Sea Change

There are times where everything seems very stable and life becomes a bit boring. Then there are times where everything seems to move at once, a tidal shift, a sea change. This for me is one of those times.

THE FINAL CUT

 

Cat Stevens sang, "The first cut is the deepest", but for me the final cut has been the deepest. This year, the Year of Knives has been a tumultuous one, Lots of shake ups, and shake downs, but thankfully I never got the shakes. Many an illusion has been shattered along the way and with each an enriched clarity that I would never forfeit.

It is an humbling experience to be cut down to size, to confront the self-aggrandizing inflation of one's own ego. The Year of Knives was initiated because of the twenty third hexagram of the I Ching, sometimes called "splitting apart" by western practitioners who have a bias towards Yang. In more eastern interpretations it is also known as "cutting through", this due to two factors that seem to evade the western mind. The first is as I mentioned earlier a bias towards Yang, in eastern thought neither Yin nor Yang is more important, in fact they are inseparable. The second is what I call the Western Success Model, which is really a "Success Trap."  Both of these ideas feed in to each other and can be a great impediment to growth.

The Western Mind by and large has been focused on a more is better mentality since the industrial revolution, sadly this is also true in Esoteric and Occult circles. I believe this may be what Crowley was referring to when he spoke of the Black Schools. Success has an inherent built in trap, to illustrate this I will take a journey in to the past. Paleolithic hunters used sites like Roche de Solutre in France to trap and kill large numbers of herd animals such as horses. The more successful the hunt the more babies that reached adulthood. The more the population grew, the more food that was needed to sustain it. Eventually the herds dwindled from over-hunting, among other factors, and agriculture became the successful way to grow a population. Through out time however the increasing success of agriculture has lead to a population that now uses resources at a rate roughly 25% faster than our waste can convert back into resources. This is a success trap, most people call it civilization. This mentality has lead to a fear of failure, or as I like to call it corrective balancing.

There is a tendency in the west to think of Yin as "bad", interestingly enough it is often associated with most of the things patriarchal power structures fear. Darkness, soft, femininity, cold etc., none of these is inherently bad only a balance to the things Yang represents. The schools of Occult thought that have dominated the Occidental world have placed far too much importance on domination of spirits, a solar ithyphallic perspective, and spiritual hierarchies. Yin is more representative of a relational leadership model, where consensus is reached through the building and maintaining of relationships. Happily this concept is gaining ground in the Western Occidental Esoteric Tradition. I believe this to be due to the influence of Shamanism, a resurgence of Animism, and the introduction of certain psychedelics, but that is the subject of a different article. The biggest fear of Yin in the west stems from the one of its most frightening aspects; crisis.

All crises give rise to initiation and vice versa. Unfortunately, when one is taught to fear setbacks and and upsets, when winning at all costs has become the dominant paradigm, crisis can be crippling. Some crisis are crippling in some aspects, like losing a leg. The extent to which one chooses to let said crisis keep them crippled however is personal choice. After losing a leg, one can simply lie down and give up, far too common unfortunately, or someone can learn to move about in a new way and discover new things.The only difference is choice.

So here I am at the end of my Year of Knives and I realize how much dross and hubris has been cut away. I have battled the urge to be overwhelmed by crisis and have instead chosen to seek initiation.The final cut is the deepest and one of the most significant in my life. A clean cut always cuts straight and leads to a separation, a delineation between what is useful and what has outlived its usefulness. The process has begun and I am letting go, yet another meaning of Hexagram 23. Speaking of that hexagram, when one does an I Ching reading there are lines that change thus yielding a second hexagram, this is to give you greater depth to your reading, unless there are no changing lines, in which case the reading is very clear. The only two lines that change din my divination were one and six so my secondary hexagram was 24; Returning.

SPIRITS AND ALLIES

 

My Grandmother always told me that to be successful, I should study people I admire and learn from their example. I have done this my whole life, starting with magicians and artists who's live seemed to mirror my ideas of the world. As I grew older this lead me to explore alternative cultures, alternate realities, and the world around me. Now that I am older and beginning to enter the autumn of my life, doing work that satisfies my soul and reflects my spiritual beliefs has become tantamount to who I am as a person. Following Granny's advise once more, I looked to the the people who had business that involved magical things. Talismanic Jewelers, Alchemical Perfumers and Incense Makers, Purveyors of Materia, and general Witchery, and I noticed that many of them had one thing in common, Jason Miller. So I decided to enroll in his Strategic Sorcery course after reading the book The Sorcerer's Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick.

Just before enrolling in the Strategic Sorcery class I had a series of events that lead me to do a rather long and extended course of Earth workings and Underworld work. I will be completely honest I have not done many of the Homework exercises and I am way behind on my reading, but this is not because I don't value it. Quite the opposite in fact. I am taking my time to digest the work. I came into this course with thirty years of magical experience, so much of this is remedial. I work with different entities, but use a very similar approach. Where I have gained the most benefit is in what most would consider the mundane realm. The day to day magic that we take for granted. The lesson of crow, be aware of the magic that is always around you. The book Your Money or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, has brought profound changes in my life. Researching the vagus nerve and its effects on the parasympathetic nervous system has profoundly affected my depression and recovery from past traumas. Being authentic, becoming someone I love and respect, these are the gifts I have gained from Jason's course that will stay with me for the remainder of my life. By all means enchant away, but if you are relying on enchantment alone, you might as well be playing the lottery instead of investing in a retirement plan. I believe this is the case for two very strong reasons. First spirits don't seem to be interested in helping lazy people. Secondly everyday life is far more magical than most people seem to realize. As a sorcerer or witch or whatever you call yourself learning to tap into that energy will power everything you do. So grab a handful of dirt and talk to the spirits.

SAGRADO CORAZÓN

Just as I declared 2015 the Year of Knives and many cords were cut, I have settled upon the naming of 2016. This year is the Year of the Sacred Heart. The Sacred Heart has many christian implications due to the practice of Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu among Catholics, Anglicans and some Lutherans. When I use the term however, I mean something closer to a heart inflamed with spirit and bursting with an outpouring of love to the Holy Universe. 

My goal for the upcoming year is to live a more heartfelt experience, to follow the whispers of my soul, to let spirit engulf me and take me on the grand adventure. I spent the last year clearing out the hubris I built up in my own life. Of all the Knives I accumulated, unrelenting self honesty was the sharpest of all and with it I cut away self delusion and found the confidence and strength to accept myself. I may never be wealthy in the traditional material way our society dictates, and fame is not something I hunt after, but I do have a wealth of experiences that have given me insight into the true beauty and magic of Holy Universe. I am forever grateful for all the wonderful souls that have accompanied me along the way, I would have been lost long ago without them. For those among you who fell, consumed with pain and sadness, I will carry your torch to the end, your memory will not be forgotten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAREWELL AND HELLO AGAIN

I began writing this blog a few years ago as a way to give voice to all the things I kept bottled up inside. The decision was based on revelations I had during therapy after a suicide attempt in 2011, it has been a wonderful experience. So it is with some sadness and a heavy heart that I announce the end of this blog in its current form. I will continue with a new blog on Word Press. The reasons are many, but chief among them is the need to have my art for sale, my tarot services, and my blog all in one place. This blog will remain here as a testament to my growth and self exploration; a monument to reclaiming. In recent days one of my all time heroes, David Bowie has returned to the stars from which we all come. His passing has reminded me of several wonderful things; First, we are all Star People and we came here to blow each others minds, Secondly all things end and as sad as that is at first it only opens the way for more wonderful things to come, and Lastly we are all light. So turn on your love light and let it shine for the world to see. I will post a link to the new blog when it is up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEACE LOVE LIGHT

 

Armageddon Out of Here

I'm done with Apocalypse Culture. Labels are helpful but they can also enchant the mind. We only have what we have always had, right now. This is augmented by nearly instantaneous global communication. Sure, humanity can now see what the sum total of its civilization has cost the planet, but we can also see where to fix problems first. For the first time in history we have the capability to coordinate global efforts to heal and transform the planet. Make no mistake, it will never be the same, but when has it ever been the same? What level of restoration do we achieve? Do we bring back dinosaurs and surrender the planet to them? Perhaps we should consider our impact as a stresser  in every decision made about the planets future. Either way we have always been here, life is nothing more than a set of transitions book-ended by two more transitions. Forever folding in upon itself or forever expanding, ultimately it is the same thing.

Watch this video by Arthur C. Clarke about fractals. Bonus: David Gilmour does some of the soundtrack. The Mandelbrot set is to my mind the best model for the structure of spirit available. Fractal Geometry, combined with Hindu concept of Brahma manifesting in to Maya, and the Voudon concept of Lao as spectral continuum (much like Q in Star Trek Next Generation), has greatly illuminated my understanding and efficacy with the entities of the Occidental Grimoire tradition.

PAREIDOLIA

Come with me, I have something to show you. Look upon the world and all its doomsayers. notice how they sift through the entrails of Behemoth and Leviathan vaingloriously searching for signs of hope and solace. I have a secret to share; the beasts are dead. Let that image sit with you a while, and contemplate this; why does infinity frighten humanity?

Time is mysterious to three dimensional beings such as ourselves, it appears to be linear and cyclical. Unlike space which we can perceive omindirectionally, time seems limited to us. The existence of fourth dimensional beings would go a long way towards explaining paranormal and Magonian occurrences. Fey, aliens, angels, demons, etc., could all be either entities or intelligences of a fourth dimensional nature that are interacting with time as easily as we interact with air. Our inability to percieve something does not negate its existence, this is the arrogance of science. As Mutant Mages, Witches, Sorcerors, Sacred Artists, Reality Engineers, et al, we know all to well the fallacy of assumption.

Time for us to confront the Elder Gods of Deep Space, communing with the natural spirits of this world is fine but we are cosmic beings also. Like the early christians who demonized the daemon, so to did Lovecraft present a horrifying vision of what he could not comprehend. Fear is the mind killer. Instead of the fearsome great Old Ones, let me introduce Aditi and Ptah. Aditi is the Hindu Primal Goddess, who is boundless space itself that gives birth and form to all things, the void from which all things are borne, Ain in Qabala. Ptah on the other hand is Egyptian, and is considered to be the primal reality and primal creator, or Architect. His eyes are said to be filled with stars and reflect the infinity of space. He is also believed to be the eternal moment of creation manifest, Ain Soph Aur. Cosmic Gods and Goddesses await you, personally I work with Mother Void, and the Architect.

CHEF-D'OEUVRE

Develop a physical aspect to your spiritual practice. Not only will it give you a more grounded perspective, but it will actually improve your overall performance. I strongly recommend, Walking Meditation, known as the Peripatetic Method. Aristotle was known for conducting his teachings while walking  the Lycium Gymnasium in Athens. He believed this helped to achieve a necessary balance between physical and mental activity. Others point to its ability to achieve " the perfect balance between peace of mind and energy of movement." There are Meetup groups in some places that do exactly this, I recommend that if you have the capability then start your own group. can you imagine the faces of other walkers or joggers as they come across a group having discussions about Goetic invocation techniques, the best herbs for spirit communication, or using bones for divination? (People in and around Austin, TX, if you are interested in this drop me a line.)

Not only does walking facilitate learning, the physiological evidence is very encouraging, as are the psychological benefits. The upside of all of this that you brain will function better and that will have a positive effect on your magical work. You don't need a group, daily walks while thinking are great for exploring topics. A meditation on death while walking around a duck pond filled with fish can open your eyes in ways that sitting in a dark room will not. (Not to dismiss the power of darkness.) Walking is not the only exercise that will benefit your practice.

Martial arts will not only help you to get closer to Red Gods and Goddesses, those beings of strength and conflict, but will teach you discipline, a necessary component to the Craft. I recommend sword play, as it requires strength, balance, and poise, plus you learn how to use a weapon.

Body play can also teach one much about boundaries and the capabilities of the human body. Whereas I personally believe in the benefit of these practices, I do not recommend them to every one. Physical and mental health are absolutely imperative. Working with skilled and trained professionals is also a MUST. Above all else remember, Safe, Sane, Consensual. Now that I have the disclaimer out of the way I will share some of what I have done, to illustrate what I mean by Body Play. Typically this term is limited to Tattooing, Scarification, and Body Piercing. I would add, fire-walking, skydiving, prolonged sexual activity, sleep deprivation, extended drumming and chanting, dancing to exhaustion and fasting. Obviously many of these you can do on your own and with out much instruction, but always seek advice first.

PROLEPTICAL BODEMENT 

It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum, she doesn't seem too keen on singularities either; no multiplicity and infinity are her game. As time swirls around us and continues to elude our ability to develop a full understanding of it, so too our ability to foresee its twists and turns. Our whole global consciousness seems to be caught up in the habit of reducing everything to a false dichotomy. This serves to distract from the reality through a process of abstraction. Not many things are as simple as two diametrically opposed equally abstract concepts. In that spirit, I want to present possibilities for the future, based on articles from differing points of view. Read them and decide for yourself. Really do take the time to read them, there are very interesting things happening.

The internet may be alive, or will be soon. This is either exciting, or the worst thing EVVAARR. The answer is far more complicated and messy. One thing everyone seems certain of is that Internet will be alive, if not now soon. Where are the voices of dissent? Why does this seem a forgone conclusion? Maybe our planet really is just one constantly evolving computational device designed to solve one problem.

Speaking of aliens, I have previously mentioned, the presence of aliens among us, and NASA's announcement concerning alien life, but what if we found portals to parallel multiverses? Maybe this is how these beings travel about so quickly? Seems we are about to find out if we can travel about quickly. Either way it seems to have been built for purposes other than just figuring out if certain subatomic particles exist or not.

Utopia or Dystopia? How about Justopia? That in between place that includes multiplicity and possibility. Many tales of the future feature the same myopic vision, total dominance by a monoculture. Nothing in my experience of life points to simplification over time, only complexity. Just as the sorceror who pokes his head into alternate spaces cannot claim to understand the totality of that other multiverse, neithar can scientist claim to have anything more than a model of universe or the ocean floor. Maps of the moon are more detailed than maps of the ocean floor.

This is the only thing I know with certainty about the future, there will be one. I definitely think we should work on fixing some of our bigger mistakes, but it is impossible to what the consequences of that will be, we will have to wait for another revelation. You know maybe I'm not done with Apocalypse Culture after all, perhaps as I have mentioned before what I am over, is Armageddon.

A Flickering of Lights and Shadow

As Autumn progresses towards her equinox, I having been playing with Twilight Consciousness. This has been accomplish by using dimmer lights in the evening, fires in the yard, and natural lighting as much as possible during dusk and dawn. This has lead to a greater appreciation of the interplay of light and shadow. This "flickering" time has also triggered interesting perceptions of "reality"; a growing awareness of the beings that dwell in shadows, the ease of entrance into the Magonian or Fey realms, a shift in the boundaries between Industrial Consensus Reality, and the Mythopoetic Realms.

I have been watching and studying Wayang Kulit, Indonesian Shadow Play, there is a rich vein for the Mutant Mage to explore. I have also renewed my interest in Jackalope, and Goblin Lore, twilight seems to suit them both. Instead of writing a blog-post, I have used the cut up techniques of two of my favorite Mutant Mages, William Burroughs and Byron Gysin. In fact if you want to experience the full effect of flickering light, build yourself a Dream Machine.

I have included links to all of the original texts below, none of what follows is my original work, but I felt it more aptly captures the interplay of light and and shadow that I have experienced this Autumn. Go outside in the evening or morning and experience these shifting perspectives for yourself, the Shadow Realms await.

Shadow Play: Goblins and Jackalopes

The Indonesian word 'wayang' is derived from a word meaning 'shadow' or 'ghost'. These intricately cut and perforated shadow puppets are made from buffalo hide. 'Kulit' means 'leather' or 'skin'. 'Wayang Kulit' has a documented history of existence of at least 800 years in the Indonesian archipelago.

I'm writing this story as a result of a pact I made with a goblin ghoul last night as I was walking home up the hill near Withdean in Brighton. Every part of it is true and exactly how I remember, though the events of last night now seem like they happened in another world. As I look at these words it seems strange that I could be writing them. Who will believe what I have to say? You, Dear Reader, safe in the daylight or under the protective glow of your electric light can have no conception of the horrors that dwell so close to our twenty first century civilization, just beyond the reach of the shadows. But I must hurry. My life depends on completing this tale before she returns.

It’s an aggressive species, willing to use its antlers to fight. Thus, the jackalope is also sometimes called the “warrior rabbit.” 

The word crepuscular derives from the Latin crepusculum ("twilight").[1] Its sense accordingly differs from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, which respectively peak during hours of daylight and dark. The distinction is not absolute however, because crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright moonlit night or on a dull day. Some animals casually described as nocturnal are in fact crepuscular.

There is no hiding the mechanics of the show as in Western theatre since the bamboo platform had no sides. The audience is free to sit either facing the screen, or can watch the dalang at work.

Gunnar, king of the Old Wessex Division of the goblins, had a problem. His old slave, Eric, had died. That usually happened to humans once they became about seventy or eighty, and there was nothing you could do about it, except get a new one. The king had grown quite fond of Eric who had been captured by the goblins in 1925 as a young boy. It was best to catch them young. There had been a hue and cry. There always is, when a man child disappears. You can't hush these things up. Some people blamed the gypsies. Others said: perhaps he had wandered off to join the circus. 

Twilight is the time between darkness and sunrise in the morning, and sunset and complete darkness in the evening, when there is light outside, but the Sun is below the horizon. There are 3 types of twilight: civil, nautical, and astronomical. 

Before a play begins, the dalang undertakes several ceremonial acts and rituals to assure a successful performance. With great reverence, he taps three times on the wooden box containing all his puppets in order to wake them up. Figures of deities representing good and evil (sometimes over one hundred) are ranged in their prescribed place to the left and right hand sides of the screen. When quiescent, the puppets are spiked into the soft flesh of the trunk of a banana tree at the base of the cotton screen. This represents the earth. 

It was after he beat one poor old woman to death that the evil monk was imprisoned and sentenced to hang for his crimes. But just after he was cut down from the noose and pronounced dead, his corpse began to transform before the horrified eyes of the people. The face twisted and small tusks sprang from either side of his nose. His shock of white hair grew long and greasy, and two pointed canines emerged from his slit of a mouth. The goblin-monk opened eyes that glowed yellow even in the light of noon-day, and sprang to feet that now ended in claws rather than toes. 

Special classes of crepuscular behaviour include matutinal (or "matinal") and vespertine, denoting species active only in the dawn or only in the dusk, respectively. Those that are active during both morning and evening twilight are said to have a bimodal activity pattern. 

Civil twilight occurs when the Sun is between 0 degrees and 6 degrees below the horizon. In the morning, civil twilight begins when the Sun is 6 degrees below the horizon and ends at sunrise. In the evening, it begins at sunset and ends when the Sun reaches 6 degrees below the horizon. 

The dalang underscores the action and the rhythm of his chanting while sitting cross-legged by tapping loudly with quickening tempo on the wooden puppet box at his back with a little bronze knob held between the toes of one foot. He also uses this device to conduct the small Gender Wayang orchestra of xylophones and gongs sitting behind him, all the time maintaining a number of different body rhythms as he manipulates the puppets. 

The various patterns of activity are thought to be mainly antipredator adaptations, though some could equally well be predatory adaptations. Many predators forage most intensively at night, whereas others are active at midday and see best in full sun. Thus, the crepuscular habit may both reduce predation pressure, thereby increasing the crepuscular populations, and in consequence offer better foraging opportunities to predators that increasingly focus their attention on crepuscular prey until a new balance is struck. Such shifting states of balance are often found in ecology.

She was tall, Very tall. Then as she got closer and stepped into the light I realized that her shadowy outline had looked so tall at first because she was wearing an old fashioned riding hat, from out of a Victorian novel. As she stepped closer her features took shape. She was about my height, thin and was dressed all in black. She wore a veil and I couldn't see her face, but I imagined from her voice she might be quite pretty. She stopped a few feet in front of me. Her perfume was strong and heady. Like the strong sweet scent you get in the perfume departments in the major stores at around Christmas when all the smells from the testers and the customers blend into one.

The jackalope is the product of a male jackrabbit and a female antelope. Jackalopes possess an uncanny ability to mimic human sounds. In the Old West, when cowboys would gather by their campfires to sing at night, jackalopes would frequently be heard singing back, mimicking the voices of the cowboys. Jackalopes become especially vocal before thunderstorms, perhaps because they mate only when lightning flashes—or so it is theorized—which explains the rarity of this species. 

A number of familiar mammal species are crepuscular, including some bats, hamsters, housecats, stray dogs,^[5] rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, and rats. Other crepuscular mammals include jaguars, ocelots, strepsirrhines, red pandas, bears, deer, moose, chinchillas, the common mouse, skunks, Australian wombats, wallabies, quolls, possums and marsupial gliders, spotted hyenas, bobcats, tenrecidae, capybaras, African wild dogs, sitatunga, and the extinct Tasmanian tiger. Crepuscular birds include the common nighthawk, owlet-nightjar, chimney swift, American woodcock, and spotted crake. Many moths, beetles, flies, and other insects are crepuscular and in particular, vespertine.

But no one ever thought of blaming the goblins... That's because 1925 was the twentieth century and people didn't believe in such things any more. Gunnar's great grandfather, Aleric the goblin had once met King Arthur, and now most people thought Arthur was just a legend.

Nautical twilight occurs when the geometrical center of the Sun is between 6 degrees and 12 degrees below the horizon. This twilight period is less bright than civil twilight and artificial light is generally required for human activities. 

So what is the effect of all this? When the puppet is pressed up against the cotton sheet, its shadow is sharp and steady. Where it curls away from the screen a little, the shadow rapidly softens. The flickering light from the uncertain oil lamp causes these indistinct portions to quiver and waver. Sometimes puppets are presented to the screen from behind the lamp instead of entering from the wings. When this happens, they seem to magically materialise out of the very air itself as soft indistinct forms darken, gathering form and substance as they near the screen. The effect is ethereal and utterly mesmerizing.

When chased, the jackalope will use its vocal abilities to elude capture. For instance, when chased by people, it will call out phrases such as, “There he goes, over there,” in order to throw pursuers off its track. The best way to catch a jackalope is to lure it with whiskey, as they have a particular fondness for this drink. Once intoxicated, the animal becomes slower and easier to hunt.

Astronomical twilight occurs when the Sun is between 12 degrees and 18 degrees below the horizon. In the morning, the sky is completely dark before the onset of the astronomical twilight, and in the evening, the sky becomes completely dark at the end of astronomical twilight. Any celestial bodies that can be viewed by the naked eye can be observed in the sky after the end of astronomical twilight.

The headquarters of the Old Wessex Division of the goblins was in the tunnels beneath the old bookshop in Petersfield. If you went into the dark forgotten corners of the shop, and moved aside the dusty bookcase with the really old falling-apart books with no covers, which were hardly ever sold, you might, if you looked carefully, see the outline of a secret door which led into tunnels underground. The goblins liked living there because, if they got bored at night, they could sneak upstairs and "borrow" some of the old books. They didn't like modern writers. They even regarded Jane Austen as modern.

The compelling visual appeal of a Wayang Kulit show might easily be explained by the physical laws and properties of light. The spiritual and metaphysical dimensions of the shadow play are much harder for a Westerner to describe.

Jackalope milk is particularly sought after because it is believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac—for which reason the jackalope is also sometimes referred to as the ‘horny rabbit.’ However, it can be incredibly dangerous to milk a jackalope, and any attempt to do so is not advised. A peculiar feature of the milk is that it comes from the animal already homogenized on account of the creature’s powerful leaps.

She touched my face with her fingers. A light caress. Then she flicked her fingers and the light went out. I heard a clip clop as she walked away up the hill and then a clippety clop but I never saw her horse or her minions who had been holding me from behind. The street light started flickering its yellow sodium glare again, and I was too deep in thought to notice anything else unusual on my way home.

The shadow play is magically powerful. At times the dalang appears to be in a trance. It is commonly believed that the audience is protected from evil influences during a Wayang Kulit performance. Its vast repertoire of tales covers all aspects of life. As well as having an educational role in society, its stories provide spiritual guidance for the people. It is as though this translucent screen with its play of light and shadow is the interface between two realms of existence - a small rectangle in the fabric of the world mediated by the dalang from where spirit beings from other planes of existence impart the wisdom of the ages to mankind. Wayang characters provide types to be emulated, giving the young an idea of what qualities to strive for.

The people screamed and fled, and no prayer of his former brothers-in-faith could banish the goblin. It disappeared deep into the forest, only to return at night and prey upon the monks of the mission who had been responsible for its death. After five of the brothers had fallen to the goblin, the rest of the monks abandoned the mission and moved to another part of the country. Since that time, the mission-house had slowly fallen into ruin. 

The jackalope is now most commonly sighted in the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. However, the jackalope does appear to have a European cousin, which in Germany is known as the wolperdinger. In Sweden, a related species is called the skvader.

With a trick of light and shade and a deft exchange of the puppet, characters were made to transform before a wide-eyed audience into mystical beings, a garuda, a snake. 

You're right. Anyway this doesn't affect the story line. Our pact was, or is, that not one word of the story would change. OK here are the few details which set the record straight. And this is exactly as I remember, without varnish and honest gospel...When I first heard her clip clopping down the road it was too dark to see her horse. But as she left and the street lights glowed back on - I saw there was no horse - as she clip clopped away on all fours on her claws like a wild beast. Her perfume too, was not quite as I described. It was more like the smell of rotten cat food which has been left in an open tin too long in summer, and which the flies and the maggots have got into. And finally, her appearance. It is true that she was tall and slim but by the light of the sodium lamp her skin seemed green and wrinkled like old walking boots. When I wrote these facts in my original draft she was very displeased and I learned how vain a goblin queen can be. She made me change these points, on peril of my life, but bade me keep all else the same.

 These are my sources:
 
 http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/~dwa/WayangKulit.html

http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/different-types-twilight.html

 http://jackalope.com/legend-of-jackalope/

http://www.goblinsearch.com/mypactwiththegoblinqueen.html

http://www.goblinsearch.com/story1.html

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_goblin_of_easton.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular

 

The Apocalypse of Quantum Delights

“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

I find it odd how the accepted meaning of the word apocalypse went from having a root in revelatory knowledge to one of eschatological tones. That in and of itself is a revelation. Revelation can be destructive especially when they uproot deeply held beliefs, some do not survive the journey. It helps to have some form of mythic structure in place, makes navigation a little easier. Sometimes the shifts are easier like a series of small quakes instead of one huge one and subsequent aftershocks. I am currently experiencing a small scale apocalypse, but one that is opening doors of wonderment.

A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

I don't have to tell you how bad things are, that's what the daily news is for; you know, the regularly scheduled programming. That's not even the full story and it's pretty grim. In between the collapsing economies and the extreme environment, there are bright shining stars, beckoning us out there into the great beyond. NASA announcing in May about there certainty of finding signs of alien life within a decade, remember President Kennedy said the same thing about going to the moon and it happened right on time. There is probably much more to this story than we are being told, as evidenced in this quote from Chief NASA Scientist, Ellen Stofan :

"We know where to look. We know how to look," she said. "In most cases, we have the technology, and we're on a path to implementing it. And so I think we're definitely on the road."

NASA knows where to look? Sounds very MIB to me, but I tend to be suspicious. Either way exciting news.It will literally change the way that humanity  views itself and its place in the universe. This sparked a renewed interest in UFOs and other high weirdness, so when Gordon started a discussion of Space Shamanry, my interest was immediately piqued.

INVOLUNTARY SHIFTS

Having been primed and open to suggestion, it does not surprise me that the next course of events unfolded as it did . It all started with a simple article about Octopuses. Basically geneticists have decided that octopuses might as well be aliens given how weird their DNA is. That dovetails nicely with several pet theories of mine.

Shortly after reading the aforementioned article about alien octopuses, I stumbled onto Gordon's list of films for Space Shamans. In the beginning I went through the list and ticked off all that I had already seen and then I compiled a list of what was left. On that list was Europa Report, I had not seen it. So I made a date with myself to watch Europa Report late at night alone. Remember the mention of Europa in the article about NASA expecting to find alien life? Yeah, it gets weirder, more synchronous. The movie is slow, but highly believable, so I stayed interested. I won't reveal everything for those that have not seen it, but I will give you a hint, tentacles.

Gobsmacked would be an understatement, this was revelation, apocalypse. Something shifted in a major way. If we are going to explore space we need to develop a mythology to guide us. Read Gordon's blog, watch the films, add to the conversation.

RETURN TO TERRA FIRMA

In days past, I would get overly excited after receiving a revelation like this, now a days my approach is much different. After a session of ritual that seems to open doors or a sudden revelation as the result of noticing the omens where they occur, I like to ground and restore myself. There are many methods for doing this, Aidan describes a particularly beautiful and rich ritual that belies its simplicity.There is power here learn to use it.

If Aidan's ritual does not appeal to you, I strongly recommend T Thorn Coyle's book Crafting A Daily Practice. This book has been very beneficial to me, daily ritual practice helps to keep me grounded and has increased my powers of concentration. Doing this practice of grounding lets me review my notes and develop an informed opinion of the mechanisms at play. This  apocalypse has lead to the discovery that two different fields of personal research may in fact only be one field. This has deep reaching implications.

Now the Mutant Mage Dirt Sorceror is left to contemplate Space Shamanry. I feel compelled to release sigils via rockets, and to study the connections between Crop circles and Magical circles. Like the Tabula Rasa of the surrealist manifests at Burning Man so to must our Sorcerous visions populate space. Perhaps we could begin now with Space Shaman Fertility Rituals. I think I will stick with the rockets.