Yeah Sex Is Cool I Guess (if Youre Into That Sort Of Thing) But Have You Ever Tried Blasphemy Or Moderate-to-severe

Yeah sex is cool i guess (if you’re into that sort of thing) but have you ever tried blasphemy or moderate-to-severe heresy against the tyrant that calls himself “God”?

Traditional and Alternative Methods of Claiming Space

Casting a Circle is often believed to be a necessary step in the foundation of modern ritual. I would like to provide you with some alternative methods of ritual commencement and space-claiming which may assist in inspiring your creative exploration of the ritual world.

   Firstly, sacred spaces are not always circular, and various structures hold differing symbolism which can be applied to the scene of the ritual or spell. For example it is not uncommon for neo-Pagans to use a pentacle as their sacred spacial structure, or for modern-Kabbalists to use a tree of life or a star tetrahedron. As for magic being used in a ritualistic format in the first place, it is by no means a necessity. In fact some spells are best performed in the presence of everyday atmospheres. Much magic can occur without conscious intention, if we are going by Frazier’s definitions of magic as mimicking or imitating an action with the expectation that like produces like, or as a contagious substance with which the treatment of an object holding the contagious essence of the subject results in like treatment of the subject. The two clearly coalesce. As a scorned lover would throw away trinkets from one who has left them, and with those trinkets (hopefully) their feelings, so sympathetic and contagious magics are at work in our everyday lives.

   Now, there are still quite a few times when ritual and sacrament hold their place, of course, and I’m only barely touching on the importance and usefulness of ceremony in magic. Setting or claiming space is a universally acknowledged step in the process of magical and religious ritual. You should NOT however feel the need to abide by the popularized methods of circle-casting or space claiming. The structure of a circle with four main focus points and a central pillar has been used by various shamanic traditions from every corner of the world for as long as any can remember. The Golden Dawn order was one of the first to publish their Hermetic practices where the Western public could easily access them, so their method of calling elements from East/Air, to South/Fire, West/Water, to North/Earth is frustratingly common. It works great for some, but it doesn’t work as well for others, especially the magician who aspires to expand the forms of their ceremonial structures. One could subtly change that common method by substituting other deities or personalities into the structure, or mixing traditions. For example, calling down stars instead of elements, or adjusting the elements location to fit your hemisphere etc. I find it best to put it aside altogether.

   Other, less contemporary methods might be more effective for you, as they have been for me. For example sprinkling parts of plants in the space around me, lighting candles simply, presenting a dumb supper, beating the bounds, calling the spirits, bawming the thorns and briers, saining the participants, making rough noise, sweeping, treading the mill, smudging or meeting at a sacred place naturally made, rather than creating your own; e.g. crossroads, mounds or sacred groves or lakes.

   Beating the bounds is a way of raising energy and setting your territorial boundaries. One would take a sacred bough, branch, broom, cane, thyrsos, rattle, or scourge and walk the boundary of their sacred space, making a point of beating the space with their tools in the process. A less common and more cthonically inclined method would be urinating the boundary, quite literally marking your territory.

   Saining is an umbrella term for, essentially, liquid blessings, flung upon the participants with some sacred tool (again a bough, branch, wand or a staff) similar to how a common Chrisitan priest would bless a house with water. Holy Water is, blatantly, a ritual tool that predates the rise of the Christian empire, however it was not only water that was used to sain. More often than not, it was the blood of a sacrificed animal. Blood-saining, or Bleodsaining, would involve dipping the sacred tool into the revealed blood of the sacrificed animal and anointing the participants with its mark via whatever flinging tool is acting as mediator.

   Calling the spirits goes by different names depending on the method, one Cornish method is swinging a bull-roar around a few times which makes a loud droning sound. This noise echoes across hills and valleys far off. Other methods, such as the blowing of bone-horns or the playig of reed pipes, can be used and often include a repetitive, trance-creating movement or a loud or long noise.

   On the topic of loud noise is Rough Music Making, which is actually used to chase unwanted or harmful things away from the space (or the village on a larger scale) by making a huge ruckus with whatever instruments are available, even one’s own voice.

    Dumb Suppers are invitations to specific spirits or personalities by seating around a table which has set on it a place for an “empty” chair, to be filled by the spirit or personality. All the food set out on that place is for them to enjoy to whatever end they wish and various methods of disposal correspond. In neo-pagan ritual, this is a widely used practice on the eve of Samhain, because of its relationship to ancestor-worship. However, many examples of dumb suppers can be seen around the world separate from this British holiday.

   Bawming the Thorn–A kind way of setting space is bawming the area around it, otherwise stated as decorating or dressing the surrounding undergrowth or branches. Hanging flowers, ribbons and bells is a sweet way of creating the ambiance of a lively or gentile ritual.

   Treading The Mill is a term with a depth, but just on the surface it is often practiced as a space-claiming, energy raising dance. In one form of this dance the congregation would begin by clutching each other, hands to shoulder or elbow, turning outward to face away from the central pillar, and galloping or lame-stepping in one direction or the other.

   Smoke Cleansing is very common and just involves the burning of various plants or other materials to permeate the air with the intended energetic senses, generally for cleansing and protective purposes.

   It is important to try things out and see what works for you. I think when the appropriate time for a sacred space arrives, a well done space should protect, mediate, and give success to the operation at hand. See what types you can find or think up which do these for you.

-Dianaandpansson, July 29th, 2012

homophobes are not allowed to use computers because the inventor of the computer was gay

In the Western world, our conception of performance is intimately bound up with notions of “pretending,” “imitating” and “playing” (Foley, 1985: 27). When we see an actor on the stage, or in a movie, we do not assume that the actor actually is the character they are playing (even if we suspend our disbelief for the duration of the play or film). We implicitly assume that the actor portrays a role. A cross-cultural perspective, however, reveals that there are other ways of interpreting and understanding performance, which may provide alternative means for interpreting Western mediumship practices. For example, when in Candomble the medium “performs” as the Orisha, the movements are no longer understood to be under the medium’s direction; if this were not the case then the possession would not be a true possession. In fact, for the duration of the performance, the medium’s body is the body of the Orisha. Here performance is an actual transformation – not a simple role-play (Schechner, 1988). Similarly, for the Yanomamo Indians of the Venezuelan Orinoco Valley, when the Shaman incorporates the forest Hekura spirits, his body is transformed into a “cosmic body – the body is no longer under the control of the shaman’s consciousness but now the body of the Hekura spirit itself (Jokic, 2008). There is an understanding, therefore, that the body can be both a physical object and the locus of spiritual activity. In other words, the body is the point of contact between the physical and spiritual realms, and bodily performance is the means of expression for non-physical beings, just as Erving Goffman (1959: 253) suggests that the body is not only a “peg” on which a person’s self is “hung for a time” but also a primary means of self-expression for living human beings.[..]

Another interesting observation that the cross-cultural literature reveals is that in the mediumistic séance the altered states of the witnesses are very often just as important in establishing a dialogue with the spirits as the trance state of the medium. Indeed, it could be argued that the séance itself is a ritualized orchestration of consciousness: that the séance is specially designed to produce altered states in participants to enable this communication to take place.

Dr. Jack Hunter, Engaging the Anomalous

Avoiding scams in witchcraft

Not sure if someone has made a post like this or not, but I am seeing more and more obvious scams on my dash daily. As an experienced witch, let me tell you, I've come across my fair share of scams.

Here's how you can identify them:

"I have SECRETS that NO ONE ELSE has!! Also, NO ONE ELSE will teach you these secrets because they are MEAN and SECRETIVE. BUT I'M NOT. I will teach you. For a small fee for the 'risk'." You do not have to pay someone for "secrets" of any nature. Especially not as a beginner or even intermediate witch - you have so much information freely available to you. The most you might pay is the price of a book.

"I'm a psychic and I'm coming out of left field to tell you that you've been cursed, but no worries, I can lift it for you!! For a fee. :)" You would think this is obvious but verify, verify, verify. Also as a rule don't trust the spells of someone you don't know unless you know someone they've helped.

Be CAREFUL about magical services in general. People won't tell you this cause they want to make money, but SO MUCH is easy to fake. Jewelry with a companion in it? Bought that bulk for $1 a pop and scribbled in a .50 journal about it, sell for $35. No magic performed. Copy-pasted tarot, rune, and psychic readings. Sure, I cast that spell, send me $50. The thing is, unless you're talented enough to cast it yourself in the first place, you won't know when someone's conning you.

"This is DEFINITELY allnaturalorganicsupersafe scrub/balm/soap/lotion to apply to your *insert sensitive area* and yes it IS worth $85 I went to the rainforest myself to collect the ingredients." Just use some quick googling and your common sense, here. Certain herbs and essential oils are not meant for certain things. Just because they sell this stuff, doesn't mean they know what they're talking about.

Another good rule - if you're working with a vendor and they make an appeal to your guilt, your grief, your loneliness, etc.? Really good chance they're pressing that button to get you to spend. Some examples: "I see you are lonely let me cast a love spell $5 off for this thing you weren't going to get in the first place." "I can channel the spirit of your dead grandma via ouija. *disappears for three days* I was SHOOK her presence was SO powerful she said she loves you and she's happy, no I didn't ask her any identifying questions... $40 please."

"Ready to ADVANCE your CAREER as a WITCH??? WELL COME ON DOWN to LADY OF THE SILVER CHALICE DRAWN DOWN MOON DRAGON, ESQ.'s temple where I will PERSONALLY sign a $2 certificate saying you're a 3rd degree Ancient Knowing One after 3 sessions of 90 minutes of me ranting about how aliens built Egypt." Do some traditions observe degree systems? Yes. Make sure you're dealing with a reputable source before you fork over $300.

Cults. There are many good posts and online resources about this, but most cults are made to serve the creator in two ways: 1) Power/control. 2) Money. For me, it's not so easy to notice the power and control issues due to past trauma, but money? I sure as hell notice that. If they are pressuring you to make more, spend more, contribute more, and you can barely pay your bills? Get the fuck out of there.

If someone is giving you a service and they're asking for ANY method of payment that is not trackable, be wary. Now, it might be an old family friend and you hand cash over yourself, which is safer. But someone online asking to be paid through giftcards, or someone asking you to mail cash? Oof. Bad energy.

People can not so much "con" you but cost you extra money by playing the middle man for certain transactions. Sometimes it's worth it to have the middle-man; that can mean higher quality products and reliable delivery. But you could save yourself money if you know the item you're buying and go directly to the supplier. Often middle-men jack prices up considerably, sometimes more than they're worth, or even trade in worse quality products than they advertise. Consider your finances, look at who you're buying from, and look at the price tag.

Yes, it sucks to say, but some psychics really ARE just good cold readers (i.e., people who can read things off you with good questions and observing body language). Some may not even know it themselves. Any form of divination may suffer from this. Again, stick with those you trust, or at least consider that when you put down that money, it's a gamble.

"I can definitely make ALL your problems go away!!! except *insert small technicality I know won't make you say no*, with just 8 easy payments of $29.99!!" Big grandiose promises that ALMOST sound too good to be true are easier to let slide because they admitted there's a problem! They must be telling the truth! No, hon. They know exactly what they're doing. They're making big promises to get big money, and when you complain, they point to their terms of service and say "This was entertainment only." That exists there for a REASON, yes, and it does serve to protect legitamite practioners when, say, a tarot reading is slightly off because those readings are meant to guess at the future and that future can be changed. Some vendors abuse the hell out of it, though.

There ARE legitamite vendors and good reasons to spend cash in the community if you want to. But be careful out there.