Magical Consciousness

A different way of thinking is a different way of being

There is no satisfactory description of what consciousness is. Despite that, most people in the West, and probably most everyone in the world, take consciousness for granted, few even name it, or bother to. Descartes proved we can’t really know anything for certain, but that we think therefore we are; then Schopenhauer proved we can’t even really know that. Though, common sense says food on the table is a necessity and no one can honestly question that. Jung suggested we are all influenced by archetypes, while Buddhists maintain there is no separation between you and All, while Christians maintain we are sinners, one and all, in need of redemption. We Americans have been called consumers so many times most people believe it more certainly than they believe they have a soul - scientific materialists think no one does, this is a dead material universe with no inherent meaning or moral.

Dion Fortune said consciousness is movement. Energy, moving. Everything is made of light and consciousness is light vibrating at a particular frequency. Dr Johnson kicks a stone and (almost) everyone who hears that can feel it. Someone will read this, think it is crazy, be offended, unsubscribe; someone might think this is crazy, in a strange but interesting, fascinating and good way, and subscribe!

Suffice to say, you are you and I am me. We are consciously sharing the experience of this substack post. I don’t know about you, but I was raised Lutheran and then evangelical, each of which is a very particular frequency at which to vibrate. These days, every day, I am cultivating a consciousness of the Western Magical Tradition, and Hermetics, using the Tarot, Astrology, Cabala, Moon phases according to Yeats Vision, and the Zodiak. That is a very different conscious frequency, than the monotheism of Christians, Muslims and Jews, or even most of the based pagans, though I am certain none of it is contrary necessarily to any religion, and could well be the foundation of a new religion here in the “new world.”

We are as co-creators with God. You are a divine being having a material experience. You have free will, or none of this would matter; but everything matters.

Today, Sunday, the day of the Sun, the Zodiac is in the sign of Cancer, the cardinal Water sign, the symbol is the crab that can walk on land and live under water. The Cancer sign is fierce protection of the home, strong emotional connection to family and the land and waters. The moon is in the 14th phase of Yeats’ Vision, the day before the full moon, the phase he calls The Obsessed Man. It is a phase of great beauty, but “Thought is disappearing into image; and in Keats, in some ways a perfect type, intellectual curiosity is at it’s weakest….where space can be but symbols or images in the mind…all of it is reverie.”

The planets are aligned like this:

The Sun, Jupiter and Mercury are in Cancer. Jupiter is the most benevolent of planets, Mercury is the messenger, patron of art and business. Venus, Saturn, and the Moon are in a near perfect triangle, like some natal harbinger. Mars and Uranus are conjunct, bridging the House of Taurus and the House of Gemini, which looks like war and upheaval, but potentially great protection, allied. Same for Saturn and Neptune in the House of Aries.

The planets are suggesting now would be a good time to focus on and take care of the home place, and if you do you will find support and creativity in that. It just happens it is also America’s 250th birthday next weekend.

As an experiment, I shuffled the cards. This one jumped out in the middle of the shuffle, upside down. The Hanged Man, inverted.

Odin hung nine days to know the Runes. With the Spirit of the Mighty Waters, the elect take such risks, for such a great reward. Inverted suggests hardly anyone is taking such risks, probably because they are not aware of any reward, but mostly because these are soft times in the West and most people take the benefits of civilization for granted. Gratitude goes easier than grievance, but many choose grievance.

The greatest of rewards requires the greatest risk.

Don’t take civilization for granted. Like any spiritual practice, civilization has to be built and maintained with discipline. Sacrifice. As does any business. Any work of art. Anything creative. Creativity is found at the precipice of chaos, but order is required to build.

Consciousness is manifold, expansive beyond mundane understanding. A magical practice is learning how to intentionally expand consciousness, while building a solid and sustaining Self, ever more in harmony with the earth and one’s Soul.