Tag: chaos witchcraft

You Are the Light: Inspiring Your Magical Community.

These are the notes of the talk ‘You are the Light: Inspiring Your Magical Community’ given by an IOT member at the Festival of Lights, Swansea, 2016.

What follows has basically been a pep talk to myself, brought to you in the hope that you find it useful too. The context of this talk is how we can each contribute to growing a magical community where we are. Some will want to stay at a greater distance, some will want to be deeply involved, but all are in their own way a part of our magical community.

We live in a broken culture. Everything about it screams to us that we are nothing but meat robots, designed by the random banging of particles and conditioned by forces outside our control. We are led to believe that everything we know is wrong and and everything is going to kill us.

Apparently, what we should do about this is blindly believe the experts who tell us all this, put ourselves in the hands of the authorities who pay those experts, and tranquilise ourselves and each other with light entertainment and shopping. Oh, and hand over our money quietly and regularly.

It’s rubbish, isn’t it? It’s no way to live. And it’s a travesty of how we ought to be living.

As pagans, occultists, ‘spiritual’ people and so forth we know better. Whatever our individual beliefs we each know that we are not pointless puppets and that this mad sorry-go-round that is our society is in need of that dimension which we might call the divine, the holistic, the spiritual, the Mystery, whatever you call it.

Unfortunately, on a day-to-day basis, it can be hard for us to hang onto our sense of the Mystery etc. etc.. We are bombarded and indoctrinated in our very homes by television, social media and news media and essentially panicked into doing nothing about it. We have war after inexplicable war, reports of weather becoming unsteadily more extreme, health scares, scapegoating of minorities, oh and brace yourselves folks because it looks like we’re heading for another worldwide recession. You won’t hear that on the BBC.

We bolster our morale with our sense of Mystery etc. etc., only to have the boffins of the culture deride us for fantasising like children. As a result we often doubt ourselves and our beliefs and what they mean in our lives. It’s too easy to lose your pagan spirituality down a dark, dark hole. And if we struggle on alone against this constant pressure, we can either buckle and conform and backslide into being just another consumer, or we can drive ourselves into a mental breakdown trying to deal with it all. Marvellous choice: depression or psychosis.

A grim fightback is not an option. Mostly because grim is not an option: that’s no way to go through life. If we find ourselves down a dark hole, what we need is some light.

So where does it come from, this light? In this Festival of Lights, what’s going to keep us lit up? Society at large wants us to always look to someone else, but society at large is ignorant and broken, so we’re not going with that.

1. Expect Light: let there be light. This time of year confidently expects and welcomes the increasing daylight and the rising of the sap. Change happens because people’s expectations are raised. Look around and see the possibilities, and see where change is beginning to bud.

We see some of the signs of the times: the broken materialist culture and its deadening effect on the spirit; the worsening unfairness of inequality and its deadly consequences for the have-nots; runaway consumerism and its destruction of cultures, species and climate. But we also see people rising up against these things, drawing on values that can’t be claimed by the banks, with vision that can’t be bought and sold, expecting and insisting that things change for the better.

So, reflect on your expectations. Can you imagine what it would be like for things to be different? If so, why not come to expect them to be so?

2. Be the Light that you want to see in the world. Thanks Ghandhi. It’s not the government, it’s not some charity, it’s not some wealthy benefactor, nor some guru or expert. It’s you. Every man and woman is a star, said Aleister Crowley. Every person is indeed a star. Inspire others with your own example of being the Light. Be the pagan you want to see in the world.

2a. To do so, develop your path. And your skills. Find in walking your personal path the motivation, the reasons, the inspiration to be That Pagan. Your path, whatever it is, has all you need. Wring it out, get all you can from it.

2b. In magic, we notice that if you want a spell to work you have to muck in and help. As Herakles told the cart-driver who’d gone into a ditch: put your shoulder to the wheel and I’ll help, but if you won’t help yourself you’re on your own. Exam success = spellcasting for it + doing the revision. The Warrior’s Call – magic – the sigil plus activism – it’s boots on the ground make the trucks turn around. By doing something practical, you are investing yourself in your magical act. You are part of the magic you cast. When you use magic to solve a problem, expect to be part of the solution. Therefore seek to contribute.

3. It’s not ‘me’: it’s We. The stars don’t shine alone. Although each is a tiny pinprick of light at a vast distance, together they create an awesome spectacle in the sky. For tens of thousands of years our ancestors have looked up at the stars and seen in their patterns and movements a divine order which they then sought to bring down to earth so that they could enter into union with the heavenly pattern, as above, so below. Individually we’re not much, but together we are the magnificence of heaven, inspiring all who live under the sky.

3a. Solidarity. Leave no-one out. A bit like the Buddhist boddhisattva vow not to get off the Wheel of Rebirth until all beings are liberated. Likewise, we are to accept each other, include each other, help each other along. And it’s hard to do, acting in solidarity with people with whom you deeply disagree. But we need to commit to this aspect of the project or it won’t come off.

In fact, pagans are very good at playing together nicely, compared to the different denominations of the mainstream religions. But we should be the last people in the world to refuse to have anything to do with someone because of religious or spiritual differences. In fact, I would recommend that we do everything we can to step beyond our cosy little circles of people who disagree with us and play in with others, without trying to change them. I would say that anyone, whoever they are, who wishes to be our allies in this should be welcomed as such.

3b. Nobody’s indispensable. Social work, charity work, voluntary organizations all create burnout. The people in them see so much need and they overextend to do the most they can. Inevitably, they make themselves indispensable to the effort, which means that when they burn out and drop out the whole effort falls apart without them.

3c. Be generous. Share the information, share the resources, share the decisions, share the limelight. Share the effort. Many hands make Light work.

Recap: Expect meaningful pagan living to be a powerful social force in our community, Be That Pagan, seek to contribute, in solidarity with each other and welcoming to others. Don’t be afraid to reach out and to share. After all, you are the Light.

On Considering the History of the IOT

Soror Brigantia

Over the years, I have seen on social media, blogs and YouTube several discussions relating to the history of the IOT. These vary in quality, some being very good and others less so.

One thing they appear to have in common is that they are produced by people who have either no or tenuous links to the IOT, and the research is conducted mainly through other articles accessed via the internet. It’s my opinion that any discussion that over relies on information gleaned from the internet which does not include book research and fieldwork to be essentially flawed. As we all know, because it’s on the internet that does not mean it’s accurate, and there may be some essential information that will not be included.

In relation to the IOT while there are some books that will give information there are not many and therefore, I would consider fieldwork to be an essential component of any research conducted into this magical order. Putting it plainly: if you want to know what happened in the IOT, ask the membership.

I would point to this video made by someone who was there when the IOT was born to be the most accurate account as well as Dave’s series on the history of the IOT on this blog.

Dave’s work can be seen at  Chaotopia! – Dave Lee’s Chaotopia!

Most internet discussions focus on an event which I like to call the ‘Ice Magick Argument,’ often referred to as a ‘war.’ I personally cannot comment on the ins and out of what happened with this as it happened so long ago before I had joined the IOT.

Most histories of the IOT given by people who have never been members tend to finish with The Ice Magick Argument and little attention is paid to any history that occurred after that event or how the IOT is today. The IOT is a group that is constantly evolving and changing and due to this development, the IOT that exists today will have some differences to the IOT of five years ago. Occasionally I see discussions on social media involving people who say they were members 10 years ago or so whose opinions may have historical value, but due to the continual evolving nature of the IOT bear little resemblance to how the order is today.

The PACT will also mean different things to different people. One person’s experience of it may be very different to another’s, as individual development and expression is encouraged within the order.

On the BIS YouTube account, youtube.com/c/IOTBIS we have started a series of personal accounts of how individuals joined the IOT which gives a more up to date flavour of the IOT by showcasing these individual journeys within the PACT. As the IOT encourages its membership towards personal autonomy and finding their own magical style it is hoped that these videos will give a hint of the diverse experience of PACT members and a more accurate snapshot in time of how the British Isles Section operates during the time the video was made.

(This is the opinion of Soror Brigantia and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of everyone in the IOT)

Reflections on Covid-19

by Soror Brigantia

28.03.2020

I’m finding it an odd experience being an essential worker during the Covid-19 crisis. In many ways the world is a much quieter place, it takes less than half the time for me to drive to work than usual and the streets are deserted. In my life however there is a higher degree of activity than usual as my place of work responds to the crisis, I am busier than ever. I exist in this strange place amid this duality of activity and inactivity- in Isa my life is the swirling undercurrent of activity while all on the surface is still. The birds sound much louder than they used to.

I find myself on occasion feeling somewhat envious of my magical friends who are utilising the freed up time for a magical retreat. Then at other times I remember the people who have lost loved ones, the people who have lost their jobs and income as a result of the crisis, people who are vulnerable — and then I am grateful for my own situation. The truth is while part of me would like to retreat and isolate I would not do that. If I was not working I’d be volunteering.

I find myself in a position of solidarity with other essential workers; the people who clean the hospitals and shops, shop workers, factory workers, care workers, steel workers, police and the postal services and the many many others who do jobs that run so smoothly we are not aware of their essential work. The unknown heroes of the crisis. It seems that some of our most essential people are the lowest paid, putting themselves at risk every working day for a pittance. I find myself grateful for the locksmiths – it’s a bit challenging having a lock down when one is locked out, as I found out! I am grateful to the magicians who are on retreat doing their magick to eliminate the virus. Julian Vayne’s work on ‘Hearty’ is something that I found very inspirational.

sigil of Hearty

I worry about my friends doing the front line work in the hospitals but I get the vocational drive behind why they have to do what they do. I worry about the people who are street homeless and hope that they have found shelter and that the people helping them are OK.

A great deal of my magical work over the last year has been about space clearing and protection and I wonder if a part of me knew that there was something coming that I would need protection from. Reflecting on 2019 I did feel a sense that change was on its way leading to my huge space clearing and decluttering project where even my paperclips were cleaned with Florida water and prayed over. I developed a fondness for Psalm 121 which in the context of Covid-19 feels very relevant and I find myself saying the psalm before I enter the workplace:

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

he Lord watches over you—

the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.”

Stay Safe.

Soror Brigantia 739, 1º IOT

Psalm 121 from the New Living Translation

Psalm 121

Dave Lee’s Tales of Magic (15th Instalment)

The I Ching Astral Doorways II

After Hexagram 8, Pi / Union, the work fell apart. Basically, each of us needed to do a lot of work on our own emotional stuff. This will probably be familiar to anyone who has worked with an initiatic (as distinct from a purely pragmatic-sorcerous) approach to magic: you take yourself up into higher consciousness a lot, you will likely find there is a lot more grunt-work than you thought when you come down. So we decided to do the work individually at our own pace. My sequence got as far as 12, P’i, Standstill. Which was pretty apt; I never resumed the work, nor did my co-workers.

THURS 19TH NOV. 1981: CHING GATE 12: P’I, STANDSTILL

Through rapidly to meet a guide tall and kingly, in purple and wearing a sword. He has long red hair and beard and dark grey eyes. I am reminded of my Grey King experience of about a year ago, so I vibrate the Godname of Kether. White radiance washes through him; his eyes have turned green, and he smiles faintly.

“It is good that you are cautious. You have come to a place where night and day cleave together, and many strange currents cross.”

The garden is diamond-shaped, the long axis east-west, in small stone pieces in a tight mosaic of shades of green, spiralling about a rectangular pool with steps leading into dark water. In the east is a throne of purple-grey rock with armrests carved as lion’s heads inlaid with silver. Two standing stones delimit the short axis of the garden, which stands on a high rocky hilltop. It is just into dusk.

“P’i is the axis about which revolve the cycles of night and day, yin and yang. You have come to the yin garden of this axis.”

I notice that the guide wears about his neck a Maltese cross of double-headed axe blades on a cord of plaited straw.

“Standstill is alertness through the dangerous time of change. You may prepare by bathing in the pool.”

I do so; the water is hot, from a deep mineral spring, sulphurous, and draws out impurities through my skin. When I emerge the air smells of cinnamon. It is getting dark.

I look at the strange arrangement of standing stones; the guide says, “Under different conditions their position is changed, to the long axis or elsewhere. Much about the harmonization of earth-currents may be learned from this hexagram.”

It is dark now, in the dark too of the moon, and billions of stars seem to race overhead as we whirl through space. They seem to point to a distant mountain-top, where stands the garden of Chien, the Creative.

We constructed rituals using the eight trigrams, which had dragon-spirits that Mike had contacted. As with the ritual described in Temple in the Squat, our Summer Rite in 1981 also involved Qabalistic Archangels and Enochian names – the God-names and Kings of the quarter positions and other Enochian spirit names.

The work was very poorly grounded. The following year, 1982, I took the I Ching work with me on my European travels. This was not a good time. The following item is where I tried to use an astral gate for some useful advice, but instead had an extraordinary vision amidst personal disaster.

MARDI 17TH AOUT: Opened I Ching gate in the Cathedral here, in the Goddess chapel.

—— ——

— — — —

—— ——

—— — —

—— — —

— — ——

A landscape, hills, green, shading to distant ochre-red round-toped hills by a lake. My guide is purple, cerise, an intellectual, a diplomat in demeanour conceals a warrior in spirit, tight-belted over his lush shirt, hands me a sword which I raise aloft, it becomes a curve of brilliant white light reaching over the lake: lake, sword are one in a circle of brilliance, a furnace of truth through which I step into the ‘interior of colour’, the heart of every jewel, I am tasting the beauty of atomic matrices, so peaceful yet so alive it is here, magenta green yellow, then the core itself, a black double-pyramidal diamond absorbing all light. I hold it, identify with it, become an infinite web of black and white cuboidal atomic webs through which speaks pure intelligence:

“You have outgrown many levels of symbolism and reached the heart, the shores of the life/death duality. I need tell you no more in this accustomed way. You will return to your world through the heart of this net; take this” – a nine-pointed snowflake star mandala with 3D sigils in its core. It reaches my throat chakra, and it burns and is heavy. No, I will not carry it, it is too heavy. “You have gone thro this illusion of power too, sacrificed the lesser for the greater.”

I returned, flashing almost instantaneously through the symbols.

I left my silver neck-chain here in sacrificial gnosis.

Dave Lee is the author of several books, including Chaotopia, Bright From the Well and Life Force: Sensed Energy in Breathwork, Psychedelia and Chaos Magick. Visit his website and sign up for his newsletter.

How to Sell Your Soul

Experiments in Spirit Evocation by Frater Ananael

’’If there is no God or Devil, no Heaven or Hell, and if the place we go to when we forsake our physical bodies is merely a ‘sea of memory’ in constant flux, then would it not be better to ‘make a deal’ and know exactly what you’ll become and where you will go when you die, or persist with the constant fear and anxiety of an uncertain fate..(?)” Denerah Erzebet (The Rites of Astaroth)

Over the last year I made several attempts at spirit evocation using a Goetia type formula with mixed success. I tend to take the position that the demons listed in the grimoires are neither ‘evil’ nor ‘good.’ The rituals were performed by myself as well as in group settings. Some of the summonings seemed to set off a series of events whilst others seemed to not culminate when they were supposed to with the most intense visual experiences occurring at unscheduled times. The format I used was to summon the demon into a cauldron that would be placed at the centre of a circle of magicians with a triangle of art around it and a protective circle around that: cleansings would precede and follow each ritual. Incense was burnt inside the vessel in an incense burner placed over the sigil.

The first temple summoning of a Goetia entity was Ashtaroth. I like to use very unorthodox methods in my magic with a particular leaning towards the trappings of traditional witchcraft. So in this ritual I used a small dutch-pot with Ashtaroth’s sigil in chalk at the base. The dutch pot is a particularly useful tool in witchcraft, lending itself to all sorts of sorcery; it appears very much like a traditional cauldron but with a flat floor it lends itself well to having sigils drawn inside it.

We had another magician present who did a brilliant Lesser Banishing RItual of the Pentagram and after a relatively short summoning we did some connected breath-work: breathing deeply we chanted ‘Ashtaroth’ on our outbreath. We kept this up for 20 minutes. This ritual was reasonably intense but without any major effects during the summoning.

I myself have experience of Ashtaroth through my work with Exu Rei das sete Encruzilhadas, a powerful spirit who will intervene on the physical plane especially if etiquette is not properly observed, with a penchant for cigars and rum. A series of synchronicities did unfold in parallel with a Soror who was making offerings at the Crossroads for Lucifer in identical fashion to how I did for Exu: both entities being associated with Venus as the Morning Star. A Tarot ritual preceding this did point out to me that paths would cross with this person in no uncertain terms- it did in the familiar challenging ways that I have come to expect when working with Exu.

The second conjuration was out in the country with a group of magicians and it was Asmodeus this time. I brought my dutch pot and the ritual was preceded by a thorough cleansing ritual performed by a very competent magician and he did it in the manner as set out in the grimoires. I used the Asmodeus prayer from Spare’s Grimoire of Zos, bowdlerising it somewhat as I could not imagine this temple indulging in an evening of fornication. This time we used the connected breath-work again chanting ‘Asmoday’ on the outbreath. This was followed by the ‘spontaneous path-working’ method that we devised where a vision would be passed around the circle with a squeeze of the hand, each participant adding to it. The ritual completed at exactly the stroke of midnight and we had some insightful visions.

For my third demonic conjuration I would break-away from traditional goetia-type work altogether and loosely follow the ritual as outlined in a book called The Rites of Astaroth. This would be considered a dangerous rite which culminates in trading one’s soul to gain favour with this demon. In principle I would have no objections to trading my soul to Astaroth: is it not the case that practically every religion requires its adherents to dedicate their soul to the object of their adoration anyway but dressed up in different words?

I made a few adjustments but the rite is performed from the full moon to the new moon in a very left-hand path fashion. I made offerings of my own blood on each day of the rite and made a point of learning the conjuration from Grimorium Verum off by heart: mastering it by the day of the actual rite. The blood offerings were astoundingly powerful! I had ordered a sigil that was laser-branded onto wood and that I was wearing around my neck. I pricked my finger each day that I conjured Astaroth using sterile diabetic lances and anointed this talisman. There is something very primal and potent about letting your own blood, even if it is only such a tiny amount. The discomfort, the psychic link and the vital energy all help strengthen the magic. This was a revelation to me!

I did want to get in touch with the author to have some insight on the magician’s state of sanity after having completed the rite and by a strange coincidence I made her acquaintance on Facebook! I timed it so that I could have the weekend off on a river-boat. The climax of the ritual would be to summon Astaroth as a demoness or entity of the opposite gender and to consummate the ceremony sexually. Astaroth is historically associated with Astarte and Ishtar and mentioned in the Bible as such, so it makes perfect sense in this context. My feeling throughout was that Astaroth is female or at least gender-fluid.

I do much of my magic whilst working at my job as a gardener. Michael Bertiaux discussed the fact that many of the African slaves would do their sorcery whilst labouring in the fields in his Voudon Gnostic Workbook and I took my inspiration from this. I use the time that I do monotonous work to also do magic or to learn lines off by heart. During the time that led up to the ritual when I was learning the conjuration, Ashtaroth seemed to manifest very intensely. This would in retrospect have been the correct time to have consummated the ritual as outlined in the book but I wanted to keep to the schedule. I had intense visions and instructions on how to draw up a pact and what should be included.

The encounter had a very erotic flavour of the type associated with incubus/succubus phenomena documented in the witchcraft trials. I also had an intense dream that I had impregnated a black woman who would have our baby and it was going to be called Cressida. I had no idea what the significance of the name was until I researched it. Cressida was the daughter of the seer Calchas in Greek mythology. The book has a ritual for creating a magical child and it seemed that I was on my way of having done so already. The name has become a word of power for me with some weird effects when I intone it. When I say the name I feel like a female spirit superimposes its body astrally over mine.

When the actual day of the ritual arrived I headed out of London with my shamanic drum and a sacrament expecting a night of drumming and conjuring. I did actually draw up a pact with clauses to ensure that I get to know Astaroth a lot better before commending my soul to her. The ritual itself ended up being unspectacular. I was not ready for an all night session of drumming so I decided to keep the sacrament for another day in the future – maybe after my nine-month pact comes round. I intoned the conjuration that I had learnt 108 times and did a good amount of drumming. Astaroth did hear me and I have come away from this rite with a new method of magic that I will be experimenting with based on my experience with The Rites of Astaroth.

The book The Rites of Astaroth is available from Draco Press

The Open Circle

The Illuminates of Thanateros recently held an Open Circle in South Wales, with an assortment of magicians both inside and outside the IOT. We’ve been doing this for some years now, increasingly replacing the elaborate conference-style events of old with pop-up magical gatherings and semi-open circles.

Yes, semi-open. This means that non-IOT magicians join us for the shenanigans. This further means that in the interests of our oaths of confidentiality, any IOT members are made known as such only with their express permission, even within the Circle. However, just because you don’t ‘out’ other members doesn’t mean that you yourself can’t go public as a member of the IOT. That’s for secret societies, which we are not.

All of this breaks the mould set by more traditional magical organizations, but it’s an exciting development within an Order whose mission is, quite simply, to encourage and facilitate the practice of chaos magic in groups, thereby enabling wider access to magical culture in our society – Aepalizage! – as we like to say.

While the network may be the new shape of magical orders, the Circle is still how the magic happens: people getting together and doing the thing. Not that you can’t do magic on your own: of course you can. But the accumulated magical skill and experience plus the undeniable social proof effect of being amongst colleagues gives each magician a powerful platform from which to work great magic, magic often unavailable to the loner.

Every group that’s met regularly and kept good records – yes, even an informal Circle benefits from keeping a magical diary – every group can confirm that the magical results really go with a swing when we all pitch in together. That, after all, is why we in the IOT also describe ourselves as a Pact; a group of free individuals who agree to act together in each others’ interests, in contrast to an hierarchical Order.

So we got together and did the thing in Swansea, South Wales, a sort of planned ‘bring-a-ritual’ party. After a keynote address and ritual by Soror Brigantia 739 we swung into a parade of excellent magical work. No, I won’t tell you without permission what we did; what goes on in the Circle stays in the Circle. If you want to know, join in next time. Or maybe even set something up yourself; just find some others.

And then, of course, there’s us.

Frater Kaitŵm.625, the Kite, 2º Adept IOT, British Isles Section Head

His website, The Kite’s Cradle

Remembering Harriet Tubman

by Soror Brigantia

In occult circles and within occult literature we hear a great deal about people who make outstanding contributions to magical practice. There are, for example, countless blogs and publications regarding the fantastic work undertaken by Aleister Crowley, Edward Kelly, John Dee and Austin Osman Spare — to name just a few.

While the contributions of these men cannot be undervalued, the lack of a female role model can leave many female practitioners of the occult wondering where their place is in all of this and where are the female occultists. It’s my opinion that the female role models are there, such as Dion Fortune. It’s just that they don’t get as much ‘air time’ as the men. For me personally one outstanding example of a female magical practitioner is Harriet Tubman.

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in the 1820’s and was born into slavery. A remarkable woman, she liberated herself from the bonds of slavery and fled to Pennsylvania. Not content with this she made several trips back south to liberate other Afro Americans held in bondage. She even risked recapture by going back to Dorchester County – where she had been held in slavery – to free others.

She became one of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad and one of the most unusual. Few Underground Railroad conductors would conduct their people all the way from plantation to freedom. Most of the time they would work as a team with different conductors picking up the escapees at different stages of their journey. Feeling a sense of responsibility towards the people she had freed Tubman would take them on the whole route.

Due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 it become legal for bounty hunters to cross into a free state and recapture escapees. Tubman took her charges all the way to Canada to ensure their continual freedom after escaping. Most conductors would only lead 2 or 3 escapees; Tubman made a speciality of conducting larger groups of sometimes up to 25 people. This was dangerous work. Most conductors who did take their charges for the whole of the journey were white men and were therefore protected in some measure by this status. Tubman was a black woman and an escapee herself making this work more dangerous for her.

However, unlike many of the men who did this work Tubman was never caught. She had an innate sense of strategy and knew her terrain well – for she was also a Hoodoo woman, a practitioner of Conjure. She is famous for her Christian faith as in those days it was not uncommon for a Hoodoo practitioner to also be a Christian. She could hear the voice of god who would tell her what lay ahead on the course she was travelling on the Underground Railroad and she would change direction if she was told that danger lay ahead.

During the civil war she worked as a nurse for the Union and a considerable amount of her nursing was aiding soldiers who had contacted contagious diseases. Tubman of course never contracted those diseases herself. As she was a Hoodoo woman and knew the herbs and plants and their medical properties she was able to take measures to protect herself. Due to her advanced ability as a strategist she also worked more directly for the army and led a raid during which 750 Afro Americans achieved their liberty. She truly earned her nickname of ‘the General.’

After the war she worked for civil rights for women and Afro-Americans. When she saw that older Afro-Americans with poor health were not able to obtain the health care they needed she used all her financial resources to establish housing for them where they could receive this care.

Harriet Tubman was a very practical woman who used her Hoodoo and conjure skills in a very real way to achieve very real results within the realm of civil liberties and for that I applaud her. What better role model could there be?

See more at http://www.harriet-tubman.org/

Healing Meditation

by Soror Brigantia

One of my core magical skills is within the healing arts and I have spent many years studying various healing magicks along with the practical skills of massage and reflexology. Along the way I have studied with a huge variety of people and engaged in many different types of healing systems. There is one thing that most of the complementary therapy arts have in common is in the value of meditation. I have adapted my own style of meditation for alleviating stress which I have found useful on many occasions.

The meditation starts by creating the right type of healing space, too often I’ve been healing rituals done in draughty community centres, churches and halls where a portable heater, some throw cushions and some banners with colourful designs can be added to promote a more relaxed atmosphere. An altar to your favourite healing deities is helpful and in the centre of the circle should be a single candle plus some quartz crystals to amplify the energies.

This is almost a word by word transcript of the meditation that I like to use, it can be adapted to suit different circumstances.

The Meditation

Find a comfortable position and relax keep you’re back straight and relax all parts of your body. Now allow your mind to settle and take some normal breaths focusing your mind on the rising and falling of your chest.

Now I want you to breathe in a healing breath and imagine/think/feel that you are breathing in healing light. This healing light can be any colour you choose as long as it is one that is healing for you. When you breathe out I want you to imagine/ think/ feel that you are breathing out all of the energy that you no longer need in the form of black smoke. Now breathe in through your nose the healing energy and now breathe out of your arse. That’s right breathe out all your negative energy from your arse.

So breathe in through your nose, out through your arse, in through your nose, out through your arse. That’s right. And when you breathe out through your arse I’d like you to softy say this mantra to yourself “shit happens”.

That’s right. In through your nose out through your arse: shit happens; in through your nose out through your arse: shit happens. And as you start to feel more comfortable with the fact that shit sometimes just happens I’d like you to consider the wise sages of old and their advice “sometimes there is a mountain, and then there is no mountain, and then there is a mountain and then no mountains. So it is with your shit in your life, sometimes there is a mountain sometimes no mountain, shit happens. So breathe in with your nose and out through your arse: shit happens, in through your nose out through your arse: shit happens.

I’d now like you to consider the Tarot card, the Wheel of Fortune. Sometimes you’re on top of the wheel, sometimes below and sometimes to the side; so it is with the shit in your life, shit comes and shit goes, shit comes and shit goes. Breathe in through your nose, out through your arse, in through your nose and out through your arse, in through your nose out through your arse, that’s right sometimes shit just happens.

And when your experiencing stress in your life you can use this meditation to help you relax and to know that surely as shit appears it disappears: shit comes and shit goes; so its okay to have some shit in your life. It is after all nothing that can’t be resolved by good plumbing and some antibacterial wash. In through your nose and out through your arse, shit happens.

And if there is someone in your life who is giving you their shit you can teach them this meditation and tell them simply to “blow it out of their arse.” In through your nose, out through your arse. That’s right.

Now I’d like you to slowly open your eyes and come back to the room confident that sometimes shit just happens.

This meditation is best led with a serious expression and all the trappings of a New Age Temple.

Soror Brigantia is the current head of the British Isles Section of the Illuminates of Thanateros.

For those deficient in irony, let it be noted that Levity is not the same as ineffectuality. This technique yields results. (ed)

Ridden by the Horse

Ffynone Mari with chaostar and rain bonnet

Soror Brigantia and I took my Mari Lwyd for a canter at the Chepstow Wassail and Mari Lwyd Festival. If you have no idea about the growing Welsh revival of custom of cavorting in public with a horse’s skull here’s a very good outline of the Mari Lwyd tradition.

Bearing a Mari Lwyd is more like wearing a mask than operating a puppet. To me that makes it Invocation rather than Evocation in the usual chaos magic senses. Invocation may be identified by the extent to which another presence seems to displace your own at the controls and exhibit behaviours out of character for yourself. And what do you call the person under the horse? I can’t even use the common Voodoo term ‘the horse,’ because, well, you see? So I’m going with ‘bearer’ for now.

One or two Mari bearers had confirmed to me that they could feel an overshadowing presence of a properly woken Mari. I had all day to check this out, and yes. My Ostler for the day, Soror Brigantia, spoke afterwards of feeling like I’d been away all day and she’d been left with the Mari. I found it confusing and difficult to carry on a human conversation while under the horse, and managed only the briefest social interactions.

However Ffynone Mari turned out to be quite in demand with the littluns and made herself available for having her muzzle patted and stroked. It all sounds very cutesy until you realise you’ve been normalising contact with death and the Otherworld in a society in screaming denial about both.

The high point of the Festival is a meeting at Chepstow bridge, where three paradigms come together. First was the massed cavalry of Mari Lwyds, 34 on this outing: a record set earlier in the day during the Mari Lwyd Pageant, a beauty contest for horse skulls in sheets. Picture it. Next were the Border Morris and various Morris platoons, faces blackened (eat it, social justice warriors: it’s a traditional way to preserve anonymity in these parts, and nothing to do with American racism); and the Wassailers, whose big moment earlier had been waking up the apple trees in order to ensure a good harvest this year with the Old English greeting Was hál! — ‘Be Well!’ which we toasted with mulled cider, welcome in the damp cold of the day.

The night-time clash at the bridge was a noisy, rival supporters sort of affair, and then, as they always report, ‘peace broke out,’ and we all headed back into town together to drink and make merry.

It should be no surprise to a chaos magician to see such a cluster of paradigms playing nicely together. The mutual appreciation was obvious. Lessons to be learned there. But enough of the worthy and meaningful stuff: suffice to say a good time was had by all, especially by Ffynone Mari.

Invocation of the Mari Lwyd

Kite

Dave Lee’s Tales of Magic (13th Instalment)

THE END OF THE FIRST IOT GROUP

The membership of the Group was variable, with a core of Pete Carroll, myself and a couple of others, with other people sometimes recruited at Sorcerer’s Apprentice coffee mornings. Meetings all took place in East Morton, at Ray Sherwin’s place, from where we walked out into Sunnydale. This is a beautiful, wooded valley with a lake and ruined buildings, on the edge of Ilkley Moor. It was possible to get from Leeds to East Morton, where Ray Sherwin lived, by getting on the 93 bus from near the University into town, then an intermediate step, then the 666 bus from Bradford. Ray often encouraged raw, first time visitors with no local knowledge to do so, for obvious qabalistic reasons, even though there were much easier ways to get there.

One early meeting shows the style we were developing. I learned the Bornless One from a photocopy I’d taken from the Appendices in Crowley’s Magick. I was the invoking priest, and we were using the Bornless One as a consciousness-raising working, as a preliminary to the main parts of the evening’s work. Chaos Mass B, the nearest thing the IOT ever had to an official ritual, didn’t exist yet: we needed a consciousness-raising ritual and we were making things up as we went.

One of the later people to join asked for and got a full-scale initiation working, tied up in the woods while various things went on around him, including our hurling sigils at him. Here’s a bit of my diary entry, where I record what was at the time ‘the closest bit of astral clairvoyance I’ve ever done!’:

SAT 30TH MAY: Last Nt: IOT Group Meeting:

I saw, during our projections at the Candidate, this:

Pete actually projected the following:

The Group closed at a rite on Beltaine 1982, when a copper Pantacle for the future development of the IOT was buried in a wood. This pantacle was dedicated to the female influence in the IOT; we had worked out that one thing that kept women away from magical orders was the tired old Masonic structures of most of them, so we determined to find a new direction. I wrote the following Four Goddesses working and sacrificed the energy I’d loaded into a carved Goddess figurine.

SAT 1ST MAY: I.O.T. MAY EVE RITE

1. Simon’s banishing

2. PD’s delivery of Mass of Chaos, followed by consecration of wine and sugar, whilst Caryn recited Hymn to Pan.

3. PD administers sacrament

4. Pete Banishes Baphomet

5. PD presents the Disc of the Summer to Caryn, flanked by Anjie, Janet, Christine.

6. My invocation of Goddesses: ‘To thee be the Kingdom of Earth, all power and mercy’. Opening the 4 Q’s in the names of the Watchtowers. Taking of the Necklace and invocation to each Quarter:

‘Ishtar, bringer of light and inspiration, renew us

Sekhmet, in whose loins is kindled the heat of summer, renew us

Hekhet, mistress of birth, death and cycles

In the Unifying name of Woman, who is known as BABALON, may the Order of the IOT be renewed’

In the Name of Chaos, I release the power trapped in this instrument, for the use of the Order’. Star of Chaos above fire, plunge Necklace into fire.

Repeat Cross, return to place in circle.

7. Christine takes us through the Dragon movements

8. Circle dance, chanting ‘Hekas Hekas Este Bebeloi’ with Caryn in centre with Disc.

9. Caryn consecrates Disc and Ointment. The Disc is buried at the Site.

10. Chris and Janet banish and close.

Afterwards, we used Pete’s belladonna ointment again. It worked a bit – I didn’t get any OOB or lucid dreams, but the most extraordinarily compressed visions while awake – regular crystalline geometries, intricate plant forms, then places, rooms, a railway station and so on until these slowed and I went to sleep.

That group only met about 5 or 6 times in 18 months. It was an early stage of the IOT, the first experiment in a new approach to group magic.

Dave Lee is the author of several books, including Chaotopia, Bright From the Well and Life Force: Sensed Energy in Breathwork, Psychedelia and Chaos Magick. Visit his website and sign up for his newsletter.