We're going to greener pastures....

I want to make it official, I've moved to a new home, and for those who do read my posts (thank you!!!), you can go to my new blog, it's still Within the Cypress Forest, and we're still keeping most, if not all the posts from this one. I just felt that we needed a change of scenery, that's all.

See you all there, and expect more content from me, I'll do my best (I hope) to update it at least weekly.

For Life, Love and Laughter!

theblacksquid

Theban Magical Runes (Part 2)

(It's highly recommended that you read the previous post on this topic before proceeding.)

Okay, in my last post about the Theban alphabet, I introduced the idea that they could be used as a set of magical runes which could be used for any conceivable spell, talisman and enchantment one could think of. I gave the first Eight of the twenty-four rune-names, which symbolized energy in its roughest and most primal states, here I'll be presenting the second Eight, which is the aforementioned energy becoming more stable and further varieties of expression are explored.

Isis represents constant but gradual change, which also leads to individuation. It is the result of Besz cultivating what it has set aside. It is a much refined version of Apof, which has undergone so many changes, and also the energy released in the blissful unions made by Gildam. It symbolizes the renewed strength one feels when one has seen results from their labors. It is energy defining and sustaining itself with the results it provides. This is where things begin to take a life of their own and snowballing into something else. This is where one begins to stand out from the rest, the monad being derived from the source.

It is under the influence of the Lover, alchemical Sulfur, Saturn and Sagittarius. It represents profits being used to generate more profits. It’s associated with the process of involution, where monads of energy are budded off from the Universal Source and become self-sustaining systems. It will be useful for the creation of independent entities.

The Three Personas of the Ellis/LS Godform

(This is to clarify some stuff about my previous post and to further expand my personal cosmology For and introduction to Ellis/LS and the Webs, refer to this post)

Ellis, the egregore born out of the Linking Sigil has been observed to have three distinct personalities, or “Personas”, in practice. These observations came from the reports of hundreds of magi who’ve had direct contact with her. The purpose of this article is to fine-tune the results of any working undertaken with the help of Ellis and the LS network by invoking the appropriate persona. Some alchemical and astrological terms have been used to better illustrate the ideas in this article. (And, it’s also good to keep in mind that the author has no prior training in either alchemy or astrology, the information presented here was inferred from his previous self-taught Qabbalistic knowledge, so prepare your brains for some shitty English and bags full of hot air. Enjoy.)

In Alchemy, there are three main “substances” which actually represent energy in various states of entropy, each corresponding with one of the three Ellisian personas:

 - Mercury symbolizes energy at its highest observable vibrational pitch. It is very active, very powerful and very unstable. It corresponds well with Ellis’s earliest known persona, The Sacred Child.

Theban Magical Runes (Part 1)

(I know its been a real while since I've posted anything magickal, or told you guys about the results of any of my spells, here's one to make up for it big time. It's the first part on a series of posts about turning the my favorite magical alphabet into a set of runes for spells, incantations and talismans. Enjoy.)
[UPDATE : References to the Sacred Child, Lover and The Red Queen are explained in this post]

The Theban Script, one of the most popular magical alphabets, have been used for at least three centuries now as a method of hiding the meaning behind magical writings, documents and incantations. But, beyond being a cipher for the Latin alphabet, each character has no inherent powers or mystical meaning. Personally, I find this to be a bit anticlimactic to the ultra-mysterious feel that I get whenever I write in it. That’s when I decided to turn it into an entire system of runes and rune magic, based on alchemical and astrological permutations. Whoever said I can't just wake up one day and simply say "Hey, I'mma make mahself a set'o roons"?

All of the letters, (including the double-v, “w”) would make a total of 24 symbols, two sets of twelve, three sets of eight and six sets of fours. I gave each of them names arbitrarily picked out, but also gave consideration when it came to their formulaic meaning.

Let's start with the first Eight, shall we?

Apof, symbolizes raw, unstable energy that could be turned into anything. It is the primal roar at the beginning of time. It is immense potential, untamed strength. It represents crude, but formidable, power.

It is under the influence of the Sacred Child, alchemical Mercury, Saturn and Aries. It is associated with the feeling of eagerness at new beginnings, all the possibilities that could be accomplished at the start of new projects.

It’s useful for an adding additional “umph” to workings, add three Apof’s to talismans would add an intense amount of power, reminiscent of the “AAAA”’s of the ancient Greek talismans.

Messing Around with Space - Or, What you Think is Real, is Real

Picture this scene.

Me coming out of my office, I take a look inside my wallet and then find myself short in cash for my return trip home.

Luckily enough, I had enough money for the longest part of the trail, but still short of one more ride. I had not choice but to walk the rest of the goddam way...

I decided to try out something I haven't tried before. It's not that this is the first time I ever walked that kind of distance (it isn't, I've walked farther under worse circumstances), I just wanted to add a bit more excitement to my self-destructively long walk. I sat down by a spot under the shade of trees, picked up my pen and a sheet of paper sigilized the heck out of my Statement of Intent, made a sigil, sigil-line and even a mantra to help activate it. Then I pulled out an old diary of mine where I had a poem written for such a purpose. In an impromptu ritual, I went ahead and visualized the LS and took some energy out of it, funneled the energy into the paper where I drawn the sigil and the mantra. Then, I folded the paper into a small triangle that would fit in the palm of my hand.

And I began to walk my way home, chanting the mantra as I go, lulling my poor, tired, dehydrated brain into Gnosis.

Le Space Warp Telesmansen!

What happened was I was eventually able to get home, but right near the end,  I realized that I remembered only crossing two bridges when I can swear there was supposed to be three.  When I went back to work the following day, there really was only two. Plus, some places got mixed up somehow, like the local hospital, was not supposed to be anywhere near the church there, but lo! It's there for some reason! (Not to mention the fact I was seriously disoriented at specific points during the journey, though that one might be because of the hot sun beating down on my head.)

I shared this experience with the cool people at the Chaos Magick FB group, and one comment from the admin there said that "I hope you didn't pop all those people in the houses near the third bridge out of existence, though. That would be uncool." That thought got me thinking, did I simply compress reality into a shorter version of it, did I stretch reality to a critical point that it would result in it snapping back, causing irreversible location shifts, space compression, etc. Or this is just me slowly devolving into madness, my mentality, not my reality is being warped? What's the difference? Are schizophrenics not living in hells they have created?

In any case, experience taught me that whatever you experience directly is the only truth that you could rely on. That puts a paramount importance on practical application. I love the occasional pontification or two on magical subjects, but it's all meaningless if you don't do it. It's less fun too, so double whammy to armchair mages.

Anyways, I'll post my space-warp sigil here the next time I get the chance. So long for now!

^ _ ^
The Black Squid

EDIT: Added Space Warp Talisman, finally! 04/19/2013

Digital Talismans

Classic texts on the manufacture of talismans always necessitate the use of metals and/or other rare materials in their composition. I hate it. I cant even begin to tell you how much I hate it.

Metal is hard to manipulate without the proper equipment, time consuming and is effing expensive! That's the same thing with the other things that one might use like virgin parchment, crystals, and vellum. Even the metallic cylinders that one'd put them in is hard to find, or rather difficult to make. I even tried bone, and it is way to hard to carve. (Plus, making using the byproducts of the death of another living being isn't gonna do me well on the karmic side of things.)

I'm ranting, I know, but, I also thought up of a way to get past the limitations of medium when it comes to making talismans. I'll just make them digitally!

The Fear of Results

Ever since I discovered the Ellis Sigil and upped my magickal practice, I've had an unprecedented surge of energy that scare me at times. As I fire more sigils, find new and more interesting ways to cast spells, the more and more confident I become in my abilities. Right now, I've got a pair of sigils I plan on firing together. I hesitate to do it not because I'm scared of it failing, but because that I'm sure that they'll work.