Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 60

Keep It Quiet

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jean-Louis de Biasi, author of Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons, The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis, and Rediscover the Magick of the Gods and Goddesses. Jean-Louis is also Lifetime Grand Master of the Ordo Aurum Solis and Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross.

Secrecy has always been the fundamental cornerstone of initiatic Orders. It has also been the first requirement of any magical practice. I want to believe that there are reasons for this and that our ancestors didn’t take all these precautions without any reason. I was trained in this spirit and it became as natural as the respect of privacy.

Then came Facebook!

With the spread of Internet, we went from few lines of text to millions of photos and videos. All has to be seen, shared, and superficially discussed. It doesn’t matter if this is intimate, private, or public. I cannot spend more than a few minutes on Facebook without being astonished by the tendency to expose everything. Some psychologists would speak about exhibitionism! Maybe this is true, maybe this is not so bad…

Magicians followed the trend, apparently without any thought regarding the nature of what they are posting. I agree that posting beautiful photos of a Wiccan Priestess in nature is artful and inspiring. This is the same for photos of your yoga class in Hawaii or the latest magical place you found.

Magicians are humans, too! They have their style, their apparel, their mood. Sharing things seems essential on Facebook. Here is my latest ritual robe! Here is my latest altar, my candles, my pentacles, my banner, my pillars! Here are the full magical installation in my temple that I am about to use for this precise purpose in few minutes! Of course all that is followed by what I felt in the ritual I just performed and the photos of the candles after the ritual.

It might be good to take a big breath, and stay still few seconds.

What happened in the magical community? Why do privacy and secrecy seem to be lost? Why is nobody listening to more than 4,000 years of teachings?

Magic has its rules, its logic, and its laws. The initiate Apuleius, who lived in the 1st century, wrote about the initiations he received:

If any of you that are here present had any part with me in these same solemn ceremonies, give a sign and you shall hear what it is I keep thus. For no thought of personal safety shall induce me to reveal to the uninitiated the secrets that I have received and sworn to conceal.1

There is a deep reason for that. All the Theurgists and magicians who followed him did the same.

If magic really exists and works, there is a need to keep the energy involved concentrated. It is important to avoid any disruptions, even on the invisible level. It is essential to stay focused. There is a real need to avoid people sending their thoughts and energy on the ritual you are about to perform. In order for the ritual to be as best as possible, we have to keep it quiet!

That doesn’t mean we cannot speak about it or show various things. But I am convinced that there is a magical need today to think twice before posting on Facebook.

In traditional cultures, it is said that if you give information about yourself and about what you are doing magically, others have everything needed to act against you! If you believe that magic is real, maybe this is something to consider, too.

Then what? I think that we could consider the ancient rules and laws, trying to consider what parts are relevant today! I strongly believe that magic is a great and living tradition we have to consider seriously. Let us send few Facebook posts as wise magicians!

1Apuleius, Apology.

Our thanks to Jean-Louis for his guest post! Visit Jean-Louis de Biasi’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.

How Are Your Dreams These Days?

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jeanne Van Bronkhorst, author of Premonitions in Daily Life and the new Dreams at the Threshold.

I am delighted to be writing today about my new book, Dreams at the Threshold: Guidance, Comfort, and Healing at the End of Life.

I have been asked by other healthcare professionals why I would want to bother people who are sick by asking about their dreams. The end of life is an emotionally intense and spiritually profound time, and for those who view dreams as meaningless and irrelevant, asking about dreams makes no sense.

I understand their hesitation. As a child I was also taught that dreams are nonsense, but my own dreams were much more than that. They were also funny, aggravating, frightening, mysterious, and challenging. I have had dreams that moved me deeply and gave me insights that helped better my life.

When I became a hospice social worker, it felt natural to ask the people I met not just about how they were managing with their illness, but also about their dreams. I kept my question simple: “How are your dreams these days?” to give people room to answer any way they wanted. Some answered with a polite, “My dreams are fine,” or, “I don’t remember my dreams,” and ended the discussion. Many others, however, responded by telling me not just their dreams but about how their dreams connected them to the deepest part of their lives.

These people taught me that at the end of life, dreams come into a new beauty and emotional power. They become more meaningful, and ultimately more hopeful. They reassure and comfort the dying, their families, and anyone who hears them. I have seen dreams offer the dying and their families a profound gift of healing on three different levels.

Dream images themselves can bring enormous comfort and hope.Many dreams reassure dreamers that death is an ending, but also a transition into something new. People who are dying may dream of taking journeys or packing for a trip, and they wake feeling a sense of anticipation for their future instead of dread. Dreams bring images of the afterlife for some, and memories of important life events to others. People at the end of life might dream of a deceased loved one (or see a vision of their loved one) who is there to reassure them and help guide them across the threshold of death. Grief dreams can give mourners one more chance to hold onto the person who died.
People can use their dreams to open important conversations.Dreams help people open hard and necessary conversations. I have listened as people told about their dreams as a way to talk with their families about their life’s meaning, their loves and regrets, what they expected death to be like, and how they wanted to be remembered. These are all matters of the soul.

In my book I tell the story of an elderly woman in the hospital who dreamed her late husband was waiting to guide her home. She told the dream to her children as a way to let them know she was ready to die. The dream gave her children permission to support her wish, and she died in peace a few days later. She had known she was ready to die, but she needed the dream to help talk with her children.
Every dream re-affirms the importance of our lives.Dreams focus on growth and insight right up until the final days of life, as a friend of mine discovered. A few days before her father died, he had a dream in which he was applauding his ex-wife (who had died many years earlier). My friend watched in amazement as her father reconsidered that painful relationship and resolved some of his hurt. Years later she still cherishes that dream and her father’s final days.

It doesn’t matter if we have months or just days to live. Our dreams continue to push for insights, with an audacious assumption that what we think and feel still matters, because we still matter, even in our final days. Dreams at the end of life remind us of our strengths, our beliefs, and our most pressing life goals. They help us deepen our emotional bonds with the people we love and they gently lead us back, over and over, to the wonder of our hearts.

Our thanks to Jeanne for her guest post! For more from Jeanne Van Bronkhorst, read her article “5 Ways Dreams Can Help at the End of Life (And How You Can Help Your Dreams Now).”

More Magicians, More Power

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Jean-Louis de Biasi, author of Secrets and Practices of the Freemasons, The Divine Arcana of the Aurum Solis, and Rediscover the Magick of the Gods and Goddesses. Jean-Louis is also Lifetime Grand Master of the Ordo Aurum Solis and Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross.

In any spiritual development, individual work is paramount. You cannot achieve any inner development without a proper individual work that takes place over a long period of time. Sporadic rituals or psychic practices are not enough if we want to really achieve something. There is no question.

However, it is obvious that there are things that cannot be done alone. As a single man cannot build a pyramid, many men can. What is true on the physical level is also true on a spiritual and magical level. If you decide to perform a ritual for a specific purpose, let’s say, find a job, you relay on a few things: your knowledge of rituals, your ability to use your inner powers and the cosmic invisible energies. This is the first challenge, but you can decide in the name of individual freedom that you will not join any other individuals. This kind of choice must not be challenged.

You can also consider what has been called a “magical chain.” This is what Initiatic Orders and some others are using. In this case, the use of a common ritual performed by a group during a specific period increases the efficiency of the action. It can be easily organized on a small scale, when a local group is working together. To do the same worldwide is a different challenge. You need in this case a good organization and harmony between every initiate. This process is even more powerful when the rituals are performed simultaneously. The Internet is a real help on this matter and helps to organize such occult actions.

This is the kind of thing Gardner and his Coven did in 1940, when they performed a ritual called “Cone of Power” to prevent the Germans from invading Great Britain. We have to admit that Germany never invaded this island…

I have always been surprised that such important actions are so rarely planned by magical groups. If we believe that magic is real, we have to use it for good. When I became Grand Master of the Aurum Solis more than 10 years ago, I began to organize and use regularly such a magical chain. Last year, the initiates of the Aurum Solis used a ritual against the Ebola Virus. A few weeks ago, the initiates and students of the Order present in 39 countries around the world shared a magical ritual. It is currently performed to protect the tomb of the Master theurgist Iamblichus in Palmyra, and to magically pull ISIL forces from this ancient city.

Thanks to social media like Facebook and Youtube, the participation has been extended to any magician eager to help. This magical action is still in action and anyone can participate. (The ritual you can use is an excerpt of my forthcoming book, Magic of the Prayer Beads, which will be released in April of 2016.)

I am confident that this kind of magical action is essential. There are some causes we cannot solve easily on our own. A magical chain working in good harmony can achieve more and can make a difference.

Good energies and good thoughts are important! Performing a worldwide magical action is paramount!

Our thanks to Jean-Louis for his guest post! Visit Jean-Louis de Biasi’s author page for more information, including articles and his books.

Reading for Yourself

My friend Beverly asked for tips and techniques for reading for one’s self.

I’m not sure about you, but reading for myself can be an exercise in frustration. I used to throw down some cards, hoping desperately that they tell me what I want to hear, and look at them for a nanosecond and scoop them up with a heavy sigh, thinking “I have to do it again. I’m not centered enough (or I wasn’t clear on the precise wording of the question or some other excuse).”

Now, I have better habits for self-reads.

One of the first things I do to insure a good reading for myself (by good I mean useful not necessarily what I want to hear) is to commit to doing the reading. This means treating it with the same respect I treat a reading I’d do for someone else. This means being clear on the question, the spread, everything, before I begin, just as I would with a client.

It also means committing to scan, process, print out, and glue in my journal (with notes) the spread. This requires a lot of time. This does something important: helps me weed out the readings that I really don’t need to do. People who pay for readings do not bring every single question they have to a reader (well, maybe rich people do but I don’t have any of those as clients).

Making a commitment to my own reading requires me to prepare for it just as I ask my clients to prepare. Figure out what you want to know and why. Imagine best and worst possible answers. Imagine how I’d use that information (from the worst to the best), how it will help me.

When I read for myself, I used to just look at the cards and assume I’d done the reading, the interpretation “in my head.” But when I read for others, it is in the process of talking that many of the connections are made, patterns revealed, and important messages found. So I read for myself out loud. I used to record them just to force myself to speak out loud and you may find that helpful. Now that I’m in the habit, I don’t have to record anymore, but I do write everything down.

Another technique I use “to keep myself honest” is to be fiercely honest about the cards that come up. I (and perhaps you do, too) used to be really, really good at “spinning” any cards that came up to give the answer I wanted. Well, I’m still good at that, but I work hard not to do it.

After I interpret a card or set of cards, I force myself to question my interpretations. If I say, for example, that the 6 of Cups means a hot and heavy date night ahead, I ask myself what other cards in the deck could actually mean that and why didn’t tarot let those come up, if that is the answer. The 6 of Cups is not the 2 of Cups or the Ace of Wands or anything that I would consider “hot and heavy.”

My friend and owner of Ferndale, Michigan’s Boston Tea Room, presented a workshop on reading for yourself at the North Western Tarot Symposium. She used a similar idea but makes it way better and easier. She suggests that when you read for yourself that you go through your deck and select the cards that you think will be the answer. Then you pull randomly for the same positions to find out what tarot says is the answer.

I now take that further and pick the cards that create my ideal (or expected or hoped for) answer with one deck. Then I use another deck to shuffle and randomly draw to get tarot’s perspective.

This technique really does wonders to help me understand what outcome I’m attached to and helps me be more honest with myself about my self reads.

I hope these ideas help you, too. If you have your own self read tips, please share in the comments!

4 Llewellyn Titles Are Finalists for COVR Awards!

Four Llewellyn titles are finalists for 2015 COVR Awards:

The Journey Into Spirit , by Kristoffer Hughes (Reincarnation, Death and Dying)
Merlin Stone Remembered , by David B. Axelrod, Carol F. Thomas, Lenny Schneir and Merlin Stone (Autobiographical/Biographical Book Category)
Mystical Cats Tarot , by Lunaea Weatherstone & Mickie Mueller (Tarot Products Category)
The Witch’s Broom , by Deborah Blake (Wicca and Magick Book Category)

Founded in 1996, the Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) is an organization formed by a unique group of businesses that deal in “Visionary Resources,” and who work with and support each other as independent retailers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and publishers of visionary books, music, and merchandise.

For the sixteenth consecutive year, COVR Awards will be presented at the International New Age Trade Show (INATS) banquet, this year held June 26-28 in Denver, Colorado. The Visionary Awards are judged by retailers and seasoned professionals, who evaluate each title based upon content, presentation, and their own knowledge of the industry.

The Soul Needs Time

Nancy Antenucci’s book Psychic Tarot is filled with great ways to enhance your connection to the cards and to spirit.

It is also filled with practical tips for each of the six steps or, as she says, principles of a reading.

For example in the chapter on Closure, Antenucci offers this gem:

“I suggest my clients refrain from making any decisions about the reading right away. Instead, they should let the dust settle over the next forty-eight hours, to see what new connection have been made.”

For me personally (and my clients as well), this is part of closure and a transition into integration (the final principle).

We are so used to thinking and also (although sometimes this one is more difficult) feeling. We journal. We think. We make plans. All very left brain work. We feel, identify, and process our emotions.

But there is another part, our soul, which we sometimes forget needs time. This is hard for so many of us (especially Americans) who assume we have to DO something or we are “wasting” time. The soul is working, processing, integrating in the deep, dark recesses of our inner selves. Because it is not conscious, our mind doesn’t usually know what’s going on. Because it is not connected with the chemicals that make up our body, our emotions don’t always register this vital work.

 

We are mind, body, heart, and soul. The soul is a strange thing and we don’t always understand its ways and needs. If there is anything I’ve learned over the past few years is that the soul needs time. It won’t be rushed.

The Art of Changing

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Tiffany Lazic, author of the new The Great Work: Self-Knowledge and Healing Through the Wheel of the Year.

Ever since I heard the definition for magic as, “the art of changing consciousness at will,” I have loved it, cleaving to the words as a reliable compass by which to steer through stormy waters. Many years ago, when I first embarked upon a Pagan path, I pondered how to position myself in relation to magic. Did I really believe in it? Do spells work? Does the unseen world exist? Can I access it?

In my line of work, I see change every day. I see individuals who have formed certain beliefs out of experiences from many years past, who have lived in distress or self-destruction, but who are able to change the experience of their lives through changing their consciousness. The act of pulling the inner unseen into the light of discourse and inquiry in order to consciously step into a new way of being is a wondrous thing. It makes the process of self-discovery encountered in therapy a sacred journey.

Though this may seem counter-intuitive, I have found that the more I worked therapeutically, the more I believed in magic. I began to see magic as being the presence of the ineffable Divine placing a hand in the process of change. There is a moment when you know the change has occurred—an insight breaks through to the surface, or a lost-lost memory floods inner vision, or a connection is made between inner and outer worlds. These are goosebump moments when the energy of a person has completely shifted and you just know nothing moving forward will be the same as it was in the past.

I know that spells work, particularly when we approach them as “tangible text-messaging with the Divine.” They are the way we have of communicating our intention to change and bring something different into our lives. Ritual works similarly with the added benefit of being able to invite complementary energies such as guides and totems, elementals and angels, the Gods and Goddesses into the safe and sacred space to support us in our quest for change.

I was once asked if I really believed in fairies. At the time, I responded as truthfully and authentically as I could, that I did not know if I really believed in fairies but I truly wanted to believe in a world in which they did exist. I have long since shifted my beliefs on that front and many others. I truly do believe in fairies, as well as innumerable miracles that I cannot claim to even begin to fathom. The world of Spirit goes far beyond the scope of human comprehension and just because we may not be able to wrap our brains around some things does not mean they do not exist.

What I do know for certain is that we can know ourselves. We can plumb our inner depths and find those parts inside that have resided in the dark. We can draw out the aspects of ourselves that we want to change and use all the tools, both esoteric and mundane, to shift our perceptions. In doing so, we alter the experience of our lives. We do posses the will to change ourselves and that is magic.

Our thanks to Tiffany for her guest post! For more from Tiffany Lazic, read her article “5 Ways to Heal with the Wheel of the Year.”

Using Imagery for Manifestation

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Melissa Harris, author of the new 99 Keys to a Creative Life.

I hope this writing finds you in a state of peace and wanting for nothing. However, if there are areas of your life that you may feel are lacking, or where you may want to create change, consider employing imagery to help you move forward.

Being a painter, I’m naturally most inclined to experience the world visually. The thought of a brand new tube of paint or an empty canvas makes my heart beat faster! Color makes me happy, and my preference toward various colors changes. Have you noticed that you are attracted to a particular color for awhile and then you want a different color? For years everything around me, including my clothing, had to be purple—until it had to be green! I love allowing myself to gravitate toward the colors I love.

In the last couple of years I experienced a loss. I couldn’t stop focusing on my grief; I was feeling down so much of the time. This hovering sadness was zapping my energy. I selected an image from a card deck that I created that, to me, was an expression of empowerment. Every time my mind went to dwell on my loss, I picked up the card and felt the power of the image. I carried the card with me everywhere and whenever my mind drifted back, I looked at this painting of a powerful woman and shifted my focus to the present time. Gradually it became like the famous Pavlov’s dog, whereby whenever I saw the painting my mind went to a more positive place. I found that I was able to move quickly out of my depression soon after I made this a habit.

I also use particular images as reminders of what I wish to create. Making a vision board is a wonderful way to help us achieve our dreams. I just love making these. I use photos and I also let loose and paint on them. Glitter is allowed! On the New Year I often create a board for the year and include anything that illustrates how I want my life to look. I also have created specific boards, like one for manifesting relationship—which, I am delighted to say, worked out very nicely! I place these boards on the bookshelf at the base of my bed so that they are the first thing I see upon waking and the last thing I see before sleep.

It helps to experience the feelings you may have if you were to attain your dreams. When I look at these vision boards I get happy, and that helps accelerate my process of manifestation. You don’t have to be an artist to create your own board.

I hope that you can also find enjoyment while playing with some visuals. Why not march into Spring with your own personal empowerment imagery?

Our thanks to Melissa for her guest post! For more from Melissa Harris, read her article “5 Simple and Instant Creativity Boosts.”

A Unique Approach to Reversals

Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone have a wonderful book called Tarot Tips. It is filled with bite-sized tips that are perfect for dipping in and adding something new to your practice or to bring to a Tarot Meet Up or tarot play date.

Reversals are always interesting. Every reader has their own perspective. One offered in this book comes from Tip 30: Secret Paths. It is called The Reversed Major Secret Path and it goes like this:

The next time a Major Arcana comes up reversed, take a look at its numerological partner. You may find the information you need is found there:

21 World/ 3 Empress

20 Judgement/ 2 High Priestess

19 Sun/ 10 Wheel

18 Moon/ 9 Hermit

17 Star/ 8 Strength

16 Tower/ 7 Chariot

15 Devil/ 6 Lovers

14 Temperance/ 5 Hierophant

13 Death/ 4 Emperor

12 Hanged Man/ 3 Empress

11 Justice/ 2 High Priestess

10 Wheel/ Magician

This technique is very playful, and the play is to find connections. There is no right or wrong way to go about it, and no rules as to when to use it.

This is not from Tarot Tips, but another idea I’ve heard (but I’ve forgotten from whom, so if you know, let me know!). If a card is reversed, think about the card that comes before it numerically. Perhaps the reversed card is stalled energy because the energy of the card that would come before it numerically has not been fully realized.

5 Llewellyn/Flux/Midnight Ink Titles Are 2015 IPPY Award Winners!

Five titles from Llewellyn and imprints Flux and Midnight Ink are 2015 IPPY award winners! These titles were named as winners in the 2015 Independent Publisher Awards, which are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers.

The 2015 Independent Publisher Awards (IPPYs) were revealed via an announcement on their website. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on May 27. Our Llewellyn winners are below:

Yoga and Body Image , by Melanie Klein & Anna Guest-Jelley (Gold, Inspirational/Spiritual)
Spiritual Power of Empathy , by Cyndi Dale (Bronze, New Age [Mind-Body-Spirit])

In addition, two books from Llewellyn’s Midnight Ink imprint were also winners, as one book from Llewellyn’s Flux imprint:

Midnight Ink

Dying to Know , by T.J. O’Connor (Gold, Mystery/Cozy/Noir)
The White Magic Five & Dime , by Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco (Bronze, Mystery/Cozy/Noir)

Flux

Words and Their Meanings , by Kate Bassett (Gold, Young Adult Fiction)

A full list of award winners can be found on their website.

Congratulations to our authors!