Who Was Aleister Crowley, Really?

Aleister Crowley is one of the most misunderstood individuals of his time.  His philosophy challenged orthodoxy for the sake of Love and True Will.  To this day, his message continues to be warped to by those it challenges.  In researching Crowley and reading some of books, I have found his message to be one of truth and light.  I strongly encourage the open minded exploration of Crowley's works.  Here is a small sampling of quotes to get you started!

Crowley Top 10 Quotes:

Paganism is wholesome because it faces the facts of life.


Indubitably, magic is one of the subtlest and most difficult of the sciences and arts. There is more opportunity for errors of comprehension, judgment and practice than in any other branch of physics.


The people who have really made history are the martyrs.


Part of the public horror of sexual irregularity so-called is due to the fact that everyone knows himself essentially guilty.


The joy of life consists in the exercise of one's energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of every new experience. To stop means simply to die. The eternal mistake of mankind is to set up an attainable ideal.


Modern morality and manners suppress all natural instincts, keep people ignorant of the facts of nature and make them fighting drunk on bogey tales.


Falsehood is invariably the child of fear in one form or another.


Every one interprets everything in terms of his own experience. If you say anything which does not touch a precisely similar spot in another man's brain, he either misunderstands you, or doesn't understand you at all.


The Way of Mastery is to break all the rules—but you have to know them perfectly before you can do this; otherwise you are not in a position to transcend them.


Truth! Truth! Truth! crieth the Lord of the Abyss of Hallucinations.

Moon Glyphs

A Short Prayer and Original Poem for Gaia and Eris

                                                     Hail to the great infinite!

                                                     Blessed Eris, my beautiful

                                                     friend, be my guide. Holy

                                                     tree, my astral connection,

                                                     share with me divine perception.

                                                     Share root of will and power

                                                     with Gaia. Abide with me

                                                     by the light of the way.

Discordian Tarot Reading

A thread in occultforum.org got me thinking about divination and tarot. I use a rather unconventional tarot spread. It's fun. And, it works. I've used this spread for communion with Deity, divinition, self exploration, and artistic inspiration. I call it the chaotic spread. 

 Some preliminary thoughts on divination and chaos: 

 The process is based on a Discordian opening ritual. 

Eris, as the Goddess of Chaos represent undifferentiated possibilities. This parallels the Dao De Jing and Quantum physics. In the DDJ, Lao Tzu explains how the determinate arises from the indeterminate (chaos). Quantum mechanics tells us that before a determinate event arises it exists in an undefined or quantum state (check out Schrödinger's cat). Thus, the universe is undefined or chaotic. In a ridiculous way, it may be possible to peek into chaos or even shape chaos through communion with Eris. If anything, it's fun and can add some meaning to the otherwise random string of events we call "life." The following is my Discordian Ritual for communion with chaos:

1. Lose your self to erratic movement and nonsense. (Clap your hands, sing gibberish, and dance with pure spontaneity.) 
2. Sign the Erisian Cross: “Light in my head, fire in my genitals, strength at my right side, laughter at my left side, love in my Heart.”
3.  Call the quarters 
1. Face East: “Blessed Apostle Hung Mung, great Sage of Cathay, Balance the Hodge and Podge and grant us equilibrium.” 
2. Face South: “Blessed Apostle Van Van Mojo, Doctor of Hoodoo and Vexes, Give us the Voodoo Power and confuse our enemies.”
3. Face West: “Blessed Apostle Sri Syadasti, patron of psychedelia, Teach us the relative truth and blow our minds.” 
4. Face North: “Blessed Apostle Zarathud, hard-nosed hermit, Grant us the Erisian doubt, and the constancy of Chaos.” 
5. Look up: “Blessed Apostle Malaclypse, Elder Saint of Discordia, Grant us illumination and protect us from stupidity.” 
4. Say: “Great Goddess Discordia, Holy Mother Eris, Joy of the Universe, Laughter of Space, Grant us Life, Light, Love and Liberty and make the bloody magick work!” 
5. Throw your tarot deck into the air allow the cards to scatter across the room.
6. Interpret the chaotic spread of cards however you see fit. 6. Say: "Hail Eris! All hail Discordia!"

On psychologizing Deity and misinterpreting Jung. (Where is my mind?)

Carl Jung’s ideas are a topic for discussion in the world of Paganism.  When the historical basis for hard polytheism was challenged in the 1960’s, believers latched onto Jung’s ideas of archetypes to legitimize their faith.  The lasting implication is a rift in  Neopagan philosophy.

Yoda:  Archetype?  Thought-form?  Expression of the unknowable?  Psychic entity?

So who’s right?  Do deity actually exist or are they merely a part of our personal or collective unconscious?  If I were to conduct a poll of 100 Neopagans, I imagine that approximately half would advocate hard polytheism, which is to say Deity actually exist outside the human mind.  The other half would argue that deity are symbolic, archetypal, or are only real within the mind. 

This appears huge divergence in ideology.  Let’s consider a metaphor to show that this situation is more likely complex than truly dichotomous. 

How do I know that I am at my desk typing this post?  Well in my mind, I have a model of both my desk and myself.  I can only know an event through my own internal model of the event.

Here the situation becomes more complex.  In this mental model, my psychic representation also has a mind—it’s mind’ception, a mind within a mind. 

Artist Credit:  Amanda Saker

This paradox raises further questions.  Is my mind in the universe? Or is the universe in my mind?   The most correct answer is probably: both.  Robert Anton Wilson argues that the true nature of the universe is both transcendent and immanent.  It is simultaneously internal and external.  My mind is in the universe and the universe, as I know it, is in my mind.


Following this reasoning, psychological entities are equally as “real” as the material entities that we assume exist externally but are only know through internal perception. This is what Jung means in saying “What most overlook or seem unable to understand is the fact that I regard the psyche as real.” (Collected Works, P. 751.)

To the skeptics who say “that it’s all in your head.” You’re right. My gods and goddesses exist in my head— but so does the rest of the universe. Deity are just as real as anything else in the mind… which is everything.

In this way, Yoda is a real and fictional entity. He's a real, fictional entity. He's a mental representation just like your mom, the president, or you.

NextGen Pagan: Paganism for the Next Generation

What draws young Pagans and Witches to their path?

Author of the book Teen Spirit Wicca, David Salisbury,  explains his interaction and observation within young Pagan and Wiccan communities.

Teenage practitioners offer the following highlights of their paths, via witchesandpagans.com:

"Being able to be part of a loving community and informing others what Paganism is."

-S


"I love the acceptance I get and the help. I'm solitary but I still ask a ton of questions. Its challenging but i love the freedom it gives me."

-L


"Wicca teaches me how to be responsible for myself and to make myself better. It pushes me to do better things with my life."

-A, age 16


"Being a Wiccan has been so helpful because it has helped me to become one with myself and the nature around me. My mind has been set wide open and everything is shed in a new light, which is shattering and beautiful. It has brought me back to who I am and has saved me in more ways than one."

-LP


"I love knowing that the gods are there for me to talk to when I have no one else to talk to. I'm never truly alone."

-K, age 15


"My favorite is that it has helped me be me in almost every aspect of my life. That I see myself, others and nature in a different way than I used to."

-C


"Knowing that no matter what, you can relay on the strength that nature has to support you when you are feeling weak."

-G


"When I meet people who believe the same, I have an instant bond with someone I can connect with in the community."

-L, age 17


"The best part for me about being Wiccan is the amazing feeling of joy I get from helping people. It gives me drive and focus. When I found Wicca I found myself."

-K


"I love that I can connect with other people to share something special about me. I like meeting people who feel drawn to this path like I do."
-B, age 16

read the full article at witchesandpagans.com.
For another look at teenage Paganism check out teen-pagan-problems on tumblr

Pentacles of Pride

Check out Pentacles of Pride, an awesome nonprofit serving the pagan community.  Pentacles of pride provides a pentacle to anyone free of charge.  Additionally, the group serves the pagan community by providing scholarships and other assistance.  Check out the link for a free pentacle or to donate to a great cause supporting the pagan community.

Pentacles of Pride

A song for Gaia, born of chaos...

I will sing of well-founded Earth, mother of all, globe of our birth.

She feeds all creatures, all that go upon the goodly land,
And all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly:
All these are fed of her store.
Through you, O queen, women are blessed in their children and blessed in their harvests,
And to you it belongs to give means of life to mortal women and to take it away.
Happy is the woman whom you delight to honor!
She has all things abundantly: her fruitful land is laden with corn,
Her pastures are covered with cattle, and her house is filled with good things.
Such women rule orderly in their cities:
Great riches and wealth follow them:
Their daughters exult with ever-fresh delight,
Their daughters in flower-laden bands play
They skip merrily over the soft flowers of the field.
Thus is it with those whom you honor
O holy goddess, bountiful spirit.

Hail, unto you O' Mother of the Gods,
wife of starry Heaven;
freely bestow upon me
for this my song substance that cheers the heart!
And now I will remember you and another song also".

From "The Book of The Goddess."

Discordian Opening Ritual

By:   Prince Prance

1. Clap x5

2. The Erisian Cross:

“Light in my Head
Fire in my genitals Strength at my Right side Laughter at my Left side Love in my Heart.”

3. Trace Spiral Pentagrams at the 4 quarters & zenith.

4. Face East:
“Blessed Apostle Hung Mung, great Sage of Cathay, Balance the Hodge and Podge and grant us equilibrium.”

5. Face South:
“Blessed Apostle Van Van Mojo, Doctor of Hoodoo and Vexes, Give us the Voodoo Power and confuse our enemies.”

6. Face West:
“Blessed Apostle Sri Syadasti, patron of psychedelia, Teach us the relative truth and blow our minds.”

7. Face North:
“Blessed Apostle Zarathud, hard-nosed hermit, Grant us the Erisian doubt, and the constancy of Chaos.”

8. Look up (or down):
“Blessed Apostle Malaclypse, Elder Saint of Discordia, Grant us illumination and protect us from stupidity.”

9. Look all over the place:

“Great Goddess Discordia, Holy Mother Eris, Joy of the Universe, Laughter of Space, Grant us Life, Light, Love and Liberty and make the bloody magick work!”

10. “Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!