Getting Burnt by the Stars, part 2: Stop Worrying and Love the Burn

Last time, I talked about the costs of magic.  It sucks, and it costs, and it will burn everything from your bank account to your soul itself, but magic is worth it.  Magic is the locked gate that keeps higher fulfillment and human realization from most of the world, and magic is the golden key that unlocks the mysteries to attaining them.  It may have a high price, but it has an even higher payoff that makes magic worth it.

Being a magician for only a few years now, but having the success and results of people who’re far older than I am (I credit having good teachers, good friends, and good allies abounding), I’ve learned a few things that helps in minimizing the burn, or at least in maintaining onself through being burned, so as to keep on keeping on.  This works for me, and I can only suggest it as part of a daily practice and regular maintenance in any magician’s life.  Even these steps may suck at times, but they help overall in minimizing the real burn going on from the real magic.

1. Sanitize.  Keep your entire sphere clean and cleansed, from the basest material components to the highest intellectual and divine ones.  Air out your house, vacuum your carpets, sweep the floorboards, dust the fanblades, wash the car, light the candles, burn the camphor, sprinkle the holy water, clean all the things.  Asperge yourself with holy water or other cleansing agents frequently.  Do regular banishing and force balancing on yourself.  Recleanse and reconsecrate your tools, talismans, and ritual space every so often.  The more astral dirt you accrue by tracking it in from the higher spheres, or the more dust you bring in from inviting higher ups down into your house, the more confused and imbalanced things get down here and up there alike.  Keep yourself, your surroundings, your tools, and your mind clean, cleansed, and clear.
2. Learn.  You can’t do anything if you don’t know how to do it.  Read any and all books you can get your hands on magic, philosophy, religion, spirituality, mathematics, literature, mythology, archaeology, linguistics, folk traditions, fiction ancient and new, science, engineering, history, economics, crafting, and more.  Take classes in whatever you have an interest in, whether it’s related to magic or not.  Talk with friends about their hobbies, experiences, stories, advice, warnings, hopes, dreams, fears, and desires.  Expanding your mind also expands the potential horizons you can explore, no matter how innocuous or trivial something may seem.  Don’t harbor any biases on what you read, study, or discuss; keep an open mind and admit anything with practical merit.  Go on roadtrips just to see new things.  Walk in big cities to see new faces and fashions.  Read blogs with political opinions opposite yours (but are well-written and reasoned).
3. Protect.  If you’ve got one foot in the door to get into the mysteries, you also leave the door ajar for ethereal nasties to come at you.  Don’t let them.  Set up barriers, shields, or guards around your house.  Make protective charms, phylacteries, or enchanted trinkets to keep on yourself.  Find out what force you best resonate with and manipulate it to act as a shield around you.  Always keep an eye out for anything awry or ominous.  Create a few magical or ritual weapons to call on or call up when needed.  Create magical oils or incenses to keep out bad things and keep in good things.  Be mindful of barriers, boundaries, and circles that have already been erected.  Don’t go looking for bad stuff just to mess with it for shits and giggles.
4. Breathe.  Breathing is the source of life down here, and aspiration shares the same root with “inspiriation” and ”spirit”.  By knowing, feeling, and controlling our breath we control our voice level, our speech and diction, our bloodflow, our thought patterns, and ultimately ourselves who are tied into material reality just as we are into spiritual reality.  Breathing is the crux of meditation, and meditation is the crux of knowing yourself, which is the holiest injunction humanity has.  Breathing, just breathing, is magical in and of itself; it’s what animates us, ensouls us, and keeps us alive and living.  Breathing is the foundation of magic, and breathing must be known, understood, and integrated constantly with oneself in order to progress.
5. Pray.  Humans, powerful as we are, were never meant to be alone in any sense of the word, nor can we make it to our goals on our own.  We need help, and prayer is how we obtain it.  Pray for guidance, for patience, for mercy, for compassion, for humility, for forgiveness, for health, for sight, for knowledge, for wisdom, for authority, for power, for light (and in that order).  Pray the Source, the gods, the angels, the celestials, the elementals, the dead, and each other for their blessings, advice, guidance, alignment, unity, and boons.  Pray to know how to use the blessings and boons given to us to the best of our abilities and for the best result for all of us.  Pray with praise, pray with emotion, pray with silence.  Pray with your entire body, soul, spirit and mind.  Pray every day, pray several times a day.  Pray.
6. Stay healthy.  Humans are amphibious, both spiritual and physical.  Magic is largely focused on the spiritual, but it always needs to bring the spiritual and astral down into the material and physical.  Be sure you don’t neglect your body, because that’s the primary vehicle you have to work magic, and the one tool you’ll always have with you in the world.  Get enough sleep every night.  Go to bed at the same time every night.  Get enough to eat every day, but no more.  Eat the proper things in the proper amounts.  Shower, wash your hair, brush your hair, brush your teeth, floss your teeth, exfoliate, deodorize.  Get at least half an hour of light physical activity every day.  Expose yourself to the elements once every so often.  Go outside and enjoy the sunlight, moonlight, starlight, wind, mist, clouds, rain, rivers, oceans, dirt, trees, and animals.  ”Healthy” has its roots in the same word as “whole”, and you need to stay whole physically in order to spiritually progress wholesomely.
7. Get dirty.  Actually go out into the world and remind yourself that you’re still a physical, material being that has physical, material needs.  Everything in moderation, yes, but also including moderation: get sick, get jacked up, get fucked up, get high, get rich, get poor, get happy, get sad, get angry, get lonely, get loved.  We’re human beings to experience human life, after all, and without that experience we’ve ultimately failed at out birth’s purpose.  Getting ourselves meshed in human life, living in the world while not wholly of it, helps keep things in perspective and shows the power of the cleansing, cleaning, Light-bearing work we’re doing.  Plus, getting dirty helps us realize that even the dirt is pure and holy, that nothing is truly separate from the Source from which it came.
8. Do it.  Complain however much you like or don’t complain at all; magic is going to suck no matter what.  That doesn’t change the fact that you’re a magician to do magic.  Do it.  Do it now.  There’s no other way, time, or place to do it.  Just do it.

The more you burn up, the more of you there is to burn until burning doesn’t need to happen anymore.  Don’t worry about what’s burnt up and gone.  Worry about what you have left to burn and what can still be purified and transmuted into the pure divine essence we really are and should be.

I’m prone to gingivitis, the inflammation of the gums generally from plaque.  Part of it’s my own dietary and hygienic habits, and part of it is my genetics and natural body’s processes.  That doesn’t mean I need to have gingivitis, much less that I should.  How do I keep my gums clean and free from the disease?  More toothbrushing, flossing daily, rinsing with mouthwash, and watching what and when I eat.  Does this all get easier with time?  Nope; it still takes as much time the hundredth day as it did the first, the same spots in my gums still need maintenance, and my food choices are still as obnoxious as ever.  Is the payoff worth it?  Totally; my teeth are whiter, my breath stinks less, my gums bleed less, and my mouth is generally healthier than before.  The payoff here is worth the cost of the daily maintenance, and if (heavens forbid) I ever have to go under for a root canal or other major dental operation, it’ll all go easier before, during, and after due to my lack of gingivitis and better oral care.

Magic works much the same way.  Dealing with the raw forces of creation and the stars is dangerous and you risk not being able to handle the influx of those energies without the proper maintenance.  Laying the foundation of daily practice to stabilize, sanctify, and secure your life goes a long way in dealing with the heavy machinery of the cosmos.  If you don’t have the rest of your house in order, don’t expect good times to result when you invite emissaries and presidents of foreign planes of existence in.  If you have your house and life in order and prepared in the proper way, you’ll still have to go through the paperwork and shopping and security drama, but the emissaries and presidents will be more pleased, more willing, and more able to help you who’ve helped yourself so much without them.  Daily or regular mainteance takes time and effort all in itself, and that’s not even where the real heart of magic lies, but it’s that very same regular maintenance that builds the tower to get to it.

Clean(s)ing House

Wednesdays are awesome for me.  They’re the days I get to wake up late, lounge around all day in my underwear (if that), eat and drink whatever I goddamn want whenever I goddamn want, and take long-ass showers in the dark like my bathroom is a sensory deprivation chamber.  Why?  Because I work from home those days, and not being in the office lets me get a lot done at home and gives me more time to take care of my own affairs.

Over the past Mercury Retrograde period (which ended, like, just now), things were crazy.  I had a trip happen every weekend, my phone died after gravity and toilets conspired against me (how shitty!), I gained some extra weight from eating on the go and overeating too often, and my entire practice pretty much fell apart at the seams.  It’s been nice, though, as a break and distraction, but now it’s time to get things back in order, and it’s time to clean house.  Let’s start with that literally, because my house is getting pretty dusty.

Why bother with cleaning a house as a magician?  Because cleanliness is next to godliness.  Duh.  Not to mention that it makes things easier to find, if you’ve got a lot of occult wares, and that it keeps what you have and use in good condition, but also because things just feel better.  When you live cleanly and organizedly, things fall into place more often, and if your physical environment is a reflection of your mental state, then busting out the vacuum and dustrags is a sign that you’ve got work and Work to do.

But, as a magician, I’ve also got to take care of higher matters, and since my home is my temple, my physical environment really does affect my mental and spiritual states more than just being able to wear clothes that aren’t wrinkled or dusty.  Things get drawn in, things get stuck, and things get infested.  It sucks, and when that happens you know it’s time to bust out the holy water and go to town on the place.  I used to take an asperger and simply splash holy water around my house, and that works perfectly.  However, as I gained some more supplies, I regularly put together a small amount of a special cleansing solution I use around my house.  It hasn’t failed me yet, and it leaves the whole place smelling fresh and vibrant, not to mention leaving the place feeling the same.  Without further ado, I present to you the recipe and method for making and using Polyphanes’ Cleansing Potion:

• 8 oz spray bottle
• 1/4 tsp lemon ammonia (to get rid of the really nasty shit)
• 10 drops Banish And Cleanse oil (to wipe off and out anything that shouldn’t be there)
• 10 drops Uncrossing oil (to remove any buildup or residue of anything bad happening or done at you)
• 10 drops Van Van oil (to clear out anything bad, turn bad things to good, opens new doors, and gives good luck)
• 10 drops 7-11 Holy Oil (to purify, sanctify, and bless the home)
• Holy water (to banish, cleanse, clean, and protect, as well as being a base for everything else)

1. Mix ammonia and oils together in the spray bottle.
2. Top off spray bottle with holy water.
3. Wash yourself with holy water beforehand to cleanse yourself.
4. If you’re cautious or have a lot going on normally, give the friendly spirits in your home a place to hide or a general leave to depart so that they can be invited back later.
5. Spritz around the house, back to front, saying “ΑΠΩ ΑΠΩ ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΚΟΔΑΙΜΟΝΕΣ” or “ABI ABI ESTI PROFANI” or something to that effect.

RES OMNES PVRGA

One of the perks of having a government job is the relative ease of being able to work from home, especially if you’re an IT guy.  It’s absolutely wonderful, also because I don’t have to go to DC for one day each workweek.  Absolutely fabulous.  And yes, as a matter of fact, I’m as productive at home as I am in the office, so shut up.

Still, being able to work from home also allows me more time to work on my hobbies and housework, and sometimes the two are the same.  For instance, cleaning the house.  It’s been a while since I gave the house a thorough cleaning, and though I’m too lazy to go through every detail like my tub and the furnace room, I recently gave the house a good going-over and airing-out.  However, based on the stories of Fratres RO and Pallas Renatius, I figured it might be a good idea to banish the house and get it clean in every possible way.  Normally I do this by sprinkling holy water around the house while chanting “απο απο κακοδαιμοης” (“away, away, evil spirits”), but I figured I wanted something with a little extra oomph this time around.  Happily enough, my housemate and I went to an occult store in old town Alexandria, and I was able to get a bottle of banishing and cleansing oil which I put to use.

Now, the thing about banishing is that it gets rid of a lot of stuff, including things I potentially want to keep around (cf. Pallas Renatus’ Potion of GTFO, which is something to keep in the back of your mind if you ever need to do a spiritual and ethereal genocide on an area), and since I’m on good terms with my household spirits, I figured I might want to give them a break.  I immersed and cleansed a quartz crystal I had lying around in holy water, keeping it in my room in the back of the house.  I lit a consecrated candle and walked around the house, proclaiming my intent of banishing the area and asking all the friendly, helpful, and kind spirits belonging to the house and home to follow me.  When I reached my room I had them all take refuge in the crystal until the house was clean and cleansed.  I placed it under the guard of the original candle I had lit, just to make sure nothing unsavory approached it while I went around banishing the place.

With the good guys safely hidden, I got to work banishing the place.  I lit a consecrated candle in each room to fill it with a holy light, turned on the central AC’s fan, and lit some frankincense and myrrh incense next to the air intake vent to spread the smoke around the house.  I mixed a small bowl of holy water and the banishing oil, gave a general license to depart for all the remaining spirits, called out a prayer to St. Michael for protection and aid in cleansing the place, and got to work, sprinkling the holy water and oil all around the house in every room, high and low, calling out “απο απο κακοδαιμοης”.  I dabbed some of the water/oil in each corner and on every door, window, and air vent in the house, charging and conjuring them to not permit any evil, deceit, or wickedness in any way to pass through or by them into the house.

And then I went ahead and vacuumed, swept, dusted, and cleaned the place, taking out the trash as the last step to get rid of anything else that had lingered, opening up the doors and windows to air out the house (which, given the cool and rainy weather today, really freshened up the place).  After all the incense and consecrated candles went out on their own, I went ahead and took up the quartz crystal again and let the spirits that had taken refuge inside it out again back into their home.  With all them back and free, I lit a large candle and some sandalwood and gardenia incense as thanks and as an offering to the household gods and spirits, asking them, the goddess of hearth and home Vesta, and the Almighty to bless the home.

I noticed a few things while doing all this.  When I was gathering the good spirits of the house up for refuge, I noticed that I felt a presence (presences?) follow me, getting stronger in each room, which then sorta swirled and swarmed around me when I urged them into the crystal; between then and when I let them out again, the house felt a lot emptier and alone, more than when I’m normally alone.  After banishing, cleansing, and cleaning the place up, the place really felt fresh and new, which may have been due to looks alone, but even then I was impressed by how much brighter things felt.  (I recall one time I had a chat with my household genius, and he showed me what things looked like to him, astrally I suppose, when the house was like when it was dirty and defiled versus clean and cleansed.  Big difference.)  As I led the blessing for the home, things immediately felt much richer and comfier, just the air around me, and really gave the place an all-around wonderful feeling.  I’m pretty pleased with how all this turned out.

I realized that I never really got around to giving the house a thorough cleaning and cleansing since my last few projects, and I noticed that things have gotten a little rough here and there, even while things have overall been wonderful since I made contact with all the big planetary guys (especially the dream recall, mad props Gabriel, mad props).  Given how I’m getting into more regular work and bigger projects coming up, I figured I may as well tidy up the place and make note of a baseline for how clean things can be; when things get too crazy or start feeling icky, I’ll do this again.

Oh, and yes, the title is a Hyperbole and a Half reference, because she is amazing and I love her, and also because I’ve been doing Wheelock’s Latin exercises.  So sue me.

EDIT: Fr. Pallas Renatus, that loveable crackhead sorcerer, did a wonderful thing.  He is amazing.