Back from Japan Trip!

Wow! An exhausting, but very valuable 3 weeks in Japan.

I went to Tokyo, then Osaka, then, probably the highlight of the trip, Koyasan, then Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo.

Koyasan is the headquarters of the Japanese tantric Buddhist, Shingon School. I stayed there at a shukubo, a temple lodging for pilgrims and did Shingon jukai, taking the Buddhist precepts and then the kechien kanjo tantric initiation.

Very intense experience, instead of a tourist, I got to be a pilgrim! The picture is of the Daito, the Great Stupa, at Koyasan.

Trip to Japan & Japanese Astral Magic

I wanted to let you know that from September 20 to October 20, 2013 I will be traveling to Japan!

I am going to be lecturing on traditional astrology and astrological magic, plus giving astrological magic ritual workshops. I also will be doing some Buddhist pilgrimage, including going to Koyasan, the headquarters of Shingon, a Japanese Tantric Buddhist sect for the kechien kanjo tantric initiation.

So in practical terms this means that I won't be doing much posting or blogging during this time period. We are going to keep taking orders, so if you want to get talismans, books or courses, you will still be able to do so during my trip, though the response time is likely to be delayed a bit.

I want to mention a little about how my ritual practice has been effected by Japanese & Buddhist ritual and practice. For the last 3 years I have been doing an intense Zen Buddhist practice, doing zazen, sitting meditation every day, with trips to an Iowa Zen monastery for intensive weekend meditation, called sesshin, about every other month.

One of the problems with Hermetic magic, like Picatrix, is that we have only the skeleton of the ritual practice. We have the prayers, suffumigations, spirit names and talisman materials and designs and not much else.

I've realized that if I am going to do astrology and magic, practical spiritual work, that I want to do it in the context of an overall spiritual path, in order to stay centered spiritually. There are many possible paths, Buddhism is certainly one.

You can see an example of how I've used basic Japanese ritual in my magical work here

I have found zazen, sitting meditation to be invaluable, but I also am very intrigued by tantric Buddhism which uses ritual directly. I've started what I call Western Tantric Buddhism, melding traditional astrological magic into Buddhism. What's very interesting is that astrological magic is already there! Japanese (&Chinese) Buddhism already use astrological ritual and magic as you can see here.

Here's an interesting lecture on Japanese astrological mandalas

So, I'm looking forward to my trip and learning more about Japanese astral ritual!

"Correct?" Planetary Rulership

I had a very good question from a student about how to deal with differences in list of planetary rulerships.

What do you do when Agrippa says one thing Al-biruni another and Lilly a third thing about which planet rules something?

First, we are in the grip of the modern world view which wants to take a strictly formal logic view of everything. A=A, A is not B, therefore A = B is false. So we want to have strict categories and fit everything into the one "right" category. But reality is more complex than this. While hate is diametrically opposed to love, we have all had the experience of hating and loving someone at the same time. A is not B, but B = A!

This is the baggage we bring to the question of what planet rules a particular thing. But let's step back a bit and see what we are doing when we discuss planetary rulership. In fact all material things contain all 7 planets in varying amounts. "Also, amongst vegetables, every thing that bears fruit is from Jupiter, and every thing that bears flowers is from Venus; all seed and bark is from Mercury, and all roots from Saturn, and all wood from Mars, and leaves from the Moon." Agrippa Three Books of Occult Philosophy Bk I ch 30.

So when we say that a particular thing is ruled by a planet, we are making a judgment about which quality or qualities we think predominate in the thing and then a further judgment about which planet is associated with that quality. Generally we would say that roses are ruled by Venus, because of their beauty and sweet smell, but if I get pricked I may suddenly focus on Mars who rules their thorns.

The key with planetary rulership attributions is not to determine the one "right" classification, but to get a sense of what quality the maker of the list was focused on and why. In a very real sense by learning about the things a planet rules, we are learning about the personality of the spirit of the planet, just as if I know a person likes coffee houses, jazz and wearing a beret, I'm learning about their personality.

Fixed Stars Not on the List

I had a question recently about working with a fixed star that wasn't on the 15 fixed stars list. One of the reasons we work with the manuscript Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars is that we have the fullest amount of information with them, including sigils, in various versions, descriptions of their images, plant and mineral rulerships and best of all, effects.

Of course, all the fixed stars, like all things in the Cosmos, have spirit/angel/daimons. If we knew how to approach them and what they were useful for, we could work with any fixed star or constellation, for that matter.

There might be a way to mechanically generate fixed star sigils, akin to the use of magic squares/planetary tables for planets. More to my personal preference is a more artistic and visionary process, similar to what Jason Miller and his collaborator used for their recent set of planetary sigils in "Advanced Planetary Magic" I like the idea of getting images and sigils directly from the spirits in dreams and visions. But we are going to have to wait for this sort of information until our contemporary visionaries make contact with these spirits.

In the meantime we can certainly use the image of a constellation for a constellation talisman, for Fomalhaut, "the mouth of the fish" a fixed star in the Pisces Australis, the Southern Fish we might use an image of a fish or even an actual picture of Fomalhaut, see Wikipedia on Fomalhaut. This approach, using the planets was followed in Israel Hibner's 1698 Mysterium Sigillorum, Herbarum and Lapidum, "The Mysteries of Sigils, Herbs and Stones." Available at Renaissance Astrology.

I look forward to seeing more visionary art and visionary communication with the spirits of the fixed stars and constellations!

Review: Jason Miller's "Advanced Planetary Magic"

I just got a review copy of Jason Miller's Advanced Planetary Magic Thank you Jason!

Jason Miller is one of our best known modern mages.

I really like his approach of combining magic and practical, mundane strategies, particularly for wealth and prosperity.

What I am most excited about in Advanced Planetary Magic are the 7 planetary seals. They are simultaneously very contemporary and brand new, being newly generated and at the same time highly traditional, created by inspiration from the Anima Mundi! I am very inspired by these seals and looking forward to working with them.

Traditional astrological magic is a weird hybrid. Astrologers are passive users of the Great Chains of magical sympathy and correspondence, they sit back, watch the patterns unfold and predict. Magicians are active, they use their will and go out seeking to make change. An astrological magician, using traditional timing and ritual, has to wait until the Heavens indicate the time is right and then use their will.

Therefore both astrological timing and ritual are key for astrological magic. Increasing the potency of one can compensate for weaknesses in the other. So I can do a whomping great ritual and maybe get an ok result with a planet weak or afflicted, or I can do a small ritual, but with the planet very strong and get a decent result. Obviously a lot of powerful ritual at a time when a planet is highly dignified and well placed will give the maximum effect.

So my only reservation with Advanced Planetary Magic is that in my experience that planetary day and hour are not enough to fully time astrological talismans. I've made a Jupiter talisman with Jupiter day and hour, but Jupiter in detriment and retrograde and I immediately started losing money! I do think that doing lots and lots of ritual makes a big difference, but still you are fighting an uphill battle doing Jupiter invocations or magic anytime Jupiter is afflicted. Contrawise, doing a Jupiter ritual when Jupiter is highly dignified and well placed increasing the power tremendously.

Obviously this is inconvenient because then you can't do a Jupiter ritual when YOU need it, and in addition, how do you time your astrological magic when you aren't a traditional astrologer?

The inconvenience is just part of the nature of things, just as you cannot plant lettuce in December in Iowa (at least not yet!). The timing problem is likely not solvable until we get a larger number of qualified traditional astrologers. Modern astrology is useless for talismans!

One thing I do is post on my Facebook page the "Astrological Talisman Weather" I've been stating the current essential and major accidental dignities of the planets and I will start saying "great time for talisman" "ok for talisman" and "avoid talisman" for each planet.

All in all, I like Advanced Planetary Magic however, as a traditional astrological magician, I have to put in a plug for not just ignoring the astrological state of the planets beyond planetary day and hour.

Incense for Fixed Star Talisman Consecration

I had a question about what incense to use for suffumigating a fixed star talisman during consecration. Suffumigation means to move the talisman back and forth through the rising smoke of incense. This is a very important part of any talisman consecration. Take a look at my Consecrating Talismans Video.

There are lots of fixed stars, but we don't have much information on how to use them talismanically except for what appears in our traditional sources. One of the key sources circulated widely in the Middle Ages under the title, Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars. This lists 15 stars, with some variation depending on the manuscript as far as which stars, and lists for each star what effects the talisman has, what image to put on the talisman, what gem or mineral and plant and herbs are ruled by the fixed star. Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars was a key source for the Renaissance mage Cornelius Agrippa and his Three Books of Occult Philosophy. You can read Agrippa's fixed star rulerships

One of the reasons that we stick to Hermes on the 15 Fixed Stars is that we have extensive lists of what these stars rule, which allows us to determine appropriate materials for the talisman and for incense to use for suffumigating the talisman. For the fixed star Capella, for example, Agrippa says, "Horehound, Mint, Mugwort, and Mandrake" Hermes says "Horehound seed mixed with equal parts of mint, wormwood and mandrake" For Spica, Agrippa says, "Sage, Trifoile, Perwinkle, Mugwort, and Mandrake." Hermes says, "Sage juice with trefoil, periwinkle, wormwood and mandrake" You don't need to use all of these, so for Capella, mint or mugwort, either of which is quite easy to find, is excellent for suffumigation. Mugwort doubles up with Spica!

Now, of course, for resin incense and herbs, you need charcoal and an incense burner. Lit the charcoal and place the herb or plant on the burning charcoal. ALWAYS do a Google search to see if burning a plant, herb or resin is toxic, as some of the listed herbs, etc. are toxic.

Ok, next option is just to use stick incense. This is what I increasingly do, following Zen Buddhist rituals. The most important thing is to burn some kind of incense and at least one candle. Don't think, "well I can't get mandrake, so I will just give up and do nothing" Incense and candles are pretty key.

Now, I use a very tiny amount of incense as I don't like smoke. Some people can't handle any at all and have used essential oils. The jury is still out on this, probably better than nothing though and if you have a severe allergy, then I think the planets and stars will understand.

Here is More information on fixed star talismans and a Video on Consecrating Astrological Talismans.

Considerations Before Judgment?

I had a poster ask about the "Considerations Before Judgment" citing John Frawley's skepticism about them in his Horary Textbook and asking me what I thought about them.

The Considerations Before Judgment are listed in Lilly's Christian Astrology at pages 121-3. Some contemporary practitioners of traditional astrology have taken to refusing to judge charts if any of the considerations are present.

I agree 100% that the presence of the "considerations before judgment" do not mean that the chart is inaccurate. I have judged many, many charts with considerations and I find that far from making the chart unjudgeable that they provide very useful, albeit typically negative information.

This is similar to technical radicality, which Lilly mentions as the first type of consideration on page 121 of Christian Astrology. This is checking to see if the rising sign corresponds to the planetary hour. Again, I find that being technically radical is a plus, but lacking it does not mean that the chart is inaccurate. This is probably the most confusing part of my readings for clients, since they frequently ask about it. And I'm not being just being modern, here. Nicholas Culpepper in his Opus Astrologicum, Aphorism 21, cites technical radicality and then comments, "I have found many Questions to be true where this [technical radicality] is not so."

Ok, so I go even further than Frawley and the only thing that stops me from judging a chart is 0 degrees rising. This is what I tell clients who get 0 degrees rising on a horary chart,

"Ok, we got 0 degrees rising. This has two possible meanings.

(1) 0 degrees rising means you are not asking the root question. What do I mean by root question? I had a client ask, "Should I move to Austin?" We got 0 degrees rising. I asked, "Is this the root question?" They answered, "Oh, should we even move from Ann Arbor?" The answer was no. Second example, the client asked, "Should I get the surgery with Dr X?" 0 degrees rising, again I asked "Is this the root question?" they asked, "Oh, should I even get the surgery?" Answer, no.

(2) 0 degrees rising means the situation has not jelled yet.

So consider whether you are asking the root question. If not, ask the root question. If you think you are, then wait a bit and ask the question again."

What is really uncanny about 0 degrees rising charts is that the chart/situation really starts talking to you, you almost get a dialogue going! I once had a client who got 0 degrees twice in a row, the chart was emphatic that they weren't asking the right question!

I'm not sure I would describe the considerations as "tricks". We moderns tend to automatically reject anything we don't immediately understand. We have a very rigid view of how things work and if something doesn't fit, out with it! Also we tend to be very skeptical of the past. This is not how traditional thinkers operated. They respected the tradition and were willing to accept many possible outlooks simultaneously. Rather than rejecting past technique, they would typically mention it and then say, "but I don't personally follow this".