Magic For Haiti

If you read my blog and are a practicing magician, please take some time to do some healing work for the people in Haiti. We are blessed with the ability to wield our power beyond what most would think imaginable, so it is important for us to use our gifts for the good of others. Also, you get back what you put forth, so if you are in need of a little extra blessings start by giving some to others. If you think your magic is "too small" to help a situation like this, remember my friends we are all created in the image and likeness of the Divine. That means you can tap into infinite resources of power...especially if you are using your magic for healing. So invoke those angels, create those elemental, or whatever it is you do. If you are new to magic and would like to learn how to use it to heal yourself and others than check out www.western-mysteries.org Also, I will be preforming a special healing rite this Friday...so send your healing requests to werisetogether@gmail.com There is no charge to have your request added to my rite. Many blessings to you all!

Angelic Healing Touch Podcast 1/12

Tonight there will be a podcast on Angelic Healing Touch...check it out!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/robert-zink/2010/01/13/how-to-learn-the-secrets-of-angel-healing-touch

Golden Dawn Interview With Nick Farrell Part 2

Salve to all my lovely readers! I hope your days are being blessed with health and happiness. As promised, here is the second part to my interview with Nick Farrell. I hope you have been enjoying his widsom and experience as much as I have. Some of you know that last week I preformed a special prosperity ritual for all of the people who follow my blog . I figure since you are doing so much for me by giving me a sounding board for my thoughts, why not do something for you? Besides, you deserve it! We all need a little extra help right now. Since it was such a blessing for me (and to some of you who e-mailed me about the results you saw) I am going to do some healing work this week. As I do not know all of you personally it is important to "follow" me so I have some reference as to who you are during my ritual. It will be preformed on Friday so if you haven't started following yet or know someone who needs a little extra Light...feel free to spread the word! :) Also, if you have a specific healing request you can e-mail me privately at werisetogether@gmail.com or go to http://www.esotericgoldendawn.com/ouro_healingrequests.htm to have an entire group of Adepti work on you during a special monthly ritual that we preform. Heck...why not do both? And now without further ado...part two of my interview with Nick. ( and Nick if your reading this Bonjourno!)

Nick Farrell Interview Part 2

What are the qualities that you believe define an Adept? How would you describe the differences in the work that an Outer Order member does and the work and Inner Order member does?

An Adept is one who is “most themselves”. The outer order shows them how to become that and does the work on the sphere of sensation that alAlows that state to manifest. A second Order Adept, knowing themselves and their position in the universe, is able to be a conscious co-creator with god and explore inner space.

Is there any type of magic that you particularly enjoy i.e. skrying, Enochian, divination, etc….

I am a big fan of ritual. It is the triple leo side of me I like a good performance.

As far as your personal work is concerned, what do you consider to be the most important thing for you to be focusing on right now?

Last year I was involved in establishing the Magical Order of Aurora Aurea which is a Golden Dawn order. When you do this it is traditional to call yourself an obscenely high grade and do little work for the rest of your life. Although NAM and ZAM grade the Second Order of the GD is all documented there is little work that has been done on the other sub-grades of the 5=6 and the 6=5 and 7=4. It is my idea to develop a system to work myself through those grades and write the material for the second order to develop as I go. The fun is to crack the symbolism of the system and make it more practical.

Do you feel the Golden Dawn has helped you to attain the life that you wanted and to reach the goals that you have set for yourself in life?

Magic has shaped me and my goals and defined most of what I do. If I am happy it is because I have managed to archive a magical goal. So it really your life, if it isn't then you are not a magician. Sure, magic has helped me achieve goals but I am not sure if I would have had those goals if I had not been a magician.


What do you think makes the Golden Dawn unique?

I still think it is the most complete unending system out there.

Some people believe the Golden Dawn can be tailored to anyone, do you believe it is for everyone, or do you think it is really for the niche, ceremonial magician?

Golden Dawn groups divide into three types. There are the tourists who come along for a look. They might be in the group for the rest of their lives but they never 'live' the system. Then there are those who study it and allow it to transform them. Magic becomes their life pattern. Then there are those who are born magicians. These are rarer and usually cause a teacher the most problems. The GD works for all these types and each group should have a balance of them. Most groups are formed from a majority of the first group with a smattering of the second type and if they are lucky one or two real magicians.
But I don't think it is for everyone. The modern golden dawn has made a huge mistake in believing it can be inclusive and that any one can come along and be nurtured up the levels. As a result standards have fallen to the point that people are becoming Adepts without knowing the basics. Orders are said to be successful if they are big rather than how many Adepts their system produces. Real magic does not suffer fools gladly and I think there are too many fools who have floated to the top.

What do you think is the current state of the tradition? How would you describe the climate? Do you think that it is really just a lot of in-fighting as the internet makes it seem, or do you think that the internet does not represent what it really going on in the community as a whole?

I think the Golden Dawn is splitting into three clear factions. The first is those who think they can make money out of it, the second are those who believe it should be run along masonic or religious lines and the third are those who are only interested in the magical side. Magical Golden Dawn groups talk to each other and use the internet to share information. When they argue it is more of a row based on techniques and usually is patched up. The masonic style groups take people through the grades and status is accorded by grade. Such groups are more expansive because the numbers of temples which are under their umbrella equates to their personal status. They are more likely to be concerned with lineage or what they perceive as being the tradition. They get very upset if their status is questioned or threatened. Then there are those who a trying to make money out of the Golden Dawn system who see any one else out their as competition. I would like to think that the Magical Golden Dawn will win, but what is more likely is that they will move the the background, perhaps not even calling themselves Golden Dawn to avoid being drawn into such conflicts. I think it will be harder for those who are searching for a real Golden Dawn group under that name to find a good one.

What is the Magical Order of the Aurora Aurea?

The Magical Order of the Aurora Aurea is a modern expression of the Golden Dawn tradition. It is an international Order with its Headquarters in Rome with Temples forming in Ireland, England, Wales and Slovinia. We also intend to open temples all over the world.
Although it is a traditional secret magical order it operates two public programmes. The first is its correspondence course which places its teachings in the hands of people who would not be able to join a working magical temple. The second are its Anticums which are public rituals and workshops organised by its initiates. While the Order is running, we have yet to go public. It will probably be ready in the next few weeks.
It is orthodox Golden Dawn but its teachings require more practical work in addition to intellectual study. This does not mean that we have put inner order techniques in the outer, but instead have organised a system of study which requires regular practical effort and alchemical changes in personality. We are also interested in the magical layers involved in the initiation rituals. We do not use the cut down versions of the Golden Dawn rituals that were published by Regardie and are the mainstay of modern Golden Dawn groups. Instead we use the same rituals which have been part of the Golden Dawn for more than a century.

Interview With Nick Farrell Part 1

As promised, here is the next interview in my "Golden Dawn Interview Series". A big thanks to Nick for taking the time to share his thoughts. After talking with him I realized he is a veritable Golden Dawn machine! ...full of zeal and motivation. For the enjoyment of my readers and the community at large I am posting the entire interview in two parts due to its length. I hope you enjoy...If you haven't yet, please read my first interview with Samual Scarbarough, some questions are the same, but I think its nice to hear a variety of viewpoints on similar topics in our community.

What was it that first interested you in magic? and Why did you choose the Golden Dawn System?

I was interested in religion as a kid but something about the art and idea of magic drew me in. I was always imaginative and found that exoteric religion was simply too shallow and proscriptive. The Golden Dawn attracted me because it was a complete magical system. I trained in groups that were derived from Dion Fortune and I always had the feeling that while such systems were good at some things they were not complete. This left the teachers free to add bits that they though were important which meant that other ideas came unstuck. The GD gives you a map and then it says “start from here”, while other groups I found would give you a jigsaw puzzle with the corners lost down the back of the sofa.


Were there certain changes in personal growth that you expected to see? Where these accomplished? If so, how quickly after being initiated?

I didn't expect any personal changes really, just development. I had been working in the magical tradition since I was 17 and was initiated into a Golden Dawn order when I was 33. I knew a lot but there was no structure on which to build. However there were some changes at key points in the grade system. The outer order of the GD is about becoming yourself as an individual and being confident about that. I think that during my period on the outer I evolved from someone who sat back and learnt other people's views to someone who was happy to express his own ideas. I became 'famous' for actually saying what I think and comfortable projecting those ideas in writing or standing up in front of people. This caused problems for some. I have a nasty knack of not doing what I was told and there is my sense of humour which I like but some people take seriously. My 5=6 was the most dramatic initiation I experienced though and that caused a personality change where the different aspects of myself fused together. It did not last but now I notice there is a 'plugged in' Nick Farrell and one which is ordinary and a bit weaker.

How would you describe spiritual growth in the GD system?

It is furry, with a few spots and tends to like chocolate :-) Actually it is like most forms of spiritual growth. It is hard work that requires sacrifice. People make the mistake of thinking the GD is about intellectual understanding and long involved rituals. It can be that. There a lot of people who sit there and pontificate for hours about the Geomatria of the Supreme Ritual of the Pentagram and its relationship to the spiritual alchemy of the godforms of Atum-Re but cannot do a lesser ritual of the pentagram if a demon was burning hoof prints into the carpet. However there are also those who do and they are the most fun to work with.


It seems many mystical traditions have similarities in mystical experiences, as well as ones that are primarily within their tradition…how would you describe the spiritual experience of the Golden Dawn?

It depends on the person. Each person has inside them a key to a part of the rainbow that is God. I think they find that and then find that they have deal with the other colours too. No one's rainbow is ever complete but it is theirs and they are happy with it. I would like to say that you see into the gates of infinity and touch the throne of heaven and certainly I have had spiritual experiences like that. More often though it is seeing the colours of god in your daily life and knowing what to mix to get the image you want.

What have you found the biggest pitfall in the Great Work and what advice do you have to give about overcoming it?

Believing that you are small. It is easy to think you are small when you stand on the rim of a small galaxy before the infinity of space. To make matters worse we have religions and other people tell us that we are at the bottom of a spiritual ladder two steps up from plankton. However the way I see it we are meant to be co-creators with infinity and you don't get that sort of job by thinking small.


Have you had what can be described as “peak experiences” of consciousness while doing magic or as an effect of magic, for example Unified Consciousness, one-pointed awareness, out of body experiences, levitation, etc…if so could you please describe a meaningful one? Have you found these to be common within people who study magic and the Golden Dawn?


I think they are overrated, certainly as a mark of spiritual progress. I mark diaries of students who tell me they have had them but you are left with thinking “well now what?”. A spiritual experience is not worth much if you can't do much with it. While most of the time it is people trying to impress you, generally these experiences are like electricity arcing in the darkness. It is all very impressive but it is not going to cook your dinner or light your home. The ones that get on my nerves is the person who tells you they have had a spiritual experience but say they don't have words describe it. I usually tell them to write a poem or draw a picture as art brings the experience down the levels. If they can't, and the experience does not translate into changes in their life it is not doing anyone any good.

How has the Great Work changed for you over the years?

When I started out I was a small child looking at the sky and it all felt too big. Now it is an adventure.

Have you found the Golden Dawn system to work with other systems…do you advocate using it with other systems…such as Eastern traditions?

In the west there are few traditions that do not owe something to the Golden Dawn. Most of the time they work together ok. The Eastern system doesn't. The GD founders were over awed by the Eastern systems and some of it found its way into the tradition. But I think if they looked harder they would find the same thing in the West which worked better. I use the Eastern godform techniques with Western gods and some of the breathing techniques. But I don't use charkas and some of the stuff on the aura. I prefer the western idea of the Sphere of Sensation which is similar.


Are there any particular techniques in the system that you believe are absolutely necessary to master for personal and spiritual growth?

Regular meditation work. Ironically it is the one thing that many GD schools think is pointless and few enforce. However if a person is not doing regular meditation work they would be better off watching a nice video.

Things I'm Digging Right Now

There are just some great Golden Dawn and esoteric resources I am digging right now and I thought I would share :)

Books

The Way of Hermes: New Translations of The Corpus Hermeticum and The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Ascepius (long title, awesome read)

Marriage As A Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints by David and Mary Ford (in case you didn't know this was possible)

Meditation and The Kabbalah: Aryeh Kaplan (always informative and interesting to go back to)

Golden Dawn Blogs:

Some good, although unfortunatly little know blogs

www.rosicrucian-vault.blogspot.com

www.abiegnus.blogspot.com

www.robertzink.blogspot.com

the last one you may find intriguing as it is written from the perspective of someone who is not within the occult community, but whom met Robert while on a trip to India...and became interested in his life's work. Its nice to hear an outside perspective.

Music:

Beats Antique- if you haven't heard these guys, they are amazing, and will really get those juices flowing to do some magical work

Purification of The Soul Through the Loving Gift of Gratitude

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you were as blessed by the season as I was. Although, I have to admit, as a creature of habit I am more than happy to finally be back into my regular schedule...and I am very exited about this coming year! Did anyone notice that amazing full moon we had on the first?...a beautiful healing moon, full of nurturing energy. My hope for myself, my students, and all my readers is that we all remember everyday how blessed we are (even if the circumstances seem dire), and take that gratitude and share it with others...this is the best way to bring even more blessings into our life.

I was blessed over the holidays to learn a true lesson about gratitude (in retrospect, how appropriate!) and I have come to see that it is a real tool to happiness...one that can be used to bring positivity and healing to any situation. Over the holiday I was in beautiful, sunny California at an an amazing condo on the beach in San Diego, a city which has a million fun things to do. I was really looking forward to having a, fun filled vacation...and what happened? Someone was sick every day I was there. First it was my son, then my mother, then my husband, then my mother in law...it was really a recipe for disaster- a bad mood, and a bad trip just waiting to happen. Whereas in the past I would have let my attachment to my expectations, and my desire to have the trip be a certain way cause me to be disappointed, then irritable, then angry, then just plain worn out from 2 1/2 wks of sickness...I was determined to not let it be so. Recently I have been working very hard to not be attached to my desires, expectations, or material inclinations...and this to me was a great test for that. But, I have to admit that while this has been my goal I wasn't quite sure how to reach it. Was it through control of my thoughts, or by constant testing until it was burned out of me, or through prayer and fasting? What I found through my Christmas ordeal...was that the key was gratitude. No matter what happens, no matter what is taken away...there is still something to be grateful for. And whereas intellectually one may think that by attaching your consciousness toward another material thing would be contrary to the goal...gratitude for the blessings in your life has the alternate effect of going beyond the ego, and taking us away from attachment. I realized the fullness of this concept in the simplest of choices I made while on vacation. My son was sick? How thankful I was that I could watch over him, while to beautiful ocean was outside to soothe me. My husband was ill? How wonderful it was that it didn't happen until he got to CA so I could be with him and see him after a week of being gone. My mother was throwing up? How thankful I was for the time we did get to spend having heart to heart conversations...every time a feeling of hopelessness tried to take over I would combat it with gratitude and thanksgiving to the Divine for all the great things I did receive while there. Even if I didn't get to go surfing, and to the amusement park, and around to take more photographs (I love photography), the small, simple moments were far more meaningful. And although this may seem like a small lesson learned in a small situations...the power of gratitude showed itself to me during a far more difficult time in my life when I was no where near where I am in my consciousness today...when I was truly lost in darkness.

There was a time when I was so wrapped up in my own pain that at one point I couldn't get out of bed. My depression was so debilitating that it culminated in me dropping out of college. One day, as I lay there in bed, thinking about my life, I realized that no one was going to "save" me. No friend or family member was going to come bursting through my door and say "Get up! its time to start living your life!" It was up to me to take the first step to having a fulfilling and happy life. I thought "there are so many people who are happy, what is different for them?" and from somewhere deep inside,(which I now realize was the whisper of my Higher Self) I heard a tiny voice that told me...choice. We all have a choice. The world is the world, and we see it for what we believe it to be. There are just as many "bad" things as there are "good", there are just as many "mean" people as there are "nice"...but we see what we want. I was always flabbergasted when I was out driving, or shopping, or going to school by how rude and inconsiderate people were. But how many people had been nice that I hadn't noticed? Were people maybe extra rude because I was always in a foul mood? On and on my thoughts swirled around in my head, and I went from thinking that I was a victim of a terrible curse to realizing that I had some control over my life, and that maybe my life was a result of who I was inside. So I took that first step, allowing my feet to slide out from the covers and feel the carpet beneath my bed, and I thought "how nice it is to have carpet". Who do you know had been thankful for carpet? But that thought was a start, a new way to look at the world. It was a new way to cultivate an attitude that wasn't so full of darkness and despair; a way that kind of tickled my heart and gave me hope. After all those months it was like a refreshing drink of water given in the desert. So I started to cultivate the attitude of gratitude when I could...of course having a new attitude about life was a challenge to overcome, but now I had a tool. So I counted my blessings- food, shelter, the ability to not have to sleep in a cold street in the winter, health...in the beginning my blessings seemed few, but there was always at least one things that I could be grateful for and over time I realized how great even the smallest one seemed. And now 12 years later, I have so many blessings, family, friends, happiness, healthy, a graduate degree, a beautiful son, and this lesson has come full circle in the smallest of circumstances...an illness over Christmas vacation, and I am made fully aware of its power.

The only way to true happiness is to look outside our small selves to our Higher Self which resides within us and throughout the whole universe...to realize our intimate connection with everything and everyone. The material realm, the material consciousness of the ego strives for more, and is never satisfied always leaving us feeling empty no matter how much we gain. But, when we connect to our Higher Self, we connect to the source of all and thus can never feel empty. We accomplish this by purifying ourselves to our lower natures and exalting our Higher Self. Gratitude is the loving way to purification, for it automatically humbles us and withdraws us from the ego. It fills us with love, hope, and kindness, and causes us to want to share it with others...thus becoming a self-perpetuating gift.

May we be grateful for all that we have this year, and share our blessings with others.

Nosce Te Ipsum

Soror FSO

For information on how to receive training in the Hermetic Arts, and The Golden Dawn please contact me at werisetogether@gmail.com

Litany of Humility

Throughout the week I feel a consistent urge to blog. Surprisingly I have found it to be a wonderful outlet for thoughts that like to incessantly poke at my consciousness...I say surprising because until my foray into the blogosphere I never thought of myself as a writer, and now I see the real joy behind it. Unfortunatly, I do not have the time to keep up with it the way that I wish to so I have come up with a compromise for myself. Instead of taking the hour or so to craft a blog whenever I have an idea to get off my chest, I will do what I do now, and do so when I have the time. But to fulfill my urge I will more frequently post excerpts from books, grimoires, or papers that I am researching at the time (that's what I have to spend the majority of my free time doing, since I teach). This way you can see more often where my brainpower is being focused, and I can feel what I am beginning to understand is a writer's need to release to some degree all the thoughts that swirl around in their head.

Right now I am loving the "Litany of Humility".This Litany is Christ centered, but I believe it can be altered for those who are not studying the Christian Mysteries. I personally have found that practicing humility in the occult sciences is not only necessary for keeping one's head in check when surrounded by such powerful energies, but helps one to become closer to the Divine, and bestows greater power to the magician(something that I will expound upon in a full length blog)

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.