Topic: Magick & Spirituality

To the Pranksters it was all a matter of synchronicity. Signs and portents emerged from the great mystic morass of the collective unconscious and took shape as events and metaphors capable of shaping reality. Pay attention, keep the cosmic mind tuned in, be “on the bus” in Prankster terms, and you could actually surf that mother wave of change. The year before, 1964, the Pranksters took their metaphor out for a road trip to the New York World’s Fair in a Day-Glo splashed 1939 International Harvester school bus named Further. Being the Pranksters, they pranked everyone they met along the way and filmed and taped the entire experience, including a visit to Dr Leary’s Millbrook retreat.

While the great west-east LSD summit meeting the Pranksters imagined failed to happen - Dr. Tim was off on a three-day trip and couldn’t be disturbed by a group of west coast costumed crazies - something was gained from the experience. Kesey and the group were off on a different kind of trip, were in fact sailing into the uncharted, dragon-infested waters of the collective unconscious where even the famous LSD gurus feared to go. On the return trip, the Unspoken Thing, the un-reference the Pranksters used for synchronicity, grew deeper and more powerful. By the time the group returned to La Honda in the fall of 1964, something new and truly unique was emerging: the Pranksters were developing a group mind, an egregore to use an archaic term.

In the early 1960s, before heading up into the mountains to La Honda, Ken Kesey lived near a quiet valley south of Stanford University. Back then it was known for its fruit orchards and was called the Valley of Heart’s Delight. It wouldn’t become Silicon Valley until 1971, and by then the radical evolution of the future was under way. But it all started, the future was truly groked and teased into manifestation, right there, amid the peaches and the apricots of Heart’s Delight. That somehow is comforting to contemplate…

Forty years ago, back in 1965, America was a nation in the clutches of radical social and cultural evolution. A President had been assassinated; the Civil Rights Movement reached toward its crescendo and the country was caught in an escalating pattern of undeclared war in South-East Asia as the Cold War threatened to become hot once again. The twenty years of technological change since the end of the World War produced other, even more profound signs of radical evolution. And so, even though The Cold War, the ideological “culture war” left over from the disastrous wars of the first half of the 20th century, would officially continue for another quarter century, the seeds of change that would blossom into the brave new world in which we now dwell were planted back in the summer and fall of 1965.

Traditionally, the twentieth Tarot trump has been called Judgment. Then Aleister Crowley came along and renamed the card The Aeon. This should come as a surprise to no one. After all, Uncle Al renamed half the pack. But while some of his changes were easy to understand, and others not so much changes as refinements, substituting The Aeon for Judgment might seem downright confounding.

In the second part of the 19th century, the naturalistes, who applied some form of science to their writing, recognized Balzac as their precursor, Balzac, whose purpose in writing was not to be faithful in depth to doctrines, methods or systems but rather to immerse the reader in an atmosphere, to comfort him from the realities of life, to inspire him to find himself, to find truth and harmony, to establish a quality of life for himself. Balzac succeeded. And one does not become a scholar on Svedenbörg after the reading of Séraphîta but one knows more and might wish to explore the origin of the New Church. After all, Balzac read Saint-Martin and wrote about Svedenbörg. Why would one concern himself with the following lines from Séraphîta, which content seemed not to have concerned Balzac himself? Some of the most illustrious men, said Monsieur de Thomé, alluding to Buffon's Theory of the Earth, are meant enough to dress in the peacock's plumage without giving him the credit.

Several years back, I read a book on the Tarot in which the author compared the twenty-two images of the Major Arcana to some Jungian archetypes. In her write-up on The Hanged Man she pointed-out that if you turn the Rider Waite version of this card upside down, then the central figure is no longer hanging upside down, but is right side up and dancing a jig.

So you want to be a Ceremonial Magician? You've bought a copy of Donald Kraig's book Eleven Lessons In The High Magickal Arts as well as a copy of Regardie's The Golden Dawn. You've studied many of the High Magick sites and asked questions on their forums. You've taught yourself the Middle Pillar meditation and the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. All that's left for you to do is to set-up your altar and fire-up your temple.

In studying history, one discovers kings whose characters and acts could not have been transformed by more legends than historical reality could possibly have authorized. In the words of Frederic Thieberger (which are reported in this article for their historical authority) regarding one of these monarchs: "If this is so, let's not try to deny it. This is solely because the real man should be gifted with radiance capable of justifying so much admiration." And Samuel Fallows will write: "This is confirmed by the universal voice of antiquity." Solomon was one of these kings.

When I'm doing a Tarot reading, when The Fool card comes-up people will often ask, “That doesn't mean I'm a fool, does it?” Many people are so afraid of seeming foolish or silly that they often see no positive attributes to The Fool at all. Actually, The Fool is like every other card in the Tarot deck and has positive and negative attributes. The meaning of this card in a reading depends on its placement within the spread, the other cards around it, and “what's going on” in the life of the person being read.

Amethyst: Amethyst is not only one of the most beautiful gemstones, it is one of the most useful in a metaphysical sense. Considered to be the universal antidote in gem healing (if you're not sure what stone a person needs, get an amethyst), amethyst is known for its stress relieving qualities. Just looking at an amethyst's cool purple hues has a calming and soothing effect, without any hint of sedation. This makes amethyst a perfect gemstone for you to wear if you are constantly under stress or if you tend to be fearful or nervous.