Traveling music

Here's a very nice track by De heer Balthazar, used for trance and journeying. Highly recommended!

Eucharistos

As a Thelemic hermeticist, I love touring churches and seeing shrines - the advantage is that I can hold these places in my minds' eye when I visualize places of power in ritual. I've been celebrating with family from out of town these last few days, and my brother wanted to go to mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, MN for Thanksgiving day, and so we went. Absolutely amazing and exquisite building, I highly recommend viewing the shrines in back of the Sanctury. You can view a virtual tour online and select #14 through #20.  It's interesting to see living example of the pre-Christian Roman practice of patron offerings in a real-live temple you can walk through. Each shrine has a votive stand and places to commune in prayer/meditation before the saint. The image in the photo above is what I took of the dome over the sanctuary, showing the descent of the Holy Spirit. Hagios, Hagios, Hagios, IAO!

The mass intention yesterday was for the poor. Today, I took that intention into physicality as I walked in solidarity with Walmart workers on strike in St. Paul. It is my hope that my spiritual practice will fortify my life so that I can stand with others who work to free themselves from any oppression or servitude. This is my eucharistos intent in the spirit of Luke 4:14-21.

I was also able to take photos of the statues of the four evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In a way, this blog is under the patronage of St. Luke because I rededicated myself to magico-spiritual practice on the Feast Day of St. Luke this year, and part of that dedication was to create and maintain this blog of my working. As a Taurus, I'm also a "fan" of Luke because of his relationship to the Calf, one of the Four Living Creatures represented in the Gospel.

The soft darkness of the growing winter tide...

Three weeks ago, I would not have figured I'd be in this space - life is just so full of LIFE! I'm really just  happy, at peace. I have Work, spiritual practice, that's reclaimed, renewed..I just feel so damn blessed...I'll get back to the ponderous, soon enough, to be sure. But for now, all *this is enough. Even the cold and dusting of snow has a feeling of rightness to it. This is the dark tide of the year, but this is wholly, holy appropriate darkness and so I am content.

We also celebrated the solar eclipse in style tonight. The dear Frater was in towering, righteous, commanding form as we conjured the mysteries in fire and beauty. We used an older ritual form that I haven't been working with for awhile, and I had forgotten how powerful this format was. The Charge we crafted was eloquent, precise. The talismanic body found, fortuitous, in my bookcase - I couldn't have done better if Agrippa himself had made a pantacle specially for me.

On Wisdom...

Wisdom is the root whose blossom is the resounding Word....
I flame above the beauty of the fields to signify the earth --
the matter from which humanity was made.
I shine in the waters to indicate the soul, for, as water suffuses the whole earth, the soul pervades the whole body.
I burn in the sun and the moon to denote Wisdom, and the stars are the innumerable words of Wisdom.

The Holy Spirit as Caritas (Grace/World Soul & Wisdom/Creatrix)

-Hildegard Von Bingen

Saturn in Scorpio

I remember the last time Saturn was in Scorpio, back in 1985...

 ...this feeling, familiar, of being stretched out with yearning for something (not sure what), wanting to create, being alone in a strange town with no real support system. I tried to connect with the magical community, but as the Fates would have it, they were having none of it, and I ended up with a pretty solitary life, working and taking care of a newborn while my husband worked a lot out of town. We lasted a year and a quarter in Los Angeles, before deciding we needed to move back to the Twin Cities. I've never regretted moving back, but I don't hold anything against LA, just not a place that I felt right putting roots down into.

So, this feeling of anticipation and wanting to connect, but having to deal with the fact that something is still brewing, not quite ready to serve yet and I'll just have to deal. But this time around I'm a bit older, more nuanced and so am feeling a bit more sanguine about the whole transitional vibration. Also, I've a much more stablized spiritual practice and I owe the lionshare of my balanced demeanor to my beloved magical partner. I am truly a blessed woman to have him in my life. Dealing with this Scorpio energy, the first significant pattern to deal with as Sun enters Scorpio is the conjunction with Saturn. This is the first major thematic energy that I'll be dealing with this month, and something that I would hope every magico-spiritual practitioner spends more than a weekend workshop worth of effort on. True to form, Saturn is putting TRUTH right up in my face and my attention is drawn to my greatest personal weakness - giving too much of a shit what people think about what I am doing. I guess I get to really work with this pattern for awhile, and I know the greater the level of awareness I can bring to this, the quicker the pattern will lose it's charge for me...a good thing, in terms of overcoming a conditioned psychological pattern which has proved to be a challenging blockage to my

Exhibit One - a posting from Facebook, by the Return of the Divine Feminine:


"Truth doesn't need believers - it just IS…"

This is a very good thing to hear, and something to keep in mind, every hour of the day. You don't need to be a magical practitioner to realize that the world will do everything in it's power to distract you from truth, as you understand it. One form of distraction will be the message that you need to somehow convince someone that your creativity must be meaningful to someone outside of yourself for it to be true. Never let 'em bullshit ya, Truth just is and you need to find your truth and give it form.

"If people connect with it (truth), express it and embody it, then it is revealed and exposed - but no matter how misunderstood, distorted or hidden it may be, it cannot be destroyed."

More good news! It's impossible to fail! That you do the Thing, is enough, but make sure you persist in this practice of your Truth, so that you become more and more skilled in expression. You shouldn't expect to be able to hit a flawless high C after your first voice lesson. Neither should you get down on yourself with the first painting you paint. Sure, the first results, and probably even the fifteenth and 175th time you try something may be dissatisfying, will fall short of the vision, the dream. It's all a journey, but impossible to destroy the adamantine truth of your TRUTH.

"If you know your Truth and it alienates people or causes others to tear you apart or project on to you - you still have it and it will see you through - it is our Ultimate Power."

The truth shall set you free, but first it will make you miserable. But, that's no reason to give up and stand aside. Persistance is all. Those who see you run free before them will either love you for it and will take inspiration from your free expression of Truth, and get free themselves, which is very groovy and makes for more Truth and more fun and freedom. Either that, or some people witnessing your freedom will feel uncomfortable as hell, because they've convinced themselves that this small life they inhabit is all there is. Your TRUTH will put the lie to all that, and if that happens, you will want to know how to duck.

"If we temporarily lose our Truth, or veil it or forget it, it always returns and never abandons - only we abandon."

The best of all possible news! You may not be able to go home again, or to enter the same river twice, but Truth, and Saturn, will not abandon us. We can always choose to take up our Truth, play with it, unfold it, give it new forms and see where it will take us. You may not always end up being happy, but at least you will be satisfied. That's reality, and it's a pearl beyond price.

Be aware, though, that the time you have in this incarnation is precious and finite. While Saturn and Truth won't abandon you, it's possible to put off things too long and then it will be too late. Live this Truth now because you are the only one who can live your truth. If it is not expressed, it is lost to the world forever.

Bittersweet, by David Rhodes

Bittersweet ...the time we have, the time we have
Bittersweet...oh, the time that we have.
Keep the spirit level, the bubble between the lines
Stay on an even keel, it's by degrees we are defined.

Bittersweet...the form of the rose, the form of the rose.
Bittersweet....the form of the rose.
Keep the senses keen, to pleasure and to pain
Stay awake even as you dream
The mind, the soul, to explain.

Day of Venus, Hour of Saturn

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. -Rumi

"The central message of the Edenic allegory is that when perception does not obscure Divinity everything is bliss. In fact the word Eden itself means DELIGHT." 

Feast of All Saints

Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit you made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy.

Day of Jupiter

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