Sulum Factum Magus

One of the things that I enjoy is working with a set of tarot cards. My first deck, many years ago, was the Aleister Crowley Thoth tarot deck. At that stage of my life, needless to say, I was preoccupied with interests in ceremonial magic and the Cabalah. I eventually gifted that pack to an associate who had been waiting some years for a pack to come his way, believing that the only legitimate way of obtaining a pack was to be gifted one. My second pack was the Rider-Waite deck, which was gifted me by my partner, who also presented me with my favourite witch’s deck, the Sacred Circle Tarot. This deck has been my mainstay for a number of years, and contains beautiful images of the sacred sites and mystical places of Britain and Ireland. As well, it has been re-interpreted specifically from a Wiccan perspective, using the symbolism of the wheel of the year, the sacred herbs and trees, and the Deity forms familiar to Wiccans, and in particular Celtic Wiccans.

Recently, I have become interested in dragons, their lore and magic, as regular readers may have guessed from recent posts on Dragon Walking and Dragon Power. This goes back to the red and white dragons of the prophecies of Merlin, which I mention in my post on the Caduceus Meditation. So what better way to celebrate this magical interest than with a new tarot deck – this time, the Dragon Tarot Deck, by Peter Pracownik and Terry Donaldson. My first impression is that it is a very pragmatic deck, with symbolism firmly rooted in the traditional imagery. I am enjoying getting to know this deck, and look forward to using it more. The other day, in an incident which I feel turns me from a Tarot aficionado into a Tarot deck collector, I saw the Leonardo DaVinci tarot by Caitlin Matthews at a local bookstore at a bargain basement price. Needless to say, having enjoyed many of her works, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So now I have another deck on hand to help out!

Of course I couldn’t wait to get stuck in and divine the cause and solution to my latest bout of Melancholy, which regular readers will understand afflicts me on the odd occasion. Incidentally, I understand that 1 in 5 adults in Australia suffer from depression at some time in their lives – but that is another story. Back to the point, the cards spoke of Melancholy caused by (or associated with) ancestral grief.

In our highly individualistic world, such a concept probably seems outlandish to most people, but not to me. In fact, I resonated with this clue. In deed, there is a chapter in my book “The Great Work” on just this topic. Ancestral grief, for me,   seems to be focussed on my (deceased) grandfather. He died before I was born, and I barely knew of his existence, as my father rarely spoke of him as I grew up. I told the story of the grief I felt at first seeing his photograph, and how I honoured him at our last Samhain circle in a previous post. It came to me that I should put his story, the details of which my Auntie has documented, into a song. This began a very intense time for me, of extreme grieving. Over a week of putting his story into song, I could hardly get a line or two out before bursting into tears. Sometimes I wondered if I would ever be able to perform it at all. I could feel his presence around me, and it seemed to me that I could feel there was bitterness and regret in his life. Perhaps this came from his war experiences. Perhaps it came from having to sell his newspaper publishing business during the depression, struggling to raise a family and being, from family accounts, rather too fond of the bottle. In any case, I feel in some way that I carry a wound with me, a wound that began in his life, and passed itself on to me via my father. It is not a psychological process, that I am talking about, more like a spiritual resonance. There is some unfathomable connection between us. I hesitate to say that I am he re-incarnated, as I experience his spirit essence as distinct from my own. Yet, perhaps in the way of identical twins, we share an essence and consciousness, which is as defining as our separate identities.

I am not sure how to work further with this healing process. It seems that we are both interested in writing and publishing. I don’t know whether he was interested in esoteric subjects, but he was a member of a Masonic Lodge. According to my auntie, this was for business reasons, though whether she is making a reasonable assumption or remembers something of his attitude towards it I don’t know.

It is soon to be my father’s 75^th birthday, and the song will be ready for that occasion. I am a bit nervous, as I am not sure how my father will re-act to it. However I feel that it will be a positive occurrence, and part of the healing journey for myself, my father, and my grandfather.

I will let you know how it turns out!

BB,

Rob.

 I am an expert at dissatisfaction, depression, melancholy, and feelings of disaffection with the forms and demands of the modern western lifestyle. Not through any academic study, mind you, but through the grueling mill of personal experience. It is a commonplace to talk of an artist needing to suffer for her art. It is also a commonplace, in certain circles, to speak blithely of the dark night of the soul.

This last term is a misnomer, at least in my case. For me, it has been a dark decade of the soul, and shows no signs of abating! I know I’m a cancer, but really, you’d think I could find something better to mindlessly grasp than a dark night of the soul!

I was talking to a guy at a party the other night. He was telling me about positive energy, and how things were going great for him, and just getting better and better. I began telling him about my dark decade of the soul, and how I expected, shortly, to emerge purified and glorious, but it hadn’t quite happened yet, and in the mean-time I was experiencing a great melancholy of spirit as I struggled to hold down a job, complete with excessive work hours, unsympathetic superiors, a measly pay check, and fulfill all the self imposed obligations of my esoteric and artistic goals and activities!

His eyes glazed over, and he wandered off, muttering something about the secret, and went off to impress someone else with his positivity and unbridled happiness, leaving me to contemplate how off-putting a melancholic disposition can be to happy joyful people!

Over the years, I have developed a number of theories about melancholy, at least in relation to myself! First was the theory of you are what you eat. According to this theory, eating certain substances causes a digestive imbalance resulting, 24 to 36 hours later, in a depressive episode, complete with loss of energy and motivation, and feelings of maudlin worthlessness. Chief amongst the culprits was any product containing wheat! Second is the theory that depression is the result of failing to express adequately the life’s purpose. I believe that this is true, and develop this in detail in my book, “The Great Work”. Thirdly, there are all the usual reasons in the public discourse: poverty, lovelessness, and the various entrapments and snares of life.

In traditional Galenic (European) medicine “melancholy” which is derived from the Greek for “Black Bile”, was thought to be a black substance found in the spleen, a surfeit of which was thought to cause the sadness, self obsession, and slowness associated with this condition. Lemon Balm, Borage, and Fumitory, were thought to assist with its expulsion from the body, according to my copy of Culpepper’s Medicine, by Graeme Tobyn.

I wrote the above some months ago, and since then, there has been a real change in my outlook and mood. The first reason: Use of some affirmations, which I have described in a previous post. The second reason, a phrase that jumped out at me from one of my books on herbal medicine: “Eat fruit for breakfast.” Apparently there is a cleansing process that carries on through the morning up to lunchtime, which is halted by eating a heavy meal. So I have been trying skipping breakfast and having a piece of fruit about 10:00am to get me through to lunch. I feel lighter, more energetic, and much more full of beans than I have for ages. Regular readers will also know about the irritable bowel condition that has plagued me in the past. I can now report that this is also much better.

The third reason, I have been doing a lot of energy channeling. When waking in the wee hours of the morning, instead of lying in bed with freewheeling thoughts, I have been channeling energy to various parts of my body that need some healing. The technique I have been using is to activate the palm energy centres through focusing the attention first on one palm, and when the sensation starts, on the other. Then I visualize the cosmic source of light sending down a ray to each hand, which I place over my body where there is pain. The intention is to channel the healing energy that is right at this time for the highest good of all.

The fourth Reason. I have given myself permission to enjoy my work and take satisfaction from it. I have added this to my affirmation list!

The fifth reason. Angelica tincture, ten drops, morning and night for three weeks.

The sixth reason. Something has just changed inside me, and now everything is different. Could that be the sun coming up over the horizon? I hope so, as it would be very annoying to be back in the dark night again!

Blessed Be

Rob :)

The following article was recently published in Spellcraft Magazine, (issue 9, winter 2008) which is highly worthwhile checking out. It is a great delight to be able to share some of my writing with a wider audience, and to appear in print! I repeat it here for the benefit of regular readers with permission from the publisher.

One of the most fascinating, in my opinion, of the esoteric teachings appearing in both the Eastern and Western traditions is the existence of a window within each person’s own mind. With practice and discipline, anyone, I believe, can learn to look through it. The window may open onto vistas associated with the Astral Plane, or it may open onto vistas associated with the physical plane. When the inner window is open, one can see through it, just as if one is looking through an ordinary window, onto a physical view.

In Vedic traditions, the inner window is known as the third eye, and is associated with an energy centre just above and between the eyebrows. One may stimulate the inner window to open by keeping the attention focused on the third eye, for example during meditation. In the Western tradition, people skilled at opening the inner window have been called Seers, and said to posses the Second Sight.

In my opinion, the opening of the window within should be a major focus of training for those wishing to develop the hidden arts. In my experience there are a number of principles, which I discuss below, that can be followed if one wishes to open the inner window.

1. Exposure to beautiful, striking, or highly charged natural surroundings.

    

   I was fortunate enough at one time to visit Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland. The peninsula is a striking and rugged landscape of rocks, boulders and cliffs over looking a sea which appears to vibrate with colour and glow with life. I spent the afternoon walking around in this beautiful and energetically charged landscape, and that night in bed, as soon as I shut my eyes, I could see the landscape again, in perfect detail, just as if I was looking through a window upon it. It was so vivid as to be almost frightening, glowing with life and energy, in perfect crisp clear detail. I cannot stress how different the opening of the inner window is to a memory, or imagination, which, to me, are but echoes and shadows of reality. However when the inner window opens, one sees the reality itself, sometimes with even greater force and clarity than the physical eyes are capable of. This experience has happened to me in several other places of natural beauty over the years. It seems to happen more frequently and more easily as I have placed more focus on developing skills at visualisation and shifting the attention.

    

2. Focus on the third eye chakra.

    

   This technique is taught in many paths based on the Vedic traditions. The basic practice is to sit in meditation, spine straight, feet flat on the floor, comfortably relaxed, breathing deeply but comfortably and without forcing the breath, and to place one’s attention on the point just above and between the eyebrows. That’s it! Just sit there, breathing, with the attention between the eye-brows. Many westerners actually find this very challenging, so in my own practice, I combine this practice with the third principle:

    

3. Active visualisation.

    

   This principle is taught in many western esoteric traditions, in such practices as path working, guided visualisation, and the construction of the astral temple. The practice is to visualize something, such as a scene, an object, or a symbol, in as much detail as you can. At a certain point, the visualisation causes the inner window to open, and you see the scene, object or symbol with the inner sight. The visualisation is not the end in itself, but a key to the opening of the inner window. It may take months or years of practice with visualisation before the inner window opens, or it may happen very quickly. In any case, there is no mistaking when the inner window opens, as then one sees in clear and vivid detail what one had previously been only imagining.

    

   Visualising an energetically charged symbol or object assists in opening the window within, as the astral reality of the visualised object, magnetizes the opening of the inner window. This charge can be created oneself through consecration and the creative imagination, or one can make use of traditional symbols already magnetized by generations of use.

4. Exposure to magical energy.

    

   When one is placed in an uplifting environment where magical energy or spiritual vibrations are present, then the inner window may be stimulated to open. This may occur, for example, at gatherings of a magical or spiritual nature, or during ritual or magical work, either alone or with others. It may occur also when one comes into the presence of a highly charged person, who through daily practice or ritual work carries permanently or temporarily a highly charged aura. It may also arise when a Deity is invoked into one, or into someone with whom one comes into contact.

    

   I was recently at a pagan gathering, during which a number of rituals were worked, and in which I participated. The magical energy raised was quite significant. The following evening, as I lay down to sleep, as soon as I shut my eyes, my inner eye opened, and I saw a procession of robed and cloaked figures, which I knew instantly were the astral forms of attendees at the gathering, some of whom had attended physically, but others who had attended only astrally.

    

5. Exposure to beautiful music or artworks.

    

   There are many forms of music which help the inner eye to open. Traditions of Indian, Arabic and Sufi music make use of scales and rhythms known to assist with opening the inner window. The music of some classical composers, such as Mozart, Bach, Debussy and Vivaldi may be found by some people to encourage the inner window to open. Others find modern trance/dance music, various forms of jazz (Miles Davis and Bill Evans can do it for me!), folk music from Celtic, South American, Japanese Zen or African traditions, and even rock and roll helpful in this regard. However one must really like the music, so if you can’t stand Mozart, its very unlikely listening to it will help your inner window to open!

    

   One may have a similar experience of activating the inner window through visiting an art gallery and spending the afternoon looking at beautiful paintings. After visiting the Van Gogh gallery in the Paris Museum of Modern Art, which I found very uplifting and inspiring, I found the inner window was easily opened.

6. Focus on repetitive visual patterns and intricate geometric forms.

    

   In the Vedic traditions, there is a highly developed school of sacred art involving the production of Mandalas. These are objects to be gazed at during meditation, and which are said to be keys to various energetic and spiritual states or experiences. They are intricate geometrical forms and patterns, usually symmetric, or approximately symmetric, often based on a highly elaborated square or circle, or other simple geometric forms.

    

   In the Irish tradition, there is a history of intricate knot-work, most highly developed in the illustrations and illuminations accompanying the text of sacred books (generally the Gospels) copied by the scribes of the Irish monasteries in the period around 800AD. The knot-work combines repetition, aspects of symmetry, intricacy, and aesthetically pleasing proportions. I have recently become interested in knot-work, and spent a number of days reading Aidan Meehan’s “The Celtic Design Book” (Thames and Hudson, 2007), and with ink and nib trying my hand at some Celtic Knots. One evening, at the height of this obsession, as soon as my eyes closed, the inner eye opened, and I could see as plain as day an amazing complex and beautiful piece of knot-work, more beautiful and complex than any I can ever recall seeing. It seemed I was watching a slide show, as one after another, these amazing knot-works appeared before my inner window, and I gazed upon them.

    

7. Smelling of certain oils or incenses.

    

   Myrrh and Frankincense may be burned to assist with opening the inner window. In my own work, I find burning aromatic herbs such as white sage, rosemary, thyme and kitchen sage helpful. I burn a small amount on a charcoal block, and use the smoke to cleanse a space for magical work, and to “smudge” people entering a circle. There is a similar affect from the scent of essential oils such as Jasmine, Lavender, or Sandalwood, to which I like to add a few drops of Lemon essential oil for clarity. A few drops in a teaspoon of olive or almond oil can be used to anoint people entering a magical circle.

    

8. The use of herbal beverages.

    

   In my experience, Elder flower tea can stimulate the inner window to open, promote vivid and lucid dreams, and help with astral travelling, all closely related phenomena. Elder flowers on their own are insufficient to produce an opening of the inner window in most people. However, when combined with other techniques,such as concerted practice with visualization and focus on the third eye, they may provide that little bit of extra which may be needed to produce an opening. From my own experience, I suggest timing your herbal beverage to coincide with other propitious circumstances, such as a magical working or gathering, or a visit to a place of natural beauty. Another herbal beverage that may assist with opening the inner window is Vervaine. However unlike Elder flowers, it is a very bitter tea. I have found that when mixed with a small amount of peppermint one can learn to enjoy the taste. The bitterness makes for a useful digestive, and the tea can ease breathing for asthmatics. Vervaine seems in my experience to give results gradually when consumed over a period of time. One half to one teaspoon of dried herb per cup, and two or three cups a day is sufficient. The effect will be noticed within a week.

9. Juggling, dancing, and fire twirling.

    

   The Sufi tradition teaches a method of ecstatic union with divinity through whirling dances accompanied by trance inducing music. In the modern Pagan world, many people use juggling, dancing or fire twirling to access trance like states. The principle is one of concentrating the attention on a diffuse focus, rather than on the single focal point of ego identity. The movements of the body help to integrate left and right brain hemispheres. The oxygenation of the blood due to the muscular exercise may also contribute to the heightening of awareness. In my experience, any gentle exercise which moves the focus of attention into the body, and encourages deep breathing and oxygenation, without causing puffing and sweating, will help with meditative work, including the opening of the inner window.

    

10. Drumming, chanting, playing repetitive music.

     

    Many cultures induce trance states through drumming, and simple repetitive music. It works. Enough said!

     

11. Hallucinogenic substances.

     

    There are many natural substances which induce various degrees of hallucinogenic activity, the most well known being marijuana, hallucinogenic mushrooms and Peyote. Such substances have been historically associated with shamanism and witchcraft. My view is that psychedelics are not necessary for one’s development magically, and are easily over-used, leading to loss of sensitivity, and sometimes loss of rationality. Abstinence usually brings about a recovery, except in severe cases. In short, these are very powerful substances, requiring expert guidance for effective and safe use. In my opinion, there is nothing of magical worth that cannot be achieved without them, just as effectively, and more safely.

     

12. Fasting and a vegetarian diet.

     

    Many magical groups employ fasting before rituals and magical works to increase the power that may be raised, or to increase the ability to make contact with ethereal entities, or to perceive non-material realities. Vegetarianism is said to raise one’s spiritual vibrations to enhance the effects of meditation and promote spiritual experience. Vegetarianism is also reputed to enhance the ease with which Astral travel experiences may be obtained.

     

    A full day fast can be undertaken by anyone in reasonable health without ill effect. Simply skip breakfast, lunch and dinner, and that evening, do your work on the inner window, preferably with the help of some energy raising in circle. Avoid heavy physical exertion, minimise driving and work commitments, and give yourself time to relax and self nurture. Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day, preferably vegetable juices, though some favour fruit juices instead.

     

    Three day fasts can also be undertaken by anyone in good health, but require more planning and cooperation from family or house-mates, and time off from work and other responsibilities. The bowels should be cleansed before the fast with an enema or herbal laxative, as the bowels won’t move during the fast, and any retained food will putrefy and release toxins into the blood stream. I recommend thoroughly researching how best to fast, or consulting someone skilled in the art for fasts longer than a day.

     

13. Sexual arousal.

     

    Dreaming, during sleep characterised by rapid eye movements, is correlated with the engorgement of the penis in men and vaginal and clitoral erectile tissue in women. Such engorgement may also occur during magical work that induces a light trance state. Deliberately inducing arousal may likewise precondition to such a light trance state, and the opening of the inner window. Practices based on this physiological link may be found in some traditions of witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and eastern traditions including Tantra and Taoism.

     

    There is a certain state of detachment that ought to accompany sexual arousal which is aimed at opening the inner window. The most apt description that I can give is that the sexual arousal ought to be separated from lusts and lascivious imaginings. The state is one of acceptance of arousal, without the need or inclination to pursue it to climax. One may find oneself in such a state naturally upon waking in the morning; during light trance states in which rapid eye movements spontaneously occur; or during invocation of one’s Deities. One may also enter such a state through manual stimulation or sexual fantasy, but the sexual arousal must be purified of its lusty or lascivious dimension through an effort of magical will, something that is difficult without training and practice. A procedure I have used in the past is to achieve a state of arousal, and then focus one’s attention on the third eye chakra, and visualize/direct the sexual energy to flow up from the root chakra to the third eye. When the third eye opens, the attention must be placed upon the desired viewing location. If one has not sufficiently detached from one’s lascivious or lusty stimulations, then the attention will be directed there instead of to one’s goal, and the window is likely to open upon a scene reminiscent of Caligula!

     

14. Suffering.

     

    In natural situations of great suffering or stress, the inner window may spontaneously open, providing one with the ability to “see one’s way” out of danger, or to spontaneously leave the body in astral form. This experience can be induced artificially by deliberately subjecting the body to intense physical suffering. There is a tradition in the Catholic Church of identifying with the sufferings of Jesus, and taken to extremes by some, of inflicting similar physical suffering upon oneself as a spiritual practice. People who have seen “The Da Vinci Code” will be familiar with the self flagellation and the auto-masochistic behaviour of one of the renegade monks. It appears that the infliction of pain in a controlled fashion, can stimulate the opening of the inner window. Sado-masochistic sex play may also be valued by some for such reasons. Self-inflicted suffering is an extreme way of achieving what can be achieved in many other less destructive ways, and something that I don’t see any reason for. There is enough suffering in the world!

Controlled breathing is also used in some traditions to assist with opening the inner window. In my opinion, the use of visualization, combined with focus of the attention on the third eye chakra, is the safest way to open the inner window. Practices which develop the ability to place the attention on other parts of the body, or outside the body are also helpful in my experience. Light physical exercise that increases body awareness and oxygenation without causing fatigue or puffing will increase the effectiveness of such exercises, when done immediately beforehand. Such efforts combine, over a period of time, to set the scene for spontaneous openings of the window. These spontaneous openings may be encouraged by ancillary techniques such as incense, scented oils, magical energy raising, herbal beverages, uplifting surroundings, places of natural beauty, art or music. The use of ancillary techniques alone is unlikely to be effective, unless a person is particularly sensitive, or has past life training which can be re-activated.

Finally, it would not be out of place to make a comment on the reason why the inner window ought to be opened. In a world of people with their eyelids sewn shut at birth, one might struggle to convince them that taking the time and effort to cut the threads and open their eyes would be worthwhile. After all, the bright lights, unfamiliar shapes, and strange new sensory input would appear confusing, over whelming, frightening and unnecessary – at least at first. It would take people time to learn to understand and deal with this new sensory input. However once they did, they would wonder how they ever got by without it! It is the same with the inner window. It is part of your birthright. I hope that this article helps you to reclaim it!

Blessed Be,

Rob

In my experience, each of us learns somehow that we are undeserving, somewhere in our journey to adulthood. It is a rare person who manages to avoid this. Part of it has to do with our confrontation with and transformation of limitation. Left to our own devices, we interpret limitation in a personal way. That is, we believe it occurs because we deserve it. We can’t avoid limitation in this world, as it is part of the natural fabric of life. There are only so many hours in the day. There is only so much of one to go around. We have to choose where to put our time and energy. There are only limited resources available in any situation. And so on. However we need to interpret this limitation correctly, and come into a positive relationship with it. People generally, I believe, are in a negative relationship with limitation. Mostly because they lack the proper guidance when dealing with limitation as a child, when they first confront it.

We always deserve the best. But sometimes we don’t get it. This is our confrontation with limitation. As a child we tend to internalise this, believing our selves to be underserving. This, however is a mistake. Limitation is just a fact of existence, like the sun, the moon, the seasons, wet days, sunny days, and so on. It occurs regardless of our feelings about ourself. Just as one would be silly to feel personally insulted when the sun set, it is equally as unjustified to feel undeserving when the natural limitation of life is confronted.

Yet this is what we do, as a child, without even realising it. As a child, we believe that we are the centre of the universe, and everything that happens is interpreted from this point of centrality. Thus encountering limitation is interpreted personally, often as being undeserving.

“No, you can’t have another biscuit.” “No, you can’t watch television.” “No you can’t have a BMX bike.” “No, we can’t go to the beach today”. As a parent, sometimes it seems that there is a never ending stream of limitation issuing from one’s lips. We cannot avoid it, all we may do is set the boundary. We must also try to give an understanding of the non-personal nature of the limitation that is being confronted.

“No, you can’t have another biscuit. Emily is coming over for a cup of tea soon, and we need to save some biscuits for then.”

“No, you can’t watch television. You’ve already watched half an hour of television today. It’s time to do something else.”

“No you can’t have a BMX bike. They are expensive, and we need our money to buy food and pay the bills. However if you really want one, you can start saving up your pocket money.”

“No we can’t go to the beach today. We have other things planned already. Fred’s coming over with the whipper snipper. Besides, its likely to be cold and wet. We can make a plan to go to the beach when it gets a bit warmer.”

In the above examples, limitation is always followed by a non-personal explanation. Without such an explanation, we leave it to the child to fill in their own reason, which by default, is “because you don’t deserve it”.

As adults, most of us, in spite of our parents best efforts, have internalised this message of non-deserving-ness. The result is that we feel bad about our selves, fail to realise our potential, and self-sabotage. An important step on the magical path is to neutralise and cure this self belief, by coming to a proper understanding of limitation and what it means, and by eliminating this inner conviction of undeserving-ness.

One way of doing this is through affirmations, which have been made popular by Louise Hay and many others since. The technique is deceptively simple. Identify three or four areas in your life which are a focus of dissatisfaction and unhappiness for you. These things exist because that is what we believe we deserve. For example, I may be unhappy in my job, unhappy with the size of my paycheck, or unhappy with the state of my love life. To neutralize the false beliefs at the base of this, say to yourself first thing in the morning, “I deserve prosperity. I deserve satisfaction and fulfilment in my job. I deserve a happy, loving relationship”. Repeat to yourself at morning tea time, lunch time, afternoon tea time, dinner time, and before you go to bed. In fact, whenever you have a spare moment, repeat this to yourself. Keep it up for a couple of months, and you will begin to see a shift in your attitude, if not in your circumstances. Once your attitude shifts, your circumstances will begin to change as well. It really is magic, and it is very simple and easy to do. Yet it is very profound.

The subconscious mind is the powerhouse of manifestation in our lives. Left to its own devices, it manifests according to these mostly negative scripts created in childhood. However, if we give it a new script to work from, then it will do its best to oblige.

The practice suggested here is somewhat different from the usual new age approach. Note that the affirmation is about oneself, not about one’s circumstances or the state of one’s finances. It is establishing that you deserve prosperity, happiness, love, sexual ecstasy etc. It is not saying that you are wealthy. In this case, the subconscious may observe easily enough that finances are tight, so this sets up a barrier to the acceptance of the affirmation. However you can deserve prosperity at any time, no matter the state of your finances! The same goes for anything else you deserve.

The important thing is to change your subconscious belief that you don’t deserve. We still must work within our own limitations and the limitations of the world around us. We can’t escape that. This is the magical path – to know one’s self, to take charge of one’s self, and to know the working of the world around us. With such knowledge and understanding, one can achieve much in this world. Even so, the richest person in the world has limitations, and desires beyond their capacity to fulfill.

Personally I have been working with the following four affirmations: I deserve prosperity and abundance. I deserve fulfillment and satisfaction. I deserve health and happiness. I deserve sustained sexual ecstasy and bliss.

After some weeks with the above affirmations, one night I dreamed that that I was involved in presenting some kind of performance. There was a crowd of people around the sides of a natural amphitheatre. The play was about the trials of a relationship and getting married. It was in Shakespearian doggerel. It ended up after some quarrels, with the man (me) and the women deciding to make children, and having sex. I cannot begin to describe the exquisite sensations and energies that this involved. The humping was unrestrained, but it went on for rather a lengthy time, and as it did, the sensations built to an exquisite level, which sustained itself just before the point of orgasm for what seemed like an incredible time – to the point of the intensity being almost too much to bear. Finally the women cried out, “ I am going to f*@&ing well bring all of you off” and, at this point, there was a great collective release, including myself. It was the most delicious and satisfying orgasmic experience that I ever recall. Afterwards I felt an incredible sense of warmth, happiness and satisfaction.

So the affirmation has certainly worked in that department! In the other departments as well, I have noticed that a new relationship is forming with my work. I am feeling a lot more positive about it. Time will tell! In the meantime, full steam ahead with the affirmations!

BB,

Rob

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend a weekend with like minded pagans, during which a number of rituals and exercises were conducted. The highlight for me, curiously, was a ritual that involved but one person – myself. As regular readers will know, I have become interested in dragon energy lately, in fact, since visiting an ancient megalithic site in Denmark at the end of last year. The site was known to locals as the Troll Church (translated into English), and I found out about it chatting to the owner of a small esoteric bookshop in the town where I was staying. You can read the full story of my encounter with dragon energy and see a couple of photos in a previous posting.

Since then, I have been researching dragon energy, particularly in the Celtic tradition. One story which holds a lot of meaning for me is the story of Merlin’s prophecies to King Vortigern. The story appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of Brittain”, but I read it in “Merlin: The Prophetic Vision and The Mystic Life” by R.J. Stewart, available on the web at http://www.dreampower.com/ProphMerlin.html. I have briefly mentioned this story previously in my description of the “Caduceus Meditation”.

The story goes that Vortigern was trying to build a tower on top of a hill, and each night it would be turned to a pile of rubble, so that the next morning work would have to start all over again. Vortigern consulted all his priests and soothsayers who advised that only the sacrifice of a boy with no known father could prevent the collapse of the tower. Eventually Merlin, having been born of an ethereal spirit and a mortal women, was found and brought to the king. However, before he could be sacrificed, he declared to the king that the true reason for the tower’s collapse was known to him: If he was to dig under the tower, he would find a pond, and if he were to drain the pond he would find two hollow stone eggs, and if he were to observe the eggs, two dragons would emerge and fly into the sky, one red and one white, and grapple with each other. The appearance of these grappling dragons is the trigger for Merlin’s prophetic utterances.

Superficially the dagons represent the conflict between the saxons (the white dragon) and Celtic Brittain (the red dragon). However on a deeper level, the resonance is with the female (red) and male (white) quintessential energies, which when awakened coil around the caduceus of Hermes, bringing through their interplay and union, exalted states of consciousness.

I have previously described “Dragon Walking”, a walking meditation that accesses and activates the energies of the red and white dragons. In this post I give a variation of this practice, which adds a couple of aspects, and finishes with a version of the Caduceus Meditation.

1. Breathe in, visualising red earth energy from a glowing ball of energy beneath your feet streaming up in a red ray to strike the centre of your belly, where a red pearl takes shape.

2. Breathe out, visualizing the glow from the pearl first filling your body with a red glow, then projecting the energy out of your mouth to fill up and be contained by an egg shaped aura around your body.

3. Repeat this visualisation with breathing. Breath in through your nose. Breath out through your mouth, making an unvocalised sound deep in the back of your throat. The sound should be like long drawn out “h”, followed by the vowel sound in “door”.

4. Walk along slowly and deliberately, lifting one leg as your breath in, and placing it down slowly and deliberately, heel level with toe of the other foot, as you breathe out.

5. After a five minutes or so, when you are well aware of the charged auric egg, compress that energy down into the red pearl in the centre of your belly with the following procedure: (i) After a full breath in, squeeze the sphincter and pelvic floor muscles (as if to prevent yourself from passing stools or urine) tightly seven times in succession. On the seventh squeeze, hold the squeeze tightly. (ii) Pull in the stomach sharply seven times in succession, with each pump of the stomach muscles visualising the auric egg compressed down till it is contained within your body; on the last pump, hold the stomach muscles in; (iii) push sharply down with the diaphragm seven times, each time compressing the ball of energy down further until it is completely within the now highly charged red pearl at the centre of your belly.

6. Now commence white dragon walking as follows. Breathe in, visualising white spiritual source energy from a glowing ball of energy above your head streaming down in a white ray to strike the centre of your belly, where a white pearl takes shape.

7. Breathe out, visualizing the glow from the pearl first filling your body with a white glow, then projecting the energy out of your mouth to fill up and be contained by an egg shaped aura around your body.

8. Repeat this visualisation with breathing. Breath in through your nose. Breath out through your mouth, making an unvocalised sound by touching the back of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as you would in the Scottish pronunciation of the “ch” in Loch Ness. The sound should be like a long drawn out and extended “k”, followed by the vowel sound in “tea”. Really stretch your lips out in a smile to get the right sound.

9. The walk is hard to explain, but walk as if you are a white dragon! The exact steps aren’t essential, but try and do it the same way each time, and different to the red dragon walking.

10. After a five minutes or so, when you are well aware of the charged auric egg, compress that energy down into the white pearl in the centre of your belly with the same procedure as in (5) above.

11. After several rounds of red dragon walking and white dragon walking, do the following meditation, which is best done standing upright. (i) Move the red and white pearls to the belly chakra. (ii) Each time you breath in, visualize energy from spiritual source and from Earth meeting at the belly chakra. This should be repeated on the in breath throughout all the subsequent steps. (iii) As you breath out, visualise red and white energy currents emerge from the red and white pearls, and move up to the solar plexus chakra. For me, the white energy comes up the left side of the body axis, and the red energy up the right side, like the intertwined serpents around the caduceus of Hermes. (iv) After several breaths, extend the visualisation on the out breath to send the white and red energy up the the heart chakra. The energy currents cross at each chakra, so between the solar chakra and the heart chakra, the white energy current is on the right, and the red energy current is on the left. (v) After several more breaths, send the energy up to the throat chakra. Once again, the currents cross at the heart chakra. (vi) After several more breaths, send the currents up to the brow chakra. As before, the currents cross at the throat chakra. (vii) After several more breaths, send the currents from belly chakra, through the solar and heart chakras, to the throat chakra and down to each palm, so that the white energy current charges a white ball of energy in the right palm, and the red current charges a red ball of energy in the left palm. (viii) After several breaths to establish this, begin to bring your hands together, with the intention of performing the sacred marriage of the red and white dragons. As your hands come together, allow the balls of energy to merge, producing a pink ball of energy. Slowly bring your hands up to your heart, and press the merged energy into your heart centre, and feel it expanding to fill your auric field with beautiful pink light, flecked with red and white.

12. Sit with the aftermath of this visualisation for several minutes. It is likely you will be in a deeply meditative state, and will be open to rich magical experiences. You may feel or see with your inner vision the presence of dragons. They will feel intensely playful and joyful. If you feel such presences, welcome them. The dragons may assist you in various ways with healing energy work, balancing bodily energies, and working with the transformation of consciousness. The may also ask your wishes, so that they may work on granting them. So make sure that you know what your true desire is – that which brings about your true work and highest good. You may also encounter one of the hooded ones, a magical order who it appears works closely with dragon energy. They may be recognised by their hooded tan coloured robes.

13. It may take some weeks of working with these techniques to begin experiencing their magic. The best time, I believe, to work with dragon energies is at dawn, before eating, and with bare feet. Dragon magic is a wonderful blessing and gift, and will not, I believe, come to those who have not done something to deserve it, or at least ready themselves for it.

At the gathering I mentioned, a handful of us got up at dawn on the Saturday morning, and worked through the dragon walking exercise described above. It was a great joy to me to be able to share this aspect of my work with my fellow travellers, and see its positive effect on others. However the following morning, Sunday morning, I found myself up at dawn, this time doing the dragon walking on my own, after calling in the energies of the four quarters. It was as if the practice had been energised by sharing with skilled practitioners the day before. I had been opened and lifted by a day of ritual and magical interactions. I was deeply moved by the practice, and became even more convinced that here is a way of deep and powerful contact which I am sure will leave you changed for the better. All it requires is a few weeks of diligent effort and a lifetime of preparation!

Here, there be dragons!

Blessed Be,

Rob