Transformation

Today's card is Death, and no, it doesn't bother me.  It just goes to show that this is a tremendous time of transformation and I need to let go of whatever no longer should be allowed to live on.  For me, primarily, it means to accept the new identity of Magician. 

And, once again, it was the first card pulled from a complete deck.  For extra bonus, yesterday's card, Judgment, was at the bottom of the deck!  I love detailing these "coinicidences"!

Extra bonus points for Trish for doing Liber Resh at noon!

As I was about to pull into my parking spot coming home from work, a Merlin falcon flew in front of my car, and perched on the power wire right to the back of my parking space, I got a good look at the bird, but when I turned around to grab my phone to take a picture, it flew away. Never seen one on the beaches of SFL. Had to google falcon/hawk images to sort out what it was.  Based on the picture below, I'm fairly confident that it was a female Merlin, which is even better - a female magician!

The falcon is associated with Ra and Horus, as these are both depicted as having the head of a falcon which I think it's pretty cool considering I'm hailing Ra every morning. It is also the Egyptian symbol for the rising sun. I looked up the meaning online, and wasn't able to find much.  Most of the posts are about falcons.  I was able to find two references.  One stated that the Marlin signifies that it's time for magical maneuverings.  That fits well with what I'm doing.

The second one is supposed to reference Ted Andrew's work on Animal Spirit Guides and it stated that the keynote for the Merlin is quick and magical maneuvers and shape-shiftings.  I like that!!  It went on to say: 

Merlins, like the mythical character, are magical birds. The Merlin is a 'pigeon hawk.' Its ability to mimic pigeons to capture prey indicates what this bird's message is. Sometimes we must appear as something we're not in order to capture what we need or want, weaving a little shape-shifting magic, creating an illusion in order to accomplish our goals.

The Merlin in falconry was a preference of noble ladies. The Merlin is easily trainable and was then often returned back to the wild after a season of hunting. Because of this, the Merlin is a reminder to weave and use a little magic for the time being. It is an indication of new and often temporary doors of learning will open. We should take advantage of these opportunities, undertake some quick training and accomplish what we need at the moment because our learning will come quickly and will serve its purpose for the time. Now is the time to shape-shift our life and ourselves a little for the greatest benefits.

It's nice for Merlin to pay a visit!

Awakening to New Life

So today's Tarot card is Judgment and I am taking it as a good sign of taking up the desire for a new way of being through resuming magickal training.  And once again, it was the first card I drew when I shuffled a full deck.  I'm not sure how this continues to happen, the odds against it must be astronomical, because each time I do the Tarot Contemplation Ritual, a Major Arcana cards turns up on top.  I guess some things are magickal...

On another note, I was reading Modern Magick last night and in one of the sidebars, the author, Donald Craig, shares his thoughts on what constitutes a good spiritual teacher:

(Click for larger image)

Can I once again say how much I LOVE this author? I so completely agree with him.  Anyone who doesn't sing, doesn't dance and/or doesn't laugh (especially at themselves) is not fit to be a spiritual teacher!

Today I have completed the Liber Resh (except the noon one), the LBRP, meditation and Tarot contemplation.  Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Wondering

So here I was, starting this new course in Magick, everything was going great and then... all hell broke loose in my life.  Not sure what to make of it.  I believe that we create our own reality, and that it's quite possible that any time we try to make any major changes to it, our subconscious resists and creates roadblocks to maintain the status quo.  Not sure if that's what happened here, or... if what I was doing was beginning to bring about situations that would ultimately move me where I needed to be as a magician.

What I do know is that I just wasn't in any sort of mind-space to be able to continue with the daily rituals and I ceased them altogether sometime on Tuesday, Aug 26th, and hence the reason I haven't posted.

Meanwhile... I do feel I want to take this up again, despite the ruckus.  Because whether it's my subconscious or the result of the practice, or just coincidence that I might be misinterpreting, I do wish to continue, I do wish to see where it might take me. 

Tonight I will (finally!) read those pages on kabbalah, and tomorrow morning begin with Liber Resh, meditation, and the LBRP again.  Let's see what happens.

Revised Liber Resh

Now that I understand the purpose of Liber Resh (pls read post prior to this one), I'm more comfortable performing it.  Changing the words to modern English helps also.  Even though I've learned that the Egyptian deity associations are somewhat off, I've decided to leave that alone.  If in my mind I had already formed a firm idea about this matter, I would change it so that I could perform the Liber Resh without internal contradictions.  But since I don't, then I rather join in with everyone who's ever done this as Crowley cooked it up.

Once again, the first card I drew was a Major Arcana.  This time, it was the High Priestess and I felt immediately drawn to the pomegranates behind her, which are placed in the positions of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

And most particularly to the pomegranate by the High Priestess' head which seeds are not colored red like the others.  This pomegranate corresponds to Da'at (knowledge) in the Tree of Life. In general, Da’at is not really a sephirot, and it operates on two levels: higher knowledge and/or hidden knowledge.  Not educational knowledge but rather to experiential Knowledge through union with the object in question… To experience the Divine, is to Know the Divine. 

 

And I also find this all fitting in light of the fact that I will begin to read about Kabbalah today in Lesson Two.

Not alone at all

I guess I am not the only who finds the funny medieval language a bit forced.  I was able to find two alternate translations.  This one is a modern but bland:

Hail, Sun in the morning!
Spreading rosy fingers over the world,
Bringing new light and purpose to the day!
Welcome from the realm of night! 

This one maintains the Egyptian deities and uses modern language:

Hail, Ra in your triumph and strength!
Coursing through the heavens at sunrise!
Horus at the helm and Thoth at the prow.
Hail to you from the realm of night! 

I'm going to need to research who these deities are, though I know they are all forms of the Egyptian solar god as the sun travels across the sky during the day.  My understanding, after doing a bit of research, is that Crowley assigned the deities to the classically incorrect time of day, as Ra is associated with noon, not sunrise.  This is actually a good thing, as it shows that practitioners can adapt and change old rituals in order to develop something personally workable and meaningful.

The purpose of Liber Resh is for the magician to connect with the divine, via the classic Solar principle, by identifying with the Sun as it progresses across the heavens during the day. This regular, daily practice reminds the magician that he/she is a magician. And to draw spiritual sustenance or energy from the  sun / the divine.

It is fair to assume then, that Liber Resh is essentially a daily invocation to one's Higher Self, using the sun as a proxy, and is intended to ultimately put the magician not just in touch with his/her own Higher Self, but the Divine.  So the ritual itself should be malleable and personal, the real point being a simple focus of will to open one's awareness of the infinite and to doing the Great Work.

Well, it's time for this gal to go greet Khephra and go to sleep!

Medieval English

Woke up and did the morning Liber Resh.  Didn't care for the language, it felt so artificial:

Hail unto Thee who art Ra in thy rising, even unto thee who art Ra in thy strength, who travelest over the heavens in thy bark at the uprising of the sun. Tahuti standeth in his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm. Hail unto thee from the abodes of night!

I am going to translate it into modern English.  I'm pretty sure that the Liber Resh has been done in many languages, and that medieval English was modern by ancient Egypt standards, so I’m sure Ra will be fine with it.  How about…

Greetings to you who are Ra in your rising, even unto you who are Ra in your strength, who travels over the skies in your vessel at the rising of the sun. Tahuti stands in his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abides at the helm. Greetings to you from the dwellings of night!

I’ll have to translate all the others, which are mostly the same, except for a change in deity and characteristics.  And I might change it further at a later point. This modern girl doesn't do medieval.

On another note, the LBRP felt more powerful this morning.  I'm starting to get all the details down.  I've also decided to begin again with the Gateway Experience program, and listened to the orientation recording for Wave I.  There was stuff there I didn't get the other times I learned it. And I had totally forgotten that there was a Focus 3.  I find this very interesting, and it's the reason I go over basics from time to time.  It's amazing what you miss. I'm going to replace the Relaxation Ritual with the Gateway Experience, going over each recording every day for a week to be sure I cover it all thoroughly. 

And the Major Arcana Tarot card I drew today was The Moon.  I've gone back to using my Radiant RW.  I didn't want to use it because I didn't want to take out the Major Arcana in order to do the TCR, but then I realized that I really didn't need to, and decided to simply shuffle the cards, cut them, and then draw cards until the first Major Arcana turned up.  Today, however, The Moon was the first card.

I think it's fitting considering I decided to begin the Gateway Experience again and a confirmation that I am on the right track,  There's a path to the mountain, and you have to go through the gates to reach it.

Holding Steady

For the greater part of the week I have simply been practicing.  Meditation, LPRP, Tarot, with some astrology thrown in for good measure since that's my foundation.  I don't have a whole lot to report.  The practice part of most disciplines is not always remarkable.  If I were to comment on any difference in the past few days it would be that everything seems somewhat brighter.  Living in South Florida, we are used to it being sunny all the time, but that's not the type of brightness I'm talking about.  Things look different.  Sharper somehow. Like maybe there was some sort of film that I wasn't aware was there until it finally dissipated.  Or it could just be my imagination, getting away from me..

I noticed that what followed after the LBRP and Liber Resh in Lesson 2 was several pages on kabbalah and decided to leave the reading of kabbalah for the weekend as it is somewhat complicated and requires concentration to follow, let alone understand.  So instead, I re-read some of what I had already read, hoping to find information I might have missed.

I've gotten quite good at the LBRP, and can do it in a few minutes.  Have not begun the Liber Resh, but plan to tomorrow.  Figure I'd try it out during the weekend, and become familiar enough to be able to begin to perform during the week.  Still not sure what I'll do about the noon-time ritual.