Changing Gears for the Holidays

Well, even though it is Thursday and my vacation was supposed to start on Monday, I am only today starting my vacation from work. Yes, that means that I was having to focus intently on solving some last minute problems with the project that I had been working on since March through yesterday. However, after a 30 minute phone conversation with my boss today, all of the outstanding issues have been resolved. I am now free to pivot from a mostly work related mind-set to one of being a free-soul able to indulge and engage with everything that was put on a back-burner, especially my article writing tasks for this blog. I have been remiss in posting regular articles because I have been putting in long days trying to solve problems at my job that are quite beyond my official technical role. I performed far above and beyond the call of duty, but we shall see what that gets me after the annual evaluations are completed in February.

More than anything, I need a bit of time to catch my breath, change from being the ardent professional to the experimental occultist and ritual magician. It is the kind of pivot that usually gives me a great deal of pleasure, but this time I just feel a bit worn out and exhausted. I really need some time to unwind and disengage from work-related issues. While I might briefly envy those magicians who don’t have a day job to interfere with their occult activities, on the other hand, I am happy that I don’t have a lot of worries about how to pay the bills, supply my larder with foodstuffs or put a roof over my head. My day job takes care of all of these basic concerns, but the price is that I sometimes will be quite busily engaged with work and not with any of my spiritual and magical activities. That will change starting today, but first I need to chill out, and most definitely, clean up my house and perform a lot of untended domestic tasks. My household needs a couple of days of cleaning and squaring away, so that’s what I will be doing over the next few days.

Additionally, my lady, Grace, is graduating tomorrow from her long three year slog at getting a master’s degree. I get to attend her graduation ceremony and see her in cap and gown, noting the moment when the cap tassel is switched from one side to the other indicating a successful completion to her scholastic endeavors. She then has six months of clinical training to undergo, and then she has to study for her board exams in the summer, so it won’t too long before she will have successfully transitioned herself to a new career. I am glad that I was able to help her in this endeavor.

So, there’s a lot going on right now, and that’s why it’s going to be a little while before I get back to producing the usual number of articles a month. One wonderful thing that has happened is that I got two initial copies of my book “Magical Qabalah for Beginners” and I have been looking over the finished and now published copy of this book with a great deal of joy and admiration. It took me nearly two years to get this book into print, but the final results are very much worth it. This is probably the very best book that I have ever written, and the editing was quite excellent as well. It is a very accessible book to readers at a high school level, but it also has enough interesting lore to make it a worth-while buy for knowledgeable students as well. Anyway, the book is now available on Amazon dot com, and it should be in book stores and also available from Llewellyn Worldwide directly in the next few weeks. While I would prefer that my readers order this book from Llewellyn or from their favorite bookstore, it is also available from online booksellers, too.

Next year I am planning some book signing/mini workshop ventures at two local book stores in the Twin Cities area. Other venues will also be added as time goes on. I am planning (so far) to attend Pantheacon next year, but all four of my workshop proposals were sadly rejected, for various reasons beyond my speculation. Supposedly, Pcon staff received vastly more proposals this year than at any time in the past, so that might explain why none of my classes were deemed of sufficient interest to be chosen for this coming year’s schedule. That would also mean that the number of attendees is also at a level beyond any that I have experienced previously. This will likely make it a very crowded convention that will challenge the staff and the hotel where it is to be held. We shall see if that is the case, and it might be a good reason not to attend this venue in the future. I suspect that Pcon may have gotten too large to be sustainable.

Anyway, that’s all I got to say at this time. I am looking forward to the holidays and I will post some articles during that period as well. Have a safe and great weekend, and if you can, go and see the first installment of the movie version of Tolkein’s the Hobbit.

Frater Barrabbas

Are Pagan Festivals Dead? - Part 1

Introduction

One of the most exciting and thrilling experiences that I have ever had was attending a pagan festival for the first time back in the summer of 1980. It was called the Pan Pagan Festival, and it was held at a rather dreary campground in the northwest corner of Indiana. The campground was shared with a Baptist camp revival, which at least was separated by a small lake. Over 500 people showed up for that event, and all of the big names were there. There was Gwyddion Penderwyn, Z. Budapest, Selena Fox, and many other notables as well.

It was my first outing after having escaped from the Coven from Hell and it was my first experience meeting almost every shade of Pagan and Wiccan. I even met a few members of the left hand path and that was quite amazing. Yes, even a few Satanists managed to attend (but don’t tell anyone). I had just graduated from college and for me this whole venue was an incredible experience. I also got to meet some of the best craft friends that I had ever made, so it certainly was a pivotal event for me and I suspect for many others, too. Yet this event wasn’t very ideal as far as pagan festivals go, since it was over crowded, the campsite was right next to the freeway so you heard vehicle traffic at all hours and we had an uneasy peace with the Baptists on the other side of the small lake.

Other festivals and conventions that I have attended since then were certainly better organized and had much better camping or lodging facilities, but this one was my very first pagan festival, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Now that we are living in the early 21st century, there are many gatherings and festivals that happen every year, whether local, regional or even drawing an international crowd. I have even helped found a pagan festival, which is the Heartland Pagan Festival (started in 1986), and I helped to run it for its first few years. Heartland Pagan Festival is still happening today during the Memorial Day weekend, even after 27 years.

So why am I asking such a stupid question, “Are pagan festivals dead?” Obviously, they seem to be thriving and appear nearly everywhere in the country. What a foolish phrase to use as the title of an article about pagan gatherings! However, as Bob Dylan has said, “The Times They Are a-Changin'” and indeed they are changing with a vengeance. There are many factors that are shaping the future in which we will live and they will probably have a profound impact on Pagans and Wiccans being able to assemble in large groups, unless of course, those groups are local and sustainable in the long term.

We should also examine the relevancy of these gatherings so we can look at them more objectively. Back in the seventies and eighties, it was critically important for us to assemble in large gatherings since it was the only way to communicate (outside of writing letters or talking on the telephone), and we were still forging an overall kind of cohesive identity. Sharing ideas and thoughts in an open, free and chaotic manner helped the founders and key members of various Pagan and Wiccan organizations to clarify and develop their traditions. It also helped us as a group to find a common ground and learn to identify with others who were somewhat or even startlingly different. We learned to be tolerant towards a divergence of beliefs and practices and to respect each other. We also learned to fiercely defend our rights to believe and practice our faith as we saw fit. All this occurred as the encroaching and ever popular fundamentalist Christian organizations gained in political power and popularity, starting in the 1980's.

Still, times are indeed changing and the need for such large gatherings may have achieved the upper limit in terms of both usefulness and sustainability.  By usefulness I am saying that merely getting together for what would seem to be mostly a social gathering with sprinkling of some workshops, presentations, rituals, live music and the selling of obscure books and goods may not represent what is really needed or relevant for our growing population of practitioners and followers. By sustainability, I am thinking of the availability of resources to gather together in large regional or even international groups. Traveling by car or plane does impact the environment with pollutants and it also uses up precious resources, namely fossil fuels. These resources will probably become a lot more expensive in the decades ahead.

It would also be smart for us to consider the impact of the internet on inter-faith communications and social gatherings. What this means is that lots of people can communicate and even engage in one-way (email, blogs and pod casts) or even two way voice and/or video conferencing at a fraction of the cost and trouble of actually traveling to a location to meet and exchange ideas. It’s even possible that some future gatherings might become entirely virtual events. Certainly, this technology is already having an impact on how people communicate with one another, and the relative ease and frequency of those communications.

As followers of earth-based spiritual traditions, we should be sensitive to the issues concerning the use of resources and sustainability. What this means is that in the future, it’s very likely that long distance transportation by car or by plane may become quite expensive, making local gatherings or virtual gatherings more financially attractive and sustainable over the long run. So with that being said, we can at least agree that regional and international gatherings are probably going to become more rare or they might even completely disappear in the future, because only those who can afford the transportation costs would be able to attend. We can assume that the cost of transportation will become a limiting factor for gatherings in the future.

These changes are probably going to greatly affect the way we live and what we eat, the location of our homes and how we travel to non-local destinations. When crude oil becomes far less abundant than it is today (and that is indeed a fact we can bank on), it’s going to become too expensive for individuals and small groups to travel by car or plane, and that more energy efficient systems of mass transit will become the norm for most. We will also see a decline in the kinds of foods that we find in the markets today, so that seasonal availability will once again affect what we buy in regards to fruit, vegetables and even meat, as it did when I was child. The world is facing the immanent reality that human population growth and resource consumption will have to drastically change in the next fifty years or we will face catastrophic repercussions.

Our habits and lifestyles in this country will probably start being impacted in the next couple of decades by these events, as it already has in the third world and to some extent, Europe. We are going to have to become much more “greener” in our approach to life and the use of resources. Pollution and greenhouse gases will also have quite an impact on how we live and we will ultimately be forced into using more efficient transportation systems that will produce vastly less levels of pollution than the average car or plane does now. As followers of earth-based spirituality, we should not only be aware of these facts, but actually embrace them and start planning and acting as if those times were already here.

That being said, I would like to discuss a little bit of history with you and examine the different kinds of gatherings that exist today, their possible origins, and what may still be sustainable in the difficult decades ahead. I also want to discuss what I think is really needed in our communities that is lacking, which would help us to mature our spiritual perspectives and practices, because compared to the other world religions, we are very new and just starting to coalesce our spiritual beliefs and practices.

How Gatherings Evolved and the Three Types of Gatherings

We will now consider three types of gatherings that are currently employed in the Pagan and Wiccan communities. This, of course, doesn't include local community gatherings or sectarian gatherings that would occur for a single day or night.

The Pagan Convention

The very first kind of gathering that occurred for pagans and various other kinds of religious groups of that ilk was probably a gathering that was not really intended for them in the first place. That was the Science Fiction convention, which was expanded to include the genre of fantasy writing, and this, of course, brought together science fiction geeks with fans of alternative worlds of magic and wonder. It was also the most frequented watering hole for quite a number of the budding pagan revival groups as well.

Science fiction as a literary body has produced a least one very well known religious organization, and that is Scientology; founded by the science fiction author and occultist, L. Ron Hubbard. (I will forgo talking any more about that topic.) Science fiction and fantasy novels, such as “Stranger in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein was responsible for the founding of the Church of All Worlds, and Tolkein’s Ring series certainly spawned all sorts of creative endeavors that attempted to bring a degree of reality to stories that were mythic, timeless and enjoyed by many. Scifi Cons, as they are called, spawned other gatherings as well, not to mention the huge following for comics and comic heros (Comicons), Star Trek, and numerous others.

Probably the grand daddy of them all was the electronic consumer convention, which was based on other kinds of gatherings, such as political party conventions.  It’s not surprising then that some of the first gatherings of pagans may have occurred at some of these conventions, and that they naturally would have used the model of the fan or consumer convention as a format for a strictly pagan kind of convention. There are at least a few pagan conventions that happen every year, and these tend to draw a more international audience. They are also less formal and much more public.

The critical element for planning a convention type of gathering is to first find a hotel that will accommodate a large gathering of like minded people. There should be meeting rooms, conference rooms and even large halls for larger congregations of people to enact rituals or musical concerts in a large public setting. It’s also critically important to be able to publicize such an event so that a large group of people will attend, enabling the hotel to book the hotel rooms in advance and make a profit from the gathering. The key is getting enough people together so that the gathering will be able to meet its expenses. This requires a fair commitment up-front to the hosting hotel from those putting on the gathering, and it’s necessary to be able to spread the word so that enough people will attend. 

If a convention doesn’t get enough people, then not only will the organization that attempted to host it probably go broke, but some individuals will likely be responsible for the out-of-pocket unmet costs for the organization, the hotel and any other parties supplying food, vending or other services. So this kind of gathering is risky and is better served in areas with a large population, such as large cities or metro areas.

The pros for such a gathering are numerous, such as providing a safe and comfortable venue for people of like mind to socially meet, network, put on discussion groups, workshops, sell obscure or hard to find products and generally have a good time eating and drinking with fellow Pagans and Witches. Successful conventions are usually located in dense transportation hubs, so they are easily accessible and can accommodate large fluctuations of people coming and going.

The cons for such a gathering are also numerous. First, in order to be sustainable, conventions must attract a large group of people, and that means that anyone in the general public who is willing to pay the entry fee are able to attend. Often, hotels are accommodating more than one gathering or convention at a time, so there is a mix of various attendees and other folks who happen to be there at the same time. Seldom is a hotel exclusively held for a specific convention. Even the largest ones, such as Pantheacon, which is held outside of San Jose near the local airport, have to share some space with outliers. Smaller conventions would have to share resources with individuals who are not into Paganism or Wicca, and who may find the whole event to be annoying or even obnoxious.

Hopefully everyone will be patient, tolerant and get along when rubbing elbows together in the hotel lobbies, hallways and at the local eateries and restaurants; but that doesn’t always occur. There’s always the possibility of some kind of problem developing even between attendees who are supposed to be peacefully meeting and greeting other folks of the same or similar persuasion. Perhaps that’s why Pantheacon bans the carrying of actual weapons or magickal tools on the premises. Large groups also means that there is little privacy and absolutely no control over who attends, not to mention the appearance of the local press and other gawkers or unwanted spectators. These events are also shorter than other kinds of gatherings, typically lasting over a long weekend. This is because hosting a convention that lasted a week or more would be too expensive and couldn’t attract enough people to make it financially feasible.

I suspect that the convention model for gatherings will probably occur for some time in the future, so long as large groups of individuals can afford to travel to regional metropolitan locations. However, certainly the attenuation in fossil fuels and the expenses associated with energy and food consumption will take their toll, and it’s quite possible that conventions will become less attended and eventually fold, particularly pagan conventions. These may even become events that are planned once every few years or even once a decade, ensuring that many people will be able to plan and save up their money to attend. Yet one of the major drawbacks to this kind of gathering is the fact that there isn’t much privacy outside of one’s hotel room. It’s also not a good venue for sharing intimate spiritual experiences and performing deep and involving workings in small groups outside of the privacy of one’s room.

(To be continued..)

Frater Barrabbas

February Calends (Leap Day)

Well, February is finally ending, and that means that spring will soon be here. Well, in another two months or so we can expect some spring-like weather - maybe. Meanwhile, there is a lot of work for me to do, and I will be starting to charge the talismans which I will be using in my own version of the Portae Lucis working. I will post an update to this article so that any interesting things that occur during the final working on Tuesday, February 28, will be noted. I am planning on doing the base workings on Sunday, and that involves the concurrent summoning of three Talismanic Elementals. All four of the elements of the Sun will be fully invoked and applied to the talisman by Tuesday evening, during the Lunar Mansion of Al Haqah (White Spot).

Pantheacon and Trangender Issues

Even though I didn’t attend Pantheacon the previous weekend, there seems to be no end to the controversy that Z. Budapest created when she put on a “genetically women’s only” ritual gathering. You could say that event really stirred up the pot of issues, especially about the definition regarding gender, and it was a continuation of a particular stand that Z. Budapest has been pushing since last year’s Pantheacon. At last year’s Pcon, the issue was over the fact that the exclusion of men was extended to transgendered women, and that it wasn’t advertised as such. This caused a confrontation when a few transgendered women attempted to gain entry and were excluded.

At the time, I reported my opinion about wondering why anyone would seek to put on any kind of exclusionary rite, since the whole purpose of having a pagan convention was to be inclusive. This time, however, the exclusion of transgender women was actually stated in the convention’s brochure, and was supposedly accompanied by some rather sad and prejudicial statements made by Z. Budapest herself. The event this time was accompanied by a silent protest outside the door where the rite was held, with a group (led by T. Thorn Coyle) holding signs disparaging the statements that Z. had made and supporting transgendered women. You can find many of the different opinions and points, both for and against, that occurred on this blog post put out by the Wild Hunt.

My opinion is short and maybe not so sweet, and merely restated from what I had said a year ago. The whole problem, in my opinion, is because some folks want to share their experiences with an exclusive group of like minded individuals. I can both understand and agree in principle with this desire, but only to a point. Where I draw the line is at a public venue like Pcon. I think it’s not a good idea, as far as I am concerned, because it can foster divisiveness, hurt feelings and create huge misunderstandings - and this is born out by what happened. I also believe that Pantheacon was at fault for allowing this kind of ritual to be performed at a public gathering of pagans. Maybe, after this years imbroglio, they will finally get it and quietly eliminate such exclusive programs.

Z. Budapest also loves controversy, perhaps I should say she revels in it, and she has gained for herself a kind of relevancy that she might not have had otherwise. Having encountered her on more than one occasion over the many years that I have been in the pagan community, I have to admit that I have little respect or agreement with what she is promoting, even though I do respect her as a person and as a spiritual leader. What she is promoting reminds me too much of other exclusive groups and organizations that passionately believe in the negative dialog of exclusion, victimization, hatred and bigotry.

Since we are such a small minority in regards to our religious beliefs, I think that gender exclusion or isolation by practice or creed is not a good theme for any public gathering. At such public events, we should present a united front, since in reality, we all have something to learn and gain from experiencing each other’s perspectives, and even sharing ritual space. It is my hope that the staff at Pantheacon will seek to ban exclusive gatherings in the future. If anyone wants to engage in a ritual with an exclusive group, then there are other places for doing that, such as at a hotel suite. A gathering just for Dianics who are biologically women, held at a private ritual space, at a home or even at some public place exclusively set up for that event would be quite acceptable to one and all. What is objectionable is to flaunt this difference and its implied exclusion at an event that should be open to all pagan folks, whatever their differences. Anyway, that’s my opinion about this issue, and I will now move on to other topics.

Portae Lucis Talisman Working - Sun

I have completed the first installment of the Portae Lucis talismanic working. What I thought would be a fairly simple set of workings, one planned for Sunday evening, the other, Tuesday evening during the correct Lunar Mansion auspice, turned out to be a really difficult ordeal indeed. In fact, it was far more difficult than I had ever imagined, and that wasn’t at all because of the difficulty of the rituals - in fact it was despite them. How ironic that I had carefully drawn up all of the sigils that I would need and did a remarkably beautiful job engraving the three inch diameter brass disk that would function as the target talisman. I made certain that everything would be ready for the working, only to discover that all my plans would have to be altered in order to be successful.

While I had intended to begin performing this working on Sunday night, February 26, I instead came down with a virulent strain of stomach flu that’s been going around. I had a series of excruciating and painful purgations occur in the early morning hours that were so intense that I pulled a muscle in my side (and it is still not fully healed). I haven’t been that sick in quite a long time, and it seemed that my illness might actually cause me to have to reschedule the first installment of the working. As I have stated previously, Lunar Mansion workings require a specific timing that isn’t easy to do over - I had one shot to accomplish this working for this month. Thanks to the tender care of my girlfriend, I managed to make it through the first day, although it was very difficult. However, by the second day, I was starting to feel much better, but I was left in a weakened state.

Just as a reminder, when I say that I am performing talismanic magick, I am actually working with a construct that joins one of the seven planets of antiquity with one of the four elements. Within this matrix, I am able to generate twenty-eight unique empowered spiritual entities that can be used to charge and empower talismans, or wherever else I seek to apply them. I have chosen to give them the names of the Enochian Seniors, but they could conceivably take other names as well. Because the energy of this being is both planetary and element based, and the fact that they are constantly interacting, they have the tendency of producing a charge that lasts a long time as opposed to what they would do as separate qualities.

The three talismans that I am generating for the Portae Lucis working require that all four of the planetary elementals of the Moon, Sun and Saturn be invoked and fused into a single hybrid charge. Therefore, in order to produce one of these talismans, I would have to invoke all four of the talismanic elementals for each planet, such as, Sun of Fire, Air, Water and Earth joined together through a base Lunar Mansion. So there is an element of timing involved, since the correct Lunar Mansion (occurring during the waxing moon) will appear only during certain times of a season, although there is some overlap. If you want a more detailed over-view of this ordeal, you can find it here in a previous article. I am also including a link to my past article on planetary magick, just in case you need to brush up on that information as well.

My chosen day to complete the working was Tuesday, then under the auspices of the 5th Lunar Mansion, called Al Haqah (White Spot). I had planned on having three of the Talismanic Elementals already summoned by that time, so I had to think about what I could do to condense the working so that it could be performed in its entirety on Tuesday evening. I also knew that having just recovered from my sickness, I was in a weakened state, so I would not have the stamina to engage in any long magickal working. What I decided to do was to collapse and condense the ritual working to its essentials, and remove any extraneous verbiage or executions. Initially, I had planned on invoking each Talismanic Elemental separately so as to fully experience each one as a distinct entity. Now, with limited time and strength, I had to assemble something much more efficient than what I had previously planned.

What I did was use the existing ritual that I had and rewrite it so that I would perform simultaneous element invocations at each point in the magick circle. Instead of just invoking one element, I would invoke all four. I chose to draw invoking pentagrams for each element, superimposing one over the other for all four elements, using the sequence of Fire, Air, Water and Earth. Since each pylon in the ritual required an apex of either Spirit Masculine or Feminine, I superimposed both of them together, and produced a pylon of all four elements at the base, and both aspects of spirit combined at the top. I have never attempted to draw all four invoking pentagram patterns sequentially at the same point, so it was an interesting technique. The end result was quite powerful (even a little mind-blowing), which shouldn’t have been very surprising.

I assembled all of the materials that I thought I would need, prepared the temple for the working, and tried to draw together as much bodily energy as I could to complete the working. As if to add to the difficulty of what I was undergoing, my girlfriend came down with the same flu bug that I had been fighting. While I was recovering, she was becoming sorely afflicted with the initial stages of this vicious virus. I had to tend to her needs as she had so devotedly attended to mine, but I managed to ensure that she had everything that she needed before I was to begin my working. So here I was going to attempt to complete this working in one session still weak from being sick, while my girlfriend was also being so afflicted, and then Old Man Winter decided to visit his vengeance on us for having given us too mild a winter so far - we were hit with a blizzard. (It’s still snowing today as I write this article, with more than a half foot of snow already accumulated.)

When I got into the temple, I realized that I had precious little energy to get this working done. I set the magick circle and thereby locked in the planetary hour of Jupiter, which I had felt was an auspicious combination, considering the planetary day was Mars. (Jupiter would balance out Mars, and so allow the power of the Solar aspect to come through.) I used no ritual to set the magick circle, but silently performed all of the ritual actions from memory. I was amazed at how weak I was, and how little stamina I had to perform this working. However, my lack of physical vigor translated itself into a much greater force from my magickal actions, for it seemed that my less than usual robust physical expressions (gestures, body postures, movements, etc.) seemed to produce a much greater effect than I had thought they would. I used a very efficient and frugal manner in performing the ritual actions, but the magickal results were greatly amplified. I assumed that it might have to do with the fact that I had been unwittingly fasting for the last couple of days, having managed to eat just barely enough to recover from my sickness. I was, as it were, greatly unencumbered by my physical body, so I felt very light and close to my spiritual body. That made the magick much more powerful and my magickal senses more keen.

I had planned on saying a full and ceremonious Mass of the Goddess to charge the sigils and the talisman, but decided instead to omit many of the more extraneous passages and just perform those that would accomplish the production of sacrament. So I scanned through the rite, performing those sections that I felt were critical and omitting or glossing over those that were superfluous. Drinking the sacramental wine made me a little giddy, but I managed to get through the Mass without making any mistakes or omitting any important steps. I charged the talisman with the sacramental blood of the consecrated wine, and I felt that it was highly charged and uniquely sacralized. It seemed to glow with an inner light as I held it in the candle light.

While performing the ritual that invoked the four Talismanic Elementals, I noticed some glitches in the hastily assemble rite, which I corrected on the spot, and then found that I had forgotten the Enochian invocations of the seven planets. That could have been a stumbling block for me, but instead of panicking or stopping the ritual to try and find it amongst my archived papers, I just put my hand on the septagramic talisman in the center of the circle (used for performing planetary magick) and drew out the sounds of the invocation and uttered a few of its words to set it into the spell. I did this three times, and it was a spontaneous action on my part. I was amazed at how successful that action was, and I could actually visualize the invocation emerging from the center of the talismanic septagram like some stream of sound and light. Since I had uttered this invocation many times in the past, I wasn’t too surprised that I could just pull it from the septagram, it just hadn’t ever occurred to me to do so.

When I had completed with establishing the fourfold Element base and the invocation of the Planetary Archetype (via the Olympian Spirit of the Sun) and passed through the invocation vortex and spiritual gateway, I performed the sequential invocation of each of the four Talismanic Elementals. The final stage of this process produced a remarkable power that seemed to radiate throughout the whole temple - at times it was almost overwhelming. However, I didn’t have the energy or stamina to sit and marvel at this startling combination of forces and intelligences, since I had so little energy left. I proceeded with the final application rite that focused this power into the brass talisman, engraved with the sigil of Gabiel, the ruling spirit of Al Haqah.

The rest of that ritual working went pretty much as planned, although dealing with a lack of stamina and energy made things a little rough, and at times, overall, it was a little difficult to focus on the structure of the rituals and perform the ritual actions. Yet I persevered, and after a while, everything was completed. The charged talisman of the sun sat in the center of the circle (on the central altar where the septagram talisman was ensconced), fully empowered and covered by a protective cloth. Everything had worked, although I made some mental notes about a few changes that would make the next working more efficient. The working had been started a little after 8:45 pm CST, and ended just as the clock bell began to toll for 10:00 pm. I had succeeded in completing the working, but the overall ordeal was quite amazing to me. I had no clue beforehand that embarking upon this effort would prove to be so difficult or have so many external events intercede or interfere.

Now that this working is done, I have to wait the required three days before the talisman will be ready to be used. It will be interesting to see how fusing four Talismanic Elementals together into a single talisman will work once this incubation is complete. This, of course, will be the first test to determine how effective my idea was about substituting Jean Dubuis’ alchemical Portae Lucis with one that is completely magickal and talismanic. I have no doubt that the results of this first working will be quite amazing, considering all that I had to endure in order to make it happen. If this is a good representation of what is in store for me as I progress along the path of this ordeal, then I will have a lot more to deal with before its completed, perhaps even more than I had originally bargained for. It’s certainly looking like that to me right now, as I stare out the window at the accumulating snow.

Frater Barrabbas

Thoughts and Events In the Midst of Winter

Here we are, in the middle of February and in the middle of winter. Spring is yet another sixty days away at least, and winter has been going on for so long that I can barely remember what it was like to have leaves on trees and growing things. So far, it has been a pretty mild winter, but there are patches of snow and ice, and nothing would seem to indicate that winter is losing its grip anytime soon. So I look outside my window and day-dream about going outside and enjoying the warmth and witnessing all of the green vegetation. I admit that often it seems we take these things for granted until the middle of winter, when we find ourselves pining for their return. That’s what life is like living in the tundra that is Minnesota in the winter.

I did want to discuss some things that are relevant to this blog other than displaying my angst about the seemingly never ending winter. There are some really wonderful things happening, and I have been very busy working at my day job as well as writing up my occult topics during the evening. Sometimes things just seem like all work and no play, so I need to plan in some playtime and some temple time as well.

By now, all three parts of my article on “New Age Cargo Cults” have been posted, and everyone has had a chance to look them over. While perusing the recent news, I have finally come to the conclusion that the Republican Party seems to be functioning more and more like a Cargo Cult. News pundits, presidential candidates and various other governing elected officials operating through the Republican party doctrine have created a view of the U.S. and the world that is almost completely mythic in its contents and perspectives. In the past, beliefs and opinions that would have been sequestered in fringe groups like the John Birch society, the KKK, Aryan Nation, the Religious Right, Libertarian Lunatics, Warmongering Neocons, Anti-Science Climate Change Deniers, Plundering Plutocrats and various other hate-groups or ultra-conservative fanatics are now fully embraced and shown as part of the mainstream conservative agenda.Very scary indeed!

Republicans have created a false sense of urgency and crisis in this country, but it’s focused laser-like on social values and protecting the entitlement of the very rich, instead of jobs and income inequality. The whole ridiculous entourage reminds me of a political circus, except that there is nothing entertaining about it. As a political moderate, I find the constant harping and unwillingness to do anything constructive both wearying and deplorable. The apparent stimulus for this obstreperous behavior seems to be nothing more than the fact that we have a black man in the White House. (Horrors to horrors!) Unfortunately, our current president has actually been functioning as a political moderate, with many of his policies inhabiting a place in the right-of-center of the political spectrum. Yet if you listen to the right-wing punditry, Obama appears to be a dangerous, foaming at the mouth, left-wing fringe, racist, liberal socialist Muslim Kenyan. I find it all so very unreal and insultingly stupid.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is still way too high and many people are financially suffering. It’s obvious to anyone that there are terrible inequalities growing between the rich and the poor, and the middle class is being effectively erased. It would seem to be the objective of the conservative right to consign the middle class to the hosts of the poor, where they will cease to interfere with the ongoing government sanctioned kleptomania by the rich. At some point, the whole things is going to collapse - and it’s only a matter of when. If you want to read a really good article about what is actually going on, you can check out this online link from the recent November Rolling Stone and look it over - you won’t like what it says one bit.

Hopefully, a more sane and realistic dialog will occur between now and November, but I am not optimistic. At least all of this political noise is having the effect of completely damaging the Republican Party brand. This is likely also a boon to President Obama, who will sail to an easy reelection victory during a fiscal downturn. Perhaps when the Republicans hit rock bottom, we can expect maybe the rise of a more sane and sensible alternative. I am against any kind of one party rule, and I think that having more than one party facilitates a proper political dialog, or at least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. To quote a famous Stan Lee saying (used by many of his Marvel characters), “Nuff said.”   

Starting on February 26th, I will begin the four Portae Lucis preparation workings. On that date, I will begin the process of charging the four talismans that will be needed to perform the talismanic alternative to the traditional Portae Lucis, as set down by Jean Dubuis. I will keep my journal current and report to you, my readers, anything that is interesting or out of the ordinary. The Portae Lucis working is supposed to achieve its culmination and climax just before the Summer Solstice, now planned for June 17 through June 19 of this year. It will be interesting to see if I was able to properly interpret this working and write up a more active, magickal, alternative.

On February 8, Llewellyn Publications had a Vision meeting and accepted my manuscript for the book project, “Qabalah for Beginners.” This was a pretty happy event for me, and it means that my book project now has a scheduled series of stages to be completed so that the book will be in print by March of 2013. It typically takes Llewellyn a year to move a book project from the manuscript stage to the fully published and printed work. I have a number of fixes, changes and revisions on the original manuscript to be performed, and I will need to re-submit the revised manuscript by May 1. 

Since I have already completed most of those changes already, I only need to work on the history and creation chapters so that multiple sources will ultimately be cited for the information contained in them. I have also ordered some additional books to help me with this task, and I suspect that the final revision will be completed in the next two to three weeks, well before the deadline. The book project Launch meeting is to be held on March 5, so I am looking forward to that event as well. What will happen after the revised manuscript is received and accepted will be the final editing process, and that will probably last for a few weeks or up to a month.

Looking over the current condition of the manuscript for “Qabalah for Beginners,” I feel that it is the cleanest, best researched and organized book that I have ever written so far. And this is its current condition before the actual final editing process is started. I believe that this book will be the very best that I have been able to produce in my writing career, and it will be great addition to Llewellyn’s book catalog. I have been very pleased at how I have been treated by Llewellyn so far, and would consider writing another manuscript for them if the opportunity presents itself. They are able to motivate and extract from me a level of perfection that I have not been able to achieve completely on my own, which can only benefit those who would seek to purchase and read my new book. Anyway, I will continue to report about the progress of this project, and give you ample notice when the publication date is nigh at hand.

The annual Pantheacon convention occurred in San Jose this last weekend, and unlike the previous three years, I did not attend. I missed not being able to go, but I just couldn’t justify the cost and the time involved. This year is going to be a more lean year financially than previously, and I have had to make choices about where I spend my money. Instead of the pricey visit to San Jose and staying at the Hilton Hotel for Pantheacon, I will be putting my resources into the local convention in the Twin Cities, called Paganicon. 

Our Pagan Pride organization's second annual Paganicon will be occurring on March 16 (Friday) through March 18 (Sunday). I will be giving a double presentation starting at 9:00 am on Saturday, March 17, on the topics “Introduction to the Qabalah,” and the “Practical Qabalah.” The total time for these two presentations is 2.5 hours, so it should be pretty good as far as covering all of the substantive details for this subject. Hopefully, I will get a decent number of attendees, since the presentation time is early and my scheduled slots compete with the main speaker at least for the second half of the presentation. I will also be staying at the hotel for the two nights of the convention (at a reduced rate), so hopefully I will be able to completely absorb everything that is going on. I will write up a report about how that turns out.

Next year, I fully plan on attending both Pantheacon and Paganicon, since my book with Llewellyn will be in the pre-publishing or fully published phase. I could at least expect a gala book signing and some additional public exposure as a Llewellyn author at one or the other conventions (or maybe, both). I am also still in the planning stages for at least one or two of my book projects, so hopefully, one of them might see fruition in 2013 as well. However, at the present time, I am immersed in work and there is an enormous amount to accomplish for this year. Hopefully, I will get some of it done and I can tell you all about it.

Frater Barrabbas

Spring Magickal Workings and Other Things

Conan the Barbarian fighting the Frost Giants

Ides of March have come, but outside the world is still locked in the frigid embrace of the frost giants, who have ruled this long winter with a cruel disdain for any human creature comforts. While the snows of December and January seemed proper and picturesque, they are unwelcome and tedious now in March. More snow is on the horizon, as we who live in the Northern Midwest continue to endure a very arduous ordeal of cold, ice, snow and a lack of the solar blessings of warm and balmy breezes. Yet, even as it seems like the middle of winter outside, I know that this time of darkness and frigid weather will pass, to be replaced by warmer weather, the melting of the snow and ice, and the return of leaves, flowers and all of the outdoor wildlife represented by the growing season. Each sunny day grows brighter and warmer, melting some of the ice and snow. Yet my soul will certainly rejoice when I hear the sweet sounds of the “Spring Peepers,” the first indication that life has returned to the barren winter landscape. They usually are heard in the second or third week of April, around the time that I will be starting to complete the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal.  

Now that I have gotten the last ritual in the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal completed, I can plan for the final set of workings that will aid me in finally completing this ordeal. I started this working in November 2009, and completed the first phase at the last days of December of that year. Throughout the year of 2010, I have experienced a series of remarkable events, all of which appear to have built up to this final magickal conclusion. How odd that I have worked this ordeal for many months and experienced all of its intense phenomena at various strategic times, and now in April and May of this year I will perform the final rites in this series. This mystical and magickal journey has taken me nearly eighteen months, from beginning to end, which ironically is the same duration of the German version of the original Abramelin ordeal.

As I think and meditate on what I have experienced during the last eighteen months, I am amazed at all that has occurred to me. Certainly, I have opened doors that were not even conceivable to me. For instance, I now know that I am not alone on my spiritual and magickal quest, having received more than qualitative hints that there are individuals who know vastly more about the occult and ritual magick than I. So amidst hints and dreams of the promise of the mysterious masters (those remarkable mortal men and women), the acquisition of new knowledge, and the materialization and revelation of new friends and important contacts, I have started this year with a tremendous amount of anticipation and excitement. There are many projects that I will seek to apply some final efforts so as to realize their total fruition, and I am looking forward to their completion.

Dates for the concluding Abramelin Lunar Ordeal have been set for the full moon of April (April 16th and 17th) and just before the full moon of May (May 14th and 15th). The weekend of the full moon in April will be when I’ll perform the Ogdoadic Godhead Vortex Ritual and the Triple Tetrahedral Gate Ritual, then the next day following with the Stellar Gnostic version of the Bornless One Invocation rite. That will re-active all of the components of this ordeal that have been previously established in the workings of December of 2009. The weekend of the near full moon in May will be where I will complete the Abramelin Lunar ordeal, first with the Alchemical Hierogamy Rite of Union, and then on the following evening, the Bornless One - Rite of Envisioning. The moon will be waxing, gibbous and will have entered into the sign of Scorpio by the last night, which will be a most auspicious sign for the final rite. That final rite has been delayed all of these months, but in May, it will be finally completed.

It is my assumption that with the conclusion of this ordeal, the various powers, authorities and prerogatives of the Bornless One will be completely mine to command. I will have envisioned my higher spiritual purpose and know the ultimate meaning of my life. The magickal squares that I have chosen from the Book of Abramelin will be fully charged and activated, and I will begin to wield specific magickal spells to achieve my long term goals.    

I am planning, after this month of March, to begin some other magickal workings, research and writing. The reason why I will be starting after March is because I will have to pull together two workshops that I will be giving at Pagancon in the Twin Cities. For those who might not know about it, Pagancon is going to be held on the weekend of March 24, 25 and 26th.  I suspect that the coordinators are attempting to create a convention that will become the Midwest version of Pantheacon. I plan on being there for most of that weekend, so if you happen to live in the area, please come by and be welcomed at my classes, and while you are there, join in the other venues. I will talk more about this event in the next week or so. Needless to say, I am looking forward to it.

Some other workings that I would like to attempt would be to perform some invocations and evocation of a selection of the angles of the Shem ha-Mephorash and Daemons of the Goetia, which I would see as tying into the completion of the Abramelin Lunar ordeal. I would also like to incorporate the spirits of the Goetia Theurgia into a comprehensive system of evocation magick. In order to do this, I will need to tap into the mythic themes and underlying symbolic attributes of these spirits, probably by invoking one of the hierarchical leaders or princes, who I would seek to aid me in this project. Building a system of accessing the spirits of the Goetia Theurgia would represent the final piece of my project to present a comprehensive system of invocation and evocation for the entire spectrum of angelic and daemonic spirits in the hierarchy as I have determined it. This would also include a completed system for the Grimoire of Armadel, which I would also seek to distribute in some fashion or another.

So there is a lot on my plate for this entire year, which also includes more mundane things such as my career, family, friends and my ever important relationship with my lady. I look forward to these tasks and events with a great degree of optimism and joy. I find that I truly relish my time spent with friends, since my social life has been highly attenuated by the fact that I live so far away from the city and have so much to accomplish every day.

On another note, my newly made friend Robert, of the blog Doing Magic fame, has responded to a conversation that I had with him at Pantheacon, where I questioned him about his reports and experiences with what he calls his “Helpful Deity.” You can find the link to his blog article here. Since his descriptions and interactions with the entity have been quite suitably vague, I decided that I would question him about this spirit, since we were socializing, and engaged in face to face communication. I started my questioning by asking him if the Helpful Deity was just an aspect of himself (higher self) or a distinct deity. Thus my question began by seeking some clarifying insight. I wanted to know if the HD was completely internal (part of himself) or external (a distinct deity).

This prompted Robert to write up a blog article posing whether the HD is internal or external and by expansion, the nature and experience of spirits as a whole, which wasn’t quite what I asked. He went on to say that in his experiences, spiritual entities are both internal (subjective) experiences as well as external phenomenon that can be (objectively) experienced by others. Of course I would have to agree with him, but unfortunately that wasn’t quite the point that I was trying to make when I was questioning him. Robert did indicate to me that the HD has a distinct and specific name, as well as a mythology and lots of known attributes, but that he had not wanted to share that name in his blog, so he called it the Helpful Deity. I now know the name of the entity, but I will be discreet and not reveal it to my readers. I figure that it’s none of my business, and if Robert wants to reveal that personal bit of lore to his readers, he can do so at a time of his own choosing.

A few other controversies are raging on the web world of blogs, and I would like to mention a few comments on each.

First, it appears that the members of the second (inner) order of Robert Zink’s Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn have almost unanimously expelled him as their chief, posting a consensus based announcement as such in the blogosphere. This has been much discussed by various Golden Dawn factions, and it appears that Robert Zink has replied, although not very forcefully, saying essentially that as chief of his order, he can’t be expelled by subordinate members of that same order. Unfortunately, I would have to agree with him. The Golden Dawn, in most of its variations, is not a democratic institution, but a hierarchical organization where the top post is held by a chief (or chiefs), until he or she either retires, quits, or dies. It would be assumed in such a situation that a new chief would be named, often by the previous chief. The GD in most cases doesn’t either elicit or act on the advice of its members, even if the greater majority seek a certain direction or end, unless, of course, the actual leadership decides to do so.

Therefore, the second order members of Robert Zink’s EOGD can’t expel him or choose a new chief - it’s just not written into their bylaws, which all of them agreed to when they joined. All they can do is leave the EOGD and form a new organization, hopefully, one that won’t be modeled on any kind of autocracy. This kind of tragic situation can also be repeatedly found in pagan groups and Wiccan covens, where the leader or leaders hold a kind of absolute power over their members. In such a situation, the only recourse that a member has is to quit and found another group or work as a solitaire practitioner. None of these groups function as a democracy and they often eschew any kind of consensus. I also know that there are groups and organizations in the pagan and witchcraft world that don’t function in this manner, but the enlightenment of democracy is still spreading slowly to the rest.

What all of this brings to my mind is how important it is to establish groups and organizations based on democratic principles and consensus. We are mature adults living in the post modern era, so being a member of a group that functions as a rigorous hierarchical autocracy should probably be seen as a strange, insidious and anomalous atavism. I don’t know about you, but I, for one, wouldn’t ever join a group unless my opinions and thoughts about various internal issues were at the very least heard, if not brought into a consensus with the other members and the ruling polity. I really despise all forms of tyranny, especially those that are enforced within so-called occult spiritual and magickal organizations. The purpose of belonging to a magickal or spiritual group is mutual support, objectivity, peer review and the encouragement of transcendence and conscious evolution. So how can one engage in these activities if they are tyrannized and kept in ignorant bondage by some flawed and superficial leader? That’s the ten million dollar question!

A group that is democratic and ruled by consensus is, in my opinion, far more powerful and cohesive than one that is an autocracy, because everyone in the group feels empowered and an important part of the whole group. Such a group, as I have stated in this blog more than once, is called a Star Group, and it is much more representative of how a group should be organized and conducted in the 21st century. I believe that occult groups, temples and other organizations should be completely democratic, and if they are smaller intimate groups, they should also be egalitarian and ruled solely through consensus. Authority should be vested in the group and never in one single individual.

A Star Group avoids all of the terrible excesses of spiritual and magickal tyranny that seem to plague other types of groups or organizations. So, I guess that what is problematic about the EOGD, or other analogous groups, is that they are not run as democracies. Hierarchical organizations that are run by a single individual or an elite clique that doesn’t have any accountability, or checks or balances on that authority, are doomed to the natural corruption inherent in human nature. Even a supposed benign dictator in such a group is still a tyrant and will have to be overcome, often by one’s own feet through leaving that group, in order to facilitate actual spiritual and magickal growth.

I wish the second and inner order members of the EOGD, who have thus rebelled against their chief, good luck and good fortune as they seek to build a new consensus and a new organization. I hope that they have learned a valuable lesson from their experience and will decide to form a new organization that is democratic and ruled by consensus, instead of just choosing a new chief or a ruling clique, which will do nothing more than just start the whole mindless process all over again.

Another issue being hotly discussed in the blogosphere is the tragic event that happened at the recent Pantheacon, where some trans-gendered women were excluded from a women’s only mystery working involving the deity Lilith. There have been some rather passionate and hurtful arguments going around (and very some sober reevaluations), and the fact that I am a male might actually exclude me from even having an opinion. What I do feel is that a convention like Pantheacon should be open to all pagans and witches (or those who are sympathetic), and should exclude none. Is it a proper venue for an exclusive ritual, lecture or workshop? That question is for the Pantheacon staff to decide, who very likely seek to accommodate their fellow pagans, within reason, of course. However, to exclude trans-gendered women from a women-only rite is probably over the top, since the gathering is open to the public who are willing to pay the entry fee. If a mystery is to be presented that is so exclusive that it must exclude trans-gendered women because they are supposedly “not born women, but made so through surgery,” then I think another venue should be chosen for that same rite.

The purpose for Pantheacon is to bring all of the various pagans together into some kind of harmonious accord, not to create boundaries and exclude individuals. I can somewhat see the value of having mystery rites exclusive for certain groups, however, short of making individuals strip or somehow prove themselves as valid participants, I believe that by their will and mutual acceptance, they should be allowed to experience the mystery. Acceptance and inclusion overrules creating hurtful boundaries that cut across vague and shadowy demarcations of gender, sexual affiliation and ethnicity that affect us all, especially at a public venue like Pantheacon.

Finally, there is still more discussion going on over the great energy debate, and I think that both the Scribbler (at Magian Rumination) and Jason Miller (at Strategic Sorcery) have brought up very useful points in its defense. The first point is that the heart appears to be an incredible  source of quantifiable energy, and the second point has brought up eastern systems of healing where that healing methodology is explained by the occurrence of chi acting in the nervous system. I think that both of these articles are excellent, especially the one about the power of the heart, so I would highly recommend that you look them over here, and here. It would seem, based on these two articles, that there seems to be some kind of energy operating in these various healing techniques and the scientific examination of the greater function of the heart, and so maybe it’s not just a metaphor as some would think.

Still, it may also require a considerable advancement in science (quantum biology?) to pull all of these threads together and make overall sense of them. However, the power of the mind to conceptualize through models and function as if they were concrete facts (even when they are not) can’t be dismissed either. This brings us to the kind of vague and unsatisfying conclusion where the concept of “spiritual energy” must have a provisional definition of potentiality being a kind of energy not yet known or quantified by science, but it can also be seen as a metaphor for something that is either partially or wholly within the framework of the mind. Either perspective must also perceive the mind as being a far more powerful mechanism than previously thought.

We should also be reminded that there are two ways of looking at reality; using either the mind before matter model or the matter before mind model. Depending on which model is used will produce a very different perspective in regards to life and the boundaries of objective and subjective reality.     

Frater Barrabbas

Pantheacon 2011 - Stregans, Remarkable Men and Women, and Low Magick

As you know, I was gone to Pantheacon the last few days, so that’s why there hasn’t been an article posted on this blog for that duration of time. I was also very busy at that event, so I didn’t get around to giving you a blow by blow report on what happened. So, now that I am still stuck here waiting for a late flight to get home, I thought that I would write up a report on how things went and what my experiences were like. There was a massive snow storm that shut down the Minneapolis airport for half a day on Monday, thus canceling my return flight. I had to scramble to get a replacement flight, and there wasn’t much to choose from. I will have to take a red-eye circuitous flight from San Jose, to Atlanta, then to Minneapolis, getting there Wednesday morning. Oddly, I will have flown in a triangle around the country during this entire trip.

Here are some notes that I wrote while the convention was underway.

The last affects of Pantheacon 2011 are winding down this Monday evening, and I thought that I would relate some of what I experienced while commingling with lots of strangely attired and pagan persona possessed people, including myself, of course. We descended on the few so called “normal” folks who were staying at the hotel for purely mundane reasons, and the hotel staff who expertly tolerated the crowds of unusual characters. It was fun, and it was informative - but more importantly, it met all of my expectations and exceeded them.

It would seem that Pantheacon is the kind of event that takes a few years for one to build up the kind of contacts and the social network necessary to make the con an event that is highly enjoyable and filled with the interaction of friendly and interesting folk. At least, this is true for me, an old cantankerous and dodgy sorcerer from the Midwest. It takes me a while to get to know people, and for people to get to know me - a veritable sign of the waning years of middle age. I am definitely not plugged in and hip as my much younger counter parts in the pagan world, so I stumble and creep along like some aged dinosaur, but I eventually get to where I want to go.

Anyway, as you know, I was stuck with the necessity of performing both of my presentations on Friday, which was a bit of a bother, but it turned out to be quite fortuitous. That meant that Friday was pretty much taken up with preparing for and giving the two lectures. Both were newly made and first-time presentations, but they consisted of material that I knew very well.
               
The first lecture was on the Decan Faces, a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and it went off pretty well. There was a bit too much information in the lecture notes, and it will require some tweaks to get it to a state where I will feel contented with it’s final form. This is a typical sentiment for me, being the avowed perfectionist when it suits me. One odd note was that all of the doors for the lecture rooms were locked and I had to get someone to open up the doors, and then the room wasn’t set up properly for the lecture. I guess someone thought that attendees needed their own tables to work on whatever was to be “constructed” for the workshop. My first lecture was moderately attended, and the feedback that I got was quite positive.

Later in the day I assembled my materials and went to give my second lecture, which was on Lunar Magick. Where the previous lecture was moderately attended, this lecture had more attendees than chairs, and soon the room temperature got up to the mid 80's, which was quite uncomfortable for some. This lecture was delivered adequately, although there was a bit of a problem with the end. I will probably go over the last section in the near future and iron it out, perhaps doing a bit of reorganizing. The attendees didn’t notice any of these minor issues, and the lecture was perceived as useful and successful. Some people later thanked me for this lecture and told me how significant it was. The most important point in the lecture is that using the Lunation cycle requires the witch or pagan to break their workings up into multiple sessions, so as to take better advantage of the changing lunar energy. I had stated in the beginning that I wasn’t an astrologer, and one of the questions that I took at the end was about the nodes of the Moon, which was off topic and a bit obscure for me. Thankfully, an astrologer was attending the lecture, a very learned man named Jim Schultz, who was able to answer that and a couple of other astrological questions - many thanks to him.

I also met and was introduced to Robert, the writer and owner of the “Doing Magick” blog. He was friendly and engaging, and we had some interesting conversations later on. I must admit that I was surprised at how he looked and expressed himself, all done in a down to earth and kindly manner, I guess you could say that I imagined that he would look and behave quite differently, based on the persona that I sense is projected in his writings. The reading imagination is an interesting tool when no real life imagery is supplied.

Another person that I spent a bit of time with was Ivo Dominguez Jr., who I found to be quite affable, friendly, and very humorous. Ivo is a very quiet, self disciplined and down to earth individual, but his wit and observation of human folly is quite insightful and enjoyable. Ivo is also very generous and socially accessible. I would have liked to have spent more time talking with him, but the reality of Pantheacon is unlimited distractions set within a very short time line. There were other old friends to meet and new friends to make.

One old friend that I truly enjoyed meeting again was Tony Mierzwicki and his lovely wife, Jo-Anne. Tony attended my first class and we spent some of the afternoon together getting caught up with each other. Tony is a delightful man; sensitive, highly intelligent, compassionate, and with the body of a Heracles, he presents a striking contrary image to the typical couch potato occultist. I regretfully communicated that I would miss his presentation on Monday afternoon, but as it turned out, I was able to happily attend it, and spend a good portion of the rest of the day talking with him and his wife.

Lon Milo Duquette was at the convention, of course, and I got to chat with him a few times, most notably with a well made martini in the OTO Hospitality Suite. As always, I found Lon to be eminently charming, hilariously funny, but also deeply insightful and down to earth. I picked up an autographed edition of his newest book on Low Magick, and he signed it “How Low Magick Can You Go?” I will be reading this book (and others) and will hopefully have something to relate on the comment. We both chuckled over it, and shared some other humorous observations about life in general, and occultism in particular. I bought the book a little later at the Llewellyn Author’s Presentation, which had a lot of new authors and books to examine. They also had free cake and a book raffle, but I had to leave after a short while, it was getting quite late for me. I was plagued by being two hours ahead of time in regards to my inner clock, so I found myself getting pretty sleepy by the time 11:00 pm rolled around. That would have been more like 1:00 am for me.

Saturday was the day that the del Bosco Sacro Stregan clan arrived at Pantheacon. I was very glad to meet David Griffin again, and to also meet his wife, Aegeria, and also to finally meet Dianus and Diana. Both Aegeria and Diana had been heavily afflicted with a recent bought of influenza, so that, and the long drive, slightly diminished them all with a veil of fatigue that they worked mightily to keep parted. Even despite these hardships, they were happy to be there, and that happiness was quite infectious, I must admit. They were dressed in long hooded capes and robes, and Aegeria had a drum to beat a cadence as they walked in a procession to the lecture hall. Thus, the long awaited presentation began.

The presentation of the del Bosco Sacro Stregan family was done in the style of an ethnographic interview, where Aegeria, acting as the anthropologist, asked a set of questions to Diana, which were replied by her acting spokesperson, Dianus, and translated by Lupercus (David). Questions and comments from the audience were discouraged during this presentation. This was an unusual presentation methodology, and some found it either unwarranted or unnecessary. However, I can understand why this methodology was used and I thought that was necessary, but it did place a restrictive barrier between the presenters and the audience. It made the proceedings far more formal and restrictive, and less interactive and engaging. The reason for this enforced structure was to ensure that the presentation was able to fully respond to all of the questions that were presented without detraction or disruption. It was also my understanding that the presentation was being recorded for future use. Anyway, the presentation had to be cut short due to desire of some in the audience to be able to ask questions individually, and that such a venue could not be held in the hallway after the event was completed. Aegeria’s list of questions were quite excellent, representing pretty much what everyone would have liked to have asked if they could have done so in an informal atmosphere. Afterwards, I had lunch with the whole group and was able to talk to them extensively in private, although Dianus’ command of English was limited at the present time. To communicate in any depth required David’s ever thoughtful interpretation in both directions.

Having personally met and talked and communed with Diana and Dianus, there was no question of their knowledge and abilities. They represent an authentic traditional teaching, which they were not shy to demonstrate on the following day. For a number of reasons, mostly due to fact that Diana was only recently bed ridden, the ritual event was not performed the following day. Instead, Dianus and Diana performed individual demonstrations of their techniques for a smaller and more intimate group. There were also some initiations performed, but everything was done completely on a voluntary basis, representing a very high degree of personal and spiritual integrity. I am unable to say more about this, of course, but what I saw and experienced in their company did more to eliminate any further doubts about their claims or the presentation of their knowledge. I can safely say that I am completely satisfied with what Lupercus and Aegeria are doing within the various pagan communities. All the various claims of nefarious manipulations, illegitimacy or a lack of ethical guidelines whispered by anonymous individuals can be seen for what it is, petty jealousy and spiteful judgements based on ignorance.

I must admit that I spent a lot of time with these four individuals, and got to see Diana and Dianus experience the wonders of the vender’s market place. I am certain that few Europeans would be able to see such a collection of specialized items for sale as were on display at Pantheacon. I could see the wonder in Diana’s eyes at all that she saw and got to examine in detail. That experience alone was quite a pleasurable past time for me as well as the four of them. Spending time with them meant that I didn’t get to attend as many of the workshops and lectures that I might have otherwise, but the sacrifice was well worth it. Spending time with these good friends and spiritual allies was the equivalent of attending quite a number of Pcon events.

Another interesting person that I met and had deep conversations with was Dr. Robert Word, a most pleasant fellow with a very keen intellect. Talking with him was like conversing with someone who had an almost encyclopedia like grasp of history as well as occultism. Other individuals that I met and got to talk with were Donald Frew, who was responsible for getting me deeply attached to Neoplatonism and who single handedly showed me that my intuitive spiritual perspectives and beliefs were based on the various teachings within that discipline. I also talked briefly with John Michael Greer (I promised him a drink, which I didn’t get a chance to honor), and I look forward with talking with him at the upcoming Pagancon in the Twin Cities.

I also attended the author’s panel put on by Weiser, and the theme for that panel was the republication of the book “Demon Lover” by Dion Fortune.  The author panel was supposed to have read the book and to comment on it. Although the authors presented a number of interesting and engaging perspectives about the book, little was actually said of Dion Fortune. I felt that many of the pagans who may have attended that panel would have only known Dion Fortune by her rather pagan books, such as the Sea Priestess, Moon Magic and the Goatfoot God. Demon Lover was a more obscure fictional story written by Fortune early in her career. However, Fortune’s fictional work was quite different than her non-fiction occult writings, both publically and within her spiritual order. I would have hoped that the panel would have started off with a short biographical note about who Dionne Fortune was, when she lived, died, and her overall contribution to occultism and esoteric studies. For instance, her actual name was Violet Firth, and she was much more known for her occult practices that mixed Christianity with forms of Theosophy than she was for her Golden Dawn or pagan associations. I think that Dion Fortune wouldn’t have liked to be referred to as a pagan occultist. Anyway, I was a bit disappointed by this omission, and was even asked to add some biographical detail off of the top of my head, which was kind of embarrassing, since I was hardly prepared to do so. Yet I managed to speak intelligently, although briefly, about Dion Fortune. Perhaps I may write a blog article about her in the future.

Because my flight was canceled, I got to attend Tony Mierzwicki’s presentation on Greek Religion and witness his invocation of Athena. I thought that it was an excellent lecture, facilitated with an eye-catching power point presentation and an English translation of the Orphic Hymn to Athena. I also spent some of the afternoon with Tony and Jo-Anne, walking in the lovely sunshine and proto-spring like weather outside. It was an enjoyable afternoon and evening, but the next day (Tuesday) saw few if any of the attendees left over. I had a quiet day of reflecting on what I had experienced, and some time to continue my reading of Jake Stratton Kent’s new book, volume one of Geosophia.

It was grand time of reflection, only interrupted when I had to undergo the horrifically torturous process of flying home. The only flight that I could find that was reasonable (only one stop over) traveled to Atlanta from San Jose, and then to Minneapolis. My journey was triangular, so that was kind of a bit of ironic humor. I had to endure a nearly four hour flight sitting next to an older unshaven man, with a bush hat and redneck teeth, who was traveling back to Ashville. While he wasn’t rattling the mucous in his throat, loudly snoring while sleeping, he was alternatingly coughing, sneezing or blowing his nose. He even spit some of what he was coughing up into an empty peanut bag, much to my horror and disgust. At least by the end of the flight I had discovered his middle name - it was Phlegm. Needless to say, I got no sleep on that flight, nor on the next, stuck and cramped as I was in the middle of the row. By the time I got home the following morning, I was quite tired and a bit cranky. I got over it all and settled into a pleasant sleepless reverie until my significant other came to pick me a couple of hours later.

So that was my Pantheacon experience - of course there were lots of other events and details that I have left out, but I think that I shared enough of it to give an idea of what it was like. Perhaps you might consider going there yourself someday, if you weren’t there when I was there. Anyway, time to get back to work and some more mundane things to occupy me for the nonce. There will certainly be more articles coming up, but for now, I need to do some writing and researching, punctuated with some fond memories.

Frater Barrabbas    

Leaving for Pantheacon Today - See You There!

I wanted to post this article tomorrow, which is Thursday, but decided to post it tonight instead. I begin my travels to Pantheacon tomorrow afternoon, but I figured that I wouldn’t have enough time to do everything that needs to be done before leaving.

Today is the day that I pack up my hoard of occult loot (arrgh!) and board a plane for San Jose to attend my third Pantheacon. I am very excited and happy to get out of the frozen tundra for a few days, and of course, the weather here is oddly heating up and melting all of the snow. It will probably be only a little warmer there than here - although there won’t be any snow, just rain.

Meanwhile on the blogosphere there has been a friendly dust up between Frater A.I,T., Rufus Opus, Jason Miller and Balthazar - all of it over whether or not energy work is an important part of magick or just a load of manure, as R.O. has so eloquently put it. For me, I look at this argument as kind of puzzling. Energy work is only important if the Energy Model of magick has precedence in one’s magickal work - if it doesn’t, then the whole argument is rather moot. You can find them here, here, here and here.       
   
(Although why I give PR to blogs that don’t link to mine is a puzzling conundrum. I guess I haven’t been invited to that exclusive club just yet. The exception, of course, is Frater A.I.T. - many thanks to him for linking to my blog.)

You could imagine two magicians, one working through the Energy Model, the other, the Spirit Model, arguing with each other about how important energy working is in the practice of magick. Obviously, they both wouldn’t agree - ever! (Do magician’s ever agree with each other?) It would be just an exchange of two individuals talking in a different language at each other. Then Mr. Miller, ever the wise conciliator, has to chime in to show that both approaches are correct, but not absolutely so. He takes the middle path, which is not too surprising, considering the influence of Tibetan Buddhism in his spiritual and magickal perspective. 

Not to be outdone, Balthazar disparagingly (but respectfully) piles on with the fact that most forms of modern magick and occultism are the product of massive cultural appropriation and western imperialism. Balthazar is correct in saying that the Energy Model of magick is a recent addition to the collection of practices that make up some forms of the Western tradition of magick, although the Energy Model itself is quite ancient, such as with concepts like Chi or Mana, both of which are not western. The western energy model appears to use a metaphor of electricity to define and develop that particular theme in the practice of magick.

However, Balthazar appears to miss a major point that all forms of magick in the world are the product of cultural or religious appropriation, and that it is human nature to borrow ideas and concepts, often completely out of context, and use them in new and different ways. So, yes, we are all pirates at various points of our magickal career, and especially so were the founders of the various traditions of magick! Sometimes that process works to produce some very interesting results, other times it appears to be contrived and ridiculous. Yet it doesn’t matter whether one is a member of the “dominator” culture or part of the third world, human beings copy each other and exchange and spread ideas much more rapidly than any other kind of actual cultural change, whether due to internal or external forces. In the age of the internet and the world wide web, that process of exchange is happening at an even faster pace. After all, we are just hominids, so you know, monkey see, monkey do! Do we condemn that practice, or just examine the lore of a given tradition and judge it for its effectiveness? I’ll let you be the judge of that particular question.

Anyway, I suspect that this discussion will go back and forth for the next few days. So grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy the heated but respectful exchange. It’s doubtful that any of them will actually get nasty, call each other names and engage in ad hominem attacks, but you never know. 

Moving back to the topic at hand, I also answered a series of questions for an online text interview for Pantheacon. It would appear that many of the presenters are given this opportunity to share their ideas with the Pantheacon attendees. You can find the web site with all of the interviews here, but I don’t know if you have to register and create a logon account to access them or not. Anyway, give it shot - if it’s open to the general public, then you will find all sorts of interviews with some very remarkable individuals.

I am going to attempt to write a short article for each day that I am at Pantheacon, to describe some of the presentations that I will be witnessing and give you an idea of what it’s like to hang out with over 3,000 pagans of every sort imaginable. It will be crowded at times, but definitely not at all boring.

Here is the interview. Included in this interview are the questions that the Pantheacon staff wrote up, and my answers. These questions may reflect some of the things that you might have wanted to know as well, so I thought that it would be a good idea to include the interview here.


What are you presenting this year?

This is the third Pantheacon that I have attended in the last three years, and I am really looking forward to it. I am presenting two workshops this year, and both of them are occurring on Friday, February 18, the first day of the convention. The first workshop will be held at 1:30 pm in the Santa Clara room, it’s called “Key to Evocation: Zodiacal Decans,” and the second workshop will be held at 7:00 pm, again, in the Santa Clara room, it’s called “Lunar Magick.” I will briefly discuss both workshops.

Key to Evocation: Zodiacal Decans:

We will examine various source documents to show a strong case that the astrological decans are the key to organizing and giving meaning to the spirits lists of the angels of the ha-Shemhamphorash and the daemons of the Goetia.

We will look at the definitions of the 36 decans and how they relate to the quinarians, as well as discuss the methodologies of performing invocations and evocations through a structured matrix of definitions. It is my opinion that taking such path will allow the magician to both control what is conjured as well as understand the implications of that action.

Lunar Magick:

We will look at the phenomena of the Moon from a scientific and occultic perspective to examine how the Lunar phases affect the workings of ritual magick, and how we can incorporate the Lunar Mysteries into our liturgical workings. The moon is both a clock for active magickal workings and an core object of our liturgical mysteries.

The object of this workshop to understand the phases, to know the timing of practical magick and how to write a lunar mystery working. (A layout of a lunar mystery working is in the handout.)

We will be examining the factors associated with timing, not with how to either work magick or perform lunar based liturgies.


Is there anything you're excited about attending at PantheaCon?

I am most excited by the introduction to the national pagan and witchcraft community of two individuals who have traveled from Italy to share with us their knowledge and lore of European Stregheria. I am, of course, referring to the arch high priestess, Diana, and her husband, arch high priest Dianus, of the del Bosco Sacro of Benevento Stregan family. I think that this is quite an amazing occurrence! It is certainly historic and unprecedented.

Their first presentation will be at 9:00 AM Saturday morning in the large Fir room, and it is called “The Great Rite and the True Sabbat.” The second presentation that Diana and Dianus is giving will be on Sunday at 1:30 pm in the Fir room, and it is called “Stregan Invocation of Our Pre-pagan Shamanic Roots.” Both Diana and Dianus are not fluent yet in English, so they will be assisted by their translator, Lupercus, who is known to many occultists on the west coast as David Griffin.

I hope that many people will attend these two incredible presentations, since I will most certainly be there as well.


How do you feel ritual magic needs to be modernized?

That’s a pretty tough subject to discuss in only a few words, but let me give it a shot. First off, I differentiate between ritual magick and ceremonial magick. As a witch and a pagan, I work my magick within a boundary that holds things within it, and does not act as a barrier between myself and the spiritual domains. Secondly, I perform all of my magick in the guise of a godhead assumption, so whatever differences and variations occur in the rite, they are done through the aegis of my personal aspect of the Godhead. (Christian ceremonialists wouldn’t even think of assuming their Godhead, since for them there is too much distance and difference between them.) I think that ritual magick, which uses a very modern pagan perspective, is already quite modern. Ceremonial magick, on the other hand, requires a high degree of orthodox piety in order to prepare the operator for invocation or evocation in the classical definition of that procedure.

To a witch or a pagan, there is often little difference between practicing liturgies and practicing magick, they are even sometimes one and the same. A ceremonial magician, on the other hand, has to engage in liturgy, prayer and contemplation outside of magick in order to maintain the correct degree of piety.

Then there is the issue of whether or not to use the old grimoires in one’s magick, and that can take two different approaches. I was fortunate enough to be able to create a system of magick that can do pretty much everything that the old grimoires claim to do, such as make talismans, project elemental forces, invoke and evoke various spirits. What I use is modern and part of the combined traditions of the Golden Dawn and British Traditional Witchcraft. If I use any of the material from the old grimoires, it’s to decorate my personal magick with archaic components - a kind of post modern approach to magick. Others have decided that the old grimoires are the end all and be all of high magick, and they are wedded to them in a manner that I find incompatible with my own magick.


You've studied multiple types of occultism, how do you find they combine?

Whatever I do, I am first and foremost a Witch and a Pagan. The core of my beliefs and practices are steeped in modern paganism. What I look for, and what I have looked for, are occult systems that are compatible with my pagan outlook and beliefs. Qabalah is something that I work with, but mostly in a Neopythagorean and Neoplatonic manner, since I don’t relate well to Talmudic or Christian theological tropes. Astrology is essential to me because it tells us when to do magick - the timing. I am rather interested and fascinated with Hindu forms of Tantra and Sacred Sexuality, since there is a lot less material in the West that I can draw on. Yet it is the practice and perfection of ritual magick that really concerns me, and my ultimate goal is to experience conscious union with my Godhead, to be illuminated and enlightened. In that fashion, I am also like a lot of mystics and other religious devotees.


Tell us about the E.S.S.G.

The E.S.S.G. stands for Egregore Sancta Stella Gnostica, which is translated as the Egregore or Group Mind of the Sacred Stellar Gnosis. This is a magickal order or organization that is dedicated to the practice of ritual magick for the obtainment of Gnosis (spiritual wisdom), and that the emphasis of the empowerment and enrichment of the individual greatly aids in the development and evolution of the group. We call this organization, the Order of the Gnostic Star.

Unlike every other magickal order, this group consists of autonomous temples that are internally self determined through the power of consensus, producing a kind of group that I call a “Star Group.” Each and every member is important and considered an integral part of the whole organization, so that no one person has the right or even the ability to dominate or rule over others. Some people hate consensus, but I think that it is highly important for any mature group of spiritual seekers. There is no grand lodge, no autocratic leaders, and the hierarchy of each group is rotated annually. Group leaders have all of the responsibility and zero authority, which is vested in the group as a whole. Leaders in this organization are really just facilitators. So what these temples are practicing is a form of spiritual egalitarianism, which I consider to be essential for unfettered individual growth and balanced interpersonal relations.

The organization is nominally pagan and uses the Grail as it’s focal symbol. I suspect that pagans and witches would find this order to be quite comfortable for them, as well as Thelemites and even occultic Christians and Jews. Since each temple is autonomous, the temple group determines by consensus its spiritual and magickal direction, spiritual perspective and group religious practices.

At this time, there are over a hundred different rituals and rites, documents and other material that are part of the order’s lore. There are also seven degrees fully documented and organized by ordeals. (We believe in initiation and elevation by individual work and merit - the group decides by consensus who is to be elevated and when.)

Individuals can form a working group of five members and petition me for the materials to begin forming their own temple. If that’s not possible, then individuals can seek and gain an affiliate membership and work as a solitaire practitioner, although the order’s bylaws do specify a preference for working magick in a group. Joining the order requires no fees or dues, since this is an issue that must be determined through consensus by the group. Otherwise, I typically offer this lore at no charge to individuals who have shown themselves to be interested and capable of doing the work.

The Order of the Gnostic Star was started in 1988 in Kansas City, and had several years of growth, spawning one or two groups off of the mother temple. It became dormant through the latter period of the 1990's and the first decade of the 2000's. I am happy to report that there is now a new temple in Southeastern Massachusetts, and the mother temple is undergoing a resurgence and rebirth in Kansas City.

You can find more information about the Order of the Gnostic Star at the website here, which was assembled for various interested individuals.


What new projects are you working on?
I have four books in print right now, and I am in the process of writing four more, and they are in various stages of development. I am seeking to publish the basic lore for the Order of the Gnostic Star, and I also want to start writing occult and pagan fiction stories. I am also developing a battery of lectures and workshops that I intend to present to individuals who want to approach performing high magick from their Wiccan roots. Besides all of this, I am also working my own form of ritual magick, reading and research, as well as pursuing my career and having a quality relationship with my Significant Other.

Frater Barrabbas