Well, it went surprisingly well.
It was actually received quite well, and in the spirit it was offered.
I used a 'Catholic' emphasis that allowed a lot of members of staff to think that it was acceptable within the Catholic context. I used Catholic and Eastern examples and Saints to emphasise how 'mainstream' Christian contemplation on the word of God is.
If you would like an outline of what I presented, please feel free to contact me via this site/Google+ and I'll forward it too you.
In other interesting things, I came across this site today while doing some google-fu on "Magical Schema".
http://witching.org
A great Meta-Data project on early Witchcraft in England.
Pax
MvdV
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Keeping it quiet...
As an Esotericist, I find working in an Evangelical Christian School to be a little bit of a challenge sometimes. Scrap that, it's a challenge ALL the time. The inability of some of my peers to even get close to understanding non-literal readings of Scripture is mind boggling. They are all fantastic, caring, charitable and loving educators who have a great love for Jesus, but they struggle when confronted with a different point of view. As a result of this I have kept my membership of Freemasonry, interest in the Occult and the Western Mystery Tradition a bit of a silent fact. I have not denied it when asked about it by students and staff (I do wear a Masonic ring), but I have not advertised the fact openly to my peers. It's sad, but I don't want to come into my office and find flyers and pamphlets on my desk trying to 'save me'. I am already saved and need no help staying in that state.
I am not expecting to be treated differently when my peers 'find out' I am different to their norm, but I know I'll be treated differently... If you know what I mean.
Members of staff are on a roster to do a Staff 'Devotion' on either a Monday or Friday morning. We do one a year and it is a bit of a big deal. The Admin are looking for something that adds to the Christian focus of the school, and emphasis of prayer, a Christian teaching or something that can be used to point at how the majority view of the school is the right one.
I intend to do a devotion on the importance of Christian Meditation/Mysticism and how we can spend time in communion with God without asking for anything. Just hanging out, getting to know God and what God is like. This may involve introducing them to some concepts they may find tricky; Saints, Mysticism etc etc. But I feel that a focus on just being and spending time trying to figure out what we are in the light of our relationship with God. This focus on relationship can turn us from a me first, gimmy gimmy relationship with the Divine and work towards a partnership, much like the relationship we need to cultivate with other forces/gods/essences/eminations etc etc I have laked about earlier.
We'll see how that goes...
Pax,
MvdV
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Prayer
The Martinist point of view succinctly put together by Constant Chevillon.
Enjoy
† † †
Prayer by Constant Chevillon
(Constant Chevillon, Sovereign Grand Master of the Martinist Order, assassinated in Lyon, France, in 1944, by the French Militia on the pay of the Nazi invaders.)
Prayer is the only true and holy magic. Ceremonial magic, too often, places the will at the service of pride. Prayer, on the other hand, is a very humble aspiration of the finite towards the Infinite. A person praying resembles a desert striving to become a meadow full of flowers and, furthermore , he does not demand-he beseeches.
However, common men ignore all that prayer involves. For the overwhelming majority, to pray is to say words with the lips and sometimes with the heart, the ardor corresponding to the intensity of their desires; or to bow in a temple or oratory in order to entreat, from an anthropomorphic God and according to their own wishes, free gifts, entirely material, like health, wealth, success or love. Thus, we pray nowadays as did the Jews of yore, wishing to exchange manna for the onions of Egypt.
Certainly a prayer asking for the goods of this world is, of course, permissible. To address the merciful Father, asking Him to guard us from physical misery, is an homage to His almighty power. We forget, however, only too often, the words from the gospel: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Justice and everything else will be given unto you."
Prayer should not intend only to break the infernal circle of destiny; it is far more elevated and noble. It is a superhuman lifting up towards the Divine splendor, as well as kneeling-it is unspeakable ecstacy-facing the Ineffable Charity.
To be able to pray in this manner, it is necessary to become silent within. Free oneself from all evil thoughts, even from simply negative ones. It is necessary to put feeling, understanding and reason in tune with the spirit, to enter into a passive state in order to allow Divine activity to be realized within. It is necessary to shed indifference and coldness, to make a holocaust of one's own being, and to project above any human selfishness, a prodigious call of love.
Then the channel of Beatitude opens itself in its sublimity. Two currents project themselves towards each other. The first, ascending current carries man into the bosom of God; the second, like a celestial river, descends upon the earth to make the soul conceive into a pregnancy of eternity. How that finite being, that nothing, lost in the ocean of Being without boundaries and place, is carried up to the confines of the Absolute. A mysterious operation through which, once, the Son of God became the son of man, repeats itself in its inverse sense. Distance becomes non-existing. The human nature, now transfigured in an incomprehensible union, embraces the Will of God, His Justice and His mercy.
Then prayer reaches such summits, how unimportant appear the terrestrial things! The words of Chrysostom are aglow in their severity: Vanity of vanities!-All is Vanity! Riches...Vanity! Honors...Vanity! Human power...Vanity of Vanities! Everything disappears under the blazing breath of the Paraclete-nothing remains there except the immense furnace of love:
FONS........VIVUS........IGNIS........CARITAS
Are only saints able to lose themselves into this mystical transport, neighboring the beatitude? No. If peace is with him, every man of good will is capable of reaching there, because every prayer is holy when it relies upon faith and hope-even measured by human standards. O you of humble heart and pure in spirit, do not become discouraged in spite of the apparent sterility and inefficacy of your prayers. If you ask for temporal favors, do not be surprised if you do not receive anything. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and your desires mean very little when compared with the eternal gift which, unknowingly, is granted you.
Pray, therefore, in heights of ecstacy, for yourself and for others; but above all pray for others, recalling the last vision of Denis (often identified with Dionysus the Areopagite), who, on the eve of being tortured, was thinking in his prison about the salvation of humanity. Jesus came to comfort him and said to him: "If you pray for others you shall be heard." Now, if God can pay a hundredfold for the least alm given to the poor, in His name, how will he repay the fruit of your prayers?
Enjoy
† † †
Prayer by Constant Chevillon
(Constant Chevillon, Sovereign Grand Master of the Martinist Order, assassinated in Lyon, France, in 1944, by the French Militia on the pay of the Nazi invaders.)
Prayer is the only true and holy magic. Ceremonial magic, too often, places the will at the service of pride. Prayer, on the other hand, is a very humble aspiration of the finite towards the Infinite. A person praying resembles a desert striving to become a meadow full of flowers and, furthermore , he does not demand-he beseeches.
However, common men ignore all that prayer involves. For the overwhelming majority, to pray is to say words with the lips and sometimes with the heart, the ardor corresponding to the intensity of their desires; or to bow in a temple or oratory in order to entreat, from an anthropomorphic God and according to their own wishes, free gifts, entirely material, like health, wealth, success or love. Thus, we pray nowadays as did the Jews of yore, wishing to exchange manna for the onions of Egypt.
Certainly a prayer asking for the goods of this world is, of course, permissible. To address the merciful Father, asking Him to guard us from physical misery, is an homage to His almighty power. We forget, however, only too often, the words from the gospel: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Justice and everything else will be given unto you."
Prayer should not intend only to break the infernal circle of destiny; it is far more elevated and noble. It is a superhuman lifting up towards the Divine splendor, as well as kneeling-it is unspeakable ecstacy-facing the Ineffable Charity.
To be able to pray in this manner, it is necessary to become silent within. Free oneself from all evil thoughts, even from simply negative ones. It is necessary to put feeling, understanding and reason in tune with the spirit, to enter into a passive state in order to allow Divine activity to be realized within. It is necessary to shed indifference and coldness, to make a holocaust of one's own being, and to project above any human selfishness, a prodigious call of love.
Then the channel of Beatitude opens itself in its sublimity. Two currents project themselves towards each other. The first, ascending current carries man into the bosom of God; the second, like a celestial river, descends upon the earth to make the soul conceive into a pregnancy of eternity. How that finite being, that nothing, lost in the ocean of Being without boundaries and place, is carried up to the confines of the Absolute. A mysterious operation through which, once, the Son of God became the son of man, repeats itself in its inverse sense. Distance becomes non-existing. The human nature, now transfigured in an incomprehensible union, embraces the Will of God, His Justice and His mercy.
Then prayer reaches such summits, how unimportant appear the terrestrial things! The words of Chrysostom are aglow in their severity: Vanity of vanities!-All is Vanity! Riches...Vanity! Honors...Vanity! Human power...Vanity of Vanities! Everything disappears under the blazing breath of the Paraclete-nothing remains there except the immense furnace of love:
FONS........VIVUS........IGNIS........CARITAS
Are only saints able to lose themselves into this mystical transport, neighboring the beatitude? No. If peace is with him, every man of good will is capable of reaching there, because every prayer is holy when it relies upon faith and hope-even measured by human standards. O you of humble heart and pure in spirit, do not become discouraged in spite of the apparent sterility and inefficacy of your prayers. If you ask for temporal favors, do not be surprised if you do not receive anything. The kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and your desires mean very little when compared with the eternal gift which, unknowingly, is granted you.
Pray, therefore, in heights of ecstacy, for yourself and for others; but above all pray for others, recalling the last vision of Denis (often identified with Dionysus the Areopagite), who, on the eve of being tortured, was thinking in his prison about the salvation of humanity. Jesus came to comfort him and said to him: "If you pray for others you shall be heard." Now, if God can pay a hundredfold for the least alm given to the poor, in His name, how will he repay the fruit of your prayers?
Friday, June 7, 2013
The Foolishness of an Un-Self-Actualised Knowledge Sprout
Circular logic is circular
Logically, circles are circular
Circular logicians circle logic
Circles logically circle logicians
I love Occult arguments, those who follow their obligations have no need for attack or defence... But the aggressor, by attacking the other, denies and attacks himself.
Pax
MvdV
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Be intense....
I have a busy life.
I am married with three kids (two under 6), I work full time in education for which I commute 50km a day (approximately for 2 hours a day, I love traffic), with frequent after hours responsibilities with students and staff. I train 3 times a week in the Martial Arts, twice a week in the gym pushing iron and I am an active Freemason with membership in several orders. To round it off, I am also studying a Postgraduate Theological qualification at University.
Looking at that I am amazed that I even got one of my magical goals completed, let alone starting to create the system I have been working on over the last 18 months. The system itself is going okay and is focused on using experiences from outside of 'magic', harnessing it, and using it at a later date in a ritual/magical manner. For example, attending a Masonic ritual and using the energy or intent of the ritual after the event in a more focused way in a magical ritual to achieve my goals.
But my post today is not about my system. Or magic per say.
It is about being intense and getting the most out of life as you humanly can.
I have a lot of commitments, my wife and I often joke about how we have to cheat on our other commitments to spend time together, our discussions about our days are fleeting things, captured in the time between going to bed and the end of a cup of Milo after tucking in the kids/finishing working. We go out to dinner with each other now and then and often go for walks and do other things together. It's not a totally absent relationship, but our lives are balanced against our other interests.
I love it. I wouldn't want my life to be any other way. I don't want to live my life by the "Keep Calm" memes floating around the interwebs, I want to go full pelt and smash life in the face (in an intellectually appropriate way of course). I will do well at my job, complete challenging studies, be a loving husband and an engaged Dad who plays with his kids all the time.
My magic allows this, it enhances my awesome life and gives me energy, insight and opportunities to live it the way I want to. I am grateful to it, my teachers and those I interact with both in the physical and not.
I am content. I am powerful. I am at peace.
Pax
MvdV
I am married with three kids (two under 6), I work full time in education for which I commute 50km a day (approximately for 2 hours a day, I love traffic), with frequent after hours responsibilities with students and staff. I train 3 times a week in the Martial Arts, twice a week in the gym pushing iron and I am an active Freemason with membership in several orders. To round it off, I am also studying a Postgraduate Theological qualification at University.
Looking at that I am amazed that I even got one of my magical goals completed, let alone starting to create the system I have been working on over the last 18 months. The system itself is going okay and is focused on using experiences from outside of 'magic', harnessing it, and using it at a later date in a ritual/magical manner. For example, attending a Masonic ritual and using the energy or intent of the ritual after the event in a more focused way in a magical ritual to achieve my goals.
But my post today is not about my system. Or magic per say.
It is about being intense and getting the most out of life as you humanly can.
I have a lot of commitments, my wife and I often joke about how we have to cheat on our other commitments to spend time together, our discussions about our days are fleeting things, captured in the time between going to bed and the end of a cup of Milo after tucking in the kids/finishing working. We go out to dinner with each other now and then and often go for walks and do other things together. It's not a totally absent relationship, but our lives are balanced against our other interests.
I love it. I wouldn't want my life to be any other way. I don't want to live my life by the "Keep Calm" memes floating around the interwebs, I want to go full pelt and smash life in the face (in an intellectually appropriate way of course). I will do well at my job, complete challenging studies, be a loving husband and an engaged Dad who plays with his kids all the time.
My magic allows this, it enhances my awesome life and gives me energy, insight and opportunities to live it the way I want to. I am grateful to it, my teachers and those I interact with both in the physical and not.
I am content. I am powerful. I am at peace.
Pax
MvdV
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Lent and the damage done
Well the Lenten season is here, Ash Wednesday and onwards to the glory of Easter reminds us of the suffering of Christ in the desert and brings to the front of our minds the 'transgressions' and lost opportunities to better ourselves in the past 12 months. I for one look forward to Lent. It is a hungry time which serves to sharpen the senses. There is nothing like an empty stomach to bring the important things in life to focus.
Fasting is a regular practice of mine and is an important part of my spiritual regime, it makes the time I invest in something when I am fasting important. I don't have as much energy or attention span so it needs to count, I can't wast my time with irrelevant activities.
Fasting also brings meals with family into a greater prominence. Breaking bread with the family at the main meal of the day increases the joy and attention given to the meal; I value what I have missed which increases my enjoyment of that time.
Magically I work towards creating a 40 day cycle of prayer and effort towards a goal. I have identified my goal and am building it around a rosary based cycle this year. we'll see how it goes.
Lent is a time to value that which you may take for granted, starve yourself of it and appreciate it when you get it back. Focus on the absence of that thing in your life and find how you feel without it.
Pax,
MvdV
Fasting is a regular practice of mine and is an important part of my spiritual regime, it makes the time I invest in something when I am fasting important. I don't have as much energy or attention span so it needs to count, I can't wast my time with irrelevant activities.
Fasting also brings meals with family into a greater prominence. Breaking bread with the family at the main meal of the day increases the joy and attention given to the meal; I value what I have missed which increases my enjoyment of that time.
Magically I work towards creating a 40 day cycle of prayer and effort towards a goal. I have identified my goal and am building it around a rosary based cycle this year. we'll see how it goes.
Lent is a time to value that which you may take for granted, starve yourself of it and appreciate it when you get it back. Focus on the absence of that thing in your life and find how you feel without it.
Pax,
MvdV
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Effing the Ineffable...
I came across the description in the title in the context of working in the Western Mystery tradition from the Masonic Society forum a while back and it pretty much sums up one of the major issues of working with the Mysteries.
The difficulty of transmitting the knowledge and experiences you have to others in a meaningful way.
There has been a fantastic outpouring in the past of artistic work around religious, spiritual and related experiences which in my opinion is one of the best ways of transmitting experience. In the Masonic context, the Tracing Boards, the Lectures on the Tracing Boards, the Lodge Room and the Rituals themselves outline the experiences that are Freemasonry in artistic and symbolic ways. The fact that the Lodge is not complete without some of these symbols being present is an indication to the importance of symbols to the practice of our Esoteric art.
My magic, as well as that of many traditions, relies on the ability to communicate with things that are beyond our understanding. God, Gods, Goddesses, Spirits, Platonic Bodies, the list goes on. We cannot begin to comprehend what they want from us. We may think we know, but we really cannot understand them. It is impossible for a Butterfly to understand an Eagle, or a Zebra, but we keep fooling ourselves as to our level of knowledge of what the powers we interact with want. We may think we know what we want from them, but the chances are what we get is what we need, not what we want. I have been crushed by the powers that be, only to be more than I was before, but unable to really explain it or articulate the occurrence to others. This is where the need for strong communication is required and the art of our science comes into play.
I undertook art at High School as part of my entry to University and I have not lost my appreciation of how art changes and influences us subconsciously. Perhaps this is the only way to impart true understanding of what we do in the Esoteric, by subtly interacting with images and themes at a level beyond the rational mind. I use the Masonic Symbols mainly and incorporate the structure of the lodge in my ritual work. This is because I am familiar with the symbols and it is my personal belief/culture/life system which I connect with. Use yours.
I am starting a new project built on this appreciation of symbolism that represents a more practical aspect of my magic. We'll see how it goes and hopefully I get some good results. Meanwhile, I encourage you to visualise what you have experienced and put it into the physical world (obviously symbolically, it would take years to fully represent some experiences) to impact with your everyday life.
Pax,
MvdV
The difficulty of transmitting the knowledge and experiences you have to others in a meaningful way.
There has been a fantastic outpouring in the past of artistic work around religious, spiritual and related experiences which in my opinion is one of the best ways of transmitting experience. In the Masonic context, the Tracing Boards, the Lectures on the Tracing Boards, the Lodge Room and the Rituals themselves outline the experiences that are Freemasonry in artistic and symbolic ways. The fact that the Lodge is not complete without some of these symbols being present is an indication to the importance of symbols to the practice of our Esoteric art.
My magic, as well as that of many traditions, relies on the ability to communicate with things that are beyond our understanding. God, Gods, Goddesses, Spirits, Platonic Bodies, the list goes on. We cannot begin to comprehend what they want from us. We may think we know, but we really cannot understand them. It is impossible for a Butterfly to understand an Eagle, or a Zebra, but we keep fooling ourselves as to our level of knowledge of what the powers we interact with want. We may think we know what we want from them, but the chances are what we get is what we need, not what we want. I have been crushed by the powers that be, only to be more than I was before, but unable to really explain it or articulate the occurrence to others. This is where the need for strong communication is required and the art of our science comes into play.
I undertook art at High School as part of my entry to University and I have not lost my appreciation of how art changes and influences us subconsciously. Perhaps this is the only way to impart true understanding of what we do in the Esoteric, by subtly interacting with images and themes at a level beyond the rational mind. I use the Masonic Symbols mainly and incorporate the structure of the lodge in my ritual work. This is because I am familiar with the symbols and it is my personal belief/culture/life system which I connect with. Use yours.
I am starting a new project built on this appreciation of symbolism that represents a more practical aspect of my magic. We'll see how it goes and hopefully I get some good results. Meanwhile, I encourage you to visualise what you have experienced and put it into the physical world (obviously symbolically, it would take years to fully represent some experiences) to impact with your everyday life.
Pax,
MvdV
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