Notes on the Vortex Rite II

As a follow up on Planck’s Constant here is a discussion of the other Pole of the first Bar of the Chaosphere in the Vortex Rite, ψ The Wave Function

Notes on the Vortex Rite

I discovered an error in the online version of the Vortex Rite circulating on the Internet.  In the text from Tzimon Yliaster suggest visualizing the astronomical sign for Saturn .

Perhaps unknown to Tzimon the symbol for Planck’s Constant is actually “h” while the symbol for the Dirac constant is “ħ.” Given how similar ħ is to  I suppose it is understandable.  

Still no reason for you to continue his mistake.

Here’s a great video on Planck’s Constant and its implications.

Sigil Magic: Basics

Rather then do too much in the way of restatement I would like to provide some links with basic information on the practice of Sigil Magic. For the next month or so conduct at least one sigil operation in the manner which most appeals to you aimed at some sort of objective change/experience. Try to avoid operations of subjective self-transformation in this practice. If you have any questions or run into any problems feel free to ask them.

Sigil Magic – Joseph Max

Pop Magic – Grant Morrison

Recommended Reading

Practical Sigil Magic by Frater U.D. (the technical material from this is included in his High Magic: Theory Practice as well as the book originally titled The Secrets of the German Sex Magicians if you cannot locate this work)

Visual Magick by Jan Fries

Dreamwork I

For the course of the six months that you will be Working through Liber MMM you should keep a dream journal. In it you should write down whatever it is you remember about your dream experiences first thing in the morning, including if you do not remember anything at all. As your dream entries will increase with time it is usually best to keep your dream journal seperate from your magical journal to prevent overcrowding.This is less of an issue for people using electronic journal tools, but still consider keeping separate files.

To help improve your ability to recall your dreams consider giving the following practice a try. As you lay down to sleep begin to recall the events of the day as fully as possible, starting with the most recent events and working your way backwards to when you first woke up. Once you have completed this say some kind of positive loading formula, such as “As I make my way to the Realms of Dream I drink from the Waters of Rememberance,” or something that you find stimulating.

Optional Supplemental Reading

“How Dreams Work” by Lee Ann Obringer

Tarnow, Dr. Eugen (2003) How Dreams And Memory May Be Related. NEURO-PSYCHOANALYSIS 5(2):pp. 177-182.

Wiki Supplements

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Education:_A_Book_of_Dreams

Vowel Singing Exercises

Here are a few videos of traditional and contemporary vowel singing exercises that can help turn your practice of the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual from an ear splitting to an enthralling one.
Singing Vowels in Classical Voice Training — powered by eHow.com
How to Learn Vowels for Singing — powered by eHow.com
How to Sing Vowels for Vocal Exercises — powered by eHow.com 

These skills can contribute far beyond just the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual.  Some traditions of magic, such as the Germanic galdr rely heavily upon vocalization and singing skills as a means of enhancing magical efficacy. Singing will also offer other contributions to your overall practice, as notes Don Webb in his Uncle Setnakt’s Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path

Singing is a great reliever of stress, it charms and disarms many people, and is a great medium for many magical systems. People that can sing in front of other people lose their crippling shyness, they learn how to control people by voice alone (try leading a chorus, you’ll see what I mean), and they learn how o overcome stress at will – you can’t sing if your chest is tight.

Background on the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual

 

As is common in Peter J. Carroll’s works little in the way of elaboration or history is provided for his Gnostic Banishing Ritual published in Liber Kaos. Carroll tends to provide little information on his sources, something noted in the interview with him to be found at Phil Hine’s Website 

 

So what is the background of the Gnostic Banishing Ritual?

 

The Gnostic Pentagram Ritual comes from two different sources.  It’s basic structure is taken from the Pentagram Rituals of the Heremetic Order of the Golden Dawn.  The HOGD, which existed in its original form from 1888 to 1900, has provided much of the materials on magical practice in the English speaking World. It also provided the primary magical training for such notables as W. B. Yeats and Aleister Crowley. Their Pentagram Rituals, which run from the simple to the highly complex can be broken down into the following general stages

 

• Orienting the Magician as the Central Axis.
• Marking the Cardinal Directions through sound, movement and visualization.
• Calling Upon the forces of the Cardinal Directions.
• Reorienting the Magician as the Central Axis. 

 

For Carroll’s Gnostic Pentagram Ritual five vowel sounds (I, E, A, O, U) are combined with the visualization of energy centers in the body is used for the Central Axis.

The vowel qualities for the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual should be

i [ee] as in the “ee” in greet

e [a ] as in the “a” in gate

a [ah] as in the “a” in father

o [o ] as in the “o” in go

u [oo] as in the “u” in rule

Where did this sequence come from?

Although largely unknown in the English speaking world this pattern of Vowles and Energy Centers is taken from Eugen Grousche’s work “Die magische Erweckung der Chakra” Grosche, who wrote under the name Gregor A. Gregorius, was the founding Grand Master of the German Occult group the Fraternitas Saturni or the Brotherhood of Saturn, one of the first non-O.T.O. groups to accept Aleister Crowley’s idea of the Aeon of Horus.  The Fraternitas Saturni stayed independent of Crowley’s direct influence and elaborated his idea of the Aeon of Horus with their own Astrological speculations leading to their own Aeonic concept of the Emerald Dawn, an age which would appear on the surface to be an Egalitarian paradise but which would be controlled by those who had engaged in sever  Initiatory Discipline  to gain liberation through the Dark Light of Saturn.

Frame Rituals

Ritual is a combination of the use of talismanic weapons, gesture,visualized sigils, word spells, and magical trance. Before proceeding with sigils or dreaming, it is essential to develop an effective Banishing Ritual.

A well-constructed banishing ritual has the following aspects. It prepares the magician more rapidly for magical concentration than any of the trance exercises alone. It enables the magician to resist obsession if problems are encountered with dream experiences or with sigils becoming conscious. It also protects the magician from any hostile occult influences which may assail him.

To develop a banishing ritual, first acquire a magical weapon – a sword, a dagger, a wand, or perhaps a large ring. The instrument should be something which is impressive to the mind and should also represent the  aspirations of the magician. The advantages of hand-forging one’s own instruments, or discovering them in some strange way, cannot be overemphasized.

The banishing ritual should contain the following elements as a minimum.

First, the magician describes a barrier about himself with the magical weapon. The barrier is also strongly visualized. Three dimensional figures are preferable. See figure 1 on page 20.

Second, the magician focuses his will on a visualized image: for example, the image of the magical weapon, or his own imaginary third eye, or perhaps a ball of light inside his own head. A sound concentration may additionally or alternatively be used.

Third, the barrier is reinforced with power symbols drawn with the magical weapon. The traditional five-pointed star or pentagram can be used, or the eight-pointed star of Chaos, or any other form. Words of power may also be used.

Fourth, the magician aspires to the infinite void by a brief but determined effort to stop thinking.

from Liber MMM by Peter J. Carroll

 

Frame rituals are what are often used to mark the begining and end of ritual or sacred activities. It becomes a way of knowing that what will follow is somehow different and seperate from what has come before and what will come after its completion. In some ways frame rituals 

The single simplest ritual frame is the use of a particular sound. Many Japanese Rituals for example use the clapping of the hands to mark the break between “the work a day world” and ritual activity. Other frame rituals are remarkably elaborate, such as the sequence of the Greater Ritual of the Pentagram used by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its imitators. For reasons of its simplicity, practicality and long-term benefits I would recommend that the Novice begin by learning Peter J. Carroll’s Gnostic Pentagram Ritual 

Optional Supplemental Reading 

Arnold Van Gannep Rites of Passage 
Victor Turner Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure 
Joseph Campbell The Hero With a Thousand Faces 

Wiki Supplements 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rites_of_passage

Motionlessness

Arrange the body in any comfortable position and try to remain in that position for as long as possible. Try not to blink or move the tongue or fingers or any part of the body at all. Do not let the mind run away on long trains of thought but rather observe oneseif passively. What appeared to be a comfortable position may become agonizing with time, but persist! Set aside some time each day for this practice and take advantage of any opportunity of inactivity which may arise.

Record the results in the magical diary. One should not be satisfied with less than five minutes.

When fifteen have been achieved, proceed to regulation of the breathing.

from Liber MMM by Peter J. Carroll

All rather simple, or so it seems.

In terms of practice upright postures are superior to suspine postures. The act of keeping the back straight, chin slightly tucked in, has a particular effect upon the muscular and skeletal systems, particularly once you learn to relax*.

Pick a posture you are comfrotable with and try to stick with it for the course of this month’s Work. What posture you use is ultimetly up to you, but you should note what you are doing in your journal. Simply sitting in a chair with your back straight can work just fine and requires no special physical conditioning in order to do it. Others find they are more comfortable and better able to maintain their posture standing rather then sitting. The more complicated postures associated with Yogic Meditation, such as those shown in Aleister Crowley’s Liber E vel Exercitiorvm sub figura IX are certain an option but do not feel that you need to excessively strain yourself.

Because of the wording of these instructions some people who attempt Liber MMM try to supress their blinding completely. This is simply an exercise in masochism and should not be attempted. Simply close your eyes for your sessions. If you find your eyes moving while practicing an option to prevent your eyes from moving around is something known amongst 3HO style Kundalini Yoga as “brow lock” or “eye lock.” With your eyes closed look towards a point about one to three inches in front of the middle of your eye brows and hold your eyes in that possition. Try keeping the tip of your tongue behind your teeth roughly where the top of your palette begins to arch forward towards your teeth. While there are a number of theories about why this helps the most basic one is that it prevents your tongue from moving around and becoming a burden on your awareness.

If you need something to do with your thoughts consider mentally saying “The breath flows in” on inhale and “The breath flows out,” on exhale or if you want something simpler simply “Here” on inhale and “Now” on exhale. I’ve used both over the years and there is a bit of a difference in the effect. The first helps to extablish a certain amount of distance between your conscious awareness and what is going on with your body while the later tends to increase your sense of embodiment.

You will find that your mind wanders in the course of this exercise. When you do notice this simply ask yourself the simple question “Avoiding?” and then return to monitoring your breathing and maintaining your posture.

Start your sessions aiming to do 5 minutes. If you do not make it to 5 minutes make a note of how long you maintained motionlessness. Once you have made it to 5 minutes successfully start adding more time to your session, say 30 seconds, until you can comfortably do that length of time. By the end of your first month you should be able to do 15 minutes of motionlessness consistently.

* If you are having problems relaxing see Israel Regardie’s A Lazyman’s Guide to Relaxation or the “Warm Up Methods” presented in Christopher S. Hyatt’s Undoing Yourself with Energized Meditation and Other Devices. If problems persist consider having a deep tissue massage done once a month or even more often to help battle some of the chronic tension you are holding in your muscles. If participants think it is worthwhile I can post a few simple relaxation methods I have used and taught as well.

Optional Supplemental Reading

Aleister Crowley Book Four Part I: Yoga Chapter 1: Asana

Aleister Crowley Eight Lectures on Yoga Chapter 4: Asana and Pranayama

Rodney Orpheus ABRAHADABRA Chapter 1

Robert Anton Wilson Prometheus Rising Chapter 3: The Oral Bio-Survival Circuit

Meditation, Magic and Metamorphosis

This Blog will act as a Working Record of my exploration of Peter. J. Carroll’s Liber MMM. Please feel free to contribute comments or suggestions as you see fit. Should you be interested in beginning your own practice of this curriculum as a result of what you find in this blog please let me know and we can try to network the blogs of as many practitioners as possible with one another.