The History of the Golden Dawn - Video

A very interesting video I found on google, discussing the history of The Golden Dawn.

Being A Magician - Is Dam Hard Work!

There is no beating around the bush here,  the sheer amount of work involved in becoming a good magician is staggering.  I have been reading The Golden Dawn: An Account of the Teachings, Rites and Ceremonies of the Order of the Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie and looking at what various other orders require of initiates, including the order I am currently seeking to be initiated in.  Most orders have a daily routine which includes some kind of yoga or meditation work, this is the basic work of an aspiring initiate.  Also, some simple rituals such as banishing rituals are required to be practised and memorised, and some orders also require certain things to be memorised (the GD required lots of information to be memorised, including the details of the grade rituals).  Is it worth it?  I believe so, a magician is like a surgeon, however, they take not only others lives in their hands, but their own as well, and this takes a lot of skill, knowledge and practice.  A surgeon knows the secrets of the human body, a magician knows the secrets of the universe.

To The Great Work!

Tarot Spread: Body, Mind and Spirit

A very simple Tarot spread to give you an insight into how you currently feel and to assess the coming day.

You simply shuffle the Tarot deck, and select three cards, then turn them over.

Card 1: Body.  How you feel physically etc.

Card 2: Mind.  Your current state of mind, emotions etc.

Card 3: Spirit:  You spirit and subconscious.

This spread was taken from the book below, which I highly recommend for Tarot beginners:

Invocation of Pan

I had been planning this one for a while!

Pan is often invoked to spice things up, when you need to be shaken, when you need to feel free, but be warned he has a mischievous side too, as I soon found out!  Pan comes and turns things on their head, gets you to do things you wouldn't normally do (often sexually)!

You can use various spoken and visual cues to create the Pan experience, I used Aleister Crowleys Hymn To Pan, and also a clip that I found on YouTube.  Pan likes tangy aromas, wine and spicy food with a kick to it (and also if you have some porn to watch while invoking the horny beast, all the better)!

Below are some pictures I took before and during the ritual, though the camera was a bit shaky during for obvious reasons.

Hymn To Pan (Aleister Crowley 1929)

Thrill with the lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me,
Come with Apollo in bridal dress
(Shepherdess and pythoness)
Come with Artemis, silken shod,
And wash thy white thigh, beautifal God,
In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount,
The dimpled dawn of the amber fount!
Dip the purple of passionate prayer
In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare,
The soul that startles in eyes of blue
To watch thy wantonness weeping through
The tangled grove, the gnarled bole
Of the living tree that is spirit and soul
And body and brain - come over the sea,
(Io Pan! Io Pan!)
Devil or God, to me, to me,
My man! My man!
Come with trumpets sounding shrill
Over the hill!
Come with drums low muttering
From the spring!
Come with flute and come with pipe!
Am I not ripe?
I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp -
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Thrust the sword through the galling fetter,
All-devourer, all begetter;
Give me the sign of the Open Eye,
And the token erect of thorny thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The Gods withdraw;
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan!
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, maenad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!

YouTube Clip For Use In Invocation