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Tuesday 17 January 2012

Sun And Flesh (Credo In Unam) by Arthur Rimbaud

Here is a beautiful poem that was put on a forum for me by a very dear friend of mine. She had chosen it with much thought, knowing my interests and what speaks to my inner spiritual nature.

Thank you my dear friend, Dominic  :)

Sun And Flesh (Credo In Unam) by Arthur Rimbaud


Birth of Venus
I
The Sun, the hearth of affection and life,
Pours burning love on the delighted earth,
And when you lie down in the valley, you can smell
How the earth is nubile and very full-blooded;
How its huge breast, heaved up by a soul,
Is, like God, made of love, and, like woman, of flesh,
And that it contains, big with sap and with sunlight,
The vast pullulation of all embryos!
And everything grows, and everything rises!

- O Venus, O Goddess!
I long for the days of antique youth,
Of lascivious satyrs, and animal fauns,
Gods who bit, mad with love, the bark of the boughs,
And among water-lilies kissed the Nymph with fair hair!
I long for the time when the sap of the world,
River water, the rose-coloured blood of green trees
Put into the veins of Pan a whole universe!
When the earth trembled, green,beneath his goat-feet;
When, softly kissing the fair Syrinx, his lips formed
Under heaven the great hymn of love;
When, standing on the plain, he heard round about him
Living Nature answer his call;
When the silent trees cradling the singing bird,
Earth cradling mankind, and the whole blue Ocean,
And all living creatures loved, loved in God!

I long for the time of great Cybele,
Who was said to travel, gigantically lovely,
In a great bronze chariot, through splendid cities;
Her twin breasts poured, through the vast deeps,
The pure streams of infinite life.
Mankind sucked joyfully at her blessed nipple,
Like a small child playing on her knees.
- Because he was strong, Man was gentle and chaste.

Misfortune! Now he says: I understand things,
And goes about with eyes shut and ears closed.
- And again, no more gods! no more gods! Man is King,
Man is God! But the great faith is Love!
Oh! if only man still drew sustenance from your nipple,
Great mother of gods and of men, Cybele;
If only he had not forsaken immortal Astarte
Who long ago, rising in the tremendous brightness
Of blue waters, flower-flesh perfumed by the wave,
Showed her rosy navel, towards which the foam came snowing
And , being a goddess with the great conquering black eyes,
Made the nightingale sing in the woods and love in men's hearts!

The Birth of Venus


II


I believe! I believe in you! divine mother,
Sea-born Aphrodite! - Oh! the path is bitter
Since the other God harnessed us to his cross;
Flesh, Marble, Flower, Venus, in you I believe!
- yes, Man is sad and ugly, sad under the vast sky.
He possesses clothes, because he is no longer chaste,
Because he has defiled his proud, godlike head
And because he has bent, like an idol in the furnace,
His Olympian form towards base slaveries!
Yes, even after death, in the form of pale skeletons
He wishes to live and insult the original beauty!
- And the Idol in whom you placed such maidenhood,
Woman, in whom you rendered our clay divine,
So that Man might bring light into his poor soul
And slowly ascend, in unbounded love,
From the earthly prison to the beauty of day,
Woman no longer knows even how to be a Courtesan!
- It's a fine farce! and the world snickers
At the sweet and sacred name of great Venus!

III


If only the times which have come and gone might come again!
- For Man is finished! Man has played all the parts!
In the broad daylight, wearied with breaking idols
He will revive, free of all his gods,
And, since he is of heaven, he will scan the heavens!
The Ideal, that eternal, invincible thought, which is
All; The living god within his fleshly clay,
Will rise, mount, burn beneath his brow!
An when you see him plumbing the whole horizon,
Despising old yokes, and free from all fear,
You will come and give him holy Redemption!
- Resplendent, radiant, from the bosom of the huge seas
You will rise up and give to the vast Universe
Infinite Love with its eternal smile!
The World will vibrate like an immense lyre
In the trembling of an infinite kiss!

- The World thirsts for love: you will come and slake its thirst.

....................................................

O! Man has raised his free, proud head!
And the sudden blaze of primordial beauty
Makes the god quiver in the altar of the flesh!
Happy in the present good, pale from the ill suffered,
Man wishes to plumb all depths, - and know all things! Thought,
So long a jade, and for so long oppressed,
Springs from his forehead! She will know Why!...
Let her but gallop free, and Man will find Faith!
- Why the blue silence, unfathomable space?
Why the golden stars, teeming like sands?
If one ascended forever, what would one see up there?
Does a sheperd drive this enormous flock
Of worlds on a journey through this horror of space?
And do all these worlds contained in the vast ether,
tremble at the tones of an eternal voice?
- And Man, can he see? can he say: I believe?
Is the langage of thought anymore than a dream?
If man is born so quickly, if life is so short
Whence does he come? Does he sink into the deep Ocean
Of Germs, of Foetuses, of Embryos, to the bottom
of the huge Crucible where Nature the Mother
Will resuscitate him, a living creature,
To love in the rose and to grow in the corn?...

We cannot know! - We are weighed down
With a cloak of ignorance, hemmed in by chimaeras!
Men like apes, dropped from our mothers' wombs,
Our feeble reason hides the infinite from us!
We wish to perceive: - and Doubt punishes us!
Doubt, dismal bird, beat us down with its wing...
- And the horizon rushes away in endless flight!...

.......................................................

The vast heaven is open! the mysteries lie dead
Before erect Man, who folds his strong arms
Among the vast splendour of abundant Nature!
He sings... and the woods sing, the river murmurs
A song full of happiness which rises towards the light!...
- it is Redemption! it is love! it is love!...


IV

O splendour of flesh! O ideal splendour!
O renewal of love, triumphal dawn
When, prostrating the Gods and the Heroes,
White Callipyge and little Eros
Covered with the snow of rose petals, will caress
Women and flowers beneath their lovely outstretched feet!
- O great Ariadne who pour out your tears
On the shore, as you see, out there on the waves,
The sail of Theseus flying white under the sun,
O sweet virgin child whom a night has broken,
Be silent! On his golden chariot studded with black grapes,
Lysios, who has been drawn through Phrygian fields
By lascivious tigers and russet panthers,
Reddens the dark mosses along the blue rivers.
- Zeus, the Bull, cradles on his neck like a child
The nude body of Europa who throws her white arm
Round the God's muscular neck which shivers in the wave.
Slowly he turns his dreamy eye towards her;
She, droops her pale flowerlike cheek
On the brow of Zeus; her eyes are closed; she is dying
In a divine kiss, and the murmuring waters
Strew the flowers of their golden foam on her hair.
- Between the oleander and the gaudy lotus tree
Slips amorously the great dreaming Swan
Enfloding Leda in the whiteness of his wing;
- And while Cypris goes by, strangely beautiful,
And, arching the marvellous curves of her back,
Proudly displays the golden vision of her big breasts
And snowy belly embroidered with black moss,
- Hercules, Tamer of beasts, in his Strength,
Robes his huge body with the lion's skin as with glory
And faces the horizons, his brow terrible and sweet!

Vaguely lit by the summer moon,
Erect, naked, dreaming in her pallor of gold
Streaked by the heavy wave of her long blue hair,
In the shadowy glade whenre stars spring in the moss,
The Dryade gazes up at the silent sky...
- White Selene, timidly, lets her veil float,
Over the feet of beautiful Endymion,
And throws him a kiss in a pale beam...
- The Spring sobs far off in a long ectasy...
Ii is the nymph who dreams with one elbow on her urn,
Of the handsome white stripling her wave has pressed against.
- A soft wind of love has passed in the night,
And in the sacred woods, amid the standing hair of the great trees,
Erect in majesty, the shadowly Marbles,
The Gods, on whose brows the Bullfinch has his nest,
- the Gods listen to Men, and to the infinite World!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Invocation of Tahuti


As it is the day of Mercury, I thought I would share an invocation I wrote about 5 years ago to the Egyptian god Tahuti/Thoth. I borrowed some phrases from here and there, so you will probably recognise some of the words.

Self created one wisdom divine
God of magic, Lord of scribes
thou Ibis headed one, I call to thee
Thrice greatest Tahuti
I invoke thee

Thou whose head is clothed in the colour of the night sky blue
thou who holds within thy hands the scribal palette and writing reed too
Thee thee I invoke

Thou who measures and numbers the stars
thou who is the tongue and glowing heart of Ra
Thee thee I invoke
To descend upon this circle of art

Wisdom crowned Tahuti
God of magic appear to me
Divine scribe Tahuti
God of writing I invoke thee

Show me the mysteries of your creation
tell me the proper incantations
speak to me the words that spell success
and teach me the magic that will have the desired effects

Tahuti, thou of iridescent splender divine
thou who is the truth in mind
O thou Majesty of wisdom crowned
I call to thee and I invoke thee
Tahuti come to me

Behold, I am thee who is the scribe of the gods
who standeth in the hall of judgement
where I record the deeds of the dead
I am he who reports to the Neter
the result of the weighing of the heart with a feather

I am he who nourishes the sun folk
I give breath to him that is in secret places
by the power that is within my mouth
I am he who made Osiris triumphant over his enemies

Behold he is in me and I am in him
I travel upon high and tread upon the firmament of Nu
I standeth in my splender at the prow
while Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm

I am the fountain-head of wisdom
the mind of the divine Sun
when I open up my mouth
the truth flows out and it is done
I am the Mighty intelligence, astute, divine
where I am are the Great Powers of the mind

Tahuti, I call to thee
thou who holds the sacred words for eternity
thou who writes them down and vibrates them with sacred sound
come thou forth I say and aid and guard me in this work of magic art

Come thou forth I say, come thou forth and make all spirits subject to me
so that every spirit of the firmament and of the ether
upon the earth and under the earth
on dry land and in the water, of whirling air and rushing fire
and every spell and scourge of God
may be obedient unto me.

Saturday 7 January 2012

A Traditional Goetia Ceremony Conjuring a Spirit to Visible Appearance

As there has been a few blog entries lately by some well known individuals about the ins and outs of so called “physical manifestation”, I thought I would also contribute to the world of magical blog entries upon this matter, because I am one of those few who have performed it traditionally with all the required equipment and tools as stated in the text of the Goetia. But, this article will not be about the difference between the terms “physical manifestation” and “visible appearance” which, I have described before now, here http://www.evocationmagic.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3028&p=30121&   or why it is, or is not a necessary requisite for success, as this has already been extremely well articulated by others such as Frater Ashen here = http://bryanashen.blogspot.com/2012/01/physical-manifestation-of-spirits.html Instead I will share with you four workings from my magical diary about traditionally conjuring the 70th spirit called Seere to visible appearance, which I did about two and a half years ago.

In this article I will explain exactly what happened in the ceremonies, what I seen, what I felt, the after effects, even the mistakes I made along the way, and details of the manifestation of the result I conjured the spirit for. By sharing a detailed account like this, I hope it will help others catch a glimpse of what a traditional evocation is like, while also showing the learning curve I went through in the process.
Diary entry friday 29 May 2009 Goetic Conjuration of Seere 
Started 11:17am Ended 1.17pm

I repeated 1st conjuration 3x, the 2nd conjuration 3x, the invocation of the King 3x with the 1st and 2nd conjuration, and the constraint 3-4 x.
After the 3rd repetition of the first conjuration I felt very hot, but then it suddenly went a lot cooler. At one point I did see an electric coloured blue spark of light over the triangle which was in the east. I stopped at the end of the spirits chain and observed the area over the triangle, and I did see a lot of blue coloured light, which moulded together to form a football size ball of blue light. This happened while intently staring at the space in the air over the triangle. It felt like I was scrying, but staring into space in mid air. No manifestation, so I did not give the charge and instead repeated the license to depart 3x. I did not want to use the sulphur and asafoetida, and chickened out of using it.

I realised that I had forgotten to use the hyssop oil to anoint my eyes and temples with!

Diary entry 30 May 2009 Odd happening!
My son was sat on the floor watching t.v. I called him over to come and have a look at something on the computer, and no sooner had he got up and walked over to me, there was a mighty big crash and bang! My stag horns which were screwed into the wall had fallen off somehow, and had knocked over a solid granite stone cat statue, and two heavy wooden book ends off of the shelf below. The whole lot came crashing down and left a massive dent in my antique opium table, and landed on the floor where my son was previously sitting! The horns and wooden book ends would of landed on my son if I had not called him over to me!!!

The odd thing about this is that I had just taken a photo of my goetia book I was using to draw the spirits seals in. I had placed the book on the table to take a picture of it to show my friend, and then picking it up and then sitting down at my computer desk, and I then called my son over to me, and then BANG CRASH exactly where I had just took a picture of the book on the table! My friend suggested that the spirit's energy may have been responsible for this because it had possibly shown up and was still around. He thought this because when he had called the same spirit, he had heard lots of moving of things in his next door neighbours house during the ceremony, while the house was empty. I will never know if it was to do with the spirit or not, but, if it wanted my attention then it certainly had it now!

Diary entry : Tuesday 2 June 2009. 2nd Conjuration of Seere
 Started: 10:30 am Ended: 12:03pm

At first I felt very hot, and then it went a lot cooler. I felt very anxious, as if something was about to happen any minuet. I started to see the blue light again, lots of it and with some purple colour to it as well. It again moulded into the shape of a ball that was quite big. I did not take this as a sign of the manifestation, and therefore I carried on the conjurations. At another point the wall on my left creaked. It does not normally do that! I also seen what appeared to look like heat waves in the air at the far tip of the triangle, like you see outside rising off the surface of the road on a hot day. Then I seen very briefly a beam of white light in the same spot, but the the telephone rang, which totally shook my concentration and disturbed the visionary effects. I let it ring as I did not want to leave the circle to answer it. I kept getting thoughts of “I can't be bothered to do this” and “is it worth the hassle”, then I started yawning and feeling really tired. Suddenly I found a new burst of energy and went for it with the conjurations once again, but after repeating them all for the second time back to back, I gave the curse and stared at the triangle to see nothing happen. This time I used the sulphur and asafoetida, but to no effect, except for a coughing fit and an awful smell. I could not seem to re-establish the higher state of consciousness I was in after the phone call had disturbed me. The phone rang again, and so I thought “oh fuck it, I give up” and I gave the license to depart.

Diary entry : same day : time: 8.00pm
Thinking about the goetic ceremony earlier today, I think the spirit did arrive and quite quickly too because the blue light display I observed was quite phenomenal! I remember it being quite bright blue with streaks of violet/purple. The light spread out across the space between the North-East & South-west quarter candles. It seemed to lap up against the edge of the circle like a wave rolling onto the shore. I now think this is the time that I should of given the address, and then the welcome because the spirit had arrived and was showing me a visible appearance of its presence. Which, is exactly what I asked for in the conjuration. “therefore come ye peaceably, visible and affable now without delay

After speaking to a friend on the phone who also does traditional goetic evocation, he said to me that the spirit is only supposed to take on full manifestation after the address is given. Well its all part of the learning process.

I want to call the spirit again on Thursday, but it depends on how I feel because tomorrow I have to go into hospital and have one of my top wisdom teeth removed under general anaesthetic.

Diary entry : Friday 5 June : time 2:00pm
In too much pain to do any conjuring yesterday, there is no way I could recite conjurations, when in this type of pain without even moving my mouth.

Diary entry: Thursday 11 June.
I have been in horrendous pain and feeling very ill because I somehow managed to get an infection in my mouth where I had my wisdom tooth removed. I have not been able to eat properly or even hardly speak. I look like Pop-eye the bloody sailor man with his puffed out cheeks! I am taking antibiotics, tramadol and dihydrocodeine pain killers. This last week and a bit after the evocation has been a living hell because of the pain I have been in, and yesterday was my birthday. I certainly was in no mood to celebrate. This morning I was sick a few times, I really feel awful. I hope I start to get better soon. I wonder if this is all because I conjured the spirit the day before going into hospital and not giving it the charge, but this is where its energy has leaked out too instead effecting me in a negative way? It has hold of my attention again, and I must succeed with calling this spirit.

Diary entry Friday 26 June 3rd Goetic Evocation of Seere
Started 11:07am Ended 12:53pm
 I entered into the ceremony feeling positive about calling Seere with a successful outcome, but I did not succeed. After a short while I realised I had forgot the gas stove fire that I use for heating up the seal in the box, should I need to use it. I carried on regardless, and no sooner had I decided to be determined, I was disturbed by a lot of noise from outside my house. The bin collection was late and made a right racket outside emptying everyone’s bins. By this time I was on the the second conjuration which I had repeated 3 x. I could not seem to reach the required spiritual state of mind, and felt more frustrated and annoyed than anything else.

The only significant occurrences were once to my left hand side of vision the space in the air seemed to tremble or move like a vibration, and the light coming from underneath the curtains was very briefly blocked, but this could have been anything outside, or even a trick of my mind. So this was another unsuccessful evocation attempt. I felt very tired and I felt as if I would be sick, as well as feeling very pissed off!

Diary entry Sunday 28 June. 4th Goetic Evocation of Seere
Started 10:40am Ended 11:40am
 This time I had everything prepared. I repeated the first invocation 3 x and then I stared at the triangle on the floor. After a very short while a started to see a ball of blue light that became bigger. It then expanded into a mass of blue light, and like before it enveloped the eastern area of the room. It started to pulsate and I got excited, but contained my excitement because I new what I had to do this time, although I felt totally mesmerized and captivated by what I was seeing with my eyes. I felt like I could just stand there all day staring at this phenomena, but thought I better take it as a sign of the spirit's arrival. So I gave the address and lit the charcoal block and cast the incense upon it. Next I gave the welcome while continuing to stare at the blue light that had now gathered together directly over the triangle. I still felt hypnotised and totally captivated by the light, so I asked the spirit to take on human form visibly. Once I did this I suddenly had a clairvoyant vision impress itself upon my minds eye, while I was still seeing the blue light over the triangle with my physical eye sight. This was strange, as I was expecting the light to change into a form of some sort, but it didn't, and instead I had a type of split vision of an outer perception of my physical eyesight seeing the blue light, and this very strong impression of the form of the spirit that impressed itself quite forcefully upon my inner vision. The image was of a grey coloured slender being which had red eyes. It had the body of a man which was bare, with thin legs that looked like it was sat on something invisible. It was not very tall, maybe a little smaller than me, as I am only 5”5. It certainly looked otherworldly, but with brushed back hair and pointed ears, like pan or an elfish creature of some sort.

I gave it the charge for my request which was; “to give me a better home and enable me the opportunity to be able to live in a home that is more suitable for magical workings, a place where my son and I will be happy living in. I also asked him to reveal to me treasures that are hidden.

After this I thanked the spirit and gave the license to depart 3 x. I said prayers to God thanking him for the experience and how the working went.

Diary entry Monday 29 June Dreams
I was with a person who was stealing money to pay off his depts and to pay me. Next I stepped over these two sisters who were play fighting with each other in the street. Next I was in a shop where a baby that looked like a cat was asleep, she awoke and turned into a young child. Next I was in a room hiding inside a lion skin suite because another person or lion was waiting to eat a woman that would come in to the room.

Diary entry same day
Since the evocation of Seere yesterday I have felt very positive and upbeat. All negative feelings have vanished. I looked in a book today a friend lent to me, and I came across the name “Seir” which said “enemy of the rod of Jacob, a goat like demon” Remarkable! Seere actually looked like a satyr, a goat like demon!

Diary entry same day time : 2.18pm
Just had a phone call from my landlord housing company, informing me that my house has come up on the list for a new gas boiler and central heating system! This is excellent news, especially considering that I had a letter 3 months ago saying that there would be no heating improvements done to my house until the year 2019. I couldn't believe it, because it was one of the reasons why I wanted another place to live, because the heating system was an old back boiler in the chimney breast, which was costing an absolute fortune to run, and was so inefficient and noisy, I hated it and the old fashioned monstrosity of a gas fire which was connected to it in my living room, which would also be removed.

here is the letter I had 3 months before the ritual stating the date outlined in green of when the heating improvements would be done. 2019.
 I was very pleasantly surprised by this because I got what I asked for, although not in the way I had wanted, as I thought the best option was to move because of the letter I had a few months previously telling me about when they would be doing the work on my home. I did also get treasure revealed to me, but not in the way that I thought it would. I will save that story for another time.


Thursday 5 January 2012

The Feast of Epithany & Three Kings Holy Water

As a reminder for those that may have forgotten, and for those who do not know; tomorrow 6 January is the Feast of Epiphany, also called The Feast of the Three Kings. It is the day that celebrates the manifestation of deity in human form through Jesus Christ the Son. According to my mother it is also the day that you are supposed to take down your Christmas decorations, or if you have done so already, then you should of left one item up until tomorrow, otherwise it is bad luck! It is also bad luck to leave the decorations up past 6 January, so better take them down tomorrow. LOL.

The day of 6 January is a really good time to for making holy water that can be used in ones magical practices. This water is known as triple kings-water. I found this out from Joseph Peterson's edition of “The Sixth & Seventh Books of Moses” which is stated in the notes section page 297.
Triple-kings water traditionally is simply holy water blessed during the feast of the Three Kings on January 6. People would use it to sprinkle on the doorways and around the home to bless it. They would write “C+M+B” and the year in chalk over the doorway to protect the home. C+M+B stands for the name of the Three Kings, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar or alternately, ”Christus mansionem benedicat” - Christ bless this house”
 

But why is the feast of the Three Kings held on January 6. This is because divinity is shown here in the trinity aspect of mind, spirit & soul, symbolized as the Three Kings, and which always manifests in twelve stages. Hence the reason why there are twelve signs of the zodiac, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve legions of angels and the twelve apostles. Therefore 6 January is 'twelve' days after the Christ Divinity is born.

I wrote about this around this time last year on evocationmagic.com and now I have a blog I thought it would be a good idea to post this information up here, as a reminder for any other magicians that may want to create some holy water for the beginning of this year, as it is an ideal day to do it on. In addition to this and blessing my home, I also use it to consecrate my altar, and new items of magical equipment that I lay out on my altar.

The form of ritual I use for this is taken from Mr Skinner and Mr Rankine's edition of “The Veritable Key of Solomon” Chapter X Concerning Prayers in the form of Exorcisms in order to consecrate everything used in the Operations of the Great Art. It is a very short and simple ritual to do, and perfectly adequate for any new items that will be used in ones magical ceremonies, such as new candles, incenses, parchment and oils ect ect.

And if you are Italian, then I hope La Befana brings you some nice treats and sweets ;)