Sunday, December 27, 2015

Pragmatic Magics Excerpt: "Substitution Theory for Sorcerers"

Copyright 2015 Brother Moloch/MolochSorcery, All Rights Reserved

In my daily email bag I often get this question a lot from the mainstream on a day to day basis, “Moloch, I want to do X and there’s this book I want to use this spell/ritual from, but I don’t have ___ which is required should I improvise and how or just ignore it all together?”

First off as you well know there are a ton of occult books out there especially the do-it-yourself spell and ritual variety out there on the market today. In fact in our modern society you can pop down to your local Barnes and Noble on your lunch hour, grab one and head back to work. You may even have time to peruse the book and locate a spell or two  that catches your fancy.

Now the vast majority of the spell books in print and especially the ones offered on the bookshelves at places like B&N are written by living authors, many of whom are just average folks like you and I. Some of these authors have more experience than you have at magic than you do but in my experience not all that many of these authors are worth reading as you may think. For one thing most are just parrots parroting other parrots so the material they’re presenting is merely rehashed S.O.S.D.B. (Same Old Shit Different Book).

Still, you take time and in browsing your new look the first thing you notice is the author uses a lot of strange ingredients in his spells. Why would you need something like “mother’s milk”? Or maybe another one needs a “scorpion’s tail”? Or a wasp’s nest and three dead wasps. All of a sudden, you’re not in Kansas anymore Dorothy and this is not your typical McWiccan book of scented candles, aromatherapy oils, Reiki, crystals and other new age stuff. No, you’ve got a book based off someone’s personal book of shadows OR the perhaps the author added the exotic ingredients to jazz up his spells to give them more of an authentic lair.

Understand that American Wiccans are a mellower lot than European Wiccans are. Most of our American Wiccans have a lot of new age ideas and practices mixed in with their material (which is not bad per se just explaining the main difference between American VS European Wicca as I see it). Also realize that we have traditions like Hoodoo here in the US that has much more in common with European Wicca by way of the fact if a spell calls for a black cat bone, that is what is needed not a chicken bone. If you’ve never heard of the infamous Toad Bone that is used by European Wiccans then you should do some research as it has some common elements with the Black Cat Bone rite of southern US Hoodoo lore. Thus generally you won’t find the call for such ingredients in your typically American Wicca books of magic.

So you’re reading you nifty new tome, discover something you need and perhaps it’s a vulture’s gizzard so you begin searching the net and you find my website and send me the above question in your innocuous question. Expecting me to side with you fully but discovering that I refuse to comment on another author’s work. Well stop and ask yourself WHY don’t you simply write the author of the book you purchased? You obviously felt confident enough in his book’s pretty cover, layout, charts or whatever it was that lured you into buying it, so look up the author’s name on Facebook and send him/her an email with your question. Asking me about your dilemma is kind of ignorant especially since the author is still living, breathing and willing to answer your questions. Trust me, all small time occult authors have time to answer your questions. They’re not that busy.

Now what if the book’s author is someone like Peter Paddon, Mike Howard or Andrew Chumbley who are no longer alive? Well now this is a entirely different story because if the original author is no longer around to answer your question, then you have no other recourse but to use some common sense and plod on ahead. So let’s look at how I, Brother Moloch, dealt with these issues years ago when I was first starting out and standing in your shoes.

SPELLS TROUBLE AHEAD

There’s this silly belief, especially among the McWiccan community, that the only spells worth knowing and using are the ones you create yourself. That’s moronic thinking. Whoever is teaching and spreading this garbage around, please stop. Why? Because this is akin to a chef believing the only food worth eating is the food he himself makes. Or the only vehicle worth driving is the one a automotive mechanic built for himself.

A novice practitioner should not be going around trying to rouse spiritual forces on his/her own in any manner he sees fit with whatever willy nilly ideas that pop into their fool head. Only a misinformed soul teaches something as outrageous as this. ONE might as well give a child a loaded shot gun and let them wander the neighborhood, eh? Yet that’s what the McWiccans do. The mind of a Novice practitioner is not ready nor spiritually mature enough to go about summoning magic without some sort of structure and recourse in case things go awry.

Remember that some structure is put in there so that the Novice will have a course and a recourse instead of blindly following along and then being scared witless because “Gee this stuff works” and all of a sudden for some reason the Novice now has poltergeist activity in their temple/home. I’ve found after the first few years with some basic structure, guidance and a healthy dose of common sense, most Novices weather the storm well enough and can fly solo.

Now regardless of tradition, a novice practitioner should be monitored and regulated by his teacher, guardian, watcher, HP/HPS, whoever is claiming to be responsible for them. The exercises and techniques given to the Novice should be of a high quality to allow the student to open his psychic abilities without allowing themselves any sort of injurious effect. Typically you do not give a first year Novice the knowledge of how to summon and open doorways into the realms of spirits as that could be disastrous. Even the military is careful giving loaded guns to new recruits and only allow the recruits live ammunition under strict, supervised conditions. Sometimes caution is a good thing.

Also a Novice should be given a technique or ritual (for an example the Middle Pillar) and have it explained on how it is used on a regular basis for practice. All too often today, authors and so-called occult teachers want to hand out rituals to their students only to neglect informing them anything about the ritual and simply have them use it to examine their feelings. Please! This isn’t some philosophical knitting class, it’s the occult!! You want feelings, go talk to Wayne Dyer. Here we’re working on helping the student to develop his/her mystical and sorcerous abilities as best as they can so you do not give them rituals without explanation and tell them how and where such rites should be employed.

Yet often while the Novice is working on these daily techniques and working towards a better tomorrow, life interferes and knocks them for a loop. What to do? More often than not your typical spiritual teacher is a blithering idiot who will spout some claptrap like “It’s the universe’s will” or some such ignorant platitude while you and your family starve because your employer is a damn fool who makes poor judgments in the stock market. Platitudes don’t pay the bills and neither does love, brotherly or otherwise.

So you pick up this nifty looking book you bought on your lunch. You want to do this nifty spell in it for money but it requires the use of some obscure ingredient like a vulture’s gizzard which there is no way you can procure this item legally or otherwise. Hell, you’re not even sure you could find a vulture if you wanted and if you did, you know you don’t have the stomach nor the intestinal fortitude to kill and tear into a living thing like that for such a rare ingredient. And at this juncture let’s presume that author is neither around nor answer emails.

PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Step One: Ask yourself, “What is the purpose of this ingredient in this spell?” Before you can go changing something, you need to know what it is and how it is used first or the old saw, 'Ya gotta know the rules before you can bend and then break them'. I’ve never interacted with nitroglycerin yet I know what it is, how it's used and no I have no desire to ever touch the stuff. In this example the vulture's gizzard is the key. Here is where you will try to reverse engineer the spell by examining each ingredient and hopefully the book’s author will discuss some of the ingredients and why they’re included. Often though this is not the case so you are left to figure things out on your own.

Step Two: Research the ingredient for its folklore, mythic and historical associations. This is sometimes the most painstaking aspect especially if you have a lot of reference materials to pore though as you can be reading for hours until you find a reference. However the easiest way everyone will take is what? Google. If I had a nickel for every piece of junk link Google brought me regarding a query I entered, I’d have enough to own Google. Research that relies on websurfing is at best juvenile and shows you are not a scholar let alone even a halfway decent HS student.

Obviously you MAY get a hit every now and then on an exotic or strange ingredient however that’s rare. To find such though you have to be smart as well as tenacious in your searching online. Typically to find folklore you have to enter folklore + then enter what it is you’re looking for or in this case it’d be

mythology + folklore + vultures + gizzards

and see what would pop up in Google. It’s possible some old European folklore or perhaps some southern US Hoodoo or Conjure folklore exists online that mentions this. Most likely you’re going to have to references hard copies of reference books on folklore to find information on something like this. Remember the vast majority of websites are wholly misinformed and simply copied from someone else’s work which may or may not be accurate. Most times they're not accurate so don't use the net in your research except to look for book sources and of those look for the scholarly sources first as they're going to be the ones that are most accurate.

There are books on folklore and mythology so it may be you need to look in books on myth and legend to find out who is associated with a vulture. Is there a name of a spirit in the ritual’s words? A deity’s name for example? Something you can look up perhaps in a Larousse book on mythology and find some scant reference to the vulture?

Also, it is possible that the term you’re researching, in this example, vulture gizzard, is a folklore name of a plant known in Medieval and old European times? There are lists of such plants with often horrid sounding names for you to look up. Currently, there is a website called Witchipedia and they have a listing of herbs by folklore names. For instance “Semen of Herakles” is arugula; “Sparrow’s Tongue” is knotweed; “Lion’s Tooth” is dandelion; “Frog’s Foot” is bulbous buttercup; “Calf’s Snout” is Snapdragon; and so on. So before you go presuming that the ingredient IS some animal or insectoid part, check this database and others for plant folklore first. You may be looking for a plant and nothing more.

Step Three: Meditate then sleep on the ingredient. While this may seem a little new age for many of you, I assure you it is not. Too many of you live in books and have lost your way where your abilities and connections to the natural world are concerned. You fear your abilities are not strong enough to make a real connection so you chuck this in favor of books or someone else who can confirm or deny your assumptions. What you need is a healthy dose of self-reliance and self-confidence. Trust your inner instincts. If you do not start now, you will never do so. Also you may get assistance from an ancestor on what the ingredient is and how its used via your dreams.

First try actively meditating on the vulture gizzard and see what your mind can think of when it is entirely focused on the problem. You may be pleasantly surprised that your mind is more brilliant than you give yourself credit for and it may come to you while thinking about it in this manner. Secondly, you can try passive meditation where after you've focused on this issue for a while then you calm your mind and allow whatever to bubble up to the surface. Realize these are not simple techniques that can just be done easily enough as they require time and patience to garner results.

Step Four: Talk to the plant until it begins talking back to you. This is a bit of advice I once obtained from a very old black rootworker in South Florida back in my formative years when I was first starting out. He said that this was how the slaves did it because the plants here were not the same as found in Africa so the witch-doctors who were slaves would spend time talking to plants until the plant’s spirit finally spoke back to them and told them many things about their plant. Now obviously this step won’t work with an animal or insectoid part like it does with a plant so it is an extra step you can use for when you need to use roots and plants in your sorceries. However it DOES work and like all techniques requires patience and commitment for it to work properly.

Step Five: Try Divination. Use divination to see if it’s acceptable to the spirits to delete, alter or change the ingredient and if so what will be the spell’s outcome for doing so. Sometimes this is the only way you can be certain of whether or not this is a wise idea. Further you also need to look at what the end result will be regardless of changing the spell’s dynamic by substitution. Ask the spirits and they will answer you. Here you can use Tarot, Runes, Geomancy or whatever is your preferred method of divination. My suggestion is to use the Holy Astragals as explained elsewhere in this text because the Astragals are a form of sortilege used for direct communication with spirits. Even if you have all of the ingredients, it never hurts to find out how the spirits feel about performing the spell because you may discover doing the spell is unnecessary as the desired result is already on its away.

At this time you should begin to be getting some idea of what the ingredient is used for both in cultural folklore as well as what the ingredient speaks to you through dreams and inspiration. With this knowledge you should be able to research and discover the meanings for plants as well as animal and insectoid parts.

By insectoid I’m speaking of course about crabs, scorpions, and other crustaceans that are often used in spellwork by African Religious Systems as well as the whole of the insect kingdom from ants to wasps. You may not be running into such animal parts if all you are doing is Wiccan or Ceremonial Magic but I can assure you there are workers and workings that involve these parts. However in older works of magic such as the Greek Magical Papyri as translated by Hans Dieter Betz which is a collection of papyrus documents that offer spells, incantations and some of these have very exotic ingredients for their spells.

Putting It All Together

So by now you’ve done some research and you’ve discovered that vultures are sacred to the Greek gods Pallas, Herakles (who slew the vulture who kept tearing out Prometheus’ liver) and in Egypt we find that several deities are associated with this bird such as Isis, Maat and Hathor. Interestingly enough in Egypt the vulture’s name was “Pharaoh’s Hen”. So trying to whittle down which deity the gizzard part may refer to won’t be easy however my first choice would be Prometheus due to his liver (another internal organ) being ripped out and thus an interesting idea of the bird’s gizzard being used in a spell.

Now let’s presume the original example spell is for prosperity that uses a vulture gizzard. How old is this spell purported to be? Modern spells rarely require ingredients form living animals and creatures so this spell might possibly be from hundred plus years ago. Is it one of the Witch herbs using such a name with a common herb? Thus far we find nothing to indicate such so we can rule that out.

When we Google the words “bird’s gizzard”, we come up with:

“Gizzard, in many birds, the hind part of the stomach, especially modified for grinding food. Located between the saclike crop and the intestine, the gizzard has a thick muscular wall and may contain small stones, or gastroliths, that function in the mechanical breakdown of seeds and other foods.”

So we can see that the gizzard’s function is to ‘break down’ food for the bird. In this spell, the function of the bird’s gizzard appears to be to break down the elements of the spell so that it passes onto the spirits more favorably. If such is the case, then we can dispense with the use of this ingredient all together as we have other ways of getting the spirits to favorably accept our spell.

Yet before we go willy-nilly deleting things, we need to look at the rest of the spell and determine whether or not the deletion of this ingredient will put the spell out of balance. If so, then we need to find something to re-establish balance so the spell works properly. Since the gizzard is a grinding mechanism for the bird, we could use a mortar & pestle as a suitable substitute and perhaps a vulture feather sitting inside the mortar next to the pestle. This would make an acceptable substitute for the vulture’s gizzard.

Do you see that there is a thought process at work here? This is not just something we do because we cannot obtain a live vulture. Frankly there are places to buy live vultures if you truly wanted one. However we are modern, adult and cultured individuals not uncouth nor uncivilized Neanderthals running around knocking birds out with rocks and sticks so that we may rob them of their body parts. There are places to buy feathers - including vulture feathers - and you can always buy an inexpensive mortar and pestle for your spellwork at just about any sort of metaphysical store and pharmacy.

Instead of ignoring a cool spell because you can’t find a particular ingredient, think about finding an acceptable substitute as suggested here. Just do NOT go looking on some list of correspondences and choose something which most times won’t work. Rather take time and plan out your rites and spells ahead of time (yes I’m afraid Mr. Procrastinator this means you) so that you have time to review the ingredients needed and can get them if necessary or find suitable substitutes.

Copyright 2015 Brother Moloch/MolochSorcery, All Rights Reserved

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Psalm 41 Master Book of Psalms by Jean Kent


I figured this month I'd share a Psalm from Jean Kent's Master Book of Psalms and explain to you how to use it. This way you can get an idea on how to use these Psalms and use this one for helping you or someone you love find work and should you wish, buy the Psalm book. :)

Psalm 41 (Holy Names: Yahweh, Jah)

41:1 Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

41:2 Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

41:3 Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.

41:4 I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

41:5 My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?”

41:6 If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it.

41:7 All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me.

41:8 “An evil disease,” they say, “has afflicted him.  Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.”

41:9 Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me,
has lifted up his heel against me.

41:10 But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them.

41:11 By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me.

41:12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever.

41:13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting!
Amen and amen.

~~~

Uses: money loss, bankruptcy, poverty, find work.

Pass phrase: “In the name of Yahweh, I come to you Jah…”

How to Use:

1. Get a fresh sheet of clean paper, a pen and a bottle of Kabala oil (only available from www.molochsorcery.com at this time).

2. Calm yourself and take an occult bath. It is good to take an Uncrossing bath prior to any sort of occult working, regardless of what it is. Albeit, it would not hurt in this instance to first take a week and perform an Uncrossing bath first, then perform either something like a Luck Attracting or Job Attraction bath the following week as you start working this prayer.

3. Sit down and light a white, plain, unscented tea light candle. Focus your mind and think about what it is you are trying to accomplish. If you're job hunting, then state "job procurement"  or something simple like that aloud.

4. Now write the Psalm on the clean white paper with the pen. Take your time and be as neat as possible because you will need to read this later and you will have to fold and carry this paper in your wallet. Do not worry about verse numbers just write down the words in their proper order and by verse.

5. Now put a drop of Kabala oil (only available from www.molocvhsorcery.com at this time) on the paper to anoint it. Make certain you do not smear it over the ink written words else you'll have a mess.

6. Now Recite the Pass Phrase above first, then read the Psalm from beginning to end. When you are finished reciting the Psalm, say thank you and ask a boon. Then fold the paper up and carry in your wallet. Pull it out twice, once in the morning and once before going to bed and read it either aloud or under your breath.

Carry the Psalm on you and remember to read twice each for 21 days.

Addendum: If you wish to make this prayer even more potent, it is highly advised for you to use the "Weekly Salute to the Ancestors" (found on page 8) on a regular basis. As always, it's recommended that you perform this weekly salute to your ancestors on a daily basis for 30 days and then you can perform it once per week on a Saturday. This is to keep you in good, strong relations with your ancestors.

Secondly, it is also advisable to use the "Sign of the Cross" (listed on page 7) prior to performing this or any ritual. You should follow the Sign of the Cross up with The Middle Pillar ritual as given in Jean Kent's "Master Book of Prayer" (on page 7 in that book). I know there are plenty of free versions of this ritual out there which you can use however the holy names Jean gives you in his book are pronounced differently than the ones that are conventionally (nor traditionally) given for the Middle Pillar. These name pronunciations are crucial to good effects so it is suggested you obtain a copy and use the Middle Pillar found in the Master Book of Prayer and not just one you find in any old occult book or from the web.

Adding in these small rituals will increase the effectiveness of your ritual and give it far more oomph than merely reciting the ritual as is via rote reading. Good luck and I wish all your sorceries bear you good fruit. :)

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Prejudices of the Old Guard

For years I’ve listened to and observed otherwise rational occultists debate one another over the effectiveness of varying systems of metaphysical practices in the occult field. Often these so-called “practitioners” (and I use that term loosely) argue over things such as authenticity or who originated the practice itself. These armchair theorists waste a lot of breath debating such trivialities in their long winded dissertations with one another.

However is it the system or methodology that we really need to focus on or is it the practitioner himself? By that I mean when speaking of the effectiveness of results that are sought from a system, should we continue to have great expectations from a practice such as Enochian or does the effectiveness boil down to the practitioner? I say the system is not the key but merely a map for the practitioner to follow.

Another way of looking at this is via fitness plans. As all of you well know, there are a gazillion and one fitness experts out there each with their own methodology, beliefs and opinions about diet and exercise. Each claims they can help you and surprisingly most can so long as you as follow the regimen with common sense. Now presuming you have that last bit covered and their plan does not require you to do nor consume anything hazardous to your health, you should be able to shed weight and become healthier, right? So is it really the fitness plan that matters or is it the individual?

In the world of the occult, we often seem to give a pass to the so-called practitioners. Why do you think we do that? Think about it for a moment. It really does not make a whole lot of sense to argue that Thelema is better than Aurum Solis, BOTA, SOL, Golden Dawn and other lodge systems is it? What makes one system more acceptable than another? Philosophy? Iconography? Liturgy? Ritual drama? These are all things that are inconsequential and are moot simply because they are aesthetically pleasing to the individual. They do not make the system sound, powerful or accurate in any sense of the word.

So what really comprises a system? It’s people. It’s the same thing that makes an organization who they are or a church, synagogue or temple what it is. You can’t merely point to the philosophy and say, “This is what this group si all about” because that is not the case since the group is comprised of many individuals seeking their own goals form direct experience from interaction with the system. This is why it’s silly to harp on modern or new age systems since there are people using them and getting results from it.

Lately I’ve seen self-absorbed ceremonial magicKians making fun of more modern systems like New Avatar Power, the Necronomicon, Magic of the New Ishtar Power, and other modern grimoire systems yet these self-deluded fools believe it is the system that itself wherein lies the power when it is the individual. Of course we’re not talking living traditions as found in the African Religious Systems (ARS) rather the non-living systems of American and Euro-centric occult practice such as Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magic, Sorcery, Conjure, Cunning Man, and others.

In a living tradition, like Haitian Vodu for instance, you have ancient spirits who are alive and interact with the system’s adherents on a constant basis. Whereas with a non-living system like say ceremonial magic, the practices are often centered around the adherent’s ego and spirits are rarely interacted with unless in rare circumstances or unless you have undergone a ritual to obtain a familiar spirit or your Holy Guardian Angel (which is not the norm).

Modern occult systems more often than not merely coalesce practices into needed chunks of information that allow a person to utilize the information and process it with minimal restrictions thus allowing more freedom for application. Often it is these looser restrictions which bite at the heart of the old guard who jealously snark at the system for its lack of cohesion for stringent rules and protocols of older systems and ages in the past. Therein lies the rub.

I surmise that much of the snobbishness and downright rudeness to practitioners of modern grimoires and systems is due to the desire to remove the complexity which the old guard truly treasures for no other reason than it makes them feel superior to say, “Hey, I went, built a forge and make my own sword” which is all well and good but is it really necessary today? No it’s not but just like in the Society for Creative Anachronism, if you buy your costume/armor instead of making it yourself, your prestige is lessened by several degrees regardless of how nice the armor or costume is. Same mentality with CM’s and their tools.

Every practitioner will blatantly admit that the tools are just that tools to use, and the practitioner themselves are the real repository of magic. The tools are thought to be extensions of the practitioner by the time you are finished constructing, dedicating and consecrating them to your work and yes the grimoires call for the tools so they are not ‘props’ as the ones who believe Magic = Psychology maintain. The notion is that you should also be able to go buck naked out into the woods alone, without any tools and perform successful magic. So there we have a stalemate where the old guard meets the modern practitioner.

The modern grimoires have merely condensed or pared down their systems to use minimal amount of tools to allow the practitioner greater freedom with more flexibility. After all spirits are quite flexible (well most of the them are anyway) so it stands to reason that a system should be as well. This flexibility allows for a person to take a system with them on the road without having to pack and answer why there’s a dagger in their briefcase and a sword in their suitcase to airline security.

If you work a system and fully immerse yourself in said system, which of course includes adopting any philosophies necessary to make the system work, you should be able to get results from using that system’s magic. I know this is why I did not get much in the way of results with my early CM practices myself because I did not fully immerse myself in the system nor adopt the system’s philosophies. I was trying to use the magic from the system without getting IN to the system and that simply won’t work especially with older systems like lodge style ceremonial magicK.

Modern systems like Chaos MagicK and modern grimoires like those previously mentioned, are pared down and devoid of philosophies and dogma. Instead they offer you simpler methodologies that you can adpt to your own personal philosophies and integrate into your busy lifestyle. Further they work which is something else that the old guard is not thrilled with as well. Prejudice is often based on the desire to see others fail and when a Novice picks up a modern grimoire with no training whatsoever, performs a working based on the material and gets the desired results, the old guard seethes with jealous and often ridicules these successes as delusions, coincidences and downright lies. The denial is particularly nasty but necessary for the old guard to maintain their sense of superiority and prejudice.

When pressed to at least TRY one of the new grimoire systems, invariably the old guard will defer claiming they don’t put stock into such ‘new age crap’ yet almost every one of these snobs started out practicing a new age system, i.e. lodge style ceremonial magic such as Golden Dawn, Thelema or even Wicca. These systems most definitely ARE new age themselves and it’s as if the old guard has forgotten and forgiven themselves for their own foolishness for following the idiot Crowley and his blithering cohorts. Yet to anyone else who practices anything that isn’t pre-1800's in origin, it just can’t be real or useful so yes throw the baby out along with its bathwater. Infant not desired.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Wiccan Myths Exposed

Yes there are some myths that Wiccans adhere to that are wholly unnecessary. In fact, there tends to be a growing number of younger Wiccans who are eschewing these myths in favor of being able to have more freedom and less judgment in their lives. Let's examine these myths in detail.

Myth Number One: Karma

Karma to me is a dead horse that everyone beats with a stick. Why? Because it has no place in western society, that's why. It is an eastern philosophy taught from an early age and thus is a cultural belief that is bred into its eastern populations. It was discovered by Helena P. Blavatsky when she visited Tibet in the late 1800's. She was so enamored with the Tibetans that she felt she needed to spread the 'gospel of Karma' to the west. Thus she polluted western occultism with this eastern belief.

Golden Dawn members, aka lodge magickians, jumped onto Blavatsky's notions and karma like white on rice. Many of these Golden Dawn members went on to preach karma like a sermon. Occultists being fools who tend to follow the latest fad bought into this silly line of thinking bell book and candle. After all there simply must be something that equalizes the bad and the good in this life.

When the occult revival of the 1960's came about, all of a sudden, we began seeing Witches coming to the forefront in fictional story, cinema and film. For some odd reason, everyday Witches got their panties in a wad over a Hollywood film by Roman Polanski called Rosemary's Baby which had Satanists referring to themselves as Witches and as a result American Witches were having mild myocardial infarctions over this film and the resulting commentaries a few born-again preachers were giving in the news media about it.

Thus a few Wiccan book authors banded together and called themselves the American Council of Witches in the mid-1970's and they drafted some rules for Wiccans - because Witch was too sensitive a term for the Xian born-again community so they had to find a suitable alternative word to use. These rules are wholly arbitrary as they were drafted by a few authors and the head of the sheeple book publisher, LL-ewe-LLYN's Carl Weschke. Literally these rules mean nothing. You are not bound to them unless you want to be.

Like karma, you are not bound to it unless you choose to be. There is no karma if you choose not to believe in it. Do you believe in the Xian heaven and hell? No? Why not? Because you're Wiccan? Well Xians say that doesn't matter and that you are going to burn in hell regardless. But you don't believe in Xianity anymore right? So it doesn't matter to you. Okay then WHY do you want to believe in karma? It's the same thing - reward or punishment - at least the way the Wiccans preach it, it is.

Myth Number Two: Three Fold Return Rule

Here's one that is wholly made up by none other than the guy who brought Gardnerian Witchcraft to America, Ray Buckland. He admittedly invented this rule in the late 1960's for a magazine article. The notion that whatever it is you do or send out comes back to you three fold. It's utter rubbish. Ray made it all up. Yet thousands of Wiccans believe this garbage and preach it as if it too is some sort of Wiccan gospel. Pfffft.

Wiccans are always complaining about the born-agains who proselytize about their beliefs yet what do Wiccans do about karma and 3 fold rules? Preach them especially whenever they hear any hint of a curse escaping the lips of another Wiccan. We call this the Pot calling the Kettle black. You do not get to point fingers at one group and yet complain in the same breath when another group points their finger at you for similar things.

There is no three fold rule. First off a law is something immutable like gravity or thermodynamics, not karma or 3 fold return. Those latter things are wholly arbitrary because they are BELIEFS. Hello? How many times must you be told they are beliefs before it sinks in through your thick cranium? I know this is cognitive dissonance for most of you because you've been brainwashed to believe this hogwash as gospel truth, however you need to be told the real truth for once.

Wiccan authors are some of the strangest people out there. They write a book and pretend to teach you 'secrets' and magic yet these chapters are the smallest in their books and their largest book chapters are the ones on Karma and Ethics which happen to forewarn you about using magic. So this begs the question: If magic is so bloody dangerous, WHY teach it to you to begin with? Why bother with all the warnings and just not teach it? Oh that's right, no one would want to read your crummy books filed with invented Wiccan history (i.e. how it's an ancient religion of goddess worship) and ponderous chapters on your boring theories of Jungian psychology, karma and ethics.

Lemme finish this by saying that at one time, the African Religious Systems (ARS) of Vodu, Santeria, Palo and so forth never had any qualms about using curses or hexes to punish someone deserving of punishment. This the priest did not do willy nilly but rather he would contact the saints, petition the saint and explain why he felt the victim deserved to be punished, paid the saint and then let the saint decide if the punishment was deserved. Sometimes the saint would punish the victim but not as severely as the priest hoped for but that was the judgment of the saint and it was final.

Today the ARS is filling with many new age types clamoring to learn how to tap into real power. Many of these are Wiccans, Ceremonial Magickians, Chaos Magickians, Hoodoos and so on, all of whom are bringing their versions of karma with them into the ARS and polluting the various systems with it. I've been noticing a growing number of people claiming to be Paleros talking about karma or Mambos worrying about harming someone's karma. Karma is fictitious! It is merely a BELIEF and has no place in the ARS period but it is gaining a food hold because of all these lunatic McWiccans and Ceremonial Morons bringing that eastern crap with them into the African belief systems.

Where you see a HUGE amount of karma talk is among the New Orleans Louisiana (NOLA) Voodoo community. But I can't blame the NOLA folks too harshly as they fad collectors latching onto just about anything they can. They adopt things from Yoruban practices which has no place in Fon (Vodu) practices. So if they would pollute their practices with Yoruban crap, then it stands to reason they'd do the same with new age McWiccan tripe like karma and 3 fold rules. Bleah.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

WHY Would I Want To Work With My Ancestors Anyway?


A lot of troubles people today have in their lives can be directly traced to their non-relationship with their ancestors. Often when I ask someone, “Do you ever pray to your ancestors?” Most of the time, these sad individuals give me the most horrible attitudes with replies such as, “Oh no, Moloch, I can’t stand my family! They’ve never loved me, they’ve always done X and Y and Z and I do not want anything to do with them especially now that they’re dead!” Wow...

Yet these same people who seek my assistance out for help in their lives, often blame black magic and curses cast by others whom they cannot prove but they just ‘suspect’ ___ with nary a shred of proof. Sometimes these seekers are actual magical practitioners who seem to be able to get some spells to succeed but like for every step forward they take, they take two step backwards. So what’s the real problem here concerning one’s ancestors? Sometimes it just one simple thing, pride while other times it’s a sense of dread and loathing.

Look, no family is perfect. None. Some families appear better on the outside but when you get to know folks who are part of that family often you find chinks in the armor that are downright scary. Parents who have totalitarian attitudes or are heavy handed with the belt when it comes to discipline. Sometimes there’s sexual abuse even by blood parents, uncles, aunts and even siblings that can go on for years if left un-spoken.

However even if your family flat out SUCKED (and many simply do!) they are not the only ancestors you are acknowledging. Did you get that? Allow me to repeat it because it is vitally important that you understand this: when you salute your ancestors, you are not merely acknowledging your deceased family’s line but all of the ancestors going back to the beginning of humanity. Now let that sink in for a moment because it is imperative you make this connection.

What Can My Ancestors Do For Me Anyhow?

Ah now we come to the real reason you’re here, the old “What’s in it for me?” or W.I.I.F.M. This is a poor attitude to harbor where spiritual matters are concerned but oddly enough, more people seem to have WIIFM as they progress forward in their life. Time was folks took matters on faith and simply did what a priest told them to, even a Pagan one, but today it’s a different climate and everyone wants to know how they can benefit from doing something for nothing.

First off let’s ask, “Why should your ancestors give a damn about you?” (How’s that for a turnabout?) In truth they care about you in the way a parent cares about their own children. Do you have kids? Do you care about them? Now do you REALLY care about them or do you just tolerate them until you can kick them out the door when they turn 18? Be honest about it because it matters.

The vast majority of the dead and ancestors care about the living because they see us as their children - we are their descendants - even the ones who weren’t able to have kids because they still care about us. Why? They want to see humanity travel on into the future in positive ways rather than continue on the destructive paths so many are already on. Is that really too much to ask? I do not think it is. After all, wouldn't we all like to think that our kids and their kids are going to grow up to eventually revolutionize and change the world?

As a practitioner, you should want to no more upset the ancestors as you would any group of spirits be they demons, angels, djinns or whatever they are. The ancestors are closest to us because they are directly related to us whereas all other spirits are not and when they have no vested interest, then their work can always have that bit of suspect bit about it. When you begin to summon your ancestors, however, rest assured they will most definitely be in attendance.

Okay on a practical level, your ancestors can do virtually anything  you ask them to do. What does that mean? A lot! No seriously, my ancestors have helped me in ways I never imagined. You know how sometimes those situations arise where you haven’t even asked for any magical help and yet your desire came anyway? That was the ancestors.

Typically what they do is to smooth out the (figurative) road we travel in life by filling in some of the rougher holes and helping to steer us around the pitfalls and snares that at first seemed unavoidable but in the end we managed to avoid a bullet so to speak. That’s the ancestors. Most of the time their work is behind the scenes in subtle ways. You know that little voice in the back of your head that forewarns you about not getting in that cab which later was involved in an accident? That’s the ancestors.

The stronger your bond to your ancestors, the stronger their influence will be in your life. No this does not mean that your aunt Aggie’s will be nosing into your life in the afterlife like she did in life. Rather what it does means is that they will take more interest in wanting to assist you in both your sorcery and protecting your personal interests as well as your overall well being. So you should want to create an extra strong bond with them and maintain it indefinitely.

These Horror Stories Are Real

A lot of people have really horrid lives out there. So many of us live rather normal, drab, routine even everday lives with problems that we see as insurmountable we cannot fathom anything worse even though many go through worse than hell.

One does not have to look any further than pop culture fiction to see tv shows and movies where seemingly everyday people are portrayed as monsters. To us we’re glad it’s just a movie or tv show because in that 22 or 44 minutes of story time, the show took our imagination to a level of horror and then decompressed it by allowing the good guys to come in, capture the bad guy and save the day. In real life however, this almost never happens. The horrors portrayed in fictional families is never anywhere near the level of cruelty found in real life because network censors refuse to allow such to be shown on televison.

Since hanging out my shingle to practice sorcery to the general public in 2000, I have heard some personal accounts of human cruelty committed upon one another that have disturbed me to the point they’ve caused me no few sleepless nights. I had a young lady I counseled whose own biological father repeatedly raped her as a child beginning at the age of eight while her mother was at work. As a father myself when I first heard this woman recount this horrid time of her youth to me, I couldn’t help but cry for her. It staggered my mind. Revulsion? Anger? Frustration? Yes I felt all this and more just from hearing this. Or the man whose own biological uncle repeatedly raped him in his own bed while his parents sat downstairs watching television totally oblivious to the horror that was happening to their only son upstairs in bed.

Perhaps now you can see why so many people are hesitant or even antagonistic to working with their ancestors. Remember however, the worst is never what you hear, rather it’s what becomes uncovered later that is the worse.

The First Ancestors

The concept of the ancestors is greater in scope and scale than merely one’s biological family. We’re talking the entirety of human kind going back to our first genetic roots of consciousness. Back when Eve, the primate who many archaeologists believe is the mother of modern human kind first stood upright millions of years ago in Africa. That Eve begat our earliest ancestors, according to modern archaeologists, is significant and from her we have our earliest stirrings in human evolution. Just realize that the ancestors is not only about biology but also about human kind as a whole as well.

Further, there are ancestors in your family line that you never knew about nor known. Some of them were willing participants along the way having married from one tribe to another along the way in time while others were not so willing perhaps having been kidnaped or impregnated against their will.  However it happened, your family history is far deeper and more complex than what goes back to your parent’s parents genetics.

But I Was Adopted!

Beyond this, we also have the fact that a portion of our population have grown up with no parents. A number of these people were adopted into existing families. What this does is create not just one set of ancestors but now two sets of ancestors in the sense of one are biological who are related via blood and the other are related through adoption.

Reconcile and Exclude

I know I have not walked in your shoes and have no right to urge you to reconcile with your biological family’s ancestors, however as I’ve pointed, there are a couple of good, solid reasons WHY you should consider making peace with your ancestors. First is that not everyone in your family's ancestry did you harm. Even if say your parents and siblings were all shitheads, that doesn't mean their parents and their parents and so on as well as the plethora of uncles, aunts and cousins all did you wrong or wished you ill. Thus blaming your entire biological family for the sins of one or a few is not even close to fair.

The second reason you want to reconcile with them is you will have them at your back and when you’re wanting to practice a dangerous art like sorcery, it is necessary to have all of the precautions in place that you can. The world of the occult is not wholly safe and anyone who says otherwise is a lunatic. There are legitimate perils that need to be avoided and ones ancestors can assist in this.

Another reason is that your ancestors are not composed entirely of just your immediate family because you have far more family members in your family’s line than you will ever fully realize. There may be half-siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, step-parents and so on who care about and love you. Give them a chance to help you become more and realize your dreams and aspirations. Open yourself to the possibilities that your family is much larger than that small genetic code that simply follows your mother and father's DNA code.

Further you have all of the ancestors of humanity on your side and they count as well towards your well being. Isn’t it time you give them a chance as well? Still here’s a little secret: if someone in your biological ancestry was hateful to you, then nothing says you have to honor them in death. You can choose to omit them from your ancestral shrine if that is your wish and no one else has the right to tell you otherwise. It is your shrine to use to interact with your ancestors so do so at your discretion. 

When I work with my family ancestors, I have a litany of names I like recite. You too can do the same thing and say if you have an uncle Jim who was a scumbag you want no part of, then omit Jim's name entirely. If it pleases you, when you first set up your ancestral shrine, you can mention the fact that uncle Jim is not welcome at your family shrine. For some folks, this small act gives them a sense of justice that allows them to work with their biological ancestors without impediment.

So the really big question comes in as will you ask your ancestors to come into your home and be welcome at your shrine?

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Initiation Collectors

Today I read Denise Alvarado's wall on FecesBook and this is what she had to say: “I think I've been grilled and basted. But this is my thought. Why do people feel the need to be initiated into several different religions? I mean, it seems there are folks who just collect initiations like others collect degrees or fuzzy bears. Not my personal cup of tea to jump into every ATR and get initiated. Why would I want to do that? I have no desire whatsoever to do so. The initiations, or what we call rites of passage, I went through in the Native way is enough for me. My baptism as a child was not my choice but it is what it is and set me on a specific path. I have a lot to learn about Ifa and a very patient, and very good, Godfather. I don't need any more than that and I do not want any more than that. I take my time. I don't jump into things frivolously without understanding the cosmology of the tradition and whether it fits for me. I don't feel better than or less than others with more or less initiations. I also do not discuss the particulars of my religion beyond a certain point publicly. That is because it is personal and nobody's business. They are called mysteries for a reason. And just because we are on the internet or because I am a public figure, does not mean I forfeit the right to privacy.”

I've often wondered the same thing myself, Denise but I've come to the conclusion that there are some reasons why:

1. Monetary Motivation: initiates are told they must have these further initiations by the priests of their House or Ile because, more often than not, this reason is motivated by greed of the priesthood rather than by the need of the initiate. If the House system is powerful, one should not have to go and collect initiations into other systems to be effective.

2. Political Motivation: where some priests feel the need where they must have more of their spiritual children involved, all doing the same things the priest themselves claim to practice as a show of solidarity and strength against any outside influences.

3a. Initiate Insecurities: these are people who for whatever reason feel they need to know more even though they never scratch the surface of what they've been taught thus far. Many feel the need to have as many spears locked and loaded just in case shit hits the fan at some point in their lives. This is merely plain ol’ paranoia and fear at work.

3b. Initiate Insecurities: then there are those who are ego driven to know more than anyone else. The ARS has more than its fair share of these types running around pretending to know more than everyone else. Further they label themselves experts and they join societies in the hopes this will make them appear more informed. Usually these are little more than academics who want to impress others with all of the knowledge they've accumulated even though said knowledge is from a priest which may or may not be accurate.


4a. Incomplete Training: there are people whose teachers die off before their training is complete thus they never get the full benefit of what they should know. Thus many of these folks join other traditions in an attempt to learn something to brace those parts of their learning with supports even though much of this material is foreign and does not fit as a square peg into a round hole. 

4b. Incomplete Training: sometimes initiates are thrown out of their ile or house for whatever reason and their spiritual parents refuse to teach them further. Again we have incomplete training so the initiate must try to find other sources to fill in much needed gaps.

For years I wondered why do so many African Religious Systems (because NONE of them are ‘traditional’ by any stretch) join Hermetic and Solomonic magic groups wanting to learn to summon spirits. By rights they should already know how to summon spirits but the bulk of them join anyway saying they’re just wanting to see how Western magic operates. Don’t you believe it!

Truth is these people join these groups because they have missed something in their training, are on the outs with their spiritual parents or have discovered that their initiation is bogus and doesn't work. Some things were withheld by their teachers and never taught to the initiate so when the teacher passes on without that knowledge Little Johnny Palero is shit out of luck unless he goes to a new palero to learn or try to find something different to replace what his palero was supposed to teach him.

I used to know a guy who was initiated into de Regla Ocha, NOLA Voodoo, Ifa, Palo, Wicca, Druidry and he studied Hoodoo and Cunning lore. Then he came to me wanting me to teach him Sorcery. I asked why and he said he felt the pull of the spirits to do so. Obviously he never questioned the reason for this because when I asked him to explain further, he couldn't and kept insisting the spirits told him to do it. He’s full of crap because when I ask my spirits for reasons, They give it to me. I turned him down and sent him away because my spirits said he was full of shit.

People like this boil down to one thing: they believe the grass is greener on the other side. None of them stick with what they've learned and work it in an attempt to learn more and take it further. Instead they prefer to pretend to want to learn it all which is wholly impossible.

I spent two decades researching, creating and developing my own system of sorcery. I got results with it and even helped numerous clients with it. Then I eventually found Jean and my Vodu house through a friend’s referral. I came to the ARS differently than what most initiates do. I resisted joining for fifteen years telling the spirits “When you bring me a teacher who’s worthy, I’ll go and learn but not until then”.

Most people in the ARS come to it first THEN they discover other systems of occultism. I did mine the opposite and really had little need to go and learn. Do not get me wrong, I am GLAD I did because I have grown by light years in my spirit work and my own sorcerous practices. So with me, the ARS open some new doors that were closed to me although it did not open all of the doors for me as I had opened a great many on my own prior to joining.

I have no desire to join Ocha, Palo, Ifa, Kimbanda, Macumba or any derivation thereof. I have enough on my plate with Fon and all of the technical details to learn. Have I been approached by Yorubans and Fon prior to Jean? Absolutely. However I am highly critical of who I team up with. Even when I was in school, I never wanted to work on join projects with popular kids, rather I wanted the nerds and brains as I knew I’d learn more from them as they’d coach me to better grades.

The ARS, just like lodge-CM and Wicca, is rife with popularity parades. “Let’s go see what we can learn from Manbo K!” or “I bet Palero J can teach us something new!” People often are impressed with polished smiles, status and other silly nonsense even when Manbo K and Palero J suck at getting results for their clients. Oh sure they may be able to initiate but there’s no money in initiation because the real money to be made is in workings for clients.

And a LOT of these suck-ass ARS priests are horrible at getting results for their clients so they don’t get much work and instead sit around on the Net reviewing websites and practitioners based on their limited knowledge. These people are ‘sexual intellectuals’ aka “fucking know-it-alls” who like to pontificate on who is real and who is fake. Self-styled experts who draw crowds not unlike the old snake oil salesmen by simply running their mouth about others. In other words, the blind leading the blind.

A successful Houngan/Palero/Santero/Babalawo won’t sit around on the Net all day let alone FecesBook doling out their decrees and pronouncements as if these came down from on high. What they really are is pathetic and it’s a poor attempt to make themselves look important while they spew character defamations against other practitioners and still get lousy results for their clients.

Overall, if you’re doing something right, you may want to stick with what is working for you rather than running round knocking what someone else does. Take what you've been initiated with and mine it for all of the gold you can get before you go off and invest in another mine.