Churchy antics

"Bless me, father, for I have sinned."

I won't make a separate label for rants, let alone for specific rant subjects. Take this rant as it is because it may be informative to some.

Today is Palm Sunday based on the Orthodox calendar, meaning next Sunday is Easter. People around here seem cool with that. Many are contempt or even rejoice because they can hang out and have fun at bbqs with friends and family and whatnot.

None are aware why this particular timing is wrong based on a calendar constructed based on human dogma alone. Most are oblivious to anything anymore, anyway, besides their immediate needs, so who cares?

But anyway, the Orthodox Church has decreed who knows how long ago, because I won't bother researching, that Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the so called New Moon in Aries. This may mean nothing to laymen, but this has both an astronomical and an astrological cause behind it, at least in my view. But I think my view was proven correct upon my back and forth with an Orthodox priest on the subject a few years back.

Helios rite

The following rite is aimed for bringing out the truth in a situation, but it can also be for clarity or enlightenment. Dispelling darkness or ignorance can also be the intents behind it and by darkness one can understand impurity and foul spirits as well.

Ritual requirements should be easily attained. Besides the altar lamp, a golden (or yellow) candle should be enough. The ever so pagan Mr. Farrell would tell you to write "Helios", your name (or that of the target) and intent on the candle and if I were to go witchy, I'd tell you to etch them vertically from top to bottom, then anoint the candle from top to bottom with sunflower oil. Anyway, some frankincense would also be nice. A photo of the god would make a good addition (in case a statue is unavailable). A golden or yellow altar cloth would be the icing on the cake for this simple arrangement.

If you're casting on another, have their link next to or underneath the colored candle.

Jupiter cazimi

May 18 will see the last decent Jupiter election for a long while. The jolly planet will be cazimi at 28° Taurus. Jupiter has no dignity in that degree of the bull's sign, but being cazimi will give its juju a great boost.

Then, until way into 2025 its energies will be inadequate to work with for beneficial matters. It will enter Gemini, one of its signs of exile, where it will also retrograde. In Asteria we offered a specific example of working with Jupiter in Gemini, but I would absolutely not make Jupiter talismans for beneficial purposes during this particular transit.

Therefore, if you want to perform any ritual for beneficial purposes involving Jupiter, includong my Jupiter working for money, then I recommend you do it solely on that day. I've already talked one too many times about combustion so no need to offer further details or tag any more articles. Asteria also covers these topics in detail.

Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces

Recently I've been getting inquiries from people regarding Mars conjunct Saturn in Pisces. The exact conjunction will occur within a few days, on April 10 or 11 more exactly, depending on timezone. 

As we discussed in Asteria, the energy buildup will begin just as the two planets are in orb, meaning some days prior to their exact conjunction. They will reach their peak during the exact conjunction and the separating aspect will see the development of events that had been shapen by the energy buildup.

Against, but still according to

"When 'the above' says 'no': Reasons spells go bust" is an article that's given me quite the headache back when I was writing for Asteria 2. The reason for this is that even though I had a glimpse of the essence of what I was fucking my brains out to explain in words, I couldn't quite put my finger on it and so the image that usually forms in my mind on such occasions was fuzzy. 

Luckily, I appealed to Raziel to help me make sense of that fuzzy image and, because he's such a great guy, he came through big time. When all was done I was very pleased with how the article turned out. Little did I know at the time that somewhere in an old work laid the piece of information that would've made me have an instant epiphany had I came across it while struggling with the article. But I'm uncultured so I had no idea of what that book contained haha.

Until recently! Book III of Liber Astronomiae has a small yet very interesting chapter, Chapter IX. Thanks to my reader Nacho who's got the Spanish translation I came across this two paragraph chapter. In itself, it is quite insignificant and merely discusses things any astrology enthusiast can observe by studying the charts. Its title, however, and one of the phrases it contains represent the very essence of my article.

Power & Energy

Power and energy are very important in magical works. This applies to both the micro and macrocosm. The more power is put behind a working, the better its chances of success. Likewise, the more energy is brought into a working, the better.

As an example from the real world, a WW2 Tiger tank was a formidable weapon. If it had sufficient fuel it could provide devastating results. If fuel was low or non-existent, its efficiency dropped significantly (even in defensive battles). 

Another example comes to mind from Anime, more exactly the Bleach series. The main character of the series is one Ichigo Kurosaki, a teen who ended up fighting the good spiritual fight. I remember other characters of the series speaking of him as having a great spiritual power, meaning he was innately powerful. However, when he was involved in longer lasting battles with powerful opponents his spiritual energy would start to drop at some point because of his immense efforts. The same occurred in the case of his opponents.

April Fool's Trickster

Mercury's first retrograde station of the year will take place on April 1. The Trickster God will indulge us with his shenanigans for (at least) 25 days starting with April Fool's day.

Besides the event generating both personal and social issues throughout this time frame, as well as before and after for a while, it will be completely improper for beneficent magical work involving this planetary force. 

We explained retrogrades in general, as well as Mercury retrograde in particular in Asteria.

Why, you ask...

Today I received an email from someone's I've never been in touch with asking me why I charge "so much" for my services, implying it's too much and basically accusing me of taking advantage of people. This left me speechless for a moment and when I snapped out of it I considered it unnecessary to reply. But I will reply here.

I've been actively involved in the occult for almost ten years now. During this whole time I've encountered many occult service providers, each charging their own prices for their particular services. Every so often I encountered people charging different prices for different types of spells. The reason for this eludes me to this day, since I charge the same price for any demand, regardless of whether it concerns love, money, health, curses and so on. At one time I used to charge an additional $10 to my usual amount for performing Enochian rituals, but later I decided to perform them solely for myself.

Temple

Over the years I've encountered more than a few discussions about the space one uses when conducting magical operations. More than a few beginners frighten over the fact they don't have a place to use solely as a temple, in the actual sense of the word. They consider this a liability and worry over the fact his would hinder their work, as in their results would be weaker.

Moreover, there are many out there who stress over the importance of a temple space. Often, these people happen to be in the business of crafting and selling magical implements, from something as complex as Golden Dawn temple pillars to something as mundane as candle holders one can find at garage sales. With their profit in mind, it seems obvious such people keep spamming the alleged importance of having as pristine a temple decor as possible, with every imaginable paraphernalia on the side.

In reality, this is not a must! While having a specially dedicated room as a magical temple would be ideal, most people cannot afford it due to obvious financial and social reasons. Therefore, a ritual space is required for undergoing magical practice. This space can be anywhere on the property or in nature, whether it be a kitchen, attic, back yard, the local woods and so on. So long as it allows the person relative peace and quiet for the duration of the work, it should do.

Casting in the past?

More than once have I come across people discussing the possibility of spells affecting past events. So far I don't think it's probable although at the same time I'm being open minded about it.

But at he same time I've come across scenarios where a certain situation required a certain spell and things started moving in the direction the person wanted even before they've done the spell. Then, once the spell was performed things started working even smoother for the person in regards to that scenario and its circumstances.

Quite recently I've been contacted by someone dear telling me their home had been under the influence of nefarious energies for a while. Things were off and odd and a particular object seemed to be the center of those energies. Since Mars was strong at the time, I quickly cooked up a simple but effective Martian working for the person and provided them with the exact ritual time that would increase its efficiency.

Why do I bother?

Someone asked me why I post astro forecast articles every so often. There are two reasons:

1. It helps people who are not (that much) knowledgeable of astrology get a general idea of the state of the planets at certain times in regards to their magical needs.

2. It helps making potential clients understand why I may say certain rituals they'd want me to perform for them might be less successful, based on their exact need at the time.

For example, if someone would want to do magical work for getting more money or would want me to do it for them, they should know it would be far better at the moment to work with Mercury instead of Jupiter or the Sun. This condition would not last long because Mercury will quickly slip under sunbeams and later become combust, then both in fall and exiled.

Edit: my bad, Mercury is currently under sunbeams, but back when I had thought of writing this article it wasn't...

Mars the healer

Yes, I know! Mercury is well known for healing and the Sun is good for health! But why Mars?

Yes, I also know there's a Martian pentacle in the KoS that's said to be good for healing and I've used it quite successfully at times. Note that I've made it during an auspicious Martian election, not "in the planetary day and hour during a waxing lunar phase" (regardless of other, more important considerations).

But I'm not referring to that pentacle!

What I'm referring to is based on my lengthy experiments over a considerable time, some that had found their way into my late Mundane Body Magick, a book that will never see the light of day again because reasons. This one is one of those experiments that have proven their success time and again, especially when performed during proper times. Now, I do realize emergencies can occur at times Mars is afflicted, but I've got a substitute force in those cases although I'm not going to address that now.

Services announcement

Beginning today the price for a ritual done by me for or on behalf of someone else is $100 USD.

Also, the price for magical counseling is $30 USD.

The changes appear in my terms and conditions, also linked to the left of the page.

On Saturn

Saturn was the first planet I oriented myself towards at the beginning of my magical practice. I've done so having previously studied my natal chart and finding Saturn having great influence over my life, influence I've corroborated with my experiences up to that point. The first year of my practice was also under the influence of Saturn, with me having to struggle to come across, understand and accept newer material (keep in mind I'm an idiot), as well as diligently sticking to my practice. 

I found this video (that has a second part) to be a very good source for understanding Saturn more thoroughly. We did speak of it in Asteria, but we couldn't include too many details and explanations because it would've derailed the whole thing, the book bwing complex enough as it is. Anyway, you'll find several interpretations of Saturn from philosophical, magical and astrological perspectives from sources spanning from the late renaissance to antiquity. 

The planet's influences, what it governs, as well as its correspondences and magical powers are presented. Ritual examples are presented and readers of Cielos will find a certain invocation familiar.

Enjoy!

Ye four elements

I came across this video that presents the four elements and their beings in great detail. The source of the video is Manly P. Hall who uses Paracelsus as his main source, but other older sources have been consulted as well. I consider it important to know as much about these forces as possible in order to achieve greater success in working with them.

We've also discussed the elements in Asteria.

Good news and bad news

This short post revolves around Venus and it's future transits through Pisces and later on, Taurus.

The good news is Venus will be free of the hindrance of being under sunbeams during it's Pisces transit that will begin in roughly two and a half months. This means we can make the best of this transit and squeeze as much of its exaltation as possible during the less than a month time the planet takes through that sign. And I think we should do just that because...

...the bad news is that later on it will find itself under sunbeams and even combust while transiting its domicile in Taurus. I've covered combustion in more than a few articles so far so there's no need to tag any one of them anymore. The problem is we wouldn't be able to harness the added strength Venus will gain through domicile and triplicity without those energies baing weakened and then becoming volatile.

Venus cazimi will only occur at 14° Gemini, followed by yet another combustion and more time under sunbeams.

Meh astro forecast

The New Year begins with mixed planetary strengths. In fact, all but one of the seven classical planets is meh atm in terms of strength, to say the least.

A new lunation began today in Capricorn, the sign of the Moon's exile. It also squared the nodes so we should be in for a rather interesting fortnight. The Moon will increase until becoming Full in Leo (where it will square Jupiter).

Mercury has recently turned direct although it's still in exile in Sagittarius and slower than usual. Not a good idea to work with its forces until the planet at least passes its previous retrograde station point in Capricorn.

Book review: Things my Hierophant should have told me

Pagan magician and occult book writer extraordinaire, Mr. Farrell, has dropped another title, this one being a much thicker version of a book he's written and published ages ago.

Things my Hierophant should have told me is a series of aphorism-like statements surrounding different topics beginners and even advanced occultists should be aware whenever encountering certain issues. The good thing is the author covers a wide variety of issues occultists may face, ranging from simpler to more complex.

One such important subject is occult groups and orders. Having a broad experience in working with various established groups over the eons covering his practice, Mr. Farrell details on how to recognize serious ones that focus on helping the individual, as well as the many red flags one must recognize in order to avoid toxic ones who's leaders merely seek wealth (and sex). Moreover, the book also covers the unofficial groups, cliques of people who outright scam others using outrageous claims.

Money for nothing and your shills for free

Some time ago I wrote this article in which I spoke of various occultists (more or less) who make up all sorts of shit to practically beg for money from others involved in the occult community (more or less).

It recently came to my attention this trend has snowballed and people who are (or used to be) considered superstars in this field (often by people with questionable knowledge and experience) have also adhered to it. It's been brought to my attention that during this past holiday season no more than four such (doubtful) characters have started what appear to be promotional campaigns for occult services in the new year.