inside.

Inside he saw a vast chamber filled with a slime-coated liquid that was
obviously water. The chamber was dominated by a Cyclopean monolith, on whose
surface he could now trace both inscriptions and crude sculptures. The writing was
in a system of hieroglyphics unknown to Alhazred, consisting for the most part of
Bovine creatures and the like. Several characters obviously represented beasts not
of the modern world.

It was the pictorial carving, however, that did most to hold him spell-bound.
Plainly visible across the intervening monolith on account of their enormous size
was an array of bas-reliefs whose subjects would have excited the envy of a Dore.
He thought these things were supposed to depict cows - at least, a certain sort of
cow; though the creatures were shown disporting like cows in great pastures, or
paying homage at some monolithic shrine which appeared to be in a pasture as well.
Of their faces and forms he dared not speak in detail; for the mere remembrance mad
him grow faint. Grotesque beyond
the imagination of a Poe or a Bulwer, they were damnably Bovine in general outline
despite loathsome tentacles, cilia covered with congealed slime, wide with flabby
lips, glassy, bulbous eyes, and other features less pleasant to recall. Curiously
enough they seemed to be chiseled badly out of proportion with their scenic
background. Alhazred decided that they were merely the imaginary gods of some race
lost in the vestiges of time. Awestruck at this unexpected glimpse into the past,
he stood musing whilst the moon cast queer reflections on the stone walls around
him.

Then he saw it. With only a slight churning to mark its rise to the surface,
the thing slid into view above the dark waters. Vast, polyphemus-like, and
loathsome, it darted like a stupendous monster of nightmares to the monolith, about
which it flung its gigantic scaly tentacles, the while it bowed its hideously horned
head and gave to certain measured mooings. Alhazred went mad then.

On his frantic ascent of the cliff and dune slopes, and of his delirious
journey back to Damascus, he remembered little. Alhazred sang a great deal, and

1811

laughed oddly when unable to sing. He had distinct recollections of a great storm
some time after ascending out of the blasted heath in the middle of the Roba El
Kaliyeh; at any rate, he knew that he heard peals of thunder and other tones which
Nature utters only in her wildest moods.

================================================================

It was this experience that prompted Abdul Alhazred to scribe the original
Arabic text, AL AZIF, later translated into the BOVINOMICON. This rare work deals
with many complex matters, including the idea that Bovine mooings are actually the
language of daemons from the outer regions of the cosmos.

"...do you dare imagine things as they can be? As, indeed they will be when
the earth is transformed and the illusion of reality is erased from the minds of men
by the annihilation of those minds? Do you live in hope to see Great Bob-Sothoth
stride the earth? Do you dream of the Throne of Yog-Elsie, of joining the faithful
that mosh there? O, purify yourselves, then, for these and greater things await you
who are members of our terrible order..."

-- Part of a speech heard outside of a home in a Winston-Salem, NC, suburb

"The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind." -- H.P. Lovecraft

========================================================
(c)1988 cDc communications by The Raver 4/22/88-58
All Rights Worth Shit

1812

T H E A U T O N O M A T R I X
Nascent Manifesto of 930111

:: Symbolism & Design ::

The name AutonomatriX is derived from the words autonomy and matrix to
represent a self-directed and self-governing repository of information. The emblem
of the Auto-nomatriX is a circular blade with eight teeth providing a background to
t he glyph of Eris turned on its side.

The AutonomatriX is a networking chaos magic guild of those striving to discover and
rejuvenate magical ideas and technical skills with success as the only key to
validation. We do not discriminate on
the basis of lifestyle, gender, affiliation, race, or sexuality. We seek to interact
with creative magicians who are pushing boundaries instead of being trapped by them.
We are a guild composed of working craftspeople, whereas an order/lodg e/clique is
generally an exclusive
membership of supplicants.

The time of centralized info-banks is at an end; the nature of "classified" or
"secret" information is that it is more often limiting than useful to the collector,
and only profitable to the banker
of such media. Hierarchical structures are unnecessary and undesired; checks and
balances regarding membership are determined by an individual's interaction with
the rest of the group rather than personal prejudices or acceptance for any member
by any other member. The principles "sink or swim" and "(inter)action equals life"
are applicable to this magical guild, as in any network.

:: Access to the AutonomatriX ::

When a candidate has made intentional contact with a member of the AutonomatriX
(called the "AX"), that member sponsors the candidate hirself and provides all
pertinent information about that candidat
e to another member as soon as is possible for co-sponsorship. Alternatively, if for
any reason the member chooses not to sponsor the candidate after the initial
inquiry, that member must send the
information to two other members, one of whom is the member nearest to the
candidate's geographic locale. Ideally, the two sponsors would be geographically
separated from one another. All inquirers will be provided with the current AX
manifesto by any member who accepts sponsorship of that candidate at the onset of
their relationship. The suggested sponsorship period is three months, at the end of
which the co-sponsors mutually decide upon whether or not initiation should take
place.

The sponsored candidate is requested to provide information regarding any personal
magical work done in a journal or magical record. The candidate may in turn be
given any part of the Corpus Fecundi other than the Contacts Listing (see below)
that the sponsors deem appropriate at any time. Initiation may be performed by one
or both of the sponsors and/or an y other members of the AX with the consent of the
sponsors. The candidate must provide a record of a magical working whi
ch has resulted in mani-festation of the intent at least two times, and design a
self-initiation ritual. All initiation s must be performed in person. At the
climax of the initiation, the new member
is handed the current Contacts Listing ( on a scroll) and the remainder of the
Corpus Fecundi.

:: The Corpus Fecundi ::

1813

The Corpus Fecundi comprises a record of research, technical experimentation and
ritual methods that have arisen since the emergence of this guild of Chaos. The
entirety of this information is provided only after a period of sponsorship
resulting in initiation and excludes non-req uested information of a political or
genealogical nature.

It is the personal responsibility of each member of the AX to update their copy of
the Corpus Fecundi as new information becomes available. An active member of the AX
is any person who is on the Contacts Listing. All information for inclus ion into
the Corpus Fecundi is
transferred throughout the network on at least a quarterly basis.

The Corpus Fecundi consists of three parts, as follows:

The first part is the "Contacts Listing," which includes all participants in the AX.
All are listed by their appellation (any titles may be chosen), mailing address,
Working Group and/or Project involvement information, and a brief biography (bio) of
personal interests, researches, requests for information on any topic, etc. To
remain on the Contacts Listing each member is responsible for making their mem-
bership known by interaction with other members. If for any reason this cannot be
done, membership requires that the current AX curators are notified of continued
participation in the net-work by a work record semi-annually.

The second part is an "Index" of all works currently making up the Corpus Fecundi.
All members are responsible for ensuring that their copy is complete via this Index.
The author of each item will be
listed here, rather than on the items themselves.

:: The Curators ::

The issuance of Contacts Listings and Indexes are provided by the AutonomatriX
curators, who ensure that each display the name and emblem of the AX upon them. Two
curators are randomly chosen on June
27th of each year from volunteers to update and maintain securely the hard-copies
and electronic copies of all material in the Corpus Fecundi. The Corpus Fecundi is
maintained in its entirety in both formats at all times. Any individual in the
network may assume these responsibilities, although no curator may have successive
terms of office.

:: Working Groups ::

Each member of the AX is encouraged to form autonomous Working Groups. All WGs may
be designated by whatever name (Coven, Project, Team, Clan, Temple, Group, Cabal,
Tribe, etc.) deemed appropriate by those directly involved. A Working Group is
composed of at least two active me mbers of the network and as many nonmembers as
desired by them.

1814

Each Working Group is inaugurated by the generation of its own unique
manifesto, accepted by all participating in that WG. It must be distributed by the
AX members of that group to all on the current Contacts Listing. This particular
manifesto should be made as detailed as possible, to outline the WG's objectives and
intent, protocol, any offices assumed within the WG's internal structure, and
whatever else the WG decides upon. Accompanying the manifesto should be each
participant's signature (of their chosen appellation), mailing address, and bio. The
AX will in no way interfere in matters of any Working Group's internal structure or
protocol, with the fullest intention being to keep regulation to a minimum in
regards to the network's guild structure.

Each WG is encouraged to access any form of media available for wider
distribution of ideas and material, and the AX pro vides encouragement and/or
assistance to members who have material suitable for this purpose.

:: Projects ::

Projects or Operations which include any member of the AX within or without one's
Working Group are to be listed in the Contacts List. An "Operation" is usefully
described as an extended working for a specific goal carried out by two or mo re
members of the guild regardless of WG affiliation.

:: Main Contact Points ::

It is recommended that each WG and Operation designate a Main Contact Point (or MCP)
elected by the members in that Working Group, for response to inquiries and
distribution of information. It is the responsibility of the acting MCP of that
group to distribute all information for inclusion into the Corpus Fecundi of the
members in hir Working Group and/or O peration.

:: Information Transference ::

Information is distributed throughout the entire active membership of the network in
the issuance of the Contacts Listing and Index of the Corpus Fecundi by the AX
curators. The authors of any item produced and distributed for inclusion into the
Corpus Fecundi are responsible for the distribution of that information throughout
the network. Any item may be marked "Private" by its author, and this is understood
to mean distribution via the Corpus Fecundi only (not for public consumption). No
items intended for the Corpus Fecundi may be marked with the
author's appellation, although it is recommended that each item is accompanied by a
cover letter providing whatever personal data the author or distributor desires.

:: Voting ::

When voting is required within the AX as a whole, all members must provide a written
response of yes, no, or abstinence. The votes of each member are then listed beside
their name on the next Contacts Listing. A measure's success depends upon at least
a two-third's majority of all members of the AutonomatriX. All members are encour-
aged to voice their own o pinions at all times.

:: Identification ::

The AX does not employ any single clue to disclose membership in the guild.
However, objects that are easily available are periodically chosen to represent
active participation in the network, such as a certain semiprecious stone or a
color-specific pen for example. At any time, suggestions may be supplied to a
curator for random selection. The identifier is described as briefly as possible at
the top of each Contacts Listing. Aside from this, each WG and Operation is encou

1815

raged to generate totems and/or fetishes to designate themselves symbolically within
the guild.

:: Accessories ::
Each Working Group in the AX chooses what ritual accessories are necessary. Some may
choose specific forms of jewelry or ritual garments as a group. Each member must
possess the current identifier
object of the AX in the working area at the time of any meeting attended.

The AutonomatriX may be reached via

Temple Babel
PO Box 26362
San Francisco, CA 94126
Vox Mail: 415- 267-6937
or via the
PSYBERNET BBS: (805)772 AS IF

1816

ON THE NATURE OF THE AETHER

by: Anthra Andromda

[1] The Anahat Shabd, the "soundless sound", is the subtlest element of all. It
is the etheric essence, finer than earth, air, water, or fire, beyond the speed of
light... all pervasive, the source of cohesion, of electricity, of magnetism and
gravitation, of all that exists.

The modern physicist E.C.G. Sudarshan has described the etheric essence of the
Anahat Shabd in scientific terms as follows:

"The ether as superfluid is consistent with relativity and quantum theory.
It is the support of all light, in it all bodies exist,it is attached to none, it is
ever present beyond the limitations of time and space. It has no inertial
qualities, no interactions, yet it is the very substance of illumination."
E.C.G. Sudarshan (preprint, University of Texas, 1974)

Such is the Eastern view of the aether, in the west it has been given the following
definition:

1. An imaginary substance regarded by ancients as filling all space and making up
the stars, etc.

2. In physics, as a hypothetical, invisible substance, postulated as
pervading space and serving as the medium for the transmission of light and other
energies.

This Aether has been theorized and expounded upon by metaphysists for hundreds,
perhaps thousands of years (I have so far been unable to find the true source of the
idea). Back in the 1600 there were several Aethers, but around 1638, Rene' Descartes
postulated a single Aether that was "all-pervasive".

As recently as a hundred years ago this idea was quite popular, though now it is
dismised by science, or at least most of science. There are now several physists who
are beginning to develop theories about the universe that look for all the world
like theories of the Aether, though, they are using different names for the very
ideas that the ancient metaphysists proposed.

Consider these two exerpts from papers written by modern physists. They are
going to describe two "fields" that exist in their theories, and are in all
likelyhood what the ancients called; the Aether.

[2] Space is filled with an energy field, the energy concentration of which is
extremely large (for the layman, the energy field in this lecture room could
correspond to the energy of several bombs.)

1817

This energy field has little to do with light energy or solar energy,
and instead is called the GRAVITON FIELD, TACHYON FIELD or NEUTRINO FIELD.

There are two essential models of imagination for this field and the tachyon.
We are either dealing with EXTREMELY SHORT WAVES which possess VERY HIGH ENERGY
electromagnetic radiation, or we are dealing with very small energy units
which display a PULSATING BEHAVIOR which, in turn, determines their energy.

[...]

The majority of them (tachyons) may remain relatively stationary (these
are called BRADYONS) and because of their OSCILLATORY BEHAVIOR (Prof. Seike
calls it "trembling motion" [Zitterbewegung]), they HAVE A GREAT AMOUNT OF
ENERGY.

This means that ALL MATTER is immersed in an EXTREMELY DENSE ENERGY FIELD
which we cannot percieve.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Vangard note...

Think of the Bradyon field in its continuous jiggle as having a
composition similar to syrup. Rapidly moving Tachyons can be thought of as water
or gas.

Comparison of the flow speed of the two fields shows how the Bradyon
field could "sustain" the holographic (3d) image of the universe in a matrix of
living energy.

This opens up very interesting concepts relating to Sheldrake's
Morphogenetic Fields and Burrs' Electrodynamic Fields of Life.

-------------------------------------------------------

[3] QUANTUM MAGIC

REALITY AS DESCRIBED BY QUANTUM MECHANICS

In quantum mechanics, reality is described by waves defining the
probabilities of different outcomes from the same interactions. These waves manifest
as what we have been taught to call matter, energy, particles, and/or waves when
observed.

These probability waves overlap and continue forever. The interactions between
different entities constitute a single structure of linked wave patterns, so that
the entire universe can be thought of as an unbroken whole. The waves form a matrix,
with all parts of the system affecting all other parts. Non-local relationships
exist between parts of the system that are distant from each other. It is
impossible to distinguish two particles of the same type in a region of space in
which they may be found simultaneously. Particles loose their individual identity in
such regions. Thus, the physical universe is fundamentally unified.

[...]

SCIENTIFIC THEORY

1818

Mr. Walker's ideas and equations would only be hypotheses if it weren't for the fact
that they have been tested experimentally and found to predict the results of
experiments with reasonable accuracy [4]. The evidence meets the usual rules of
proof for scientific theory, and this makes Walker's equations legitimate scientific
theory.

The non-local underlying wave patterns beneath manifestations of matter and energy
that we hold in common with our surroundings allow us to influence reality and to
obtain information about it using the power of the mind. This underlying
interconnecting pattern is the very stuff of consciousness and manifests, not only
as matter & energy, but also as psychokinesis, precognition and other phenomenon
that are only now beginning to be recognized and embraced by some theories of modern
physics.

[...]

Whatever the subtle level of reality underlying matter and energy, we are that
(including our consciousness). If hidden variables exist, we are the hidden
variables. It has been theorized that consciousness is an inseparable aspect of
this underlying reality. When our awareness connects with the deepest layer of
reality interconnecting everything, we may experience the level of consciousness
beyond time and form reported by many mystics. It is this non local structure that
we share with nature that makes it possible to "attune to nature," to psychically
participate in nature, and to live in accordance with
it.

What we are usually aware of (normal waking consciousness) is a relatively
superficial movement in the order of things. Behind the things we are aware of in
waking consciousness are a vast array of less strongly linked phenomena. This
latter realm is commonly called the unconscious (and parts of it the subconscious).
The unconscious is not very accurate, since it forms a kind of ground of conscious-
ness. Our awareness can link with this ground of consciousness to gain information
and to influence events.

-------------------------------------------------

As may be seen from the two quotations above modern science is developing theories
that are harmonious with the Thelemic concept of the Universe. True they are using
different names for the particles and fields, but they are none the less the same.

It should be noticed in the above that one writer talks about a particle field,
while the other writes about probability waves. These should not be confused -- it
is entirely likely that these are one in the same -- much like the photon, which is
alternately thought of as a particle and a wave -- yet it is still our mundane
light.

This Tachyon field is in all likely-hood a field of Hadits -- after all Hadit is
omnipresent. At any rate this does seem to fit into the current Thelemic and
Enochian theories of that which underlies reality, and even in the worst case
science is describing a field of RA-HOOR-KHUITs. This goes a long way to explaining,
in modern scientific terms, why and how Magick works.

---------------------------------------------------------

It is Descartes' "All-pervasive Aether" or field of infinitely small particles that
is becoming known as the Tachyon or neutrino field by modern science.

1819

In the Enochian theories, the universe is filled with a virtually infinite number of
'infinitely small' points of consciousness, these are known as the 'Monad'. These
Monads are the very stuff of which all things are made, and are in all likelyhood
the 'fundimental particle' of modern science. These monads then would also be the
'unit' particles which make up what the ancients called the aether, since at this
level they would be indistinguishable from energy. They would also form a great
'matrix' which would fill the material universe.

Since these particles are not only infinitely small, but are infinitely close
together, any action on one given particle would have an effect on ALL others. As
was noted above; these particles are 'points' of consciousness. This brings to mind
statements made by Hermes; The ALL is MIND (or something to that effect). If these
infinitely small particles are indeed consciousness, then it would follow that the
All or the Universe is mind. The universe would indeed be a living 'thinking'
creature in itself -- this idea is consistant with the theories of Enochian Physics.

But I think I digress. As is pointed out above, modern physics is beginning to
formulate theories that there is an 'all-pervasive' field or structure that includes
and penetrates all things. This idea is harmonious with the ancient idea of the
aether. Science postulates that this 'field' underlies all manifestion, the two
exerpts above seem to agree on this point, as do the ideas of the aether. It seem to
follow that the 'waves' that Mr. Cornett speaks of are what 'cause' what we call
"physical manifestation", and that these waves are caused by mind (did the universe
litterally 'think' itself into existance?). These waves could also be caused by
aggreates of monads acting as a unit (the manifestation of an intelligent creature).

The possibilities are endless, and all equally valid. So what does all this
have to do with the price of tea in China? Just this;
1. It goes a long way in proving the Thelemic Cosmology, though we Thelemites would
use different nomenclature. The Ideas of Nuit (infinite space) and Hadit (the
infinitely small particle which fills and manifests Nuit) are beginning to be
accepted by modern physics. The conjunction of these infinites, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, any
and all events occuring within Nuit and Hadit, is therefore a 'given'.

2. It shows the mechanics of Magick. Since it can be observed that one consciousness
affects another, it follows that one may affect the entire universe by simply
'fixing' an idea in their consciousness. This may seem a bit over-simplified...it
is! The process is not an easy one, however, the rituals and processes that have
been given us by the ancients do begin to make some sense in the light of modern
physics. It is these ancient mechanisms that allow us to put our mundane minds into
the proper 'frame' and therefore 'excite' our consciousness, thus allowing us to
have a 'physical' effect on
or enviroment.

References:

1. S.S. Guruka Singh Khalsa, Research Associate
Department of High Energy Physics
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

December 13, 1987

2. The Symposium on Energy Technology in Hannover
November 27 and 28, 1980

Topic of the Symposium (Tachyon Field)
Dr. Hans A. Nieper

1820

3. AMARANTH Vol. E.1.1: QUANTUM MAGIC
An Electronic zine by Larry Cornett 8/22/88

4. Evan Harris Walker...Scientst and author. Worked for US Army
Ballistic Research Labs. at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. He is the author
on several papers and book concerning psychic and other para-normal
phenomenon.

1821

By: Dan Holdgreiwe
To: Adrienne
Re: Dangers of Deity?
-----------------------

In the presence of the Goddess, Adrienne said to Dan Holdgreiwe:

PH> ...to suggest that the human psyche, confronted with the Divine PH> presence
without being built up to sustain that impact, can frag ment.

DH> I don't buy it, at least not in those terms. This sort of thing makes for
impressive sermons, but it does not correspond to the Divine reality that I have
experienced.

Ae> Then you're lucky. I'm with Paul Hume on this one.

Well, I've been rethinking this myself, mostly because I realized that in other
contexts I make a big deal about the "dangers" of confronting the Divine. So why
was I so critical of the dangers espoused by Paul and others?

A major reason, I beleive is that I was taking their statements too literally. I
can't take the image of God as a high voltage line seriously. For that matter, I
find myself more and more disatisfied the the electrical metaphor that so permiates
modern discussions of magic. Words such as "charging," "grounding," and "energy"
capture only one side -- and not the most important side -- of ritual work. My over
literal reading of their posts conjured up a ridiculous image in my mind, which I
emphatically rejected.

Let me say instead that the dangers of encounter with the Divine are not electrical,
but rather are moral and intellectual. If one demands a relationship with Deity
which exceeds one's moral maturity, one does indeed face serious risks. I suspect
that most of these risks are related to self-deception and self-indulgence, but I
suppose that in extreme cases the damage to the personality could be more rapid.
All this, of course, presumes a basically healthy psyche.

On the other hand, approaching Deity often feels much more dangerous than it is. We
are likely to feel a great deal of fear as our pretensions and denials are stripped
away by the appraoch of the Divine presence. This feeling of fear is necessary and
good, but it is fear of change as much as fear of real danger.

Ae> Traumatic not just for the unwilling. I recently had a pries tess of
mine who did the Drawing Down for the first time and she was profoundly
disturbed by it. Not in an unpleasant way, but she's well trained and she
still found the whole experience hard to deal with on an emotional level.
Some people can shrug it off, others find it hard to incorporate into
themselves. Kinda like losing one's virginity...

I wasn't thinking that "emotionally hard to deal with" was what Paul et al. meant by
"zapped" or "crispy." Certainly such experiences can be emotionally hard to deal
with (although I have never found them so myself).

Ae> To be blunt, bullsh*t. Sure it can. The Gods sometimes force us to
prove our mettle, *especially* if we ask them to. If we are strong
enough,fine. If not...

Prove our mettle at what exactly? Lightning bolts at fifty paces? I probably agree
with you, but I reject the idea that we are tested like transistors -- turn on the
juice and throw away the ones that burn out.

1822

Ae> Besides, the biggest danger isn't in the presence of the Divine. It's
when the mage/priest *thinks* the Divine is there and is deluded. The
unconscious mind will happily produce all sorts of fantasies if you ask.

This I agree with 100%

Ae> It isn't a case of how effective the participants are, rather, how
ineffective. Delusion is a stock in trade for the occult arts.

Here you seem to have come around to my side. Most dangers come not from the
presence of the Gods, but rather from their absence. An imaginary power line isn't
dangerous, but an imaginary like with God/dess is.

Blessed Be
Dan

By: Paul Hume
To: Dan Holdgreiwe
Re: Re: Dangers of Deity?
----------------------------

Dan -

The zapped or crispy metaphor (hmmm, more Divine Electricity imagery) could include
"emotional discomfort," though I find that to be so basic an element in dealing with
Divine encounters (in my *vast* experience (g)), as the ego tries to relate to what
has just happened, that I don't really consider it at issue.

Someone who shrugs and mutters "No big deal," whether they've Drawn Down a God for
the first or five hundredth time has more of a problem, in my arrogant opinion, than
someone who throws shrieking fits in the wake of the experience (assuming they get
to stop screaming, eventually).

Yes, the crispness of the unprepared is, in fact, a metaphor for psychological
disintegration, an explosion of "mundane consciousness" in the wake of an experience
which blows the underpinnings out from under it. In a not uncommon example,
priesthood who begin to expect, to demand, the reverence shown them when they are
vessels of the Divine be shown them when they are not exercising their theurgic
office. Whether it is a Wiccan HPS or a Catholic monsignor (or
what you will), this is a typical poison that can breed in the wake of the Divine
invocation.

1823

Psychically, the Gods ARE high-voltage lines, whether you accept them as "real" or
"mere archetypes," or whatever. They, by definition, function on a level of
consciousness that is tremendously potent in the context of day-to-day awareness.
And they may be as solicitous of humans as a human is when caring for a small and
fragile animal, but They also do not exercise the same controls on humans that
humans do on animals, and rarely force us to turn away from danger, though They try
and protect us when we think to ask for it.

The fact that humanity contains (in my view) Divine potential in its own right
allows for humans to confront Deity on its own plane, even at the cost of the
present incarnation.

Paul

By: Dan Holdgreiwe
To: Paul Hume
Re: Re: Dangers of Deity?
--------------------------

In the presence of the Goddess, Paul Hume said to Dan Holdgreiwe:

PH> The zapped or crispy metaphor (hmmm, more Divine Electricity
imagery) could include "emotional discomfort," though I find that to be so
basic an element in dealing with Divine encounters (in my *vast* experience
(g)), as the ego tries to relate to what has just happened, that I don't
really consider it at issue.

Really? My own experience has included more than a little emotional
discomfort, but almost all of it was in those periods when I wasn't receiving
palpable confirmation that the work was acomplishing anything. Breaking through to
the Divine, on the other hand, is usually a joyful, ecstatic experience for me.

Part of this may be training (I spent about 10 unpleasant but productive years under
the disipline of a very demanding spiritual group) and part of it may be a matter of
pre-stripping the ego in anticipation of contact with the Divine (a less than common
practice among Pagans, who tend tobe suspicious of anything that smacks of humility-
).

PH> Someone who shrugs and mutters "No big deal," whether they've Drawn
Down a God for the first or five hundredth time has more of a problem, in my
arrogant opinion, than someone who throws shrieking fits in the wake of the
experience (assuming they get to stop screaming, eventually).

I would agree, but I find the more common reaction to be along the lines of "Oh,
wow!" or even "Mmmmmmmmmmm, yes!" Perhaps this means I'm not "plugged in" to the
high-amp Deities (like maybe Cthulu).

On a more serious note, I probably use an egregore that mediates the
relationship with God/dess in ways that make screaming fits less likely -- thought I
suppose it could be disputed whether this was good or bad.

1824

PH> Yes, the crispness of the unprepared is, in fact, a metaphor for
psychological disintegration, an explosion of "mundane con sciousness" in
the wake of an experience which blows the under pinnings out from under it.
In a not uncommon example, pries thood who begin to expect, to demand, the
reverence shown them when they are vessels of the Divine be shown them when
they are not exercising their theurgic office. Whether it is a Wiccan HPS
or a Catholic monsignor (or what you will), this is a typical poison that
can breed in the wake of the Divine invocation.

Ah, this is where your metaphor confuses me. You speak of an "explosion" but your
example is more akin to a cancer -- not a dramatic shattering of the personality,
but a gradual corruption. The latter is a danger that I readily acknowledge.

PH> Psychically, the Gods ARE high-voltage lines, whether you accept them as
"real" or "mere archetypes," or whatever. They, by definition, function on a
level of consciousness that is treme ndously potent in the context of
day-to-day awareness.

PH> The fact that humanity contains (in my view) Divine potential in its own
right allows for humans to confront Deity on its own plane, even at the cost
of the present incarnation.

The Lord and Lady are indeed potent, but their energy is wisely controlled. Each of
us, hoever, is a high-voltage line in much less capable hands. I believe it is not
God/dess, but our own Divine potential which will "zap" us if we are careless in its
use.

Blessed Be
Dan

1825

RITUALS AND SPELL OBJECTIVES AND DESIGN IN EIGHT MAGICS
by Pete Carroll

Our perceptual and conceptual apparatus creates a fourfold division
of matter into the space, time, mass, and energy tautology.
Similarly, our instinctual drives create an eightfold division of
magic. The eight forms of magic are conveniently denoted by colours
having emotional significance:

OCTARINE,
PURE MAGIC
RED, BLACK,
WAR MAGIC ��۱ DEATH MAGIC
��۱
�۱ ��۱ �۱
�۱ ������۱ �۱
�۱ ������������۱ �۱
��� C H A O S ��۱
������� BOX ������۱
ORANGE, ��������������������������������������� BLUE,
THINKING ������������� THE MAGICAL ������������� WEALTH MAGIC
MAGIC ����� MAILBOX �����۱
���04962577966���۱
�۱ ������������۱ �۱
�۱ ������۱ �۱
�۱ ��۱ �۱
��۱
PURPLE or ��۱ GREEN,
SILVER, LOVE MAGIC
SEX MAGIC YELLOW,
EGO MAGIC

The eight types of magic can be attributed to the seven classical
"planets", plus Uranus for Octarine. However in the cause of
expanding the parameters of what can be attempted with each of these
forms of magic, such an attribution will largely be avoided. The
eight forms of magic will each be considered in turn.

OCTARINE MAGIC

Following Pratchett's hypothesis, the eighth colour of the spectrum,
which is the magicians personal perception of the "colour of magic",
may be called octarine. For me, this is a particular shade of
electric pinkish-purple. My most signifikant optical visions have
all occured in this hue, and I visualise it to colour many of my
more important spells and sigils on the astral. Before I set sail in
a handmade open boat through the Arabian Sea I was tricked into
accepting a huge and priceless star ruby by a wizard in India. It
was of an exactly octarine hue. During the most violent typhoon I
have ever experienced I found myself shrieking my conjurations to
Thor and Poseidon whilst clinging to the bowsprit as mountainous
waves smashed into the boat and octarine lightning bolts crashed
into the sea all around. Looking back it seems miraculous that I
and my crew survived. I have kept the octarine stone, uncertain as
to whether it was passed to me as a curse, a joke, a blessing, or a
test, or all of these things.

1826

Other magicians perceive octarine in different ways. My personal
perception of octarine is probably a consequence of sex (purple) and
anger (red) being my most effective forms of gnosis. Each should
seek out the colour of magic for himself.

The octarine power is our instinctual drive towards magic, which, if
allowed to flower, creates the magician self or personality in the
psyche, and in affinity with various magician god forms. The
"Magician Self" varies naturally between magicians, but has the
general characteristics of antinomianism and deviousness, with a
predilection for manipulation and the bizarre. The antinomianism of
the magician self arises partly from the general estrangement of our
culture from magic. The magicial self therefore tends to take an
interest in everything that does not exist, or should not exist,
acording to ordinary consensus reality. To the magician self,
"Nothing is Unnatural". A statement full of endless meanings. The
deviousness of the magician self is a natural extension of the
sleight of mind required to manipulate the unseen. The god forms of
the octarine power are those which correspond most closely with the
characteristics of the magician self, and are usually the magicians
most important modes of possession for purely magical inspiration.
Baphomet, Pan, Odin, Loki, Tiamat, Ptah, Eris, Hekate, Babalon,
Lilith and Ishtar are examples of god forms which can be used in
this way.

Alternatively the magician may wish to formulate a magician god form
on a purely idiosyncratic basis, in which case the symbolism of the
serpent and the planet Uranus often prove useful starting points.

The magician can invoke such god forms for the illumination of
various aspects of the magical self, and for various works of pure
rather than applied magic. The category of pure magic includes such
activities as the development of magical theories and philosophies,
and magical training programs, the devising of symbolic systems for
use in divinations, spells and incantations, and also the creation
of magical languages for similar purposes. It is worth noting here
that chaos-magical languages are usually now written in V-Prime
before transliteration into magical barbaric form. V-Prime or
Vernacular Prime is simply one's native tongue in which all use of
all tenses of the verb "to be" is omitted in accordance with quantum
metaphysics. All the nonsense of transcendentalism disappears quite
naturally once this tactic is adopted. There is no being, all is
doing.

The octarine power is invoked to inspire the magician self and to
expand the magicians primary arcana. The primary personal arcana
consists of the fundamental symbols with which he interprets and
interacts with reality (whatever that may assault perception as),
magically. These symbols may be theories or kabbalas, obsessions,
magical weapons, astral or physical, or indeed anything which
relates to the practice of magic generally, that is not dedicated
specifically to one of the other powers of applied magic, whose
symbols form the secondary personal arcana of magic.

1827

From the vantage point of the octarine gnosis, the magician self
should be able to perceive the selves of the other seven powers, and
be able to see their interrelationship within his total organism.
Thus the octarine power brings some ability in psychiatry, which is
the adjustment of the relationship between the selves in an
organism. The basis difference between a magician and a civilian is
that the latter the octarine power is vestigial or undeveloped. The
normal resting or neutral mode a civilian corresponds to a mild
expression of the yellow power which he regards as his normal
personality or "ego". The magician self however, is fully aware that
this is but one of eight major tools that the organism possesses.
Thus, in a sense, the "normal personality" of the magician is a tool
of his magical self (and, importantly, vice versa). This realisation
gives him some advantage over ordinary people. However the
developing magical self will soon realize that it is not in itself
superior to the other selves that the organism consists of, for
there are many things they can do which it cannot.

The development of the octarine power through the philosophy and
practice of magic tends to provide the magician with a second major
centre amongst the selves to complement the ego of the yellow power.
The awakening of the octarine power is sometimes known as "being
bitten by the serpent". Those who have been, are usually as
instantly recognisable to each other as, for example, two lifeboat
survivors are.

Perhaps one of the greatest tricks of sleight of mind is to allow
the magician self and the ego to dance together within the psyche
without undue conflict. The magician who is unable to disguise
himself as an ordinary person, or who is unable to act independently
of his own ego, is no magician at all.

Nevertheless, the growth of the octarine, or eighth power of the
self, and the discovery of the type of magician one wants to be, and
the identification or synthesis of a god form to represent it, tend
to create something of a mutant being, who has advanced into a
paradigm that few others are aware of. It is not easy to turn back
once the jouney has begun, though quite a few have tried to abort
the voyage with various narcotics including mysticism. It is a
pilgrimage to an unknown destination, in which one awakes
successively from one nightmare into another. Some on them appear
vastly entertaining at the time. There are worlds within us, the
abysses are just the initiations in between them.

The evocation of an octarine servitor can create an invaluable tool
for those engaged in magical research. The main functions of such
entities are usually to assist in the discovery of useful
information and contacts. Negative results should not be ignored
here, the complete failure of a well prepared servitor to retrieve
information about the hypothetical cosmic "big bang", was a
contributory factor in the development of the Fiat Nox theory, for
example.

1828

BLACK MAGIC

The Death programs built into our genetic and hence behavioral and
emotional structure are the price we pay for the capacity for sexual
reproduction which alone allows for evolutionary change. Only
organisms which reproduce asexually, to replicate endless identical
copies of their very simple forms, are immortal. Two conjunctions
with the black power are of particular interest to the magician: the
casting of destruction spells and the avoidance of premature death.

So called "Chod" rites are a ritual rehearsal of death in which the
Death-self is invoked to manifest its knowledge and wisdom.
Traditionally conceived of as a black robed skeletal figure armed
with a scythe, the Death-self is privy to the mysteries of ageing,
senescence, morbidity, necrosis, entropy and decay. It is often also
possessed of a rather wry and world weary sense of humour.

Surrounding himself with all the symbols and paraphernalia of death,
the magician invokes his Death-self in a Chod rite for one of the
two purposes. Firstly the experience of the Death-self and the black
gnosis brings the knowledge of what it feels like to begin dying and
thus prepares the magician to resist the manifestation of actual
premature death in himself and perhaps others by, as it were,
knowing the enemy. A demon is just a god acting out of turn. In the
course of various Chod rites the magician may well experiment in
shamanic style by invoking into himself the visualised entities and
symbols that he associates with various diseases, to practice
banishing them. Thus the Death-self has some uses in medical
diagnosis and divination.

Secondly, the death-self may be invoked as a vantage point from
which to cast destruction spells. In this case the invocation takes
the same general form but the conjuration is usually called an
Entropy Rite. One should always look for any possible alternative
to the exercise of destructive magic, for to be forced into the
position of having to use it is a position of weakness. In each case
the magician must plant in his subconscious a mechanism by which the
target could come to grief and then project it with the aid of a
sigil or perhaps an evoked servitor. Entropy magic works by sending
information to the target which encourages auto-destructive
behaviour.

Entropy magic differs from Combat magic of the Red Gnosis in several
important respects. Entropy magic is always performed with complete
stealth in the cold fury of the black saturine gnosis. The aim is a
cold blooded surgical strike of which the target is given no
warning. The magician is not interested in getting into a fight,
merely in a quick and efficient kill. The supreme advantage of such
attacks is that they are rarely perceived as such by the targets who
have nothing but themselves and blind chance to blame for the
disasters which even magnanimity in victory does little to assuage.
One disadvantage however, is that it is rather difficult to present
invoices to clients for effects that appear to be due entirely to
natural causes.

1829

God forms of the black power are legion; if the simple form of a
cloaked skeleton with scythe does not adequately symbolise the
Death-self then such forms as Charon, Thanatos, Saturn, Chronos,
Hekate the Hag, Dark sister Atropos, Anubis, Yama and Kali may
serve.

Servitors of the black power are rarely established for long term
general use, partly because their use is likely to be infrequent and
partly because they can be danger to their owner, thus they tend to
be made and dispatched for specific single tasks.

BLUE MAGIC

Wealth is not to be measured in terms of assets, but rather in terms
of how much control over people and material, and thus ultimately
one's own experiences, one achieves by economic activities. Money is
an abstract concept used to quantify economic activity, thus wealth
is a measure of how well you control your experiences with money.
Assuming that varied, exciting, unusual and stimulating experiences
are preferable to dull ones, and that they tend to be expensive for
this reason, then the main problem for most people is to find a
highly efficient form of money input which has the above agreeable
qualities. The aim of wealth magic is to establish a large turnover
of money which allows agreeable experiences at both the input and
output stages. This demands what is called Money Consciousness.

Money has acquired all the characteristics of a "spiritual" being.
It is invisible and intangible, coinage, notes and electronic
numbers are not money. They are merely representations or talismans
of something which economists cannot coherently define. Yet although
it is itself intangible and invisible it can create powerful effects
on reality. Money has its own personality and idiosyncratic tastes,
it avoids those who blaspheme it, and flows towards those who treat
it in the way it likes. In a suitable environment it will even
reproduce itself. The nature of the money spirit is movement, money
likes to move. If it is hoarded and not used, it slowly dies. Money
thus prefers to manifest as turnover rather than as unexploited
assets. Monies surplus to immediate pleasure should be re-invested
as a further evocation, but the truly money conscious find that even
their pleasures make money for them. Money consciousness gets paid
to enjoy itself. Those in money consciousness are by nature
generous. Offer them an interesting investment and they will offer
you a fortune. Just don't ask for small cash handouts.

The attainment of money consciousness and the invokation of the
Wealth-self consists of the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of
the predilections of the spirit of money and a thorough exploration
of personal desires. When both of these have been understood, real
wealth manifests effortlessly.

1830

Such invocations must be handled with care. The blue gnosis of
wealth and desire creates demons as easily as gods. Many
contemporary success and sales seminars concentrate on creating an
hysterical desire for money coupled with an equally hypertrophied
desire for the mere symbols of wealth rather than the experiences
the punters actually want. To work like a possessed maniac all day
for the questionable pleasure of drinking oneself into near oblivion
on vintage champagne every night, is to have missed the point
entirely and to have a entered a condition of anti-wealth.
However, the majority of those who are poor in relatively free
societies where others are rich, owe their poverty either to a lack
of understanding of how money behaves, or to negative feelings which
tend to repel it. Neither intelligence nor investment capital are
required in any great degree to become wealthy. The popularity of
tales about the misery and misfortunes of the rich is testimony to
the ridiculous myth prevalent amongst the poor, that the rich are
unhappy. Before beginning works of blue magic it is essential to
seriously examine all negative thoughts and feelings about money and
to exorcise them. Most of the poor people who win in lotteries, and
only the poor regularly enter them, manage to have nothing to show
for it a couple years later. It is as if some subconscious force
somehow got rid of something they felt they did not really deserve
or want. People tend to have the degree of wealth that they deeply
believe they should have. Blue magic is the modification of that
belief through ritual enactment of alternative beliefs.

Blue magic rituals may thus involve exorcisms of negative attitudes
to wealth, divinatory explorations of one's deepest desires, and
invocations of the Wealth-self and the spirit of money during which
the subconscious wealth level is adjusted by ritual expression of a
new value, and affirmations of new projects for the investment of
resources and efford are made. Hymns and incantations to money can
be delivered. Cheques for startling sums can be written to oneself
and desires can be proclaimed and visualised. Various traditional
god forms with a prosperity aspect can be used to express the
Wealth-self such as Jupiter, Zeus and the mythical Midas and
Croesus.

Simple money spells are rarely used in modern blue magic. The
tendency nowadays is to cast spells designed to enhance schemes
designed to make money. If one fails to provide a mechanism through
which money can manifest then either nothing will happen or the
spell will flesh by strange means, such as a legacy from the
untimely death of a much beloved relative for example. Serious blue
magic is never attempted by conventional forms of gambling.
Conventional gambling is an expensive way of buying experiences
which have nothing to do with increasing one's wealth. Blue magic is
a matter of carefully calculated investment. Anyone but a fool
should be able to devise an investment that offers better odds than
conventional forms of gambling.

1831

RED MAGIC

As soon as humanity developed the organisation and weapons
technology to defeat its main natural predators and competitors it
seems to have applied a fierce selection mechanism to itself in the
form of internecine warfare. Many of the qualities we regard as
marks of our evolutionary success, such as our opposable thumbs and
tool handling abilities, our capacity for communication by sound,
our upright posture, and our capacity to give and receive commands
and discipline, were almost certainly selected for during millennia
of organized armed conflict between human bands. Our morality
reflects our bloody history, for whilst it is taboo to attack
members of one's own tribe, it remains one's duty to attack
foreigners. The only debate is over who constitutes one's own tribe.
When enthusiasm for war is limited, we devise sports and games in
which to express our aggression. From the whole ethos and
terminology of sport it is plain that sport is just war with extra
rules.

However, it should not be supposed that war is completely without
rules. Wars are fought to improve one's bargaining position; in war
the enemy group is a resource that one wishes to gain some measure
of control over. Wars are fought to intimidate one's adversaries,
not to exterminate them. Genocide is not war.

The structure and conduct of war reflects the "fight or flight"
program built into our sympathetic nervous system. In battle, the
aim is to intimidate the enemy out of the fight mode and into flight
mode. Thus, assuming there is sufficient parity of force to make a
fight seem worthwhile to both parties, morale is the decisive factor
in conflict. Indeed, it is the decisive factor in virtually any
inter-human competitive, sporting or military encounter.

Red magic has two aspects, firstly the invocation of the vitality,
aggression, and morale to sustain oneself in any conflict from life
in general to outright war, and secondly the conduct of actual
combat magic. A variety of god forms exist in which the War-self can
be expressed, although hybrid or purely idiosyncratic forms work
just as well. Ares, Ishtar, Ogoun, Thor, Mars, Mithras and Horus in
particular are often used. Contemporary symbolism should not be
neglected. Firearms and explosives are as welcoming to the red
gnosis as swords and spears. Drums are virtually indispensable.
Sigils drawn in flammable liquids, or indeed whole flaming circles
in which to invoke should be considered.

Combat magic is usually practised openly with the adversary being
publicly threatened and cursed, or finding himself the recipient of
an unpleasant looking talisman, spell or rune. The aim is
intimidation and control of one's adversary who must therefore be
made as paranoid as possible and informed of the origin of the
attack. Otherwise combat magic takes the same general form as that
used in Entropy Rites, with sigils and servitors carrying
auto-destructive information to the target, although with sub-lethal
intent.

However, the real skill of red magic is to be able to present such
an overwhelming glamour of personal vitality, morale and potential
for aggression that the exercise of combat magic is never required.

1832

YELLOW MAGIC

Most of the extant texts on what is traditionally called "solar
magic", contradict each other or suffer from internal confusion.
Astrological commentaries on the supposed powers of the sun are
amongst the most idiotic nonsense that discipline can produce. This
is because the yellow power has four distinct but related forms of
manifestation within the psyche. This fourfold division has led to
immense problems in psychology, where various schools of thought
have chosen to emphasise one in particular and to ignore those which
other schools have alighted upon.

The four aspects can be characterised as follows. Firstly the Ego,
or self image, which is simply the model the mind has of the general
personality, but excluding most of the extreme behaviour patterns
that the selves are capable of. Secondly Charisma, which is the
degree of self-confidence that a person projects to others. Thirdly,
something for which there is no single English term, but which can
be called Laughter-Creativity. Fourthly, the urge to Assertion and
Dominance. All these things are manifestations of the same yellow
power; although their relative emphasis varies greatly between
individuals.

Success in most human societies usually results from a skilful
expression of the yellow power. The strength of the yellow power in
an individual seems to bear a direct relationship to levels of the
sexual hormone testosterone in both sexes; although its expression
depends on personal psychology. There is a complex interplay
between testosterone levels, self image, creativity, social status
and sexual urges, even if they are unexpressed. In esoteric terms,
the moon is the secret power behind the sun, as most female
magicians realise instinctively, and most male magicians discover
sooner or later. The Ego gradually accretes through the accidents of
childhood and adolescence, and, in the absence of particularly
powerful experiences thereafter, remains fairly constant even if it
contains highly dysfunctional elements. Any type of invocation
should make some difference to the ego, but direct work with it can
achieve much more. Several tricks are involved here. The very
recognition of the ego implies that change is possible. Only those
who realize that they own a personality rather than consis of a
personality, can modify it. For most people a preparation of a
detailed inventory of their own personality is a very difficult and
unsettling activity. Yet once it is done it is usually quite easy to
decide what changes are desirable.

Changes to the Ego or self image or personality by magic are classed
as works of Illumination and are mainly accomplished by Retroactive
Enchantment and Invocation. Retroactive Enchantment in this case
consits of re-writing one's personal history. As our history largely
defines our future, we can change our future by redefining our past.
Everybody has some capacity to re-interpret things which were
considered to have gone wrong in the past in a more favourable
light, but most fail to pursue the process to the full. One cannot
eliminate disabling memories, but by an effort of visualisation and
imagination one can write in parallel enabling memories of what
might also have happened, to neutralise the originals. One can also,
where possible, modify any remaining physical evidence that favours
the disabling memory.

1833

Invocations to modify the ego are ritual enchantments and
personifications of the new desired qualities. Attention should be
given to planned changes of dress, tone of speech, gesture,
mannerisms and body posture which will best suit the new ego. One
manoeuvre frequently used in yellow magic is to practice the
manifestation of an alternative personality with a specific mnemonic
trigger, such as the transference of a ring from one finger to
another.

Various god forms such as Ra, Helios, Mithras, Apollo and Baldur are
useful to structure fresh manifestations of the ego, and for
experiments with the other three qualities of the yellow power.

Charisma, the projection of an aura of self confidence, is based on
a simple trick. After a short while there is no difference at all
between the pretence and the actuality of self confidence. Anyone
wishing to remedy a lack of confidence and charisma, and uncertain
as to how to begin pretending to these qualities, may find that a
day or two spent pretending to absolute zero self confidence will
quickly reveal both the effectiveness of pretence and the specific
thoughts, words, gestures and postures required to project either
pretence.

Laughter and Creativity may not immediately seem to be related, but
humour depends on the sudden forging of a new connection between
disparate concepts, and we laugh at our own creativity in forging
the connection. Exactly the same form of elation arises from other
forms of creative activity, and if the insight comes suddenly,
laughter results. If you don't laugh when you see a seriously
brilliant piece of mathematics then you have not really understood
it. It also take a degree of positive self-esteem and confidence to
laugh at something creatively funny. Persons of low self-esteem tend
only to laugh at destructive humour and the misfortunes of others,
if they laugh at all.

Laughter is often an important factor in the invocations of the god
forms of the yellow power. Solemnity is not a prerequisite for
ritual. Laughter is also a useful tactic in drawing conscious
attention away from sigils or other magical conjurations once they
are finished with. The deliberate forcing of hysterical laughter may
seem an absurd way of ending an enchantment or an invocation, but it
has been found to be remarkably effective in practice. This is yet
another sleight of mind manoeuvre which prevents conscious
deliberation.

The "pecking order" within most groups of social animals is usually
immediately obvious to us, and the animals themselves. Yet within
our own society such dominance hierarchies are equally prevalent
within all social groups; although we go to quite extreme lengths to
disguise this to ourselves. The human situation is further
complicated by the tendency of individuals to belong to many groups
in which they may have different degrees of social status, and
status is often partly dependent on specialist abilities other than
displays of naked force.

1834

However, assuming that a person can appear competent in the
specialist ability that a social group requires, that person's
position in the group depends almost entirely on the degree of
assertion and dominance that person exhibits. It is basically
exhibited through non-verbal behaviour which everybody understands
intuitively or subconsciously but which most people fail to
understand rationally. As a consequence they cannot manipulate it
deliberately. Typical dominance behaviours involve talking loudly
and slowly, using lots of eye contact, interrupting the speech of
others whilst resisting the interruption of others, maintaining an
upright posture of concealed threat, invading the personal space of
others whilst resisting intrusion into one's own, and placing
oneself strategically in any space at the focus of attention. In
cultures where touching is frequent, the dominant always initiate
it, or pointedly refuse it. Either way, they control it.

Submissive behaviour is of course the reverse of all the above, and
appears quite spontaneously in response to successful dominance from
others. There is a two way interaction between dominance behaviour
and hormone levels. If the levels change for medical reasons then
the behaviour tends to change, but more importantly, from a magical
point of view, a deliberate change of behaviour will modify hormone
levels. Fake it till you make it. There is nothing particularly
occult about the way some people are able to control others. We
simply fail to notice how it is done because nearly all the
behavioural signals involved are exchanged subconsciously. Dominance
signals do not tend to work if their recipients perceive them
consciously. Thus in most situations they must be delivered subtly
and with gradually increasing intensity. One of the few situations
where such signals are exchanged deliberately is in military
hierarchies, but this is only possible because of the immense
capacity for direct physical coercion that such systems exhibit.
Break the formal rules of non-verbal communication with an officer
and he will have a sergeant instil some submission by direct means.
Eventually the formal rules become internalised and function
automatically, allowing enough obedience to permit mass
self-sacrifice and slaughter. The yellow power is the root of most
of the best and the worst of what we are capable.

GREEN MAGIC

There is inevitable a considerable overlap in what is written in
popular magic books on the subject of venusian (love) and lunar
(sex) magic. Consequently a planetary nomenclature has been largely
avoided in this text. Although love magic is frequently performed in
support of sexual objectives, this chapter will confine itself to
the arts of making other people friendly, loyal and affectionate
towards oneself.

Friends are probably anyone's greatest asset. My adress book is
easily my most valuable possession. As with erotic attraction, it is
first necessary to like oneself before others will. This ability can
be enhanced by appropriate invocations of the green power. Most
people find it easy to elicit friendliness from people that they
like themselves; but making persons who are not disposed to
friendship towards you, become friendly, and making persons who you
do not like at all friendly towards you, are valuable abilities. An
unreciprocated friendship is a disability only to the person
offering it.

1835

Invocations to the green power should begin with self-love; an
attempt to see the wonderful side of every self one consists of, and
then proceed into a ritual affirmation of the beauty and loveability
of all things and all people. Suitable god forms for the Love-self
include Venus, Aphrodite and the mythical Narcissus, whose myth
merely reflects a certain male prejudice against this type of
invocation.

From within the green gnosis, spells to make people friendly may be
cast by simple enchantment or by the use of entities created for
this purpose. However it is in face to face meetings that the
empathic abilities stimulated by the invocation work most
effectively. Apart from the obvious manoeuvres of showing interest
in everything the target has to say and affirming and sympathising
with most of it, there is another critical factor called "behavioral
matching", which usually takes place subconsciously. Basically, in
the absence of overtly hostile postures on the part of the target,
one should attempt to match the non-verbal behaviour of the target
precisely. Sit or stand in the identical bodily posture, make the
same movements, use the same degree of eye contact, and talk for
similar intervals. As with dominance behaviour, such signals only
work if they are not consciously perceived by the recipient. Do not
move to match the target's moves and postures immediately. It is
also essential to try and match the verbal behaviour and to
communicate with the same level of intelligence, social status and
sense of humour as the target.

Before I made myself wealthy, I used to practice these abilities
when hitch-hiking. Soon, even people whom I found quite ghastly were
buying me lunch and transporting me far out of their way. Empathy
will get you anywhere.

ORANGE MAGIC

Charlatanry, trickery, living by one's wits and thinking fast on
one's feet are the essence of the orange power. These mercurial
abilities were traditionally associated with the god forms which
acted as patrons to doctors, magicians, gamblers and thieves.
However the profession of medicine has now partly dissociated itself
from charlatanry since doctors discovered that antibiotics and
hygienic surgery actually worked. Nevertheless about eighty percent
of medications are still basically placebos, and the profession
still retains the mercurial caduceus for its emblem. Similarly the
profession of magic has become less dependant on charlatanry with
the discovery of the quantum-probabilistic nature of enchantment and
divination and the virtual abandonment of classical alchemy and
astrology. Pure magic is now best described as an expression of the
octarine power, having an Uranian character. Yet charlatanry still
has its place in magic as in medicine. Let us not forget that all
"conjuring tricks" were once part of the shamanic warm up repertoire
in which something lost or destroyed is miraculously restored by the
magician to get the audience in the right mood before the serious
business of placebo healing began. In its classical form, the
magician puts a dead rabbit in a hat before pulling out a live one.

1836

To the list of professions drawing heavily on the orange power one
must now add salesman, confidence trickster, stockbroker and indeed
any profession with an extreme heart attack rating. The motive power
of the orange gnosis is basically fear, a species of fear which does
not inhibit the user, but rather creates an extraordinary nervous
speed that produces quick moves and answers in tight corners.

The apotheosis of the Wit-self is the ability to enter that state of
mental overdrive in which the fast response is always forthcoming.
This ability is,, paradoxically enough, created by not thinking
about thinking, but rather allowing anxiety to partially paralyse
the inhibitory process themselves so that the subconscious can throw
out a quick witted response without conscious deliberation.

Invocations of the orange power are best delivered at frantic speed
and gnosis can be deepened by the performance of mentally demanding
tasks such as adding up large lists of numbers in one's head or
ripping open envelopes containing difficult questions and answering
them instantly; activities which should be persisted with until a
breakthrough to the experience of thinking without deliberation is
achieved. Varied god forms can be used to give form to the Wit-self.
Hermes, Loki, Coyote the Trickster and the Roman Mercurius are often
employed.

Orange magic is usually restricted to invocations designed to
enhance general quick wittedness in secular activities such as
gambling, crime and intellectual pursuits. Enchantments and
evocations performed subsequent to an invocation of the orange
gnosis rarely seem to give results as effective as the invocation
itself in my experience. Perhaps something should be said about
crime and gambling for the benefit of those hotheads who may
misunderstand what can be done with orange magic in support of such
activities. Theft is ludicrously easy performed methodically yet the
majority of thieves get caught after a while because they become
addicted to anxiety, which they experience as excitement and
start taking risks to increase it. The novice thief who, in state of
extreme anxiety, takes something in a situation of zero risk, does
not of course get caught and neither does the careful professional.
However there are few careful professionals because there are far
easier ways of making money in most societies for people with that
kind of ability. The great majority of thieves however always manage
to find some way of incriminating themselves because the anxiety of
the theft itself fades, only the anxiety of punishment remains.
Those quick witted and outwardly cool enough to thieve successfully
can easily make more from salesmanship.

1837

There are three types of persistent gambler. The losers account for
two types. Firstly there are those addicted to their own arrogance,
who just have to prove that they can beat pure chance or the odds
set by the organisers. Secondly there are those addicted to the
anxiety of loosing. Even if they win, they invariably throw it away
again soon afterwards. Then there are the winners. These people are
not gambling at all, either because they are organising the odds and
stakes, or because they have inside information, or because they are
cheating. This is true orange magic. Poker is not a game of chance
if played skilfully, and skilful play includes not playing against
persons of equal or superior skill, or persons holding a Smith and
Weston to your Four Aces. Most conventional forms of gambling are
set up in such a way that the use of anything but the most extreme
forms of psychic power will make little difference. I would not
bother to bet on odds that I had reduced from an hundred to one to
merely sixty to one. However certain results obtained using double
blind prescience with horse racing show encouraging potential.

PURPLE MAGIC

A large proportion of all the cults throughout history have shared
one particular characteristic. They have been led by a charismatic
man able to persuade women to freely dispense sexual favours to ther
men. When one begins to look, this feature is startlingly common to
many ancient cults, monotheistic schismatic sects and modern
esoteric groups. Many, if not the majority of adepts past and
present were, or are, whoremasters. The mechanism is quite simple,
pay the woman in the coinage of spirituality to service the men who
repay you with adulation and accept your teachings as a side effect.
The adulation from the men then increases your charisma with the
women creating a positive feedback loop. It can be a nice little
earner until old age or a police raid catches up with the
enterprise. The other danger is of course that the women, and
eventually the men, may come to feel that constant changes of
partners work against their longer term interests of emotional
security and reproduction. The turnover in such cults can thus be
high, with young adults constantly replacing those approaching early
middle age.

Few religions or cults lack a sexual teaching, for any teaching
provides a powerful level of control. The vast majority of the more
durable and established religions trade on a suppression of so
called free love. This pays considerable dividends too. Women's
position becomes more secure, and men know who their children are.
Naturally adultery and prostitution flourish in such conditions
because some people always want a little more than lifelong monogamy
has to offer. So it's quite true that brothels are built with the
bricks of religion. Indirectly so with conventional religions,
directly so with many cults.

All this begs the question of why it is that people have such an
appetite for wanting to be told what to do with their sexuality. Why
do people have to seek esoteric and metaphysical justification for
what they want to do? Why is it so easy to make a living selling
water by the river?

1838

The answer, it appears, is that human sexuality has some built in
dissatisfaction function of evolutionary origin. Our sexual
behaviour is partly controlled by genetics. Those genes most likely
to survive and prosper are those that in the female encourage the
permanent capture of the most powerful male available and occasional
liaisons (clandestine) with any more powerful male that may be
temporarily available. Whereas in the male, the genes most likely to
prosper are those encouraging the impregnation of as large a number
of females as he can support, plus perhaps a few on the sly that
other men are supporting. It is interesting to note that only in the
human female is oestrous concealed. In all other mammals the fertile
time is made abundantly obvious. This appears to have evolved to
allow, paradoxically both adultery and increased pair bonding
through sex at times when it is reproductively useless. The economic
basis of any particular society will usually supply some pressure in
favour of a particular type of sexuality and this pressure will be
codified as morality which will inevitably conflict with biological
pressures. Celibacy is unsatisfactory, Masturbation is
unsatisfactory, Monogamy is unsatisfactory, Adultery is
unsatisfactory, Polygamy and Polyandry is unsatisfactory and
presumably Homosexuality is unsatisfactory, if the renetic
merry-go-round of partner exchanges in that discipline is anything
to go by.

Nothing in the spectrum of possible sexualities provides a perfect
long term solution, but this is the price we pay for occupying the
pinnacle of mammalian evolution. So much of our art, culture,
politics and technology arises precisely out of our sexual
yearnings, fears, desires and dissatisfactions. A society sexually
at peace with itself would present a very dull spectacle indeed. It
is generally if not invariably tha case that personal creativity and
achievement are directly proportional to personal sexual turmoil.
This is actually one of the major but often unrecognised techniques
of sex magic. Inspire yourself with maximum sexual turmoil and
confusion if you really want to find out what you are capable of in
other fields. A tempestuous sex life is not a side effect of being a
great artist for example. Rather it is the art which is the side
effect of a tempestuous sex life. A fanatical religion does not
create the suppression of celibacy. It is the tensions of celibacy
which create a fanatical religion. Homosexuality is not a side
effect of barracks life amongst elite suicide shock troops.
Homosexuality creates elite suicide shock troops in the first place.

The Muse, the hypothetical source of inspiration, usually pictured
in sexual terms, is the Muse only when one's relationship to her is
unstable. Every possible moral pronouncement on sexual behaviour has
doubtless been given a million times before, and it would be
unseemly for a Chaoist to re-emphasise any of it. However, one thing
seems reasonably certain. Any form of sexuality eventually invokes
the whole gamut of ecstasy, self-disgust, fear, delight, boredom,
anger, love, jealousy, rafe, self-pity, elation and confusion.It is
these things which make us human and occasionally superhuman. To
attempt to transcend them is to make oneself less than human, not
more. Intensity of experience is the key to really being alive and
given the choice I'd rather do it through love than war any day.

1839

A dull sex life creates a dull person. Few people manage to achieve
greatness in any field without propulsion that a turbulent
emotional-sexual life supplies. This is the major secret of sex
mgic, the two minor secrets involve the function of orgasm as gnosis
and the projection of sexual glamours.

Anything held in the conscious mind at orgasm tends to reach down
into the subconscious. Sexual abnormalities can readily be implanted
or removed by this method. At orgasm sigils for enchantment or
evocation can be empowered either by visualisation or by gazing at
the sigil taped to one's partner's forehead for example. However
this kind of work is often more conveniently performed
auto-erotically. Although the gnosis offered by orgasm can in theory
be used in support of any magical objective, it is generally unwise
to use it for entropy or combat magic. No spell is ever totally
insulted within the subconscious and any leakages which occur can
implant quite detrimental associations with the sexuality.

At orgasm an invocation can be triggered, this operation being
particularly effective if each partner assumes a god form. The
moments following orgasm are a useful time for divinatory vision
seeking. Prolonged sexual activity can also lead to stages of trance
useful in visual and oracular divination or oracular states of
possession in invocation.

The projection of Sexual Glamour for the purposes of attracting
others depends on far more than simple physical appearance. Some of
the most conventually pretty people lack it entirely, whilst some of
the plainest enjoy its benefits to the limit.

To be attractive to another person one must offer them something
which is a reflection of part of their self. If the offer becomes
reciprocal then it can lead to that sense of completion which is
most readily celebrated by physical intimacy. In most cultures it is
conventional for the male to display a tough public exterior and for
the female to display a softer persona, yet in a sexual encounter
each will seek to reveal their concealed factors. The male will seek
to show that he can be compassionate and valnerable as well as
powerful, whilst the female seeks to display inner strength behind
the outward signs and signals of passive receptivity. Incomplete
personalities such as those which are machismo to the core, or
consist of the polar opposite of this, are never sexually attractive
to anyone except in the most transient sense.

Thus the philosophers of love have come to identify a certain
androgyny in either sex as an important component of attraction.
Some have taken the poetic license to express the quaint ideal that
the male has a femal soul and the female a male one. This reflects
the truism that to be attractive to others you must first become
attracted to yourself. A few hours spent practising being attractive
in front of a mirror is a valuable exercise. If you cannot get
mildly excited about yourself, then don't expect anyone else to get
wildly excited.

1840

The "moon glance" technique is often effective. Basically one
briefly closes the eyes and momentarily visualises a lunar crescent
in silver behind the eyes with the horns of the moon projecting out
of each side of the head behind the eyes. Then one glances into the
eyes of a potential lover whilst visualising a silver radiance
beaming from your eyes to theirs. This manoeuvre also has the effect
of dilating the pupils and usually causes an involuntary smile. Both
of these are universal sexual signals, the first of which acts
subconsciously.

It is generally unwise to cast spells for the attraction of specific
partners but better to conjure for suitable partners in general for
oneself or others. One's subconscious usually has a far more subtle
appreciation of who really is suitable.

Sexual magic is traditionally associated with the colours of purple
(for ppassion) and silver (for the moon). However, the effectiveness
of black clothing as either a sexual or an anti-sexual signal,
depending on the style and cut, shows that black is in a sense the
secret colour of sex, reflecting the biological and psychological
relationship between sex and death.

________________

This text is out of Pete Carroll's book
"Liber Kaos, The Psychonomicon" (Weiser)

With fractalic greetings and laughter * Fra.: Apfelmann *

1841

Dedication Ritual
Lammas, 1992 Khaled Quicksilver

OPENING: Put up circle as per usual, up to but not including DDTM. Principal
witness is Priest or Priestess, whichever is opposite gender to the Candidate.

Candidate (with sponsors, stands facing Priest/ess:
"I, (full given name), have decided to dedicate myself to the keeping of the
Gods, and I wish to so swear, with this Circle of the Craft of the Wise as witness."

Priest/ess (to sponsors):
"Is (candidates full name) a proper person, of good report and standing in both
communities, sacred and profane, who resoects our ways and wishes to learn the path
of Wisom from the Lord and Lady?"

Sponsor:
"I have found her/him to be so."

Priest/ess (to Candidate):
"What is the Rede?"

Candidate:
"An it harm none, do what ye will."

Priest/ess:
"Truly an Ethical core. And art willing to make oath to the Gods?"

Candidate:
"I am."

Priest/ess:
"Art willing to ever keep secret what is unfolded before you, even though it
should cost thee thy life?"

Candidate:
"I am."

Priest/ess:
"Art willing to swear so before the Gods, and before these here assembled?

Candidate:
"I am."

Priest/ess (to Sponsor):
"Has s/he the password to enter into the worlds where such a compact must needs
be made?

Sponsor:
"S/he has it not. I give it for