Spiritual Personality and Astral Projection

ב' באלול תשע"א
Belz 5

In follow-up to my previous post, I should also add that I don't hold by the school of thinking which teaches that energy centers open up in progression from root to crown like chakras as one develops spiritually. In my thinking and experience, my power center will always be Yesod. In my way of thinking, one's power center for astral projection is not tied to development but to the wholistic constellation of sefirotic configuration particular to that person's psychospiritual energetic arrangement - similar to the way each person has a unique personality which it feels as "self."

WITCHES CABAL Circle of Thirteen Ritual Soy Candle

ה׳ בסיון תשע"א
Alban Heruin 7

A Cabal is a group of two or more united together in common purpose. Oftentimes, Cabals are secret occult societies who come together with intent to design or influence the future - in other words, to work magic upon emerging reality. The term Cabal comes from the Hebrew word Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה‎), the same term by which the mystical teachings of Traditional Judaism are known.

The number thirteen refers to mystical unity and to the idea that there are 13 channels through which Divine Wisdom flows from the superconscious source into the beginnings of consciousness. It is taught in mystical Kabbalah that there are 13 vectors or spiritual states associated with complete consciousness, or total enlightened awareness of Being.

WITCHES CABAL Circle of Thirteen is made to lift your consciousness toward complete awareness, opening up to you the full and awesome power of the Mysteries.

Handcrafted with premium certified kosher soy wax and pure cotton wick, designed to help you conjure your Witch Power, this black and blood red WITCHES CABAL Circle of Thirteen pillar candle is Old Ways witch-crafted with focused magical intent and dressed with a cabal of 13 traditional witches' botanicals including Dragon's Blood, Wormwood, Witch Grass, Gum Mastic, Mullein, Rue, European Vervain, Stinging Nettle, Mugwort, Oak, Elder, Garlic and Black Lava Salt. Gemstone charged with Black Jet (Witches' Amber), WITCHES CABAL is generously scented with an original rich blend of Gold Seal Dragon's Blood resin oil exclusive to WITCHCRAFTS. This gorgeous pillar is dusted with ultra fine Witchblood red faerie dust and adorned with a silver Pentacle charm hung on luxury Red Velvet ribbon and handspun black wool.

Use WITCHES CABAL for advancing your journey toward complete enlightenment, receiving power, raising power, magnifying power, power spellcasting and conjuring.

**SAFETY WARNING** - This is a powerfully invocative candle, please use caution when working with it. Your life may change dramatically after using it.

Measures 1.5" x 6".

Comes beautifully packaged.

Excalibur-Lughnasadh-Luchot Candle Dressing

כ' תמוז התשס"ח
Faunus 22

Zayin - Gemini - Sivan - first set of holy tablets (luchot) - Mercury (פ)

equal parts:

caraway
flax seeds
horehound
fennel
mulberry

Yud - Virgo - Elul - second set of holy tablets (luchot) - Mercury (פ)

equal parts:

mace
marjoram
peppermint
pomegranate seeds
rosemary

Essential oils - lavender, bergamot
Carrier oil - almond

Base ingredient - crushed blackberries or blackberry wine

Related entry: Kabbalah Of Excalibur

Shamanic Judaism

כ'ו באייר תשס"ח
Mab 27

Hat tip to Asherah's Place for posting links to two available YouTube (of three) videos featuring topics related to earth-based Shamanic Judaism. The teacher in the videos is Rabbi Gershon Winkler of the Walking Stick Foundation.

Part 2



Part 3



I want to make a drum like the one in the videos.

מכתם לדת - Michtam L'Dat

י'ב באייר תשס"ח
Mab 13

מכתם לדת

I ritually stained the wood of my carved staff this evening with a red-ochre pigmented blend of botanicals, under the waxing gibbous moon 92% full, beginning during the planetary hour of Jupiter (ת) and finishing for the night during the planetary hour of the Sun (ד), drawing out from among twenty feda the ogham letter Saille (aravah) whose keyword is flow and whose corresponding mystical concepts [1] include:

female moon times
connecting with the Ancestors
knowledge of proper timing, tides of time

Additional associations [2, 3]:

liminal zones
witchcraft, magic and the feminine mysteries
divination, seership and prophecy
psychic perception and intuitive sensitivity
interweaving the revealed (itkafia) and the hidden (ithapcha)
water and mystic eloquence

lips
sukkot, joy
hoshanah rabbah
the temple in Yerushalayim


Footnotes:

[1] Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom by Erynn Rowan Laurie

[2] Ogam: The Celtic Oracle Of The Trees by Paul Rhys Mountfort

[3] Inner Dimension, ערבה

Cauldron Of Essential Illumination

כ'ט באדר ב' תשס"ח
Annwyn 1

Shown is a cauldron similar to my bright and beautiful new copper cauldron. This awesome tool of illumination, made from a hammered copper cazo cauldron, is 15" (יה) wide and 6" (ו) tall. It has a vintage metal stand which has a candle burner (ה) in the bottom. יהוה

Copper correspondences.

Bare and insanely brilliant, shed of kelipot, through the astral sphere of the planet Venus, copper calls forth illumination (nogah, נגה) from the Name which forms it's dimensions and construct, and raises up the power to actualize spellwork potential through the Hebrew letter kaf (כ).

Copper has a double portion of Celtic Ogham letter correspondences. Through copper's first association with the fid (letter) ceirt, the cauldron creates a sheltering place which causes the retreat of negative influences, malevolent magic and harmful energies. Thus, that brewed within it is pure and holy.

Luis, the second fid associated with copper, brings forth brilliance from the darkness of the vessel and that contained within it, to call up the sacred flame of Divine Inspiration (hashra'ah, Inspiration of the Divine Feminine Presence - known in Jewish tradition as Shechinah, in Celtic-Welsh tradition as Ceridwen and in Celtic-Irish tradition as Brighid).

My copper cauldron is Divinely and Essentially witchy.

Magic Keys To Redemption

כ"ח בשבט תשס"ח
Imbolgen 28

I have 9 magic skeleton keys, each measuring in the range from 63.5 to 127 mm in length. Nine represents the 9 sefirot from Keter to Yesod (the lunar realm where the 9 collect). The value 63.5 represents Ateret HaYesod (the sub-lunar realm and the inner source of Malchut) and the 63-letter Divine Name which carries the Will to actualize (via the value 5) the power of rectified imagination. The value 5 represents the power of expression through 5 paths of The Law as described in the esoteric teachings of both Celtic Witchcraft (for example, the Tract of The Law of Kings as found in Brehon Law) and Jewish Kabbalah (for example, the 5 Gevurot of Da'at in Malchut). The value of 127 represents the perfect extension of all that came before into Malchut.

R. J. Stewart writes in The Spirit Cord:

The sub-lunar realm holds the hidden keys to many mysteries of death and rebirth, sleeping a waking, remembering and forgetting ... The sub-lunar realm generates the tides of oceans, of weather and the rise and fall of species, health and disease, and destruction and regeneration of all life forms on earth. Not of life itself, but of the life forms, species and patterns, through which life manifests into form in Nature. More simply, the sub-lunar world holds the keys to active redemption and rebalancing of our current environmental and health crises. Once we have moved our awareness into this realm, we are gradually able to interact with its subtle forces especially the tidal energies that move into and out of manifestation flowing through all living beings and through the planet itself.

Interesting, I think.

Besom Of Rectified Adamic Consciousness

כ"ז בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 28

Yesterday morning, I purchased my Grapevine Besom. This unique tool was hand crafted by witches at Samhain. The wood found in CT, my ritual broomstick is made of thick grapevine and measures 45" (אדם) long. The bristles are rust color (תפוז = 463 = תבונה).

Mirror Magic

י"ד בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 15
Motzi Shabbat Yule

My 6" diameter, 1" deep concave, 1/4" thick skrying mirror is handblown, handrolled and double layered deep black glass fused with a clear glass layer over the top surface. The back surface is finished and the edges naturally softened by the kiln melt process.

A concave mirror is "where a parallel beam of light becomes a convergent beam, whose rays intersect in the focus of the mirror." (Wiki)

When in use, my black mirror rests upon an 8" X 8" square black skrying pillow.

When not in use, my mirror is wrapped with a 42" X 42" square dark navy Celtic paisley ("clearing") print pure silk scarf, placed upon the pillow, and contained within a 9.5" X 9.5" square, 4.5" deep, Tree of Life with Celtic knotwork wooden chest. The volume of the chest is 406.125 cubic inches. The value 406 is the gematria of בקדש, "in holiness", of האת, "the sign", of לשלום, "of peace", and of אתה, containing the mystery of all the permutations and cyclings of the letters of the Jewish-Hebrew aleph-beit. The value 125 is the gematria of החזקה, "the strong", of גבעים, "cups" and of יפלה, "differentiates". The value of 406 pertains to the Unity of Atzilut. The value of 125 pertains to the Creation Power of Beriyah. Taken together, the value of 406 + 125 = 531, which is the gematria of לאשר, meaning "of happiness", "of successful straightforward progression", "of the tree of blessing", and "of well trodden steps".

The underside of the chest's lid is engraved with my Jewish name in Hebrew letters and my Celtic name in Ogham letters. The inside bottom of the chest is engraved with all 48 (= יובל) letters of the Hebrew (including the otiot sofiot and the 4-shin) and Ogham alphabets.

The deep black layer of the mirror pertains to an integral fusion of Yetzirah (the universe of Formation) and the Divine Essence (Atzmut). The clear layer of the mirror pertains to the clarity of Malchut, itself integrally fused and supported by the Divine Essence revealed in the deep blackness of my Magic Mirror.

First, I chose the tools which spoke to me. Then, I explored the dimensional correspondences to discover meanings which reveal the deep Guiding Essence supporting my endeavors as a Jewitch.

Royal Ritual Goblet

כ" באב תשס"ז

This is my new ritual witch's goblet. It's handcrafted with a green basin raised upon a purple stem and base. To me, the royal purple argaman color symbolizes synthesis of the universes of tikun and tohu. The green represents all life of the earth (signifying all existent reality). In the structure of my witch's goblet, all life of the earth (once cast down) now is raised up by the royal purple. ס

See this post on Walking On Fire for additional commentary.

Kabbalistic Meditation For Alignment

כ"ו בניסן תשס"ז

Kabbalah teaches that each human soul is actually composed of five levels - nefesh (animated soul), ruach (wind), neshamah (breath), chayah (living) and yechidah (single one). The nefesh itself is composed of two levels - nefesh elokit (malchut of the overall soul, the divine spark) and nefesh habehamit (physical body). Thus, we will be working with six basic levels of the soul.

Generally, it is believed that the souls typically have conflicting goals, resulting in functional misalignment. Here is a daily meditation designed to bring one's souls back into alignment and unity. The meditation is merely an outline which can be uniquely tailored to one's spiritual practice.

1. Light a small candle and a stick of incense (optional step).

2. In a quiet place, sit and align your physical frame in a proper but relaxed posture.

3. Breathe, letting your back muscles and torso move with each breath.

4. Lightly touch the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue, breathing (through the deep back of your throat) in and out through your nose until a regular relaxed rhythm is achieved. Sway or rock if you feel so inclined.

5. Begin counted breaths. Count to 6 as you inhale slowly and evenly.

6. Pause to the count of 6.

7. Exhale slowly and evenly to the count of 6.

8. Pause to the count of 6, closing your eyes.

9. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the physical body (nefesh habehamit). As you inhale, envision breathing in pure blue-white sparkling light drawn from the Dark Pool of the Divine Essence formed into the STa"M letter yod (י). The tag and the kotz anchor you from one end (of the Divine) to the other (the physical). As you exhale, envision breathing out the letter hei (ה), filling your body with the blue-white sparkling light. See the inside of your physical body dance with this living light, mingling with your blood, tissues and organs. See the ends of your hair and fingertips gently spark. Feel it cleansing your body.

10. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the divine spark (nefesh elokit) which permeates and hovers your physical body. As above, inhale the letter yod and exhale the letter hei, filling the nefesh elokit with pure sparkling blue-white light drawn from the Dark Pool through the nefesh habehamit. See the sparkling blue-white light pour out from within through the flesh of your skin and into full expanse of the nefesh elokit which surrounds your physical body. See the unity of the nefashot in the living light. See it quietly pulsate with life. Feel it cleansing your lifeforce.

11. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the ruach which surrounds the nefashot like an egg. As above, inhale the letter yod and exhale the letter hei, filling the egg of the ruach with the sparkling blue-white light drawn from the Dark Pool through both the nefesh habehamit and the nefesh elokit. See the ruach shine with diamonds of brilliant blue-white light at the edges casting soft rays toward your core. Feel it annihilate all negative emotions and psychological complexes as the rays run and return from edges to core, core to edges.

12. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the neshamah, which concentrates like a haloed sphere around and over your head like a crown, where the crown extends beyond the boundary of the ruach. Inhale the letter yod and exhale the letter hei - as you exhale, see the sparkling blue-white light rush up the spine from the center of your core into your head, pouring sprinkling bursts of living light out your nose, ears, eyes, third eye and top of your head into the crown which represents your neshamah. Simultaneously, see the living light course through your physical nervous system into your skin receptors and into the "places" of the nefesh elokit and ruach. See sparks drop like waters of truth from the tips of the crown into the ruach, nefesh elokit and physical body (nefesh habehamit). See untruth dissolve away within your mind, replaced by the pure Light of Truth.

13. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the chayah. Inhale the letter yod, exhale the letter hei. See the sparkling blue-white light burst out from within your core, penetrating all previous soul levels in a dazzling display of radiant light surrounding your entire being for several yards. Don't envision it - see it by knowing it. Feel its presence. Be still. See nothing. Experience Pure Enlivened Consciousness.

14. Take a breath with the sets of 6 for the yechidah. Inhale the letter yod, exhale the letter hei. See a dazzling lazer-like line shoot out from your core in both directions, head to toe and beyond into the Dark Pool at both ends. Feel grounded in it. Feel the Dark Peace resting in the heart of the dazzling lazer line of Divine Light. See Divine Sparks shower down over you with soft warmth, and rise from the ground to kiss your lips as the Dark Heart of Peace beats in rhythm with your own heart. Experience the Healing Power. Feel it healing you.

At this point, we are breathing with the lifeforce of YH YHYH (יה יהיה) through both immanent and transcendent soul levels in unity.

15. Repeat steps 9-14 four more times, such that the exercise has been completed five times - once for each Universe - kadmon, atzilut, beriyah, yetzirah and assiyah.

16. Begin breathing normally.

17. After a few cycles of normal breathing, open your eyes and remove your tongue from the roof of your mouth.

18. Stretch, stand up, let candle and incense burn out.

Divine Shabbat Consciousness In A Bottle

י"ח בניסן תשס"ז

I prepared the first trial batch of Feminine Clarity ritual purification oil tonight under the planetary influence of Saturn and a waning gibbous moon 90% full.

The modified recipe is as follows:

30 mls (1 oz. or 1/8 cup) jojoba oil
3 drops myrrh
2 drops frankincense
2 drops spikenard
5 drops cinnamon bark
1 drop hyssop
1 drop benzoin
1 drop vanilla

Fifteen (יה) total drops of essential oil were used to make Feminine Clarity, where fifteen represents the concealed upper half of the Divine Name (the tetragrammaton). Fifteen has a digit sum of 6 (ו) and is brought down through gathering together the supplies and tools for making the blend into a focused location (my workspace) in time (tonight). The act of actually making the blend further brings down feminine clarity into reality and forms the final hei (ה) of the tetragrammaton.

The five drops of cinnamon bark oil were quite by accident (the original intent was to use one drop) but I let the "accident" remain unaltered instead of adding other ingredients to make original proportions. Cinnamon powerfully raises spiritual vibrations, and given that this week is Pesach, the additional drops were likely an "accident" orchestrated by the Universe to raise spiritual vibrations by an expressive factor of five (hei, ה). There are five total "redemptions" in this blend. Consequently, this "accident" of clumsiness was no accident.

The waning gibbous banishes negativity and impurity through the channel of the letter tzadi (90 צ), where tzadi contains the power to actualize potential and to draw down divinity into the world.

Saturn governs Shabbat and is represented by the letter reish (ר). Reish represents clarification and drawing shabbat consciousness into the weekday.

Thus, the first batch of Feminine Clarity is characterized by rectified expressiveness (five, hei), clarity-clarification (reish), shabbat consciousness drawn down into normative awareness (reish) and complete redemption.

Note: All oils used, excluding the carrier (jajoba), are essential oils. Storage vessel changed to red crystal bottle with clear crystal stopper. The magickal properties of red include survival, transformation and life renewal.

Witch's Brew - "Goblet Of Peace"

ה' בניסן תשס"ז

The following incense recipe brings together into the world of action a link to the supernal Goblet Of Fire (Eliyahu's Cup) as discussed in a previous post on my other blog, Walking On Fire.

The Goblet of Fire corresponds to the "place" on the Tree of Life where Keter of Beriyah (water) and Tiferet of Atzilut (fire) are One. In other words, in Keter of Beriyah (which is Tiferet of Atzilut) peace is made between fire and water. Thus, the goblet of fire is exactly this place where peace is made in the heavens [1]. Importantly, we can also understand from this information that the Goblet of Fire is also the Goblet of Peace.

גבעי = 85 = 8 + 5 = 13 = "my goblet"

Brew ingredients by gender and elemental correspondences:

Masculine & Feminine Ingredient (1):

2 parts benzoin (m & f)* - air (avir)

Feminine Ingredients (4)

1 part vanilla (f) - water
1 part white sandalwood (f) - water
1 part myrrh (f) - water
1 part barley (f) - earth

Masculine Ingredients (4):

1 part pomegranate juice (m) - fire
1 part cinnamon (m) - fire
1 part nutmeg (m) - fire
1 part mugwort (m) - earth

Essential Oils (4):

1 drop hyssop - fire (m)
1 drop spikenard - water (f)
1 drop myrrh - water (f)
1 cinnamon bark - fire (m)

In this blend there are 9 (a vessel for peace ט) primary ingredients and 4 (Malchut ד) essential oils, for a total of 13 ingredients.

Benzoin is the ingredient where both fire (atzilut, feminine pillar) and water (beriyah, masculine pillar) combine in peace, resulting in elemental "air" (yetzirah and avir kadmon, the middle pillar as above, so below). The entire formula, written out and performed through actually making the incense is the "earth" (assiyah) where One Peacefully Dwells. Just like in the conclusion of the Amida.

Footnotes:

[1] He who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen. (Oseh Shalom, Conclusion of the Amida)

* Benzoin is a "masculine botanical" by virtue of its hexagonal aromatic ring and is a "feminine botanical" by virtue of its vanilla-like scent, where the hexagonal aromatic ring corresponds to the masculine partzuf zer anpin and where vanilla is etymologically derived from a Latin word meaning "vagina".

The Golem Watcher, A Wizard's Familiar

Researching defensive magick, I came across this about "familiars" in Mastering Witchcraft (Paul Huson) which sounds amazing like the magical golem of Jewish tradition.

There are several types of familiars, or magistelli, to give them their more correct title. Basically, there are three types of magistellus.

The third type, and to the individual witch (or wizard), most important type of magistellus is that of the magical servant. This may be a demonic entity who has been "bound" to some magical instrument such as a show stone or mirror, permanently or temporaily. It may also be an elemental creature formed by the combination of your witch (or wizard) power and some natural phenomenon. This type of magistellus becomes the protective spirit or Watcher, a magical guardian of the home. They take time to formulate, but really can prove to be of tremendous value. For unlike the general Earth spells which are effective to guard your home from general bad vibrations, to guard against out-and-out magical attack, a magistellus is ideal; it possesses a definite will of its own, the entire aim of which is to protect the house and those that dwell in it from all offensive sorcery. As such, it is really a magical type of vigilant robot, programmed solely to watch over the safety of the home. A sorcerer's watchdog, in fact.

Interestingly, in Jewish tradition, the term golem (a creature created "artifically" by magical means) is also used to describe newbies to the tradition and Torah study. In other words, ba'alei teshuvah and converts are often used as golems, magistelli and familiars are used. They are "simple" people, in terms of Torah scholarship and are eagerly looking for acceptance into a community. Consequently, they can easily be used as watchdogs and to "bide the issue" as discussed in a previous entry regarding lost curses.

In my own way of thinking, a wizard or witch ought to be willing to take full responsibility for his or her magic. If he or she isn't willing to do this, then something is terribly wrong with the kavanah and/or magic of the wizard or witch, and clearly he or she suspects that the magic may have a cost that he or she is unwilling to pay.

Lost Curses & The Wizard's Minion

Paul Huson (Mastering Witchcraft) writes regarding the fate of lost curses and those who cast them:

In matters of occult warfare, passive defense is the most effective type of retaliation.

When a wizard or witch mounts a magical attack, if it happens to misfire or if the victim is in any way adequately protected, as they say in the craft - "an the witch (or wizard) bide the issue!" - the home of lost curses is right back where they came from, the sender his or herself. So, if you can arrange to be ritually well-defended at the time that the dark spell is being cast, the spellbinders will, in fact, be conjuring to their own destruction. Advanced practitioners try to avoid the recoil by enveigling other, less-advanced members of their coven only too glad to try their hand at a bit of cursing (or magic), to do the actual dirty work for them: a well-known expedient in all fields! Regardless of any feelings of compassion for who actually "bides the issue," however, you should proceed with all your means of defense as surely as you would board up your house if it stood in the path of a hurricane.