Heptarchia Mystica and Septagramic Vortex Gate - Part 2

Continuing with the second part of this series on the Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual, I wanted to share the edited journal of that working which I performed nearly 20 years ago.

Notes from the Invocation of Carmara

On the 18th Day of January, 1992, the Septagrammic Gate Vortex was performed. This consisted of joining together the prior seven invoked Binary Planetary Intelligences into a single matrix. In addition to the above structure, an invoking vortex was established to invoke the spirit of Carmara, the ruler of the Heptarchia Mystica. Once invoked, the celebrant was to establish the trapezoidal gate within the center of the seven-fold spiritual matrix, so establishing the septagonic gate vortex. The invocation of the Grand Threshold was the final act which opened up the Gate Threshold of the Inner Planes.

Each step of the Septagrammic Gate Vortex produced a powerful manifestation of spiritual influences that caused the most powerful mind altering phenomena that I have ever experienced in my many years of practicing magick. Yet by the time I reached the stage for opening the Inner Planes, I was completely incapacitated and I was not able to proceed with the working. It became necessary to carefully seal the completed working and make a second attempt during the following evening. My basic assumption was that because the planetary hour had been locked with the circle consecration ritual, and that the planetary hour was also sealed when the complex vortex structure was sealed, it was kept intact for future work. Therefore, after the circle was re-consecrated and charged the next evening, and the target vortex was unsealed, the Septagrammic Gate could be re- opened and explored as if the delay had never occurred.

During the second evening, I witnessed the revelations of Carmara along with the second exposure to the emanations of the Inner Planes. However, this time I was able to remain quite conscious and noted down everything that transpired.

While I was undergoing the ordeal of the first evening, I managed to record a few words before passing out. I was probably unconscious for a few minutes, since the candles were at approximately the same length that they had been before I lost consciousness. Yet I couldn’t verify that fact, since my mental sense of the elapsing of time has played strange tricks on me before. The following is all that I wrote that first evening.

“I am Carmara, Lord of the Seven Rays! And my word is truth, therefore always seek the truth, in all of one's pursuits, the truth!

“Behold, for the truth is Aleithea, beloved of God and Humanity, and she is the perfect Goddess mate through whom one could experience unity, in this sign:

“The initiation of Chenok is the union of Aleithea; the Truth. And this rite shall be revealed at a later time....”

The above three paragraphs were all that was recorded for that evening. Still, the concepts contained within them were quite profound. It would seem to suggest that Carmara was promoting some kind of ecstatic union and subsequent rebirth through the womb matrix of the Goddess of Truth. This was quite a startling revelation, and it seemed to indicate this was to be the initiation of the Chenok, fostering spiritual union and divine truth.

The second evening, the 19th day of January, 1992, was used for continuing the above revelations, and also to gain some deeper explanation of the concept of becoming one with the Feminine Spirit of Truth.

The spirit of Carmara revealed itself on the second evening in a form that was more easily perceived; since my senses, this time, were quite sharp and clear. The image that I sensed coming from the spirit was that of an ancient man with a long white beard, wearing dark blue robes. But this image was fleeting, however, the presence of Carmara was very benign and kindly, as if to indicate that the more difficult process was behind me and now all was available for revelation. I had apparently passed the tests and now Carmara came forth not as an overpowering guardian, but as a guide and teacher. I noted down the words which that spirit spoke to me, and this is what it said.


The Edge of the World, and the Age of Transition

The Greater Abyss is rimmed by the Mythic Images of the Apocalypse, the archetype of the Aion in transition and the turmoil of the establishment of a new age.

A Magus may declare the Spiritual Age, but it represents the archetypal spirit of the time of his or her lineage. To those who are not of the level of the High Adept-hood, the Great Age continues its normal span: One degree each 72 years, one Zodiacal sign every 2,160 years, and one complete revolution of the wheel of time every 25,920 years. Yet the Great Age is currently in transition and shall soon change (at the approximate date of 2014 CE). All that anyone needs to do in order to verify this statement is to glimpse the world with an open mind and see the collapse of all political institutions and spiritual ideologies, and the corresponding affirmation of Western Esotericism.

Therefore, a truly creative spiritual era is now in full transition. It is time for the old order to die; Babylon and the Beast have become relevant symbols for the current decay of Western civilization. Seven Horns, seven trumpets, and seven bowls represent the process of transformation, symbolized as the Age in Transition, forever changing and never the same ever again. It is the death of the familiar and the rise of the dreaded unknown and unfamiliar. The time for change has begun its fateful toll, so the myths of the Apocalypse are applicable to today’s tumultuous times. The association between this mythic image and the real world is allegorical, though the end truly represents the dawning of a new beginning. Yet first, we must witness the fall of the old order.

The Enochian System of Magick has its genesis with the decay and fall of this present era. This is because the current age began with its suppression and subsequent obscurity. So with the terrible demise of the tyrant who has suppressed progressive occultism for this entire age, this esoteric belief system will be renewed and given new life in a more modern form.

What follows the upheaval and the formation of new orders is the establishment of a long period of peace, where the problem places of the world find their own resolution, and thereby allow for a normal and peaceful existence, devoid of hatred, fear, death, and anarchy.

I will define for you what shall yet occur in this process of World Transformation.

1. Democracy will grow and pluralism will become the norm, so it will not only be tolerated, it will be highly encouraged. Through the crucible of terrible experiences, people will seek peace, and succeed in living in peace with their neighbors.

2.   The market shall prevail over all ideologies, free-trade will ultimately enrich both first and third worlds, eliminating world hunger and starvation.

3.   The phenomenon of World Government will become the ultimate authority, along with global enterprises.

4.   A renewal of space exploration will cause humanity to conquer the immediate solar system, and the resultant technological gains will be quite profound: Space age solutions for the Earth's problems, pollution, ozone depletion, energy needs, information networks on a
global scale and the ultimate erasure of national boundaries.


These are the phases of the future, and yet there is no fear of nuclear devastation or Armageddon in these visions. There is only the profound challenge to change, adapt, grow, and progress on all levels instead of succumbing to hate, war, destruction, and death, as found in the myriad of ethnic and nationalistic struggles.

The use of these visions is in their amalgamation in a Vision-Image which becomes the Key to the Spiritual Dimensions of the Inner Planes. This Vision-Image corresponds to the symbolic progression of the Theme of the Apocalypse, a mythic theme of Society in transformation. Because the Great Age is truly in transition, the Inner Planes are opening up, revealing ever more spiritual attributes which profoundly alter the spirits and minds of the common folk. However, the magician adept is aware of this process and can control and manipulate it to a certain degree. Thus it is a great time for major magickal workings, because there are more spiritual emanations in times of transition that can be used and channeled. It is a time of great destinies, especially for the Master Magician who knows the Age in which he or she was born.


Conclusion

Of course these visions occurred at a time when the U.S. would experience a long period of peace and prosperity, to be broken up with the advent of the 21st century, a terrorist attack and a new (and highly flawed) president. I would say that the period of change is now upon us, and that the cataclysm that prompted these changes has already begun. Climate change, peak oil, the war on terror and many other issues have come to the fore, but back in the early 90's things were actually progressing quite well, and so the words of the spirit Camara reflected more the times than what was to come later.

Frater Barrabbas

Heptarchia Mystica and Septagramic Vortex Gate - Part 1

A dusting of snow now covers the ground this morning, indicating that winter is now officially here in the Midwest tundra. Winter began a few weeks early this season, and hopefully it will end early next spring. I am currently in the implementation phase of my work related project and it seems that there is still one major challenge to overcome before it’s finally completed. Instead of pivoting to other work I have found myself engaged in helping to resolve a number of final issues. It seems to be that this project that has no end, even though it will indeed hopefully end soon.

I am also contemplating undergoing cataract surgery later this week, and I am looking forward to having full use of both of my eyes. (I am not, however, looking forward to allowing my left eye to be cut, so it is a matter of personal stoicism to see it through.) At the present time, I can only read and see detail images with my right eye. The vision in my left eye is clouded and indistinct, and during the night, bright lights such as the headlights of on-coming cars produce a cloudy streaking glare that interferes with my night vision altogether. For the last three months I have avoided driving long distances during the night and that has certainly made me less available to friends and associated in the local community.

As all of these various minor details conspire to take my time away from me as the year dwindles down to nothing, I do have some cheerful things to look forward to beside having the full use of both of my eyes. I will be spending four weeks on vacation starting in the second week of December and lasting until after the first week of January. I am planning on traveling to Milwaukee to see friends and family and I also have a number of magical operations planned during that period as well. One operation that I have put to a date is where I will employ the seven newly generated metallic talismans that I had created in a spell that is used to open the threshold of the Inner Planes - I have referred to this ritual as the Septagramic Vortex Gate.

To illustrate how this ritual works, in regards to its function and purpose, I thought that I would write up some paragraphs that succinctly explain the nature of this ritual. I have taken the liberty of pulling text from the ritual itself and also from one of the unpublished “Books of the Nephilim.” I also wanted to share with my readers the magical journal that I wrote after I had performed this rite for the first time, back in January of 1992.

The Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual is used at the culmination of invoking seven spirits of the Heptarchia Mystica, also known as the Bonarum. I have already written an article that explains how I work with the 49 spirits from this Enochian magical system, contrasting it to the classical manner of planetary magic espoused by others. I look at these spirits as binary planetary spirits, since a matrix of seven by seven would naturally (in my opinion) combine two planets into a synthesis. You can find that article here, and I will also quote from it a useful definition of how I would define the spirits of the Bonarum.

“To me, a matrix of 49 spirits would obviously represent a symbolic table consisting of a base planet that is qualified by a second planet. In other words, I saw these spirits as a kind of binary planetary intelligence.”

I also perceive the seven planets of antiquity in a different manner than is traditional, seeing them also as a kind of seven rays, as associated with the planetary Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. Combining the attributes of the seven planets and the seven planetary Sephiroth as they are defined in the Qabalah produces a much more powerful definition of each of these domains. It is for this reason that I refer to them as the Seven Planetary Rays or Seven Rays. It is not my intention to conflate these Qabalistic elements with the Theosophical notion of the Seven Rays, since I am still working strictly within the Qabalah and I have not ventured into writings of Alice Bailey and others of that tradition. In other words, my nomeclature might be similar, but it represents a completely different factual basis.

My work with the Bonarum of the Heptarchia Mystica consisted of seven specific ordeals where I performed an invocation of one of these spirits for a period of seven consecutive weeks. I also chose one of the spirits to represent the base for each of the seven planets so that all seven of them would be represented through the overall ordeal. After the seven spirits are invoked over this period, a final working is performed to draw them all together into a septagram device, with the eighth spirit and ruler (Carmara) in the center. The whole reason for this combined working, which would take two months to complete, is to activate the seven rays and pull them into an independent matrix that represents all 49 of the Bonarum. My reasons for performing this long working was explained quite adroitly in my second Book of the Nephilim, and I should therefore just quote from it.

“These Seven Enochian Rays are revealed so the magician may comprehend and assimilate them into his or her consciousness. The Rays are made manifest through the invocation of each of the seven binary planetary intelligences. Their mysteries represent the core of the celestial consciousness of this specific current of magick. Each spirit invoked represents the complete archetypal mystery of one of the Seven Rays, so when the entire ordeal is completed, the seven-fold mystery (Heptarchia Mystica) is joined into union, unlocking the internal essence of the Enochian magickal current. The holistic mythic image established through the interlocking of the seven rays as expressed by the Heptarchate becomes the singular source of all that is comprehensible as Enochian, i.e., it becomes the meta- symbol of the Enochian System of Magick.”

Once these seven Bonarum have been invoked and fully experienced by the operator, then the final rite, called the Septagramic Vortex Gate, can be performed. The text that appears in the header of the rite give a succinct explanation of the purpose and function of this ritual, so let me just quote that and comment on it as necessary.

“The Septagrammic Vortex Gate ritual is utilized to invoke and direct the Spirit of Carmara, ruler of the Heptarchia Mystica. This ritual consists of two parts; the first invokes all the Zodiacal Elementals, and the second invokes all Planetary Intelligences. These two structures are brought into fusion through the Gate Trigon and the resulting combination generates the Spirit Heptarchate (which is the combination of all of the seven Planets with all of the 12 Zodiacal signs). The quality of the sentience of this Spirit differs from that of the Spirits Heptarchate in the same manner that the Absolute differs from all manifestation.

The Spirit of Carmara is the union of the 49 Good (Bonarum) Spirits, and thus it represents the Multifaceted Intellect of the Universal Mind. It is the supreme achievement for magicians in our Order to invoke this being, for thus they will experience a most profound spiritual reflection of their spiritual light. This ritual also functions as an initiation rite since the entity Carmara holds the secrets of all Inner Plane revelations, revealing them through its invocation. The Threshold Gate, which is a feature of this working, also functions as the entrance to the higher spiritual dimensions, and as such, it serves as the primary method that the Higher Adepti enter into those worlds.”

Since performing this rite many years ago, the combination of the seven spirits that I originally chose has been used in my rendition of the Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual ever since. In order to perform this rite, I have to retrieve the consecrated sigils from my Liber Spiritus folder and employ them at each strategic point of the rite, where the zodiacal pyramid of power is joined with the western aligned triangular gateway. My intention for this future working of this rite is to place the seven metallic planetary talismans at those strategic points and thereby greatly empower this rite far beyond what I had ever experienced previously. I will certainly write up my experience of this working in my magical journal and post an edited version for my readers to peruse once I have completed it. I will perform it during the orb of the next Full Moon, and the date that I have selected is November 25.

Finally, I wanted to share with my readers the magical journal that I wrote following the first time that I performed this working so many years ago. This edited journal was taken once again from the second Book of the Nephilim.

(To be continued...)

Frater Barrabbas

Beginning a New Year 2012

So here we are in the new year, and I have several little comments to make so far. A more engaging article is in the works and should be posted over the next week and a half. Before that article goes into my future post queue, I wanted to discuss a few minor things that I have been noticing on the blog scene, as well as talk a little bit about some topics that I am currently thinking about.

 

Heptarchia Mystica

First off, I received a copy of Scott Stenwick’s newest book “Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy,” (Pendraig Publishing 2011) and I have looked it over. This looks like a really interesting and useful book, which will give the Enochian magician an important complete system of planetary magick to add to the already existing and well documented systems of Elemental and Talismanic Elemental magick. Scott takes two approaches to this more obscure Enochian material, and these two paths will satisfy the adherent using the Golden Dawn methodology of magick as well as the grimoire afficionado who wants to work magick as it would have been worked by Dee himself. 

I can say that both approaches are satisfactorily documented, making this book a lot more valuable than it might be if one approach was chosen over the other. Scott is an excellent writer and has made this book quite accessible to the average occultist, so it shouldn’t be difficult for anyone who seeks to master this system of magick to be able to do so. As a friend and magickal associate, Scott is one of those remarkable men that I have had the honor to know and talk with from time to time. So I am recommending that if you have any interest in Enochian magick, this book is an important addition to your library of magickal books. Also, you can find his book on Amazon here, and his blog, here.

Not very many magicians have worked with the Heptarchia Mystica, those mysterious 49 spirits who are also called the Bonarum, or “Good Spirits.” These entities are divided into three groups, which include seven kings, seven princes and thirty-five ministers. The seven kings are used to produce a high level type of magick (visions, knowledge and illumination), and the seven princes are used for more practical or earth-based endeavors. The groups of seven kings and seven princes each have a controlling or ruling spirit (Carmara and Hagonel), which brings the number to eight spirits in each group. The rest of the 35 spirits are supernumerary ministers who are invoked through the hierarchy of king and prince. Like most forms of planetary magick, the magician must use both the planetary ruler of the day and the hour to “tune” the working to the specific planet. Scott has been careful to ensure that the use of these spirits are in agreement with the text found in the diaries and writings of John Dee, thus establishing the boundaries of what would be considered the accepted Enochian tradition of magick.

I have also worked extensively with the Heptarchia Mystica, but unlike Scott, I approached this system in a manner that completely ignored what Dee wrote and established in his diaries. To me, a matrix of 49 spirits would obviously represent a symbolic table consisting of a base planet that is qualified by a second planet. In other words, I saw these spirits as a kind of binary planetary intelligence. Even their names begin with a “B” - representing to me that each spirit is a “Beta” or binary entity. Invoking one of these spirits would produce a complex whose basic meaning and value would oscillate between the qualities of the two planets; where the base planet would anchor the focus and the qualifier would add an additional dimension or even a conflicting polarity. 

Having two planets banging against each other might seem strange or even counter productive, but such a mechanism can be found if one examines the dynamics of astrological planetary aspects in a natal, progressed or transit chart. The planets are in an angular aspect to each other, producing good and negative combinations in a natal chart, and this represents the dynamic planetary nature of a human psyche according to astrology. Using the spirits of the Heptarchia Mystica in this fashion will emulate the astrological dynamic interaction of two planets, which would unleash the power of that dynamic in the personality of the magician and all who are exposed to it. This produces a kind of magick that is not particularly useful for making probability changes in the physical world, but is truly amazing in the kind of powerful magickal internal effect that it manifests in the psyche of the magician. Thus, from the standpoint of the kind of magick that the 49 Bonarum would produce using my model, this type of magick would be purely theurgic. In other words, it would represent a process that I have referred to as a magickal “ordeal.”

Just so you understand what I am saying when I talk about engaging in ordeals as part of my magickal regimen, I am not discussing how difficult or intense the working is when performed. What I am referring to is a theurgic process that is analogous to the transformative initiatory cycle (which I have previously discussed), so that would mean that an ordeal is a kind of mini-initiation which advances the mind and spirit of the practitioner through an ultimate process of ascension. When I performed a series of seven invocations of these Bonarum, I did them every weekend for seven weeks, and ended the process through invoking the ruling spirit Carmara, therefore pulling the whole construct together into union with a ritual that I called the Septagramic Vortex Gate. The combination of all these invocations, performed in a tight and contiguous period of time, produced within my mind a profoundly illuminating process, which I have called an ordeal. It was also like going through a few years of psycho-therapy in just under two months.

Each of the distinct invocations of one of the seven Bonarum spirits produced a correspondingly powerful psychic effect. Some of them amplified internal psychic issues and complexes within me, producing disturbing and intensely difficult mental processes. Others exalted what could be considered my internal psychic virtues. Each spirit communicated directly with me, and gave me an important piece of my overall spiritual and magickal puzzle. I have written up each of these experiences and have analyzed them over the years. I can say that they greatly helped to advance my knowledge of magick and to evolve me as a person. Since I subscribe to the belief that magick should have an overall transformative effect on the practitioner, ascribing the Heptarchia Mystica to this kind of role makes sense to me. By opening the magician to the dynamics of his or her own internal psychic processes, the element of undergoing a kind of personal mystery seems to justify how I ended up developing this system of magick.

Looking over Scott’s book, I am fairly certain that what I have done with the Heptarchia Mystica is completely unwarranted and unsupported by the traditional Enochian lore as set down by Dee. Yet this is how I approached this obscure system of magick, and I had the assistance and advise of spirits that Dee himself had invoked and encountered many centuries ago. If those spirits sent me in a completely different direction than Dee himself went with these spirits, then I can only say that it is likely just one of many different resolutions that are available to a magician who is practicing magick in an inventive and creative manner. What that means is that there isn’t one correct or right way to work magick, which makes the practice of magick more like an art than a science.


Golden Dawn Issues (Still and Yet Again)

Morgan Drake Eckstein has been furiously writing up some interesting blog articles as of late. For those who are interested in the ongoing discussion between traditionalists, reconstructionists and revisionists in the Golden Dawn blogsphere, you can find his blog postings here. One thing that Morgan has recently discussed involves how to have a constructive discussion within the intra-Golden Dawn community instead of a flame war. He seems to be concerned that his comments and statements of belief will be misconstrued as a flame war by the other side of the Golden Dawn divide, namely the traditionalists headed by David Griffin of HOGD. Another point that he has discussed is the synthetic nature of the original Golden Dawn as shown in the contents of the Cipher Manuscripts, and that Mathers lost his connection to the Third Order due to his illicit mixing of various systems in the second order workings, and having that issue revealed by Aleister Crowley in the Equinox. This has brought up the issue of mixing unlike systems together, and whether or not you have to be a “master” in order to rightly perform this task.

First off, a flame war, in my opinion is where someone deliberately engages in defaming another individual or organization. Discussing differences of opinion is one thing, which if unresolvable, becomes nothing more than two people or parties agreeing to not agree. That isn’t a flame war. However, to declare that important beliefs and foundational ideals of a person or group are actually fraudulent, is, in my definition of the term, a form of flame war, especially if it isn't true.

You can agree or disagree that secret chiefs and a third order is relevant to your particular Golden Dawn organization, but to say that anyone who says that they have contact with such individuals or organization is a liar amounts to defaming their entire organization. This seems to be crux of the ongoing argument between certain Golden Dawn reconstructionists, who say that the secret chiefs never really existed, or that the founding of the Golden Dawn was fraudulent, or that Mathers was a liar, pervert or somehow demented, and the traditionalists, who truly believe in the secret chiefs, the third order and that the Golden Dawn was founded by individuals who were trustworthy and sound. This doesn’t mean that the founders of the Golden Dawn were perfect, but it does represent the fact that in order to accept the Golden Dawn teachings, you have to accept many of the inherent beliefs. 

To attack the foundation is to destroy the organization, so why some reconstructionists feel it necessary to completely defame the Golden Dawn is beyond my understanding. I find that I don’t agree with anyone who seeks to destroy the foundation on which the Golden Dawn was based, so I have been in a natural harmonious agreement with those who revere the Golden Dawn and believe in its tenets. 

In my opinion to push these various toxic talking points is to promote a flame war, since all it does is anger folks (some of whom are not even in the GD Order) and create extreme polarization within the community. However, to disagree and state one’s opinion, but to respect that others might hold a different or opposite belief (even passionately), is the basis of a constructive dialogue - one that I feel would be beneficial to the GD community.  Name calling and defamation are not part of a dispassionate and constructive discourse. I hope that this simple contrast makes that difference quite clear.

Also, I suspect that the real reason that the third order cut its ties with Mathers had a lot more to do with his emerging instability, stubbornness and his poor choices in who to trust, such as the Horos scandal, the London lodge rebellion and the subsequent order schism, which occurred in 1900. Crowley didn’t publish the second order material in the Equinox (Liber O) until 1909, which was nearly a decade after all of these events had already occurred. So I truly doubt that the breaking of the relationship between Mathers and the secret chiefs was due to any inappropriate syncretism, despite what David Griffin has reported.  When that severing of relationships occurred is anyone’s guess, but the early 1890's were times of remarkable growth and expansion in the GD community.

This brings me to the issue of syncretism and the fusion of incompatible lore. There are two schools of thought on this issue, and one is that whatever works is OK. Then there is another opinion that seeks to apply a certain amount of esthetics to the development and practice of magick and the occult. I think that a beginner or a careless dilettante doesn’t concern themselves about the esthetics of their rituals or even the congruency of their beliefs. Yet those who have had years of experience will discover by trial and error, and later, through  a refined sensibility, what combination produces an elegant resolution and what combination produces occult garbage. Esthetics are, of course, subjective, but I think that one rule of thumb is to establish boundaries between different cultures, systems and methodologies that could produce disharmonious combinations or unworkable structures when mindlessly joined together.

Simplicity, consistency, orderliness and a certain intrinsic and intuitive harmonious blending of elements makes for an esthetically derived ritual or ceremony. To produce a manual on how one would do this could result in quite a large volume of writing, and its usefulness and relevancy would be hotly debated. I think that this is not a particularly useful topic, so I think that the prime rule is functionality. 

If the early Golden Dawn seems to be highly syncretistic, then I think that state is analogous to most systems of occultism, both ancient and modern. As a witch, revisionist and ritual developer, I have no problems with experimentation and attempting to combine various systems together to discover new possibilities. By doing this I have, in my time, produced some unworkable junk, but also some truly astonishingly elegant systems and techniques - knowing the difference requires judgement, experience and making lots of mistakes. 

Frater Barrabbas