Questions from Me to You, Dear Reader

Being an active blogger, apparently, and who gets a decent amount of daily traffic (who recently passed the 100K hit count, thank you guys so much!), I like to amuse and confuse myself at what you guys actually like to read here.  I mean, seeing how I blog on everything from orgone technology to angelic conjurations and religious politics, I’ve got a fair bit of knowledge built up and a good number of posts to help share it.  Still, every so often I wonder why people read my blog, and what they might be interested in reading.  After all, feedback is one way to fine-tune writing, and you, dearest readers, are just the ones to give it!  So, here are a few questions for you to consider and answer down in the comments below:

1. What drew you to my blog in the first place?  How’d you hear about it, and how do you tend to read it (RSS feed, WordPress Reader, links from Twitter or Facebook, etc.)?  Do you ever bother to check out the comments on the posts?  Do you ever bother to comment on the posts?
2. I’ve made a fair number of designs for Tables of Practices, talismans, lamens, and the like.  Have you found any of them to be useful in your own work?  Have you made anything incorporating or based off of the designs you’ve found here?  Are there any designs in particular you’d like to see me create, improve, or focus on in the future?  Are there any seals, images, sigils, or pictures from magical texts you’d like to see me redraw or remake for a new age?
3. I really enjoyed doing my series of posts on geomancy, De Geomanteia, since it’s a large topic that I know a lot about and enjoy talking about.  Are there any other series you’d like me to consider doing in the future?  Any other large topics you’d like me to delve into more thoroughly, both for my benefit and yours?  What would you like me to talk about, generally and specifically?  One series I thought about doing would be a modern reinterpretation of images of the Zodiac (e.g. Virgo as the Robot Bitch, Aquarius as the Internet-Addicted Jihadi, etc.); would you all be interested in things like this?
4. One of the most-viewed pages on my blog is my post on the shorthand I developed for personal use.  I never expected this to be so popular a thing, but I guess a lot more people are interested in stenography than occultism.  Do any of you actually use this shorthand?  If so, have you used it for sigilization, simple writing, calligraphy, or just as an exercise in bored creativity?  Are there any other posts you come here specifically to reference (the page on Planetary Conjurations from the Munich Manual is another popular one)?
5. I hear tell that a lot of people are impressed with the vast knowledge and intellect I display here on my blog (I disagree with the qualifications and adjectives used), but some readers have expressed interest in simpler, introductory-level posts every so often for the beginner or less bored.  What kinds of introductions, 100-style topics would you like to see me discuss?  Or would you rather me stick to the higher-level, philosophical stuff?  Would you rather me put things in terms of theory and back-end occult mechanics, or actual ritual and real-world experiences, or some mix of the two?
6. Are there any other blogs you know of similar to this one as far as topics, philosophy, magic, and the like go that you’d suggest (and aren’t already in the blogroll to the right)?  I’m always on the lookout to expand my blogosphere and knowledge by observing the work of others who actually do the Work.
7. What are some of your interests in the occult?  Are you more into hearth- or kitchen-witchery?  Do you dig Western ceremonial, grimoire, or Solomonic magic?  Are you more of an energy worker, orgone/radionics/reiki channeler, or a psionics practitioner?  Do you read for the philosophy or the practice?  Are you here just for the lulz and passing interests, or are you here to start yourself off on your own path?  Do you have a label for yourself, or do you describe yourself by what you do?  Do you have a specific culture or racial heritage you tie yourself and your work to?
8. I live, work, and Work in the Washington, DC area of the US, and do readings and offer classes at Sticks and Stones in Fairfax, VA.  Are any of my readers close enough to get a small get-together going for magicians and occultists?  If I were to offer classes at Sticks and Stones with a focus on Hermetic magic and the like, what would you like to see me teach, if you could come by?

If you read my blog regularly, or even if this is your first time browsing around, feel free to leave a bit of feedback in the comments below.  Help me make my blog more awesome, and everyone’ll benefit.  I don’t have much to entice you with to make you comment, but I can give you a hug through the ether if that’s okay.  This isn’t to change the focus or scope of the blog (it is still my blog, after all), but knowing what some of my readers think can help me get more ideas myself.

De Geomanteia Recap, and a Huge Thank You

As I mentioned last time, I completed the small little journey I set out on about five months ago to describe each of the geomantic figures and a bit about geomantic technique on my blog at the rate of one post per week.  It’s been a fantastic trip, and I hope you guys got a lot out of it; it encouraged me to dig through my old notes and meditations on the subject, as well as having spurred me to do more original geomantic research.  Since some people like things being made easy for them, I present to you a list of all the De Geomanteia posts I made, separated out into the posts on technique and the figures.

The posts on geomantic technique:

1. On the Via Puncti and its variations in the shield chart
2. On perfection, aspect, favorability, and affirmation
3. On determining time and timeframes with geomancy
4. On using geomancy and the figures in magic and ritual

The posts on the geomantic figures (not in chronological order):

1. Populus
2. Via
3. Albus
4. Coniunctio
5. Puella
6. Amissio
7. Fortuna Maior
8. Fortuna Minor
9. Puer
10. Rubeus
11. Acquisitio
12. Laetitia
13. Tristitia
14. Carcer
15. Caput Draconis
16. Cauda Draconis

Feel free to share this or any of the other posts in the De Geomanteia series.  This certainly won’t be the end of geomancy posts here at the Digital Ambler, that’s for sure, so keep an eye out for more meditations on the figures and technique in the future.

Also, I wanted to thank all my readers for making this an awesome week.  On Tuesday, the Digital Ambler crossed the 100,000 hit mark, which is a fantastic milestone.  It’s a nontrivial thing, too, since the blog has only been online for less than two years!  Between Facebook, Twitter, and other people’s blogs and sites, I’ve been getting lots of traffic in ways I wouldn’t've imagined a year or so ago (like from Bungie gaming forums or discussions of grimoires I’ve only dreamed of working with).  You guys are awesome for having helped me out and been with me on this fantastic Hermetic journey, and I see no signs of it stopping anywhere soon.  Keep reading, dear readers, and I hope you enjoy the future with me.

Happy geomancing and happy ambling, you guys!

What it's Like to Have Your Future go to Court

Reblogged from CJR:

I’m writing this down for three reasons. First, I've been asked dozens of times ‘how this feels’ by friends and family over the past few weeks. Second, I think this might be interesting to look back on in 10 or 20 years as what it was like “back then.” And third, I can’t sleep, so why not.

This week, nine men and women who collectively make up the Supreme Court will consider if I, and millions like me, have the right to marry.

Read more… 838 more words

I don't usually reblog things, but this is important. Your regularly scheduled De Geomanteia post will go up today as well, but please take the time to read this and understand what I and millions of other LGBT people are going through today as two significant cases go before the Supreme Court. Here's hoping for a victory for equal rights for all Americans and all humans, though this should never have been fought for anyway.

Custom Wandmaking and Commissions

Given that this is my blog, I feel quite free and enabled to post goddamn whatever the hell I want using as many expletives as my little heart desires.  So, the posts here range from ancient Mediterranean rituals to modern energy work to politics and anywhere in between (especially the in between).  Some of my posts are dedicated to the crafts, tools, and other things I make in the course of the Work, and there’s even multiple pages dedicated to some of the more significant projects I’ve done (check them out under the Crafts menu above, while you’re at it).

I knew it was only a matter of time, but someone recently commissioned them for a custom occult item, a hardwood wand largely following the Trithemius model but with a few design differences and the use of custom ingredients, celestial empowerment, and hard-to-obtain materials to enhance the wand’s power.  Despite some unexpected oddities in the results, I’m pleased overall with the production.  I just hope the owner of the wand says the same!

Not a lot of people know that I’m more than happy to take commissions for occult crafts, mostly because I don’t advertise it.  So, let this post be the official announcement that I’m open to take commissions for occult crafts, tools, talismans, and other artefacts of the Great Work.  Depending on the commission and the time, I may not be able to take it up or might refer you to someone with more appropriate skills than mine, but if you have a hankerin’ for some polyphanic productions, send me an email (polyphanes at gmail) and tell me about your ideas.  Once we get the details, design, and circumstances of creation settled down and out of the way, I’ll get you a quote and we can go from there.

I may eventually get an Etsy page or something, like some of my other friends are suggesting, but in the meantime I’m content with making a few things here and there and selling them at the local spirituality store where I also do readings, Sticks and Stones in Fairfax, VA (which you should totally visit at some point if you’re in the area, especially on Sunday afternoons).