James, you bring up some excellent points and I think that is why I have not worked the spell prior to this. I mean, I've had the supplies and the spell since I decided to go forward with this 2 months ago. But, something held me back from using it. I pulled it out knowing the case was on Monday and then realized mercury was retrograde. But even if mercury wasn't retrograde, I had my doubts about using it.

That being said, I don't agree that one can not use magick on another spirit if it is necessary to defend oneself. My ex has an anger problem as well as a drinking problem. When he scares me, I have a very simple yet effective spell that works quite well. Within a few hours of casting it he calms down and leaves me alone. Is this tampering with his will? Yes. Is it wrong? I say no.

As for your other advice, you are right. Luckily he has an attorney who I get along with very well and any discussions can be done with him. Or, like you say, with the judge.

Thank you, John!

He didn't have to ever pay child support if he had just taken care of them like he should. Well, there's a reason I divorced him.

Just some personal ramblings on the Qabalah

I just made some very minor alterations to my own personal Qabalah map. This may seem quite trivial, but there had been bothering me and now I've decided on an 'Understanding' and 'Wisdom' concerning these few things that had been bothering me.



At the top of my Qabalah in the Great Spirit sephirah (which I label as 'being' in my presentation), I originally had the planet uranus by itself. This made sense to me overall, because Uranus represents "Awakened Consciouness". Which is certainly what the Great Spirit would be.

However, I had Pluto left over in my scheme of things and wasn't sure what to do with Pluto. Pluto represents the Goddess of the underworld, which is in a very real way just another aspect of the Moon Goddess, or Gaia, or the feminine or Yin.

Now I've seen many Qabalah maps that place Pluto with Da'ath (the great abyss). I also see that Penczak has Pluto and Uranus swapped. He has Pluto with the Great Spirit, and Uranus associated with Da'ath.

This may seem utterly absurd to some people who see this whole thing as being silly supersititions anyway. But just the same, I'm trying to at least put it into a form that makes sense to me on an intellectual as well as intutive level. I suddenly realized just today that both Pluto and Uranus belong to the Great Spirit. Uranus is the Yang consciousness, and Pluto is the Yin intuition.

They are the Yin/Yang aspect of the divine spirit.

So now I'm finally happy about having all the planets sorted out with respect to the Qabalah. All of the other planets match their respective sephirah perfectly.

Most Qabalah are fairly consistent with everything except Pluto and Uranus. So not I've cleared up that little detail, at least to my own satisfaction.

But now there's another thing that has kind of been bothering me as well.

Yin/Yang West/East

Ever since I've started with this Qabalah map I've always felt that the Yin should be on the left with the West and the Yang should be on the right with the East. (at least when I face north looking at the Qabalah map).

North has always been where I imagine the 'home of the gods'. When I cast a circle I always start in the North and work deosil (which I have always thought of as simple being "Clockwise"). After all, I cast the circle horizonally with the ground so I'm not thinking of celestial objects when I do this.

So I had been thinking about placing the Qabahal man on my north wall. However, that would make it all backwards with respect to east and west.

At first I thought this came from the hebrews and the fact that they write from right to left. This would explain why it's backwards I first thought.

But now I realize that it actually belongs on the south wall with Fire. First off, the Great Spirit is the element of Fire. Secondly, the deosil movement isn't merely "clockwize" but it's also, "Sunwise" (when facing south) which I never really thought about before in this circle-casting context.

So anyway, I realize this all seems utterly trivial to other people, but now it has all fallen into place. These little things that have been bothering me have now come together in perfect harmony.

I guess, buying Penczak's book and posting my thoughts about it here have helped me to gain a better harmony with the whole concept of the Qabahal. Moving Pluto into the Great Spirit sephirah makes sense to me even with respect to how things are laid out in my Labyrinth Garden. It's all coming together as a harmonious whole.

Wow James it seems so complex your Qabbalah. Are you sure you are not putting in too much logic? I am not trying to put the project down for I only understand some of it, but to understand the very nature of the paradox we know it, shouldn't it be of simplicity to bring better results.

Now one thing I know for sure is everyone has a different perspective of what works best for them and I can imagine that what you are experiencing with the knowledge you attain from various authors and your own experiences lead to this Qabblah, but perhaps it is for some a little to detailed and complex that it misses the main purpose of what you are searching or feeling in the end.

I really like the artistic side and how each symbol has a representation, yet I don't understand the significance of what they mean when connected and if they need to be connected to have a clearer understanding and wisdom attained from it.

I for example, enjoy my meditation and it only uses 6 syllables in my whole chanting session. It is the most simplest form I can think of that somehow gives me the most energy universally, clarity of mind, influential feeling, and strength I can ever ask for. I want it to be simple and one with all living species of this planet, yet as soon as I think beyond the scope of simplicity the logic side demands more answers and that is where we as humans go in a rut. Not that I am saying let us not learn anything, for we should, but how we learn and understand the supernatural and extrodinaory occurrence should perhaps be reevaluated as a whole. Am I making any sense here? Perhaps I am doing some mind exploring without realizing it.

But again I am not as logical as you James and I don't have the experience of being a teacher or professor to know it any other way. I think most of the time I feel and think with my heart which has its positive side and most definetely its downside.


Nevertheless, I am learning to balance (both my heart and logical thinking) the two by walking the middle path. Something that takes many years to attain. Some learn it sooner and can actually do it and others take longer. The grief, desperatey, depression, frustrations are still a complicated situation that all of us humans have rather we want it or not. The trick is how to reduce it or better said to accept these human emotions and now how to control them to not take over our mind as a permanent bases.

Well enough of my rambling. I just bought a book that I will be sharing with everyone. It is written by the infinite and wise guru and spiritual healer Deepak Chopra. The title is called Creating Affluence - The A to Z Steps to a Richer Life. I bought it primarily because it is in a very easy format to read that doesn't overwhelm you with difficult 15 page explanations on one word. It is more of a day to day book to enjoy.

I hope you as the family will enjoy it as much as I will share it here on the thread. I also hope that if Deepak ever visits this thread ( I doubt it) that he doesn't get upset for me sharing his wisdom on here.

Actually wouldn't it be fabolous if he did visited us here one day. That would be such a great experience for all of us.

John,

James has to do it that way because that's how his mind works. And its a good thing we have people like James, too. Could you see people like you and I who base things on the way they feel to us trying to build a rocket ship?

Ruth: Well, I have completed the engine and it feels right to me.

John: Yes, I get the feeling that will work out well.

Ruth: Okay good. Now let's get those astronauts and send them up. I'm sure it will work out. I've got a good feeling about it.



I can make fun of you because I'm the same way.

James' need to fill in every detail and have every bit of his spirituality make sense is too much for me. However, I appreciate what he does because when people ask me thngs like "what is magick" I can just pull out James' explanation. He explains it very well. Its better than me standing there saying "I can't explain it, I just know it works".

Oh yes I don't mean to change how he should see and feel his individual spirituality. I really don't mean to do this and I am sorry if it sounds like that in my last statement.

You are right, everyone has to figure it out on their own in the end anyway. What I am trying to convey to is if "he personally" feels he is not making it over complicated for himself.

You see scientists do this by second nature without even realizing it and never reach their full potential of feeling most happy with their spiritual experiences.

But again there are some who actually exceed in this way of logical thinking and feel best at it.

In the end, it is his decision on how he feels best and I too am always thankful for the wisdom he shares with us.

If anything Ruth our rocket would never lift off.

Just joking

but one truly needs scientific logic to make that rocket go off and I am sure James would know how to do this.

I always wondered why I never was good in physics and mathematics as a German. I mean most Germans that I knew can talk about it for hours without a problem back home.

I for some reason never did. Now I am wondering if I am German at all?

I say this for some of the most significant inventors of any space program or weapon program were German Scientists rounded up after WW2 and they still contribute alot today.

John, you are a very kind soul.

We can only hope.

Many people that I have met say that my soul is too kind for this planet. I was to be somewhere else.

I have had this said to me many times throughout my life.

I am starting to believe it now, although I don't understand at times why for how I think is only common sense and normal.

and I must add you are a kind soul also. Thank you for taking the time each day to make this thread beautiful and full of wisdom.

I just came back to post some more technical mumbo jumbo on the Qabalah. But maybe I should just keep it to myself.

Yes, John I thrive on logic and details. But like Ruth says, that's how my mind workds. We all have to deal with the brains we inherited from our DNA. My brain is logical and I'm stuck with it.

I do enjoy this though, logic is an 'Art Form' for me. So as I 'paint up' this picture of the Qabalah it's truly very much like an actual painting for me.

By the way, I'm making it a lot LESS technical than Penczak's book you can TRUST me on that one.

The whole Qabalah tradition is quite complex. So far, everything that I read on the Qabalah starts out with something like the following:

"Many people find the Qabalah far too complicated to understand, and often far too dogmatic in the details, but this is such a shame, because once understood, it's a very useful model."

I agree with this sentiment. I do see a lot of value in it.

It may appear to you that this is excruciatingly painful. You're probably thinking, "Just light some incense and relax. Empty your mind of all thoughts".

Yes, I do that John. I'm not always building Qabalah rockets to the moon.

As crazy as this may sound I'm actually following my intuition, and my intuition led me to the Qabalah. I could have passed on it, but it sucked me in like a black hole.

I'm glad it did. I'm learning a lot about it. And I'm finding it quite valuable. It actually has a lot to do with my Labyrinth Garden "Reality Map". I'm not even doing this so much for my own spiritual development. I may end up putting this whole thing together as a book and just passing it along for anyone else who might find the information useful.

The other thing to consider here too is the Penczak wrote this book as a year-and-a-day study! I'm currently reading the Chapter that is entirely devoted to the Body Temple sephirah (Mulkuth).

Penczak expects the witch to devote an entire month to the study and meditations of Mulkuth. He included many rituals and exercises in the book for this purpose. He also expects the witch to decorate the altar with special symbols and tools specifically associated with Mulkuth.

I'm not going anywhere near that far.

I'm just learning the basics of Mulkuth to get an understanding of what the core issues are.

Next chapter is Yesod, and so on.

I already learned a great ritual for making Holy Water though.

In fact, I'm going to take that ritual and rebuild it's rocket engines to include warp drive.

By that I simply mean that I'm going to take Penczak's simple incantations and dress them up a bit with some higher poetic rhapsody. I think I will include these esoteric names of the four worlds.

Oops, I didn't post that yet. Ok.

Owl get that post and post it right now.

John,

By the way, my Labyrinth Garden is my real focus. I'm just checking out this Qabalah as a quick aside here. As soon as I'm done here I can go back to my Labyrinth Garden with some additional insights. I've gained some important insights already.

I thought I'd post what I'm doing to save Ruth from having to buy the book.

Finishing the Qabalah Basics

I finished the chapter on Qabalah Basics. The rest of the chapter dealt with the so-called "Four Worlds".

Yes, they are Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

The idea with the Qabalah goes something like the following:

The tree is divided up into sections that are ruled by the various elemental "gods".

These elemental "gods" have the following names:

1. God of Fire = Atziluth
2. God of Water = Briah
3. God of Air = Yetzirah
4. God of Earth = Assiah


Supposedly if you use these names for the gods when calling upon the elements your magick will be more powerful. I'm not impressed.

Although I suppose they could give incantations a more magickal 'flavor'. I might consider learning these four names for incantations just for the sake of being poetic. Although I might consider other potential names too. I'll have to look at other cultures and see what they used for these four spiritual elements.

I think that using poetic or esoteric names can be a show of 'respect' for the gods. At least it shows an effort to respect them by giving them unique names.

The Elemental Gods and the Qabalah



The idea is that these four different elemental gods "rule" over the various major domains of the Qabalah as shown in the glyph above. Although there seems to be much dispute over which element is assigned to which area of the Qabalah:

(there are two major schools of thought)

School One - The Spiritualist's View

From the top down:

1. Atziluth (Fire) rules the realm of the Great spirit.

However, it also connects with the Mother and Father God/dess to imply their communion with the Great Spirit.

2. Briah (Water) rules the realm of the Soul.

However it also connects with the Mother and Father God/dess as well.

3. Yetzirah (Air) rules the realm of Persona

However it also overlaps with Birah.

4. Assiah (Earth) rules the physical world (the Body Temple and Gaia)

School Two - The Alchemist's View

It's basically the same as School One with Water and Air exchanged places.

The Alchemist holds that the elements should increase in "density" as they head toward earth. Water being more dense than Air places it closer to the physical realm.

I prefer the spiritualist's view. Mainly because of what Air and Water actually represent (i.e. Logos and Pathos)

Vibrations, "Octaves" and "Fractals"

Once we get to Earth (the Body Temple) the four elemental spirits repeat over again manifesting themselves into the physical world but at a lower frequency (i.e. at lower octaves of the musical dance of creation)

It is these four forces that the witch guides when using "Low" magick. (I'll post the difference between Low Magick and High Magick in another post)

A Monotheistic Religion?

Penczak offers quite a bit of historic information concerning the evolution of the Hebrew Kabbalah as it was then transformed into the Christian Cabalah before being abandoned as 'the magick of witchcraft'.

Yet, the origin of the original Hebrew Kabbalah is closely related to the tales of the Old Testament and the very Hebrew name of God "Yahweh" came out of these old traditions. In fact Yahweh is actually a transliteration from the Hebrew letters YHVH that had represented the four elemental forces. So the whole religion was truly based on a spiritual concept that had more gods than Carter has pills.

So as far as I can see the whole evolution of the Jewish and Christian monotheistic picture of God was never truly a monotheistic in the first place. It actually had a Mother and Father Goddess and God as well as a host of other gods and deities. It wasn't any less polytheistic that the Greeks picture of Zeus and his gang.

Other Forms of the "Qabalah" or "Tree of Life"

The rest of this chapter was devoted to talking about other forums of the Qabalah Or other reality maps that may not look anything like this format at all:

Some examples that were given where Buddhist Mandalas, some other indigenous models, and even labyrinths. (so my labyrinth model hasn't gone unrecognized).

This ends the "Introduction" to the Qabalah Basics.

I think this was the most useful information. The rest of this book looks like nothing more than dogmatic details, and a myriad of cultural interpretations.

Although there are some interesting tid-bits along the way.

Owl be back.

This post made me laugh so hard my stomache hurts! Qabalah rockets!

James mentions:

I just came back to post some more technical mumbo jumbo on the Qabalah. But maybe I should just keep it to myself.

Smiless replies:

Please don’t let me be the cause of you not posting technical things on the thread. There are probably many who value it a lot! I like it also even if I only understand some of it.

James mentions:

By the way, I'm making it a lot LESS technical than Penczak's book you can TRUST me on that one.

Smiless:

I do appreciate the effort very much. If you just posted what Penczak wrote then I might as well learn an alien language in code.

James mentions:

It may appear to you that this is excruciatingly painful. You're probably thinking, "Just light some incense and relax. Empty your mind of all thoughts".

Smiles replies:

I am being tortured, lack of oxygen! Help Help! Just joking. Yes it is very time consuming. I am a slow learner I guess, but please don’t hold the class because of me.

James mentions:

As crazy as this may sound I'm actually following my intuition, and my intuition led me to the Qabalah. I could have passed on it, but it sucked me in like a black hole.

Smiless says while sipping on a tea:

That is the most important and I am sure you will go far with this. I am very happy for you and thank you for taking the time to share this with us. You will become a great witch or is it druid for males? Well you already are one.

James mentions:

about meditations of Mulkuth.

Smiless raises eyebrow:

I must go google it and see who this Mulkuth is? I like to do this for historical purposes as you know. This way the name doesn't go unknown when mentioned again.

Well in the end it is really good that your soul blossoms of curiousity and the enthusiasm in the studies keep you most happy and productive. Ruth surely introduced you to a whole new world that is for sure. I am familiar with it as a child growing up in the traditional sense, but never studied it extensively. Just lived it with the midwifes back home. I am by no means a witch or druid of anykind, but just a simple humanitarian soul.

Keep us educated by all means and thank you.

Oh my goodness you post whatever you like. I am no authority here for any thread created or not. I think it is very informative and educational what you offer us. You know I see you as a teacher for over two years now. I am lucky to get to know you and will pass on the knowledge you selflessly give further to the younger society and my child.

The labyrinth will probably be a paradise to go to. To seek serenity, to give blessing, and to seek knowledge. I would love to meditate in it one day once it is completed if you don't mind and if allowed. I think it can be a sanctuary for many people one day. That is if you want that of course.

If I do get the chance to visit I will bring a 6 foot Buddha when I come. I have a friend in China that I have visited 3 times already whose family members carve out of wood buddhas for a living.

Thank you for your kindness and wisdom.

It is so ironic that you study the four elemental gods/goddesses James. In my fantasy novel of 35 chapters the elemental gods play a significant importance to the adventurers seeking to eliminate a fifth elemental goddess. The goddess of darkness named Marikasha.

In this novel in the first war when the four elements gods/goddesses fought and defeated Marikasha they managed to banish the goddess to never return for 500,000 cyclones (years). The combined elemental spells had a price though. They were vowed to never return to the lands. Therefore, they left behind 4 items each created by their elemental powers to be wielded for mortals of the pure of heart if the evil goddess Marikasha decided to return. Only then if the lands where to be scorched by evil could these of pure heart stand a chance to defeat darkness once again. If they prove victories then the powerful goddess Marikasha would be banished forever.

The funny thing is that the items they receive don't represent death or of wielding a weapon of destruction, but instead items of love and peace. It was then told by a wise and ancient tree that the only way to defeat evil is with love and kindness.

Now we know here on Earth this method doesn't seem to work in most cases. Maybe with Ghandi and that was it, but even he was shot at the end. Or we look at Jesus and he had to die in the end. But in the fantasy world I can create a better ending at least.

Okay let me stop! I don't mean to bore everyone with my writing endeavors.

As promised I will be sharing a very interesting easy readable, enjoyable book from Deepak Chopra.


Wealth consciousness is so much more than simply having the ability to make money. It's a mind-set that involves seeing life, not as a struggle, but as a magical adventure where our needs are met with grace and ease.

It includes the ability to see beauty wherever you go, to have gratitude as your primary emotion and an open heart to all you meet.

Wealth consciousness is a state of mind, a sense, not of believing, but really knowing that what we need is available to us.

Treasure the gift of life,

Richard Carlson

Author of "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff"

Once upon a time in a far away land, a young man went to the forest and said to his spiritual master, "I want to have unlimited wealth, and with that unlimited wealth, I want to help and heal the world.
Will you please tell me the secret to creating affluence?"

And the spiritual master replies, "There are two Goddesses that reside in the heart of every human being. Everybody is deeply in love with these supreme beings. But there is a certain secret that you need to know, and I will tell you what it is."

"Although you love both Goddesses, you must pay more attention to one of them. She is the Goddess of Knowledge, and her name is Sarasvati. Pursue her, love her, and give her your attention.

The other Goddess, whose name is Lakshmi, is the Goddess of Wealth. When you pay more attention to Sarasvati, Lakshmi will become extremely jealous and pay more attention to you. The more you seek the Goddess of Knowledge, the more the Goddess of Wealth will seek y ou. She will follow you wherever you go and never leave you. And the wealth you desire will be yours forever."

There is power in knowledge, desire, and spirit. And this power within you is the key to creating affluence.

Written by Deepak Chopra

What happened? Did I ruin the show?