Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 51

Grow Your Spiritual Team While Bathing

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman, author of The Book of Sacred Baths.

People often report feeling alone in this busy world. There are times we may feel disconnected from ourselves, our family, and our friends, but rarely do we speak about feeling spiritually disconnected from our Source or our soul’s purpose.

Sacred baths can help you to connect to your own Spirit and to develop your Divine Team of guides so that you feel unconditionally loved and guided in your life on a daily basis! This is an amazing feeling. For many of us, it’s tough to meditate regularly, but we can all take a twenty-five minute bath! This can be your time alone in quiet. You can easily learn to make your bath time sacred so that it becomes this special time with you, your Higher Self, and your connection to Spirit.

You can connect to Spirit in whatever way feels best to you. The Book of Sacred Baths has baths with God, Shekhinah, Your Higher Self, The Goddess, twelve different angels, ascended masters, and more, so there’s something for everyone! The glossary in the back of the book will help you learn more about all of these different guides or use your own.

A sacred bath is a bath that you take for your spiritual and emotional hygiene. Pick an intention for your sacred bath, light a candle, and put in some epsom salts, a few essential oils, and a crystal to match the intention for your bath ritual. Then call in Spirit for guidance. While in the tub, do a meditation, a visualization, and a prayer about your intention. After you receive guidance, journal about it once your bath ritual is over so that you will remember it and can integrate it into your daily life.

Here are five guides that you can call upon in your sacred bath to get started:

The Goddess: The Goddess has so many representations and forms. In The Book of Sacred Baths , I have bath rituals for the Greek Goddesses and several others. You can call on a Goddess whose energy matches the intention for your bath. For example, Hestia is the Goddess of the Hearth. You call on her to help you settle into your new home or to beautify your current space. If you want to increase romance in your current relationship, call on Aphrodite the Goddess of Love to inspire you.
Archangels: There are different Archangels you can call upon for different intentions. Here are a few examples: Archangel Chamuel is the Angel of Peaceful Relationships and helps people develop a new interest in each other and helps to connect soulmates. Archangel Gabriel inspires your talents and can guide your creative endeavors; Gabriel can help you clarify your soul’s purpose and gifts so that you are of service in the world. Archangel Michael is a great guide for protection and setting boundaries so you can call on him to create boundaries with challenging coworkers. Discover many more Archangels and how they can help you in The Book of Sacred Baths .
Avatars and Ascended Masters: Avatars are enlightened humans who’ve attained physical immortality, a deity that embodies a physical form. They care about this planet and have a very high love vibration. An Ascended Master lived in a physical body once and died; now they can help from the Spirit World and you can bring their energy and wisdom here. So, if you admired Mother Teresa or Gandhi, you could call upon them in your sacred bath for guidance about compassion, tolerance, or self-discipline, for example.
Your Ancestors: There may be a relative who passed away and who can guide you in Spirit. For example, my grandmother died at the age of ninety-nine, and she was very wise. If I want to connect to her in Spirit, I can pray to her and meditate on her Spirit in my sacred bath while asking a question and often I will get messages or an image that gives me some inspiration or direction.
Your Guardian Angel: Your Guardian angel is a life coach for your soul’s development. Your Guardian angel knows your gifts from a spiritual perspective, and her sole job is to encourage your spiritual advancement! You can call on your Guardian when in your sacred bath to ask about next steps regarding your gifts, your soul’s purpose, or in learning new lessons through challenging times.

I hope you will find sacred bathing to be a useful and fulfilling tool. Grab a copy of The Book of Sacred Baths: 52 Bathing Rituals to Revitalize Your Spirit.

Happy Bathing,

Paulette

Our thanks to Paulette for her guest post! For more from Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman, read her article, “12 Ways to Make Your Bath More Magical.”

Knowing the Question

Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin always have something interesting to share. Their ideas range from connections based on intense research and solid scholarship to innovative, modern techniques. They also have a way of asking interesting questions. In the excerpt below, from Tarot Face to Face, they ask questions about questions.

Asking Questions Out Loud—Yes or No?

Whilst some readers have told us they do not need to actually hear the client’s questions, they are somewhat struck when we ask them how they know that they are not performing a reading for a question that is against their own ethics, e.g., “Should my four-year-old brother stop taking his medication?” You can see why clarification in such a case would be useful, and you may make a policy choice that you want to always have the question stated.

You can also tell the client that even if you do not know the question before starting, the reading will probably home in on it anyway. Some clients wish to withhold the question because they are testing the reader, which is a game that should not be encouraged. If the reading is indeed a game from the client’s point of view, it should be stated so, which gives the reader the opportunity to play or refuse the game.

In some cases, the question is so personal or difficult to articulate that it is reasonable not to force clients to reveal it when they have stated that they do not wish to. These cases should be taken on an individual basis, and in our experience it is usually apparent when it is not a control issue or a game. These are often the readings that provide the most memorable and life-affecting results.

A Strange Little Place

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Brennan Storr, author of A Strange Little Place.

If there is such a thing as a reluctant paranormal investigator, I am that; you will never catch me hugging up on a Ouija board or wandering an empty house at night asking the ghost of someone’s grandmother to “knock twice for yes;” but, to my great chagrin, weirdness still manages to find me.

Prior to starting work on my book A Strange Little Place, I was a lapsed Catholic turned budding Atheist horror movie buff who liked to tell ghost stories at parties. Some of those stories had been passed down by my mother’s side of the family, others I’d heard, and almost all of them came from my hometown of Revelstoke, Canada. I didn’t particularly believe them, you understand—after all, between terrorism, iPhones, and climate change there was no room in the world around me for ghosts and goblins—but they were entertaining. In April of 2012 I decided to see if there were enough around town to make up a book.

Two months into researching my book, however, I was attacked by shadow people—an experience I would rate as 0 stars if TripAdvisor would return my calls.

Less than a year after that incident I discovered the office building where I worked was haunted by some kind of shadow presence that waxes and wanes with the time of year and doesn’t particularly like me staying there past 11pm. Then, while on vacation, I was exorcised by a homeless shaman for whom I had purchased a cup of coffee.

In the four years since deciding to write A Strange Little Place, I have, despite my attempts to live the incalculably boring life of an office manager, personally experienced enough weirdness to ruin whatever Atheist aspirations I may have had. Not that I believe in God, necessarily, but when you’ve seen darkness take on physical form it’s hard to continue banging the “meaningless universe” drum. And yet, as much high strangeness as I have personally experienced, it is nothing compared to what I managed to uncover about Revelstoke.

It turns out my hometown is home to more paranormal activity than I had ever imagined—more than 75 years of UFO encounters, missing time, Sasquatch sightings, lake monsters, phantom music, shadow people, gremlins, and straight-up haunting—making me wonder if my reluctant encounters have been entirely by chance or a byproduct of growing up in the Canadian equivalent of Twin Peaks.

Whatever the reason, something tells me A Strange Little Place will be the first step in an even stranger journey; I invite you to pick up a copy and join me.

Our thanks to Brennan for his guest post! For more from Brennan Storr, read his article, “The Most Haunted Place You’ve Never Heard Of: 3 Places to Explore in Revelstoke.”

All About the Star

Anthony Louis is well known for his objective and full understanding of the tarot. That is one reason Llewellyn asked him to author this book, Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Tarot, for their series “Llewellyn’s Complete Books.” In addition to tons of general information about tarot and its various schools (such as Marseilles, Rider Waite Smith, and Thoth), he also provides a great overview of the individual cards, including their historical meanings. It is really fascinating to trace the evolution of the changes in cards meanings. Here is an example from the book:

Key XVII: The Star.

Astrology: Aquarius, the Water Bearer (an Air sign ruled by Saturn and Uranus).

Dates of Aquarius: 20 January – 17 February (tropical); 13 February – 13 March (sidereal).

Element: Air.

Hebrew letter: Tsadhe, Tsade, Tzaddi, or Tsadiq (a trail leading to a destination, or a figure lying on its side; a Hebrew word meaning a stronghold built on the side of a mountain; also a journey, desire, need; to chase, hunt, catch, or capture; just or righteous). The Star of Bethlehem provided a trail that led the Magi to the birthplace of Jesus. The Hebrew letter is also said to resemble a fishing hook. Aleister Crowley pairs the Star with the letter He which the Golden Dawn, in contrast, associates with the Emperor.

Myths/Archetypes: The Star of Bethlehem. The Fairy Godmother. The Egyptian sky-goddess Nuit (aka Nut, Neuth, Newet). Aquarius, the Water Bearer.

Mathers (1888): Hope, expectation, bright promises; (R) hopes not fulfilled, expectations disappointed or fulfilled in a minor degree.

Waite (1911): Loss, theft, privation, abandonment; another reading says: hope and bright prospects; (R) arrogance, haughtiness, impotence.

Golden Dawn: Faith, hope, help coming from unexpected sources; when ill-dignified, false hopes, dreaminess.

Keywords (+): Hope, support, bright prospects, a guiding light, a trail leading to a destination, faith in a better future, inspiration, clarity, peace, tranquility, the possibility of improvement, opportunity for renewal, following a righteous path, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Keywords (-): Loss of hope, pessimism, expectations not met, neglected opportunities, lack of trust in the future, refusal to accept helpful guidance.

Star Upright

When upright, the Star trump offers hope and support after the disruption of the Tower card. You are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You have located a trail leading to your destination. There is a promise of peace and tranquility if you continue on your current path. Help may materialize from unexpected sources. You can proceed with the faith that the future holds brighter prospects. As Marcus Tullius Cicero said some two thousand years ago, “Where there is life, there is hope.”

Star Reversed

When reversed, the Star card suggests that you are not feeling hopeful about a positive outcome. You may be suffering a crisis of faith or be feeling beset by doubts that things will not work out in the end. Now is a time to assess your situation realistically and banish any false hopes or expectations based on illusion. Are you able to see the glass only as being half-empty? Are you unable to recognize the guiding trail beneath your feet? Keep in mind the moral of Aesop’s fable: the gods help those who help themselves.

3 Ways We Sabotage Ourselves, and How to Stop

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Ally Hamilton, author of Yoga’s Healing Power.

There’s no doubt that we all face challenges in this world, and that few journeys come without some heartache. Being human is a vulnerable undertaking, and no one even asked us if we wanted to undertake it! We arrive in the world, and we are loved and nurtured, or we are not. We are cherished and celebrated, or we feel unsafe, abandoned, or neglected. It’s not a level playing field, the spectrum is wide, and the possibilities are endless. On top of that, we have unknown expiration dates, as does everyone we love, and we don’t know for sure what happens after this.

Nonetheless, at a certain point, we have to take the reins and decide to grab a hold of the part of the story we get to control—namely, how we respond to what we’ve been given. Life is a co-creation, after all. There’s also an incredible amount of beauty in being human, but sometimes we block ourselves from opening to it in an attempt to protect ourselves from getting hurt. There’s no doubt that most people will face obstacles along the way—life rarely unfolds like the picture in our heads of “How Things Should Be.” The more we contract against our experience, the more we grip to a reality that’s different than the one we’re living, the more we suffer. So what to do?

Allow yourself to be where you are, and to feel how you feel.

Knowing yourself is the key to finding inner peace, but so many people run from that work. The most loving parents say things like, “Don’t be sad,” “Don’t be angry,” or “Don’t be scared,” but sadness, anger, and fear are perfectly normal emotions we’re all going to face. Culturally, we’re taught that certain feelings are not okay, or that they make other people feel uncomfortable or inadequate. When we start to edit ourselves, we create a state of inner confusion. If you habitually repress your challenging feelings, you cut yourself off from the wisdom of your intuition and lose any hope of understanding yourself—of recognizing what lights you up, and what tears you down, what inspires you, and what terrifies you. If you’re lonely and you have a glass of wine, you might shift the way you feel for a little while, but you’ve also lost an opportunity to examine your loneliness. What’s at the root of it? Are you longing for connection? Could you lean into the reality that you have a beautiful, open heart, and you want to share it? Is there something old at play? Do you feel unworthy of love? All these questions go unanswered when we run from what is real for us. Fear is at the root of this behavior—if I allow these feelings to rise to the surface, they’ll overwhelm me. The truth is, it’s the repressing and denying that overwhelms us, and makes us feel depleted and defeated and unknown to ourselves. There’s nothing lonelier than that. You don’t have to let your pain own you, but it will if you allow it remain un-examined.
Break free from comparing and contrasting your journey with the journeys of those around you.

Ever have a day when you’re feeling low and you decide to get on Facebook or Instagram to make yourself feel even worse?! This is another cultural norm—we’re taught to “keep up with the Joneses,” but the truth is, who are the Joneses? Do you even know them? Are they happy? Do you think they’ve gotten the breaks that you should have? Is that a story you tell yourself? Maybe life inside the Joneses’ house is a disaster. Things can always look one way, and be another. We never truly know the interior world of another person unless we’re given access. There are roughly seven billion people on this planet, but only one of you. There has never been, and will never be, another you. Comparing your life to someone else’s is pointless and irrelevant. There is no formula for life, no one way to “get it right,” or make your mark. No one else can take your place in the sun, because no one else is you. When you have a day when you forget that truth, you don’t want to turn to social media, you’re much better off finding your meditation cushion so you can witness your thoughts with compassion for yourself, and maybe even a sense of humor.
Starve a loud inner critic, and feed a loving voice.

When I started practicing yoga 25 years ago, I had a very loud inner critic. She was relentless and unforgiving, and there at every turn if I made a mistake, small or large. Always ready to berate me, or tear me down, or make me feel ashamed for being fallible, and human. That is a very rough way to live, but it can be so habitual that you don’t even question that voice. When I got on my yoga mat and started paying attention to my breath, and sensation in my body, there was no denying that booming voice any longer. I started to see her for what she was—a liar and a bully—and I decided I did not wish to bunk with her any longer! How do you evict your inner voice? For me, whenever I was on my mat, when that nasty voice arose and told me I shouldn’t take child’s pose, or I was pathetic for falling out of an inversion, I just stopped feeding it and heeding it. Instead, I started replacing that diatribe with an inner cheerleader, who’d tell me things like, Of course you should put your knees down if you’re tired! Have some compassion for yourself. Or, It’s totally fine that you fell, gravity’s been around a lot longer than you. Get up and try again! Little by little, that voice followed me off of my mat, and into my life, and that changed everything.

Our thanks to Ally for her guest post! For more from Ally Hamilton, read her article, “3 Ways Yoga Changes Your Life for the Better.”

Knowing Our Natural Feminine Confidence & Worth

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Meghan Don, author of The New Divine Feminine.

The most beautiful thing for the human being to know is a natural confidence and self-worth, and yet, knowing our innate Goodness has not and does not come easy to us, no matter who we are, or our worldly achievements. My own journey with this has been long and ongoing and it intrigues me as to when confidence and self-worth are naturally present or when the lack of both show up. The question becomes, where do they reside and what makes them appear and disappear?

Women especially seem to be affected by this not-so-merry-go-round as many of us are still carrying the patriarchal wounds and/or the paradigm deep in our souls. We can point to the outer world as the culprit, but as we know, nothing outside can cause anything unless it already exists within. The work asked of us is an internal journey of discovering what we are still holding onto, and what needs updating in our own inner world. I have been surprised over and over as how bound to patriarchy I have been, unconsciously of course! This has caused a deep inner conflict as my feminine being has been gasping for air and life, and yet this other paradigm was overlaying everything—ugh! It is not exactly the prettiest of work, but it certainly is a powerhouse of energy once it is released and re-formed into a way more compatible with our feminine nature and with the world that is currently unfolding.

Comparing one’s self to another is also something I have encountered, both in myself and with the people I mentor. Teresa of Avila wrote that comparison sets ourselves up to be either inferior or superior—as we will always find people of greater and lesser consciousness—feeding our perception of lack or promoting a false confidence. Best to keep turning inward to who we are and what we are to bring to the world, no matter how small or large it is. Both small and larger missions have their difficulties.

Can we succeed in bringing through what is ours and have some measure of success in the world while maintaining our spiritual authenticity? I personally have had a very complex relationship with spirituality and success—too many past monastic lives and living out the victimhood of lack. Thank the Mother this has taken, and continues to take, a delightful turn for the better with a good deal of inner work!

The inner revealing that we embark upon opens the way to know our true nature, and this is where we start contacting the truth of our self-confidence and worth; this is where they reside, deep in our soul nature, where the true feminine and masculine energies are joined.

When I am in alignment with who I am, freely and creatively engaging in my life and with others, the thought of confidence or worth does not even appear; I am simply being and living. When I fall into a place of disconnection with my self, my life and the world, then those recriminatory voices of lack seem to very quickly resurrect. May we all continue reaching deep within and draw forth our true nature that is naturally confident, worthy, and all Goodness.

Our thanks to Meghan for her guest post! For more from Meghan Don, read her article, “Reclaiming the Dark Face of the Feminine Nature.”

Modifying Tarot Spreads

Tarot Spreads: Layouts & Techniques to Empower Your Readings teaches a great deal about how spreads work, how they are designed, and how to use them to best advantage. One of the key elements of this work is to know yourself as a reader and to understand what works for you and what doesn’t. Some people have no interest in creating spreads from scratch. Some have a handful of spreads they love and use all the time. But just as we know that bespoke clothing fits, feels, and looks better than off-the-rack clothes, a spread that is modified to YOUR style will give you better results and/or make your readings flow more easily. Here are a few tips for modifying spreads from this book:

Modifying Spreads

Many great spreads already exist. In fact there are probably a few that you like quite a lot. But maybe they aren’t quite perfect for one reason or another. The most common method of dealing with unique needs or not-quite-perfect spreads is not to create a spread from scratch but to tweak or alter an existing spread. No need to reinvent the wheel, right?

Whenever you change an existing spread say, by changing a positional meaning or the numbering, you have modified that spread. Some would argue that by modifying a spread, it is no longer the same spread but instead is a completely new one. That is true, up to a point. For it is not really completely new unless you’ve reworked it entirely, in which case, you probably have invented a new spread. But mostly, when we speak of modifying spreads, we mean making small adaptations to an existing spread in order to suit your needs, beliefs, or reading style.

Here is a list of ways that you can modify spreads. When considering a spread, analyze its purpose. Look at the positions and layout. Determine whether the spread is designed in a way to effectively achieve the intended purpose. Then decide in what ways it either does or does not suit your style. What can be changed to make it better for you?

Modifications

Focus: can the general purpose of the spread be changed to suit the present needs?
Positional meanings: do all the positions pertain to the question you want to ask? Do they represent the aspects of the answer you seek? Can you add to the positions or eliminate some to better suit your needs?
Layout: does the layout make sense to you? Does it match positions? Does it make interpreting the cards easier? How can you change it to make the reading more effective?
Number of cards: are there too many cards or too few for your reading style? If there are too few, would adding a card or two per position help? If there are too many, is there a way to combine or eliminate positions without negatively affecting the reading?
Techniques: what techniques would make the reading more effective, more dynamic, or more useful?

Possession or “Possession Syndrome?”

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Debi Chestnut, author of Stalking Shadows, How to Clear Your Home of Ghosts & Spirits, Is Your House Haunted?, and the new Something Wicked.

As we all know, an exorcism is the most common treatment for a person possessed by a demon. However, have you really stopped to think about whether that possession is by a demonic entity or by some psychological break, or another undefined mental illness?

There is a concept in psychology called “the possession syndrome,” in which it appears that full control of a person’s mind is in the hands of a demon. However, in the possession syndrome, the demons are not physical beings, but projections of the mind.

A person suffering from possession syndrome often exhibits the same symptoms as a person possessed by a demonic entity. Patients who have suffered from this syndrome often report having horrible impulses to do something bad, thoughts and emotions they can’t control and seem to not be their own, and uncharacteristic moods and exhibiting destructive behavior.

The interesting thing about possession syndrome is that the patient often can only find relief from their symptoms when an exorcism has been performed on them. Normal psychological medications have not effect, and many patients are wary of psychotherapy.

So the question then becomes: are these people possessed by an evil entity and psychologists are not prone to believe the “mythology” of the existence of demons, or, in the converse, is the possession syndrome a psychological disorder?

The answer isn’t clear and in reality we may never know, but the point is that psychology and the paranormal need to work together to help these people. This is already happening in Europe; perhaps it’s time the rest of the world caught up.

Our thanks to Debi for her guest post! For more from Debi Chestnut, read her article, “Protecting Yourself Against Demonic Entities.”

Why We Need Pagan Festivals

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Devin Hunter, author of the new Witch’s Book of Power.

For thirteen years I have had the privilege of traveling all over the US attending and presenting at Pagan and Earth-centered spirituality events, festivals, and retreats. During this time I have come to deeply love the Pagan community and have learned so much about myself. Festivals are not just a great way for us to meet others of like mind, but are perfect waypoints throughout our year that mark our growth and evolution as both an individual and as a community. These events are cornerstones in our small niche, and without them Paganism and its ideals would not have spread the way that they did throughout the last thirty years. Over the past several years however, attendance at these events has been dwindling, which has given rise to a lot of concerns about just exactly where the movement is headed and what needs to be done in order to bring attendance numbers back up.

Obviously, when the recession hit in 2007, money became a concern for most families and any sort of entertainment budget went right out the window with the rest of your savings. There have also been a lot of event location changes, which have deterred some long time festival attendees from continuing their patronage. Sadly, some of the longest-running events in the US and abroad have also been canceled due to these issues. Festivals used to be major events that drew crowds of all sizes, and at one point the national event schedule was so full that there would have been no possible way to attend half of what was available. These days we have a few limited options, but thanks to some folks who stayed in there through the tough times, or have recently jumped on the scene, we are gradually noticing a rise in event offerings all over the country. I believe that in return we need to be showing up and supporting these events so that the institution of festivals is given another chance to provide the much needed networking and philanthropic foundation our larger community was founded upon. I don’t believe we can thrive as a people without these events, and the only way to keep these events around is to show up and give them our time, attention, and yes, money.

Festivals like Earth Warriors (Clarksville, OH) and the Heartland Pagan Festival (McLouth, KS) have been providing safe and controlled outdoor events to the public for years and are known for putting spirit, honor, and integrity first. When attending you don’t just feel like you have been to these events before, you feel like you’re “home” and don’t have to worry about getting lost in a crowd.

Indoor events like Paganicon (St. Louis Park, MN), PantheaCon (San Jose, CA), and ConVocation (Detroit, MI) provide rooms and amenities in a spacious hotel scene for those who don’t do the camping thing. Along with a comfortable bed and your own shower, these events host some of your favorite teachers, authors, and musicians from around the world.

For those of you who love music, there are also a number of Pagan-centered music festivals all over the US like Faerywolds (North Plains OR), and Caldera Fest (Lafayette, GA). These events are known for being full of energy and for having their pulse on what is new in the Pagan music scene.

There is no way possible to list all of the events available for Pagans this year; these are a few that have made a lasting impression on me and countless others. If you haven’t been to a festival before, or haven’t been in a while, check out the ones I have mentioned as well as your local events like Pagan Pride Day. As festival season approaches, there are many reasons to jump in and support the Pagan communities that are coming together to build and host these events. The whole of Pagandom doesn’t live on the Internet—some of us are busy finding excuses to come together!

Our thanks to Devin for his guest post! For more from Devin Hunter, read his article, “Seven Ways to Feed Your Witch Power.”

A Sorcerer in the Golden Dawn

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Aaron Leitch, author of several books, including Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, The Angelical Language Volume I and Volume II, and Essential Enochian Grimoire.

Greetings Aspirants!

I live a double life. Well…let me rephrase that slightly: I live a double occult life. If you add my mundane working existence to the mix, it could be said I live a triple life. But that’s really beside the point. My point is that, as an occultist, I’m burning the ritual candle at both ends.

Not that this is exactly news to some of you. I’ve seen the discussions in some of the forums: “Is Aaron Leitch a sorcerer, or a ceremonial magician?” Cases are made for both possibilities. There is certainly no discounting my deep involvement with the grimoires and Solomonic conjure. I talk quite a bit about the Old Magick, shamanism, the ATRs, and the return of pre-Golden Dawn occult philosophy. One of my greatest teachers was/is Ochani Lele, the famous Santo and author. I have let go of the 19th Century-born psychological model of magick. (Note that says “psychological model of magick,” not “psychology in its entirety.”) And, where it comes to this kind of magick, you won’t see my quoting from Mathers, Crowley, or even Regardie. I call down angels, conjure spirits, gather herbs and dirts and special waters; let’s face it, this is more a kind of witchcraft than it is “ceremonial” magick.

And yet…

I am a member of the HOGD. That’s the Cicero Order—straight down the initiatory line from Israel Regardie himself—and you’ll find me right in its’ Mother Temple. That is technically ground zero for the modern Golden Dawn movement, and the very embodiment of the magickal current that was born in the Victorian era. Mathers, Crowley, Regardie—even the Ciceros themselves (who, like Ochani, are among my greatest teachers)—are the very people you don’t see me quote in my Solomonic writings. Shouldn’t this current represent everything I say I left behind as a practitioner?

Though I’ve seen it debated (when no one knew I was watching) which camp I “really belong in,” I was actually kind of surprised that no one had ever thought to write to me and ask. Until recently, that is, when someone finally sent me a private message that said (and I paraphrase here): “How exactly do you reconcile the Golden Dawn and Solomonic currents? What exactly do you get from the Golden Dawn that helps your practice?”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the golden question. Given everything I disagree with about modern magickal philosophy, is there something I believe the Golden Dawn got right after all? You bet there is! And I’ve even mentioned it in a previous blog: what the West got right, magickally speaking, was Theurgy. The purification and elevation of the Self to its own innate Godhood. They have the initiatory process down cold, and it works!

The grimiores do not suppose a complete layperson can simply open a book and start commanding spirits. Instead, one is expected to have gained some training and spiritual authority before attempting the magick. In the Key of Solomon, one is instructed to attain the “rank or degree of Exorcist” (which, at the time, was a specific Order of the Church for which you had to be trained and ordained) and several other grimoires refer to the practitioner as “exorcist” or some variation of the term. Therefore (and this is something I’ve written about in depth), they certainly recognized the necessity of some kind of spiritual authority on the part of the practitioner.

Today I am an ordained Gnostic priest, and my Bull of Ordination says I have full rights to perform exorcism. So I now meet the literal requirement of the Key…—though it is more in letter than in spirit, because today “Exorcist” isn’t a stand-alone Order with specialized training. I may have the official “right” to perform exorcism—but that alone doesn’t make me someone the spirits should feel compelled to obey.

No, spiritual authority comes from months and years of study, practice, and initiation. Now, I don’t mean to make this a debate over what, exactly, constitutes an “initiation”—whether it must be done in a full Temple, or if you can self-initiate, etc. My point is, however you view the process itself, you must undertake a process by which you are purified, rectified, and elevated to a higher (and thus stronger) spiritual condition. You must “Know Thyself” before attempting to know the spirits—because, if you don’t, those spirits will take full advantage of you. Every complex, every neurosis, every un-examined habit or assumption you possess is a potential point that can be exploited by the spirits to gain control of the relationship.

Not to mention the vastly important (and all-too-often overlooked) requirement that the spirits should know who you are, and that you should be someone they would respect. Take this example (one of my favorite scenes from the New Testament):

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16)

It simply isn’t enough to perform a ritual, say a few words, and expect the spirits to take you seriously. “Jesus we know. Solomon we know. Cyprian we know. But who are you?” Had the exorcists in the above tale had a good answer to that, they may have fared better. When I perform my rituals, convoking the spirits from above or beneath, I make sure to include a statement of exactly who I am. I am Aaron Leitch, Frater Odo Caosg, a 5=6 Adept and Initiating Hierophant of the HOGD, author of…, etc, etc. You know—basically all the things that would make me a self-absorbed douche if I signed all my posts with them. The kinds of things you use to pad out a resume. Such self-aggrandizement is acceptable in a resume, and that resume should be submitted to the spirits you wish to summon. It answers the question “who are you?” before it can even be asked.

Now, before you start your comment, let me make something clear: I am in no way suggesting that you cannot be an effective conjuror unless you join a highfalutin’ esoteric Order, or publish books, or become a spiritual leader (though none of those things would hurt your efforts)! That’s just how I went about it because I’m a big-mouth who insists on being a public figure in an occult (hidden) world. What I’m really driving at is that you must do something to increase your personal spiritual authority. And undertaking some form of initiatory path is the key. The Book of Abramelin provides one path to spiritual authority (complete with your Holy Guardian Angel to back you up). Joining an esoteric order is another. Even undertaking a path of self-initiation (such as outlined in the Ciceros’ Self Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition) is a massive step in the correct direction. Think of it as an introduction to the spirits whose respect you will eventually earn through dedication and work.

I will admit that my understanding of the Old Magick informs much of what I do in the Golden Dawn. For example, I don’t believe we merely work with “godforms” that manifest from the Self—when I sit in Temple and invoke the deity of my Office, I’m talking to a very real deity. When we perform evocations, my wife and I bring food offerings. (That one really shocked some of our fellow Temple members—but they got used to it, and now they even bring such offerings themselves.) We even have an altar set up for Raphael in our Temple—not for any specific working or ritual, but just an altar where Temple members can come and make prayers and offerings whenever they feel the need. Pure idolatry, I tell you!

(For the record, though, I can’t take credit for all of this in my Temple. The Ciceros and a few other members were treating the gods and angels as real and objective beings before I arrived on the scene. Thankfully, that has made this one particular Temple very friendly for experimenting with these concepts.)

I also view our initiations as something more akin to what things were like in ancient Greek mystery schools—that the new candidates are being formally introduced to the gods and spirits we work with, and initiated into their mysteries. None of this supplants the psychological aspects of the ritual drama, or the visualizations, or the talismanic imaging we use for the “godforms,” or any of that great modern Hermetic theurgic stuff! Instead, the Old Magick simply adds another layer to it all, and allows me to connect with forces that are far larger, and far older, than what happens to be in my head.

So do I consider myself a Hermeticist or a conjuror? The answer, probably unsurprisingly, is that I am absolutely both, all the way to the core. Each practice informs the other—though I never attempt to create a “Golden Dawn Conjure” (no matter how awesome that sounds!) or even a “Hoodoo Golden Dawn” (which sounds absolutely terrible!). But the primary and most important manner in which these two currents work together in my life is the spiritual evolution, and eventually authority, I have gained via the Hermetic initiatory path. This authority—this earned knowledge and experience (of both myself and the Western Mysteries)—is brought to bear in my personal work with the spirits of nature. It is how I have gained their respect.

When I find it necessary to exorcise a spirit, I go in knowing exactly who I am and what I have accomplished. If a spirit demands to know who you think you are, will you have an answer, or run from the house naked and bleeding?

Our thanks to Aaron for his guest post! Visit Aaron Leitch’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.