Table of Contents

NOW
THAT'S
WHAT
I CALL
CHAOS
MAGICK
Greg Humphries & Julian Vayne
Dedication & Acknowledgements
Foreword
Volume 1
What Is Chaos Magick?
Thou, who art I, Beyond all I Am
Fotamecus Film Majik
Mahakali Maya
Halloween 331/3
Key Resources
Volume 2
Introduction
Act I: Abstract
Act II: Theory
Holy Guardian Angel
Act III : Practicum
Appendices
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3.
Key resources
Notes
Index (for softcover edition)
NOW
THAT'S
WHAT
I CALL
CHAOS
MAGICK
Greg Humphries & Julian Vayne
'nothing is true, everything is permitted'

attributed to Hassan-i Sabbah

Naturally though this book discusses all sorts of things that are currently
illegal in many nations I would never wish to encourage anyone to break the
Law. Moreover since this book contains information about how human
beings can fly like birds, become transformed into animals and explore the
farthest reaches of inner space it is, quite clearly, a work of fiction.

NOW

THAT'S

WHAT

I CALL

CHAOS

MAGICK

Greg Humphries

&

Julian Vayne

Copyright © 2004 Mandrake & Liminalspace Publications

First Edition

Cover illustration: 'Mercury Descending' by Greg Humphries

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any
form by any means electronic or mechanical, including xerography,
photocopying, microfilm, and recording, or by any information storage
system without permission in writing from the publishers.

Also available

Seeds of Magick

Personal Development with the Tarot

The Inner Space Workbook

(all above titles Julian Vayne with Catherine Summers)

Pharmakon - Drugs and Imagination

(Julian Vayne)

For information about new publications and workshops please consult our
on-line esoteric journal at

www.liminalspace.co.uk

Published by

Mandrake of Oxford

PO Box 250

OXFORD

OX1 1AP (UK)

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library and
the US Library of Congress.

1869928741

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL CHAOS MAGICK

Volume 1 & 2

First printed edition published by Liminalspace Publications.

Cover illustration: "Mercury Descending" by Greg Humphries

© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the authors.
Dedication & Acknowledgements
For Ronald - without whom this book would never have happened.

Volume 1

This book is dedicated to all those wonderful people who shared the journeys
documented in this text. The participants in the Fotamecus Film Majik
Project, the twice born of the Kali puja sequence, The Anderida Grove of the
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, all the players in PACT, The Illuminates
of Thanateros, my lovely friends and my beloved partner.

And for Osric.

I am indebted to a variety of sources both for ritual material and inspiration. I

would particularly like to thank Fenwick Rysen, Brother rhino (who in turn
draws on the work of various members of AMOOKOS) and Keyman whose
work appears in this Volume.

Volume 2

I have met so many wonderful people during the time it took to write this
book, usually they were where I didn't expect to find them. Specifically I
want to mention The Illuminates of Thanateros who have in their midst some
of the most adventurous, creative and outrageously funny individuals I have
ever had the pleasure, and pain, to work with.

Big Love to Rachel, Vanya and Eleanor, the unborn one, for whom this work
was undertaken in the first place.

Ideas never wholly originate in one person so I hope I have credited the
appropriate authors and work where I can. I have been particularly brutal
with the ideas of Mantak Chia and John Seymour, and I hope they can
forgive me for that.

Contents
Dedication & Acknowledgements 6

Foreword 9

Volume 1

What Is Chaos Magick? 11

Thou, who art I, Beyond all I Am 18

Fotamecus Film Majik 34

Mahakali Maya 52

Halloween 331/3 74

Key Resources 93

Volume 2

Introduction 95

Act I: Abstract 98

Act II: Theory 135

Holy Guardian Angel 141

Act III : Practicum 152

Appendices 176

Appendix 1 176

Appendix 2 177

Appendix 3. 179

Key resources 181

Notes 183

Index 184
Foreword
by Dave Lee

Our spells are forever the same, clothed in beliefs that change in accord with
the times. Maybe there is, forever, Nothing on the other side of Progress,
endless novelty spewed forth by the fertile void, the Ginnungagap,

Chaos. Those of us writing at this growing edge find ourselves mythologizing

our personal dialogues with the Mystery, in the form of our feelings about the
specifics of our lives.

To this book of illuminated stories that you hold, I would like to add my own,
as a fulcrum for my own issue with the book. This tale stems from as late as
last year; I heard of a speaker at an occult conference voicing distaste for
Chaos Magic as if it was mere punkery past its time. I hadn't realised there
were people around who still hadn't got the point - which leads me to the
'Chaos Magic is dead' theme in the present book. It's all very well to say CM
is dead - I've used that as a strap line myself - but the fact remains that there
are still those out there, who consider themselves magicians, who still prefer
think it's some kind of infantile disorder cult. For anyone trying to do sorcery
and yet suffering from this sad delusion, I would point out that if you want
your magic(k) to succeed then you are probably already modelling other
successful magicians of the past, and that this modelling approach is the core
of the Chaos critique of magical method. Take note! Surely you wouldn't
want people to think you're the kind of person who talks about Magick but
does no work!

Another criticism levelled at Chaos Magic is that it presents magic as an

unfettered discipline of Power, without an explicit scheme of self-
illumination. This image was in itself generated by early exponents of Chaos
Magic, so that perception is fine by me - and anyway, if you're writing a
serious book on magic you're not seeking to be liked - just respected! And
this book is very much the exception: The authors' mythologizing of their
experience lends a vivid sense of personal evolution, an encompassing of
their intimate lives in a total web of magical practice which takes in
aspiration, illumination, purpose; the building of life and the preparation for
an eventual good death.

Some of the material in this book led to my adding a couple of important

strands to my own work. I'm delighted and grateful that anything published
with the word magic(k) in the title these days can accomplish that.
Volume 1
What Is Chaos Magick?
In order to answer this question let's take a brief tour through the
development of magick in the West…

The occult tradition has always been highly syncretic, embracing ideas,
language, techniques and images from many different areas of human
experience. In demonstrating such eclecticism and mutability one might well
argue that, since the end of the shamanic phase of culture (in the West),
occultism has clung like a rather disreputable parasite to the pelt of first
religion and then science. The magicians of the medieval period couched
their work in terms of Hebraic and Christian Qabalism. Alchemy and the
Hermetic tradition maintained an uneasy truce (mostly) with Catholicism and
latterly spiritualism attempted to clothe itself with a broadly Protestant
iconography.

Today occultism is beginning to emerge on its own terms. For occultism is a

study, an area of enquiry that, whilst it may utilise the language of religion or
science (or art, or many other things), it is itself a complete body of
knowledge. For me, as I have explained in my previous work Pharmakon,
occultism is the study and practice of engaging with mystery. Magick is the
technology of exploring the occult, those hidden aspects of the universe.
Moreover magick provides mechanisms whereby we can learn to cause
change in the hidden processes of the universe.

The grandfather of contemporary occultism is undoubtedly Eliphas Levi who

attempted to formulate a general theory of magick (indeed he always claimed
to be primarily a theorist rather than a practitioner of the occult arts). It was
Levi's' The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic (1856) that began the process of
de-coupling magick from a specifically religious viewpoint Levi sought, if
not to create a scientific vocabulary for magick, then at least to try to cut
through the complexity of the subject in order to identify 'principles'. Levi
focused his work within what we might now call the Western magickal
tradition, but contemporary researchers were also active in creating a
scientific language (devoid of explicitly religious content) to explain such
phenomena as mesmerism.

Levi's first magickal principle was that of the Will which, as in mesmerism,
was imagined 'as steam or the galvanic current', that is a 'real' force. Levi
opined that paraphernalia such as robes, incense, magick circles and the like
were primarily important as aids in supporting the Will. Their virtue was in
their effect on the Will of the magician and not primarily to be considered as
arising from any inherent property. With this principle Levi, at a stroke,
jettisoned the magicians reliance on virgin parchment and the blood of
pigeons and recast the material mechanics of magick into what Israel
Regardie would later call 'an artificial system of props and aids'.

Levi's second principle was that of the astral light. This light was the medium
or dimension of reality which permeated all things, and of which the material
world was only one of innumerable projections. Levi's conception of the
astral light was similar to ideas such as that of the luminiferous ether (the
medium through which electromagnetic radiation was conjectured to pass by
19th century physicists) and the all-pervasive 'odic force' of Baron von
Reichenbach. The fundamental principle of magick that the doctrine of the
astral light reaffirmed was 'all is one and one is all'- everything in the
universe was intimately interconnected. Today we might imagine this astral
light as the 'quantum vacuum', conceptualising it less as a substance (in the
way that water is) but instead as a dimension or underlying quality of the
universe (that gives rise to the probabilistic nature of events).

Levi's third principle, which was significantly developed by the adepts of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, concerned correspondences or 'like
attracts like', what James Frazer went on to examine in The Golden Bough as
'sympathetic magic'. For Levi the doctrine of 'as above, so below' affirmed
that what was within the macrocosm was reflected within the microcosm.
Today models such as the holographic or fractal universe expound essentially
the same doctrine. On the most superficial level one might say that humans
are 'the magickal mirror of the universe' so that the constellation of Leo was
related to the breast and the organ of the heart. However for Levi these chains
of symbolic meaning were not to be taken strictly literally, rather it was the
principle or quality that these symbols represented that would have a
sympathy or connection. Thus the principle represented by the god Mars
would correspond with activities such as conflict and qualities such as
passion in the soul of the magician. It was this conception of the doctrine of
correspondence that paved the way for the dream analysis of psychoanalysis
and the archetypes of Carl Jung.

Following Levi, MacGregor Mathers and his brothers and sisters of the
Golden Dawn successfully nurtured the growth of occultism as a corpus of
knowledge. The schema of the Qabalah formed the primary skeleton upon
which this body was fleshed out and works such as Crowley's 777
demonstrate how the muscles hang upon these bones. The Golden Dawn
went on to expand the doctrine of correspondence to include Egyptian gods,
Classical symbolism, Buddhist meditations and a formidable range of other
categories to create an extensive and coherent system.

The adepts of the Golden Dawn built on Levi's work emphasising the
principle of Imagination. They suggested that the Will was blind and
impotent unless the Imagination had been sufficiently developed by practices
such as visualisation and pathworking. The Will and Imagination were seen
as the twin forces that accomplished magick. By furnishing the Imagination
with the correct symbolic vocabulary, through knowledge of
correspondences, mental images thus created could be given reality by the
controlled use of the Will.

Added to the emphasis on Imagination we might add a fifth principle which

was summed up nicely by Aleister Crowley as the fact that the Will (or Will
framed by the Imagination) had to operate 'without lust of result'. For a
magickal operation to be successful the magician had to be able to maintain a
position of 'disinterested interest'. The sorcerer should be able to deliberately
forget, or at least become consciously detached from, the outcome of the rite.
In Austin Spare's system of magick various psychological devices were used
to help the magician forget their desire. To use the psychoanalytic language
that Spare favoured, the intention of the spell sinks down into the depths of
the subconscious to do its work only if it remains undisturbed by conscious
attention.

Spare was also notable in that his system of magick did not rely on elaborate
paraphernalia. Indeed most of Spare's magickal work was conducted in
everyday circumstances with nothing more than paper and pen. Magick had
become increasingly 'all in the mind'. The highly personal and pared down
style of Spare's sorcery exemplified the simple but effective occult
technology that characterises modern magick. This was a move towards what
has become known as 'open handed magick'.

It was during the 1970s, with the second phase of the modern occult revival
in full swing, that the depth and range of esoteric systems appearing in the
West made it increasingly hard to justify using only one approach (such as
the Qabalah based iconography of post-Golden Dawn magick). The
increasing amount of information emerging about Eastern occultism as well
as new scientific developments (for instance in parapsychology) led
researchers to propose another two key magickal principles. The contribution
of these additional principles was closely linked to the emergence of the
chaos magick current, they were:

Belief shifting - The method of the operation (ie magickal work) is not as
important as one's firm belief in its efficacy. Belief shifting was a principle
that was particularly in tune with the emergence of post-modernist
philosophy into mainstream culture (in the 1980s). The focus on belief
shifting derived from the observation that magickal power did not seem to be
dependent on knowing arcane esoteric formulae, nor was it determined by
whether you had access to paraphernalia constructed according to ancient
prescription. Belief (and the ability to adopt different beliefs) seemed to be
the thing that combined Will and Imagination and framed the space in which
magick could take place.

Gnosis - The operation should be conducted in an altered state of

consciousness. Whether through biofeedback, dance, sex, psychedelics or any
number of other methods, entering a 'trance' state appeared to be a key
element in successful magick. Today generating and successfully managing
various states of gnosis is seen as pivotal to the pursuit of any magickal
practice.

In addition to these new principles, movements such as Wicca had begun to

fuse the 'high magick' of the ceremonial magician with the 'low' or 'natural'
magick of the folk tradition. This vital union served to encourage the
emerging tendency of magicians to go for simple and dramatic practices over
complex formulaic rituals (William Gray's The Rollright Ritual is an example
of a text that exists at the intersection of Golden Dawn style ceremony and
modern neo-Pagan ritual). Western magick increasingly moved away from
the Judeo-Christian/Masonic tradition and towards a wider neo-
Pagan/Shamanic style.

A more general addition to the corpus of magick also came from what we
might now recognise as the 'chaoist school'. This was to approach magick
directly using 'the method of science' (as Crowley had hoped to do). Thus
occultism was interpreted strongly in terms of producing verifiable results. A
decision as to what magick might be profitably undertaken was
conceptualised in terms of a probability model of the universe. This
interpretation of the magickal universe drew strongly on the popularised
language of quantum physics and, later, complex non-linear dynamics ('chaos
mathematics'). The weird and distinctly occult universe explored by writers
such as Fritjof Capra (in The Tao of Physics) seemed to provide just the right
mixture of science and spirituality, which could provide a highly modern
magickal vocabulary. Attempts were made to frame magick in terms of a
materialist worldview (notably by Ramsey Dukes). Latterly the cyberpunk
and information culture has also been pressed into the service of the occult to
provide a different terminology apparently devoid of religious overtones
(though this can be easily contested - see Erik Davis TechGnosis).

This 'technocratic' approach would have been a sad reduction of the scope
and richness of the occult tradition were it not for the fact that the chaoist
school also drew from the Discordian tradition. Inspired by the idea that if the
science didn't work then perhaps the 'damned foolishness' would! Just as the
psychedelic movement in '60s America had two sides (Leary - the cerebral
eastern guru and Kesey - the crazed merry prankster) so chaos magick,
through its key decade (the 1980s), maintained a deliberate lunacy alongside
its assumed rationalism. The practice of banishing chaos rituals with laughter
can be seen as emblematic of this. After a bunch of grown men and women
have spent an hour waving their hands about, locked in a basement in Leeds,
high on drugs and (apparently) convinced they are changing themselves and
the wider universe through hidden powers - there is nothing left to do but
laugh!
Although supposedly open to all influences and styles, chaos magick in the
1980s soon came to represent a definite type of sorcerer. Subscribers to
journals such as Chaos International could be stereotyped as leather jacket
wearing, rune carving dope heads who felt honour-bound to wage a war of
'we're more hardcore than you are' with all comers (but especially
Thelemites). Fortunately such stereotypes were just that, empty images, and
in fact many chaos magicians actively worked with colleagues from other
traditions on projects that took them outside of their own sphere. (One of the
most notable being the successful defence of the ancient woodland of Oxleas
in central London against the threat of built development.)

The chaos magick system rests upon a paradox. Namely that the system
claims that 'nothing is true' and yet itself emerges from the 19th century
attempt to create a grand theory of magick. James Frazer attempted to
demonstrate that the diverse religions of the world share the same set of
symbols, and Marx attempted to show that all cultures move through the
same socio-political processes. Freud and Jung proposed a common language
of the unconscious that lay beneath apparent differences in language or
culture. So Levi and the scholars of the Golden Dawn likewise proposed a
similar universalism in magick. Chaos magick continued this idea; arguing
that all occult systems are ultimately grounded in belief and gnosis and yet, in
its more extreme manifestations, placed all 'reality' in subjective experience.

The paradox is also evident in the tension between the concept of the self
found in some chaos magick texts (eg Carroll's Psybermagick) where 'selves'
are admitted to but no unitary being is acknowledged. Yet at the same time
much chaos sorcery is devoted to 'getting what you want' where the question
of who the 'you' is that 'wants' is rarely examined. But these internal tensions
or contradictions do not mean that chaos magick is not worthy of study.
Indeed they may well imply just the differences and inconsistencies that one
would expect to see in a rich and living tradition. Certainly the few key texts
of chaos magick would prove valuable additions to the library of any
occultist, whatever their preferred style of magick.

Today people who profess an interest in chaos magick wildly and happily
incorporate a number of different magickal practices, technologies, and styles
into their work. Indeed so wide is the appeal of this recension of the occult
tradition, and the two principles that it has added to modern magickal praxis
so commonplace, that today there is little value in considering chaos magick
as a style of occultism in and of itself. Even those magicians who have a
definite religious belief (be it Thelemic, Pagan or of some other type) often
talk in terms of 'magickal paradigms'. Most occultists are reconciled to the
idea that many of their most cherished sets of symbols and practices may well
only be methods of 'slight of mind'. On the other hand many self-proclaimed
chaos magicians have plunged deeper into one or more particular belief
systems. Thus today a chaos magician is likely to be deeply involved in just a
few traditions but with a working knowledge of many. Moreover the drive for
'change for change's sake' seems to have petered out, 'depth and diversity'
seems to be the predominant approach rather than 'polymorphous paradigms
plus a few key principles'.

So with this book we can confidently announce the death of chaos magick. If
we want in the future to delineate highly eclectic approaches to magick from
those that are bounded within a given tradition or system perhaps the word
'freestyle' might be appropriate. Perhaps the chaos current has done its job in
freeing occultism from the dead grip of religion and other superstition. Thus
we might simply talk about 'magick' and only prefix the word when we want
to discuss a particular style within it (eg 'Thelemic magick', 'voudou magick',
'mimetic magick' and so on). In the same way we talk about 'art' and then
define different media or styles - neo-classical art, surrealist art, visual art,
etc.

The meta-belief that 'Nothing is True, Everything is permitted' and the eight-
rayed star of chaos can stand guard, ensuring that magick does not become
swallowed up by the beasts of rationalist technology, new age religion or
Paganism. Groups such as The Illuminates of Thanateros and itinerant
chaoists will remain as the agent provocateurs of esoteric culture, chipping
away at any limits that others might seek to impose on the magickal
discourse. Equally chaos magicians will remain those gallant souls who battle
the demons of delusion, acknowledging that it is certainly important to do
'what feels right' but always asking that awkward question 'yes, but did it
work?'

Chaos is Dead! Long Live Magick!

Thou, who art I, Beyond all I Am
I am kneeling before an image of Mama Yemanja - the goddess of salt water,
the goddess of the sea. Here is an image of a woman in a full blue skirt,
holding a silver mirror. She is a clay figurine, bought in Lisbon, shipped there
from Brazil . Thus the goddess of the sea has crossed the ocean. First with
those terrible slave ships from Yorubaland to the New World, and then back
again to Europe, and finally to my windowsill altar in Brighton. Here am I, a
white man, kneeling before the black mother of the oceans. But it is not
Mama Yemaja that I want to speak of here, but the god that comes before all
Orisha, the god that led me to the black sea mother - Ori.

The Ori is the head, that part of us that comes into the world first. At one
level Ori is the skull, the physical fact of the cranium, the organic reality of
the brain as the container or transceiver for the mind. The Ori leads us
through the market place of the world, through our trials and tribulations and
helps us bear our load in life. The Ori is the guide, the one star in sight. The
Ori is destiny, the omega point. Ori is astrological Pluto the outermost limit,
it is the atomic son of the sun - Ori is death. Ori is the assurance of a good
death - a death that is the fulfilment of life, a fulfilment of desire not a tragic
postscript to life. Ori is an end that is something good, something fabulous,
ecstatic, and righteous.

I am starting this work with Ori because Ori comes first and Ori bears the
load. I am starting this work with Ori. Ori you are first and last. Ori, this text
is your invocation, your hymn of praise. To speak aloud these words with
intent is your ritual:

Ori the master of all.

It is Ori we should praise.

The rest of the body comes to naught

When Ori is missing from the body.

What remains is useless.

What remains is incapable of carrying any load.

It is Ori which bears the load.

Ori, I pray you.

Do not desert me,

You, the Lord of all things.

The dogs Ori helps it to cut through the bush.

Thunder uses Ori to split the Iroko tree.

Every deer grows a pair of horns through Ori.

With its Ori, fish swims without mishap in water.

Owawa, Rats Ori helps it to go through caves.

Ori precedes man,

It also guides him,

Ori plans good things for its owner.

It is Ori alone

Who can accompany his devotee to any place

Without turning back

If I have money,

It is my Ori I will praise

It is my Ori to whom I will give praise

My Ori, it is you

All good things I have on earth,

It is my Ori, I will praise.

My Ori, it is you.

No God shall offer protection

Without sanction from Ori

Ori, we salute you

Whose protection precedes that of any other Orisha.

Without sanction from Ori,

Ori, we salute you

Ori that is destined to live

Whosoever sacrifice Ori choose to accept,

Let him rejoice.

Ori the actor, the stalwart divinity

One who guides one to wealth, gives one riches.

Ori, the beloved, governor of all the divinities.

Ori, who takes one to the good place.

Ori, behold the good place and accompany me thereto.

There is no divinity like Ori,

One's Ori is one's providence.

My Ori, lead me home

My Ori, lead me home

Ori, the most concerned

My skull, the most concerned in sacrificial rites.

Ori, I thank you.

Ori, I thank you for my destiny.

My skull, I thank you for my destiny.

Ori, I thank you.

Character, character

It is character that overtakes

Man's conduct

When he get to heaven,

Keep your character.

Everything is in the hands of Ori,

Ori is everything

Ori is good

What is left is Iwa

The one who performs actions is one whose Ori exists.

Fate is man's endowment.

May my Ori accompany me home.

I am here on a journey.

The world is a market place, heaven is home.

My Ori, behold the good place

And take me there.

Bad Ori is not mine.

Good Ori, that is mine.

Good Ori does not engage in business and end up in debt.

Good Ori does not suffer in the world.

Good Ori does not languish before it becomes prosperous.

Good Ori, that is mine.

If you want to have money

Inquire of your head.

If you want to start trading,

Inquire of your head first;

If you want to build a house,

Inquire of your head.

If you want to take a wife

Inquire of your head first.

Head, please do not shut the gate

It is to you I am coming.
Come and make my life prosperous.

My fate is from Olorun

Man created into this world cannot change my endowment

My creator, I beseech you

My creator, place me above the world.

That which one chooses on bended knees

Is what one finds in the world

One's endowment

Is one's fate

Operere…Operere..it is where I choose my Ori,

My Ori, that is where the enemy cannot know.

One's Ori is one's saviour.

The god that saves one like one's Ori does not exist.

Where I chose my Ori, my Ori, that is where the enemy cannot know

A big leaf will not sprout a little leaf.

Enemy of the open, watch out

Enemy of the darkness, take care.

Only Ori knows where my feet are going…

I shall reach where I am going….

A big leaf will not sprout a little leaf.

The first steps are always difficult, dislocated, shaky. This is not wrong, this
only means that the journey is a new one. By these tentative steps is the
journey begun.1

The space is made ready for your prayer the Ori Oriki. Words are spoken,
signs are made. A candle is lit, incense of frankincense is used.

The technique using the Oriki is to recite the prayer once, briskly, breathing
fast and shallow, high up in the body. The prayer is given under one's breath.
Then the prayer is repeated more slowly, and louder, this time with the breath
going deeper into the body. The prayer is repeated again very slowly, with
deep long breaths and more loudly. This third stage represents a descent into
the territory of the Ori, into a deep devotional trance.

The Oriki can be repeated slowly as many times as required at this point to
stay within the meditative state. When ready the process is reversed and the
Oriki is repeated more quickly, moving the breath up, and again at a faster
pace until one is out of the trance. At that point divination can be
productively done, asking Ori for guidance. Ori will always give the best
advice.

Ori you are always there, always with me, always leading me on. You are
there for everyone, whosoever looks for you will find you. You are the Holy
Guardian Angel. You can make all aspects of the self pull together, you
provide coherence, alignment. You can twist the threads of the unconscious,
the consciousness, the ego and the superconscious into a single cord. You
help all the aspects of the self pull together as one.

Ori, you can appear as an angel, you can appear as an animal totem, you can
appear as a fleshless skull.

Your oil is made of jasmine, sandalwood and rose, your incense is Abra-
Melin - thick with the heady perfume of storax. Olibanium is the crown of
your odours.

Ori, I confess to you, I confess my fear of being. My terrors, childish and

adult, my fears of the World. From you I understand that the universe does
care - that your love is the love of the universe for that which is within it, a
pervasive Self-Love. Through you I know that love is a reality, not only as a
moral force, but also as a tangible substrate of creation. Gravity is the love of
mass for mass, love is as ubiquitous as the curvature of space. Your existence
persuades me of the reality of the love of the Other.

I long for you! I yearn for you! Like a child for the breast, like the lover for
the beloved! Through you I come to know the true bhakti yoga!

I come to you, after weeks of preparation, of earnestly entreating you through

daily prayer, through repetitions of the Ori Oriki. I come to you in a triad of
candles, making a three-sided pyramid, a vessel for the primary invocation of
Self by Self. I am within your demon triangle! You are my holy demon!

Before me, one light placed in a cauldron, set upon this, leaning against the
wall, a voodoo skull mask, the physical, slightly cartoon-grotesque
representation of my own skull, my Ori.

To begin with I employ tobacco and cannabis pollen, keeping the purpose of
the work in mind. I stand and dance, letting my body, letting the chi, loosen
and flow. Letting my mind build up the three-sided pyramid in which I stand.
The feeling in your temple is of light, yellow, solar fire and expansion.

I stand in the form of the cross and intone the sonics IAO - the formula of the
dying and resurrected god.2

I began by reciting the Ori Oriki, the first time I have done this fully from
memory. I let my awareness flit between the sense of the shape I am building
up on the astral (a yellow three-sided pyramid), the longing for you, my Holy
Guardian Angel, and the focus of the words in the Oriki.

I inflame myself with prayer!

A cross shining into the sun,

The golden glow of aeons flown

The passing of this life, an easy road.

Where unseen hands guide the wisest heart,

An angelic ministry from eternal Other called,

To smile and care and offer succour.

Serpent rear upon your star!

Kia bend your lambent kiss!

Headless one, my head, my skull!

Omega point of my death!

Gather me up because I'm lost!

And know that with you I am found,

By all creation.

I love you,

I yearn for you.

Ori, Holy Guardian Angel,

who is always with me -

Hear my prayer!

A prayer along these lines is spoken spontaneously, with great longing. With
Great Longing!

I repeat the Oriki again, this time pulling the astral golden light of Tiphereth
into the triangle. The light falls! It falls in great shafts of sun into the temple!

I repeated the Oriki again and take a hit of DMT and lay back. As the hit
comes on I lie back, my arms outstretched to two of the points of the triangle,
my feet pointing at the third. Thus I am a Tau cross within a triangle.
My body is composed of a million tiny angular fragments of gold which are
swept up towards the light at the apex of the pyramid. I feel the barriers
between myself and you, my Holy Guardian Angel, breaking down.

I decide to snort a line of ketamine. As I feel the drug begin to come on I lay
again in the Tau cross position I am frightened and pursue the fear to it's root
- 'all fear is fear of letting go'. In that sense Buddha was right! I grip my wand
and feel myself sinking into the K-hole. As I do so I say the Oriki until the
point where consciousness fades out, everything is distant, the limits of my
body changing, morphing.

Ori I die into you! I dedicate the extinguishing of my consciousness to you!

Then I awake and I see the light. As clear as day, over the voodoo skull mask
golden filaments of light falling down, like angel hair - into the cauldron,
onto my body.

In a flash I know your name (or perhaps one name) my beloved Holy
Guardian Angel! A name that I had first used when I was 14 years old and
just starting out in ritual magick! And now my Ori reveals itself as the being
that I had first encountered over 19 years ago. Of course, my angel was with
me all along!

I recite the Oriki again - feeling powerful and certain and centred in a way
that stretches right down to the depths of my being.

Standing in a cruciform stance I intone ORI and IAO, thrice each. ORI
bringing the energy from the earth (O), through the solar/heart/resh (R) to the
crown (I). IAO, earthing the energy once again. The connection is
established.

I laugh with joy!

It is done! Ù AUM!

As the Beast sayeth:

Thou, who art I, beyond all I am,

Who hast no nature and no name,

Who art, when all but Thou are gone,

Thou, centre and secret of the Sun,

Thou, hidden spring of all things known

And unknown, Thou aloof, alone,

Thou, the true fire within the reed

Brooding and breeding, source and seed

Of life, love, liberty, and light,

Thou beyond speech and beyond sight,

Thee I invoke, my faint fresh fire

Kindling as mine intents aspire.

Thee I invoke, abiding one,

Thee, centre and secret of the Sun,

And that most holy mystery

Of which the vehicle am I!

I am given your sigil, your sigil is Ù - the letters O, R, I are in it. Your
promise of a good death is held there! Perhaps I will spray paint tags of your
symbol around the town in praise!

After this comes the dry phase - as it must. The time when concentration is
hard, when nothing seems enough to quiet the mind. When all that can be
done is to keep going, this is the time when devotion is really measured. First
the tentative steps, then the easy strides as the Oriki is bedded down in
memory and then the halting, stuttering, as though the mind is manacled. In
any practice there is this low ebb, it is hard but welcomed as a mark of
progress.

Yet in this time a possibility begins to emerge (though this can only be seen
in hindsight). From dreams and strange longings arises a form, which calls
out to be made. A golden cross, and on that cross a heart, and within that
heart an open eye. (Later I would manufacture this cross and charge it with
power.)

But the abyss is wide. Sometimes the Oriki produces tiredness, it is hard to
go on. Sometimes waves of tiredness sweep upon me, it would be easy to
stop, to claim that the work of the day has fatigued me beyond endurance.
But I have made a commitment and devotion is the watchword of this
practice - on! On!

Sometimes the Oriki provokes movements, involuntarily, in the body, rolling

of the head, making the shape of the omega sign with the hands, flicking ones
hands, clapping, rocking. Often I must bow my head and open up the spot
between my shoulders. Often my prayer takes chanting, moving form with
hands clasped together and wrung in earnest devotion.

Then one night the Oriki is strange. Perhaps it is a fault in my poor

preparation of the temple that night, perhaps this is a message to pay more
attention to the Eshu, to Elegba.3 The animals in the house mew, and hiss, the
corners are full of shadows, of spirits. A paranormal pawl is over the house.
There are the beginnings of strange sensations, clear physical stirrings in my
spine, clear physical stirrings.

But the Ori is the guide, and the Oriki is the path. I hold fast and clearly
banish. Has it been a test? A side effect? A message from the Eshu spirits?

As the darkness is driven away with food and music and time so
understanding of the beauty of it dawns. Ori is the heart as well as the head, it
is Tiphereth of the Tree of Life. Tiphereth is the son of the Sun, the deliverer,
and the redeemer. Tiphereth is the guide, the Holy Guardian Angel. So these
dark spirits are the shadow of the sun. They are the nighside sun, the Qlipoth.
As the Adept invokes the Holy Guardian Angel so they must begin the work
of summoning their demons. For Abra-Melin knowledge and conversation
leads to the binding of the denizens of Hell. For me the work of the Ori leads
to a need to know the Eshu, to pay respect and to gain good relations with the
spirits of the crossroads and of the crossing places. If the flame of devotion is
not to blind one into believing that the universe is all selfless love then it
must be balanced with the shadow of the Eshu.4

Ori I praise you! I praise you!

When I visit Glastonbury I call your Oriki into the wind from the summit of
the Tor. When I am waiting in line at the market I mutter your hymn of
praise. I clean my heart with love of you and this only makes it bigger. I am
more full of love and more able to love, I have more to give and more joy.

Ori you give me wisdom that I rush to record after each devotion. You show
me how the head is a nexus of possibilities.5 Lines or tubes, each a thread in
The Pattern of being, each a discourse, a strand in the web of wyrd - these all
intersect within the head. Each head is a place of intention, though it is itself
brought into being by these threads, so it can change them. You give me a
vision of the skull, connected by these lines of possibility, these lines of
intention to all things in the universe.

Often I perform the Oriki with a single flame before me, sat in front of my
magickal mirror. Before me are cast two shadows. Sometimes you reveal
yourself in these shadows. These shadow heads, shaped like omega signs,
become strangely three-dimensional. I can see within them features, I can see
within them electric blue veins, organs, alchemical processes taking place.
The organic forms of nature have given rise to mind. Certain conditions and
interactions of molecules have created electrical pulses and radiance. These
become thought and create a new universe of being. I wonder at your power
Ori, my skull.

Sometimes in the mirror I watch the surface of my face. Sometimes I see the
age creeping into me, sometimes I see the form of my power animal flicker
through my features. I see my expression, the outward form, how this
changes, how everything changes. I begin to see ageing as a process of being
led by you home, towards a good death, towards the fulfilment of the desire
to live.
I see this now so clearly when nature reveals that I have helped create a new
life.6

There are stirrings of energy in my body; up and down my spine like itches or
tiny pinpricks. By invoking you, my Ori, my head, I have begun to summon
the goddess at the root of all things. I will put your sigil in the fetish within
the temple dedicated to Her.7

Ori always brings good advice. Ori helps me to use the healing cross. Ori
teaches a technique that involves holding the cross and breathing golden
energy from the crown, down the spine and out through the heart chakra and
into the patient. In this way a dear friend is saved.8

Ori comes to me and guides me in an ayahuasca ritual where I think I am

dying. Ori holds me and guides me and reminds me to summon the help of
the Eshu spirits. They help me make the transition. Ayahuasca brings me a
vision of a great black goddess, proud and erotic. She wears a leopard pelt,
and has bright parrot feathers woven into her matted locks. She is Kali, she is
the spirit of the slaves in Peru. She bends over and begins to shit, she shits
out all my sin. She shits in my face all the mistakes I have ever made, all my
failings, all my wrongdoings. I go through this darkness, this loathsome
horror, Eshu helps me and Ori leads me on. I take heed of what I can do to
change things, and go through the mourning process for those acts that cannot
be redeemed.

Then in the darkness of the ayahuasca vision Ori comes as an eagle and
scoops out my abdomen. Ori scoops out my guts and lights a fire beneath my
ribs. In the cage of my skeleton a fire is built and the eagle becomes a
phoenix and I rise, I rise, I rise!

I feel the bones of my skull, like tectonic plates grind and change position. I
feel the vibrations of the shamanic brew shift the knots and blockages of
energy in my body. Opening me up like a doorway.

Ori you are with me. I have worshipped you, I have met you in devotional
stillness and psychedelic trance. I have taken your name and acknowledged
you as my destiny. You have revealed the master of my head9, you have
opened the door to the magick of Spiritism, Candomblé, Macumba, Voudou,
Yoruba and many more paths.

Now the months of undertaking your Oriki as a daily duty are over. You have
guided me through this difficult and rewarding work and you remain a star
for me navigate by, through the marketplace of the world, to my home in
heaven. You are automatically invoked before every divination and never
cease to give perfect and clear results.

Ori the last day of your working comes, but this is not the end of my
devotions to you. Instead I shall pray everyday in my heart and remember to
invoke you at my death. The final night of the Oriki is one in which your
gentle yellow rays bathe me in bliss. I see you face as a horned countenance,
a triangle, a golden thread linking all sentience and all moments of
consciousness.

Sweeter than honey, more gentle than velvet, more comforting than my
mothers lap, you care for me! You flow through and intoxicate me like an
intelligent wine; you show the way like a shining path!

It is Ori we should praise!

Models of the Ori/Holy Guardian Angel

- what is it?
The text above represents a distillation of 3 months worth of magickal work.
This comprised a daily recitation of the Ori Oriki. On some occasions this
meant a prayer when circumstances dictated, on others a more formal ritual
(using a technique such as the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual to open and close)
was used. The ritual described above involving DMT and Ketamine took one
whole evening. The ayahuasca ritual was not specifically concerned with the
Ori work but took place towards the end of the Ori working. The ayahuasca
rite itself was a 'concentration' (ie remaining silent and still, having taken the
drug).

I am greatly indebted to Brother Kondwani 23 for supplying me with the Ori

Oriki text, the technique for its use and his valuable support in exploring this
territory.
In the Western African traditions, as well as the 'hybrid' systems such as the
Afro-Brazilian Macumba, the same idea is maintained in the concept of the
Ori. The Ori is one's providence, one's fate, and one's saviour. In the Ori
Oriki Ori takes centre stage in the belief system, at times seeming to be
highly personal and concrete (the Ori is identified with the head or skull). In
other lines the Oriki Ori sounds more like 'The Force' as 'Thunder uses Ori to
split the Iroko tree'. The Holy Guardian Angel (HGA) as Ori, is in a sense
identical with the True Will, the individual thread of the wyrd on which the
separating 'ego I' consciousness coagulates.

The HGA, the Ori, is the skull, that which comes first into the world, that
transceiver for consciousness, the 'two and a half pounds of electrified fat'
that serve to amplify the 'random' mutterings of Kia into manifest, structured
existence.

Using the terminology of Lacanian psychoanalysis the HGA could be

interpreted as the perfect 'ego ideal'. An ego ideal is the internalised gaze(s)
through which we imagine that our actions are perceived.

When we do something, anything, we imagine not only why we are doing it

(what we are striving to be) but also from where we are being watched.

Listen to children, notice how they need to be observed, 'look at me mum',

until they begin to internalise a set of ego-ideals - mental constructs about
who is watching them - that they can then use without needing a physical
human gazing on. Imagine doing something rebellious or nasty, or indeed an
act of self-less kindness. Somewhere in your thoughts about that act
(according to Lacan) is an ego-ideal, a person who you imagine watching
you. As you smash a window in the school maybe you imagine the leader of
the gang looking proudly on as you do the deed. Maybe as you nurse your
partner you imagine your mother looking approvingly at your altruism. When
we do any act it is important to understand not just what we are trying to be
by the act (a rebel or a carer) but also from where we imagine ourselves being
seen. The HGA, according to this model, could be a notional 'perfected self
as ego-ideal', you as the 'Great Wise Magus'. As well as acting 'in the gaze of'
the ego-ideal, the effect of that gaze (obviously) modifies one's actions. Thus
the internalised idea of the HGA (ego-ideal) drives us towards 'spiritual
perfection', or, if you prefer, 'magickal excellence'.
The apparent moralism and religious overtones of the HGA can, of course,
put people off. As Phil Hine points out, even the name Holy Guardian Angel
sounds pretty pompous. Even if the term 'Augoides' or 'genius' are employed
in this working the techniques that are recommended for Knowledge and
Conversation are still very much of the devotional sort. But for me, going
beyond the 'yuck - angels! Worship - pah!' factor is a key issue.

The HGA is Julian Cope being able to say (in his album Jehovahkill) 'I'm not
afraid of the cross'. It is engaging with the Christian, monotheist traditions,
getting the value out of them and going beyond that adolescent rebellion
against them. (Not that contact with your HGA means you can't still have fun
doing Black Masses.) This is religion on one's own terms, but it is also about
humility and being receptive rather than just stamping round the circle being
the All Powerful Adept.

In some respects, the HGA is akin to a shamanic power animal, though I

agree with Phil Hine, not in the way the thing feels. Certainly the HGA may
take on animal forms, but often one of the key features of the HGA is its
formlessness. Aiwaz for Crowley was a shadowy, proud figure, dressed in
middle eastern robes and with a darkness before his eyes. The HGA may
well have a name, possibly a sigil or seal but rarely a fixed, complex form (as
a servitor might).

The HGA may be thought of as a more 'internal' entity than many the
magician might encounter. But either way the HGA (usually) knows a lot
more than we do; it is the Cray supercomputer of superconsciousness to the
pocket calculator of conscious awareness. (And this, of course, is a big part
of the reason behind wanting to establish a rapport with it.)

What is also key about the desire to obtain Knowledge and Conversation is
the notion that the universe is not simply blind forces but that 'the Other'
cares for us. The philosophical basis of this idea is complex but a concrete
example of its use is this. In the belief system of Alcoholics Anonymous
people who want to give up the booze need to look outside themselves and
seek the aid of a 'higher power' in order to support them in not drinking. The
'higher power' has to care that the individual is killing themselves with drink
and want to help. The Universe as a whole, or the prime mover of reality
(God), is seen to give a damn and actively want to help the alcoholic.
Whether you want to explore the metaphysics of a caring universe or simply
consider it a handy paradigm (or both) it does not seem to matter as long as
you are sincere! (As an aside rarely is God, 'Olorun', addressed by African
ritual since he/it is seen as so distant from humanity that he/it has little
interest in us. However in the Ori Oriki, Olorun is addressed directly because
the power of the Ori forms a connection with the rarefied divine.) The point
is that the Knowledge and Conversation represents an opportunity to
experience the reality that 'God is Love', and that God (the Kosmos) does
care for every atom of creation.

The HGA is 'myself made perfect' (complete, undivided - as it says in the

Bornless Ritual). I consider that the HGA is myself as the eschatology of the
ego - as the self at the moment of death. This is when we are 'perfect' in the
sense that subject and object collapse, as far as our individual awareness is
concerned, forever.

We are all pulled, in our chariots of history, to the strange attractor of our
death. I believe this personal eschaton contains within it the possibility of
such a 'perfect death'. By which I mean being able to meet the moment of
death with equanimity and enjoy a peak, numinous experience (which, since
there is no conscious 'after', subjectively lasts forever). An eternal joyous
moment outside the circles of time is created in the fraction of a second
before the brain is starved completely of oxygen and stops working. In this
way the HGA is like the Castenada notion of death, always at one's shoulder
and not to be feared. Death guides us all because it is the end of the road for
consciousness - to have a good death, to make an ally of death is indeed a
powerful magick.

The HGA is also Our Future Selves, N'Aton (in the Maatian cosmology). The
ever-coming one.

The HGA is Tiphereth - the golden glow descending upon the mind, even as
the body is split into a thousand tiny fragments - painlessly dissolved into the
great Resh of the solar Logos.

The HGA is the frame in which the dance of the IAO formula takes place.
Where -
I, the Yod the seed pours out in eternal possibility of the one brilliance.

A, is the open-hearted wounding of being-in-time, the abyss and the travail of

the world.

O, is the universe of being, the eye of A'yin. The universe as a need for
spiritual perfection, as a playing field in which consciousness must give birth
to all possible forms. It is the secret generative eye and the base of the
witches cone of power. The circle in which we are spellbound. O is also the
Devil/Pan

The HGA is the beloved - something that we yearn to be with (and that
yearns to be with us) and yet is not us. This separation gives rise to the HGA
and to the mechanism by which we seek to make the return journey - love.

As the flower loves the sun and so turns to face it, so the magician turns
towards the HGA.

The term Iwa (used in the Oriki) means character. One of the aims of Yoruba
spiritual practice is for the individual to get Iwa-pele 'cool' or good character.
An insight that Ori gave me in this work is how magick is the process of
exploring and developing the vehicle of the self so that it can move without
resistance along the path of the Ori. The pictorial image is of a shuttle
moving on a loom, the thread is the path of the True Will, and the road that
Ori leads us along. The shuttle is the vehicle (one's character). By having a
'cool' character we are better placed to enjoy life, to meet its challenges and to
follow the path of the True Will without balking at those things that are
difficult or trying to 'push the river'. Ori may be seen as one's consciousness
and Iwa as one's behaviour. In other words the more one is consciously in
tune with 'the divine', the more one's day-to-day behaviour should reflect this.

By their fruits shall ye know them.

Fotamecus Film Majik
Clock watching - the hands of the timepiece are the bars of our self-imposed
prison. Time is always running out, running out the door as the bell goes.
Time is money, and money talks, time structures and strictures. It marks and
it moves, it is omnipresent as God and as inscrutable as the night.

Clocks, symbols of that ancient god Chronos, cut time up. They slice the
continuum of time into segments that wither like the coils of a dying
earthworm. Chronos, the clock, the measurer who takes our endless dreaming
and breaks it into discrete units. The regular ticking of the clock, the external,
the strictly determined period. Chronos demands an objective reality of time.
Chronos demands a shared notion of time, his will was made possible by the
railways and now, thanks to the microsecond exactitude of information
systems, his domination is global.

Time no longer flows like the river. Instead it is rigidly channelled,

suffocated like the sickly industrial canal. It is hemmed about with atomic
clocks, and clock cards and hourly totals.

Yet we all know the truth, we all sense that this objective measure of time is
only one feather on the Great Arrow, passing from past to future.

There is the past of memory, slipping and morphing in the mind, outside of
notions of objective recording, the past re-members itself continually and
changes as easily as the shape of smoke in the wind.

In the mediations of yogis and in the ecstatic peaks of drug intoxicated

wisdom, time stands still. There is no past, no future, not even any now.
There is, for example, a part of me that is still sitting on the Isles of Scilly
with my lover, looking towards the horizon and feeling my LSD immersed
consciousness spreading out across the whole globe, occupying the immense
space where the sky and sea meet. There was no time then in that numinous
eternal moment - I am still there (for dreaming is only called such after we
awaken).
The future. Hurtling towards us with the velocity of the impossible instant.
Possibility guided by the probability and chains of causality that we
recognise. But time can crawl too, as it did in the later years of the second
millennium. Time flies when you're having fun. Suddenly the lights go up
and they call time. You look around at the grinning faces of the night-club
and time slows right down.

It is this subjective component of time that Chronos stands against. The rigid
ticking of his clock, the immutable unit of the hour, the suffocating limit of
the exact second.

Chronos - your time has come!

Keyman Speaks:
Indifference Productions

FOTAMECUS PROJECT

Project outline and history

The purpose of the project is to make a film as a magickal experiment,

specifically, as an attempt to invoke the 'egregore' of Fotamecus. Fotamecus
is a thought form or servitor created by a magician through the means of a
sigil. The basic mythology surrounding the form of Fotamecus is still new
and open to development but I have taken the specific name from the
workings written up by Fenwick Rysen…In essence Fotamecus has the
power to manipulate time by compressing and expanding it. In this role
Fotamecus represents a power of time that is in conflict with the established
and existing order of time given by Chronos, whose talisman is the clock
face. Fotamecus is not simply a 'non-linear' time, but a chaotic time. Instead
of the metronomic beat of time we will find the 'duration' of time (as
suggested, for example, by the philosopher Henri Bergson). Time is not a
series of moments set before and after the present, as though in a cinematic
roll of film where each frame represents a 25th of a second, it is instead the
duration of an event, as in the time it takes sugar to dissolve in water, the
time of waiting.
The aim of the project, originally, was for me to attempt to make the film
myself with my own magickal background, using actors and friends for the
parts. As I thought more about the project it felt right to attempt, at least
initially, to see if the project could be a collective group work rather than a
more solitary operation through which a visually experimental piece would
be made. The advantage of the group work would be that it would increase
the blur between the 'film' side of the project and the 'magick' since the film
would take on a slightly more recognisable form for a wider audience. It
would be slightly less visually experimental in order to become more
practically experimental. The goal of the project from the beginning was to
attempt a process of participation where, with their implicit consent, the
audience 'takes part' in the invocation through their experience of watching
the film. Such a participate operation firstly implies consent, which would be
done at the start of the film, and then suggests a greater use of narrative
structure in order to let the audience slip into the willing suspension of
disbelief. The use of a semi-documentary style 'recording' of a rite seemed the
ideal genre vehicle in this instance. To this end I have approached a number
of magicians and pagans, including locally in Brighton as well as on email
lists through which a meeting took place with someone from London. I have
also discussed the possibility of a Brighton based animator and pagan being
involved in the project at both a design level and at an animation level,
allowing the film to integrate a small degree of animated effect work which
will enable the thought form to be visually suggested to the audience with
greater impact. This animated aspect of the film is intended to be abstract and
free, a black scratch of colour and movement rather than a determined form.
Think of the shapes that you can see on the insides of your eyelids with your
eyes shut and the light on.

I first heard about the Fotamecus project from a fellow sorcerer in the IOT. I
was in London participating in a meeting of one of the temples there. The
Sister I got talking to (as we changed out of our civilian clothes and into
robes) began to tell me that she had been approached by Keyman, via email,
with a view to taking part in the film project. She was aware that I lived in
Brighton and said she'd pass on my address.

Keyman subsequently got in touch and we met up in a pub. We talked and it

became obvious that we shared a number of similar ideas and would certainly
be able to work together. From the perspective of the Brighton chaos magick
temple the whole thing sounded great. After all it's not often that you get
somebody offering to make you the stars of a magickal film, provide you
with specially made robes and generally give you the chance to use
professional filmmaking techniques as the medium through which to launch a
sigil!

The story of Fotamecus begins in a crossing of the desert

Fenwick Rysen speaks

27 June 1997

History

Fotamecus was originally a sigil created in spring of 1996 when I was

showing the Mad Prophet some sigilization techniques. The Mad Prophet
kept the paper used for the demonstration and began using it when he was
driving, the sigil's intent being to "Force Time Into Compression." Ruben, a
friend of both the Mad Prophet, and me was brought in on this, and two
people began directing energy at it.

Fotamecus crossed the Sigil/Servitor line after both Ruben and the Mad
Prophet attended a Metallica concert in Sacramento at which Quinn is said to
have smiled evilly when looking at the crowd and muttered "Free gnosis..."
before opening himself to channel and becoming a one-man-mosh. On the
drive back, both Ruben and the Mad Prophet dumped the excess energy into
Fotamecus and made it home in half the time it should have taken. I was
informed and intrigued, and on the Death Valley Pilgrimage (three days in a
van with seven chaos mages) Fotamecus was put to the test: The group
directed a great amount of energy at him to help shorten the time to drive
from Santa Rosa (north of San Francisco) to Death Valley.

On the first leg of the trip everyone looked at the clock before entering
Vallejo. Fifteen minutes later we had travelled almost fifty miles, through the
MacArthur Maze (the most dizzying interchange of highways known to
man), in the Thanksgiving traffic. The second car with us, which we lost
immediately, preceding this, had continued to drive undaunted behind us.
They never stopped. We wasted 45 minutes in Livermore before getting back
on the road and coincidentally running into them again.

There was only one side effect.

The last three exits on I-5 before Bakersfield, which should have taken us 15
minutes to pass, took closer to an hour. For time compressed, time was
expanded. For us, expanded on perhaps one of the most boring stretches of
highway in California. At this point, several of my friends and I sat down and
did some work on Fotamecus, making him a viral servitor: He could spawn
copies of himself. We wired these together into a network so that if one
compresses time but doesn't want to expand it, it passes off the duty for
expansion to another Fotamecus servitor in the network. They all work
together and the more copies out there, the better it works.

This was the beginning. From a spontaneous sigil Fotamecus would become
the 'viral servitor', and from this, through being interacted with, fed and cared
for by a global conspiracy of magicians, it would grow. Growing to become
an egregore, a 'group mind' being. Through the project initiated by Keyman,
Fotamecus was seeking to become even more powerful, to develop from
egregore to fully fledged godhood.

This was to be a wonderful opportunity, it's not everyday that you get to be
the midwife to a new god and film the process to boot. Moreover the key
weapon for the formation of Fotamecus the god would be the technology of
the enemy, a clockwork 16mm camera. The division of time into discrete
frames that makes film possible would be pressed into the service of
Fotamecus. We would use the technology of Chronos against him!

The camera became a participant in the rituals. Sometimes it would be a

passive, documentary being - recording, variously operated by different
members of the group. Sometimes we would become actors, repeating
actions and going through the motions, never exactly scripted but having at
least some intention of what we wanted to be captured on film. Sometimes
the camera would become the active eye/I in the ritual, another person,
another view.
Our aim was to create the film, not as a passive viewing experience, but as a
talismanic object. A portal through which the rituals that we worked would
emerge onto the cinema screen. Our will was that the Fotamecus film would
itself be the climax of the ritual, and that the creation of the movie would be a
pivotal step in moving Fotamecus from egregore to god status. By watching
the film (which would be one element in a larger performance event) one
would be tapping in to the Fotamecus energy. Showing the film would allow
the meme viral servitor to reproduce in the consciousness of the viewer.
Moreover the viewer would be presented through the film itself with both the
Fotamecus current as raw experience and also with a series of techniques for
working with that current. Watching this film means participation not
consumption.

Of course you have to be careful.

Ritual isn't the same as theatre, though both have much in common. Within
theatre the actors are possessed by their characters to a greater or lesser
degree, and we, the audience, are asked to suspend our disbelief and enter
into the paradigm of the play. Magickal ritual is created and performed
without an audience in mind. The viewer of the occult ceremony isn't a public
that must be won over and disarmed by appealing performance. Rather the
audience is the self, the conspiracy of selves that make up each of us. The
aim is to be just convincing enough that the company of self will accept as
true the reality of the ritual space. If there is another observer it is perhaps the
discarnate forces one summons, the demons, the spirits, the gods who, by
their very imaginal nature, are quite willing to enter into the spirit of the rite.

This is, in part, why rituals look so shit on film. For example:

From the outside: the woman walks forward and raises her hands, as though
sleepwalking, in front of her. She looks by turns abstracted, as though
confused, and tight lipped as though she is about to cry. She steps forward,
flinging her hands outwards and down and says the word 'Nemo!' Nothing
much seems to happen.

From the inside: after years of preparation Soror X prepares to emerge from
the abyss and into her new place as Mistress of the Temple 8=3. Her mind
focused with intensity, and yet calm as an icy pool, she gathers her resolve.
The sacrament she has taken reaches a peak within her, before her the Garden
of Souls awaits, she has crossed the desert of despair and battled with the
demon Choronzon! Then, in a moment that lasts forever she rends the veil
and claims her new title etc etc.

You see the problem.

But sometimes having not too much on the outside of a ritual can be helpful.
As is often the case less is sometimes more. Take this ceremony by Fenwick,
which appears as one element in the Fotamecus filmrite.

Fenwick speaks:
Time Consumption
-or-
Yet Another Fotamecus Rite

OBJECTIVE:
To draw the power of the Fotamecus time manipulation egregore into the
participants and thus imbue them with the ability to distort time.

NOTES:
This isn't really a very structured ritual; it's mostly social in context with a
short ritual-like component at the very end. If it feels like you're not doing a
ritual until about step -4, you're doing it right. This is probably because of the
heavy kitchen-witchery style of most of this ritual.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

An oven

Sugar cookie dough (either ingredients for home-made or a supermarket pre-

packaged dough)

A cookie sheet

A small clock for each participant

A Fotamecus Talisman (this can be paper drawn with the sigil or any physical
object other than a mechanical timepiece)

A small magnet and glue (optional, necessary only if talisman is to become a

refrigerator magnet)

Participants, one of whom is Head Cook (HC)

RITUAL:

-11 Participants gather, chat, socialise, and have fun. People should be
entertaining themselves with food, conversation, games, etc. The central area
around which this circulates should eventually move towards the kitchen.

-10 The participants start baking cookies. If you've got pre-pack cookie
batter, this is as simple as slicing the cookies and tossing them on the tray. If
you're baking from scratch, the HC should be in charge and ask people to
measure and mix things for him/her, trying to get everyone involved.

-9 Once you have one cookie on the tray for each participant, everyone
should gather and simultaneously impress their clocks into their cookies
while saying "Praise unto Fotamecus! Chronos, your time has come!".

-8 Put ze cookiez in ze oven an' bake 'em.

-7 Socialise some more; have fun. Play a game of Twister. Put a Monty
Python movie on for atmosphere. Get some shinai and spar in the back yard.
Engage in meaningless ontological debate. You get the general idea.

-6 Retrieve da cookiez. Let 'em cool. (450 + 98.6 = bad)

-5 Participants gather in temple space (or, in true kitchen witch style, use the
kitchen area) with the cookies and the Fotamecus Talisman. Form a circle
together around the altar (dining table or counter). Cover the altar (table) with
an altarcloth (tablecloth) upon which is painted the sigil of Fotamecus.
Alternatively, use a piece of butcher paper on which the sigil is scrawled with
whatever was handy at the moment. Place cookies upon the altar (table) in a
circle around the talisman.
-4 Insert Banishing/Opening Ritual here if so desired (or clean, disinfect, and
mop the kitchen).

-3 All participants gather in a circle around altar (table) and join hands, raise
them upwards, and look up while calling out loudly, "Fotamecus, We Call
Upon You!". Hands are lowered but still held, eyes focus on altar, and all call
out, "Fotamecus, Come Witness This!"

-2 Participants break hands, and the HC takes the talisman in his hands and
holds it above the altar. All participants place a hand above and below the
HCs hands, completely enclosing the talisman. Following the HCs lead,
participants begin to breathe deeply in unison, focusing upon the talisman
held in the centre of their hands. Participants draw in as much power as they
can and force it through their hands into the talisman. Slowly the breathing
gets faster and faster. A gnosis should begin creeping up slowly, and as it
creeps up, the breathing becomes faster and faster, the group moving together
as they breathe power into the talisman.

-1 As gnosis is reached, all participants place their dominant (writing) hand

upon their cookie while keeping their other hand on the fist containing the
talisman. Then all participants call out, "Fotamecus, Come Feed Us!" and
visualise the energy from the talisman running up their arms, into their body,
back down the other arm and into the cookies. Continue to call this out
throughout this process, not necessarily in unison.

0 When each participant feels they have charged their cookie, they raise their
cookie skyward, call out, "Fotamecus, Come Feed Me!" and take a bite of
their cookie, their other hand still joined above the altar, still drawing in the
power of Fotamecus from the talisman. Feel this power settling in your
stomach as you eat the cookie, welling throughout your system, becoming a
part of you.

1 After eating the cookie, return the other hand to the centre and wait for all
to be done; resume breathing in unison, but slowly and at a comfortable,
regular pace. Try to feel the power of Fotamecus spreading throughout your
body, the ability to manipulate time at will. Let your mind wander on those
thoughts.
2 When all have re-joined hands in the centre, all say in unison, "We Are
Fotamecus! Chronos, your time has come!". Then the Head Cook calls out,
"Let the Battle be Enjoined!!!" and all give the best battle cry they can.

3 Congratulations, you are now a warrior of Fotamecus! Spend the next few
days trying to alter time, possibly with the use of the Fotamecus sigil,
possibly without.

4 Either keep the Fotamecus talisman on hand for the next ritual, draw lots to
see who gets to keep it, or give it to an individual if there is overwhelming
consensus as to who should have it. Or glue a magnet to it and stick it on the
refrigerator.

TIPS:
When impressing the clocks into the cookies, identifying marks can be
impressed into the cookie as well to help remember which cookie belongs
with which person. Alternatively, each individual cookie can be cooked on
aluminium foil that is marked with the participant's name/sigil/identifier.

If there aren't enough clocks to go around, everyone can place their hand on
one clock and impress each cookie one at a time together while repeating the
phrase for each cookie.

If call-and-repeat must be used for the group lines, it should be called by the
HC, and then the HC will repeat it with everyone else in unison.

Any other food that will take an impression of a clock is a suitable substitute
for the cookies.

If agreed upon beforehand, instead of simply breathing in unison, all

participants can chant the mantric sigil "Fotamecus" in unison with their
breathing.

In case anyone missed the obvious symbolism: You're eating a clock (well, a
symbol of one at any rate). You are thus conquering it, becoming its master.
It's been imbued with the power of Fotamecus and you have drawn that
power into yourself, literally digesting it, so that this power becomes a part of
you. Duh.

The other key is not to get fixated on the film. We spent plenty of time doing
other things where neither film nor video cameras were present.

A set of pathworkings were created for the group. One which takes you on a
journey through fast and slow time, a journey towards discovering Fotamecus
for yourself. The central image used in the pathworking was that of sitting
and watching the cinema screen, watching life unfold, watching and then
being in situations in which the subjective experience of time could be moved
slowly or faster - at Will, by the power of Fotamecus.

Another pathworking was created to celebrate the festival of Fotamecus - the

time when the clocks go forward and back. In these times, when the linear,
regular pulse of Chronos clocktime is shown explicitly to be arbitrary and
flexible - then all the participants of the Fotamecus film (and indeed those
people who have seen the film) would be able to link up and develop our
ability to manipulate time. We plan to release these pathworkings alongside
the final film.

Keyman speaks:
January 2001

Fotamecus filmrite: notes on intentions.

At present the focus for developing the intention, the 'intentions' at the heart
of the film are;

1) To join the war against linear time, siding with Fotamecus against
Chronos, in order to aid liberation from temporal constraints. This is as
simple, on some levels, as challenging the norm of a working day constructed
around 9-5 time, the bells and whistles of schools and factories ordering our
lives. Time is in the first instance a habit and the destruction and re-creation
of spontaneity and the situation is a battle that has been ongoing on numerous
fronts - magical, political, social, artistic and philosophical. This, if you like,
is the strategic intention.
2) To aid in a battle or struggle (and I see Chronos as associated with
authority and an ordering of lives/life that suppresses life's own nature) you
need to find the point of leverage, the tactics of engagement. In this case it is
the field of film. To this end I want to create a film that, when watched,
echoes and perhaps even establishes a form of rite in itself. To this extent the
idea of the film is to make it a 'magical machine', a nomadic experience,
caught and moulded, so that the audience finds themselves entangled and
enthralled inside a magical rite. My only concern here is the 'unintended
audience', the audience who might feel duped into participating in something
they didn't know was going on. I want to avoid that side of things whilst
creating a situation in which the audience leave the theatre/room/TV screen
with the sense of having participated in a magical rite. The use of
visualisation, both visual and auditory, within the film will aim to implant the
primary intention into the psyche of the audience through mantras, sigils and
visuals that linger. To a large degree the tactics are nothing other than an
extension of what any filmmaker wants to do except that in general this
desire to implant something is either artistic/political/social (say something
about the world perhaps in order to change it, perhaps in order to merely
express oneself) or egotistical (to create a film that is financially successful).
The normal intentions of a film will be replaced with the magical intention.

3) As an artist-filmmaker I also have a desire to create works of beauty and

feel that this aspect of the creation of the beautiful is as much a craft as magic
itself. The more successful the film is, as an object of beauty (which does not
equate to 'pastoral' or 'idyllic' - scenes, for example, from Angel Heart can be
described as beautiful despite their visual horror) the more successful the
intention will be.

There will be, before the filming begins, a need to simplify these intentions
and achieve a focus for clarity in order to focus the single-pointedness
necessary and this single point will be around the final statement of intent
surrounding the 'godfigure' Fotamecus. Clarity as to tactics is merely a lever
for clarity of final aims.

I hope this clarifies a little. I would say, as a final comment, that there are two
aphorisms that inform a lot of my artwork/filmmaking. The first is by
Goddard - 'truth is 24 frames per second'. The second comment is by Picasso
who once said that 'when art is properly understood we will be able to paint
pictures to cure toothache'. The power of art is in its power not to reflect but
to recreate the world - to effect change according to one's will. Art is magical
in the true sense. In this sense, then, it is clear that the film is an experiment,
a conscious experiment, to effect an open and deliberate union of magic and
film, to break the barriers between the two, not so an audience can observe,
as passive anthropologists or voracious and vicarious voyeurs, but so that an
audience can be themselves transformed and transforming through the
operation of the film.

We created three anchor points to aid work with Fotamecus. This would
allow people, especially those who had seen the film and thus directly
participated in the spawning of the Fotamecus meme, to deploy the power to
change time using 'empty-handed magick'. These anchor points are three
mudras or hand signs which are derived from one of the deaf sign language
systems.

To slow time down: still your mind and begin to chant the name Fo-ta-Me-cus
over and over until gnosis is attained. Make the slow time mudra. This is
done by extending the left arm and pointing it slightly downward. Using the
right hand, palm downwards, slowly draw your right hand along your left
arm as though stroking it. Let your desire go.

To make time speed up: still the mind and chant as before. Make the mudra.
Using the thumb, index and forefingers of your right hand. Open these
fingers out (with your ring finger and little finger tucked into your palm).
Bring your hand back so that your hand, three fingers extended is by the side
of your head, on the same level as your eye. Tense your arm and then, when
you are ready, fling your arm forward so that your right hand is fully
extended and bring your fingers together as though catching an insect. Let
your desire go.

To 'reset' the space-time continuum: Again, still your mind and chant the
name Fotamecus.

When ready place both hands on your forehead, with thumbs pointing
upward. Pull your hands away from your head as though you are pulling
something back (eg a curtain) and bring your thumbs into the palms of each
hand. Mentally or aloud thank Fotamecus.

As Fotamecus is a new god it really likes to come out and play, so don't
worry about struggling to reach plus four states of gnosis before you deploy
the mudra. A light state of trance and the characteristic 'disinterested interest'
that often works well for empty-handed magick is fine.

These mudras formed part of the main Fotamecus working. This was
conducted at a place called Black Cap on the Sussex South Downs not far
from Brighton. The evening of the filming saw us carrying vast amounts of
gear (with the help of a number of runners) up a long track and into some
woodland that we had already identified as the site for the ritual. Keyman had
been observing the place for a while, a dense grove of beech and sycamore,
fairly isolated and with a welcoming atmosphere.

The preparation for the ritual included entertaining visits from the local
constabulary, National Trust warden, local farmers and gamekeeper.
Considering that we had already applied for and been granted permission to
be there it seemed as though the forces of awe and boredom had a little too
much time on their hands. Finally the scene was set. Huge banners bearing
sigils that we had created as part of the preparatory work were hung from the
trees, lights flooded the grove and we donned our ceremonial robes and
masks.

The sound of the generator. The deep shadows cast by the lighting rig. The
wind in the trees…

We begin by holding hands, taking a moment to be silent before we begin.

Brother rhino, Brother Kondwani and I blessed the camera, as a member of
our group, as the transmitter of our word, as the creator of images and the
recorder of our work.

Fotamecus! Your time has come!

The aim was to give birth to Fotamecus through the film. Our plan to
concentrate the Fotamecus egregore into the one thing that it could not
tolerate - a clock. Our intention is to create a focus and a road which will
attract the Fotamecus egregore and funnel its power into the timepiece. Then,
as the clock is destroyed, so the light (that great definer of time) from the
burning clock will enter the camera, expose the film and thus the energy of
the ritual will be literally captured on the stock. The clocks hands would be
set at 10:07 - check out a clock shop next time you pass one and see how
many clocks are set at seven minutes past ten. Why? Well it makes the clock
look happy, like a smiling face. Happy time.

Morrigan symbolically cleared the working site using a broomstick, and I

walked the edge of the circle, calling for the protection of the spirits of the
place. Sister A-Image lit the candle in the east and using incense invoked the
spirits of Air. South and Fire was summoned by Brother rhino. throwing salt
through the red candle flame to bring the power of fire into the earth with us.
Sister Tao poured water and lit the Western candle, summoning the spirits of
water. Brother Kondwani. held up a clod of earth and, lighting the candle in
the North summoned the spirits there.

Fotamecus your time has come, Fotamecus we call on you!

We each began the Fotamecus mantra, slowly, gently letting the sound wash
over us. And as we did so Sister Tao created the egg that would be the womb
of the spirit. Drawing with flour on the floor the sacred space is formed. As
she did this Brother rhino created a spiral. Again marked in flour, from the tip
of the egg, round into the centre of the circle. This would be the road for the
spirit.

When this was done the chanting stopped and we cast the Fotamecus slow
time mudra.

All cry 'Fotamecus your time has come, Fotamecus we call on you!'

Those on the edge of the egg begin the Fotamecus mantra, rapidly and with
varying tempo and volume.

Lamps are placed to show the spirit the way along the spiral path by Brother
Kondwani. The flames from the lamps are like the landing lights of an astral
airstrip. Together Brother Kondwani and Sister A-Image kindle the central
fire. The pyramid of sticks in the centre of the circle blazes up, its orange
glow transgresses the hard shadows of the limelights. Smoke rises into the
grove and is captured by the wind.

Again the chanting ceases and we all make the fast time mudra.

All cry 'Fotamecus your time has come, Fotamecus we call on you'.

Those on the edge of the egg begin the Fotamecus mantra - freestyle!

Morrigan picks up the clock and walks the spiral path to the centre of the egg.

I follow with a brush, pot of red paint and weapons of destruction (a sword
and club). We are following the spiral path, into the Orphic egg, following
the lamps that light the spirit road, towards the heart of the sacred space. We
are drawing Fotamecus into the space, into the concentrated zone of power…

The sigil of Fotamecus is painted on the clock by Morrigan, it is then set

down beside the fire. The paint gleams wet like blood.

Both Morrigan and I begin to shake using Sedir, seething movements to get
into trance. We are overbreathing, forcing our bodies to become drunk on
oxygen. Around us the Fotamecus mantra builds and we feel the spirit
entering the space much faster than would normally be expected. Fotamecus
is obviously eager to be born!

We shake, building the energy and then the moment has come. I provide
Morrigan with the Sword and I take up the club, she swings and brings the
blade down on the clock, I follow with the club and the talisman is destroyed.
The Fotamecus mantra rolls around the grove; we pick up the remains of the
clock and hurl them into the flames.

And banish with laughter!

Later that night we eat and drink, deciding to stay in the woods. For some
inexplicable reason we have all forgotten to bring sleeping bags and so spend
the night huddled in the Fotamecus sigil banners. The fire burns down, the
generator is silenced. Owls hoot in the darkness.

So where is the camera in all this? Two video and one film camera are trained
on the ritual. The film camera has been allowed the right to call 'stop' and halt
our rite at any moment. But this didn't happen, nor, it later transpires, did any
of the cameras actually get a shot of the clock being destroyed. There is a
strange sense in the air, not of unease, but of something unfinished. Of course
the film will not be completed for some months to come but it's something
else. As though the ritual isn't really over…

We mused about the idea of using explosives and filming a clock exploding,
trying to capture that elusive moment that the camera missed on the night.
Retrospectively, retroactively sealing the spell. Whatever we were to do next,
what we really needed was another clock to destroy.

It was a week or two later, while thinking about the fact that we needed to
complete the ritual, to finish the 'capture' of the spirit onto celluloid, I found
another clock. As I walked down to the train station (the location that features
at the beginning of the Fotamecus film) I found it, a big clock, the kind they
have in offices. There it was, on the pavement, a dead ringer for the timepiece
that we had dispatched in the woodland, and what time did it say? Seven
minutes past ten!

Months later we returned to Black Cap for the final filming of the ritual
elements of the movie. In the cold November mist we hoisted the Fotamecus
sigil banners into the air and donned our robes once more. This section was
simple, filming us going to the top of the hill. In that classic way of movies
the start was being filmed after the end.

Slowly we ascended the hill, with Keyman calling us onward as each shot
was taken. Brother rhino wore the clock around his neck, changing the time
at each cut. (His chronometric lamen led him to be temporarily possessed by
the spirit of Flava Flav.)

Finally we were back in the woods and we held hands once more. There was
a moment of silence and Keyman spoke, thanking the spirit of the place, the
spirit of Fotamecus and drawing the ritual to a close. And as we stood in that
wood, far away from the world of clocking on and off we felt the ritual come
to an end.

But for Fotamecus the fun was only just beginning.

Mahakali Maya
It's odd the things one learns. 'Kali Temples have a nasty habit of catching
fire' - that's one that I now know to be a fact. The friend who sent me that
advisory email quoted examples of two temples, build by various friends,
dedicated to the bloody goddess of time and death. The first was a bender
structure that had gone up in smoke, the second a tent that, during one
particularly dramatic ritual, had been entirely destroyed by a conflagration.

In accordance with this the wise wizard always packs a trusty fire
extinguisher!

The space for the rituals was fabulous. Brother rhino. had helped take a squat
on Viaduct Road, the building had been workshop premises, built in that
apparently timeless mid-twentieth-century-brick-but-featureless style. The
narrow staircase led down to the bottom two floors which we were going to
use. The only permanent inhabitant of the squat - Snoop, seemed
unconcerned about our antics in a kind of off-hand sort of a way.

The rooms themselves were behind boarded up shop fronts, bone shatteringly
cold concrete floors and featuring a strangely institutional looking sink in the
corner. Here we would create a potent temporal autonomous zone. Here we
could build and install our own art, our own creations. Brother rhino and
Sister mill mill led the project, they focused the form of the space and, aided
and abetted by myself, Brother Kondwani, Sister Artemis, and a loose
network of others, this outlaw chamber was transformed into a place of
power and of magick.

The chamber walls were covered with white drapes from floor to ceiling. On
the floor was painted the muladhara lotus. The base chakra, that place from
which all our basic drives spring - the drive to feed, to flee, to fight and form
territory. This is the material realm. The red four-petaled lotus, some three
meters wide. The flower sat upon a mountain of skulls. Photocopied grinning
white bone faces, thousands of them painstakingly stuck to the floor and
varnished. Thus the lotus sits upon the charnel ground of the earth, just as our
lives build upon and are supported by the bones of our dead ancestors…
Brother rhino strikes the singing bowl and begins…

The beginning of the ritual is for us to be consciousness of the reality and

meaning of this installation. Sri Parameshvari puja is our first working.

Now we come to the Muladhara Lotus. Deep at the base of your spine. Placed
below your genitals and above your anus: Its head hangs downwards. It has
four petals of deep crimson, on which shine the letters Va, Sh, S, & Sa, of
brilliant gold. Root support of the sound mandala universe.

Here is the bottom of creation!

The Dominant Para- Sri Parameshvari!

Listen, whilst you have this rare chance of liberty and opportunity!

Here, we die before death and become the twice born!

These are your four aims!

Dharma-Right thinking

Artha- Acquisition of wealth

Kama- Sexuality

Moksha-Liberation

Conquering four Asuras respectively:

Ignorance.

Revulsion.

Attachment.

Delusion.

May Sri MahaMaya Kali Kalaratrisvarupini extinguish what is left!

Here! Listen! In this endless cycle of Death and Rebirth, which is entirely
without gates; is the four-fold Dhara-Mandala, shining yellow, Tattva of
Earth Beautiful like lightning.

A blue circle rests upon the lotus, without gates because in this place, the
world, all things are linked to the cycle of birth, sex, death and rebirth.

Cohesive principle of solidity.

Matter is at its densest here,

This is the seat of the fat one, being all categories that exist.

Here we are nourished by the smell of food, the release of sleep, we wash, we
clean, we fuck, and we fight. Here, resistance is at its highest.

This is the part of your myth you can touch! Here nobly born! Not anywhere
else! Here where our everyday lives are situated, where your beauty unfolds
from sleep everyday!

We sit not being asked to imagine these things for here it is! In actuality, we
are seated upon the lotus, in the World of the world. Our circle (there are
some ten participants) sits upon the earth as on a raft.

Brother rhino leads us through the mantras and meaning of this space. His
movements are wild and intoxicated like the sadus I've seen raving in Tamil
Nadu. We are isolated from the world, cut off from the everyday and yet we
are profoundly aware of the reality of all this, the cold of the concrete floor,
the sounds from the road outside. This is hyperreality.

Nuclear seed bija of this Tattva is LAM - of the nature of diamonds.

Within the bindu of the mantra, seated in abundant opulence on a gigantic red
lotus, in pure bliss, Mighty Maha Ganesha chuckles and eats sweets. Filling
all dimensions with his incomprehensible bulk. He is the Seer-poet of the
crossroads. Beloved boy of beginnings. Lord of the Gana Spirit horde.
Namah! Namah!

Oh Destroyer, you are so fat and we love you so much!

You are the body of material pleasure,

You are the sense lord,

You are the feeder,

The food & the fed.

AUM GAM.

Hear us oh pork chop champion of the oppressed, you carry in your arms the
Child Creator Brahma, Glowing rainbow hued Supercontext.

The perfect lover who's MahaMantra-

HARE KRSNA HARE KRSNA

KRSNA KRSNA HARE HARE

HARE RAMA HARE RAMA

RAMA RAMA HARE HARE

Is resplendent like the young sun dispelling the sheer terror of the aroused
Kundalini.

Lord of desire, the self-born supreme divinity of lust, impeller of creation.

Proud adolescent, riding a parrot, bow of sugarcane, the bowstring a line of

bees, your five arrows of heavenly fragrance incite wild passion for the joy of
union, in fields, by a lake, in cities, towns and villages, love is the pivot on
which we turn!

Jai!

Brother rhino's hands sweep across the mandala on the floor, indicating the
elements of the yantra, building the space-text of the puja with movements
and words.
Here near the mouth of the Nadi called Vajra, in the pericarp there constantly
shines the beautifully luminous and soft lightning triangle Tripura. There is
always and everywhere the seat of Shakti. The Yoni, of the nature of the three
worlds, the three times, the three gunas; Sattva, Rajas & Tamas.

Here in Tamas. Inertia. Decay. Where all forms return is Sakti Dakini Kali
Kalaratrisvarupini. Burning like 10 million suns. Seated on an unfolding red
lotus, smashing the pride of this degenerate age, the presided of the yuga of
blood, corruption and hypocrisy.

Her name is the last breath, she who strikes terror into the hearts of the
uninitiated; uncontrollable, holding in her right hands the spear and lotus, and
in her left the sword and skull cup filled with wine. She is fierce in temper
and shows her teeth. Addicted to the spilling of blood. Primary Adya Shakti
you crush the whole host of enemies. You are plump of body and fond of rice
pudding. As all colours disappear into black, so all beings return into you.
Darkness within Darkness the gateway to all understanding.

Inside is Svayambu in his Linga form, beautiful like precious gems, he is

revealed by Knowledge and Meditation, and is of the nature of a fresh new
leaf. As the cool rays of lighting and the full moon charm desire, so does his
beauty. Diamond point of consciousness. The Deva who resides here happily
is in created forms like an irresistible whirlpool. You are mighty Shushumna
Self-contained reality manifestation vajra technology of the nature of our own
central nervous system. Inert, like a corpse. The senses are dead. All you
perceive is dreaming Kundalini. MahaMaya, fine as a lotus stalk, she is the
world-bewilderer, gently covering the mouth of Supercontext comprehension
with her own.

Now you perceive the Gayatri of the Kali-Yuga. Listen and be liberated.

The twilight language washes over us. Some of our company know these
symbols and can plainly see the linga in the lotus. For others this evocative
text is suggestive, exotic, a relentless barrage of images, a rich word feast
with the occasional jarring description to prevent complacency. For all the
truth is overwhelming. Here we are in the world, on the lotus. The text of the
puja is only a pretty statement of the strangeness of the real world. The effect
is like those first few moments when you are waiting for the acid to kick in.
You know that somehow you will soon be tripping and that you can watch,
expectantly, for the very first inkling of the drug effect. The psychedelic state
always sneaks up on one; from the corner of your eye, from the edges of
awareness and from an unexpected direction - like the universe saying 'boo!'
and catching itself sleeping…

The temple is dedicated to Kali - this is her place. She is the goddess in the
muladhara chakra, she liberates us when death comes. She teaches the tantras
and creates the world of form, she is time.

The squat contains her symbols. Upstairs there is a small devotional shrine
that each of us knelt at on our entry to the building. On it the yantra of the
goddess, her triangles and four gates. Red candles and incense, a bowl of
water and red flowers are her offerings.

Now in the temple all eyes are firmly fixed on her altar.

Red and green silks hang from the ceiling. They frame an image of Kali as
the beautiful and terrible Mother, in one hand she holds a skull dripping
blood, and in another an AK47 assault rifle. Round her head are love hearts
in a rainbow of colours. Around her are other forms, Mahakali standing upon
Shiva, her ten arms raised with weapons of war and liberation. Below her the
sandalwood sculpture of Ganesha fat and gorgeous. Offerings are clustered
around the big bellied elephant headed god; perfume, water, flowers, fruit.
More images of Kali fill the altar; the goddess as an aged woman, the
goddess as P.J.Harvey wearing her T-shirt urging 'lick my legs'.

On the floor, beneath the altar space resting on the mountain of skulls, is the
fetish.

The fetish has been made from newspapers with sigils scrawled upon them,
crushed into balls and stuck into a vague pyramidal shape using a quick
drying builder's foam. Over this red wax has been poured, creating a structure
that resembles a bloody hunk of meat. Hair and nail clippings of the
assembled company have also been incorporated. Into this, red candles have
been stuck and upon and around it we have decorated the altar to befit the
goddess.
There is a huge spear, a multitude of skulls and bones. Wine and fruit,
sweets, incense and red flowers in great abundance.

Jai Mahakali! Praise Kali!

Like the twilight language of the puja the altar is at once simple and
overwhelmingly opulent. It is baroque and gothic, cultures and ideas clash
within its form. Signs of care and love and safety and images of war or
violence and of sudden death.

Svayambu tames the multiplicity of Her form, which coils like the Conch
shell KRSNA blew on the battlefield of the ancestors.

Her of the soft golden limbs, primal ratio, Self-Sentient reality patterning,
here in forms concealed, having every single characteristic, hand removing
fear.

Her neurosomatic response is that of a strong flash of young strong lightning.

Her sweet biological murmur is like the hum of swarms of cellular algorithms
resonating implicitly. Melodious nuclear seed syllable poetry of perceptual
machinery - like immense clouds of love-mad bees.

Here reigns the dominant Parameshvari.

We do this Puja as a dedication to Sri Parameshvari. The awakened of eternal

knowledge. She is the Omnipotent Kala who is wonderfully skilful to create,
and is subtler than the subtlest. She is the receptacle of that continuous stream
of ambrosia which flows from the eternal bliss. By Her radiance it is that the
universe and this cauldron is illumined. She is the Devi Dakini by name, Her
four arms shine with beauty, and her eyes are brilliant red. She is like the
lustre of a million suns rising at once and the same time. She is the carrier of
the revelation of the ever-pure intelligence.

It is she who maintains all the beings of the world, by means of inspiration
and exploration, poetry, verse, in sequence or otherwise. She shines in the
cavity of the red lotus like a chain of brilliant handmade children's lanterns.

She who is of the nature of light and sound, shining in the forehead like the
lustrous rainbow of Brahma. In the crown of the head united like the
luminous white shine of the moon, and in the heart like the never-setting
splendourous sun. May She, by the means of the three mighty syllables -

KRIM

HRIM

SRIM

Speedily destroy all our impurities.

(Pause)

Macrobindu

Repository of all manifestation in complexity and variety. Basis of all

vibration, movement, form.

Starting point in the unfolding of space/time as well as the last point of its
ultimate integration. Extensionless mathematical point of pervading
consciousness. Zero dimensions.

AUM

(Pause)

The eight-fold yoga

The six regions of the body

The five states

They have left and gone

Totally erased

And in the open

Void

We are left

Amazed

There is but a red-rounded moon

A fountain of white milk

For delight

The Unobtainable bliss

Has engulfed us

A precipice

Of light

Get Up

Wake Up

Be Strong

I Formally close this Puja

Brother rhino strikes the singing bowl and we listen to the sound dwindle,
merging at last with the background vibration of the world. We are back,
changed and yet nothing has changed. The mantra and the worship has served
to place us directly in the muladhara. We know what we must do, the
injunction is as clear as the four aims:

Right thinking

Acquisition of wealth

Sexuality
Liberation

Though the first puja has closed we are still here, still seated in the muladhara
chakra, sitting on the hard floor on the red lotus atop a mountain of skulls.

Through this puja the working space is opened, the sequence of what was to
become four rituals in honour of Kali is begun.

But before we move more deeply into the body of the dark goddess, Brother
rhino opens the space with an invocation to that other ruler of the base
chakra. The elephant Lord Ganesh. Since this ritual is at the beginning of a
sequence of work, and the installation of this space, we petition the blessing
of the god who opens the way. Ganesha is Brother rhino's special protector
and friend. He is god of riches, of wealth, of sweets and joy. The sandalwood
image of Ganesha sits, fat and resplendent on the altar, and winks.

We break for a short time and share water, tobacco and cannabis then Brother
rhino once more strikes the singing bowl and cries:

OM GAM

Dhyana:
Residing at the true centre of the perceptual universe, within the immense
island continent Mountain Meru, Simultaneously illumined by the distant
light of the setting moon and warmed by the early light of the rising sun;
cooled by the four fragrant winds of heaven. Inside a perfumed garden of
sandalwood sweetness, enmeshed in fine, leafy creepers, lapped by the
honey-sweet waters of paradise.

In the distance vibrates the soft echo of eternal drums. There beneath verdant,
immortal trees resonates the primordial muladhara lotus, and within, is
mighty MahaGanapati!

Great bellied, his awesome bulk fills all directions. One tusk and ten arms,
dispelling fear and granting boons!

A tawny and resplendent dumpy conqueror!

Winner of hearts and master of poets, infinite and consciousness personified,
the destroyer of obstacles! Huge and gigantic, immediately present beyond all
points in time!

Omkara Ganesha!

Around us, at the eight points in space we imagine each Ganesha form,
raising up in glorious colour and vibrant power. Creating an eight-rayed star
of unbendable Gana power!

Brother rhino points at each place of manifestation as he names the form that
rises from the lotus beneath us.

In the East! In realms of red gana spirit hordes, the hideously deformed
Vikata Ganesha conquers the lust demon Kamasura!

In the South-East! Following the rising sun into realms of purple, corpulent
belly Lambodara Ganesha utterly devours the anger demon Krodasura,
liberating worlds!

In the South! Elephant face Gajanana transforms the greed of Lobhasura into
realms of yellow Ganas at his command!

In the South-West! Big belly Mahodra Ganesha vanquishes the demon of

delusion Mohasura in fields of blue Gana laughter!

In the West! Kshipra Ganesha, He who is easy to appease, smothers the

demon of intoxication, Matasura in the midst of green Gana armies!

In the North-West! The silver Gana horde of jealousy ruled by Matsara is

dominated completely! Vakratunda, the Deva wielding the unquestionable
power of the twisting trunk laughs on!

In the North! Smoky Dhumravana smites gold Abhimasura into formless

void, ending his attachment to causality from beyond time!

In the final direction! North-East of Mountain Meru! Incredible Vighnaraja

Ganesha consumes Istasura, in orange realms of demonic tendencies, thus
removing and transforming all fear into abodes of bliss!
OM MAHAGANAPATI NAMAH!

OM GAM!

The energy rises. From the hyperreal fact of the first ritual the delight begins
to surface. The muladhara chakra is the realm of death, of obligation and of
desire, but sometimes desire can be fun! Attachment is only sorrow if you
want it to be. As Brother rhino gets more enraptured so the excitement, the
joy of worshipping Ganesha, such a jolly and powerful god, takes hold! We
begin to be transported. Some people have eyes open but rolled up into their
heads, for others hands are clapped in prayer. And this praying isn't the
contrition of confession but the praise of elation, rapture. For others their
bodies rock back and forth like Jews in the synagogue. We dwell in devotion,
praising the god who likes sugar plums!

By meditating thus; Pure of disposition by deep and musical words, We serve

the foremost of the Devas, and seek immediate dissolution of my sins, to gain
all virtues, to seek blessings of Lord MahaGanapati through this form, and
through his blessing attain wisdom.

Be pleased to come here, O Gajanana, You who are dear to Shiva, You who
are dear to Parvarti, the refuge of those without refuge, all-knowing!

We exalt you Lord SiddhiVinayaka through this Beautiful form!

Feel your belly to be a void within you. As you breathe, see this void
beginning to fill with a scarlet mist. Gradually, the mist begins to form a
shape - the shape of the Elephant-headed one, Ganesha.

Ganesha, vermilion-coloured, with the head of an elephant and the body of a

man, whose vehicle is a mouse.

Big of belly, with ears like winnowing baskets, he holds a pomegranate in his
trunk, and the crescent moon is upon his forehead. In his four hands he holds
a tusk, an elephant goad, a noose, and gives the gesture of granting boons.
The tusk he holds represents service

The goad prods us along our path

The noose reminds us of that which binds us

To his favoured he grants all boons

His ears, like winnowing baskets, sift truth from non-truth

His twisting trunk shows us the power of strength and discrimination

His vehicle, the Mouse, is for cunning, and subtlety.

Meditate upon the qualities of the Ganesha within you - he has the strength
and wisdom of an elephant; the intelligence of man; the cunning and subtlety
of a mouse. He is the Lord of the Ganas, the demon-horde of Shiva. He is the
bringer of luck, the remover of obstacles. Son of Shiva and Parvati, beloved
of gods and men alike.

At this point each of us breaths the power of our internal Ganesha into the
sandalwood carving of the god. We breathe our power into him so that, like a
lamp, he can radiate his power back to the whole group. Thus rather than the
more usual process of creating a focus of power and then absorbing it we
each share our power, transmitted by the image as the focus.

Ganesha is like that, there does not need to be any selfish hoarding up of
siddhi. What is the point of hoarding the energy of the god who breaks down
barriers? Ganesha is Jupiter, the all-giver, the bountiful prince who, generous
of heart, blesses with boons all who seek his aid.

Once the image has been filled by the power of our externalised Ganesha it is
ready for worship. It is no longer a mere block of wood but a vessel for our
own power which itself is a tributary from the great river of Ganesha in
universal reality. Brother rhino makes offerings to the vivified image.

Gam, Obeisance to Ganapati (pour water from first bowl into other two)

Gam this water. Gam Gam Gam Hum Hum Om Gam Ganapati Namah
[Offer first bowl to Ganesha] - Gam, this is for sipping

[Offer second bowl to Ganesha] - Gam, this is for bathing

[Dab perfume on head of Ganesha] - Gam, this is perfume

[Cense Image around Ganesha] - Gam, this is incense, this is for prayer

[Offer Candle to Ganesha] - Gam, this is flame, this is for sacrifice [Offer
Food to Ganesha] - Gam, this is food, this is for sustenance

[Offer Flower to Ganesha] - Gam, this is flower, this is for experience

[Make music to Ganesha] - Gam, this is music, this is for enjoyment

Take these offerings O Sri Mahaganapati, bestow siddhi upon us!

At this stage of the puja Brother rhino takes up his prayer beads. This call and
response sequence some of us have done before and it is always a powerful
and funny event. The 108 titles and attributes of Ganesha are called and the
participants respond, repeating the words with hearts full of gladness.

Salutations to him who is our refuge

Salutations to the one with the wondrous form

Salutations to the foremost presider

Salutations to him who is the fire within

Salutations to the first-born

Salutations to the unborn one

Salutations to him who is without impurity

Salutations to him who is worshipped by all

Salutations to the manifestation of the unmanifest

Salutations to the inexhaustible one

Salutations to the inexhaustible one

Salutations to the granter of devotees' desires

Salutations to the destroyer of devotees' obstacles

Salutations to the one who loves pomegranates

Salutations to him who is celibate

Salutations to him who is free from aversion to the Divine

Salutations to the foremost knower of Brahman

Salutations to him to whom intelligence is dear

Salutations to him who is powerful

Salutations to him who wields the discus

Salutations to the wearer of the moon on his head

Salutations to the ingenious one

Salutations to the one with four arms

Salutations to the skilful one

Salutations to the self-controlled one

Salutations to the compassionate one

Salutations to the resplendent one

Salutations to the courageous one

Salutations to him who is fond of durva and bilva

Salutations to him who has two mothers

Salutations to him who is fond of the twice born

Salutations to the one with a single tusk

Salutations to the lord of the multitudes

Salutations to him who has an elephant's face

Salutations to him who wields the mace

Salutations to the son of Gauri

Salutations to the lord of planets

Salutations to him who transcends all qualities

Salutations to him who is lion-like

Salutations to the rapturous one

Salutations to him who holds the sugarcane bow

Salutations to the bestower of Indra's power

Salutations to the one with matted locks

Salutations to the embodiment of wisdom

Salutations to him who works incessantly

Salutations to the bestower of absolute happiness

Salutations to the destroyer of Kali's impurity

Salutations to the embodiment of time

Salutations to him who is love

Salutations to the beloved one

Salutations to him who upholds the mountains

Salutations to the one with the big belly

Salutations to the source of all illusory power

Salutations to him who is praised by sages

Salutations to him whose vehicle is the mouse

Salutations to he who wears a cobra as a sacred thread

Salutations to him who is without blemish

Salutations to the destroyer of wickedness

Salutations to him for whom there is no other

Salutations to the wielder of the noose and goad

Salutations to him who is feared by ambitious men

Salutations to the blissful one

Salutations to the pure one

Salutations to the God worshipped by Rama

Salutations to the creator

Salutations to him whose form is existence, knowledge, bliss

Salutations to him who is fond of playing with his mother Parvati, daughter
of the mountain lord

Salutations to the powerful one

Salutations to him who is fond of the Sama Veda

Salutations to the attentive one

Salutations to the supporter of the worlds

Salutations to the dearest son of Shiva's spouse

Salutations to the bestower of all perfections

Salutations to the bestower of all fulfilment

Salutations to the son of Shiva

Salutations to the omnipresent Self

Salutations to the peaceful one

Salutations to the peaceful one

Salutations to the unchanging one

Salutations to him whose lotus feet sages worship

Salutations to the bestower of fulfilment

Salutations to the auspicious one

Salutations to the first-born, Skanda's brother

Salutations to him whose eyes are the sun and moon

Salutations to the bestower of prosperity

Salutations to him with the beautiful throat

Salutations to him who manifests prosperity

Salutations to the lord of Lakshmi

Salutations to him who has a stout neck

Salutations to he who is pleased with praise

Salutations to the pure one

Salutations to him with ears like winnowing fans

Salutations to him who is a vast ocean of sweetness more charming than the
god of love

Salutations to him who acts independently

Salutations to the self-established one

Salutations to the content one

Salutations to him who holds the blue lotus

Salutations to the lord of speech

Salutations to the bestower of boons

Salutations to the bestower of speech

Salutations to the lord of the wise

Salutations to the controller of destiny

Salutations to the lord of obstacles

Salutations to the remover of obstacles

Salutations to him who is free from fear

For some of the salutations memory fails and the company are sent laughing
and smiling into a mumble, for others the message is so clear that we sing out
strong. As the salutations progress so the image on the altar seems to smile.

The prayers continue - we are quieter and deeper in trance, deeper in the
devotional space. The chattering laughter and fun of the salutations gives way
to a deeper ecstasy, a warm happy feeling punctuated by the occasional grin
and cries of 'Jai' - 'Praise'.

OM LAM

We bow to Ganesha

You are clearly the Tattva.

You alone are the Creator. You alone are the Maintainer.

You alone are the Destroyer.

Of all this you are certainly Brahma.

You plainly are the essence.

Always I speak Amrita. The Truth I speak.

Protect me. Protect the speakers. Protect the hearers. Protect the givers.
Protect the holders. Protect the disciple that repeats. Protect that in the East.
Protect that in the South. Protect that in the West. Protect that in the North.
Protect that above. Protect that below. Everywhere protect. Protect me
everywhere!

You are Speech. You are Consciousness. You are Bliss. You are Brahma.
You are Being-Consciousness-Bliss. You are the Non-Dual. You are plainly
Brahma. You are Knowledge. You are Intelligence.

You create this world. You maintain this world. This entire world is seen in
you. You are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Aethyr. You are beyond the four
measures of speech. You are beyond the Three Gunas. You are beyond the
three bodies. You are beyond the three times. You are always situated in the
Muladhara. You are the being of the three Shaktis. You are always meditated
upon by Yogins. You are Brahma, you are Vishnu, you are Rudra, You are
Agni, You are Vayu, You are the Moon, You are the Sun, you are Brahma,
Bhur-Bhuvah-Svar.

'Ga' the first syllable, after that the first letter, beyond that 'm', then the half-
moon all together. Joined with "Om" this is the mantra-form.

Letter 'Ga' the first form, letter 'a' the middle form, 'm' the last form. Bindu
the higher form, Nada the joining together, Samhita the junction. This is the
Vidya of Lord Ganesha. Ganaka is the seer, Nricad-Gayatri the metre, Sri
Mahaganapati the God. "Om Ganapataye Namah."

Let us think of the one-toothed, let us meditate on the crooked trunk, may
that tusk direct us.

One tusk, four arms, carrying noose and goad, with His hands dispelling fear
and granting boons, with a mouse as his banner.

Red, with a big belly, with ears like winnowing baskets, wearing red, with
limbs smeared in red scent, truly worshipped with red flowers.

To the devoted a merciful Deva, the Maker of the World, the Prime Cause,
who at the beginning of creation was greater than gods and men.

He who always meditates thus is a Yogin above Yogins.

Hail to the Lord of Vows, hail to Ganapati, hail to the First Lord, hail unto
you, to the Big-Bellied, One-tusked, Obstacle-destroyer, the Son of Shiva, to
the Boon-Giver, Hail, hail.

Any who study this Atharva Shira moves towards Brahma. They are always
blissful. Any obstacles do not bind them. They are liberated from the five
greater and the five lesser sins. Evening meditation destroys the
unmeritorious actions of the night. At both evening and morning they are
liberated from the bad and attain Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

Any who wants something may accomplish it by 1000 recitations of this. Any
who sprinkle Ganapati with this become eloquent. Any who recites this on a
fourth day becomes a knower of Vidya. An Artharva saying, "They who
move towards Brahma Vidya are never afraid". Anyone who worships with
fried grains becomes famous and becomes intelligent. Worship with sweet-
meat (modaka) gains the desired fruit. Worshipping with samit and ghee all is
attained, all is gained. Anyone who makes eight Brahmans understand this
becomes like the sun's rays. In a solar eclipse, in a great river, or in front of
an image having recited this they get accomplished in the mantra, and
become liberated from great obstacles. They are freed from great misfortunes.

Salutations to you again and again!

Salutations to you who are the universe!

We formally close this puja.

Brother rhino strikes the singing bowl again and smiles contentedly.10

The Second Puja

Once again we meet on the lotus flower of the muladhara chakra. This time
we praise Krishna as the lord of sated desire, the fulfilment of the promise of
existence. This is our Krisha, not as the ascetic, celibate lord. We praise
Krishna as the possibility of desire being met through the infinite power of
Maya. We praise Krisha as the lover of the Gopi girls.

Then for the goddess, to Mahakali we make our dedication. We press our
fingerprints in red ink onto her yantra which hangs in the temple. This sigil is
left in the space to show our commitment to the work.

This second ceremony is calm, not sedate but gentle and we are impressed by
the ease with which we are being admitted to the realm of Mahakali. I
comment as much to a Sister as we walk our way homeward.

This is the calm before the storm.

The Third Puja

Even before we begin there is a power in the room.

As for the previous two rituals we prepare the space using the Gnostic
Pentagram ritual. The first visualisation is of the goddess Tara, amazingly
attractive sixteen year old shakti with firm breasts and radiant with power.
She is installed within each of us by imagination and within her a rotating
character of the seed mantra that is her name. Her generous power floods out
from us and connects all beings.

The imagery is strong and clear - something is here, here in the temple. There
is a power here, I can feel it…

The second phase of this puja is an invocation of Mahakali in her darkest

forms, the goddess of guilt, of old age, of knotted anger and despair. In her
we destroy all restrictions that we have, we ask for the tongues of our
enemies to be silenced, that they should be nailed to the earth. We ask to
come through and to learn from the frustration, the disfigurement she
represents. We summon the form of Kali to come after her, the lady of the
tantras, goddess of black magick.

Then at the nadir of this working, in the darkest, most destructive part of the
Kali cycle, we take sigils that we have each prepared, set them on fire and
cast them into the pot that was first used to create the wax fetish (that
crouches in a gloriously obscene fashion beneath the altar).

At first the flames begin to lick the inside of the pot and we can hear the
hissing of the remaining wax as it begins to catch, each sigil acting like a
wick, encouraging the temperature to go up and up. For the first time in the
whole sequence of rituals the temple is warm as a glorious spout of yellow
fire heats the room.

Finally somebody suggests that the flame, which by now is some four-foot
high, looks a bit dodgy and we should do something.

We start to get nervous and finally Brother rhino reaches for the fire
extinguisher and sprays the flames with a single burst. It's a powder
extinguisher and as the white dust passes into the vessel nothing seems to
happen. So, encouraged by the fact that everybody else is making for the
door, Brother rhino lets rip, the fiery cauldron skids across to the floor
towards Sister Artemis and me!

Finally the flames are out. Keyman rips open the back door (jokingly referred
to as the emergency exit at previous meetings). It is impossible to see across
the room as the extinguisher powder floats around. Suddenly we realise that
we can't breath - some people vanish upstairs and some of us finally get out
the back door. On the other side of the door is somebody else's garden as the
building backs directly onto their property. For a moment we are concerned
that somebody will emerge from the house opposite ('don't worry we're just
having a spot of Kali trauma!').

But more significantly Snoop, the only full-time resident of the squat, comes
rushing downstairs, past some members of the temple who have elected to try
to get to air by going upstairs. He is cross, 'What the fuck! You've set my
fucking house on fire…'

Brother rhino eventually disappears upstairs with Snoop and slowly, as the
dust clears, people come back downstairs to the temple. We are wafting the
air using the drapes by the door, trying to and get some fresh air into the
room.

Upstairs we can hear the fight breaking out, shouting and screaming but no
obvious noises of violence. My gut twists with that horrid and yet somehow
pleasurably intense sensation of adrenaline. But none of us need to go and
break it up. Brother rhino returns downstairs and tells us, 'just in case you
didn't know, me and Snoop have just had a fight'.

Brother Kondwani suggests that we banish the space and Sister mill mill
suggests that we should decamp to her place just to finish the puja.

Every surface in the room is covered with a fine white dust, a dust like
charnel ash. The substance sacred to Kali is ash, the only thing that is left
when the fire of desire has burnt us all up. Sacred ash the only remains of
raised kundalini.

We determinedly go through the Gnostic Pentagram ritual and forcibly earth

the energy. We then leave the building which is still filled with a tangible
anger.

Back in Sister mill mill's house we crowd into her living room, light candles
and enjoy the steady warmth of her gas fire. On her mantelpiece are images
of Ganesha, Kali, and the ladybird, which is her power animal. Brother rhino
takes us through the last of the puja. It is like coming home to harbour after
being out on a wide stormy sea. We are safe.11

The Fourth Puja

The temple has been cleaned up and looks immaculate. Fresh flowers and
fruit decorate the space. Brother rhino has negotiated with Snoop that we can
hold one last ritual.

Once more we sit on the muladhara lotus, upon a mound of grinning skulls.
Now we have come through the lunar month together, we the twice born, we
Kings and Queens have been reborn through Kali, through the dark goddess.

We burn the yantra that was our dedication, this time the flames rise and die
without incident. We begin to remove those precious things from the altar,
certain skulls, paintings, power objects.

The temple is closed. For many of us the effect of these rituals is that old ties
are cut. For Brother rhino his friendship with Snoop was over, for Sister Eris
the schism in her previous magickal group finally split asunder. For Sister
Artemis and me, we would finally put an end to some relationships that had
been dragging us down for literally years. None of these things was easy, the
Kali pujas certainly brought things to a head and sometimes it is certainly
'better out that in'.

Yet for the group who met in that squat, who sat together on the red lotus,
this working helped to forge a new alliance of magicians. Fire can destroy
and it can forge. I have seen it with my own eyes.

You are sitting on the red lotus right now.

Halloween 331/3
Edges are always the most productive places, places where two (or more)
forces interact. Look at a mangrove swamp for example. These are some of
the richest environments on earth. By virtually any measure you care to name
- resilience of the ecosystem, complexity of plant/animal interactions,
absolute number of species and biomass - mangroves come out top. A
mangrove swamp is a special ecotone, a place where a number of
environments meet. Fresh water meets the sea in a muddy tidal delta, creating
deep, current-dragged troughs and shallow pools. Silt, rich in nutrients,
carried by rivers from far inland, meets the ocean. Some material sinks to the
bottom (depending on the tidal conditions), some creates a nutrient rich scum
on the water's surface.

In this halfway world some creatures remain bathed in freshwater, even those
who swim out to sea may be carefully following the plumes of river outwash
that cascade into the brine. Carefully they follow the flow, invisible to the
human eye, of the river as it meanders between the mangrove roots. Other
beings from the sea, which are at home in the oceanic world, get to travel
with the rhythm of the river, sucked upstream and into the embrace of the
land. Then there are others, dilettantes of the between-space, who can move
as easily in fresh as salt water, specialised microbes, amphibious creatures
and fish who have learnt the value of being able to forage in these two
realms.

This mixing alchemical Scorpionic soup of silt and salt and ocean-blown
detritus and river water is further mixed with the air as its third key element.
Over the mangrove swamp the air hangs thick and sometimes almost static.
The lattice of the trees and vines and countless lichens (which droop in huge
skeins) serves as a windbreak. From the atmosphere the minute waving of
crab claws and the boiling up of bacteria fold the air into the mud. This
process enhances the decaying processes that drive the swamp. Beneath the
water anaerobic decay releases nutrients for filter feeders and big fish with
whiskers and primitive eyes. Above the earth the air is rich in aerobic decay.
Flies of a thousand types are generated, and upon them prey a wide variety of
birds.

In permaculture (the art and science of designing sustainable systems) this

phenomena is known as 'the edge effect'. This is an pattern which it is vital to
understand when working with the Earth. To see a clear illustration of this go
and have a look at a conventional field, look at where the highest diversity of
species exists - it will be at the edge. Look at where the plants are growing
most vigorously (even in a field of non-organic grain this still holds true) - it
will be the edge. One of the intentions behind the permaculture approach to
designing gardens is to maximise this effect. It is for this reason that
permaculture plots (be they allotments or full-blown farms) tend to look
messy. Like the mangrove swamp they are not about clean and clear edges
but rather about mixing elements in such a way that they mutually support
one another. Mixing crops, companion planting, using spiral paths that allow
maximum access and provide the longest possible edge - these and many
other practices are designed to maximise the edge effect. It is at the edges that
nutrients collect - that power collects.

Magick is itself one such edge. It is quintessentially the world of the between;
between fact and phantasy, between divine and demonic, between reality and
imagination, between matter and mind. Magick positions itself in the liminal
space - it frequents the temporal autonomous zones (in both physical and
virtual cultural spaces). Magick works between the worlds of humanity and
of the gods, in the betweeness spaces of midnight, in the threshold world of
the 'neither-neither', in states of gnosis where there is no knower and no
known.

Magick, then, is the art and science of navigating the liminalspace. In social
terms magick is the art and science of traversing those zones of change and
betweenness that we call birth, puberty, marriage, death and more. All those
moments and times in which the human spirit needs to talk itself into reality
through ceremony - these are the times when our sense of self is propelled
from one existence to another. It is at these times that we hunger for
techniques and technologists to help us make those changes. Yes social ritual
provides many other functions. It creates categories and shores up the status
quo by providing a framework through which the position of an individual in
culture can be judged (married/unmarried, baptised/confirmed,
student/graduate). But this should not blind us to the other reasons for the
need for social ritual - we need it because in making a transition we need not
only to tell others but to find suitable ways of telling ourselves that we are
different.

As the pallid hand of Christianity falls from the helm of our society we need
new ways, new 'facilitators' and techniques to help us attain these milestones
of being with beauty and passion and humour.

In modern English-speaking Paganism the overriding metaphor is that of the

wheel of the year. Here the rich edge is explored in ritual that exists between
the personal, the social and the bioregional. As the first flowers of spring
appear so this process is linked directly to the emergence of a new
consciousness in the individual. This process is celebrated on a social level -
perhaps at a public 'open' pagan ceremony. It may also be marked by a
smaller more personal ritual and celebrated in some way by an activity (going
for a walk, having a special meal) that is in some way deliberately connected
to the season.

Halloween is one such edge in the wheel of the year. Perhaps the edge in that
it is, apparently, the last day of the 'old Celtic' year. As the festival of the
dead, both in European ancient Pagan culture as much as in Modern Mexican
folk custom, Halloween straddles the worlds of the here-and-now and the
been-and-gone. It is a time when the dead live, when the veil between the
seen and the unseen is compromised.

In this time that is not a time

In this place that is not a place

Between the realm of humans

And of the Gods

At Halloween autumn's tramp is heavy and one can hear, breathing low
behind it, the footfall of the coming winter. The trees flutter the last of their
leaves and by the end of November they will be utterly stripped. The grey
skull cap of sky might hang monotonously overhead, or else fat black rain
clouds announce the first squalls. And sometimes there is clarity in the
season. The smell of bonfires peppers the twilight, but the air itself is clear
and fresh and crisp.

Of course Halloween is also about fun. It's about plastic devil horns and face
painting for kids. It's about the kind of grotesque comedy that sends shivers
of excitement and horror through adult and child alike. I remember as a child
that I used to call this feeling 'being drunk on night', when you get that crazy
nervous energy, that tremulous terror and wide-eyed buzz. Again we are on
the edge here. On the edge where the child's giggling could so easily become
the tearful babbling of terror. Where, to celebrate the ancestors, we must poke
fun at our own mortality by dressing like the dead.

That year our Halloween ritual would be in three parts, each merging and
informing the other. One would be a small ritual for a group of us, with some
friends, with only myself and my partner confirmed ritualists. The second
would be an open ritual, a public ceremony performed by members of The
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). The third was to be a chaos
magick session with myself, Brother Kondwani and Brother rhino.

This was our Halloween…

Teenwitch Vampire Horror!

Buffy is our hero. Combining the qualities of vacuous valley girl and destiny-
driven saviour of the world she is an awesome creation. On one level she is a
woman who is able to walk through a vampire-infested graveyard, at dead of
night, without fear. She is thus the desired form, the incarnated wish for
freedom of nocturnal movement and of physical strength that so many
women crave. She is a nightwalker, a leader and yet still maintains a
femininity that, at times, borders on the shallow stereotype of woman. She
has great hair, great nails, typically overblown American dress sense and still
manages to kick ass!

What a fabulous goddess to invoke!

Sister Artemis and I had worked magick many times before but for Sui and
Lexa this was to be a fairly novel experience. We had discussed the basic
idea, the key element being that everyone was happy to dress up as and
incarnate a character from the series.

The ritual was supposed to be serious but also to be fun. We wanted to enjoy
it, to tap into that crazy Halloween lunacy and into the bonding of us as a
group of friends that Buffy itself is founded upon. We all knew who we
would be. Sister Artemis identified with Willow and would take her post in
the West, I would incarnate Giles in the North, Sui would become Xander in
the East and Lexa would be Buffy in the fiery south. We dressed
appropriately prior to starting the ritual. Lexa put on her make-up, Sui found
a flouncey blue shirt and began getting into character with wise cracks.
Donning a blazer myself and holding a large magickal tome I started to
stutter and crease my brow, trying to imitate Giles as much as I was able.

Before the ritual we had obtained some large balloons and these had been
partly filled with flour. Upon these we drew faces, the faces of those things
that were our own personal vampires. The things that suck you dry - old
worn-out relationships, anxiety and loneliness. Each of us also had a stake,
we'd spent the hours prior to the ritual chatting and sharpening them up (Lexa
was going to carve upon hers the magickal name 'Mr Pointy' for added
authenticity).

Willow cast the circle, walking round the living room using her finger as a
wand and we felt the atmosphere change. As easily as diving into a pool we
had entered the magickal realm, the liminal space.

I began the ritual, blinking in a Giles like fashion and peering into my Big
Magick Book, I spoke the spell;

Oh mighty spirits,

Enflame us with your power

On this Halloween night

Give us the power

To walk between the worlds

To take on these vampires

Those parts of ourselves and situations

Which drain us of vitality

To destroy them!

We each took a slug of tequila, and in turn each of us declared who we were
and what we brought to the ritual.

Xander bringing intelligence, wit, jokes, lies and stories!

Buffy bringing passion, power and kick ass strength!

Willow bringing sensitivity, psychic power and care!

Giles bringing learning, and plain good old-fashioned decency!

Buffy stood, clutching Mr Pointy and holding a balloon vampire by the string
attached to it.

Well let's waste these vamps!

'To the graveyard!' we chorused, and dousing the lights and grabbing our
stakes and balloons we hurried out the door and into the night.

Outside the vast full moon hung in the sky, illuminating the world with its
eerie cold light. In the distance fireworks could be heard. Excitedly, trying to
hold it together, we jogged down the hill, stakes and vampire victims in our
hands. We crossed the road, which separates the church from a section of
graveyard. Here trees and overgrown rose bushes tumbled over the graves.
During the previous winter the ground has subsided and so the grass
remained uncut and beginning to fill-up with vigorous weeds. We had joked
earlier that evening that we might end up falling through the weakened earth
and into a subterranean crypt. Now the possibility seemed quite real but
rather than create fear, this added to the energy of the ritual. We were all fired
up - drunk more on the night itself than the shots of Mexican spirit.
Without any further words we swapped our balloons so that each person was
carrying the vampire of another member of the party. Once this was done we
ran around the graveyard finding suitable places to secrete the vamps. Then
we gathered in the centre of the graveyard by a large ancient marbled tomb.

'Let's get 'em!' cried Buffy and we were off, hunting round the graveyard,
running carelessly over the long grass, dodging behind tombstones and
generally behaving like teenagers. As Giles I attempted to retain a little more
gravitas but, given the atmosphere of the event, found this impossible. And
so, shrieking and giggling I began my search, looking for the characteristic
spheroid energy field that indicates the presence of major vampire action.

Finally I spotted it, beneath a low thorn tree. Hanging almost motionless in
the dark, its eyes filled with moonlight, its fangs apparent. This was the
vampire of fear of incompetence. It was the vampire that makes you worry so
much about not being able to do a thing that you do invariably fail. It was the
vampire that makes you spend so much time worrying about what can go
wrong that you forget to build up a picture of success (a generally more
fruitful approach). Whether you're dealing with taking a driving test or doing
a presentation to the board of directors, it's this vampire that stands in your
way. That stands in my way - and there it was grinning, hanging from a tree.

With a yell I went for it, gripping my stake with both hands I plunged
through the moonlit night towards the vampire. The wooden point found its
mark and the vampire was hit! Just like on the TV as the balloon popped the
white flour showered out, leaving a cloud of dust hanging momentarily in the
air before falling to earth.

For me the hunt was over and so I walked back to the marble tomb. Willow
and Xander returned soon afterwards from their own successful missions. But
Buffy seemed to have made a wide circle round the graveyard, perhaps
enjoying her freedom to move in the night, armed and dangerous, intoxicated
with the hero archetype. Then we saw her, running across the grass very fast
and I realised that her vampire was right next to us. Hanging from a young
sycamore tree, it's grotesque face washed with moonlight. Buffy cried out and
raised Mr Pointy high above her head, jumping to reach her target, and the
vampire was killed - vanishing in a puff of dust. We cheered at what was,
when all said and done, was a pretty neat bit of bad guy despatchment.
We returned to the house and closed the temple. Each of us thanked the
powers of the elements and Sister Artemis uncast the circle. Our Buffy ritual
was done.

Druid Death Cult

From a small circle of friends the circle widens outward. The next day was to
be the OBOD open Samhain ceremony. Since the weather was uncertain the
location would be a tree-screened green near the car park which is at the foot
of the Long Man of Wilmington. Rituals in the warmer part of the year
tended to be held in the small hill directly beneath the Long Man. But for this
Samhain rite the little green was perfect. A few thorn trees dotted the spot,
and in the distance the Long Man, that enigmatic sigil of Sussex, looked on.

As with many of the major celebrations there was a fairly large number of
people present. I arrived with Sister Artemis and a couple of good friends
including Peter who was then ten years old. The beauty of Pagan forms such
as Druidry is that the outer edges of the movement are so visible, open and
inclusive. There are plenty of more challenging and secretive elements in
Druidry but open rituals allow a wide variety of people to come into contact,
often for the first time, with practical earth-centred spirituality.
Unsurprisingly (though often forgotten by old hands) a simple open ritual can
be a profound, life changing experience for somebody, if the whole thing is
new territory.

People gradually assembled including the chosen Chief of the OBOD. A

number of people had brought pumpkins that would be used to make a simple
altar in the centre of the circle. Others had brought apples, nuts and drink to
share in the ceremony. The early afternoon was clear but with the
unmistakable autumn scent of wet and decay on it.

There were no other children present (except a couple of babes in arms) and
Peter was getting bored. It became obvious that he would rather not stand in
the circle and take part. His mum suggested that she sit out the ceremony and
go with him to the excellent nearby pub (The Giant's Rest) for lemonade and
crisps. Although an experienced solitary witch, Peter's mum had never
experienced an open Druid ritual before so, rather than her miss out, I opted
to take Peter to the pub. So, as the assembled company prepared to join hands
and remember the beloved dead, Peter and I wandered off in search of child-
friendly drinks and cake.

Although Druid open rituals are fairly gentle affairs I had been looking
forward to the ceremony so, to begin with, I was a bit cross. I wanted Peter's
mum to experience the ceremony, and appreciated that Peter just couldn't fit
in. Although not unfamiliar with the ideas of Paganism or ritual (all children
understand ritual as a general practice - try snuffing out birthday candles
rather than blowing them and see if they object) Peter just couldn't get
comfortable. He was really bored, that often heard complaint of youth, which
is perfectly true. When you have little autonomy, when you understand about
money but don't have much of your own, when you need the support of adults
but cannot yet be a full part of their world, boredom must inevitably strike.
Being ten is perhaps particularly tricky. You're not really a child anymore,
not able to simply draw or play, or babble endlessly. But neither yet have you
got the teenager's awkward attempts at coolness or opportunities to create a
new culture away from the generation above. Beginning to develop sexuality
but not yet able to focus on the concrete worries of spots and genital hair -
you are in-between, lost in a liminal space that only time will mend.

So Peter and I walked down the road, past the huge and ancient yew tree in
the Wilmington churchyard and into the pub. They had just stopped serving
food so all we could get to eat was cake, a fact that disappointed Peter not
one bit. He with his orange and me with a pint of bitter we decided that it was
still warm enough to sit outside and so we found a trestle table and sat down.

'Is it nice?' I asked Peter indicating his cake.

'humm - I think ghosts feel the same as the wind'

Part of the fun of kids is not knowing where their minds are, sometimes it's so
like talking to someone on acid that it's quite untrue.

'Yeah?'

'Maybe when you die your spirit just turns into wind. Maybe it just floats out
when you breathe your last breath.'
I considered this. Okay it was Halloween, discussing death was certainly on
the menu and I'd seen my grandmother die in March of that year so had spent
(more than usual) time thinking about human mortality.

'I think you have an eternal moment' I said, ' I think that when you die you
have a last thought that seems to go on for ever - like a dream.'

'Uh?'

'The way that a dream is only a dream after you wake up, and then you call it
a dream but at the time you don't think you're dreaming, you just dream'.

'Yes,' acknowledged Peter, 'sometimes I dream I'm going out of my body,

flying up. Sometimes I think that maybe when you die you go flying up.'

'Lots of people say they feel like they are flying when they die.'

'How can we know?' asked Peter.

'Well I mean people who die, so their heart stops, maybe if they are in an
accident, but then their heart is started again.'

'By pressing, Aaggh!' Peter clasped his hands to his chest mimicking heart
massage and sticking his tongue out.

'Yeah. Sometimes people who have died say they see a tunnel and a light.'

'But what happens afterwards. What happens to YOU if you don't get made
alive again?'

'Well different people believe different things.'

(Rolling his eyes to indicate that I'd said the bleeding obvious) 'Yeah like
your soul or spirit goes into an animal, or another person - a baby. Or that
you go to heaven - ugh.'

I could tell that Peter's conception of heaven probably involved lots of angels
and harps and little that he considered worthwhile.
'Maybe part of you goes into the wind' I replied, 'like you said. Maybe part of
you becomes a ghost and another part of you gets reincarnated.'. I've always
liked systems in which you get to have your cake and eat it. In ancient
Egyptian culture after death different aspects of the Self get to do different
things; one part remains on earth and gently fades away like a ghost, one part
goes on to live in a heavenly reality which looks very much like earthy
reality, and another element goes back to the big pool of universal life force
and eventually ends up in a another being.

Peter considered this, 'maybe your ghost only lasts for a while, like an echo'.

I sipped my pint.

'Maybe when people forget you your ghost just blows away. Do you think it
is scary?'

'What death? Dying? Yes I think in some ways it is. I think sometimes it's
sad'

'But maybe dying is okay, just becoming a spirit - you could go wherever you
wanted. Even through walls!'

Imagination is the stuff that forms the bridge from one world to another.
Magick is the technology of forging the imagination to carry our sense of self
from one world to another. For Peter his imagination will help carry him
from child to adult but this does not only come from developing a picture of
your self as a grown-up. It comes by imagining and developing a full
ontology, a full way of thinking about the world. This includes a notion of
death, or perhaps more importantly, what happens to you after death. For
Peter death represented the possibility of freedom and wasn't tied to ideas of
terror or pain. This is as it should be. When you're ten you are immortal. You
don't know what you don't know (which is good because if you knew all that
you don't know you'd be crushed by this knowledge). Your body is still
expanding and growing and rising up from the unconscious, the continent of
sexuality is surfacing. What you lack in autonomy a loved and cared for child
(such as Peter) makes up for in joy at the possibilities of the world, the
possibility of freedom.
Suicide PACT
The temple was prepared with the insignia of Samhain - cauldron, peacock
feathers, pumpkin lanterns and skulls. We burnt opoponax until the room was
thick with smoke.

Three figures, clothed in black robes were silent for a moment. This is one of
the key parts of any ritual - the breath that stops the world. That kills the
disorganised chaos of thought and care about past and future. The door is
bolted, the telephone disconnected, there is only this space and it is the whole
universe, only this time and it is all eternity. There is nothing, there is nothing
but this.

We began by intoning the IAO formula. Brother Kondwani and Brother rhino
then sat motionless and began to chant the name of the Great Goddess of this
time He-Ka-Tay,

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay

He-Ka-Tay…

I heaped incense on the coals, sending the delicious perfume spiralling

upwards and called:

I invoke you, beloved Hekate of the Crossroads and the Three Ways

Saffron-cloaked Goddess of the Heavens, the Underworld and the Sea

Tomb-frequenter, mystery-raving with the souls of the dead

Daughter of Perses, Lover of the Wilderness who exults among deer

Nightgoing One, Protectress of dogs, Unconquerable Queen

Beast-roarer, Dishevelled One of compelling countenance

Tauropolos, Keyholding Mistress of the whole world

Ruler, Nymph, Mountain-wandering Nurturer of youth

Maiden, I beg you to be present at these sacred rites

Ever with a gladsome heart and every gracious to the Oxherd.

O Three-faced Selene, come to me beloved mistress

Graciously hear my sacred spells;

Image of Night, Youthful One,

Dawn-born lightbringer to mortals

Who rides upon fierce-eyed bulls,

O Queen, you who drive your chariot

On equal course with Helios,

You dance with the triple forms of the triple Graces

As you revel with stars.

You are Justice and the thread of the Fates,

Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos,

O Three-headed One you are

Persephone, Megaira and Allecto

O one of many shapes who arms your hands

With terrible dark-glowing lamps,

Who shakes locks of fearsome serpents at your brow,

Whose mouths send forth the roar of bulls,

Whose womb is thick with reptile-scales,

At whose shoulders are rows of venomous serpents,

Bound across your back beneath murderous chains.

O Night-bellower, Lover of solitude, Bull-faced and Bull-headed One

You have the eyes of bulls and the voice of dogs.

Your forms are hidden in the legs of lions.

Your ankle is wolf-shaped, and savage dogs are friendly to you,

Wherefore they call you Hekate, Many-named, Mente,

Cleaving the air like arrow-shooting Artemis.

O Goddess of Four faces, Four names, Four ways,

Artemis, Persephone, Deer-shooter, night-shiner,

Thrice-resounding, Triple-voiced, Three-headed, Thrice-named Selene

O Trident-bearing One, of Three-faces, Three necks, Three ways,

Who holds undying flaming life in triple baskets.

You frequent the Three-ways and are Mistress of the Three Decads.

Be gracious unto me who is invoking you and hearken favourably.

You encompass the vast world of night,

You make the Daemons shudder and the immortals tremble,

O Many-named Goddess who brings glory to men,

Whose children are fair, O bull-eyed One, Horned One,

Nature, All-mother, who brings forth both Gods and men,

You roam around Olympus and traverse the wide and fathomless Abyss,

You are the Beginning and the End, and you alone are Mistress of All:

For from you are All things, and in you, Eternal One, do all things end.

You bear at your brow an everlasting diadem,

The unbreakable and irremovable bonds of the great Kronos,

And you hold in your hands a golden sceptre

Which is encircled by a formula inscribed by Kronos himself

Who gave it you to bear in order that all things remain steadfast:

Overpowerer and Overpowered One

Conqueror of men and Damnodamia.

You rule Chaos Araracharara ephthiskere,

Hail Goddess and attend your epithets.

I offer you this incense Child of Zeus

Arrow-shooter, Heavenly One, Goddess of Harbours,

Mountain-roamer, Goddess of the Crossroads,

Nocturnal One of the Underworld, Shadowy One of Hades,

Still One who frightens, having a feast among the graves.

You are Night, Darkness and broad chaos,

For you are Necessity hard to escape.

You are Fate, you are Erinys and the Torture,

You are the Murderess and Justice

You hold Cerberus in chains,

You are steely-blue with serpent-scales,

O serpent-haired and Serpent-girdled One,

Blood-drinker, Death-bringer who breeds corruption,

Feaster on hearts, Flesh-eater who devours those who died before their time,

Grave-resounder, Driver to the Wanderings of Madness,

Come to my sacrifices and fulfil this task for me.12

The Goddess of the Dark was with us. We were each wrapped in the sooty
blackness of her cloak. The air was thick, strange, suffused with the eldritch
aura of the Queen of the Crossroads.

We lay down and I started the tape - the pathworking which I have called
'Journey to the Death Star'.

Living in the post-post modern condition we have no single myth but a

polymorphous production of many stories, many discourses. The intention of
this pathworking was to allow each participant to create a clear model of their
own death. A model which incorporates specific images (walking into the
light) and which reinforces the perception of one's own death as the reward,
the culmination and climax of one's life. Rather than viewing one's death as
the inevitable and tawdry postscript of one's story it is the pinnacle of
achievement. To have a good death, which for me would be the ability to
relax and enter death consciously and with acceptance, is the key to one's life.

When we die, I believe, we have the chance of a moment of infinite being. As

the neural circuits of the brain shut down, starved of oxygen, the deeply
rooted programs of our first experience re-emerge and we are again conscious
of this, the lowest stratum of thought. This process is paralleled by what
happens when you start destroying a complex neural network computer,
though they have disappeared from sight, as we obliterate sections of the
network the basic training programs used to set-up the system return. Perhaps
this is the basis for the memory of seeing one's life flash before your eyes
following severe trauma.

I believe (for the moment) that in the last few tenths of a second before
consciousness winks out of existence we can apprehend the fact that 'I'm
dying', and that, if we can relax into this, we can find a moment of total bliss,
of ecstasy - heaven. That moment is like the numinous peak that comes at the
height of an acid trip, the singularity where all things are one and the world
of Maya, of discrete objects, becomes fused into one bliss wave of being.
Unlike the peak of the psychedelic process there is no come-down, no
afterwards and no dis-integrated consciousness that re-emerges from the
event that can 'compare' the divine unity with now - because you're dead.
Like dreams, we only call the dream such after dreaming itself has ceased - in
the case of death, for our individual consciousness there is no 'after'. (This
view does not inherently disallow paradigms that suggest the continuity of
consciousness after the brain is dead, it may simply be a different aspect of
consciousness that ends up being reincarnated or becoming a discarnate spirit
- especially if we read consciousness as a multiplicity of selves).

The pathworking began in the usual way, relaxing the body, stilling the mind,
focusing on the breath and its flow. But went beyond this…

The world of the dead and of the living interpenetrate tonight - the shadow
realm of the un-manifest and the forgotten, the living world of manifestation
and memory. Tonight the pathway of time knits together these two worlds,
the veil is thinner - listen…
Imagine your history, your own timeline, your songline, like a coffin path
across the autumn landscape. The path cuts through the dark, marked by
candles or lights, past the ancient trees, down the secret valleys of experience,
across the borders of knowledge. The path crosses the zone between the
living and the dead, between phantasy and reality, and as you follow it you
know that you are within the fairy realm, the liminalspace of this Halloween
night.

Follow your path, your destiny, as you walk in spirit vision be aware of your
body here on the ground in this temple and know that it is safe and healthy
and well, and that your spirit body is making a great journey - the journey of
your dying - your final magick. Know that what you feel in your physical
body is 'as if' and need not concern your earthly skin - not now, not yet - as
you Will.

Now as you follow the coffin path of your own death across the landscape
you become aware of a star, hanging above the road you are travelling.

This star is your death - it is the totem of your material being, your mortality.
It is the signal of your journey's end, and the compass by which you can chart
the course of your incarnation - your destiny and your greatest blessing.

As you watch the star growing feel your spirit body moving forward in time,
moving along your path toward the star, collapsing time until your are near
the star which is the inevitable moment of your own death.

Feel the sensations of your spirit body, your skeleton, the bones old and tired
now relaxing, no longer needing to fight gravity. Your spine unlocking from
tension and resting, crumbling, your finger bones resting in peace, immobile.
Feel your muscles uncurl, relax, slacken and drop, without tone or tension,
without effort of need to fight. Feel your nervous system, the billion
scintillating impulses within you. Feel how they are stuttering, cutting out,
first a few, then more and more. Tingles in your fingers and toes as your
nervous system begins to shut down.

Feel the flow of your blood, the sound of it pumping in your ears, your
breathing becoming shallower as your death approaches.
And as this happens let your mind begin to focus away from your body, but
remain conscious of its processes, feel your body shutting down, sleeping,
dying, be aware of and welcome each sensation and the creeping
disconnection of your mind and body. Feel your heart still weakly pumping,
nervous energy in your body discharging, coming to earth and stopping.

Let your dying dream come upon you, feel how it will be to die, let your
mind drift away from your body, lying crumpled and worn on the coffin path.
Drift up towards the star of your death, your escaton. Your last few, shallow
breaths are happening now, let your bodymind enjoy them, let your dream of
dying, your own myth guide you, travel towards that star, the strange attractor
of your Kia, the flaming centre of your True Will - let the edges between the
worlds collapse - breath out for the last time and enter your dream of dying.

Die.

And when your living body demands it - breath again! Bring the dream of
your death back into your life now, let your timeline expand and let the image
of the star of your dying fade, breath deeply and feel the life of the universe
within you, be returned to this world, to this night. Bring with you the
memory of your dying dream to comfort you when your death comes in this
world and as an ally creating pleasure, freedom and power.

Breathe and be alive.

For Brother rhino his death-star begins in an accident and emergency unit, the
shouting of nurses and doctors, the blood, the panic gives way to the light and
he is dragged up through the ceiling…

For all of us we enter the star, the doorway to death. We have felt how it is to
die, and our imagination has framed, has begun to form a personal
interpretation of 'what happens when you die - how does it feel?'

We each enter the star as we breath out our last breaths…relinquishing all
attachments, all division between self and other, all being. There is only the
ecstasy of the collapsing of all boundaries. The gravitation of love
overwhelms all elements in reality, fusing them in one brilliant star, a perfect
moment that lasts for eternity…

… breath in, breath in the truth of your life NOW, breath in the fact that you
are alive NOW but that you have a myth, a death story that opens into this
amazing final reality. Feel your body healthy and vigorous, sit up and be
awake!

And banish with laughter.

Halloween being a time of the inward spiral, of catabolic energy, we then

undertook another pathworking. This time the design of Brother Kondwani,
we are taken back through our cellular memory, back to our single celled
heritage, back to Eden. Then we return to now, through the eight circuits
model of being, activating and exploring each circuit as we do.

And from this Brother rhino led us through the final meditation. In these days
of high-octane gnosis with explosives, exotic hallucinogens and electronic
methods of trance induction, one should not forget the power of listening
with one-pointedness to a sacred text.

Life's Impermanence

Once acquired, this precious life with liberty and opportunity

Has the characteristics of instantaneity, impermanence, and decay.

The three realms are deceptive and illusory in nature.

Though beautiful by the wealth of its four continents,

Our earthly environment is impermanent and exhibits decay.

Even this body should be recognised as a ball of foam,

Like those of all these beings now on earth.

In a hundred years, they will certainly not be,

Since everything born eventually dies.

Just as your own life span will come to an end,

In places like markets, crossroads, guest houses,

All these crowds of diverse beings will be scattered.

Contemplate the certainty from the heart that your relations

And the resources of your amassed possessions,

Like a city deserted, will come to nothing.

Since whatever wealth one has amassed

Is impermanent and without essence, you should be detached;

You ascend to the wealthy cities of paradise,

Even as you go beyond death and fall to miserable lives.

Be sure that pride in this life or wealth grants no equanimity,

Since one is separated in time from things outer and inner.

Since both impermanence and death are certain,

Give up on the delusion of permanence.

Subatomic matter endures momentarily,

Being impermanent as a flash of lightning,

So you should realise ultimate truth just as quickly,

The variety of habitats and life-forms is transient,

Essenceless as an illusion or a banana tree,

Therefore this life-cycle is called impermanent,

And clinging to one's self or work is not acceptable.13

My birthday falls on November 1st and it was on that date that the wheel of
re-birth turned again. My partner told me that she was pregnant and I wept
with joy.

Through the magick of gestation, of organic time,

Rooted in the Muladhara, the world of bodily form,

Emerging from death, the possibility of new life.

The alpha and omega that leads me through the world.

My story is thus enchanted.

Now that's what I call Chaos Magick.

Key Resources
Texts

Saravá! Afro-Brazilian Magick,Carol L.Dow. Llewellyn 1997

The Handbook of Yoruba Religious Concepts, Baba Ifa Karade Weiser 1994

Macumba, A.J.Langguth, Harper and Row 1975

Pomba Gira: The Formidable Female Messenger of the Gods, Antonio

Teixeira Alves Neto, Technicians of the Sacred 1990

Kali, Elizabeth U. Harding, Nicolas Hays 1993

Liber Null & Psychonaut, Pete Carroll,Weiser 1987

Maat Magick, Nema, Weiser 1995

Mystical Qabalah, Dion Fortune, Weiser 2000

Prime Chaos, Phil Hine, New Falcon 1999

The Lens of Perception, Hal Zina Bennett, Celestial Arts 1994

The Goddess Hekate, Stephen Ronan (Ed), Chthonios Books 1992

Websites www.rootswithoutend.com

www.awostudycenter.com

www.asemarabo.com

www.slivoski.com/angels/prayer3.htm

www.phhine.ndirect.co.uk

www.indifference.demon.co.uk/fotamecus
www.spiralnature.com/magick/rituals/fotempower.html

www.web-alive.com/dm/index.html

www.occultebooks.com

Sounds

Enjoy the Chaos, Ozomatli

Jehovahkill, Julian Cope

Rock Action, Mogwai

Pagan Dance, Mother Destruction

White Rose Live, Mother Destruction

The Diver in the Cave, Philip Sheppard

Various currently unreleased material by Sui Said Love MP3@

www.suisaidlove.com
Volume 2
Introduction
'You can have any colour you want, as long as it's black' - Henry Ford.

Chaos Magick is a paradox. The very term itself is proposing to direct the
disorder of the universe towards a specified, ordered goal. Bearing this in
mind therefore, I propose you read the following work and allow it to sink
into your mind in its own time. Suspend your disbelief in magick when
reading it in order to squeeze the most enjoyment from it. In a world as
chaotic and disordered as ours enjoyment is a rare gift, so do not squander it
when it is presented to you on a platter.

At its best I find the Chaos Magick current of esoteric thought so broad as to
appeal to anyone regardless of cultural and religious boundaries. It allows
you to believe anything you want, because at the root of all mankinds various
ideas, philosophies and doctrines is the realisation that magick, mystery and
the unknown exist regardless of belief. If you stripped away all ideas,
thoughts, religions, theories and doctrines, you would still have magick,
mystery and the unknown. They are fundamental to our existence, and how
we deal with them defines who we are. I believe Chaos Magick shows us the
way to deal with these things on our own terms. It attempts to free us from
the control of others. The gurus, the advertising executives, the politicians,
the vicars, the priests and the schoolteachers are all in one sense magicians,
trying to control our thoughts and actions using the methods of mind control
we all take for granted. Repetition and emotional trauma are their techniques.
Chaos magick reclaims these techniques for ourselves allowing us to
indoctrinate ourselves and see the world through our own eyes for the first
time.

I find Chaos Magick an intensely personal philosophy. Its techniques are to

be experienced directly rather than theorised over, and through them a world
begins to appear which no one else has ever experienced. It is unique to you,
and this can be a very scary prospect. In such a world there are no signposts
to show you the way and no policemen to question about which direction to
take. You have become an explorer in this world, forging new paths into the
unknown. You need to find your own solutions to the particular problems you
encounter, and you need to be ruthlessly honest with yourself about results
(what worked for you and what didn't?) because these are the only maps you
have to help navigation in the future. It is important that you do begin to
explore this brave new world however, as this is the only way that everyone
can approach a way to get everything they want. An ideal very close to my
heart.

All the belief systems of the world have particular myths, or stories
associated with them. These sacred texts transmit the core spiritual
knowledge of that system of thought through the use of metaphor. Chaos
Magick has no sacred texts and I believe locked inside each individual
practitioners life experience (past, present and future) lies all the knowledge
needed to create (and ultimately live) these myths for ourselves. Hopefully,
this volume gives each reader the various clues, methods, examples and
techniques towards creating their own myths. These are the keys with which
to unlock the secret knowledge held within.

It is easy to describe experience as something that happens to your self, but

what does this mean? What is this 'self' people refer to? There is never one
single self that performs acts of creativity and magick. All acts of creativity
are collaboration between different people, ideas and the world around. The
self could simply be described as the one who compiles these various
ingredients and seasons them in such a way as to create something different.
A new dish to taste and present to the world. Then this dish in turn may be
used by some other self to compile another recipe. Bear this in mind when
reading this volume. Use any elements that take your fancy and produce your
own recipes, but always let the world know where you got your ingredients!

The following volume of this book is separated into three acts.

Act I: Abstract is the telling of a personal journey I undertook during my

training in Chaos Magick. It is the end product of three years of magical
work. It is written as truthfully as I can relate the experience of those events.
It is important I mention this, as Chaos Magick is a path that leads ultimately
to the integration of magic within your life. Therefore the boundary of what
is fact and fiction becomes ever changing both on a personal level and a
cultural one. All we as authors can do when talking about experiences within
Chaos is give you our snapshot of a particular time and place.
Act II: Theory gives an introduction to the theory behind some of the key
themes related in Act I. I make no special claims to the theory expounded in
this act, you can take it with as much salt as you wish. However, if you allow
it to, the theory lets you deeper into the belief system and will increase your
magical ability if understood. An understanding of Act II will also increase
your understanding and enjoyment of the narrative in Act I. All you need do
is suspend your present beliefs long enough to let the story work its magic.

Act III: Practicum is a series of practical exercises for you to follow.

Performing these exercises is the only true way to understand Acts I and II,
and I suggest you do them in the order they are presented. They take you
deep down the rabbit hole of Chaos Magick, if they are performed correctly. I
don't want to hear any critics ringing me up to harangue me about how bad
this book is until they have done the exercises. Only then will I welcome, or
appreciate, people's opinions because only then will they be able to tell the
story of their past, present and future; and stories are my greatest passion.

Throughout the volume it should be noted that the views and prejudices
expressed are mine alone. From everything said about Chaos Magick in this
introduction it would be stupid to assume they are the expressed opinion of
the various individuals who make up the Chaos Magick current.

Greg Humphries - Bristol, June 2002.

Act I: Abstract
How does a tale begin?

Well a good starting point for this one would be with a confession.

I am a magician.

Don't mistake this book for a gratuitous work of fiction, it isn't. It's a
confessional account of why I consider myself a worthwhile human being,
yet have just killed something I love so dearly I consider it my own child. I'm
sat here writing this in Buckinghamshire and it's the 16th January 2002.
Considering the act of sacrilege just performed I am feeling remarkably
happy and calm, the smell of sandalwood incense fills my nostrils and the
saliva in my mouth has the metallic tang of mercury. Having finally rid this
earth of the child's body I feel as if a weight has been lifted from my
shoulders. A responsibility of unmanageable proportions has been released.
My wife and I colluded in its death, we both lit the fires that eventually burnt
its body without a trace. No police force or jury will catch us, or hold us, or
sit over us and pass judgement, for we conceived and raised the child in
secret, feeding and caring for it for two years. We gave it love and attention
worthy of a King, making it fit and healthy enough to pass from the world of
dreams and imagination it inhabited, to another of utter reality.

So, dear reader read on, and become one of the growing jury at our trial. Yet,
only give your verdict when you have heard the whole story, lest having read
it you decide to follow in our murderous footsteps. My wife and I shall both
live with the consequences of our actions. As I said, do not make the mistake
of thinking this a work of fiction, we created a child and after two years of
loving attention we killed it. By telling you the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth about my journey which led to this act of sacrifice, I
hope to present my case. So help me God.

I love my child, and I know that one day we shall be reunited.

The origins of the path, which was to end in the flames of this funeral pyre,
can be traced back to a hot August day in 1999. We had walked for miles
across the Wiltshire downs to hear the storyteller relate the tale of Wayland
the Smith. We all sat together on the long barrow encircled by the beeches in
that ancient place which held so many stories. Magically the storyteller
captured our attention, and led us far across the sea to a different time and
place. He told us of the brothers, Slagfid, Egil and Wayland who one day met
the resting, swan-like Valkyries near their home. How they fell in love,
married and lost their brides to the excitement of Valhalla. How softly spoken
Wayland stayed at home, longing for his wife's return and forged a ring for
each day he waited. How those rings enmeshed him within the pride and
arrogance of King Nidud and his sons. How Nidud cut the sinews of
Wayland's knees so that he may never leave his service, and how Wayland
made beautiful, mechanical wings of swan feathers, had his revenge and
escaped. The over-riding memory I have of this telling was the closing
sentence.

'And then Wayland flew on his wings over the North Sea searching for his
bride. Setting up forge here, at Waylands Smithy'.

This set me to thinking about the link between people and their Gods. I
realised that the Gods move not on wings, but in the stories and tales of the
people who tell them. As the people migrate from place to place the stories
move with them. As time advances, cultures change. And as cultures change,
so do the Gods. After all, the Gods only exist in stories, don't they?

The Child Is Conceived

Move with me now on swan-feathered wings to Bristol late October 2000.

I cast my eyes over the Bristol cityscape beyond the kitchen window. A great
cumulus raincloud, casting a shadow from the suspension bridge to Cabot's
Tower reminding me of Cornwall during the Solar eclipse of 1999. In that
summer, three miles south of Falmouth, we experienced the shadow of the
moon passing over us, and through us. A portal being created between Bristol
October 2000 and Cornwall 1999 as both the shadows passed over us
simultaneously. A link created between magical acts. Another host of desires
focused from Beyond, and brought through the imagination to Consensus
Reality. Another Nexus Point where the synchronicity lay waiting to be
recognised and from which Rachel and I decided to make our dreams come
true.

The problem with desires is not making them come true, but which desire do
you decide on in the first place? How do you know it's what you are going to
want in one, two or ten year's time? I would suggest that there is a part of
you, hidden behind lots and lots of masks that already knows. It looks at you
from very deep, and unknown to your waking mind it guides you. It is
Dream, it is your True Will, it is your ineffable Self. And you can only
express its wishes when you don't think about it.

And this is where it all starts to get a bit complicated.

We assemble the tools of our trade, we are artists of the unknown. The paper
and pens, the paint and tissue paper, the glue and water are all to hand. We
stand on the red lino and look at each other as we spill our unconscious onto
the paper.

The hands and eyes move with ease a rushing adrenaline flow of energy
followed by floating sensations a mark here a Beauty splash of colour there a
wave or a pirate ship Honesty money and houses by the sea Love expanding
and contracting with phenomenal force Freedom concentrate on the fulcrum
of desire neither - neither lies beyond good and evil within the jaws of the
Creativity serpent at the gates of wisdom swallowing its own tail red for
energy and blue for wealth green for love of You and yellow for Me orange
for the clarity that comes with communication and purple for the passion of
sex the black stillness of death and that colour from the inside of a sea-shell
washed up on a beach the petrol on water all drift onto the paper as if born
out of darkness. Happiness.

And then return. Rachel, Vanya and I sit in the kitchen, looking down on the
picture we have just created. A huge, colourful masterpiece of semi-
automatic art. Our desires are before our very eyes and the task ahead is to try
to translate them into something we can work with. A simplified picture we
can easily remember. A glyph to be the focus of our energy and love,
representing the world we are to inhabit. Our dreams come true, and in our
world of dreams everyone gets everything they want. Oh, such utopias on a
sheet of A1 paper! Don't rush it. Let it settle in. We leave the picture on the
table to dry, the smell of paint and glue dripping onto the floor evoking
memories of childhood play and playgroup art lessons.

We return the following day, mugs of coffee in hand, to look on this work of
art with a critical eye. No longer the free flowing cup of no-thought, this is
the sword of clarity we wield. We lay the tracing paper over the picture and
we each in turn draw lines that stand out through the frosted skin. Once we
are content we place another piece of tracing paper over the first, and select
lines that mean something to us. We see the glyph taking shape before our
eyes, until its shape becomes obvious. We can't understand why we didn't see
it before. It is obvious. It has always been there, and will always be. The
glyph is drawn. A seed to nurture, tend and grow. A precious and beautiful
thing has been born. Our dreams condensed into a small perfectly formed
picture. The picture is the glyph, is the body of our child and our child is the
plan.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

'For the time being, the monster wasn't in Ricky's closet. For the time being.'
- The Far Side.

Why would you want a child in the first place? You'll only produce another
version of yourself. Despite your best intentions the child will grow with your
own prejudices and desires imprinting its personality, until one day it realises
what you have done and rebels against you. Railing against everything you
stand for and turning its back on you, hating you for what you have done. The
Fundamentalist Christian sects are full of the sons and daughters of libertine
parents, and it seems inevitable there will forever be this backlash effect.
How depressing!

There is however a deeper drive to wanting children. Part of me believes the

hope of the world is with them, a chance to turn away from the problems of
the past and glimpse a bright new, shiny and exciting future. The belief that
they might just get it right where we all failed, that we could help them to
find the nugget of divine gold in the scrapheap of dull, leaden life. How ideal
and twee that seems in this cynical world. And how arrogant to my
unbelieving ears, yet still there is a part of me that knows it could be true.
Maybe we cannot do it for the whole of human-kind, an idea too monumental
and mind shattering to contain, but we can do it for our own child. We cannot
help but imprint it with our own dreams and fears, and all we can hope is that
they are the very best dreams and fears we can muster. If the intent is to
nurture, and the guidance we have to impart is given with love, then maybe
our children will not rampage after us with the bloody spears and blades
'come the teenage revolution'. Perhaps we will have imprinted compassion,
empathy and understanding sufficiently that they will forgive us our
shortcomings and instead of cutting us off will put us out to pasture instead.

If the guidance we give our children corresponds with the desires of our
highest self then how can that guidance fail to be the best we can give?

How to start such a grandiose work? I realise it begins with a question.

Who am I?

Quickly followed by another.

Why am I?

I enter the temple room within my house with these questions in my mind. I
exercise for about 30 minutes to shake off the tensions of my day in the
office, then I sit down to clear my mind of all conscious thought. Rising up
from the depths comes the realisation/memory that these were questions I
first asked a long time ago.

I was seventeen years old and studying for my 'A' Level examinations. My
parents had the wisdom and foresight to shove me through my second driving
test, and I had passed. I had learned to hate the comprehensive school system
I knew I was about to leave. I did not hate the other kids, I had some good
friends and after all we were all in the same boat. I did not hate the teachers
(although I hated their lazy, laconic complicity in the whole thing). No, I
hated the system of education itself. It made me angry that the system
prepared you for one thing, and one thing only. Work.

A typical day would be as follows, we would all trudge to school ready for an
08.30 am start, we would sit and take orders for a couple of hours before a
fifteen minute break. In which we had to avoid conflict with our fellow
workers, whilst pretending we were enjoying ourselves. Then back in the
classroom for another couple of hours of work; then lunch which to me
seemed a longer spell of 'learning to get on' with others I had little in
common. This sorry, laborious drudgery continued in the afternoon whilst
you constantly watched the minutes tick by until home time.

Remind you of anything? Sat in your office chair, or working in the factory.
The commute to your place of work? The clocking on and off? The forced
'getting on' with your boss or co-workers for the good of your career? School
seems to me to be a very clever indoctrination process, which sets us up for a
life chained to a Protestant Work Ethic. And it's this indoctrination process
that I was angry at even then. I didn't know that's why I had a boiling hatred
of it at the time, but I knew it was wrong.

Well, that's how it seemed to me anyway. If you disagree, then I hope the
system set you up for a life of happiness. After all that's what an education is
supposed to do isn't it? Give you freedom and choices, enabling you to be
happy. Of course it is; but it didn't do it for me.

That is why, at the age of 17, I drove myself to Clumber Park in

Nottinghamshire one night, under the pretence that it would 'help me revise'. I
parked on the grass in a clearing among the small silver birches, and turned
off the car headlights. I got out the car and lit a cigarette. I looked up at the
stars, hanging in the inky blackness above, and shouted at the top of my
lungs…

'Who am IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII?'

then,

'Wwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?'.

I started to cry, the tension releasing and falling away with the tears. I had
asked the question of the night sky, and waited for a reply.

Soon after this moment I scraped through to a place at University (pushed by

my parents again, God thank them!) where I began to get interested in the
occult and magic.

As I return to myself in the temple, I have a sense of my magical work as a

continuous process becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life. A silver
thread, which I had picked up at that moment many years ago, and had been
following ever since. I think we can view our Holy Guardian Angels as that
which wants to make our lives better. It cares about who we are and where
we are going. For me it is the beauty at the end of the silver thread.
Sometimes, I can enter trance states where I realise the thread is part of that
beauty, and the thread is also a part of me; but mainly I keep hold of it, grit
my teeth and keep walking. What I want our child to show us on a magical
level is how to get Rachel, Vanya and me beyond the gritted teeth of that
bloody Protestant Work Ethic, and show us the journey can be just as
beautiful as the end result. And if the journey is just as beautiful as the end,
then what is the difference between them?

Is It My Turn To Feed The Baby?

The months pass and we continue to live apart. The M4 motorway between
Bristol and London becomes a conduit of longing and desire for us to travel
along. The miles pass from conscious awareness and into a liminal realm, the
world between Rachel and I. This becomes the world where plans are made
and lessons learned.

As the months pass we feed our child more and more. Each time we make
love, Rach and I pour energy into its glyph, building his energy. We nurture
our baby, who is getting big, and strong. Our child speaks, and begins to let
us know what he needs to help him grow. A walk in the country one day, a
visit to the beach and a surf the next. Art galleries and libraries, painting and
writing. We teach him through our experiences, and our child keeps pushing
us towards experiences we enjoy.

Winter has turned into spring, spring passed into summer and we need to
ensure the enormous energies generated by the feeding of our baby are being
directed by our Holy Guardian Angels. Only with this certainty can we be
sure our child is to grow into a world dictated by our highest wishes.

August comes, and I fly to New York to meet some fellow psychonauts at a
conference to be held upstate. People arrive from around the world to
sweltering heatwave temperatures. As the week progresses rituals and
experiments are performed. Eventually, it becomes time for me to present the
piece of work I have prepared.

At the appointed time around thirty people stand surrounding me. Some of
the most adventurous and creative people alive in the world today. Such big
personalities all concentrated in one room. As they wait expectantly for me to
begin to tell them a story…

'One describes a tale best by telling the tale. You see? The way one describes
a story, to oneself or to the world, is by telling the story. It is a balancing act
and it is a dream. The more accurate the map, the more it resembles the
territory. The most accurate map possible would be the territory, and thus
would be perfectly accurate and perfectly useless.

The tale is the map, which is the territory.

You must remember this.'- Neil Gaiman - American Gods

Don't write anything down. Don't take notes…. Listen!

The following work is firmly rooted in the urban shamanic paradigm, I don't
want its details recorded for posterity and 'set in stone'. I want the story of
this ritual to alter over time, to grow and find it's own momentum. This is one
of the lessons oral traditions teach us, if we have the ears to listen.

Our current concept of linear-time is limited in its malleability (bringing with

it a concept of an enormous power outside of our selves, a concept we call
Fate) and hence has fast become limited in its usefulness. We need to grow
beyond this linear model and begin to work with different concepts of time,
which can be manipulated with our Imagination and Will. If we do not, we
will forever be limited by our own belief of the past causing the present,
which in turn causes the future, and in this process we have no influence.

The terms past, present and future are used below simply for the sake of
clarity. The divisions of past, present and future do not really exist. I like to
imagine them as the Three Norns in Norse Mythology, three beings living
together in the same place, at the same time. Just as stories in our heads exist
together in the same person.

Let's for a moment consider the past. What we choose to call 'the past' is
actually a collection of things we call 'memories'. All memories consist of is
information received through the filters of our five senses combined with a
good dose of imagination. As the memories dim in the conscious mind, the
imagination fills in the gaps. This is especially evident if we tell and re-tell a
story of something that happened to us in the past. Like Chinese whispers
inside our own mind, the story changes in the telling as we embellish and
expand certain aspects of it, whilst gradually forgetting other less important
features. Our memory, and hence our past, is therefore simply a collection of
stories we choose to tell about ourselves.

As such the past is perfectly malleable in accordance with our will and
imagination as we choose to believe the stories we create. The only conflict
arises when someone else has a different story to tell surrounding the same
events. I would suggest that in this situation neither story is untrue. The truth
is purely subjective, as psychological tests on witnesses to automobile
accidents have shown. In certain cases the witnesses could not even agree on
the colour of the cars involved, never mind the incidents surrounding the
impact! What we call 'the truth' in such cases is actually a general consensus
of the belief of those involved. Is 'a general consensus of belief' equal to 'the
truth'?

'The future' is a concept similarly centred on belief. Whether it's a future state
we desire for ourselves or a future state somebody else believes will happen.
This can be demonstrated in something as mundane as picking up a coffee
cup. I have to imagine myself leaning over the table, reaching out and picking
it up before I can do it. This thought may occur a fraction of a second before I
do it, but it happens. When we talk about the future, we tell the audience (be
that other people or ourselves) a story, using the information gathered
through our senses and a good dose of imagination (sound familiar?). This
makes the future perfectly malleable in our own head. In telling the story we
are creating a map for the future.

'The present', is this moment, Now! A fleeting, imperceptibly fast,

experience. The start of this sentence is already a memory. The present is the
only thing, which cannot be changed. The present is the experience of the
story. It's a gift, and experience is the reason we create the stories in the first
place.

The work we are about to do centres around an invocation of our core

'Magical Self', and uses this as a basis to evoke a utopian future for us to
inhabit. Through my investigation into storytelling I came across a therapist
called Pat Williams.. She wrote to several prominent successful individuals
and asked a simple question: 'Is there a story which has influenced your life?'.
In almost all cases the answer was 'Yes'. The individuals in question had not
realised the huge influence the particular story they had chosen exerted on
their life, until they pondered the question. This opened a floodgate in which
they could see the story playing itself out throughout their lives, as a driving
force and guiding influence up until the present.

If we enter the story which has influenced our lives in this way, if we invoke
and become our favourite influencing character in that story. Then, being
magicians, existing in the present, we would be invoking our Magical Self
through the metaphor of this story. The driving force of our lives to this
present moment. From this standpoint of the Magical Self, all the worlds of
the past, present and future are laid before us… and anything becomes
possible. We can even create a future world we truly desire.

'It is our will to create a utopian future for ourselves. Its birthday is midwinter
2012'.

I want you to think of a story, or a book, or a film that has haunted and
disturbed you in the past. It usually first appears around the teenage years. It
was a story that really made you think 'Fantastic! That story changed my life'.

As I start to think of my story, my limbs begin to shake. I am stood shivering

to keep myself warm, it is unbearably cold. The people around me feel it too,
as they all start to shake. I start to breathe hard and fast. My whole body,
legs, arms and head are now vibrating in time to an hypnotic, fast rhythm.
The music makes the breathing comes in waves of tempo. Periods of fast
panting followed by periods of long, deep, fast in breaths and relaxed out
breaths. The panting calms down the shivering, but then a fire rises in my
spine. From my arse to my head, causing spasms and jerks to my limbs. The
tempo of the music increases faster and faster, until you can't take it anymore,
then it slows. Only to build yet again. Gaining in volume it feels as if a raging
madness has taken over my body. Yet I must focus my attention on
something. The story, my favourite story. I step inside it, right into the shoes
of my favourite character. I become that character. I feel how that character
feels. I see what they see. I hear the sounds and conversations they hear, taste
and smell the things they do in my favourite story. I cannot stop shaking and
breathing with the music as it reverberates through my frame.

The music stops.

I fall to the floor.

I relax. My head afloat, I let my breathing become shallower and shallower. I

ignore my in-breath, it works effortlessly by itself, and concentrate on
breathing out. I keep concentrating on breathing out. (Pause). I begin to feel
my extremities getting numb, as if the room was below freezing temperature.
I am cold. It begins as a tingling sensation in my feet and fingers, which
disappears leaving my extremities empty and covered in ice. This icy feeling
gradually works its way up my legs and arms. I concentrate on breathing out,
everything is going to be OK. (Pause). As the ice creeps up my torso, it
leaves nothing behind. (Pause). My body is disappearing. I concentrate on
breathing out. (Pause). When the ice reaches the top of my head I look down
and see my body below me covered in ice.

Feel the calm centre, observing my lifeless form on a wooden floor frozen to
death in a sweltering August heatwave. I begin to see before me a hot
summer's day. The dune grass hisses in the breeze, the waves climbing up the
beach only to retreat to the sea once more. Cornwall can be beautiful in the
summer, but the winters! The winters are cold and wet. The wind howls in
the dunes, and the huge waves crash into the headland. The lighthouse
drowning for several seconds as the water covers it. I see a house slightly
inland has a light on. Midwinter 2012. Through the stormy rain, I see a
beautiful modernist bungalow just in sight of the sea. Solar panels and turf
roofs, balconies and decks. A wooden and glass studio amongst the cedars,
completed and semi-completed artworks are seen inside. Vivid landscapes
and portraits; magical pictures which capture the eye and entrance the heart. I
turn, and gaze through the illuminated window of the house to see myself,
Rach and Vanya throwing a party for friends and family. People are laughing,
chatting, playing and flirting amongst themselves. Whatever they get up to
everyone seems to be enjoying him or herself.

This is our house. Our garden. Our life. All bought and paid for with plenty
of cash left in the bank, independent from any control but our own. People
are friendly and new contacts, alliances and partnerships are seen to be made.
I see two friends discussing how they met at our wedding. I overhear Rach,
standing with our young child Eleanor and talking about her groundbreaking
work in Art Therapy to a colleague. I see Vanya drinking with his college
mates. I scan the room and see myself looking through the window at myself,
looking through the window.

I smile, remembering the passage describing this scene in 'Now That's What I
Call Chaos Magick Vol. II'. I turn my head back to focus my attention on my
publisher. The books have been selling well, and I have people queuing up
for artistic commissions. I take a deep breath, and feel how good life is. The
storm will abate by tomorrow, and then there'll be waves to ride. The Sun
might even make an appearance. Rach, Eleanor, Vanya and myself are fit,
happy and healthy. We are financially secure, with everything paid for. We
enjoy our lives. And are trying to help others enjoy theirs.

I finish chatting with my publisher, say my excuses then walk out onto the
patio. The wind is howling, and the sea can be felt in the air all around. It's
ozone clarity, and wild energy infusing everything. I breathe deep and let it
scream through me. As I exhale long and loud. I look up to the window to see
myself stood there, staring back at me in the storm.

I stare at the figure just emerged from the house, a silhouette against the
bright illuminated doorway. The wind whips my face as my hand touches the
glass. Smooth and cold as ice. I remember the cold and I remember my body.
I feel my back arch. I gasp! And the in-breath is quick and fills out my lungs.

The Cold.

The Frost.
I remember my body.

I am lying on a floor, I am staring at the ceiling of a barn. Rafters span the

inside of an A-Frame roof. I lie naked, and gaze into space for several
minutes. Until I pull myself together, rub my face and sit up. Cold sweat dries
on my body in the hot August air as I look at the bodies around me. Some
people are still lying on the floor, eyes closed. Others are sat up and waiting
patiently for the others to return. I remain silent until the last person is sitting
up, then in true comic book style I exclaim, 'Bloody Hell! Where am I? What
year is it?'.

That had been one hell of a journey!

Growing Pains
It is a de-consecrated church in Southwark where we met, the other
magicians and I. A huge empty space to be filled with our ideas, drama and
laughter for a celebration at the pagan festival of Samhuinn (Halloween). A
potent brew for inspiration and change at any time, but the company
assembled are to create something this day that will have a profound effect on
all our lives. Maybe it will be the invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel to
be performed by us all spinning in two opposing concentric circles, followed
by the invocation of Baphomet during a black mass using a willing human
altar. I don't know what will cause it, but as evening closes in around the
church walls, we process down to the crypt and willingly let something pass
through our souls. I do not know it yet but this divine wind is to inform my
future thinking on the development of Rachel, Vanya, and my magical child.

Soror You presided over the rite. She had been working with the demons
Asmoday and Belial, and wanted to take this magical opportunity to be rid of
them. The crypt is dark, the candles are lit and the circle and the triangle are
drawn on the floor in salt. The seals of the demons are placed in the triangle
as we huddle together in the circle. It is cold and damp, the warmth of our
bodies does not even register. It gets colder as words are spoken over the
seals. The smoke from the candles seems to coalesce into strange forms as it
slowly rises to the low, cracked ceiling. The demons are there in the circle. I
can see them as if the light plays behind my eyelids, but my eyes were open,
wide open. Wide enough to see two Worlds at the same time!
The pact is made. The demons are allowed to play with us while the music
plays, but then they are to leave us all and return to the place from whence
they came. The music begins. A strange swirling tune, speaking of places in-
between, where only the adventurous dare tread. Deep feelings rise inside
me, emotions that flow from my eyes and nose. Here is no pain, but a sense
of pressure, of something coming in from outside as if I was a balloon being
squeezed. The pressure increases. More emotions flood out as the music's
tempo and volume increase. And then …Pop!

I am clear in my head and the music plays inside me. I do not see the demons
anymore; but as others in the circle squirm and writhe, in pleasure and pain, I
realise that the demons react to how you treat them emotionally. They
reflected your emotional responses as a mirror reflects light. Approach them
reasonably and calmly, and they will be reasonable and calm. They are here
within you and without you, at the same time. This is the paradox. This is the
key.

As the music slows I breathe calmer, and deeper. The clarity inside me stays,
but as we laugh the demons back home, and burn their seals, I know I have
gained some knowledge that will never go away. I have changed, the wind
has blown and I know which direction I want to take our work with 'The
Plan'. The Plan is a child, a creation with its own life force and energy. We
did not simply create it by creating its glyph, it already existed and we had
simply recognised it was there. The Child has a life of its own and we are
merely its guides. The picture glyph Rachel, Vanya and I have created is the
seal. We need to name our child, guide it and show it how beautiful its life
can be.

To celebrate this realisation, the next day Rachel, Vanya and I each draw our
child's glyph onto a piece of paper and tie them to the stem of a rocket
firework. We walk in the evening light, at that magic hour when everything is
thrown into sharp relief. We walk over the common across the road from my
house in Buckinghamshire, and light the blue touch paper. As we stand
together, watching the rocket jump into the great Prussian blue sky, we
visualise the glyph framed by the evening's early stars. The rocket explodes
with an enormous bang (my poor, suffering neighbours!), and the celebration
is complete. We walk back in darkness, laughing with childlike joy all the
way home.

The Naming Ceremony

It is time for our child to have a name. And with the name comes form and
substance. A naming is a very magical thing. We need to carry our babe in
arms to the liminal font of the imagination. And we needed to do it together.
This was not only my, or Rachel's child. It was our child, composed of our
joint utopias. Which is where we sit now, on my sofa in Buckinghamshire,
Rachel's beautiful face framed against its green velvet. We were thinking of
Vanya staying for New Year at his Dad's. Hoping he was enjoying himself,
and not getting into too much mischief.

It was almost time for us to retire to the temple. The candles were lit and the
dark musk of the Abra-Melin incense filled our noses. We climbed the stairs
hand in hand carrying a single candle to light our way. The rest of the house
was cold, with the freezing temperatures of a New Year frost, but the
temple… it was warm. It glowed with the light of a dozen candles, whose
flames danced together on the walls as we crawled into the centre of the deep
piled red rug of the circle. Our intention is to invoke our child in order to
communicate with its being. We wish to clarify our wishes for it, and receive
information as to how we could help those wishes come true in this reality.
This is your naming ceremony.

Magical child, we are your parents and we shall have a fantastic life together.
By the summer of 2002 we will have our own land and home, independent
from control outside of ourselves. A home that is secure and warm, happy
and cosy. A safe base, which overlooks the sea in Cornwall. A luxurious and
spacious, self-sustainable dwelling from which we can explore and
adventure. We will have all this, and even provide appropriate and
convenient education for our children.

This in alignment with our higher selves.

Beautiful baby, if we have this by summer 2002, we will be able to

immortalise your seal as a sculpture in our Cornish garden. We will have the
time and money available to create it, in a relaxed and comfortable
environment, yet this depends on the effort of us all. If you want to live in a
world like this you must communicate to us how we can assist you get there.

We arrange the cushions and duvet to give maximum luxury and comfort.
Then lie together, warm and alive. We touch and stroke each other's
nakedness. Tracing patterns with our fingertips on each other. The skin of the
whole body becoming more and more sensitive, as lighter and lighter touches
are made to its surface. My body is tingling all over as I sit with Rach in my
lap. Hardly a movement is made. I feel my hands lightly massaging the base
of her spine and neck. I feel the two points connected by silver cord, as she
does the same to me. We breathe together and relax.

Our lips almost touch as the breath is passed between our two mouths. A
continuous roll, which sends me spinning. I need to concentrate on something
visual, else the rhythm is lost. I open my eyes to gaze directly into Rach's. A
third, unblinking hazel eye returns my stare, and I hold. We remain static,
whilst the world sways in a steady circular rhythm. I sense a whirling
energetic wind begin to rise up my spine. Gently at first, like the leaves
blowing on a summer's day; but as the energy builds the wind gets stronger.
The breath passes between us deep and quick. Odd Doppler effects
happening as we sigh out, our muscles clenching as we breath in. The energy
reaches the base of my skull as the wind feels like a hurricane. I keep
concentrating on Rach's cat like eye, whilst clenching the muscles along my
pelvic floor the throbbing becomes a pumping. I feel Rach come and this
immediately sends me diving into her dark, central pupil.

We disappear into those comforting depths. I no longer know where my own

skin ends and hers begins. We lose ourselves, as Rach's heat and energy
becomes my own, in a blissful ecstasy.

Movement and shadows singing in the silence,

Light outside the window, presence in the triangle.

Love is the Law, Love under Will.

Colours in a pyramid, while the candles stood still and watched the Tiger
Moths, because the children are the Guardians of the world. The Blue Planet
light shining from its centre keeps on going, keeps on going. Like the Pied
Piper's merry dance. I feel really good, calm…and relaxed. Everything is
going to be amazing. The triangle sand appears like the waves on the shore,
and it appears we are in a tent. And it is two years before this moment, we sit
up in bed to see the avenue of trees stretch from where the sidewall of our
bender should be, and down to a world underneath…

Five spinning balls of blue light circle the pyramid half way up its sides, and
an indescribable feeling of soft, clean sand. We sit opposite each other,
gazing into each other's eyes. We are calm and balanced. The King and
Queen in chess.

For our child we have a name. It is our child. It is 'The Plan'. It is our baby
Thep-Lan! Hoorah!

That night the most amazing thing happened. A yellow submarine rose from
the depths in the centre of Bristol. Right where The Galleries shopping centre
is.

And at the same time Rach went to the scary Fight Club. It's in a dark cellar
with big people. Rach knew why she was there and she fought only once, her
opponent beaten to the ground. After leaving the club, she promptly went to
the fairy shop, which was all racked out like a supermarket. The woman on
the checkout asks Rach for a token, which sends Rach scrabbling in her purse
desperate to find it. She does, and realises she won it in the Fight Club. With
it she buys an apple (which she promptly devours!), and then brings loads of
fairy-shopping home.

She comes home, and we sit up in bed to discuss her adventure. She sees the
adventure as a positive chain of events, which led her to eventual victory. She
returned home safe and sound, with the spoils of victory to feed her family.
In the coming months, if she's brave enough to fight it out, she feels that
Thep-Lan can be achieved. We're going to pull it out of the bag, as it were.

Later I perform a divination to see if I can see how we should proceed, in

light of the naming ceremony we performed the previous day. I decide to cast
the runes, as they are dear to my heart and home. Like a good poem they
allow room for interpretation.
We clear the lounge table of papers, books and associated clutter, have a gulp
of coffee, then light a candle and bring out the bag of containing the rounds
of oak I cut long ago.

Thurisaz (Thorn) at the present time indicates an adventure is happening.

With that go all the challenges, discomforts and chaos that adventure brings.
To see this through we must be adaptable in attitude and learning. A forcing
out of 'The Comfort Zone' into something else.

Laguz (Sea) oversees this apparent situation. The symbol to me of love,

empathy and flowing energy, and a sense of losing yourself. Yet Isa (Ice)
underlies this, pointing towards frozen development. Love will be our
reward, as long as we can be patient.

Something new has been born, as indicated by the Ing (Frey) rune. This
indicates our child Thep-Lan is strong and healthy. The seed we have sown is
ready to begin growing.

Beware! We are about to move into uncertain times. The Dagaz (nexus point)
rune tells us the twilight zone is just around the corner. I don't know what's
about to happen, but it's gonna be weird.

The Wedding
I stare up at The Long Man of Wilmington. A curiously androgynous chalk
figure cut into the South Downs twenty-five miles east of Brighton. The
chalk outline, eyeless, appears to patiently gaze North across the low-lying
Weald towards London. The rolling hills of the South Downs stretch in a line
East and West, seeming as if they are enormous green waves about to break
on the shore of the flat Weald below. This is a timeless and beautiful place,
and that is the message the chalk figure is telling all who stand before it. This
is a place out-of-time and the Long Man tells us of boundaries between
territory, between spaces and between times.

Every time I stand at the figure's feet I am reminded of all the other times I
have stood and looked at its simple beauty. It stands not holding two staves,
but stands in a doorway literally cut into the hill. Its hands pressed against the
doorjambs, barring the way to travellers and intruders. This is an ancient and
magical doorway, cut by our ancestors, and leading to the World-Under-The-
Hill in which live creatures and beasts only seen in dreams and nightmares. It
is said that Shakespeare first performed A Midsummer Nights Dream here at
the feet of the Long Man. Commissioned by the Lord Of Dreams it was first
played in the open, on the natural platform on which I am stood. The
audience on that historic night included the immortal Lord and Lady from the
World-Under-The-Hill, namely Oberon and Titania (after all the play is about
them, so it seemed only fair they should see it first!). The trouble was that
Puck had been invited too, which meant that things very quickly got out of
hand, and after lots of bawdy, humorous and sprightly shenanigans all is set
right, the correct people get married, and love abounds.

I am sat in the grass telling this story to Mark and his daughter Rowan. They
listen patiently knowing it is helping me to calm feelings of worry, anxiety
and fear. I am dressed in a long-coat of pearl and silver. Royal Blue fleurs-de-
lis adorn it and the matching waistcoat. My tricorn hat lies on my thigh high
black leather riding boots, and my unbleached woollen trousers are making
me sweat. I look north, the Weald stretching below us to the horizon. The
birds swoop and turn circles against a background of a clear-blue, cloudless
sky. I should be enjoying this fantastic day, yet my mind is racing with the
hundreds of things I must have forgotten to do, with stage fright at the very
public ritual I am about to enter, and with the anxiety that it will all go
horribly wrong. I am sat in the grass telling this story to Mark and his
daughter Rowan. They listen patiently and sympathise with me. Mark tells
me he would be nervous if it was his wedding and some of the guests taking
part in the ceremony were late.

I look at the assembled throng who surrounds me. All are family and friends,
all have been invited to our wedding, and all have come as the person they
want to be. Over 80 people stand upon the green turf beneath the silent Long
Man. I see a famous racing driver surrounded by several fairies, medieval
courtiers and Superman having a chat with a group of black magicians, and
Pan sharing some bread with the Roman Legionnaires. I glance to the centre
of our circle and notice Puck and the Cyber-Fairy pointing up the Hill. I
follow their pointed fingers above the Long Man and see the silhouettes of
our missing guests. As if The Long Man Wendel has opened his doorway,
they begin to descend towards our chosen place of ceremony. Hoorah!
My anxiety and fear abate a little. We all wave and shout encouragement to
the missing guests, as they slip and slide down the hill towards us. With
smiles and beaming grins the latecomers, fire-eaters and explorers eventually
join our circle. Brief greetings and jokes are shared before Puck and the
Cyber-Fairy begin to give orders and organise people. Lines need to be learnt
and props assembled. People need to know what to do in the marriage
ceremony, and when they should speak. Magical ritual is a strange play,
designed to provoke an emotional response in all the actors, as there is no
audience. When trying to marshall a group of independent and relaxed
individuals such as these, some experience at herding cats is advantageous.
The Cyber Fairy leads Rachel and myself by the hand, out of the circle
around the hill. The last we see of the circle is Puck getting his whip out, to
correctly position some unruly fairies. The Cyber Fairy tells us not to be
nervous, Rach and I have done all the preparation we can. It is time for us to
spend a few precious moments thinking of our love for each other as she and
Puck take over the responsibility for the ritual. We should cherish these
moments as they are the last we will spend apart. After we have exchanged
rings we will never be apart again. I shall always be a part of Rachel and she
shall always be a part of me.

How We Met
We sit beneath the eye of the sun and remember the night we met. Five years
ago it seems like only yesterday. The Vale of the White Horse and a druid
camp organised by Julie and Ivan. One of a regular series of camps arranged
to coincide with the Celtic Fire Festivals people would arrive and either pitch
tents around the central fire, or sleep in one of the three communal 'benders'.
These benders were huge dome shaped tent structures covered with tarpaulin,
and capable of seating 50 or 60 people inside. People would use them to chat,
perform healing, sleep, eat, have sex, shelter from the rain, and when night
fell the benders would be used to shelter storytellers, performers and
magicians.

It was on one such night we met. Ivan had come into the Mega Bender earlier
in the day and asked if anyone wanted to do a fire walk. With my usual
bravado I immediately volunteered, along with Rachel and nine other people.
I had not spoken to Rachel very much, I was far too nervous. We had spent
the whole day gathering wood and peeling back turf in the lower field, to
reveal a trench about 3 feet wide and 15 feet long. In the centre of this trench
we had built a conical fire consisting of all the gathered wood. We stayed
together in our group of 11 members, watching the flames consume the wood
and following the sparks rising into the evening sky. The heat was fierce, and
the thought of walking in it seemed impossible! We each ground our
chattering minds to a standstill, allowing the stillness and peace of the night
to enter into us.

My mind is led down hidden pathways, overgrown with thorns, they twist
and turn as my mind descends into a dark place inside me. A doorway in the
cold blackness is opened and I see all my fears shambling towards me. One
after another they appear to me as beings grotesque and deformed. I stand
transfixed, unable to turn in that inky darkness, as if my head is clamped in
place. I can move only my eyes from side to side, desperately failing to not
see the demons placed in front of me. They smell of dripping pork and move
forwards as if they are rewinding on a T.V. screen. They are seen moving in
the stark white of a faulty fluorescent tube overhead. It keeps randomly
flicking on and off, illuminating the disgusting scenes before me as if in an
old black and white silent movie.

As the deformities approach, they begin to coalesce into one impossible freak
of evolution. A parody of human form, its head displaced and legs withered
to stalks. A straitjacket surrounds its torso keeping wild flailing arms in
place. Blood and raw flesh hang between its naked legs. Yet the horror, the
horror, the horror of this vision is not in any of this. The horror is that when
the broken neck twists itself agonisingly toward me, it is my face I look upon.
My face smeared in its own faeces, broken spectacles surrounding wide
tortured eyes. This is my fear. This is my fear of my own insanity. Knowing
that I cannot communicate my visions properly to the outside world for fear
of recrimination, but unable to stop them entering my own head. There the
visions remain trapped, seeking for a way to break out into the World.

I remain unable to move as the gibbering head violently sways from side to
side, the eyes of the monster fixed on mine. 'I want to be you, or else I will
kill you', it says. I have no argument as no words can escape my constricted
throat. Its stick legs shakily move it closer with terrible, slow inevitability.
The sound of bone scraping against bone and the sticky, sickly sweet smell of
rotten blood fills my nostrils. It touches my arm with splinted fingers.
Ignoring the boundaries of flesh it pushes in. I finally scream in horror and
agony as I let it enter me. It pushes and squirms like an eel, fitting its hideous
body into my own. A giant maggot burrowing under your skin, translucent
and fat. My screams seem to last for hours, but I cannot stop. I have to escape
the penetration of this creature as it pushes further and further in.

I grasp a memory of calm and peace. I am sat inside 'The Library'. Red walls
lined from floor to ceiling with books. A fire is roaring in the grate, and the
room is lit with a warm orange glow. Pictures line the walls, and the heavy
wooden shutters on the windows protect me from the darkness outside. I am
hidden in the safe room within my mind. Outside I can hear the sounds of the
night. Howls, and screams in the dark. Body and soul being torn apart, by the
demons of the night. I concentrate on the fire in the grate, the warming
protector, the hearth fire burning to keep us safe and sound.

I look up from my reverie through tears to see the trench of fire in front of
me. My mind is raging with nerves. A whirlpool sucking me down into the
abyss. I can't go through with this! Walking on fire is not possible! I am
going to be hospitalised! I have lost my mind, and cannot tell the others in the
group how I feel. I cannot communicate properly, my tongue is stuck in my
throat. I cannot breathe. I must be dying. Little orange and red fire-devils
spiral up between the black coals and I have to put my hand over my face to
prevent my eyebrows singeing. With the others I get up and begin to circle
the Fire-Pit widdershins. My legs are not working properly. They must have
gone to sleep as I sat down on the floor. Pain shoots up from my ankles with
each step. The agony of walking is overtaken by my fear of the Fire-Pit. I
don't want to do this, why should I?

Keep thinking of the sea in November.

Don't think of the fire!

Cold and wet November seas.

Don't think of the fire!

The fire. I remember a fire in a Library inside my head. A calm, steady,
unquenchable hearths fire. I can feel its warmth on my face. Thinking of that
fire brings warmth to my heart. A quiet moment in which to breathe. I find
myself at the head of the Fire-Pit, and turn to face its length. Like an airport
runway it stretches to the distance, glowing black and red. Sat in my favourite
armchair in front of the fire in the library, I start to walk towards the far end
of the trench.

'I have no fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death, which brings
total obliteration. I will face my Fear. I will allow it to pass over me and
through me, and when it has passed I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
There will be nothing. Only I will remain.'

As I repeat the mantra to myself it is as if I am walking down a gravel

driveway. The stones can be felt pushing against the soles of my feet.

'I have no fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death, which brings
total obliteration. I will face my Fear. I will allow it to pass over me and
through me, and when it has passed I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
There will be nothing. Only I will remain.'

As I repeat the mantra I feel a tremendous rush of energy from the ground
beneath my feet. A hot desert wind rising all around and through me, burning
everything in its path. The heat is uncontrollable and cannot be contained. I
must find a way to release it, I must give in to it. I must let the fire do its
work in me.

I open the shutters inside The Library and see the flame wind rushing up past
the windows. Nothing shall remain. The demons are evaporated in the
flames, all their flesh and bone is gone. Their pain is ended, their energy
sucked back into the Void from which they arose. Destruction and death are
stripped bare before the divine wind outside. The demon took a hold on my
body. It became me and by doing so it sealed its own fate. The stripping away
of tortured flesh is an apocalypse of the soul. An Armageddon which leaves
no prisoners. Inside the Library, by the hearth fire, I am safe and I wait for
the fire to die down.

My feet reach the end of the trench. The all-consuming fire is gone. I jump in
the cool, springy grass and shout with abandon and joy. I check my feet for
the third degree burns I know must be there, but there is nothing. Only I
remain.

The fire has burned away all that I was, leaving the pure core intact. The calm
centre that retreated to the Library is what I am. The Greg is dead! Long live
The Greg!

We continue to circle the trench until everyone has walked on fire at least
once. A palpable feeling of magic is in the air, people have died and been
reborn. We all feel alive, absolutely alive and free. We feel as if we can do
anything. We are invincible! We are all Superman and Wonder Woman. As
we all hug and congratulate each other, I walk up to Rachel and say words I
never would have had the courage to before. I meet her eyes and say, 'I will
probably not have the opportunity to say this again, but you are the most
beautiful person I have ever met'. Tears fill her eyes and she wraps her arms
around me, surrounding me in a warm perfumed darkness.

We sit beneath the eye of the sun and remember the night we met. Five years
ago it seems like only yesterday. Rachel's eyes fill with tears and she wraps
her arms around me, surrounding me in the warm perfumed darkness of her
purple and green wedding dress. As we embrace I look over Rachel's
shoulder to see the Cyber-Fairy walking towards us along the path. Our time
has come. It is time for our Wedding Ceremony.

My heart begins to race, the nerves are kicking in. The enormity of each step
sounds like the tolling of a huge bell in my mind. The tri-corn hat on my head
shields the Mid-day sun from my eyes, and the ground underfoot is a carpet
of lush green. I stand in the circle of guests. Sixty people, or so, encircle
Rachel, Puck, The Cyber-Fairy and myself. We all stand at Wendel's feet. I
can think of nothing as I stare in wonder at the scene before me. The people
around us become Rachel's and my combined history. A distillation of our
lives before this moment. All the guests are looking on with the power to end
the dream at any time. My concentration in the moment is complete. All
thoughts of past and future disappear in a rush. As if the airlock in my head
which holds back the dazzling vertigo of the vacuum filled abyss, is opened.

As I speak, I. slowly. Spin. Clockwise. Looking. At. Each. Guest. In. Turn. In
each face is the urge to continue. Nobody wants this to end prematurely, they
all want the wedding to go ahead. A circle of flower petals issues from my
fingertips, over the heads of the guests to settle in a ring behind them. A
'Temporary Love Zone' is cast. Hat held between the fingers of my right
hand, the arms outstretched in a gesture of welcome and openness. The
gesture of my invocation. The gesture of my calling to another. A calling to
all that is free within the surrounding landscape and ourselves. A calling to
great Wendel to open his door in the turf. Let the folk beneath the hill come
forth and join in the celebration! The party is about to begin!

'Thank you all for managing to get here today. Today has arrived.
Midsummer's Day. Our wedding day. To see all the people you love in one
place at one time is a rare gift, and truly, truly overwhelming. Again I thank
you all. Yet, do not think you are idle voyeurs to the spectacle before you.
For it is said in Native American tradition, that it is lucky for a wolf to appear
on your wedding day. Now, we couldn't get hold of a wolf in time for the
wedding, so you all are to be the wolves for us. After a count of three I want
you all, in your loudest voices, to howl like wolves. 1…2…3…
Aaaaaaarrrrrroooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!!!!'.

It breaks the ice. Family members look at each other as they half-heartedly
join in. Looks of feigned embarrassment on their faces, checking to make
sure they are not the only ones looking foolish. Once they realise everyone is
howling their lungs out, it gives them permission to enjoy themselves and the
howls reach up to the heavens, and down to the bowels of the Earth.

The fire-breather steps forward. Dressed in metal and furs, pale dreadlocks
hanging down her back. Confidently she paces inside the circle of guests, fire
roaring from her mouth in great balls of heat and flame at the four cardinal
points of North, South, East and West. Gasps of astonishment from the
crowd, as the fire breather flashes a smile and then the flames issue forth
from between pursed lips. Blessing the crowd with heat and spectacle.
Consecrating the assembly by burning away the outside world. This circle of
grass is the real world; this circle of lovely people on the fairy mound is all
that is real.

For the ceremony to continue we must know where we stand. Where this
Love Bubble we are creating is placed in the landscape. Each one of the
assembled company must find where they are. We all must find our own
centre, lest we get caught up in the whirlwind.

To guide us all the preacher in the East turns outwards, raises his arms and
calls forth the Hawk of Dawn. It screeches high in the sky as he welcomes its
blessing into this circle. The Hawk is the Word and the Word is strange.

Then, in the South, the Taoist mystic turns to call upon the Fire Shakti's. His
red and white stick held over his shaven head, he brings it down slowly as he
intones the call, 'Raaaaaannnnn', thrice. When the Fire Shaktis on their Shiva
beasts are seen on the hilltop, he stops. Their blessings are felt as they
approach the circle.

Next, in the West the druid stands. She turns to call for the Salmon of
Wisdom, which dwells within the sacred pools of the West. She calls for the
blessing of water to be upon the whole company. As she speaks the words,
impossibly it is as if water falls from the clear blue sky. It bathes our brows
and clears our heads. We all calmly smile at the miracle presented to us.
Nothing else needs be said, the experience is everything.

Finally, we all turn to The Horned One in the North, his antlers silhouetted
against the sky. His legs are those of an animal, and his hooves stamp the
ground as he turns to welcome the powers in the North. The Ancient Ones
who dwell in the Earth need to be welcomed to the wedding celebration. We
need the blessing of those who have gone before, lest we forget the lessons
they learned well. The Horned One calls upon Gwynn Ap Nudd, and the
Great Bear in the Starry Heavens; he asks them to bless us not only for this
ceremony, but forever. May we love one another and make them proud.

Once the call to the quarters is made, Puck and The Cyber-Fairy stand close
with Rachel and myself in the centre. The focus of the energies called, and
the attention of all the beings (human and otherwise) assembled in a circle
around. As we stand together, the calm centre of a whirlwind, Puck and The
Cyber-Fairy recite a blessing they have made for the occasion.

As height calls to the deep

As the Earth calls to the Sun

As the Land calls to the rain

And the fire calls to the ice

As flesh calls to bone

And the heart calls to the mind

The lance calls to the grail.

So Greg and Rachel call to each other.

As they continued a strange sensation washes over me. I hold Rachel in my

arms yet it is as if the bond between us is deepening. Silver and red chains are
placed around us, holding us tight. Forcing us closer and closer to each other.
Clothes touching clothes, skin pressing against skin, and still further.

As the Earth is bound to the Sun

As the tide is bound to the moon

As the ivy clings to the oak

As rivers merge with the sea

May the bonds of care and respect unite Greg and Rachel.

The chains are tightening, and forcing us closer still. Past the boundaries of
our skin, the pressure increases and we are being pushed into each other. A
public mind-meld, until one being standing at the centre of the circle. A being
composed of both our bodies and minds, we stand there in rapture. We are
naked in our ecstasy, our beings laid bare for all our family and friends to see.
This is who we are. This is our wish for the future. We turn to the assembled
company for their blessings, and see them in the joyful tears running down
their cheeks.

As the space of a doorway

As the space between the poles of the Long man

As the space between trees in a wood

As the space between the stars

May the playful space of freedom always be between Rachel and Greg.

And I realise we are holding the ends of the chains. We were tightening them
as they were wrapped around us. The bonds are as tight as we want them to
be. We can release them whenever we want, creating a playful space of
freedom between us. We hold the centre together for a moment. And then
release. The chains are unwound and we are once again staring into each
other's eyes. Only our lips meet, and then they too are parted.

We stand back and speak to the assembled throng. 'Today, in this place is
love declared. Along our future journey together, there are certain qualities
we would like to carry with us. There are some qualities we would like to
bring in, to increase in our lives, and spread to others. These qualities are…

Joy

Honesty

Freedom

Companionship

Beauty

Trust

Compassion

Endurance

Passion

Dreams

May those qualities continue with us on our journey. So mote it be!

This is a reading from 'The Prophet' by Kahlil Gibran. In it he speaks of
marriage.

'Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, master?

And he answered saying:

You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.

But let there be spaces in your togetherness.

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone.

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same
music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together:

For the pillars of the temple stand apart,

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.'

We pause and turn to gaze at Wendel's Doorway, white etched into the side
of the green hillside. The words sink in as if refreshing a desert long time dry.
I see bleached bone against the sand, a dead tree lying in a dried up wadi. In
the distance, through the doorway I see a tent, red, flapping in the desert
breeze, which blows in an azure, cloudless sky. As I approach a figure
dressed in black stands waiting. Blue in blue eyes flick up to meet my gaze
and I peer into their depths. Blue in blue mirroring the cloudless sky. The
cloudless sky of a Midsummer's Day above me, and I am back at my
wedding. Looking up at the sky as red rose petals fall out of the sky.

Puck and the Cyber-Fairy circle Rachel and myself. They are calling through
Wendel's Doorway to the Folk-Who-Live-Under-The-Hill. Calling to them to
join us, calling for their blessings.

'Friends, we ask for the blessing of the Good Folk, The fair Folk, The Folk-
Who-Live-Under-The-Hills, The Folk from our stories and our legends. The
Wee People. The Sidhe. Those whom we must respect; who live here in this
place. Who live here in this place now.'

The circling continues, as Puck and The Cyber-Fairy continue the invocation.
The petals keep falling from the sky settling in our hair and on our shoulders.
The same petals I cast outside the circle at the beginning of the ceremony are
returning to us inside the circle. The fairies are bringing them back to us.
Bless them.

'Can you feel them around us? Circling around us outside this circle and now
coming in. Blessing these good people, these people who we all Love.

The blessing of Faerie.

The blessing of Elfin.

Each of us now get down and touch the Earth. Feel its heartbeat in this place.
Wish your blessing and the blessing of the Fair Folk upon these people.

Blessing.

Blessing.

Blessing.'

As the words fade out of hearing I can hear a faint music on the wind. Flutes
and bells on the edge of my hearing. Taking me back to a golden light
breaking through corrugated iron on a Scottish Borders hillside. Another
magical journey in a different time and place. The Fairie Folk, again coming
to witness a change in direction. Giving it their blessing and watching over
the proceedings. One day I will return, but until that time I will enjoy the
duality of this time and place. Puck, the messenger between this world and
the world of Consensus Reality speaks again.

'Thank you all. Now, take each other's hands. What a special day this has
been. A special day in all our memories, a day none of us will ever forget.

'If we shadows have offended,

Think but this and all is mended,

That you have but slumber'd here,

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding than a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

If you pardon, we will mend.

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends ere long:

Else the Puck a liar call.

So, goodnight unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.'

It is done.'

People rush into the centre of the circle as if we are at the end of a football
match. Cheers go up as the powers in the quarters are thanked and bid
farewell. Wizz passes me a bottle of champagne to pop and hats are thrown in
the air. As I ease the cork out of the bottle all goes into slow motion. The
chaos magicians enter the circle and I realise what we have done. The
ceremony was not only a wedding. It was the melding, and merging of
Rachel and my spirits. All the people stood around us are representatives of
spiritual paths we have followed. Christians, Druids, Buddhists, Agnostics,
Atheists, Artists, Scientists, Academics, PartyGoers and finally Magicians.

As the cork flies out of the bottle like a bullet from a gun. The guests mingle
and chat. In that one moment however they all raise their voices in a cheer,
which splits the heavens. A cheer, which reverberates around the World,
from Matt in Guatemala and Gina in Australia, this is a single cry raised in
grief for the old and dead. A united voice raised in a triumphant cheer for
what is beginning.

I realise this is the climax of all that has gone before. Now, we must look to
the future and create something together that we can all enjoy.

A new journey.

The beginning of a journey called Thep-Lan.

How Does The Young Bird First Fly From The Nest?

And so we return to the 16th January 2002. And I have just committed the
most beautiful of sacred rites. Feeling like God I took the body of my child,
the paper on which Thep-Lans seal was written, and set it free.

I sit in the temple space, high in the clouds at the house in Coleshill. Thep-
Lans seal sits in front of me framed by the holly on the altar in the South. I
gaze at it wondering what to do. Since the wedding we have cared for the
child. Thep-Lan has grown with our attention, and become more like us with
each magickal rite. How long do you keep a child in your house, under your
wing? How long do you shield and protect it from the outside world and its
own experiences?

I listen to Mogwai penetrating my body and repeat the same question over
and over and over…

'Who am I?'

I get lost in the music and it takes me away from here to a place of rushing
wind. Images too fast and furious to recall speed through my mind, and its
energy fills my body until it cannot keep still. Spasms and shakes rip through
me uncontrollably. Too much… too much… 'She cannae tek it, Captain!'…

I must find a calm centre to this whirlwind, I must concentrate on something,

anything. My claws scrabble forward and find a piece of parchment on which
is drawn a rocket shooting out from grasping waves. I see it burning onto my
retina, and hear its name in my mind.

Thep-Lan.

The demon appears amongst the roaring wind and flame. Hands spread as
claws tearing at the carpet, trying to release this energy inside me. I bare my
teeth and roar… it's all too much to think. Far easier to let the wind and flame
take you away to that other place. My erection grows as the flames increase
and the wind blows all thoughts away. I must release the tension in my penis.
I roll around on the floor, moaning and losing myself in fantasies of warm
flesh all around me. Pressing against me, penetrating every orifice in a
beautiful ecstasy. The flesh enters me and I lose myself in bliss, saliva and
sweat mingle on the paper as my body tenses. And still it continues, taking
me higher and higher until there is no coming down. I am losing my mind. I.
Am. Losing. My. Mind.

My body ov luv comes into its own I no longer know or care what iz real I
only know what I feel and even that iz not my own it takes me and I luv it so
much I cannot tell what is me or it anymore I feel only feel as my cock grows
too enormous to be believable and squirts all over the paper on my chest and
I lie there until there is nothing but black light. Light. A light in the
blackness, and I realise I am coming out of it. A name, a name I keep
repeating to myself.

I begin to say the name under my breath, louder it gets, and longer. I chant its
name long and loud.

Theppp-Laaaaaaaaannnn.

Again and again I repeat the mantra as I lay on my back and see its symbol
before me. The rocket shooting from the waves. The waves are big and
dangerous, yet they are the powerhouse providing energy for the rocket to go
faster and faster. The waves are the energy Rachel and I have created, and the
rocket is our desire. It is all Thep-Lan, the demon child we have created, and
it is powerful. More powerful than even I could imagine. It is threatening to
be bigger than even us, and soon it will control our actions and life because
its life force is so closely bound up with our own.

My hands clasped together in front of my eyes and held straight out. Pointing
at the symbol glowing in metallic pink before me. A calm point is reached as
I concentrate on the symbol. The energy overcoming my mind is flowing
from beyond, through my belly, up my spine and down my arms. Like a
liquid fire running through empty corridors and out my fingertips to the
symbol glowing before me. As the fire runs into it, the symbol of Thep-Lan
glows bright and the power it gains is enormous.

I realise I am the channel for the fire and it is leaving me untouched. I have
become the calm at the centre of the storm. Watching from a distance the
symbol of Thep-Lan grow and pulse with its own life. The amount of energy
I can give my child depends on how long I can hold the centre of the
hurricane. If I fall into the music then the centre cannot hold, and the power
will be lost.

Like a stone touching the water as it skims across a pond, I find the centre of
the wind and flames. The stone flying through the air is a falling into the
music, but eventually I arrive at equilibrium.
It is now dark outside, and time seems to have been compressed. God bless
Fotamecus.

I sit by the fire and consider my next move for the rest of the night.

Where did the idea for Thep-Lan come from all those years ago?

Where do any of our ideas come from?

From beyond our knowing. They just appear in the Realm of the Imagination.
In this Realm we toy and play with them for as long as it pleases us, then we
try to manifest them in this everyday world we call Consensus Reality. That's
what we as magicians do. We find ideas and make them real. All the spells
and tricks in all the books are techniques to help you to do this and you can
pick and choose any that suit you.

This Is The End, Beautiful Friend, The End

I loved Thep-Lan with my whole heart and soul. We cling to those things we
love, fearing that they will leave, or be taken away, and never return; but in
doing so we create a prison for them, and ourselves. In truth the things we
love so tightly end up being our gaolers. If we do not set them free they can
never change and grow in their own time, with their own guidance. They can
never create for themselves, only copy their teachers. They can never have
their own life, and are doomed to repeat our mistakes. We have a duty to help
them break free from this cycle and create new ways to live. I do not agree
that this separation has to be a painful or difficult process. If approached with
love, empathy and understanding every child can be guided to their own
freedom. To support a child with a different worldview from your own can be
very interesting. This is the point where you can teach, and learn from each
other.

As a final act we must burn the glyph of the old Thep-Lan. Burn his body to
set him free.

I return to the Temple and stare out of the window, over the West Wood and
into the clear night sky. I salute the stars and say a prayer to Earendil as I
hold the body of my child aloft.
And with that I lit the parchment on which the seal was drawn and watched
the sparks fly into the great, black sky. Thep-Lan's body was burnt and taken
into Earendil's keeping.

And so ends this tale of tragedy, indecision and adventure. So, dear readers
judge me if you dare. For in truth the tale is never ended and you cannot
really harm me, because if Thep-Lan never returns to us, then I will punish
myself far more than you ever could. And if Thep-Lan does return I will be
sat in Cornwall on cushions of red, feeling the salt breeze on my skin with
my lovely family around me. So, I will not care about your judgment.

Epilogue
We have a spring fed fresh water bath under the house. It is fed through pipes
into the rough, regency built stone grotto whose murk houses the pool. The
pool itself is about ten feet long by 6 feet wide and six feet deep. The water is
icy cold even in this warm sunshine and lies like a sunken slab of pure black
obsidian. The pool looks as if it is bottomless from the dark stone that
encloses the water. A portal to an unknown world left abandoned from the set
of a sci-fi movie, a portal to a cold vacuum of a world where there exists no
life. To enter the waters is a numbing descent into death.

It was my turn to go in. I had volunteered to go first just to get the thing over
and done with. My body still tingling and sweat pouring from the shaking
meditation we had just finished. I stripped off my clothes and stood on the
glistening stone steps that disappeared into the dark. You leave this world as
you came into it bare, alone and shivering. This I realise as my foot goes
numb; and as I descend very, very slowly down the steps, the numbness rises
up my legs. My fingers go below the surface and I realise I am dying very
slowly from the extremities inward.

The shock begins to kick in when the knife blade of the waters surface
reaches the base of my spine. My balls contract and my cock turns into a
peanut (a very small peanut) before they too disappear under the ripples. I
look down and I can still see my body and limbs in the water, but they are
very far away. The longer I look at them the further into the depths they fall
until they are distant, very distant.
I see my heart pounding not in my chest, but in my belly. I feel its rhythmic
vibration stretching my belly, until that too disappears. Then my shoulders
and chest gently and very, very slowly are given up to the darkness. It is as if
my whole life-force were being pushed up to my head. My thoughts are
racing out of control and my breathing is ragged. My body is shivering
unstoppably, and I must control it. Slow down the thinking and concentrate
on something else. Anything else. Must choose something important…Thep-
Lan. That's what we came here for, remember Thep-Lan above anything else.
Thep-Lan, Thep-Lan. Exalt in his form, his beauty and all he stands for.
Remember him, that is the way through the veil.

The head is the last thing to die and something panics when the water line
reaches my throat. My body starts to convulse and retch. I try to concentrate
on Thep-Lan. Remember his glyph, his seal. One thought, one image. I see
my life's breath exhaled as a fog in front of me. The last act we all perform is
to exhale. This one is illuminated by the eye of the Sun, reflecting off the jet-
black water. I have stopped shivering, everything is numb. Dead to me now, I
picture Thep-Lan's glyph in the centre of Apollo's eye as my head disappears,
gliding under the surface without so much as a ripple made.

Calm

Silencio.

I am floating in inky blackness. No feeling. No sound. Nothing. I do not

breathe, but something still survives. When everything else is dead there is
something which survives if we can hold onto it long enough.

'You have to love life and death with equal intensity', it says.

'Holy Guardian Angel?' I quizzically ask.

The voice reaches over and pulls Thep-Lans glyph into its own heart. They
are one. Sat in front of me on a wooden stool my Holy Guardian Angel
smiles.

Then my head breaks the surface. I howl with joy and smack my hands
together splashing water everywhere. I do a funny little underwater run on the
spot, and then haul myself out of the pool. I walk outside and remember what
it is to be warm. The sun dries the water from my body as I lie in the grass,
smoking a cigarette.

Then I notice it everywhere. It buzzes and chirrups, talks and runs, flies and
crawls. It is vivid colours and goose bumps. It permeates everything with the
drive for change, it creeps into your eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It burrows
under your skin and gnaws at your bones. It is Life itself, and it is all so
beautiful. The grasses a carpet of lime green deep-pile shag. The trees made
of olive candy floss, all set against a cornflower blue sky. The place is alive
with possibility, so many births and so many deaths all happening
simultaneously.

Among the colours and sounds I get a feeling. A warmth in my belly which
makes me smile. I lay there in the grass and I am visited. The visitor calmly
and carefully places a new symbol inside my mind. A combination of the
Holy Guardian Angel and Thep-Lan, it is a new beacon. A new satellite
navigation point to head for on this exciting map we have made.

Where will it lead us now? This new, fully mature adult takes us once more
into the unknown, guiding our family towards our desired goals. I
contemplate its possible strange paths as I drive to our new home in
Cornwall. There I am meeting our friend Shaun the joiner to discuss plans for
building the studio in the garden. The boot of the car is full of red cushions.
Act II: Theory
Story

How does a tale begin?

Well a good starting point would be with a confession.

I am a storyteller.

Storytellers traditionally dislike any sort of definition for 'Story'. They believe
it limits what they can tell, and how they can tell it. I personally, however,
prefer the broadest definition available. Every communication is a story of
one kind or another. There is always a teller and a listener, the former
transferring information to the latter. For individuals to be involved in this
communication they must be the teller or the listener. In communication
where the individual is both teller and listener different parts within our own
minds are communicating (or telling stories).

Stories are fundamental to our existence as human beings. The human mind
has an instinctive hunger for stories, seeking them out and passing them on to
others. The world of story is one of pattern, metaphor and analogy, and we
human beings are driven to seek the pattern of stories through this language
of metaphor and analogy. We must seek the completion of the story; we must
know how it ends.

More than this though, is the role story has played in our evolution. It is told
that Cro Magnon man first discovered this language 30,000 years ago, by
creating fantastic images of creatures no one had ever seen. These were not
simply representational images on cave walls of animals the first humans saw
in the natural world around them; but supernatural images of mythical
creatures. A boars head on a man's body and a man's torso joined to that of a
horse. These creatures show that man had learned to break away from the
natural world, he had learned a mythology. This new learning coincided with
a revolution in methods and patterns that enabled Cro Magnon man to
survive and develop into human beings. His innocent competitors in this
evolutionary race were the Neanderthals, and the evidence suggests the
Neanderthals never developed the understanding of stories. They became
extinct.

The world of story exists everywhere in our world. Our world is suffused
with stories from the gossiping neighbours, to the advertising billboard. All is
story. We tell them all the time to ourselves and others..

'What did you do today?'

'What are you doing in your holidays?'

'Do you remember the time…?'

Etc...etc.

In the 1980's the Department of Education commissioned a study into the

effect stories have on the learning capabilities of young children. It found that
if a six-year-old child were told more than four stories a day, the child would
have a mental age of an eight-year-old. If more than four stories were told to
an eight-year-old they would have a mental age of a nine-year-old.
Conversely if a six-year-old was told no stories at all during the day, then
they were found to have the mental age of a four-year-old. The telling of
stories does not simply increase the child's vocabulary; they teach pattern and
metaphor. These, then, are the raw materials that enable the child to build
their own model of the world. The stories act as both map and signpost for
the listener, being continually altered and updated as more information is
received.

I find the idea that 'Story' influences the maps we create of the Universe
fascinating, and I am growing to appreciate it the more I study Chaos
Magick. This realisation that each one of us creates our own map for the way
the world (and indeed the Universe) function is a central tenet to Chaos
Magick. Everybody creates his or her own map of the Universe, but if you
are consciously aware of the fact then you can select the map you want to
follow. The Chaos Magician simply treats all beliefs as maps and signposts to
amazing, exciting, terrifying and blissful faraway lands.

In Chaos Magick this method of selecting maps of the Universe is called the
concept of belief shifting . This concept enables the Chaos Magician to enjoy
the freedom of choosing any of the infinite
beliefs/faiths/disciplines/methods/religions/fla-
vours/styles/dogma/ideas/sciences/philosophies available to the human mind,
in order to achieve hir desire.

For myself, I choose to see all beliefs as stories somebody once told
themselves about how the Universe functions. How can a story be wrong? It's
only a story, for Gods sake!

Therefore belief = story

and, communication of belief = storytelling.

In my own words I choose to tell myself the story that all systems of belief
are equally valid in the objective Universe. This particular story I call 'The
Meta-belief', and it is a kind of overall story which includes all other stories
about how the world works. It is the reference index for the maps, if you like
analogies. Once a far away land has been explored to our satisfaction we can
return to the reference index to select another map.

The question for we magicians is not so much what to believe, but how long,
and how deep do you believe in something?

And here we have a paradox. Magick seems to work better the more belief
you invest in a particular idea, or map. However, the longer, and deeper you
believe something is true, the less likely you are to return to the Meta-belief.
The longer, and deeper, you spend looking at the map in your hands you
forget you are exploring, and begin to forget about the reference index. You
begin to believe that the map you hold is the only map, and eventually you
believe in the map so much…the map becomes the territory. You begin to
believe the far away land is the only land, and think that it is the only land
you can explore. You become lost. No longer choosing your own maps, you
believe only those ideas that fit into your far away land. Rejecting any ideas
that do not conform to the rules of your land, you brand them as evil.

Art
Art noun.
1. The production of something beautiful; skill or ability in such work.

I am interested in the borderlands between the realm of Magic and that of

Art, where exploration of this liminal realm can access the best of both
worlds and techniques of both can be used for mutual gain. To look at the
terrain of this region allows me to compare the Artist and Magician within
myself.

I believe that practitioners of both realms are basically emotional rather than
logical, and both seek to enjoy the journey for its own sake rather than rely
on some ultimate goal for satisfaction. The concept of Truth in both realms is
purely subjective and temporary. The artist does not produce work for hope
of salvation in his twilight years, nor does he do so purely for the hope of
financial security (though it would be nice!). The artist, like the magician,
produces work to affect change within himself, within others, and the world
around him.

However, there are differences and the fundamental one is centred on

meaning. In the Magical realm meaning is a precious thing, a pointer towards
the whole, while in the Artistic realm meaning has become an impenetrable
jumble of associations which the Artist seeks to cut away to reveal life in its
pure essence. The Artist attempts to strip away any camouflage, to leave the
work, and by inference the artist, naked before the viewer. Through this the
Artist approaches truth of feeling, and finds that is the only way to achieve
resonance with the world outside.

Both attempt in their journey to reach for something more than that which we
were told we could do. They both believe the only goal to have is the hardest,
furthest, most distant and most incredible goal. Now, both the Artist and the
Magician realise this search may fail and become mundane or it could be
completely predictable; but the reason they do it is because it might be
divine. It could be amazing and incredible and both think it worth the risk
involved to just hope that might happen.

Both have an inherent danger, and this is a danger of the ego. The more
successful you are the more you really believe you are doing something
fabulous that's touching people - and it really makes them feel really good
about themselves. That's when the ego has this horrible feeding frenzy. You
become self conscious that you created these fantastic works, and fill your
self with your own importance. The less you realise the effect your work has
the luckier you are, because the chances of it having a little bit of integrity are
better. I think that's a good reason to stop projects when you become self-
conscious.

Upon becoming self-conscious you have an opportunity to shut up! In those

periods of silence you get gaps in which you can view yourself and how your
work has changed you. Then, you see, it all becomes an effortless work of
Art, your life becomes this one long Art Project. Only when you stop do you
start to realise why, and how, and who, and where and so on. Through this
process of recapitulation you find a voice again, something to say, and the
life as Art Project has a new momentum.

All works of art are collaboration, as the artist does not work in isolation and
is influenced by the world around him and the people in it. Therefore any
artist that claims his work as his own is deluded. Instead of complaining
about stolen ideas, he should celebrate the fact that he gets to bring them into
the world on behalf of everyone else. When the Artist and the Magician work
together towards a common goal they must incorporate their differences. The
Artist uses his obsession and passion for the idea to push the work on through
difficult stages, and the Magician must make those leaps of consciousness
necessary to initiate new ideas and mutate old ones when the work becomes
stagnant.
Holy Guardian Angel
What is the Holy Guardian Angel?

Well, there is you, the combination of everything you are. Your physical
body, your emotions, your memories and dreams, your relationships, your
energy. You are everything you can imagine and think. This is you.

The Holy Guardian Angel is everything you are not. It is other.

It cannot be described, for if it could then it would be part of you. The search
for it is therefore not the search for a specified goal, but a great search for
other. It is the search for some kind of metaphysical experience and unity,
bliss and joy.

As you grow and your knowledge increases; so the Holy Guardian Angel
changes, leading you further along the path into the unknown.

The magician is aiming to establish a set of ideas and images that correspond
with the nature of his genius, and at the same time receive inspiration from
that source.

It is your purpose in existing. It is what you are here for, it is why you chose
to incarnate at this time, in this place. Its goals become your goals, it cares
about what you do and wants you to achieve them. To ally your desires with
its desires is to enter into a divine communication, which if followed with
necessary action, allows the Holy Guardian Angel to manifest in consensus
reality.

It is beyond culture and represented by something divine. So let's live for

that. Let's not stay earthbound with the mundane ways of doing things, let's
reach for the stars. And through that reaching the divine may just pull us up
to somewhere beyond the quagmire of this dualistic Universe.

The way to understand the Holy Guardian Angel is not through theory, but by
direct experience. It's a path of exploration and adventure in which the 'Self'
starts to become conscious of itself as just another construct through which
consensus reality can be viewed. Your 'Self' will fight this every step of the
way as it manifests in a complete overhaul of your existence. Be warned!

The Path
The Path is your journey from cradle to grave. The story of your life. It is
every decision you made and every action you took.

Is where you are now where you want to be tomorrow?, or in one month?, or
one year?, or ten years?

If the answer is 'No' to any of those questions then you have not arrived at
your destination yet. You are still travelling The Path. After reading the
Practical exercise in Act III called 'The Path' you have a decision to make,

'Do you take the Red Pill, or the Blue Pill?'

The Red Pill: You can decide to continue to live your life as you have been
doing. Allowing people to present to you The Path. The world around you
will still decide which route you take, even though you still think you are
making the decisions part of you will know you are not. This story contains a
special knowledge, and after reading it, to continue on The Path in ignorance
is to forget. And you will not be able to forget.

Or,

The Blue Pill: You choose to perform the exercises suggested in the text. You
choose to reach for something beyond what you were told you could. Beyond
all previous choices, towards a place you know to be right. The Path is the
decision to search for what you really want. You become responsible for
which routes to take. You gradually come to know where you are heading,
and like a beacon it shines to you, drawing you on in its tractor beam.

In this section more than any other practical experience is paramount. You
don't talk about your life, you just do it naturally. It's no big deal it's just who
you are.

Demons
'Every idea of the week can be described, and labelled, separately from the
first person to think about it as an entity on its own. I believe that every time
we move, think, do and speak we're populating the universe further. That's
where I go to try and pull things back down to find out how they changed
while they were - wherever the unmentionable place is that these things
happen - that there's a way to retrieve some of them and bring them back so
that we can then re-mutate what's there in an inspiring and unexpected way'.
- Genesis P. Orridge.

One way to enter a world view where Demons exist (and it is by no means
the only way, simply the best way I have found to understand them) is to
believe that every-thing in existence has independent consciousness. This is
not mere animism however, as the gift of independent life exists for the inner
realms as well as Consensus Reality. All our emotional states, feelings and
drives can be viewed as existing independently within us. Let me illustrate
this view through the following example.

I have a Demon within me called 'Anger', who is gifted at driving me forward

when I am drained and tired. When I am weary he whips me into action. His
teeth are clenched and the muscles of his jaw are tight. He hates the injustices
found in the world and spurs me on to root them out. He is quick to manifest,
and takes over my body when he feels I am being threatened or abused. He is
harsh and cruel, caring not for the feelings of those who stand in his way. He
feels justified, and is proud of his actions. He suffers fools not at all and will
spare them no time, seeing and understanding their motives not through the
thick red mist that covers his eyes. He is ANGER. His skin is like dark brown
leather and he raises his fists to the sky, eyes wide he puts his head back and
screams.

Now, I could draw a picture of this Demon to get a view of how he looks by
transferring the list of attributes above into a representational image. He
already has a name (Anger), and we could do some automatic drawing (As in
the Method section of the 'Art' Chapter) to produce a glyph for the Demon. If
I decided to collate a book of various emotional states (Peace, Fear, Calm,
Joy, Vengeance etc. etc.) in this way, then I would be producing my very
own 'Grimoire' of personal Demons.

'As Above, So Below'

One of the interesting things when dealing with these entities is that we tend
to approach them using the same techniques as we do when dealing with
people in our everyday world of Consensus Reality. We can choose to
categorise these entities (and the people we meet in consensus reality) as
'Good' or 'Evil', creating 'Angels' and 'Demons' respectively, but I find this
polarity a very limiting view, as your approach to the two classes of being
will be very different. It is too great a simplification to approach the 'Good
Entities' as friends, and treat the 'Evil Entities' as enemies. As in everyday life
things are rarely as clear cut. Let's take the example of Anger for instance. It
would be easy to generalise and treat Anger as an enemy to be feared and
fought, but there may come a time when I may call on Anger for help.
Particularly if my life were threatened in some way and I needed to fight my
way to safety. If I have been fighting Anger, and trying to destroy him, then
why should he come to my aid when I call him in my hour of need? There is
an old saying which reminds us all that 'We ignore our Demons at our peril'
and so I find it far more useful to look at each entity through their own merits
and deficits. Dealings with individuals should not be clouded by
generalisations, so for this reason I will use a broad neutral term in this essay
to describe all such beings. Angels, demons, servitors, familiars and spirits
will be called entities.

The work with entities is an important one as it forces you to evaluate how
you conduct yourself in interactions with the everyday world. In my
experience entities react to the way you approach them much as people
would. If you work with the Goetia (or any old Grimoire) the people you are
dealing with can lie, cheat, have huge disfigured bodies and more than the
normal number of appendages; but I find the best way to react to these
situations is if you were presented with them in Consensus Reality. How
would you deal with a liar or a cheat normally? Does people's appearance
matter to you? And can you face the fact that these entities exist inside, as
well as outside, your mind?

As with people in Consensus Reality entities want power, independence and

autonomy. This enables them to evolve and develop their own consciousness.
They are like people without physical bodies and they achieve physical
manifestation from the amount of 'libidinal energy' (See Appendix 3) you
feed them. The problem is that the greater the autonomy these entities have,
then the more able they become in achieving your desires. You want the
entity to be independent enough to achieve your desire, but you don't want to
give it too much power else you will find it in control of the situation very
quickly.

A good example to illustrate this is a particular entity a friend of mine was

working with. He had created this entity to act as a general good health spirit
(called 'Health') that would cure him of any ailments he contracted. As soon
as my friend had an illness he would perform a quick ritual, contact Health,
and sure enough, within a few days whatever the illness was soon died out.
The results were amazing. All went well for about six months, until my friend
realised he was getting ill more often than he ever did before, Health was still
doing its job, but my friend began to rely on it more and more. The more he
relied on the entity to cure him the more energy he poured into it. I suggested
he find out why he was getting ill more often, and after some work with
different investigative spirits, he found out what was to blame. He had given
so much energy and attention to Health that it had become very powerful.
The entity had started manufacturing illnesses in my friend in order cure them
and receive more and more attention. My friend learned this and immediately
constructed a ritual in which he spoke to Health, negotiated a peace with it
and broke off all ties to it.

Make no mistakes, in working with any entity, you are entering a power
game and the entities understand that, even if you choose not to. Bearing this
in mind, there are several strategies you can adopt when dealing with
Demons, and if handled correctly they can yield some of the most miraculous
results I have ever seen.

Approach 1: Dominant
You communicate with the chosen entity as if it were scum. It will do as you
say, or else you will hurt it. Be prepared to back up your threats with action.
You will burn the seal of the entity if it does not do your bidding. You will
destroy all evidence of it in Consensus Reality if it does not achieve your
desire. You will tell all your magician friends that it is a liar and a cheat, not
to be trusted as it cannot achieve anything, if it does not behave. You are the
Alpha male and the entity must do as you say to preserve the correct order of
things in the Universe. It is not a real person, so you can treat it as badly as
you like etc, etc.

This is an approach favoured by many old magical texts written by men who
grew up in this territorial culture. It is a throwback to public school days,
fagging and cold showers with matron. The strange thing is it does not yield
very good results, as the entity will agree to do anything if you torture it
enough, even if it is not up to the task specified. I choose not to approach
entities like this because it takes up a lot of energy to keep in control and I
would not want to live in a world where this is how people treated each other,
but 'Hey! That's me'. Why don't you find out for yourself?

Approach 2: Submissive
Supplicate yourself before the mighty entity, beg it to tell you the knowledge
it has and in return it can feed on you. Politely ask it to perform your
pifflingly insignificant favour once it has drained you of energy. Spend hours
bowing to its seal, praying to it that it may help you. Beat your flesh with
birch rods that it may feed on your pain. Bleed yourself that it may drink of
your essence etc, etc.

I'm not going to go on about this too much as it invariably doesn't work as an
approach without a lot of effort and not a lot of gain.

Approach 3: Partnership
The classic deal with the Devil at the cross-roads. Summarised by the
expression 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours'. Ask the entity to do
your bidding, and you will give it something it wants when it has completed
the task.

I find this approach works because you both stand on an equal footing.
However it takes a lot of effort to maintain the even playing field. The entity
needs to be chosen specifically for the goal you want it to achieve. You may
be tempted to choose one from an existing grimoire, but if you do so new
alliances are constantly needed to achieve desires. As well as this you have to
keep your end of the bargain, or a whole heap of trouble can ensue. To use
this approach successfully you must keep your wits about you, and be able to
handle multiple tasks simultaneously. You are trying to keep everyone happy,
including yourself, so the best way of approaching this is by creating your
own entities.

Sex
'How can you learn to love anything, if you first do not learn how to love
yourself'

I like sex. From all the techniques of achieving gnosis, orgasm is the one I
favour, because it satisfies so many of my criteria.. It leads to openness of
heart, honesty, health and creativity through an expression of love (or 'Self
Love'). I like sex, but this is no 'Lovers Guide' to satisfy your ungratified,
consumerist desires. We are concerned here with the production of libidinal
energy (See Appendix 3), for promotion of health, vitality and energy to
direct towards desired goals. It is best explained through practical exercise, so
I will present a series of techniques we used in Act I for you to enjoy. It is
important to understand how this energy is produced and channelled within
your own body, before you can successfully do so outside of it. Therefore the
practical exercises linked to this section are concerned with 'Self Practice',
alone and without a partner.

These exercises can be applied to both women and men, as human beings of
any gender are equally capable of producing enormous quantities of libidinal
energy through masturbation. This is perfectly normal and is effective in
keeping the body and mind healthy and relaxed. If you feel ashamed of
pleasuring yourself in the ways described I suggest you work slowly and at
your own pace. The exercises will only work if you are relaxed and happy
with your body and these new feelings.

Austin Osman Spare developed the idea of 'Self-love' and incorporated in it

sexual practices. He apparently had a special tube of glass, into which he
would place a piece of paper with the glyph drawn on it. He would
masturbate with the tube and concentrate totally on the glyph at the point of
orgasm. His sexual fluids would then anoint the paper and the energy would
be transferred. This is a useful example to illustrate the practices of one
particular magician, however, the essence of this technique and the useful
part for this work is the generation and transference of libidinal energy
through orgasm. The use of sexual fluids is not strictly necessary.

'Your entire body is a giant electric machine: body chemistry (like all
chemistry) is based on electrical bonds. It even runs on electricity. The
energy you need to see these words comes from the egg you ate for breakfast;
the egg got it's energy from the corn consumed by the hen; the corn extracted
that energy directly from the electromagnetic light of the sun through
photosynthesis' - K. C. Cole 'Discover Magazine, Feb. 1984

The purpose of the magical operation set out in these pages is to generate
libidinal energy, and then transmit that energy into a chosen glyph. The glyph
then acts as a doorway, channelling energy to the entity associated with it.
We are trying to give the entity enough energy to develop independent
consciousness. I cannot stress this enough. If we are to succeed in this action
we need to be perfectly clear about our intent.

The libidinal energy generated by the body can be directed towards any goal
with the will and the imagination working together. It appears to be non -
local in space and time (i.e. events / people / objects can be affected by it
even if they do not occupy the same space or time as you when the energy is
generated) and all pervasive. It exists in everything, through everything and
between everything.

Theory associated with sexual practice is loaded with religious metaphor and
jargon appropriate to the specific tantric belief system you choose to study. I
recommend Taoist Tantric practice, as this seems to yield satisfactory results
relatively quickly. Particularly anything to do with Mantak Chia, as he is
sensible and practical. I strongly urge all serious students of Magick to
explore a , or martial art that deals more fully with the methods of
production, and channelling of, libidinal energy. (For this volume many of
the techniques used can be found in 'The Multi-Orgasmic Couple' - See
Bibliography at the end of the volume).

Wedding
A wedding is a ritualised merging of two souls, a combining of bodies, minds
and spirits. Two separate beings becoming one for a time to achieve a
particular goal or goals. The goals are traditionally criteria based, such as
love and peace, but a partnership can be formed to achieve more worldly
goals, such as achieving a successful business proposal. What separates a
marriage from any other relationship is ritual intent. In business the ritual is a
formal signing of contracts, in a traditional wedding it is the exchanging of
rings. I firmly believe the ritual should be designed to provide a suitable
context for the successful acts and desires of the people involved.

The next stage of our magickal adventure is to create a being to represent The
Path upon which you are walking. One image which will galvanise your
whole being towards a chosen destination. The destination should only
consist of all the goals, emotional states and desires represented by the
entities contained in your personal grimoire. If not you need to go back and
think about what you really want. The method for doing this is by 'merging'.
In a 'merging exercise' the libidinal energy of the entities are combined and
fused. As they consist entirely (except for the glyph itself, which is burned)
of libidinal energy, nothing is left of their individual selves. This merging is a
'Fourth Way' of dealing with entities, and avoids all the power games of the
other three ways (Ie the Dominant, Submissive and Partnership approaches.)

One important consideration for this step (if you have not already thought
about it) is who is going to come with you on this path. Who do you want to
include in your new vision. This is important, as they will have their own
Path that needs to be considered and integrated into this new entity being
created. Do you have a spouse, partner or children that need to be considered.
Do you want to involve friends and relatives?

Include any ideas, desires, wishes and criteria your loved ones may want to
include if they are to have a say in the creation of this entity.

You do not necessarily need a partner to produce this libidinal energy in the
body, but the 'Merging Exercise' described here does require one. (I
recommend all Magicians try to work with a willing partner they can trust,
not just from the point of view of trying out these exercises, but I think it will
enrich your life generally!!). If a willing partner is not readily available, use
your imagination to think of ways you can adapt the 'Merging Exercise' for
solo use. I have done it simply by visualising a partner in front of me whilst
staring into a mirror painted with the new design.
Death

'Even with all the advances of medical science, life is still 100% fatal'

We don't like talking about Death in our culture because we don't know what
lies on the other side of that black doorway. We tend to fear what we don't
know, and we don't know Death. It is an experience of stepping through to
the unknown, and it is a journey we all take at one point or another. Buddhist
monks are encouraged to meditate by the Ganges where the bodies in their
thousands are burned before the ashes are spread on those Holy Waters.
Thousands upon thousands of bodies, and if you look upon them you cannot
help but contemplate your own mortality, and the mortality of your loved
ones. When you will die and be conscious no more; what that means to you
and what you do with the rest of your time up to that point.

It is not for me as a magician to tell you what you should think, and believe,
about this death state. I am just as in the dark about it as everyone else, and
nobody knows what lies beyond this life. Nobody knows, but we can all
choose to believe. All I can do is describe what it means to me within the
context of this tale, and give you some practical advise with which to explore
it on your own, in your own time, when you feel ready.

The glyph is the body of the entity and the doorway to have contact with it.
The entity is not the glyph in the same way as you are not your body.

We don't know what is beyond the wall of death, we can only believe what is
there.

'I'm ready for the next big adventure because I'm weary of this one.'

- My Grandma

Death is the final permanent merging of 'Self' and 'Other', of you and your
Holy Guardian Angel. If you have the will and imagination to concentrate
wholly on The Path at the time of Death, then the merging of your Holy
Guardian Angel and The Path will happen automatically. This is highly
desirable because if he entity created by this merging contains the same
drives as your highest desires then its goals become your own. You have no
fear in feeding it with as much energy as you can, because the more you feed
it, the more your ideal world becomes manifest in your life and the entity is
more than happy to help achieve your goals because it feels as if its own
desires are being fulfilled. Everyone's a winner!!

The only problem you have is being able to return to your life, ensuring you
can enjoy it with the knowledge you have gained.

For this magical operation the ritual 'death', or killing of the magical child
described in Act I can be described as the re-integration of the entity (or idea)
with the subconscious. The dissolution of the boundary once more between
the original thought and the mind that created it. The merging of 'Self' and
'Other'. The whole process can be seen as an externalising of a particular idea,
or concept, or desire, from the subconscious which is then consciously
concentrated on and given greater importance than other ideas contained
within the mind. When the idea becomes overwhelmingly obsessive it is
reintegrated into the subconscious where it affects your life without you
consciously having to think about it.

Well, that's the theory at least. Hopefully you, dear reader, are still interested
enough in this topic to put the theory into practice, and brave enough to do
some experimenting of your own.

Enjoy!
Act III : Practicum
Question: Is the soldier responsible for the deaths of the people he, or she,
kills during wartime?

Or, is it the sergeant, the officer, the general or the politician who gave the
orders responsible for the deaths?

We are each responsible for the acts we do, the food, drink, drugs and
information we place into our bodies and minds. Be aware of this when you
are presented with the exercises in this section. If anything feels
uncomfortable or makes you feel incongruent, then either change them until
you feel good about them, or don't do them. For me Chaos Magick teaches its
practitioners how to say 'No'. Non serviam.

Story

How do we ensure the reference index is not forgotten and still retain the
depth of belief that ensures the magick works?

The Chaos Magick answer to this paradox is that we should each find our
own resolution for it. Outlined below are sets of exercises and guidelines for
you to try out, and hopefully alter for your own amusement.

l Select a belief you find interesting. Preferably one you have no previous
direct experience of. Then write a story beginning with the sentence…'I want
to explore…{insert name of belief here}, and I will know I am ready to return
to the reference index when….'

(eg I want to believe in Zen Buddhism, and I will know I am ready to return
to the reference when I have achieved satori, renounced all my possessions
and am living on Mount Fuji etc, etc.)

Note: The essay can be as long or as short as you deem necessary, but you
must be congruent (See Appendix 1) with the end result. If you do not receive
a congruence signal for a particular piece of the essay then rewrite it until you
do.
Note: You must be specific about when you intend to return to the meta-
belief, or reference index. Make the point to return something you can easily
recognise, else you may spend a lifetime exploring this one map! This acts as
your safety net.

l Research the chosen belief system. Read all you can about it, talk to people
involved with it, attend regular meetings, rituals,/ workshops, lectures about
this belief and generally deepen your understanding of it. Create an area in
your living space dedicated to the chosen belief and be sure to be aware of it
every day.

l Feedback. Every week or two, put 5 minutes aside to compare your course
in the chosen belief with your selection story. If you are off course can you
correct it? If so, then continue until all your selection story criteria have been
achieved. This is the point where fiction and reality become one. A most
magical and celebratory time, so enjoy it! And if not, then you may want to
explore another map.

Note: You should also pay great attention to the reactions of those you care
about. If their reactions to your new beliefs are unwanted then you may want
to alter your strategy until they exhibit behaviour that you want. This may
entail looking at a different map that can lead to more desired results.

l Gnosis. To deepen your exploration of the chosen belief system, experience

its trance states. These can be prayers/songs/rituals/drug use etc, etc, and may
be performed in a social setting rather than a ritual one. Experience of these
trance states (Or states of gnosis as the Chaos magicians say) can lead you
more quickly towards your goal, as within this work they act as powerful
indoctrination tools.

Note: An excellent résumé of various techniques to induce altered states of

consciousness, and explanation of gnosis can be found in Liber Null and
Psychonaut' by Peter J. Carroll.

Results
The results you achieve from this work should be contained in your selection
essay, and also be evident in your life.

If after several feedback sessions you are finding the goal unachievable, then
simply return to the reference index and select another map. Again, be aware
of the behaviour of those you care about as a 'Zen Master' turned to Satanism
isn't going to keep his new found friends for long! Analysis of 'where I went
wrong,' if your results are not good is incredibly valuable, and some sort of
recapitulation exercise before you select your next map is advisable.

Art
There is a part of you that knows what beauty is, or Love, or happiness, or
freedom, or honesty, or creativity…etc…etc. It may be buried so far inside
your mind that you cannot see, hear or feel it, but it is there. The problem is
that it seems that part of you only speaks when you aren't listening to it. So
you have to distract the conscious mind in order for it to be heard.

One technique to do this visually is to perform some sort of automatic

drawing. Now don't get scared, we aren't going to be channelling the dead, or
any of that. It's essentially a very simple technique, but you need to be loose
and relaxed to let it happen.

What the following process creates is a magickal image where every element
is deliberately built into the picture for its symbolic associations. We can
work with this image in countless ways once it is created, but first we have to
make it so.

Automatic Drawing

· Practice. Get some big pieces of paper and a pencil. Sit down and relax.
Concentrate on slow deep breaths. Now, without taking your pencil off the
paper draw lines of simple shapes across the paper. Try X's all on one line,
then waves all across another, then squares, then triangles, then 's' shapes.
Invent new shapes, but make sure they are repeated all across the page.

· Don't worry if you draw over previous lines, and don't worry if it doesn't
look pretty. That's not the point. What is important is the freedom of
movement and looseness of the hand and wrist. After you feel fully loosened
up (usually 5-10 minutes) then we can start drawing.

· Sit quietly in front of your paper, close your eyes and think of a time you
experienced something of beauty. Relax. Breathe deeply and place your
pencil on the paper in front of you. As you re-experience this beautiful time,
allow the images, sounds and feelings to enter your mind. Increase the size of
the images, the volume of the sounds, and the intensity of the feeling. And as
you do this allow your pencil to make marks on the paper. You do not need to
take the pencil off the paper, simply allow it to glide across the paper's
surface. Concentrate on experiencing the beautiful time, and allow yourself to
enter it fully. As if you are there and as you do so keep the pencil in your
relaxed hand drawing on the paper.

· When you feel ready to end this session you may lift the pencil from the
paper. Open your eyes and turn your paper over so you are not tempted to
look at it yet.

· Go and do something else, preferably something physical, or preparing food

and drink.

· Now, after your break, come back to the image you have created during
your session and study it. Are there any recognisable images in it? If so, then
accentuate the lines that make those images (I usually go over them with ink)
and make the images clearer. They can be as simple as a circle, or as complex
as you can imagine. Play with them; see if you can make faces or animals, or
geometric designs. Anything can come out and allow the images to emerge
from the depths of the paper.

· When you have had enough, place the tracing paper over your images and
trace them onto a new sheet of paper. Throw the old piece of paper away, or
burn it!

· Look at your new piece of paper, and the images on it. Begin to combine
and simplify them into one image. You may need to use several pieces of
paper before the crystallisation process is complete, but remember to destroy
the previous pieces of paper as you go.

· To end this process you should have one easily repeatable image that
represents the whole experience you enjoyed. Not just the things you saw, but
also the sounds and feelings you experienced. All sense impressions of that
moment in time and anything linked to that time are all contained within your
crystallised image. This crystallised image is called a glyph, and here we
have created a glyph for beauty.

Note: This process can be repeated for any emotional state that has been
experienced. However, if you cannot recall ever experiencing a particular
state (happiness, for example), then simply guess what that state would be
like, imagine what it would feel like, sound like or look like. The more you
work with that feeling in this way, the more familiar you become with it, and
the more you will recognise it in your life.

The Holy Guardian Angel

Create time and space to perform this ritual on a daily basis, upon waking is
preferable as the self discipline needed to do this helps your resolve on the
days when you can't be bothered!! (And we all get days like that. Oh yes! We
all get days like that!)

· Clear your mind of clutter by inducing a trance state of choice.

· Perform the automatic drawing exercise in the Art chapter above, but
instead of remembering a time when you saw something of beauty, imagine
what your Holy Guardian Angel could be like. Picture it, hear it and feel it.
Feel free to change anything that doesn't seem to fit, and play with things like
size of image, colours, volume, pitch, brightness, intensity, texture, and
pressure until you feel congruent with your experience of your Holy
Guardian Angel.

· Carry on with the automatic drawing exercise until you have created a glyph
to represent your Holy Guardian Angel.

Note: It is not normally necessary to recreate the glyph every day. Once the
Holy Guardian Angel glyph has been created, and you are happy with it keep
using the same image until you feel it needs changing. At such times it is
advisable to destroy the old image to avoid confusion of thought.

· Concentrate on the glyph you have created. How does it make you feel?
Does it bring to mind an image or sound, or feeling? If so then increase the
intensity of the experience, and if not then guess what images, sounds or
feelings the glyph would produce if it could. Then increase their intensity.

· From these feelings, sounds and images try to imagine what your Holy
Guardian Angel would look like if it were present in the room with you now.
Would it have a smell, or a taste associated with it?

· Continue building this entity until you feel it is fully formed. Then you
verbalise out loud your wishes and aspirations. This should be done
spontaneously from the heart. Be honest and use any tone of voice you feel is
appropriate, from humbling on your knees in prayer to shouting
proclamations. Bear in mind that this is your genius, and you should treat it
as such.

· Allow silent spaces in your verbalisation in order that the Holy Guardian
Angel can communicate with you. After a while it may reveal images, names
and spiritual principles by which you can assist its manifestation further.

· Return by concentrating on the glyph of the Holy Guardian Angel in silence

for a brief period.

· Carry on your day as you will.

· At the end of the day before you sleep spend a couple minutes going over
the events of the day. What went well and what didn't? What could you
change to make tomorrow even better?

Warning: I know people who appear to have become spectacularly mad from
continually doing this exercise. To avoid this you may want to put a strict
time limit on the period of daily practice (i.e. one or two lunar months), and
be very aware of the behaviour people you care about exhibit around you. If
they seem to be acting weird, it is possible you are causing them to, so I
seriously recommend having someone you can discuss your ideas with (i.e. a
mentor, close friend or other people in a magickal group). This gives you
another viewpoint and invaluable honest information on which you can take
action if necessary.

Results
The purpose of this invocation is to establish a set of images and ideas that
correspond to your genius. It is recommended that these images, words and
sense impressions be kept in a diary as soon as you can, otherwise they will
be easily forgotten.

Feel free to use the automatic drawing exercise to crystallise anything that
seems a bit fuzzy into a visual image, as we will need all these for future
work.

The Path
What I invite you to do is read the following story.

I hope you find it interesting and engaging. So sit back, turn off the
telephone, get comfortable, and relax.

There was once a man called Edward Burnays who believed that people were
essentially stupid, and because they were stupid they could be controlled.
Before the First World War Burnays was a successful concert promoter in the
U.S. representing the likes of opera singer Edward Carusso. He carried on
happily in his chosen career until America joined the Great War, whereupon
he was put on the payroll by the U.S. government to handle the media
representation of the fighting in Europe. Burnays came up with the
masterstroke of making people believe in a cause to such an extent that they
were prepared to lay down their lives for it.

Edward Burnays invented propaganda.

After the Great War, Burnays thought that if the techniques he had developed
worked during wartime, they would work equally well in peacetime. He
looked at where the power lay in peacetime, and began to represent the major
oil and tobacco corporations. He noticed that smoking cigarettes was a
distinctly male habit, and that smoking for women meant overcoming a social
taboo. In 1920 there was a huge Fourth of July parade in New York. Burnays
paid 20 or 30 female debutantes to march in the middle of the parade
smoking cigarettes. Then he sent a release to all the major New York daily
newspapers saying that a group of suffragettes were planning on hijacking the
parade, and in their defiance of social restrictions imposed on them as women
they were going to light cigarettes as 'torches of freedom'. This was a huge
story at the time, perfectly timed to coincide with the general rise of female
empowerment. Sales of cigarettes soared and Burnays' tobacco corporation
clients never looked back.

Edward Burnays didn't sell things by appealing to the general public's

practical need (i.e. how many miles to the gallon? how low is the
maintenance? Is it healthy for my family or me?). He sold things by
appealing to their emotional desires, and those desires could be manipulated.

Edward Burnays invented lifestyle marketing.

In 1939 Edward Burnays was commissioned to produce the central exhibit in
the World Trade Fair held in New Jersey. He created a vision of a utopian
future with sleek, clean monorails, multiple lane highways and cheap
convenient products for all. Everyone owned a car, and everyone travelled in
aeroplanes. Fossil fuel power stations provided energy for everyone and
major corporations had huge skyscrapers dedicated to them. The exhibit was
a huge success for Burnays and no one was more pleased than his clients, the
oil corporations whose names appeared on the tops of his model skyscrapers.

Edward Burnays sold us the future, and we bought it.

And these are legacies we are still living with today. 80 years on we buy our
cars because we want the rugged, fast, free and easy lifestyle that product
represents. We still send our loved ones to die in wars because we are sold
the belief we are fighting on the side of the 'Great and Good'. We have
multiple lane highways, and cars and aeroplanes, and plastic products of
every kind, but where do we take it from here?

To answer that question I would like to tell another tale. This one is about a
storyteller and therapist called Pat Williams. Whilst studying and collecting
stories from around the globe, Pat Williams. wrote to many of the people she
could recognise as high achievers in their chosen fields. In the letter she
asked each person a simple question.

'Was there a story that had once affected and haunted you in your life, and
made a difference to what you did?'

Not only did she find that each person did indeed have a story, which had
affected him or her, but that the stories directly paralleled the person's life. A
famous deep-sea diver was greatly affected by the story 'Swallows and
Amazons', an explorer by 'Robinson Crusoe' and a scientist by 'The Little
Engine That Could'.

Now, I invite you to find the story that affected you. Think back to see if you
can find it in your memory. It could be a book, film, T.V. programme, radio
broadcast, direct experience or a family tale. The medium isn't important,
because we are looking for a story that made a difference to what you did.
Take as long as you like to find this story before you continue reading, and
don't worry if one doesn't spring to mind immediately. Good places to start
are with your favourite book, or film, or TV series and examine characters or
themes that appeal to you. People with more than one favourite story often
find there is a common theme (or character) in them all, which strikes a
chord.

Once you have discovered your story I ask you to find the character in it you
most connected with. Which was your favourite character in that story. And,
as you think of that character I ask you to experience the story through their
eyes.

What would they see?

What would they hear?

What would it feel like?

And as you experience the story through your favourite characters eyes I ask
that you play with the clarity of the images, the brightness of the colours, the
volume of the sound, its pitch and resonance until they are as realistic as
possible.

What clothes are you wearing?

How do they feel against your skin?

Are they rough or smooth?

What is the temperature like and to what extent can you feel it?

As you bask in the story I invite you to recognise how it has affected the
decisions in your life, from first hearing it all that time ago…follow it… right
up…to the decision…to read this book…where you are…

now…

…from this present moment… I would like you to use your imagination to
travel with me into the future…I would like you to imagine an ideal future
for yourself, and the world. Travel to your best guess at Utopia.

How will you know when this ideal future is here?

Where are you?

What can you see?

What sounds can you hear?

Feel the tangible things around you. What textures have they got?

How do people interact?

What do they use for fuel?

How do they travel around?

I ask that you describe the scenes before you, and record them in some way.
Make them as detailed as you possibly can, concentrate on descriptions of
things that interest you.

Write the story of your Utopia.

Write the story of your life.

And when you feel ready, you may return to your everyday consciousness,
refreshed and invigorated. Ready to go out into the world and make your
visions a reality.

Results
As you write your Utopia and work with it, you do so in the knowledge you
are free to change it any way you choose. You can work with it in so many
ways, but I will outline a few below only as ideas to pick up, or discard as
you see fit.

l Take interesting elements in your story and imagine the closest equivalent
in this reality. What branch of the sciences, magic, religion or arts could
contain more information about it? Research the interesting stuff you are
writing about. Go to libraries, the Internet, lectures, workshops etc… (Does
this sound familiar?) And meet people that are working in that area. Talk to
them, get involved and see if your research can expand your Utopia and make
it realistic.

l What 'criteria' (See Appendix 2) are important to your Utopian self, and the
society of your ideal world? Make a list of phrases that describe them,
perform the automatic drawing exercise on each of them. This should give
you a batch of glyphs representing these values. Then work with them each in
turn in the same way as you did when invoking your Holy Guardian Angel.

l Which people are close to you in your new Utopia? Are there friends and
family involved, a partner or spouse? Do you want, or have, children? If so
then the wishes of these people need to be taken into account. One way to
integrate their desires would be to throw a party, and get each one of them to
draw or paint something that represents their Utopia on a huge piece of paper.
Then crystallise these images into a glyph as we did in the 'automatic
drawing' exercise. (Alternatively they could read and perform the exercises in
this book. 'Go on Grandma, you'll love it honestly!')

l Develop strategies to help bring your Utopia into existence. Who would you
involve? How would you persuade people to give you help without them
thinking you crazy?

l Produce works of art, music, textiles, or poetry that you can imagine
existing in your Utopia. Or, design and produce everyday objects you write
about in your Utopian story.

Whatever you do, enjoy it, it should be fun or else it's not worth doing in my
humble opinion. If nothing else you will find more material to help pad out
your story.

Happy Exploring!

Demons
l Prepare the altar space with heavy, smoky incense, music and candles.

l Choose one of the glyphs from the 'criteria' exercises in the previous chapter
and place it in, or near the incense.

l Do some vocal warm-up or singing exercises. A suggestion would be

resonating vowel sounds and feeling where they vibrate within the body.

l Sit for a few moments, relax and clear your mind, then begin to concentrate
on your breathing. In…out…in…. out…. in…. out…. in…. out…. In….
out…and as you focus on your breathing. in…. out…You gaze at the
glyph…. in…out…. Begin to speak aloud the name and attributes of this
entity represented by the glyph…Let your tongue run loose, uninhibited and
free…. make sounds and noises the entity likes and understands…establish a
rapport with the entity… In…Out…In… Out…. and continue to
breathe….Relaxed and aware….feel your concentration focused on the
glyph….keep your eyes open at all times….relaxed and aware….you can
gaze into the depths of the incense….hazy and small at first….In…Out…you
see an entity beginning to take shape….it grows in size and you notice its
colours….becoming sharper and more focused….the entity is talking to
you….In….Out….relax, and ask the entity if its name is the same as the
glyphs criteria….the voice you hear may be faint…and as you concentrate on
it….the voice becomes clearer and louder…

l Continue asking questions of the entity and communicate with it. You could
ask it what it enjoys, or how it may help you achieve your specific goal. Ask
what it wants, and discuss various topics with it. Don't limit your questioning
to 'magickal matters', a good way of determining the entity's character is by
reviewing your day with it. Ask the entity how it would have dealt with
certain issues or situations that have arisen in your everyday life. Treat this as
advice from a friend, not as an order from a superior intelligence.

l Record as much as you can from these communications. A Dictaphone may

be useful, but certainly afterwards write down what is said.

l Create a 'personal grimoire' using your 'criteria' glyphs. Look at each of

those entities and compile its glyph, name, attributes, physical appearance
and personality. Include any communications you have had with that entity,
and the approach used.

l Make sure you remain aware of your overall focus. Record any results you
get as far as goals are concerned.

l I would suggest working with each entity in your 'personal grimoire' for at
least one week, before you decide to move onto the next.

l With all the entities in your personal grimoire make sure you have a
personal relationship you are happy with. Before you move on make sure you
are familiar with them all.

Enjoy yourself, and good luck!

Sex
It is necessary to practice and learn as much as you can about the following
preliminary exercises before you go forward and put them together in the
method described below. They seem difficult at first, but with regular
practice they become easier.
Breathing / Shaking

This exercise loosens the body, not only physically but also emotionally. It
leaves the body relaxed and fluid, enabling you to move energy around your
body more easily.

Breathing

l Begin to breathe through your mouth. Inhale deep and fast through your
mouth, and relax your body when you exhale. This is very important to avoid
hyperventilation.

l Practice this breathing for a few minutes and then stop. Notice the feelings
in your body. It is very physically demanding, but after a while your oxygen
levels within your body rise and it becomes easier.

Important: If at any point you feel cramp, or stitch, then begin to pant as
shallowly as you can, through your mouth. (As if you were a dog!!). Keep up
this shallow breathing until you feel the cramp subside. Then resume with the
deep, fast inhalations and relaxed slow exhalations.

Shaking

E.g. breathe normally. Stand up and shake your hands and arms. Keep the
wrists, elbows and shoulders relaxed and shake them as hard as you can.
After a couple of minutes stop and feel the difference between the sensation
in your arms and the rest of your body.

Does it feel warm, humming and tingly? It should, and this is the sensation
we want to produce throughout the body. It becomes very physically
demanding so know your limits!! If you need to increase your levels of fitness
then gradually build up the amount of time you perform it.

l Lift one leg off the floor and shake your foot. Relax your ankle and rotate
your knee, keeping it relaxed. After a couple of minutes try the other leg.

l Now place both feet on the floor and begin to vibrate your legs as if they are
shivering. As you do this keep your body relaxed and begin to shake your
hands and arms.

l Let your torso join in and begin to perform the deep breathing exercise
outlined above.

l If you are tense in any part of your body, then vigorously shake it. If your
legs get tense then lift each one off the floor, relax your ankle and shake it.
Whilst doing this exercise remember to breathe, it's easy to forget.

l Continue for about 5-10 minutes. Then stop. Stand still and relax. Let your
breathing return to normal and feel the sensations in your body.

Multiple Orgasms For Men and Women

Contrary to popular belief, both men and women can achieve multiple
orgasms. These are particularly useful in a magical context as the orgasm
produces huge amounts of libidinal energy (see Appendix 3). This energy is
released, and dispersed during ejaculation, but can be controlled and directed
by utilising various techniques to hold back the ejaculation. These exercises
also allow the practitioners to increase the build up of libidinal energy during
sex. As the exercises are different for men and women to achieve this I will
deal with them separately below.

PC Muscles

However, the one most important exercise, which is common to both men
and women, and is essential in achieving multiple orgasms for both, is the
clenching of the muscles around the genitals, perineum and anus. These
muscles are commonly called the PC (pubococcygeus), or 'pelvic floor'
muscles. These muscles cause the rhythmic contractions in the pelvis and
anus during orgasm and also regulate the flow of urine. Stronger PC muscles
give stronger erections and ejaculatory control in men, and will increase the
pleasure and ease of orgasm in women. So it's worth everyone's while trying
to develop them!!

The simplest way to describe the feeling and explain how to exercise these
PC muscles is by stopping and starting the flow of urine next time you go to
the toilet. It may be sore, or sting at first as you are exercising a new muscle,
but this should stop after a few weeks. If not then consult a doctor as you may
have some sort of urinary infection and you should get this cleared up before
continuing. If done correctly women should have the sensation that they are
pulling their urethra and vaginal area up slightly into the body.

Note: Throughout these exercises breathe through the nose as this warms and
filters the air. Breathe deeply using your belly and don't just use your chest. It
is worth practising this for a few moments and the next time you go to the
toilet try the following:

1. Inhale as you get ready to urinate

2. Exhale slowly, and forcefully push out the urine (clenching your teeth
intensifies this)

3. Inhale and contract your PC muscle to stop the flow of urine mid-stream.

4. Exhale and urinate again.

5. Repeat until you are finished.

This exercise gets you used to the feelings associated with strengthening the
PC muscles, and once you have tried it a few times begin to vary the exercise
to clench 'dry' during your normal day. Try a few clenches when waiting for a
bus, or whenever you're bored, if nothing else it is a good cure for boredom!
You could try clenching the individual PC muscles (at the base of the penis in
men (or urethra in women), perineum, outer anal ring and inner anal ring in
turn, or you could practice clenching while inhaling. Once that is becoming
second nature then try clenching whilst exhaling. Get used to clenching the
PC muscles with different breath techniques and also try clenching and
relaxing the muscles for various lengths of time (try 10 seconds clenched,
then 10 seconds relaxed etc., etc.). Feel free to use your imagination and
conjure up different exercises to keep your interest up.

Storing energy in the navel

Before you learn how to draw energy up from your genitals into your head, it
is important to learn how to bring it down into your navel area. This is
because the Taoists believe the abdomen can safely store far more energy
than the brain. The navel acts as this energy store and it enables the energy to
be released slowly to the organs of the body at a later date when needed. The
Indian tantrists believe the energy should be channelled from the genitals
(and root chakra) to the brain, which can lead to very mind altering
experiences, but the energy can have unexpected effects and so should not be
stored there for too long. I recommend the Taoist method first as it is the
safest and from my experience yields the best long term results.

l Start by relaxing. Breathe deeply and evenly using the belly.

l Touch your navel lightly with your fingertips and gently pull them apart as
if opening the abdomen. Let your fingers come to rest on the belly about
10cm apart.

l Touch the tip of your tongue to the front roof of your mouth (There is an
indentation on your palate about 1 - 2cm from the top of your front teeth).
This indent connects two separate energy channels in your body (One
channel goes up your back, and the other comes down your front), and your
tongue in this position closes the circuit. It allows the energy from your brain
to descend down your tongue and throat, through your chest to your
abdomen.

l Smile as you focus your attention on your navel, allowing the corners of
your mouth and eyes to soften. Feel the sun shining down on you and as you
do so feel warm energy descend through your head and torso to your
abdomen. Let the energy gather there and imagine it spiralling around your
navel to help it absorb.

Female multiple-orgasm practice

Now, I am no expert here, as far as female solo practice is concerned. So all I
can do is illustrate the key points to achieving multiple orgasms for women. I
strongly recommend all women to research this subject themselves and
recommend any texts by Mantak Chia.

l Everyone can achieve multiple orgasms. Choose an appropriate date and

suitable undisturbed length of time for orgasmic play/practice and ensure you
keep to it!.

l Relax. Create a sensual atmosphere conducive to lovemaking. Use your

imagination and any appropriate erotic films or literature to explore your
fantasies. Many people find soft cushions, the phone off the hook, candles
and nice aromatic oils (or incense) are good, but it's really up to you.

l Start by massaging, stroking and caressing your whole body then begin to
stimulate any areas that give you a pleasant sexy feeling. These are your
pleasure zones and could be your neck, ears and nipples, but they are
different for different people so explore your own.

l You may then want to use a vibrator to stimulate your pleasure zones. If you
haven't started already, you may want to stimulate your clitoris.

l Tease yourself with the vibrator. Stimulate yourself until you feel rushes of
energy and tension throughout your body then back off and begin to stimulate
yourself again until you orgasm. When you orgasm, restart pleasuring
yourself within a minute.

l Move slowly to penetration and use the vibrator or your fingers to explore
yourself. Stimulate the G Spot (found internally one-third to two-thirds of a
finger from the opening of the vagina, on the front of the body just behind the
pubic bone).

l Contract your PC muscles around the vibrator, or fingers, using whichever

techniques and positions you have found to feel good.

l Continue to stimulate your clitoris throughout penetration, and ride your

pleasure to another orgasm.

l Repeat as often, and for as long as you want!

Male multiple orgasm practice

Here follows an exercise to help you achieve multiple orgasms. Practice as
often as you can, as this will give you plenty of energy.
· Start by lubricating your penis with oil, or Vaseline. These lubricants do not
dry up as quickly as saliva or body lotion.

· Begin to pleasure yourself however you like. Feel free to use erotic films or
magazines initially, but try to use these to fuel your own fantasies. Your
imagination is the uncensored testing ground for any fantasies you want to try
out and can be far sexier than any film or photo ever produced!

· Pay close attention to the sensations in your body and your arousal rate. Be
aware of the arousal as it intensifies: the tingling at the root of the penis, the
stages of erection, and how your breathing and heart rate increase as you
build your orgasm.

· As you get closer and closer to the point of no return. Stop. Breathe deeply
using your belly, and lightly contract your PC muscle around your prostate.

· Continue to pleasure yourself, coming increasingly close to the point of no

return. As you get near to this point, go slowly. Start and stop arousing
yourself more and more intensely, allowing yourself to fall back into an
orgasm without ejaculation. Notice the involuntary contraction of your
prostate (and anus) that occurs during this 'dry' orgasm. They may seem
inferior in intensity to wet orgasms at first, but eventually with repeated
practice they become powerful 'whole body' orgasms.

· After you have peaked several times without ejaculating, stop. Notice the
feelings in your body and your energy levels. You should feel calm and
energised with a tingling in your torso or head. This indicates you are on the
way to whole body orgasms. Congratulations!

Note: At any point if you feel dizzy, or have any uncomfortable feelings then
perform the Inner Smile Exercise (above). This will store any excess energy
in your belly centre for use at a later date.

Moving the energy up to the head

· Perform the 'inner smile' exercise outlined above.

· Move your hands down to cover your pelvis. Smile and bring the energy
down to your sexual organs. Imagine the sun above your head, and begin to
smile letting the corners of your eyes crease upwards. Feel your sexual
organs growing warmer. If appropriate touch your genitals to increase the
sexual energy, if this is not appropriate then simply think sexual thoughts.

· Once you start to feel the tingling and stirring of your sexual energy, begin
to very gently contract your PC muscle, perineum and anus. This moves the
energy into the lower spine.

· Imagine the energy rise up your spine, tucking your chin in to help it move
from your spine to your head.

· Spiral the energy in your head using your imagination to create a vortex,
and circle your eyes.

· Perform the Inner Smile exercise if you want to then store the energy in the
navel.

The spinal roll

If you feel the energy is not moving up your spine, try the following exercise
standing, sitting or during orgasmic play. Stay aware of the energy levels in
your torso and head, do not allow either to become overloaded with energy. If
they do then use the 'Storing Energy In The Navel' exercise above to shift it
to your belly centre.

· Squeeze your anus up towards your tailbone, and rock your pelvis back and
forth as if riding a horse.

· Draw your chin in and up and then back out in a soft gentle circle, keeping
the jaw and neck muscles relaxed.

· After performing these exercises, rest and begin drawing the energy up your
spine and into your brain. Look up with your eyes to help this process.

· Repeat until you feel the energy moves upwards, and then relax.
Grounding
If you find you are not absorbing all the energy in your body, you feel
restless or have expanded negative emotions try the following exercise.

· Sit in a chair, or lie on your back with the soles of your feet flat on the
ground.

· Place your hands in front of your mouth so that your fingertips touch and
your palms face your feet.

· Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Feel your stomach and chest expand
slightly.

· Smile and exhale quietly, make the sound 'heeeeee'. As you exhale push
your hands towards your feet. Imagine your body as a hollow tube filled with
light that you are emptying with your hands from your head down past your
torso, through your legs and out the soles of your feet.

· Repeat as necessary. If the problem persists seek advice from an

acupuncturist.

Note: I cannot stress enough that all these exercises magnify the emotions
already present within your body. Be aware of them, and if venting does not
get rid of them there could be some sort of 'blockage' present. If this is the
case then it could be physical or emotional and indicates you are in need of
some healing. Seek a doctor, a therapist, an acupuncturist, a masseur, an
osteopath, a herbalist, or any other healer you consider useful!

Method - 'Powering and Feeding'

Select the glyph from your personal grimoire for the entity you wish to work
with (See the Practicum exercises in 'Art' and 'Demons' above).

Prepare the space for the ritual with suitable music, lighting, incense,
cushions and pillows etc. etc. for the particular entity you want to 'power up'
through your glyph. Remember that the exercises magnify the emotions you
are feeling, so magically it is important that you are feeling emotions
appropriate to the entity.

1. Once you are satisfied with your surroundings, obtain the glyph of the
entity you wish to empower. Sit with the glyph in front of you for a few
moments. Concentrate on it and notice the feelings that arise in you.

2. Begin to perform the method of contacting the entity from the 'demons'
section, above, until you clearly visualise the entity standing in front of you.
Notice any changes in the space around you.

3. Stand up, and perform the 'shaking' exercise for about 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Perform the 'storing energy in the navel' exercise to clear your mind.

5. Sit, lie or remain standing, but get comfortable. Make sure you can see the
glyph (you may need to hold it in one hand, but this will restrict your
movement).

6. Begin to pleasure yourself as you did in the 'Multiple-Orgasm' practices.

7. When you approach orgasm (without ejaculating for the men) draw the
energy upwards using the 'moving energy up to the head' and 'Spinal Roll'
exercises, as appropriate.

8. Repeatedly approach (or have orgasms) until you feel you cannot hold
back any more. Each time drawing the energy into your brain. Then one final
time approach the orgasm and focus your attention on the glyph. Do not force
energy into it; simply concentrate on its design totally as you orgasm. Do not
hold back and let the energy created enter the glyph.

Note for the men: Do not get obsessed with the idea of ejaculating (or not) for
the final time. It does not matter if you come or not. What is important is that
you concentrate utterly on the glyph, moving towards it the energy created.

9. Relax, and relish your orgasm.

10. Perform the 'Storing Energy In The Navel' exercise, and perform the
'Grounding' exercise if you feel you have excess energy.
This ritual can be used to power up all your glyphs. If you feel you need to
perform it several times on a particular glyph then do so. Do not rush the
period of time it takes to power them up, but do not let it drag and become
boring either. This is supposed to be enjoyable, sexy and exciting. How much
you allow it to be is up to you!

Wedding
Note: The 'merging exercise' is described as a heterosexual encounter, but
that does not mean a little bit of imagination cannot transform it into a
powerful homosexual / lesbian / bisexual / transsexual one.

Merging Exercise

1. Stimulate each other with foreplay.

2. When you are both ready to continue sit facing each other (normally the
woman is sat in the lap of the man) and begin penetrative sex.

3. When the two of you are highly aroused draw back slightly so that the tip
of the penis is inside the entrance to the vagina.

4. Each partner should then exhale and contract your PC muscle. Try not to
push each other over the edge into orgasm.

5. Pump the energy up from your sacrum to the top of your head by
contracting the PC muscle and anus.

6. Rest and smile, allowing the energy to continue rising to your head.

7. Spiral the energy in your head by rolling your eyes.

8. Continue to make love, stopping when necessary to circulate the energy.

9. When you are ready, you can exchange energy by the woman sending cool
yin energy from her vagina and absorb hot yang energy from his penis. The
man should simultaneously send hot yang energy from his penis to his
partner, and absorb his partner's cool yin energy from her vagina. The two
bodies begin to merge.

10. Draw your partner's energy back to your spine and up to the crown of
your head, contracting the PC muscle if necessary.

11. Let the energy descend down the front of your head to your tongue.
Touch tongues together, which closes the circuit and allows the energy to be
exchanged through your mouth as well as your genitals.

12. Bring the energy down to your heart and exchange the healing love
energy directly through your chests.

13. Smile as you focus on your navel and bring the energy down to your
abdomen.

14. Repeat the exercise as appropriate, until you finally picture the image of
you and your partner in sexual union above your head.

Method - 'Merging The Path'

This method presented me with a real dilemma. When Rach and I performed
the 'merging the path' we did it in a way, as both of us were essential to the
rite. In our combined lovemaking both our criteria and desires were included
in the final glyph created. The dilemma I am now presented with is - should I
alter the rite to suit people who are without a partner? The more I try to alter
it, the less it seems to fit. In the end I have decided to leave it as it stands
because one of the themes I have enjoyed from doing this work is the
realisation that I cannot do it in isolation forever and still remain content. We
all want to be loved. If you are alone at the moment, concentrate on finding a
trusted partner who will be more than happy to join you in this most beautiful
of rituals.

Set aside at least 2 - 3 hours for this exercise. The more entities you have in
your personal grimoire, the longer this will take. It really isn't worth doing
this exercise until you have become familiar with the exercises on sex and
can do the merging exercise above without thinking about it.

It is particularly demanding to do in one session, so don't worry if you want

to spread the whole ritual over several sessions. If you fuck this up, and leave
it half finished it could leave you feeling confused and unfocused. So ensure
you finish it properly once the ritual has begun.

1. Assemble all the glyphs from your personal grimoire.

2. Adorn the temple in wonderful sexy, soft sensual fabrics and have sweet
perfumed incense burning

3. Choose two different glyphs from either of your personal grimoires. Paint
one of them on your partner's forehead, and allow them to do the same with
the other on your forehead.

4. Sit facing each other and invoke into yourselves the entities these glyphs
represent. Let them infuse and overwhelm your senses as far as you can.

5. Perform the 'merging exercise' together. As you allow the energy to

circulate through your bodies concentrate on the glyph painted on your
partner's forehead (your partner should do the same). Let this concentration
deepen as you each approach orgasm, if you are male you must not come yet!
Hold back your semen with PC clenches, let your body swim in post
orgasmic delight.

6. Pause and stay relaxed. There is no rush. Combine the two glyphs that you
painted on each other's foreheads in some way. Either by simply merging the
two symbols, or include any visions, colours or sounds either of you had
when merging. This should leave you with one glyph representing the two
entities you have merged.

7. Allow your partner to paint this new glyph on your forehead.

8. Select a new glyph from your personal grimoire and paint this on your
partner's forehead.

9. Repeat steps 4 - 8 until all the glyphs in your personal grimoires are
'merged'.

10. At the end of the ritual (or several sessions) you should have one glyph
composed of all the entities glyphs in your personal grimoire. This is your
glyph for The Path. The old glyphs are no longer useful as the entities they
represent no longer exist.

11. Burn your personal grimoire with as much respect and ritual as you deem
necessary.

Death
1. Concentrate intently on the combined glyph for the path until you can see
every detail of it without the physical glyph in front of you.

2. Lie back on the floor. Turn the phone off and ensure you will not be
disturbed for a couple of hours.

3. Relax your body. Any muscles that are tense consciously allow them to
relax. Close your eyes.

4. Working your way up from your feet to the top of your head. Tense each
muscle group in turn for about 2 seconds. Then relax the muscles. Feel them
sinking slightly towards the floor.

5. Now, concentrate on your breathing. As you breathe in let your awareness

move to the back of your skull. As you exhale, feel your awareness move out
with the breath to about 2 feet in front of your mouth. In towards the back of
your skull and out with your breath. In and out.

6. As you continue this breathing out allow the feeling in the extremities to
disappear. Imagine a funeral pyre burning them to dust as they become numb.
It's strange at first, but with repeated effort it becomes easier.

7. Allow the funeral fire to burn your legs, arms, torso and head. Until there
is nothing left of your body. Now concentrate on the glyph of The Path. Keep
concentrating on it and nothing else as long as you can.

8. When you become aware of your body again then keep the image of The
Path central in your mind. Bring it through the veil from Death. Has it
changed at all? Are there different colours or sounds associated with it?
9. Incorporate any significant new sights, sounds or feelings associated with
the glyph of the path and the Holy Guardian Angel.

10. Use this new glyph as a beacon to guide you in your life. It is the
doorway to an entity that cares about you and wants to help you achieve your
goals. Converse with it daily.

11. Burn the old glyphs for the path and the Holy Guardian Angel as they no
longer truly exist. They have merged and become one entity.

12. Have a good life, and enjoy yourself because from now on you're on your
own.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Congruence

I want you to remember a time you really wanted something. Something you
really looked forward to. I want you to see through your own eyes back in
this experience, waiting expectantly for that special treat, present or event.
Are there any sounds or feelings associated with this experience? If so then
you remember them.

This is what it is like to be congruent. Play with the feelings, visual images
and remembered sounds until you can re-enter the experience, and feel it as
intensely as possible.

The feelings, sounds or visual images associated with this experience act as
your 'congruence signal'. Remember this experience as you can use it to
know when something is right. It is a good indicator of 'gut instinct', and can
help in many choices.
Appendix 2
Criteria

Criteria are the values that are important to us in a particular context. They
are the reasons we do things, and what we get out of a goal once it is
achieved. They are usually fairly vague like wealth, success, joy, health, love
etc, but they determine where we work, where we live, the clothes we buy or
where we spend our money.

Finding your criteria - Make a list of the ten most important values in your
life. Sometimes it is useful to do this exercise with a friend or partner as they
can question you, and if you are considering working together magically it is
important to ensure you are both heading in the same direction. To do this
simply change the word 'me' for 'us' in the following questions. The questions
you should be asking are:

What is important to me?

What truly motivates me?

What has to be true for me?

Note: You should try to express the answers in the positive. I.e. instead of
'avoiding ill health' it would be better to phrase the value as 'maintaining
good health'.

Once you have a list of criteria you need to find out what they mean in real,
practical terms. You do this by finding out the evidence that lets you know
the criterion has been met. This is not always easy to determine and may take
some time, but the question to ask is:

How would you know if you got it?

Let's take 'health' for example. Will you have achieved good health when you
can run a mile in 4 minutes, or will it be a feeling? Will good health mean
you can do something you have not previously been able to do?
Finally you need to look at what this will mean to your present life.

How will your life change if you strive to achieve this criterion?

What will be the benefits?

Will you need to sacrifice something in order to achieve it?

What practical steps do you need to do to achieve this goal?

Repeat the above exercise for all the values you deem important.

Note: This is a classic Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) exercise, and

for further reading on this subject see the 'Key Resources' section later in this
book.
Appendix 3.
Libidinal Energy

Libidinal energy is a term for energy arising from the libido.

'Libido - A term originally used by Freud to refer to sexual energy which is

derived from the id and is available to power mental and physical activity.
Later Freud regarded libido as general life energy. In general usage, the
connotation of sexual energy is still associated with the term'

- A Students Dictionary of Psychology, Arnold 1993

The id is part of the unconscious personality, its function is to fulfil the

instinctual needs but it operates according to the pleasure principle and may
be satisfied by fantasising the desired object. I would suggest the Id can be
guided to fantasise about particular goals through gnosis. The libidinal energy
it produces can then be channelled into manifesting the goal in consensus
reality.

I equate libidinal energy to the 'Chi' of Taoist philosophy and can be

transmitted and channelled throughout the body (and beyond) by various
exercises that combine the will with imagination.

'According to the Tao, a brief burst of explosive energy occurs when a man
or woman reaches orgasm. Western science has already established that, at
the point of sexual orgasm, human brain wave patterns alter radically,
literally putting the person into an 'altered state of consciousness.' Profound
physiological and electrical changes occur through the system during
orgasm, and a burst of energy is indeed emitted.' - Daniel Reid.

However, having good sex is not the only way to generate this energy. It can
be produced and generated by other means.

Eg, stand up, place your hands and fingers together, thumbs on top and
fingers extended. Place them about four inches in front of your navel (As if
you have clapped them together). Vigorously, rub your hands together
forwards and backwards for two minutes.

The energy moving in your body can produce many physical effects. It could
feel like a warm and tingly feeling, or you may describe it as a prickling,
buzzing or humming sensation (like static electricity). Most people feel it
moves slowly, especially at first, but it can sometimes move in a rush. It is
important you do not try to force it.

To move the energy around you simply need to focus your attention on the
place you want it to gather and increase. As the old Taoist saying goes:

'The mind moves and the Chi follows'

E.g., try the hand warming exercise again. After a couple of minutes of
vigorous rubbing, stop, and sit down, relax and move your attention to your
chest. Focus on your chest area, and notice the Chi moving to that area.

Important: You are not pulling or pushing the chi around. You are simply
shifting your focus to another place. If you force the energy you can hurt
yourself, so stay relaxed and soft. Besides the energy is easier to move if
you're relaxed.

The applications and scope magically for this energy once created are
limitless. Your attention is not limited to the confines of your body. And
therefore the energy can be moved to objects and people, entities and beings
that are perceived to be 'outside' your body. Think long on this and see if you
can find magickal applications for it.
Key resources
Texts

A Midsummer Nights Dream - William Shakespeare

Liber Null and Psychonaut - Peter J. Carroll, Samuel Weiser, 1987.

S.S.O.T.B.M.E. (Revised) An Essay On Magic - Ramsey Dukes, The Mouse

That Spins, 2000.

American Gods - Neil Gaiman, Headline, 2001

Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming - Joseph O'Connor and John

Seymour, Thorsons, 1995.

Pharmakon - Julian Vayne, Liminalspace Publications, 2001.

The Multi-Orgasmic Couple (Sexual Secrets Every Couple Should Know) -

Mantak Chia and Maneewan Chia, Douglas Abrams and Rachel Carlton
Abrams, M.D., Thorsons, 2001.

The Sandman: Dream Country - Gaiman, Jones, Vess, Doran, Jones III and
McKean, DC Comics 1990.

The Hero With A Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell, Paladin, 1988.

A Book Of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi, Flamingo, 1974.

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson, Flamingo Modern

Classics, 1993.

World Tales, collected by Idries Shah - The Octagon Press, 1991.

Three Early Novels - Philip K. Dick, Millenium, 2000.

Visual Magick - Jan Fries, Mandrake, 2000

The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar - Roald Dahl, Penguin, 1982.

The Queen's Conjuror - Benjamin Woolley, Flamingo, 2002.

Plus anything by the prophet Terry Pratchet. He disavows all links with
'magick', but whatever themes appear in our work as Chaos magicians
subsequently appear in his books three months later. I let you draw you own
conclusions!!

Websites

www.liminalspace.co.uk

www.genesisp-orridge.com

Sounds

Leftism by Leftfield

Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

Preludes, Airs and Yodels (A Penguin Café Primer)' by The Penguin Café
Orchestra.

Young Team by Mogwai.

The Moldy Peaches by The Moldy Peaches.

Levelling the Land by The Levellers

The Looks or The Lifestyle by Pop Will Eat Itself

Drumming by Steve Reich.

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized

Notes
1 At first the mind is taken up with learning the prose poem; when this is
done so well that it is said automatically then the work can really begin.
2 This is also the formula of witchcraft which is quite aptly given the 'dark
and sinister' reputation of cults such as Quimbanda and Voudou. IAO=yod,
aleph, ayin (10+1+70) = 81 which is 9 (the lunar number, Yesod) squared. 81
is also the number, by Hebrew Qabalah, of Witchcraft.
3 Eshu are those spirits of the threshold - they are generally called on first
during any ritual to act as messengers between the realm of humanity and of
the gods (Orisha). Elegba or Legba is the personalised form of these entities
as the god of the crossroads.
4 Retrospectively a large part of this unnerving evening was due to poor
preparation. I let myself loosen up by listening to some music by Mother
Destruction. However I got rather pulled into a delightful Babalon evocation
composition without really noticing what was going on. I hadn't banished the
space properly and the Eshu spirits must have thought 'who is this dickhead?'
(or something similar) and so decided to have some fun at the expense of my
nerves!
5 A Forelich Bose-Einstein condensate - see Zohar The Quantum Self,
HarperCollins 1990.
6 I found out that I was due to become a father not long after starting this
working. Looking back I can tell that the conception coincided with the first
day of the Ori working.
7 A copy of the Ori Ù sign was added to the group fetish that was used during
the Kali working (see later in this Volume).
8 This technique formed part of a healing spell that had a miraculous effect.
9 The master of one's head is an important concept in many of the African
current systems. My Ori (through indirect means - ie networks of
synchronicity) revealed mine to me during this working.
10 Sections of this ritual were derived by Brother rhino from the work of
various AMOOKOS adepts see for example Phil Hine see
http://www.phhine.ndirect.co.uk/archives/tt-ganpuja.htm
11 For the full text of this ritual see Razor Smile No1 see
http://www.indifference.demon.co.uk/
12 3rd century Orphic Hymns - see The Goddess Hekate, Stephen Ronan
(Ed), Chthonios Books 1992
13 From Practising Transcendent Renunciation.
Index (for softcover edition)
A

Abra-Melin22, 26, 112

abyss25, 32, 40, 118, 119, 121

Art46, 104, 109, 138, 139, 143, 154, 156, 171

astral12, 23, 49

Baphomet110

Belief14, 137

Belief Shifting14

black mass110

Buffy77, 78, 79, 80

Burnays, Edward158, 159

Carroll, P.J.16, 93, 153, 181

Chaos9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 86, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 109, 137, 152, 153, 181

Chi179, 180

children30, 58, 81, 86, 101, 102, 112, 113, 136, 149, 162

Choronzon40

Chronos34, 35, 39, 41, 43, 44, 45

Consensus Reality99, 127, 130, 143, 144, 145

criteria147, 149, 153, 161, 162, 163, 173, 177

Crowley, Aleister13, 15, 30

death9, 17, 18, 23, 25, 27, 28, 31, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 62, 75, 82, 83, 87,
88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 98, 100, 108, 120, 125, 132, 133, 150, 151

demon22, 40, 61, 62, 63, 93, 120, 129, 183

divination21, 28, 114

Drugs4, 5

druid117, 123

Drumming182

Eshu26, 27, 183

film35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51, 107, 160, 168

Fotamecus6, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 130

Freud, Sigmund16, 179

Ganesh60

Gibran, Kahlil125

Giles77, 78, 79

Gnosis14, 153
Gnostic Pentagram29, 71, 72

Gnostic Pentagram ritual71, 72

goddess18, 27, 52, 57, 60, 70, 71, 73, 77

Golden Dawn12, 13, 14, 16

Grimoire143, 144, 146, 149, 163, 171, 173, 174

grounding170, 172

Halloween74, 76, 77, 78, 82, 89, 91, 110

Harvey, P.J.57

HGA.See See Holy Guardian Angel

Hine, Phil30, 93, 183

Holy Guardian Angel21, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 104, 110, 133, 141, 150, 156, 157, 162, 175

Illuminates of Thanateros6, 36

Imagination4, 5, 13, 14, 83, 105, 130

incense12, 21, 22, 49, 57, 64, 84, 86, 98, 112, 162, 163, 168, 171, 173

Kahil Gibran125

Kali6, 27, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 66, 71, 72, 73, 93, 183

Keyman6, 35, 36, 37, 38, 45, 48, 51, 72

Lacan, Jacques30

laughter15, 50, 62, 68, 91, 110

Levi11, 12, 13, 16

liminal75, 78, 82, 104, 112, 138

Maat93

Mantak Chia6, 148, 167, 181

merging60, 77, 127, 148, 149, 150, 151, 172, 173, 174

meta-belief17, 137, 138, 153

mudra47, 48, 49

Muladhara53, 68, 92

multiple-orgasm165, 167, 168, 171

Neuro Linguistic Programming178, 181

Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids6, 77

Ori18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 183

Orrdige, Genesis, P.143

Other22, 23, 31, 150, 151

pagan36, 75, 76, 110

pathworking13, 44, 87, 88, 91

PC muscles165, 166, 168

permaculture75

Qabalah13, 14, 93, 183

rhino, Brother6, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62, 64, 70, 71, 72, 73, 77, 84, 90, 91, 183

Rysen, Fenwick6, 35, 37

Self-love22

Sex147, 164

shaking108, 132, 164, 171

Sigil37

Spare, Austin Osman13, 147

squat52, 57, 72, 73

Story135, 137, 152, 181

tantra57, 71

tantric.See See tantra

Tarot4, 5

The Looks or The Lifestyle182

Thep-Lan114, 115, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133

time6, 9, 16, 21, 23, 25, 26, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 79, 81, 82, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 95, 97, 99, 100, 101,
102, 103, 104, 105, 107, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 121, 122, 125, 126, 130, 131, 135, 136, 141, 143, 144, 148, 150, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 164, 166, 167, 171, 172, 176, 177

Tiphereth23, 26, 32

trance14, 21, 28, 48, 50, 68, 91, 104, 153, 156

utopias100, 112

vampire77, 79, 80

Wedding109, 115, 116, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127, 128, 148, 149, 172

Will12, 13, 14, 29, 33, 44, 89, 90, 100, 105, 113, 177, 178, 182

Williams, Pat107, 159

Willow77, 78, 80

Xander77, 78, 80

Yoni55

Zen152, 154
Greg Humphries
Julian Vayne