New Year 2026 - End of Stasis and Wintering

 

The New Year has started, and there were a few final items that need to be resolved so that I would be able to move forward with my magical life, and my wintering will finally be over. I wrote about my wintering a while back, and you can find the article here. It has been almost nine years since my last big magical working, and much has changed over that period. I moved first to Richmond in 2018, and then last year, I moved to Williamsburg. My house in Richmond was not able to accommodate a temple, so I went without a temple until I moved into my new home in 2025. Yet there were other blockages that prevented me from moving forward.

Since the first week of June, we put our old house up for sale, hoping for a quick sell. We had already moved into our new house by early May, and had effectively moved most of our belongings from the old home to the new. Still, after three months of not getting even a single offer, I decided to dedicate my new temple, recently assembled, to resolving that issue. Divination showed that there were larger economic issues occurring, mostly associated with the Trump administration and the tariffs that they had employed in a chaotic manner back in April. 

Prior to April, it had been a sellers’ market, and after the tariffs went into effect, the market changed within 30 days to become a buyers’ market. This happened because the money needed to purchase a house was tightened due to the economic instability fostered by Trump’s on again and off again tariffs, and the uncertainty of the overall economic future in the U.S. Suddenly, there were more houses for sale than places to rent, and the money needed for loans was harder to get. All this created an economic storm that blocked the selling of our old house. We were locked into a financial situation of having to pay mortgages and supporting expenses on two homes, and that burden, while not small, we could support. Yet it made things economically tighter for us and overall, our transition to our new home, more difficult to complete.

I decided to take some magical action and activate my talismanic machine that I had set up in my temple. I placed a consecrated sigil, which would help us sell the house, into the center of the septagramic icon with the charged metallic talismans arrayed around it and fully energized. It had not taken me long to develop a suitable sigil and I consecrated it when saying a special votive Mass rite. I then used the energy of the Mass to trigger and activate the talismanic array. While performing this magic, I had a vision of myself standing on a rocky plateau in a deadly desert storm with a mighty headwind blowing against me. It seemed to block my ability to move forward while blinding me and scouring my face and hands. I sensed that this was a symbolic analogy showing the difficulties arrayed against me when attempting to sell our old home. 

I heard a voice saying to me amidst the noise of the storm that these head winds are not of my making nor my fault. They are the results of powers beyond my control. Even despite the emotional impact that this vision produced in my mind, when I energetically invoked the talismanic field with its sigil imprint, the energy that I experienced inspired and powerfully motivated me to use my magic to aid our quest. I would endeavor to persevere despite the seemingly hopelessness of the situation. I knew, when I was releasing this talismanic field that I was fighting against the regime itself, which was seeking to thwart those of lesser economic means the ability to receive the material rewards of their hardworking efforts and their steadfast adherence to the laws of the land. It seemed that the storm was produced to afflict the little people and not aimed at the wealthy or the politically connected, who didn’t need to follow the laws or work hard to enrich themselves. I understood that it would take longer to achieve selling our old home, but I was set on this path regardless of the circumstances. Thus, in unleashing this magical field I was defying the regime, and I was going to war against the evils that were seeking to destroy the middle class.

Some days later, in the midst of this ordeal, I had Another vision that occurred when I was doing some divination on the progress of the magic that I had unleashed. On two consecutive Tarot card readings occurring over a few weeks, I was getting the Tarot trump Atu XVI, The Tower, at the end of the reading, and I naturally felt a certain dread about my future and the course that my magic was taking. When this occurred for a second time, much to my dismay, I felt my Deity reach out to me, and I heard a voice in my head instruct me to lower the price that I was asking for the house. We had already lowered it twice, but not significantly. It seemed that this new asking price would mitigate the possibility of financial ruin, which is how I interpreted the Tarot trump, the Tower. Because this card had quite unnerved me, I began to wonder if I was misinterpreting it. My wife and I were not in any kind of dire straights economically, but we were supporting two households and accumulating credit card debt. That could lead to difficulties if there was any kind of economic crisis that happened nationally, or if one of us lost our job.

Still, it was only after I had lowered the asking price of our house to the value I had been mysteriously shown that we began to get greater interest in the house, with several public showings sponsored by our realty partner. Our real-estate agent was also using whatever mechanisms she had to help us sell the house. The combination of magic, lowering the price at a strategic time and the efforts of our realtor helped to finally seal the deal. We got two offers during my Thanksgiving break, and chose the best and most secure one. That made the holiday quite exciting, and gave us something to be grateful for. Our wise choice in selecting a good real estate agency and the magic that I had deployed made all this possible. 

We signed a contract in early December, and the house was sold in mid January. The couple who bought it had been looking for a home for quite a while and saw in our old home a spacious and affordable new home for themselves. They had been living in a cramped apartment and wanted a real home, and our place was just the right size and price, and they fell in love with it. Hearing their story really warmed my heart, and I wished them a very happy and bountiful future.

It would seem that the classical interpretation of the Tower card in the Tarot deck has greater nuance and alternative meanings than I initially realized. While it does often symbolize drastic changes, unexpected crises, and the overturning and fall of an established house or order, that interpretation was not correct for the two readings that I had performed. What I sensed through my intuition is that it symbolized the final transition of a household, so it can also mean the ending of an old residence and station in one’s life. It represented for me that the house was going to sell if I persevered, using my intuitive sense of what should be done (lowering the asking price). It was the end of a home life, but the beginning of a new one, which is a transition finally completed. There was no disaster nor financial bankruptcy, and I and my family were not brought to economic destruction by our own hubris. It was an ending, and as far as our old home was concerned, we had departed and were detached from it to make room for new owners. I will have to remember that subtle interpretation, and also understand that magical work can and does make material change happen according to one’s will or desire.   

Because of all the economic turbulence created by the Trump regime, it took us over six months to sell the house. Yet I was grateful for that event when it happened, and I felt a powerful dispelling of my angst and economic worries. We also realized a large profit from the sale, and this would help us deal with any future blow-back coming from the Trump regime. We will sit tight, give money to the Democratic party (who else?), offer monetary help to the needy and the dispossessed, and vote for all elections, great and small. Hopefully, we can start off the next new year, 2027, with a profound shift in political power to the left, and the beginning of the deconstruction of the Trump administration. It will be a long and dreadful year starting today, but there is hope for the future.

What this also means is that I am now free to plan and perform new magical workings. My transition is complete, and my magical resources, so focused on selling the house, can now be used to perform other workings. Even though it is the middle of winter, I am realizing that the end of my long period of wintering is at hand, and that a new Spring and a rebirth to my magical practice is soon to follow.

Frater Barrabbas 

Getting Back Into the Game

One of the problems about getting old is that sickness and infirmity can intervene and completely disrupt one’s magical plans and ambitions. When I was in my 20's, I had the stamina to work magic all weekend long with minimal sleep and not feel the physical effects. Even 10 years ago, I was still able to work magic for long periods of time without feeling too tired or lacking in energy to complete what I started. The years of 2009 and 2010 were filled with many magical accomplishments. Just five years ago I had completed my own talismanic version of the Portae Lucis and was looking forward to working on some other projects that were on my list of important magical ordeals to accomplish in the coming year. However, my health problems intervened and I wasn’t able to continue any further major workings until the present time. The year 2013 was something of a lost year for me, considering all of the problems that I faced, and the next two years were also filled with health issues that I had to somehow resolve. The latest event was some needed eye surgery that took place a few months ago, but now that event has made it important to get further medical help for my eyes.

Of course, all the while I was dealing with these issues, I was also having to put in a lot of extra time into my job, thus ensuring that I had even less time to devote to my magical work and practices. Now, some five years later, I want to pick up where I left off and continue with my magical work. It’s a good thing that I wrote down what my objectives were in some of my blog articles, so all I have to do is to examine and ponder over them because they are already written up. I have found that a particular blog article that I wrote around 4 years ago has all of the occult issues that I wanted to address and tasks that I wanted to work, unfortunately none of which saw any activity since they were written. I haven’t been completely neglectful, particularly in the area of my studies and writings, but I also have been unable to begin any new magical work since that time. You can find that blog article here, written at the start of the New Year for 2013. Little did I realize then that I was about to undergo some really difficult times regarding my health and my career.

“My temple area has seen the greatest extent of neglect, since I haven’t worked any magick since completing the seventh and final planetary talisman. Things have been just too busy for me to even contemplate another magical project. I have made offerings of incense to the Gods and my ancestors, but not much beyond that. However, I have decided that the time is right to start picking up the threads of my magical practice and start engaging in some of the projects that I had to postpone. I also need to reconnect and align myself to my personal Deities and my pagan spirituality on a deeper and more profound level than what I have been doing in the last several months.”

I have added an occasional Mass rite and periodic meditation sessions to what I have been doing in my temple as of late - at least until this latest working.

“As usual, I begin each year by putting together a list of things that I would like to accomplish. I might not succeed in completing all of the tasks, but if I can manage a few of them, then I consider that year to be successful. That list starts out containing the things that I didn’t get around to doing the previous year, if I consider them to be important and relevant. High on that list is my desire to complete the workings associated with what I have called the Portae Tenebris working, which is the opposite of the Portae Lucis. I have placed my seven talismans on my central altar protected by a veil with the intention of doing these sets of rituals, and I found no time to actually perform them. The talismans are still sitting there where I last left them, waiting for me to engage with this magic. I have decided that even though the Winter Solstice has come and gone, we are still in the great period of winter darkness. I am planning on picking up the threads of this working in the next week or so, and thereby bring it to completion.”

This rite, the Portae Tenebris, will require some work on my part. Today, I have no idea how this ritual will look except for a vague sense about the broad outlines. I am not even sure that it is necessary, although it does seem interesting to speculate about it.

“Another pair of magical challenges are for me to invoke at least four of the spirits of the Theurgia-Goetia using the new ritual lore that I developed and wrote some time ago. I would also like to perform some invocations of the ha-Shem angels and some Goetic demons. I am hoping to achieve these workings between now and the end of April, when winter begins to recede from the northern Midwest. If I get to perform some of these workings, then I will have quite a bit to report about my experiences, and I will be able to say that the new ritual lore has been thoroughly vetted.”

This was some important magical work that I also had to put on hold, but I hope to re-engage with it this coming autumn. The list of things that I need to do has become quite large, as I peruse my plans from over four years ago.

So, that was what I was writing back in early 2013, but what I didn’t know is that a series of health issues hit me, one after another, that pretty much put all of plans in limbo. I had accomplished quite a bit up to that point in time, but now it was time to deal with the fact that I was aging and dealing with age related illnesses. I caught a really vicious flu in May of that year, and I was so debilitated that it took me a couple of months to fully recover from it.

Then as the year progressed, I discovered that I had a serious sleeping disorder, called sleep apnea. I got hooked on a prescription drug called Ambien, a sleeping aid, and had to wean myself off of it. Towards the end of the year, I started using a C-PAP breathing machine to assist my breathing and avoid succumbing to apnea related sleeping issues. I had to adjust to this contracption, learn all about sleep hygiene and I am continuing to monitor my sleep to ensure that I get enough rest each day. I also had a cataract removed from my left eye and now need the one on the right removed as well. I got Lyme’s disease from a tick bite in my yard in August 2015 and managed to recover from that bout of illness. I had surgery to correct the tracking of my eyes this last January, and I lost a molar, soon to be replaced with an implant crown. Yeah, I seem to be slowly falling apart, perhaps more so in the last few years.

These are just symptoms of old age catching up with me. I have had a great run of good health with little pain, sickness or difficulties my whole life, and now I have to be careful what I eat, how much I eat, what I drink, that I get more exercise, be more active, and ensure that I get to bed early enough to get enough sleep each night. This is a strange world to suddenly have to accommodate myself, but it is typical of a person who is getting older and undergoing the slow decrepitude of advanced age. My health issues are minor inconveniences when compared to the debilitating and painful medical conditions that some who are my age are experiencing. I am, so far, lucky that what I have undergone has had some ready medical solutions. Someday, I will likely start to really experience some of the more unpleasant and unhappy occurrences that happen to all mortal men and women as they undergo their final decade or so of life. Hopefully, I can keep that from happening for another twenty years or so.

Anyway, once a series of distractions occur, it can be difficult to break the ice and get back into the game of working complex and involved magical ordeals. I decided that I would do something this late spring to accomplish that goal, so I set about trying to picking up the thread of where I left off in the late autumn of 2012. Since I had completed my own talismanic version of the Portae Lucis for the Summer Solstice of 2012, I decided that I had to do something for the Solstice of 2017, which was the fifth year anniversary. I set out to, in some way, repeat what I had done back then, and I began to plan out my working.

One thing I want to make clear to my readers is that a magical ordeal is not the same as just working some magical rituals to achieve a very specific and short-term end. An ordeal, as I define it, is a transformative initiation. It operates using the power of ecstasy and also exaltation. It is highly empowering, very deep and it can be dreadfully painfully, because it changes one’s mind and being at the very deepest level. Transformation can be something that causes the magician to feel momentarily transcendent, but it also unleashes the realization of truths and insights that are humbling and even humiliating, especially if they are resisted. Transformation, when it occurs within a magical field, forces the magician who is undergoing it to see the truth about themselves and their place in the world at that moment, and this can be quite sobering and even traumatically distressful.

Transformation cuts through personal bias, hubris, self-delusion, and personal fantasies like a hot knife through butter. A self that is defined mostly by self-deceit and delusion will not withstand this potent realization of truth. Therefore, transformation can also be dis-empowering and even self-destructive to a magician undergoing a profound ordeal, particularly if he or she has a proclivity for delusion and falsehood. The most important rule that any magician can follow when undergoing such a massive and potent change is to be flexible, completely open and willing to change and adjust all of his or her ideals and beliefs when the truth is realized. Failure to change when presented with the truth is the painful moment when a magician catastrophically fails to grow or evolve. Personal momentum and the magical process itself are halted and short-circuited. The issues thereby uncovered remain unresolved, and they stay that way until the magician is finally able to see and act on the truth so revealed. Such a refusal to apply truth to self belief will stunt a magician’s growth, and over time, cause his or her being to regress.

Because transformative ordeals cannot be forced or deliberately manufactured, it would seem that a deliberate magical working targeting an ordeal process wouldn’t be able to cause such an ordeal to occur. However, if the internal state of the magician is ripe for such an occurrence then performing an ordeal based magical working will certainly trigger one to happen. I believe that was the case for me when I performed the talismanic version of the Portae Lucis. I experienced a great deal of emotional disruption and even health issues in the years following the performance of this ordeal. It was more powerful and far reaching than anything I had previously undergone, and aside from the momentary glory I achieved, I also realized the truth of the diminishment of my vitality associated with aging. I also learned that I couldn’t take my health or material privileges for granted.

Anyway, since I had finally made it through this long period of five years and I had restored, to some extent, my health and vitality, I decided to get back in the game. I determined that I would revisit my Portae Lucis working, which I performed five years ago, and do some kind of working that would pull the threads left off then and bring them into the present. I began to meditate on this task and try to figure out exactly what I would do. As I said, I had completed that ordeal back in June of 2012, but then continued to produce the semi-precious metalic talismans for the three planets not covered in that working so that I would have the complete set of seven. The talismanic Portae Lucis working only focused on the planets of the Moon, Sun and Saturn, with Mercury being the place-marker for the magician, and this was also how the original Portae Lucis was constructed. Therefore, to celebrate this accomplishment, which was my last major working, I had decided to perform the last part of it once again. You can find the blog articles where I have posted my magical diaries from that time here and here.

Additionally, I wanted to attempt some other magical workings during this time frame to experiment with the efficacy of two new rituals that I had recently written. I recently wrote the Egyptian Underworld Ascension rite, which eliminates any kind of obstruction or “crossing,” and the Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual, which employs the seven metalic planetary-talismanic devices as a magical machine. Both of these new rituals were envisioned by me a few years ago, but I didn’t have the inspiration or insight to write them up. That changed over the Winter Solstice, and in performing these rites as part of the Portae Lucis commemoration I would be bringing my continuing magical working regimen into this current renewed period of my life. This new working would forge a bridge from 2012 to 2017, and hopefully, it will help me to forge ahead with additional and new workings.

As a sign of these times, I have already managed to put together a mechanism that will allow me to build up a grimoire based on the fallen angels of the Nephilim. In the next couple of months I hope to have contacted all 20 of the chiefs of the Nephilim instead of just the principal 4. Having evoked and established a bond with the four principals of this group, I will seek to contact the other 16, and entreat them to give me pertinent information about them and also their missing magical seals. To assemble all of this information together into a grimoire will make these spirits fully accessible to the magical public, something that they have been urging me to do for quite sometime now. I had started the book of the Nephilim decades ago, but I have only managed to produce two volumes, but nothing that would actually assist someone in being to follow in my magical footsteps. That will change, hopefully this year. It is one of the legacy items that I want to leave to the occult magical posterity.

I assembled a plan or sequence of magical workings that I would perform in order to complete the five year commemoration and bring my magical process into the present. Here are the sequence of dates that I planned on doing these workings. Of course, what actually happened was quite different, which is not too unusual for a planned series of magical workings.

April 22 - Saturday: Egyptian Underworld Ascension rite. First time shakedown performance of this rite. Started at around 9 pm after dark. This rite is used for ritual magical uncrossing and internal/external issue resolution. My intention was to eliminate obstructions that have kept me from performing magical ordeal workings and break the ice of over 4 years of dormancy - if such obstructions exist. New Moon was on April 26, so this working would be performed as the moon is waning towards the new phase. This timing seemed to be auspicious.

[Notes: The ritual was performed, but the magical working was awkward because of a lack of practice and problems with focusing. However it did indeed work and produced some immediately amazing experiential results. I felt like a burden was removed from me and that I experienced a greater free flowing influx of spiritual and magical insights and communication than previously. Like the beginning of a work-out regimen, I started out weakly and had problems with the ritual. The directions were not easy to understand and I had not actually studied the ritual before the working, having assumed that I wouldn’t need to do this kind of preparation. I was wrong, but despite these problems, the imagery that the ritual produced was quite amazing. I have gone over the ritual and modified the directions so that it is more clear. I also feel that I should perform this rite again in the near future so see if it can be performed more smoothly and therefore have a greater impact. My lady attended this rite and she also found the imagery to be quite fascinating. We went over some of it together after the rite was completed.]

Unfortunately, I didn’t follow the rest of this well planned out schedule, since other things intervened and forced me to change my plans. Here is the rest of the plan as I had intended to execute it.

May 13  - Saturday: Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual. This ritual will set in motion the magical machine consisting of the seven metallic planetary-elemental talismans. This is a working that I had planned to do sometime in 2013, but I didn’t get around to doing it. While I have felt the impact of all seven of these metallic talismans in my temple, and I believe that I have benefitted because of them, this working will forge them into a proper magical machine. I will use the inauguration of this rite to set in motion some Mercury based aspirations, such as success in my IT business endeavors and further insights in the area of magic and occultism. I also want to charm my future writing projects, most notably, my new book proposal “Magical Power for Witches” that I will assemble this summer and submit to for publication in the autumn. Full Moon is on May 10, so this working will be within the orb of full to the gibbous waning moon.

May 27 - Saturday: Invocation of Hermes Thoth Trismagistos - using the Enochian Planetary Vortex rite, I will reconnect with Hermes Thoth as a precursor to the Talismanic Portae Lucis. The moon is New on May 25, so this just past the dark of the moon as it begins to wax towards full. Because this is a Memorial Day weekend, I could also attempt to perform the Egyptian Underworld Ascension rite on Friday or Sunday evening.

June 10 - Saturday: No Working Planned - this is the night immediately following the Full Moon, and as such, it is the last full moon before the Summer Solstice. It might be a good time to perform some kind of working, perhaps even another attempt at the Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate working.

June 20 - 21 - Tuesday and Wednesday: Talismanic Portae Lucis fifth anniversary re-enactment. Perform the last steps of the Talismanic Portae Lucis working. Summer Solstice for CDT at 11:24 pm Tuesday. On June 17 - 18, preparation work for the ordeal: Eneagram rite for Sephiroth, and Double Tetrahedral Gate for pathworking. Take Tuesday and Wednesday as vacation days, perform the Portae Lucis rite on Tuesday evening. Morning salutation of the Sun’s rising on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Target rite is the Triple Tetrahedral Gate ritual, to be performed on or near the evening time of the advent of the Summer Solstice.

I had planned on performing the Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual as a preparation working to the actual re-doing of the Portae Lucis ordeal. However, when the date came due, I had other things to occupy my time and I stopped following my well structured plan. I felt that something wasn’t quite right and that what I had planned on doing wouldn’t accomplish what I wanted it to. It was frustrating and I felt like I was losing the magical grove that I had attempted to established by building up a time-table and a planned sequence of events. I did perform a short-hand invocation of Hermes Thoth, but that was at the request of my wife, even though it did fit one of the items that I had on my check list. That working was performed in an ad hoc manner on Sunday evening on May 14. Still, I felt indecisive and incapable of moving forward. It seemed that my plans were going to end in failure. The days for the individual workings passed with nothing being accomplished and I felt no inspiration to do any of things that I had planned, as the Summer Solstice grew ever closer.

One evening, a week or so before the Summer Solstice, as I was falling asleep I felt a presence and heard a voice say in my mind, “You have performed this ordeal previously, so it isn’t important to redo or revisit it. What you need to do is to perform the Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual as the final piece of this working.” When I heard this voice and sensed this presence, it was like a light went off in my head. This was the answer that I was looking for! I felt a potent affirmation, but I also felt silly for not realizing that this was the missing piece that I had been searching for all along. A few days later, while exploring this possibility, I realized that not only could I just perform this ritual, but that I should also perform section 4 - Erecting the Ascension Gate as found in the Triple Tetrahedral Gate ritual. I would perform that section once the magical machine had been fully activated and I had placed within it the sigil that I would craft and consecrate. I planned on taking Tuesday afternoon off from work and all of Wednesday, so I would be free to begin the working Tuesday evening just after sunset.

In the afternoon of June 20, I performed all of the preparatory work and drew a set of three sigils on a piece parchment that represented what I wanted to accomplish in the next couple of years. I set up the temple so that I could perform a Mass and charge the sigil parchment with the consecrated wine from the Mass. Then I ate a light meal and did some miscellaneous and mindless tasks until the appointed time. I felt really excited and also very calm at the same time.

At just before 9 pm, I performed the final set up preparations and I was ready to begin the working. I erected and consecrated the magic circle at 9 pm when the sun had just set, and then I proceeded to perform the Mass of the Goddess. While I was performing this rite I briefly wondered if I would have the stamina to get through all of the work that was planned for that evening, thinking of what I had experienced back in April. However, I was very focused, energized and felt very good, so what doubts I may have had were quickly dispelled. I got through the Mass, charged the sigil and then set things up for the next rite. Even though I have never performed the Talismanic Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual before that evening, I went through it without any difficulties - my execution of that rite was smooth and efficient. When I got to the ritual climax and set the charged talisman into the septagramic trigon and drew the angles for the Sun, Jupiter and Mercury, I felt or sensed a distinct resonance, as if the etheric “gears, cogs and wheels” of a magical machine were set into motion.

I then performed the Ascension Gate ritual part from the  Triple Tetrahedral Gate ritual and I saw the same strange prismatic equilateral triangle gateway energy field, reflecting and refracting light as if it were a piece of glass as previously. I saw ghostly visual images appear and disappear on the surface of that mirror gate and I felt it resonate as if it were giving off deep tones that were below my threshold of hearing. I sensed them more than heard them. Then I sat down and meditated in this amazing energy field, realizing that I had indeed tapped into the ordeal working that I had performed nearly five years ago. It was as fresh and alive as if I had just performed the entire ordeal from scratch. I was amazed at this revelation, and I exulted in it for a while. I also heard or sensed a voice speaking to me, and this is what I heard. “The Portae Lucis, once opened, is never closed. It is always there, within your heart, mind and soul. While you were distracted for years, it continued to be active and it only required you to focus on it for this anniversary in order for you to be reawakened to its power and majesty.” The words were repeated several times and I felt them reverberate within my deepest and innermost self. I was truly grateful that I had so successfully reconnected to this magical process.

As I sat in deep meditation, I felt a deep level of fulfillment and clarity. I knew that whatever happened to me, I would always have this connection within me. Perhaps all I needed to regain what I had achieved was to become deeply aware that all of the magic that I have performed is concentrated within my very soul, and it is that source to which I must turn as age and the diminishment of mortality takes its toll on my body and mind. Perhaps this is why I have ardently studied Zen Buddhism for the last nine months, because I needed the triple wisdom of Samadhi, Sila and Prajna to help get me to that wondrous state of imperturbability, and then achieving that state on a periodic basis has allowed me to listen and be mindful of what I have already achieved throughout my magical practice.

After meditating in that state for a while, I came to normal consciousness and decided to bring the working to a close, so I sealed up the gateways and performed the final Eastern gateway passage into the waking world of light. As I finished up, I noticed the time was right around 11:30 pm, which was exact moment of the Summer Solstice. I had completed this working in the exact timing necessary and had accomplished all that I set out to do. I was highly energized and felt exalted. I stayed up for while and then prepared for bed, which I entered and fell deeply asleep, dreaming of the dawning of the longest day of the year.

Just before I retired for the night, I went outside for a bit and watched the stars twinkling distantly over my head. I noticed that the constellations of summer were now apparent, and that the evening was buzzing with a specialness and importance that seemed to augur a new beginning for me and my occult work. Time will tell whether this was just a fluke or the beginning of something big, but I did feel that the biggest and greatest discoveries were yet in the future instead of being the relics of past glory dimly remembered in my past.

A few days later and I am still feeling very blissful and happy about this latest working. I am amazed at how it proceeded, and how it took a very circuitous but creative detour. I never really lost faith that I would somehow find a way to complete this work and pick up the threads. Now what I need to do is to work with what I have started and perform other workings as the year progresses. It would seem that 2017 is for the dawning of a new cycle, and it is my hope that there will be more interesting events to report to you, my readers.

Frater Barrabbas

Day of the Dead - Unveiling and Visitations

Now the shift in weather and climate up here in Minnesota becomes frigid, shadowy and grim, and winter’s long reign is just about to begin its triumphant coronation. It is the Day of the Dead, and I waited until this moment to unveil all seven of my metallic talismans and group them into a septagram array. Yet I had not planned on doing this specifically on this date. Since November 1 came on a weekday, just like Halloween, I had little planned for either day. Despite having completed my own project work for my job, I had to help others with their work as well. It was, therefore, yet another busy work week for me. Still, this impromptu working was precipitated by a rather strange visitation, since it was also the first anniversary of my mother’s death.

While my girlfriend and I were watching television together during the evening after dinner, a strange occurrence happened, and we both witnessed it as it occurred. All of a sudden, the stereo system that is hooked up to the television began to diminish in audible volume. I quickly looked over to the stereo amplifier and noticed that the numbers associated with the volume control were quickly dropping down to zero! This happened without anyone apparently working the controls (there is no remote control for the volume, I have to turn the volume knob to do that) and it seemed as if the stereo system was dropping down the volume automatically. To this date, I have never seen my stereo amplifier behave in this manner until that evening.

This phenomenon sure got my attention, and also the attention of Grace, my lady. I had initially thought that she was mischievously turning the volume down from her laptop, since she was multitasking - watching TV and doing her homework. When I asked her if she doing something, she smiled and told me “No, it’s not me, but perhaps it’s your mother paying us a visit.” I had forgotten the anniversary date of my mother’s death and the thought that she was doing this was the furthest thing from my mind. We both looked at each other, and I felt that what Grace had said was correct. I then noticed a subtle feeling of “otherness” that tingles through my body whenever something strange or possibly paranormal happens. I then thought aloud that I should probably go into the temple this evening and commune with my Mother’s spirit. It seemed like the right thing to do. So after turning the volume back up, we watched our program and then turned everything off for the evening.

One thing that had occurred to me while thinking about this odd phenomenon is that in years past, my mother would turn down the volume of the TV set to get my attention when she wanted to speak to me. I had the usual lazy demeanor of a youth who would ignore everything and everyone while intently watching the TV, and so to counter that, my mother would turn down the volume and stand in front of the television to get my attention. Perhaps, wrapped in her ghostly form, my mother was doing something that was her motherly prerogative from years past when I refused to pay attention to her. Well, it worked! She certainly got my attention, and at that moment, I sensed her presence.

Now perhaps this belief that my mother was making a ghostly appearance that evening was nothing more than purely a subjective sentiment on my part, maybe even being a form of suggestion first proposed by my girlfriend. There are probably a number of explanations for the stereo suddenly dropping its volume level. It could have been an electronic fluke or some other scientifically explainable phenomenon. Still, I believed that it was a message from my mother and a bit of ghostly poltergeist activity, even though it was subtle and could have multiple explanations. Yet experiencing this odd occurrence caused me to visit the temple and perform some minor workings that I had been intending to do for the last few days but had so far failed to do. So when my girlfriend retired for the evening, I went straight into the temple and lit some candles and ignited some incense.

I took out the seven metallic talismans that I had generated over the period of the last nine months, all of them safely ensconced in their velveteen bags, and pulled each one out and carefully placed it on my septagram trigon. This was the first time that I had arrayed all seven of these talismans, and after placing all of them on the septagram, and then making some invoking passes over them with my transmutar wand, I felt the array of planetary powers sync up to generate a kind of unified field. That energy which I sensed coming off of the talismanic array was far more powerful than I had thought it might be, and I was greatly impressed with the result. Without even consecrating the magic circle, I felt a sphere of magical energy fill the temple. I was quite impressed, since here before was the very magical machine that I had been previously writing about, and it was indeed simultaneously full of the entire spectrum of planetary possibilities. I now had my empowered and sacred space ready, and I began to commune with the spirit of my departed mother. It took a bit of discipline to wrench my attention away from the talismans, but I also found that the energy field that they created greatly assisted my attempt to contact my mother. It was as if she was already there, and her presence was subtly but fully tangible to my senses.

My mother, whose name was Arlene, talked with me for several minutes, and I could hear her voice in my head and see her in my mind as she looked some years ago, in the grace of her autumn years. I also saw her memories of her youth, her long dead parents, and the home that she grew up in. She told me about her last days and that she sought and embraced death, so that on the Day of the Dead, she was able to pass from her dying and nearly unconscious mortal form to one of spirit, and that moment was not one of fear, but of joy and release. Even though the link between us lasted only several minutes, what was passed between us seemed like an enormous discourse filled with memories, thoughts, regrets and moments of acute happiness. It was as if I had been given a tour of her life. She made certain to tell me that we are forever linked by the fact that she gave birth to me and raised me up to adulthood. All I needed to do was to focus on that link and she would appear to give to me whatever she was able to give me, which would be, in a word, her undying love and nurturing. I felt blessed by this knowledge, and it brought tears to my eyes.

She also spoke at length about my father, who is still alive, and also that she has sought to contact my brother and sister in the same manner that she has contacted me, but without as much success. Since I was the youngest, my mother, for whatever reason, had talked a lot to me after I had become an adult, seeking encouragement, advice, and often, just a patient ear (qualities that my father truly lacked or was incapable of giving her). Then my mother’s spirit slowly slipped away, but I now had a truly ancestral ally to contact and to venerate. My mother had never been against my spiritual and occult pursuits, unlike my father and my close relatives. She had always insisted that I find happiness and fulfillment wherever that might lead me. Arlene wasn't very religious or very spiritual, but she never went against the social consensus, taking a balanced and sensible approach to nearly everything. She was nominally a Christian woman, but she went to church to sing in the choir (not to save her soul), since music was her greatest inspiration and pleasure. My hope is that she is able to indulge in her musical passion now that she is unfettered by a frail and aging human body. It was odd that during my encounter with her spirit, I didn't hear any music. Maybe, next time I will provide her with some of her favorite church music just to see if it will get her to musically respond.

After the visitation was over, I focused for a while on the septagram array of metallic talismans and reveled in their powers and possibilities. This was just my first taste of how this magical machine might function, and I was quite impressed and pleased with the results. I am definitely looking forward to all future workings with these devices, and in fact, I am preparing a revised version of the Septagramic Vortex Gate ritual to inaugurate a truly inner plane expositions, powered and inspired by these seven wonderful talismans.

Frater Barrabbas

What Is A Magical Machine?

In my two articles about the vault of the adepti, one of the things that I called it was a magical machine. Now, some readers are probably wondering what exactly was I referring to when I used that term? So I would like to spend a few paragraphs explaining the nature and functionality of a magical machine.

First thing, throw away what you would normally think of when trying to imagine what a magical machine would be like! It is not a singular mechanical device used to aid or assist in the achievement of human work. It is not a clever combination of various parts that operate together to perform a specific set of functions. It doesn’t consist of various parts fashioned or made out of inanimate substances and it doesn’t need any kind of mechanical, internal combustion or electrical power source, so it is not at all like a material machine. I first heard this term spoken by Michael Bertiaux many years ago, although he used it in a vague manner and never really qualitatively defined it. Yet I did get a sense of what he meant when he talked about magical machines, and it intrigued me. Over the years I took this fanciful notion and developed it into a magical concept. I can now share that definition with you so that magical machines are something definitive and capable of being developed by nearly anyone.

A clue that I have already given you is that the vault of the adepti is a magical machine, so if you want something to keep in mind as I state my definitions, that would be as good an example as anything.

Here are the basic qualities that make up a magical machine:

1. It consists of an array of symbolic correspondences that represent an overall system, formulation or magical glyph. These are the specific parts that are assembled together to fashion a larger holistic structure. Of course, these symbols must be alive and fully activated in the mind of the magician. Often, these symbols are painted or graphically depicted on some kind of structure, and that structure can be as simple as a flat rectangle or as complex as a large prismatic container. (My media of choice is to use prismatic energy arrayed in geometric forms overlaid with symbols, spirits, energies and occult sound bites.)

2. The array of symbols or correspondences are directly associated with various but specific magical energies, psychological qualities (archetypes or icons) and spiritual entities. All of these attributes have been independently invoked and held within the matrix of the overall system, form or glyph.

3. Developing a living and breathing array of occult symbology, spirits and psychological icons or archetypes is not enough to accomplish the building a magical machine. A magician must also integrate herself with the various facets of that holistic device by establishing a correspondence to various points on her body, and then performing exercises to link them. These body points are generally called chakras by the eastern mystics, but they are actually more numerous and elaborate, making them more like acupuncture points or nerve nexus points. (The key is that the array of the magical machine should be integrated into the body of light of the magician so that they are unified.)

4. The overall structure or system of the magical machine is given some kind of iconic design or structure, usually, but not always, geometric. It could be the inner spiral of a shell, a cube of space, a spiral vortex, any prismatic crystal shape, or perhaps something dramatic, like a spider web, a compass round, an elaborate underground chamber (crypt), a mountain temple or even the 3D Tree of Life itself. It goes without saying that a magical machine is always greater than the sum of its parts, representing the transformative power that an embodied and activated iconic structure should possesses.

5. Behind the iconic design, glyph or form of the magical machine is a system of occult numeration as well as a sacred geometry. The pattern of the array is determined by a series of numbers representing two dimensional or even three dimensional tables of correspondences, all of which are dependent on certain and specific sets of numbers. Where there are numbers, there are also words, since in arithmology, words and numbers share an equivalence, so an alphabet also forms the basis of a magical machine as well as a system of gematria, notariqon, and the temurah of magic squares (and other magical polygonal grid shapes).

There are quite a number of other less important definitions that could be used to define a magical machine, but I think that these five cover the most important ones. I am sure that some of my readers could have guessed the first two, but the other three, especially the requirement of aligning the elements of a magical machine to the magician’s body, would probably be more obscure. I can at least state that if someone spends time developing a true magical machine, based on the five elements above, that they would have at their disposal a very powerful magical device.

Often, the easiest way to demonstrate how these definitions can be used is to illustrate them using a simple practical example. Therefore, I would like to present to you an example that I am actually building for my own personal use. (You can’t get more practical than that!)

Talismans are very useful magical devices and most magicians, if they learn anything, will learn how to manufacture a talisman using one or more of the popular methods. I prefer to use an active rather than a passive technique, so I work with rituals that project the planetary energy into the talisman. For planetary talismans there are only seven planets, and that isn’t much to build the large array that's necessary to produce a magical machine. However, there are 28 talismanic elementals, which consist of a planet and an element joined together. There are also 28 lunar mansions, and I have incorporated both together to formulate my device. A magical machine could be fashioned that would employ these 28 talismanic elements, but they would have to consist of all of the spirits of that system simultaneously invoked. This is not particularly easy, but through the use of metallic talismans, it becomes much more feasible.

As you know, I have been performing a series of special talismanic rituals since last February. I have perfected a system of invoking all four talismanic elementals into a single planetary talisman, each based on a single lunar mansion. So far I have managed to generate six of these talismans, and the seventh will be achieved a few days after the 25th of this month. At that time, I will have seven metallic planetary talismans corresponding to all 28 of the talismanic elementals. If I take those seven fully charged and activated talismans and use them together in some kind of geometric structure, then they could function as a magical machine. Furthermore, I could also link each of those seven metallic talismans to the seven chakras or nexus points on my body, and in fact, I could have them placed on my body for a period of meditation and contemplation. This would satisfy the third requirement. As for determining a glyph, I could use the septagram, the structure of a cube enclosing a triangle, or even a cross and a triangle. Truly, the possibilities are numerous. Experimentation is also encouraged, so I could place each of the seven metallic talismans on one of the seven Enochian Ensigns and see how the combination of devices would work in a ritual structure.

If I wanted to expand on this system, then I could employ the Enochian Heptarchia into the sevenfold array, incorporating the 49 Bonarum or Binary Planetary Intelligences into this structure. This would produce a system whereby the sevenfold array would be expanded to the second power, or squared. As you can see, there are a lot of possibilities once you start developing one of these magical machine systems. The key is that whatever array and iconic structure is established, it must also be aligned with the body of the magician in order to be truly effective and active.

Another tool that I use in my magick is the crystal, and I think that such a tool would have a very powerful effect if associated with a magical machine. Don’t think of the crystal as a power source (like a battery), instead understand that magical energy enters into and comes out of a crystal, often amplified many times or refined to a single point. It also has the capacity to store magical energy, and to recall it if the magician projects a line of force (charged by his will) into the crystal for that singular purpose. In some ways, the crystal would function like a magical CPU (central processing unit), helping to lend a kind of spiritual AI configuration to the machine array. Throw in some polygonal dice and some other divination tropes, all used within the sphere of the magical machine, and the crystal would function as the “brain” within its core. Employing all of these elements together as a magical machine will make one fantastic multifaceted magical tool. 

So what kind of magic could you perform if you had a fully active magical machine? As I pointed out in my articles on the vault, you could perform passive divination (directed inwardly or outwardly) or you could focus any of the array of powers, psychological icons and spirits within the machine upon a single outwardly directed desire. Just imagine the amount of probability shifting that would cause by employing a magical machine to make changes in the material universe? I have had some experience tinkering with such devices, and from what I have learned, a large array magical machine would be quite potent. So I guess I better get started and build one for myself! I hope this inspires you to try building one yourself.

Frater Barrabbas

Thoughts About Using a Vault of the Adepti

Now that we have succinctly reviewed the definition and nature of the Golden Dawn Vault of the Adepti, and we saw how such a container device could be re-defined using prismatic energy geometry within the tradition of ritual magick, the real question is - what do you do with it? Is such an elaborate structure merely nothing more than something to awe and inspire a candidate for the Inner Order? Besides the fact that in the Golden Dawn this chamber is used to propagate the mysteries of the second order through the guise of the tomb of Christian Rosenkruetz. It could also be a place where Enochian Chess could be performed or some form of skrying magic (analogous to Enochian Vision Magick); but the uninitiated public are pretty much left to scratch their heads, saying: “So much trouble and expense just for a collection of elaborate initiation rites?”

Yet since I have managed to replicate this ornate magical container into a complex ritual geometry, I can now see many uses for this tool. I will spend a few paragraphs elaborating on this particular insight, keeping in mind that I am completely ignorant as to how the vault of the adepti is supposed to be used for magical purposes in the Golden Dawn.

How this magical container would be used in the Order of the Gnostic Star for magick and initiations is a completely different manner, and one that I do feel competent in stating here. Since the key number for this chamber device is seven, then it belongs to the provenance of the Hierophant of the second order, which is the seventh degree. While such a magical structure becomes part of the tasks and ordeal of the Hierophant, it can be used in the initiation rites for the fifth and sixth degrees, since these are to be performed by him or her for the benefit of the initiatory candidate. I would consider this use of the vault of the adepti to be optional, since it would add even more elaborate structures to an already intense initiation regimen. Still, for the Hierophant and his ordeal of mastering the Seven Planetary/Sephiroth Rays, building and using the prismatic geometry for the vault of the adepti is a critical task, or so I have come to realize.

I would name this newly discovered mystikon or chamber of the mysteries for the Hierophant and the 7th degree, the Vault of the Adepti of the Seven Rays. It’s theme would be associated with the mystical tomb of Hermes Thoth instead of Christian Rosenkruetz. In my opinion, these two personages are similar and analogous, but represent different time periods and mythic systems. I think that Hermes Thoth is more pagan and representative of the Hermetic system of magick, but that’s just my opinion. Also, these seven rays are not to be confused with the seven rays of Theosophy, since they are considered in the Order to be nothing more or less than a subset of the Ten Sephiroth. This is why I am associating them with the Sephiroth in my nomenclature to avoid any confusion. 

Some years ago I had completed assembling all of the rites and ordeals of the Hierophant, and these were divided into two overall categories; those that are worked with the number seven (as in the Seven Rays), and those that are worked with the number eleven (as in the sacred seven matrons and four patrons). I won't go into any detail about these two ordeals at this time, but the foundation of the ordeal of the Seven Sephiroth Rays was a rite called the Ritual of the Seven Rayed Star. What I realized after discovering that I could simulate the vault of the adepti using prismatic energy geometry is that it was a better and more complete foundation than what I had previously determined. I would need to insert this new ritual (when I get around to writing it) into the regimen of rituals used for the ordeal of the Seven Sephiroth Rays. It will make that ordeal more complicated, but it will also make it far more powerful. The newly formulated Vault of the Adepti of the Seven Rays can also be performed alone and outside of the ordeal (once it’s mastered) to perform some very valuable forms of magick.

So the question is what kind of magick is this vault of the adepti to be used by the fully vetted Hierophant of the Order of the Gnostic Star? First of all, considering the number of elements packed into the ritual structure (40 x 7 = 280) and that it incorporates the Qabalah, Astrology and even a form of planetary alchemy, it represents the full spectrum of all symbols associated with the Seven Rays. It is, in fact, a kind of magical machine, which can be used to set any combination of symbols to produce some kind of magical effect. We can also consider that those symbols are also associated with numerous correspondences, including hierarchical lists of Godheads, angels, demons, earth spirits, and any number of other spiritual entities.

A magical machine exemplifies the magical concept of “Thought becomes form, and form becomes thought.” This concept is a hallmark of the Hermetic path itself (as we shall see below). The focus of a magical machine can be on the Inner Planes to acquire knowledge and insights, upon the self to effect a powerful form of self-transformation, and it can be focused on the material world to bend reality and make changes. It can be used actively to project magical power and it can be used passively, to perform divinatory operations. It is also a kind of mystical chamber where the themes of death, immutability and even regeneration are expressed.

In the case of the Golden Dawn vault of the adepti, the premier mythic personality is Christian Rosenkruetz; for modern pagans, that personality would be Hermes Thoth, Thrice Greatest. The tomb is also a place outside time and space, since within it, the body of the mythic personality is not necessarily considered dead, but only in a kind of deep sleep or stasis. Not only is the sleeping magus of great importance, but so is the knowledge contained within the vault itself. In the case of Hermes Thoth, that knowledge would be ensconced within the Emerald Tablets. The aphorism of “That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above..” encapsulates the secret knowledge of the power and majesty of the magical machine. Through an application of its powers and capabilities, anything can be accomplished.

So learning how to deploy this very important ritual system into the body of the ritual ordeals of the Order is critically important. I am glad that I discovered this new piece associated with the Hierophant degree of the Order, but it does make me wonder what other pieces are missing from that which I have already determined and written up. Looking over the list of rituals associated with the Seven Rays, I had always felt that the overall structure was quite weak and incomplete. Since I didn’t have any additional insights as to how that ordeal should be strengthened, I didn’t give it much more thought. Now, several years later, I have determined another very important piece, and it does make that ordeal much more powerful and comprehensive.

One other thing that haunts me as I go through this ordeal of discovery, seemingly a constant and never ending process, is that I originally develop a series of rituals to perform for a given ordeal or to achieve a certain end, and then some years later discover that something was missing or incomplete in that work. This doesn't happen with every ordeal that I have developed, but it has happened often enough to make me a little worried about the permanence of my work. I have often wondered why this is so, but I do realize that all creative minds execute their creations in erratic waves, and later on when they discover new ways of doing things, that knowledge is often applied to that past work. Creative work is forever ongoing and doesn’t end (hopefully) until the artist finally sheds his or her mortal coil and ceases to work from that moment onward. Others might pick up the torch and pursue it, and over time, might even add more realizations and creative inspirations to the work. This is much more possible and realistic when considering such fluid endeavors as occultism in general, and specifically in the arenas of ritual and ceremonial magick.

It is my hope that others will invest themselves with the lore of the Order and perhaps keep it moving forward even after I have passed from this world. My only hope is that the lore that I leave behind has no glaring holes left in its array of ritual workings, and that the work moving forward is the invention of new ordeals and ritual workings instead of fixing what I failed to complete.

Frater Barrabbas