covenrochester

. . . but if you are serious about what you read and want to be efficient with your time, you have to read people who not only have book-knowledge, but practical experience and tested worth. I was reminded of this yesterday when I was looking for a book on palmistry on Amazon. You would not believe how many books there are on palmistry BY PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER PRACTICED PALMISTRY. Such books are merely summaries of other past books. I really had to dig a bit into the biographies of various authors before finally choosing a book (BTW, I picked KNOW THYSELF by Luke Sheedy).

One can learn palmistry a little bit at a time and still get great results, even with stealth observation of people's hands at a close-to-moderate distance. You will be able to observe---mostly---the shape of the hands, the shape of the fingertips, the texture of the skin, the openness of the fingers, the angle of the thumb, perhaps the comparative length of the thumb's two phalanges, and maybe the flexibility of the hand. And just these few things can tell you a great deal about a person.

I once sat across from an attorney signing documents. After observing his hands for 30-60 seconds, I said, "Mr. X, I have some knowledge of palmistry, and you have an engineer's hands. What are you doing in the law? Why aren't you building bridges or commercial buildings, or renovating houses?" He laughed and admitted that he entered college with a major in mechanical engineering, but he was not so great at the mathematics, so he switched to pre-law. Still, in his free time, he liked to build things and even had done all of his own house additions and renovations. I made my statement based on his spatulate fingertips, his grainy skin texture, and his fire-shaped hand (rectangular palm, short fingers). You won't always be 100% on the mark (just as I wasn't in this example), but you will usually be able to make relevant comments. In this instance, one would want to look at the hands in detail to see why he chose law. It would undoubtedly be marked in the Jupiter/Saturn or Jupiter/Mercury mounts. This is also the kind of hand that would like camping and fishing.

A Fire Hand will always be active, but the skin texture will tell you in what arena of life. The coarser the skin texture, the more physical the arena of life. Fire Hand + Paper Texture: Very active, but intellectually, not physically. A great reader of books. Not camping, not fishing.

I once stood in line at the sandwich counter with a man whose hands I was able to observe. Air Hand + Papery Texture + Conic Fingertips. I used my usual opener, "Sir, I have some knowledge of palmistry and, having caught a glimpse of your hands, I can't decide if you are an accountant or an architect . . . it is something precise with numbers but with an artistic angle. What is it?" He was the chief financial officer . . . for a large museum. :D




Another Herbal Workday has been scheduled.

I'm not exactly sure what the preparations will be. Given that it we will not have had a full flowering of plants, we will be somewhat limited compared to the last Herbal Workday, where we had fresh Comfrey, Hypericum, and Motherwort right out of the garden. Still, I envision the following preparations to be quite possible:

Stomach Syrup
Elderberry Tincture
Healing Mouthwash
Garlic Syrup or Garlic Honey
Arnica Liniment
Rose Vinegar or Rose Liniment
Sleep Pillows
Slippery Elm Lozenges
Echinacea Root Tincture
Plantain Liniment
The Feverbreak Potion
Horehound Cough Syrup
Horseradish Tincture

We will not make the Feverbreak Potion, itself. Rather, we will compile the dry ingredients to send home with you, along with instructions in how to make the potion when it is needed.

Elderberry and Echinacea Root Tinctures can be used after six weeks, but they will be at their strongest after one year.

Garlic Honey and Horseradish Tincture are ready within 24 hours. The Syrups are effective as soon as made,l as are the Mouthwash, the Pillows, and the Lozenges.

So, it will not be a waiting game for everything.

I had a student, not long ago, discuss the work of Peter Kingsley with me. We even examined and discussed a horary chart on the subject, and I was unsurprised to see the involvement of Uranus in the chart -- the ever-disruptive Oneness. I decided to investigate what was going on. I read Kingsley's books. I purchased and downloaded lectures from his website. This morning, I had finally had my fill. This is my review of his work:

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Join Mr. Kingsley as he takes a magnificent, liberating, and foundational esoteric tradition and delivers it a fatal blow while purporting to attempt to bring it back into modern consciousness.

I have read his books, I have purchased and listened to numerous lectures from his website. He has turned this tradition of Parmenides and Empedocles into the consummate Via Negativa: life is short and horrible, you know nothing and have not even attained consciousness, you are wasting your potential, nothing you have ever sensed or experienced has any meaning, life is suffering, you are moving ever deeper into the thicket of death and, moreover, you are trapped in this quagmire of despair, with no hope of ever escaping it.

And so on (not kidding).

As all esoteric teachers know, the Via Negativa has a place in the Mysteries, but it is a small place, just as the deadly poisons, in minuscule doses, can be a useful adjunct to the regaining of robust health, or just as a malefic planet can be skillfully placed in a beautiful and ultimately successful electional chart.

But Mr. Kinglsey's presentation of this tradition is 99% negative. He does not tell you, affirmatively, what to do, not even what to do to find out what you need to do. He tells you---almost without cessation--only how stupid and unrealized and wasteful you are, and all of humanity is. That is a necessary starting point, of course. But he never moves off of it. And so, you are left with a heavy sense of having been condemned and oppressed. I cannot help but think that, far from bringing people back to the tradition, he is driving interested and qualified people away from it.

Do not estimate yourself any less of a spiritual aspirant if you decide to pass up this Poison Chalice. Do not let unqualified teachers---even those who have clearly mastered their subjects---invoke your alleged unreadiness against you, or tell you that certain things cannot be explained or expressed in language, or set the bar of entrance into the tradition so high in the heavens that you could never, ever possibly pole-vault over it.

They have all seen your spire in the clouds, Mr. Kinglsey.
Now show them the entrance, or hold your peace.

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Mr. Kingsley's discourse is so negative that I have never seen its like. And *that* is saying something. I'm a triple Scorpio: I can both swallow, as well as sling, a lot of bitterness, constitutionally speaking.

It got me to thinking . . . who trained him? I could not find any information on-line, so I suppose I may have to slog through his autobiography to get some answers.

But, right now, this is the nephesh I have in my nostrils: Self-training in the Mysteries is always dangerous. The first requirement of the Mysteries is purification of the physical body. If this is skipped, what you end up doing is circulating poisons throughout your body. And then, the only thing you can possibly teach others carries with it the stench of poison.

Mercury is the beginning of our work: it is in Gemini, air, the lungs, and breathing; it is in Virgo, earth, the intestines, and digestion. Oxygen is the Sword that bars the Gate of the Mysteries. You think about *that*!

Whenever I hear someone say, "I initiated myself," "I learned on my own," or "the spirits taught me," what I hear is: "I have been poisoned."

Blessed, blessed, blessed are you if you have the prudence and humility to be guided by a teacher.

Set for today's date. I have a larger one at home, made of wood. If I use it for horary, I have to separately mark out the house cusps, usually with dice or coins.

If you find Witches and Magicians old enough, they will have stories for you of times when the Gods were seen on Earth recently, either as part of a magical ceremony, or otherwise. These accounts are common in Native American, Norse, Greek, Welsh, Irish, and Brythonic traditions. It is also present in the Christian tradition, but less talked about, and the people encountered are Saints, not Gods.

Here is an account from just after WWII.

After the Allies declared victory in WWII, one can imagine the relief of Allied troops all over the world. There was still the matter and logistics of getting all of them home, though. One troop of British soldiers had been stationed on the Argolis peninsula of Greece, and their commander directed them to form an encampment in the fields and green spaces near some ancient ruins until their transportation out of Greece could be arranged:




And so they encamped. Many soldiers had restless nights and fitful sleep. A few spoke together and found that they were having the same recurring dream or vision every night. They called a general meeting of the whole troop, and it was discovered that many more of the soldiers were also having the same experience. The troop elected representatives to go to the commander to request that the whole unit be moved because they believed that the area was haunted. The recurring dream or vision involved seeing an old, bearded man dressed in a simple robe walking through the encampment, aided in his walking by a staff that had a serpent wrapped around it.




Unbeknownst to the soldiers and the commander, the ruins by which the unit had encamped had been an ancient temple of Asklepias, the divine power in charge of healing, and a son of Apollo in mythology. These ancient temples of Asklepias, about 300 of them, were located all over the Mediterranean region, and were essentially healing centers and hospitals, for the general populace, but particularly for war veterans. It was in such centers that Greek theater first emerged, with dramatic presentations helping war veterans to overcome what we would today call post-traumatic stress disorder. The three great ancient Greek tragedians – Euripides, Sophocles, Aeschylus – were all war veterans, and all of them explored in their plays the theme of the evils of war. It was thought that the communal experience of watching such plays (amongst many other healing techniques, such as massage, herbal medicine, and music therapy) served to have a cathartic effect on war veterans, helping to purge them of PTSD. Inspired by ancient models, modern psychologists since WWII have been engaged in research along these lines.

So, did Asklepias walk the Earth at the end of WWII? Amongst a troop of exhausted soldiers, some wounded, at the doorstep of his temple?

You bet he did.

Mothers: Caput Draconis, Rubeus, Acquisitio, Amissio

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Another truly awesome method of divination for a Witch to specialize in is Geomancy. It is like horary astrology, but without the need for calculations. It can often give an astounding amount of information, and can be used for real-world needs, like finding lost objects, checking if a missing person is dead or alive, and so on. There are almost no reliable books on Geomancy. John Michael Greer wrote a couple, but they are filled with errors. Still, it is a place to start to learn basic vocabulary. After that, however, you will have to find a Geomancy Master to teach you.

Here is an example chart.
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The Querent's question is: Will I be able to travel to London to meet my sister?

Q: House 1: CAPUT DRACONIS
Sister: House 3: ACQUISITIO

We have no perfection between these two houses, so the answer is no, the Q will not see his sister.

CAPUT in House 1 is in CAPITAL COMPANY with RUBEUS in House 2, giving a reception of FORTUNA MAJOR. And that is also the Figure in House 9 that subradiates House 3 by opposition. FORTUNA MAJOR also jumps to House 12, showing that Q, himself has done something that will prevent the perfection.

ACQUISITIO, the sister, in House 3, is in REVERSE COMPANY with AMISSIO, giving a reception of VIA. Hmmmm....might the sister, herself, be traveling away from her London home at the time when Q expected to visit? Let's see. The sister's turned House 9 is radical House 11. What's in House 11? VIA. My conclusion is that Q will not see his sister in London because she, herself, will be away from London at the time. FORTUNA MAJOR jumping from House 9 to House 12 says to me that Q had settled on a certain plan in his mind---perhaps with respect to dates of a visit to London---before checking with his sister that she would be available.

He can still travel to London if he wants (FORTUNA MAJOR in HOUSE 9 jumps to PERFECT with HOUSE by CONJUNCTION), but his sister won't be there when he gets there (Acquisitio + Amission = Via, and Via is in the sister's turned House 9).

Two Witnesses, both Fortuna Minor: Q will have missed the window of opportunity to visit.
Judge: Populus: the outcome is owing to other people -- his sister, for one. Via also jumps the sister's turned house 8: she is worried about someone, and that is why she is travelling to go see that person.

Of course, if you are reading for someone, you can avoid all that technical verbiage. Say, instead: "No, you will not see your sister. You can travel to London, if you wish, but she will not be there. She is worried or anxious about someone, and she herself will be traveling away from London to visit that person. You will have missed your window of opportunity. This is partly your own fault, as it seems that you made some plan in your mind with respect to dates of travel without first consulting your sister to see if she would be available. She won't be."

It is very likely that LeNormand, the famous french cartomante, read from cards similar to those now known as Le Grand Jeu -- the Great Game. You can buy all sorts of oracle decks these days, but Le Grand Jeu is the Grand-Mere of them all. Many of the scenes are taken from the Quest of the Golden Fleece, or the War at Troy, the art of Alchemy, and other Greek and Roman myths, and they incorporate such things as constellations, playing cards, and flowers.

If you are very knowledgeable in classical mythology and the magical language, you can read these very, very easily. They should be read, not as a Tarot or a deck of oracles cards, but as if you had seen a series of symbolic images in a crystal ball.

This is a deck for realists, though. If you are a person of delicate mind or constitution, stay away from these, and maybe get an Angel Oracle Deck. Madame LeNormand was practicing her arts in a time of great turmoil and danger in France, and she did not mince words.

In the above reading of three cards, I asked about the Fate of a woman barely known to me, whom I've met with only a single glance and handshake. Some of the great images here: The inconclusive fight between Paris and Menelaus, Zeus instructing Dionysus to drink water from a spring, Helen receiving news from Iris, Odysseus and Diomedes stealing the statue of Athena from the Palladium of Troy, Achilles receiving the weapons of Haphaestus from his mother, Thetis.

Let us pretend that a woman has come to us as a modern Pythia, and she wishes to know the trajectory of her life. What might one say?

You will be chosen among others to be raised up to preferment. It is no contest, really, for you have a powerful woman on your side. You will be unfitted, however, for the tasks that will be assigned to you. You will require leadership and counsel in even the most basic functions, and even after that, you will require the constant support of others to keep yourself afloat. In time, you will be raised even higher. Does this astonish you, as it does me? You will initially consider this further advancement a great boon, but beware what you have agreed to. The Circlet of Leadership is too heavy for your small head. You cannot lift the Sword of Justice unaided. Brazen Greaves will render you unable to walk. You will not have been given a gift, but the instruments of your self-destruction. You were fated for a quieter life, but you will foolishly succumb to others telling you what you should want and what your ambitions should be. I pity your lack of self-knowledge. Now rise, foolish woman, and get out of my house!


Well, maybe I would temper the language a bit . . .

I happened to notice that a friend of mine was having stomach/intestinal issues with increasing regularity. "What does your doctor say about this?" I asked him. "Nothing much. I've mentioned to him for years that I've had stomach problems, but he does not think it is anything serious. I just use over-the-counter remedies." "Oh," I replied, "if modern medicine has abandoned you, then you are under my jurisdiction!" I told him I would bring him a bottle of my stomach syrup. "Keep it in your refrigerator," I said, "and take one to two tablespoons whenever you need to."

That was months ago and anytime he has a stomach/intestinal issue, the syrup clears it up in 20-30 minutes. "It works better than Pepto-Bismol," he told me. Do you know why Pepto Bismol is dyed Pink? Because the combination of bismuth subsalicylate, the active ingredient, mixed with the sulfur of certain proteins makes the medicine look like black goo. So, a colorant is added to make it look more appealing(?). So, now have electric pink goo.

You can dispense with all of that nonsense, and make a stomach syrup, too. Here is the page reproduced from my Greenbook. Sometimes I make it in a slightly different way (I've written a previous entry on it), but it makes no difference. They are equally effective.

There are, of course, a couple of ways, to supercharge a medicine. The easiest way to do it for this syrup would be to harvest your Ginger within the first half hour of dawn on a Tuesday during the waning moon. Then harvest your Fennel Seed and your Mint within the first half hour of dawn on a Wednesday during the waxing moon.

Not harvesting the plants yourself? Well, a weaker substitute, but still worth doing, is buying the Ginger during the appointed time, and the Fennel Seed and Mint at their appointed times. You'll need a 24-hour grocery store or a local grocer with insomnia, naturally.

Can't manage any of that? Don't worry. Victorian-era magicians gave us all the erroneous idea that if we don't have the perfect tools, the perfect timing, the perfect ritual, the perfect colors, and so on, one's magic was doomed to failure. Witches follow these rules, instead:

1. Whenever you need it.
2. Whatever you've got.
3. However you can.

So, get to brewing.

Want a mnemonic?

Three Blessings to Digestion: Ginger, a root; Fennel, a seed; Mint, a leaf.

I would give it to my own children because they have no allergies and are of strong constitution. Lots of children these days have various congenital infirmities, allergies, dietary restrictions, weak constitutions, etc., so parents must make their own decisions.

A female querent, mid-20s, asked me when she and her future spouse would have their first child. And so I cast a chart of the heavens at the time to answer her question.

When one is taking questions like this, it is important to make sure that the Querent is asking what she truly wants to know. Even with a question as simple and straight-forward as: "When will we have our first child?" the Querent may be obfuscating the true inquiry. Here are some examples of how querents will think:

(1) Oh my stars! I am five days late in my menstrual cycle. I hope I'm not pregnant right now. I will call an astrologer and ask when I will have my first child. If it is a long way off, then I'll know I am not pregnant! So, the querent calls and asks when she will have her first child. Her REAL question, though, is: "Am I pregnant right now?" That is the question the chart will answer, even if she has obfuscated the matter. Hiding the true question will very likely lead the astrologer into error.

(2) I've been a ballet dancer since the age of 9. I've been vegan since the age of 13. My menstrual cycle is fairly intermittent. Sometimes I will not menstruate for months at a time. I average approximately 2 or 3 light periods per year I'm 26, no longer dancing, but I'm still vegan, and my period is still infrequent. My husband and I want to have a child. "When will we have our first child?" The REAL question here is whether the Querent can return to a normal menstrual cycle and thereafter have a child. The question should be more along the lines of "Will I ever have children?" In a situation such as that, I would probably poke around and look at medical issues, too.

There was no indication in this case that there was some other real, hidden question underlying a pretextual question. So, let's determine an answer:

( Analysis Under The Link )

I think a High Priesthood should have some instruction in cosmology, whether it be a cultural cosmology or a universal cosmology. It should be the duty of a high priesthood to study and to know how the Cosmos works.



The Two Triads of the Astral Plane

In these two Triads, one has an outline of instruction, which must be fleshed out by a instructor.

Three Levels of the Astral Plane: The Halls of Light, the Halls of Thought, and the Halls of Hollow Forms.

Three Aspects of the Astral Body: the Body of Vitality, the Animal Form, and the Magical Mirror of the Cosmos.

I have been to, seen and experienced, all three levels. I have used all three aspects of the astral body. It is such that permits me to teach about them.