Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 75

Spiritual Intimidation

In my previous post, I described why I decided to quit a small, Crowley-oriented group from when I lived in the San Diego area:

First: One of the leaders attempted to cover up his clear lack of knowledge. There is so much information available today, it is quite impossible to know everything. One of the great values of groups is their ability to bring together people with a wide range of interests and centers of knowledge. When you don’t know something it’s quite likely there will either be someone else who does have that knowledge or who knows how to access it. But when a supposed leader gives a talk on a subject with superficial preparation and the inability to either accurately answer a question or simply say, “I don’t know, but I’ll find out,” and then tries to cover up his or her lack of knowledge, it indicates a specific problem with self-image and egotism. I don’t need to be around “leaders” like that, nor do I want them to be my instructors.

Second: When a person is supposed to be an expert at a certain set of information (in this case, one ritual and some readings) but can’t answer a basic question about the material he or she is supposed to teach, I don’t want to be “mentored” by that person. It also makes me wonder about the quality of the group when an unprepared person is supposed to mentor students.

Third: When a person is supposed to be a group’s expert in a single subject (in this case, the Kabalah), but looks at you as if they are clueless and can’t answer a basic question on the topic, I don’t want to be a part of the group that says the person is an “expert.” It also make me wonder what this person did to achieve the title of “expert” since it clearly wasn’t gained through any actual expertise in the subject.

As I wrote, even though the group was supposedly dedicated to Crowley and Thelema, I didn’t suppose that the leaders knew everything. But when giving a talk on Crowley’s Thelema and Taoism, I would expect anyone to do a bit of study on the subject and not attempt to cover up their lack of knowledge. Similarly, the concept of Notarikon—the use of acronyms—in the Kabalah is a basic topic. I was not trying to be a know-it-all or act superior; I just wanted to learn. It became clear that this group did not have the knowledge or integrity I was seeking.

Later, as I more deeply researched this group I had been so anxious to join, I heard rumors about them, including the idea that young, attractive women were moved through the degrees very quickly so they could have sex…er, I mean practice sex magick with the men in the higher degrees and that when the leaders had enough money to retire, they abandoned the group. Today I have no problem with my choice to quit.

At the time, however, and even though I hadn’t been a member for more than a few months, it was still disappointing and hard to leave the group. I had really, really, REALLY wanted it to be excellent. I had worked diligently and had completed all of the first six months worth of my assignments—including readings, study, and ritual memorization and practice—in only two months. I wanted this to work.

I now acknowledge that in my mind I had set up expectations for what I hoped would happen in the group and was disheartened when my hopes were crushed and expectations were unfulfilled. This is often the result of setting up expectations rather than living in the present as it is rare when any reality will meet or exceed our imaginings. But because I had wanted this to work so much, at the time I felt ambivalent about quitting and if I had received even the slightest positive input on why I should stay, it’s possible I would have overlooked—at least for awhile—the issues that drove me from the group.

In fact, rather than just tell them something like, “you suck!” I put the onus of my departure upon myself. The dues for this group were quite high (that’s why the leaders, who allegedly took a large portion of the dues, were eventually able to retire). Calculating for inflation, the monthly dues for a beginning Minerval were more than $175.00 per month in 2013 money. The dues increased as you went through the degrees.

At the time, I was attending UCSD and had a large, gas-guzzling Chevy van to cart around my massive musical instrument gear. It was the start of a new quarter with expensive tuition at UCSD and considering my minimal income doing part-time phone sales—now called “telemarketing”—adding all of my costs made just living difficult. Although I could have made ends meet, it would have been a challenge. So I wrote them a letter wishing them well and telling them that I would have to withdraw because I couldn’t afford it.

That’s when the intimidation began.

I started receiving phone calls from members of the group’s hierarchy. Each one involved telling me things such as my life would be ruined if I didn’t continue with them. One even asked if I valued my spiritual advancement. I, of course, said, “yes,” and he said that if I really valued spiritual advancement I’d choose to live in my van so I wouldn’t have to pay rent and could instead pay their dues and stay a member. The intimation was that they were spiritually superior and if I wanted to spiritual evolve I had to stay with them or be a loser for the rest of my life.

Spiritual Intimidation

This technique is what is called spiritual intimidation. Luckily, I had learned all about this when I was younger. My mother had referred to this as the “holier than thou” attack. Its basic approach is “I know more than you, I’m more spiritual than you, therefore you must do what I say because I’m holier than you.” Surprisingly, and although I think it is a subject that does need to be learned, when it comes to the topic of spiritual intimidation for those following an occult path, little has been written. I have read a self-published book (with very poor production quality) on the subject by the late Nelson White, but I’ve seen little else of value.

As a result of my studies, I’ve learned something that I consider a truth: each person spiritually evolves at his or her own rate. Anybody who tells you that you aren’t going fast enough or that only through studying with him or her can you spiritually evolve is not being honest. They may actually believe what they’re saying, but that doesn’t make it true. As a human being you have the right to spiritually evolve or not evolve at whatever rate you want to and use whatever capabilities toward this that you possess.

So when some teacher insists that you have to do it their way or no way at all, please understand that there are many paths leading to spiritual advancement. If someone tries to spiritually intimidate you, understand they have no right to do so. With this realization they cannot rule your life. In my opinion the purpose of spiritual evolution is greater freedom, not simply changing from being chained to one teacher or system and then to another.

One of my teachers of Hawaiian spirituality (Huna) explained there is an old saying that was a motto of some of the old spiritual schools in Hawaii:

A Ohe Pau Ko Ike I Kou Halau

It means, “Think not that all wisdom is in your school.”

***** I’m Coming Back to Las Vegas *****

THIS FRIDAY and SATURDAY!
Tantra Magick Workshop & Ritual

Well of the Moon

2650 S. Decatur Blvd. Suite A02

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702-666-7200

Information: LINK

Meet & Greet: Friday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. Free!

Date:……………..Saturday, November 16, 2013

Time:…………….Workshop: 2:30–5:30……Ritual: 6:15 to conclusion

Besides myself, the workshop and ritual will be led by Shama Helena: a Life, Love & Sex Coach and Tantric Educator for the last 20 years in Los Angeles, she has helped thousands of lovers through personal coaching, lectures and workshops, books and articles and on Television and radio. She offers private sessions with individuals, couples, and people in alternative lifestyles, to empower, re-balance, and provide tools that enable, enhance and energize their lives to live more consciously and create their own Heaven on Earth.

See her website: www.thepleasureparadigm.com

TANTRA is more than “that sex stuff.” It is a complete spiritual system that includes everything from philosophy and psychology to divination and magick. Spiritualized sexuality is just one part of the system. On November 16 you’ll have a chance to learn about and experience Tantra and Tantric Magick.

Come out to amazing Las Vegas, Nevada, where you’ll learn practical techniques of Tantra. During the afternoon workshop, you’ll learn such things as:

 A brief history of Tantra
 Tantra as a Path of Pleasure
 The nature of real magick (as opposed to magic tricks)
 How to set up effective goals for magick
 Tantra and the secrets of Vibration
 The importance of compassion
 The chakras and their activation through sound, visualization, breathwork and movement

At the conclusion of the workshop there will be a brief break of about 45 minutes. During this time please have a very light meal. Fruits, grains and vegetables are preferred over meats and processed foods.

Please return promptly. Only those who participated in the workshop will be permitted to attend the ritual. During the ritual you will put what you learned into practice. Either come dressed appropriately (please wear white, especially a white shirt, blouse, or dress. You may then adorn with jewelry and makeup of your choice), or change once you have arrived. The ritual will include banishings, cleansing, traditional honoring of the gods and goddesses of Tantra, movement, and finally activation of the chakras leading to sending magickal energy to achieve your goal.

During the ritual we will be sitting on the floor. Please bring pillows or other items that will cushion and support your bottom and your back. If possible, bring a colorful flower from your personal garden as a gift to the deities. If you don’t have one, it will be provided. Bring water to drink.

Please note that although we will be raising energies often associated with sexuality, there will be no nudity or sexual contact. Finally, due to the size of the location, attendance will be extremely limited. You are advised to register with the payment for the class as soon as possible to guarantee a location. Here, again, is the LINK to contact.

Delta T and Delta C

One of the challenges of being involved in the study of occultism is to find people with similar interests. The pool of occultists interested in studying magick is even smaller. The pool of magickal students who want to practice magick is smaller still.

It is true that today you can find people on the internet who are practicing magicians…at least they claim to be practicing magicians. However, the truth is the so-called “social media” is antithetical to actual socialization. Besides, the time I’m talking about in this True Tale was pre-WWW, so other than through the use of “snail mail” and telephones, the only way to be part of a group  was to actually meet people—i.e., really socialize, something that appears to be incredibly important for the health of our bodies, minds, and spirits. There were no online covens or magickal orders because there was no online.

So, after a long period of searching, I found an actual, magickal group in my area. It had dozens of members and a few locations near where I lived in San Diego, California, as well as further north in Santa Barbara. Both branches drew from local colleges.

This was a Crowley-oriented group (later, they tried to combine this with concepts from “Star Wars”), and they claimed to have been associated with the O.T.O. (although that’s debatable). They certainly used the O.T.O. initiation for my Minerval (neophyte) degree, although I don’t remember anyone ever describing their form of applause: making fists and banging their thumb nails to make clicking sounds.

Don’t get me wrong, I learned a great deal from my time with this group. I have differences with them (see True Tale 10 below), but working with people, in person, teaches us as much or more than just reading or Skyping with someone can ever do.

So we were in a meeting doing a version of the LBRP. A high-ranking member from Santa Barbara had come to visit and many people there were honoring him by attending. There must have been thirty people or more for the appearance of “The Teacher” (who was also known as “The Barber” due to the way he earned a living).

The ritual followed the group’s usual pattern, during which there is a time made for quiet reflection or meditation. For some reason, I was really getting into it. I could feel my consciousness expanding to envelop the room, the house, the area, the city. And then, the phenomena started to happen.

I started to feel warm, and then hot. Soon I was sweating up a storm. It was as if the temperature had been turned up to 150 degrees. It was sweltering with sultry heat. I opened my eyes and could see everyone else calmly breathing as if nothing was going on. I could feel it; couldn’t they?

Then I realized that the sultriness, the humidity, was increasing with the heat. The moisture in the air increased my sweating. Soon, it made breathing impossible. I couldn’t get any oxygen! I felt myself gasping for air. It seemed like I was going for hours this way, yet when I opened my eyes, other people there were calmly breathing as if nothing was happening. Would I pass out from the heat and inability to breathe?

Suddenly, the section of the ritual ended. Within seconds the air returned to normal temperatures and breathing came easily. Nobody said a thing to anyone about this strange occurrence. It was as if this had happened to me and to nobody else. I asked a few people of their experiences during the ritual. None mentioned the heat, the sultriness, or the time dilation. I went to my immediate superior and advisor in the group and asked why I felt it and nobody else did. His response, directed at in the form of a put-down: “How do you know nobody else did?” I could have replied that I had asked them, but there was a great deal of formality and structure within the group and I decided it was better not to do so.

Since that time I have come to learn that while the results of magick can often take a long time to manifest, the signs of a successful ritual, in some instances, may be instantaneous. Two of these signs are:

Delta T: A temporary and sudden change in the temperature. In my experience it is usually a dramatic increase in the heat.

Delta C: A temporary and sudden awareness of a change in the passage of time. A ritual that seemed to take a long time was only a few minutes long (time dilation). Alternatively, a ritual that seems to last a short time actually took much longer to perform (time contraction).

Both of these seem to indicate that magick effects are occurring.

The Aura, Survival, and “Cabin Fever”

In the tale above I wrote that, socialization is “something that appears to be incredibly important for the health of our bodies, minds, and spirits.” In fact, I would say that really socializing by meeting with people in person rather than just messaging them over the internet is necessary to survive and thrive. How and why does this happen? The answer, I believe, is related to Cabin Fever. (No, not the bad movie by that name.)

Cabin Fever is described as extreme irritability and restlessness experienced during periods of being shut up in a small place. A wonderful example of this is shown in Charlie Chaplin’s classic movie, The Gold Rush, where he and another gold seeker are trapped without food in a small cabin during a massive snow storm. For them, the results are hilarious. In real life, the feelings of anxiety are not much fun.

When I was living in St. Paul, Minnesota, I experienced some of the same emotions. We used to joke about the weather: Nine months of winter and three months of bad skiing. Well, it’s not that bad, but certain things do happen in Minnesota that don’t happen in Southern California. Wild animals and birds migrate, hibernate, or die. Sometimes it gets so cold you are literally warned against going outside. Plants, bushes, and trees lose their leaves or vanish to a far greater extent than the wonderful green that always seems to be here in So Cal.

While living in Minnesota my response to the extreme winters and being cooped up was to feel “antsy” and anxious. Even going to work or meeting in crowds didn’t fully overcome this. Living in downtown St. Paul, I was on the “Skyway.” These were large tubes that ran from building to building so I could travel to movie theaters, restaurants, malls, night clubs, a small grocery story, etc. very easily. I called the tubes, “Habitrails for Humans.” I wasn’t confined, but I still experienced Cabin Fever.

One day, while looking outside at the snow-covered and seemingly lifeless land, I had a realization: Cabin Fever—at least the type of Cabin Fever I was experiencing—wasn’t due to being a shut-in. We each have an energy about us known as the aura. Every day our aura interplays with the things around us. I came to the conclusion that our auras need this interplay for us to survive and thrive. During the harsh winters, the number of animals, plants, people walking around, and even insects in the air vastly decreases. We don’t get the same amount of interplay between us and other living things simply because there aren’t as many living things around. When animals and plants hibernate for the winter, their auras shrink, making interaction with them more rare.

The solution: get out more. See more people. Be around them. It will help you to survive and thrive.

That’s also one of the reasons I’m a strong supporter of festivals such as the various Pagan Pride Day celebrations, Starwood, Pagan Spirit Gathering, Babalon Rising, PantheaCon, etc. Attending festivals—and even just classes or hanging around with people at local occult or new age shops—allows your aura to interact with those who have similar ideas and feelings. Their auras will tend to be in harmony with you, an experience which creates resonance amplifying and strengthening your aura. In turn, this amplifies and strengthens things your aura reflects: physical, mental, and spiritual health.

You May Know More Than You Think

After the ritual described above, all of the members changed from the robes they had put on back to their street clothes. We then had a short talk by “The Teacher.” The subject was “Taoism and the Kabalah,” a topic that interested me. I was looking forward to some mystical insights. Instead, he gave an incredibly generic, bland, and superficial interpretation explanation of a couple of Taoistic ideas. It was at that moment I started to become suspect of his knowledge and abilities in spite of my delta C/T experience an hour earlier. My concerns were confirmed when I asked, “How does the Tao relate to the Tree of Life?” Suddenly, The Teacher started blathering and found it difficult to string together logical ideas, saying something about looking at how the overall shape of the Tree of Life seems to go in and out at the sides just like the concepts of Yin going in and Yang going out. “Could you also say that Tao is in Kether, Yang is in Chochma, and Yin is in Binah as Crowley listed in Sepher Sephiroth?” describing the relation Crowley gave between concepts of the Tao and the Tree.

The Teacher looked down to hide the blushing he was doing, and said, “Yeah, you could look at it that way, too.” [Strike One!]

The next week I had a regular meeting with members of the Minerval degree and our immediate teacher. During the week I happened to read a book which made me wonder about something:

The God Name “AGLA” is an acronym (in the Kabalah that’s called a Notarikon). Usually, I had seen the words that made the acronym listed as the Hebrew Atah Geeboor L’olam Adonai which translates as “Thou art great forever my lord.” In this case, the word translated as “great” implies magnificence. However, in the book I read the Hebrew was given as Atah G’dulah L’olam Adonai. The translation is the same, but the meaning of the second word implies largeness rather than magnificence. It’s a small difference, and I wondered which interpretation the Order I belonged to used. After all, we did use the God Name AGLA in the first ritual we were taught.

So when I arrived at the meeting, I asked my mentor/advisor/teacher which version the Order followed. “I don’t know,” he said [Strike Two!], “but you’re in luck. The Order’s Kabalah expert would be there tonight.” I waited until long after class when the woman who was the Order’s Kabalah expert rushed into the house. I asked her the same question: which position did our Order use? I made it clear that I wasn’t trying to say that one was right and the other wrong, I just wanted to know what I was expected to believe as a member of the Order.

She looked at me as if I had been speaking Klingon. “I don’t have the faintest idea of what you’re talking about,” she said. “Perhaps you should be the Order’s Kabalah expert.” [Strike Three!]

One of the reasons I had joined the Order was to get knowledge, information, and perhaps some wisdom I didn’t have before. Realizing that for me, at the time, I wouldn’t find any of what I wanted within the Order. They had struck out in my game of magick baseball, and the following day I turned in a letter with my desire to leave the Order.

More about what happened after I left in the next True Tale.

***** I’m Coming Back to Las Vegas *****

NEXT WEEK!
Tantra Magick Workshop & Ritual

Well of the Moon

2650 S. Decatur Blvd. Suite A02

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702-666-7200

Information: LINK

Meet & Greet: Friday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. Free!

Date:……………..Saturday, November 16, 2013

Time:…………….Workshop: 2:30–5:30……Ritual: 6:15 to conclusion

Besides myself, the workshop and ritual will be led by Shama Helena: a Life, Love & Sex Coach and Tantric Educator for the last 20 years in Los Angeles, she has helped thousands of lovers through personal coaching, lectures and workshops, books and articles and on Television and radio. She offers private sessions with individuals, couples, and people in alternative lifestyles, to empower, re-balance, and provide tools that enable, enhance and energize their lives to live more consciously and create their own Heaven on Earth.

See her website: www.thepleasureparadigm.com

Tantra is more than “that sex stuff.” It is a complete spiritual system that includes everything from philosophy and psychology to divination and magick. Spiritualized sexuality is just one part of the system. On November 16 you’ll have a chance to learn about and experience Tantra and Tantric Magick.

Come out to amazing Las Vegas, Nevada, where you’ll learn practical techniques of Tantra. During the afternoon workshop, you’ll learn such things as:

 A brief history of Tantra
 Tantra as a Path of Pleasure
 The nature of real magick (as opposed to magic tricks)
 How to set up effective goals for magick
 Tantra and the secrets of Vibration
 The importance of compassion
 The chakras and their activation through sound, visualization, breathwork and movement

At the conclusion of the workshop there will be a brief break of about 45 minutes. During this time please have a very light meal. Fruits, grains and vegetables are preferred over meats and processed foods.

Please return promptly. Only those who participated in the workshop will be permitted to attend the ritual. During the ritual you will put what you learned into practice. Either come dressed appropriately (please wear white, especially a white shirt, blouse, or dress. You may then adorn with jewelry and makeup of your choice), or change once you have arrived. The ritual will include banishings, cleansing, traditional honoring of the gods and goddesses of Tantra, movement, and finally activation of the chakras leading to sending magickal energy to achieve your goal.

During the ritual we will be sitting on the floor. Please bring pillows or other items that will cushion and support your bottom and your back. If possible, bring a colorful flower from your personal garden as a gift to the deities. If you don’t have one, it will be provided. Bring water to drink.

Please note that although we will be raising energies often associated with sexuality, there will be no nudity or sexual contact. Finally, due to the size of the location, attendance will be extremely limited. You are advised to register with the payment for the class as soon as possible to guarantee a location. Here, again, is the LINK to contact.

A tarot deck has 78 cards. The cards are divided into sections, which makes learning them easier because the section a card is in shapes its meaning.

The sections are:

Major Arcana (22 cards)

Minor Arcana (40 cards)

Court Cards (16 cards)

This article focuses on the Minor Arcana.

The Minor Arcana is divided into four suits, usually: Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles. Technically, the Court Cards are included in the Minor Arcana, but they are discussed separately. The cards here are the numbered cards, Ace through 10. They represent everyday events and situations. While the energy of the Major Arcana cards is often beyond the querent’s control (querent is the person getting the reading), the Minor Arcana cards are usually more within the realm of individual control.

The meanings of the Minor Arcana cards are derived from the suit, the number, and the image.

 

Wands (associated with fire): will, passion, drive, careers or projects

Cups (associated with water): emotions, creativity, and relationships

Swords (associated with air): logic, thoughts, communication, truth, and challenges

Pentacles (associated with earth): money, resources, and the physical world

It is worth noting that some decks reverse the associations for Wands and Swords.

 

Aces: new beginnings, opportunities

Twos: duality, balance, relationship, choices

Threes: creativity, full expression of the suit, nurturing

Fours: stability, structure, organization, stagnation

Fives: conflict, loss, or chaos

Sixes: communication, problem solving

Sevens: reflection, assessment

Eights: movement, speed, power

Nines: compromises, possible stagnation, nearing completion, satiation

Tens: completion, ending a cycle

For example, all the Aces usually show the suit designator (often being offered by a hand, as if a gift) and represent an opportunity in that area (love, career, solution to a problem, or finances). Many say that the opportunities offered by the Aces are fleeting, so it is best to grab it quickly before it vanishes. The 4 of Pentacles shows someone holding tightly to their resources, and so indicates the stagnation that occurs when we hold too tightly to our money or hoard things. The 10 of Wands shows someone carrying a heavy load, which is what it might feel like if we take on too many projects.

Most tarot books cover the Minor Arcana, but to develop a basic foundation of understanding, check out Tarot for Beginners.

Mark Anthony, psychic lawyer and author of Never Letting Go, was a featured guest on Coast to Coast AM on Friday (11/1/13). During the show he discussed the devil, evil spirits, and hell. Click here to listen to the full show.

Coast to Coast AM is the #1 radio show in the US, airing nationwide on over 500 affiliates and with a combined audience of over 17 million people. The show airs from 10pm—2am Pacific time; it is the most listened to overnight radio program in North America. Visit http://www.coasttocoastam.com/affiliates to find a radio station near you that airs the program.

A tarot deck has 78 cards. The cards are divided into sections, which makes learning them easier because the section a card is in shapes its meaning.

The sections are:

Major Arcana (22 cards)

Minor Arcana (40 cards)

Court Cards (16 cards)

This article focuses on the Major Arcana.

The Major Arcana cards are usually titled with a Roman Numeral (0 – XXI) and a name (such as The Fool, The Lovers, Death, or The Sun). These cards represent larger themes, milestones or turning points in someone’s life, or events outside the querent’s control (the querent is the person getting the reading).

The names themselves (along with the images) help reveal the cards’ meanings. The Fool shows a brightly dressed person about to step off a cliff, usually with a little dog barking at his heels. So, this is what might feel like a foolish moment, taking a step (or leap of faith) toward something. Death, arcana XIII, is aptly numbered, is rarely about physical death but rather about endings and transformation. XVIII, The Star, showing a naked woman pouring water into a lake and onto the land, is about healing, hope, and guidance (I often think about how we wish upon a star and navigate by the stars). VI, The Lovers, can be about love, but it is more specifically about making choices, choices that reflect the desires of your deepest heart. There are few choices more important than deciding on a life partner, so the picture of lovers is very apt.

It is worth noting that some decks number Justice as XI and Strength as VIII while some decks reverse that.

Most good tarot books include good descriptions of the Major Arcana, but one that I particularly like is Rachel Pollack’s Tarot Wisdom.

Here are five short stories, my retelling of  events that happened to me I’m calling “True Tales.” They illustrate magickal concepts in a way I think is much more interesting than simply describing those concepts.

The Gods May Have Plans for You

that You Don’t Expect

I was living in a house in the city of Encinitas in the North County area of San Diego. I was sharing the house with a man, Michael, and his son, Joe. Michael had been working as an engineer in a company that made amplifiers for people who wanted to boost the transmission power of their amateur radios. People who did this referred to themselves as HAM radio operators.

Michael had also studied acupressure and acupuncture when he lived in Asia, and we agreed that he could use the house to teach classes in a form of acupressure known as Shiatsu (he preferred to spell it “Shiatzu”). I asked if I could sit in and he readily agreed. In fact, after I had gone through the course a few times I became a de facto assistant for him.

One day before class he asked if I would take over the class the following week. He had to be out of town.

“I’m just an assistant,” I sputtered. “I don’t have your expertise.”

But he insisted. He said I’d been through the course several times, I knew the material, and I had copious notes. I reluctantly agreed. He said he’d announce it during a break in class.

So that night, I expected him to make an announcement during class. Instead, he looked at me and said, “The class has a question they want to ask you.”

“Me?” I responded, totally puzzled over this. “Okay…”

“Rather than teach acupressure next week, they’d like you to teach them the Kabalah.”

I was shocked. Even though I’d be studying and practicing for years, I realized there was so much I didn’t know. I held my thumb and first finger about an two inches apart, saying, “But I only know this much about the Kabalah.”

One of the students held his thumb and first finger about a quarter of an inch apart, saying, “But we only know this much.”

So I agreed, and spent the next week furiously figuring out what to say, what exercises to lead, and what handouts to present. I quickly saw that due to the length of the class I would have to really limit what I could say. I was actually surprised to see that I had several classes worth of material, and this was all beginning stuff.

I gave the class, and the students loved it. Now I had all this material I wanted to share. There happened to be a nearby occult shop and I went over there to see if they’d be interested in a series of classes. Surprisingly, they said they had been looking for someone to teach classes on magick and the Kabalah.

I had never had a desire to teach on these subjects, but I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time with the right knowledge and skills. If not for the fact that my acupressure teacher had to go out of town on business, all of my teaching, all of my writing, might never have happened.

While thinking about this I remembered that a few years earlier a friend had hypnotized and taken me deep within myself, finally asking, “Why are you here?”

I responded, “To learn, so I can teach.” I had no idea where that came from. Certainly being a writer and teacher had never been my goal. I had never considered it.

Sometimes, the gods have different plans for you.

Why Harm When You Can Get Better Results By Helping?

One day, Michael, the engineer who also taught Shiatzu, came home from work. He was furious. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“It’s John [not his real name]. He’s doing it again?”

“Doing what?”

“Screwing everything up. Okay, he does two things that really screw things up. First, he takes credit for whatever other people are doing. Second, when he’s assigned work to do, he other doesn’t do it or screws it up and blames the problem on someone else. Everybody in engineering hates him. We all talk about him behind his back. I wish he’d just go away, or…”

“Or what?”

“Don, I know you’re into magick. I hear you doing rituals every night. Can you give me a ritual that will get him fired?”

“Hold on,” I told my friend. “There are other options. I know you’re familiar with karma, and if you do something that harms him financially, such as getting him fired, the karma’s going to hit you.”

“So what good is magick if it can’t help you get rid of such a nasty person?”

“I didn’t say magick couldn’t help. Let me ask you a question. Is there anything John is good at? Some way he could help the company?

“That’s easy. I’ve seen him do some sales. He’s one of the greatest sellers I’ve ever seen. If he went over into sales he could make a lot of money.”

“And it would also get him out of the engineering department which would make everyone happier there.”

“Yeah…” Michael brightened.

So I gave him a simple visualization to do. Michael had been trained in visualization and meditation, and he merged them together. He practiced getting John a better-paying job in sales. I didn’t hear any more about it for a couple of weeks.

“Don, you’re not going to believe this,” Michael said as he came in from his work. “John has been moved into sales.”

Over the next couple of months the company’s sales when up and the people in engineering were happier, especially when they got raises. Everyone won. Nobody was hurt.

Do Your Work With Passion!

The first classes I taught at the shop nearby were four-weeks long. Later, it extended to eight weeks. The people in the area were very much into the subject and they would do homework assignments and share their work for comments in class. One of the first practical magick techniques I shared involved creative visualization. Most teachers and practitioners don’t get into the Kabalistic secrets of the technique in the way that I do, and both I and many of my students have had a great deal of success using it.

Being able to have longer series of classes was a wonderful luxury. I’d get to know more about the students and we had chances to build up relationships. They’d get to see what others are doing and we’re able to share.* But in the third week of a four-week class the shop informed me that one of my students had to drop out. “Why?” I asked.

“For over a year he’d been trying to sell the mobile home where he lived,” I was told. “He put your ideas for creative visualization into practice and he sold it within a couple of weeks. Now he has to spend his time moving out.”

I understood, but I wished he’d remained in class. Still, telling the class that he’d followed directions and his magick worked was an effective inducement for the others to stay in class.

I do explain the extra aspects of creative visualization, which involves including your emotions and passions, along with including yourself in the visualizations, in Modern Magick.

It’s The Little Things That Count

A student called me on the phone, frantic. He was deeply in need of money, so he started doing a visualization that not only included using his emotions and passions, but also did another thing: he involved himself in the visualization. “I saw myself surrounded with money. Money was coming to me from all over. Every day I handled many thousands of dollars. Having money like that is what I’ve always wanted. I just made one mistake.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“I saw myself handing money, but I forgot to include the fact that it was supposed to be my money. I ended up getting a job as a bank teller. I was surrounded by money as in my visualizations, but it was other people’s money, not mine!”

“Well, then you know what to do,” I said.

“Yeah,” he sighed, letting out a big breath of air. My seven words had confirmed what he knew: “I have to do it some more and make sure that it’s my money.” He did, and shortly thereafter was accepted into management training. He was on the road to making the salary he wanted.

The Secrets of Love Magick

Eventually, every class I taught came to the topic of love magick. There’s an old saying that you can’t win the love of another until you love yourself. With magick, this becomes an important concept. Love magick, I’d explain, isn’t about making someone love you. Doing that forces a person to do something against their will, which is essentially black magick. More importantly, it’s also self-defeating. You will never know if that person really loves you or if it’s just the spell. But there is something you can do.

First, make a list of all the things you find attractive in the person you want to love you. You can make a talisman with all these characteristics. Then, do magick to charge the talisman which will have the effect of allowing a person with those characteristics to notice you. Thus, you’re not forcing someone into doing something against his or her will. Rather, you’re waving a flag, saying, “If you have these characteristics and are looking for a partner like me, I’m available.” It’s putting on a sort of magical perfume that is attuned to the type of person you want. It’s working the magick on yourself, letting people whom you might be interested know that you’re available. It’s magickal pheromones!

One woman student took me up on this. She made a long list of everything she wanted in a man. She charged this talisman after making it. The next day, a man with those characteristics came into the office where she worked. They talked, they dated, they fell in love, they married. They eventually moved up to Washington state and built a home. They lived together until she passed away many years later.

Every one of these tales is true.

They all happened.

I hope you take something from them.

***** I’m Coming Back to Las Vegas *****
Tantra Magick Workshop & Ritual

Well of the Moon

2650 S. Decatur Blvd. Suite A02

Las Vegas, NV 89102

702-666-7200

Information: LINK

Meet & Greet: Friday, November 15, 6:00 p.m. Free!

Date:……………..Saturday, November 16, 2013

Time:…………….Workshop: 2:30–5:30……Ritual: 6:15 to conclusion

Besides myself, the workshop and ritual will be led by Shama Helena: a Life, Love & Sex Coach and Tantric Educator for the last 20 years in Los Angeles, she has helped thousands of lovers through personal coaching, lectures and workshops, books and articles and on Television and radio. She offers private sessions with individuals, couples, and people in alternative lifestyles, to empower, re-balance, and provide tools that enable, enhance and energize their lives to live more consciously and create their own Heaven on Earth.

See her website: www.thepleasureparadigm.com

Tantra is more than “that sex stuff.” It is a complete spiritual system that includes everything from philosophy and psychology to divination and magick. Spiritualized sexuality is just one part of the system. On November 16 you’ll have a chance to learn about and experience Tantra and Tantric Magick.

Come out to amazing Las Vegas, Nevada, where you’ll learn practical techniques of Tantra. During the afternoon workshop, you’ll learn such things as:

 A brief history of Tantra
 Tantra as a Path of Pleasure
 The nature of real magick (as opposed to magic tricks)
 How to set up effective goals for magick
 Tantra and the secrets of Vibration
 The importance of compassion
 The chakras and their activation through sound, visualization, breathwork and movement

At the conclusion of the workshop there will be a brief break of about 45 minutes. During this time please have a very light meal. Fruits, grains and vegetables are preferred over meats and processed foods.

Please return promptly. Only those who participated in the workshop will be permitted to attend the ritual. During the ritual you will put what you learned into practice. Either come dressed appropriately (please wear white, especially a white shirt, blouse, or dress. You may then adorn with jewelry and makeup of your choice), or change once you have arrived. The ritual will include banishings, cleansing, traditional honoring of the gods and goddesses of Tantra, movement, and finally activation of the chakras leading to sending magickal energy to achieve your goal.

During the ritual we will be sitting on the floor. Please bring pillows or other items that will cushion and support your bottom and your back. If possible, bring a colorful flower from your personal garden as a gift to the deities. If you don’t have one, it will be provided. Bring water to drink.

Please note that although we will be raising energies often associated with sexuality, there will be no nudity or sexual contact. Finally, due to the size of the location, attendance will be extremely limited. You are advised to register with the payment for the class as soon as possible to guarantee a location. Here, again, is the LINK to contact.

*Today, most students don’t seem desirous of dedicating several months of their time to study, doing work, and attending classes. Therefore, instead of giving series of classes I usually give one-day or weekend workshops.

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Steven Cardoza, author of the new Chinese Healing Exercises.

What are Chinese healing exercises? What benefits do they provide? Below are five reasons to include Chinese healing exercises in your daily life.

1. They’re easy to do.

Some are as easy as twiddling your thumbs! Many people are attracted to the healing benefits of taiji or qigong, but find they are unable to do the more demanding aspects of those practices, or do not have the time or discipline required. That can make it difficult to experience any benefits. If something is too difficult for any reason, you just won’t do it. Here, there are no such problems. Anyone can do these exercises!

2. They take very little time.

Today more people than ever want some help in feeling better, healthier, stronger, less stressed, and more at peace. Yet, they simultaneously seem to have less time to pursue those endeavors, so they want things that are fast and easy to learn. While “fast and easy” doesn’t really apply to taiji and qigong, that’s exactly where these exercises really shine.

Self-care exercises can be performed in as little as 1-2 minutes, and you get the full benefit specified for each exercise in that amount of time. The range of benefits is targeted to a specific concern, so they are not as broad as you would find in a full qigong or taiji practice. Because they require so little time to learn and practice, it’s easy to add more whenever you want, for additional benefits.

3. They are completely customizable.

There is no set regimen you have to follow, you can choose only the exercises that apply to your needs and create the program that works best for you. If you practice exercises you’ve selected, ones you know will benefit you specifically and which will allow you to feel those benefits almost immediately, you’ll be more encouraged to be faithful in your practice. Chinese Healing Exercises gives you guidance on selecting exercises that work together to help you quickly achieve your goals.

4. They’re convenient, and can be done anywhere, anytime.

Because they take so little time and space, these are great for break periods at work, school, or home, and can reduce stress, boost energy, or address an ongoing problem whenever you can fit it into your day. You don’t need any special clothes, and you don’t need to go to a gym or yoga studio, so there’s no additional expense. They’re fun to practice with family or friends, too.

5. Most importantly, they work!

These exercises have withstood the test of time, having been developed over thousands of years. Most originated between 600-3,000 years ago. That amount of historical refinement makes them remarkably effective.

Some are drawn from the earliest forms of Chinese medical practices, like acupressure and tuina (a type of Chinese massage therapy), to break up qi stagnation and stimulate and normalize qi flows. Others were originally intended as preparation for the demands of advanced martial, medical, or spiritual practices.

Try them for just one month. You’ll be surprised by how much better you’ll feel!

Our thanks to Steven for his guest post! For more from Steven Cardoza, read his article “Chinese Healing Exercises: Your Path To Greater Health and Longevity.”

The New Moon in Scorpio occurs Sunday, November 3, at 7:50 am EST (12:50 pm GMT), at 11 degrees. New moons signify a new cycle, new beginnings, and rebirth.

This New Moon, along with the Sun (also in Scorpio) will highlight the watery Scorpio qualities of determination and focus, as well as eighth house themes of transformation. This New Moon period is the perfect time to examine your self and your personal goals, no matter to what they might be related. Perhaps you need to strive more within your workplace. Or perhaps you need to focus on your personal health, transforming yourself into a stronger, more physically fit version of yourself. Now is the time to initiate changes, focusing on achieving your goals and becoming the best version of yourself you wish to be.

November 3 also brings us a solar eclipse, at 7:46am EST (12:46 pm GMT). Eclipses are times of heightened energy. Expect surprises, especially as they relate to money. Lucky viewers on the east coast of the U.S. have the best chances for viewing the solar eclipse around 6:30 am. This is the last solar eclipse of 2013, and is a rare “hybrid” eclipse, meaning that it is a combination of two types of solar eclipse: it will begin as an annular solar eclipse (known for its familiar “ring of fire”) before becoming a total solar eclipse (in which the sun is completely blocked by the moon).

Keep in mind also that Mercury is currently retrograde in Scorpio (stationing direct on November 10. You may find yourself needing to be extra careful with finances, travel plans, and digital communications, but retrograde periods are also great periods for rebirth and reflection, which only adds to the restorative power of the Scorpio New Moon.

It was about fifteen years after the events in True Tale 1 when I returned to Las Vegas. This is how the experience came to be.

I had been studying music since before I was in grammar school. By the time I reached high school, I was pretty good at playing rock organ. To my disappointment, all of the rock bands from my high school were really, really bad. A friend of mine since junior high school, Ricky R., played quarterback on the football team. I was left guard. He played organ in a band. He used a small, “chord” organ, which, beside standard keys, had neatly-labled button where pressing one would play chords of several notes. I never saw him play using more than two fingers.

So rather than join a band I practiced playing rock music and classical music on my own. One day, a friend told me that some people from another high school were looking to form a band. I decided to try out.

The other high school was Beverly Hills High. If you ever saw the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, the scene where the gym’s floor separates and the stars, Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, fall into the pool beneath, was filmed at the then newly-built Beverly Hills High School gym. It’s still there. Many people think that Hollywood movie stars with children in public school would send their kids to Hollywood High. At the time, few did. The stars didn’t live in Hollywood, they lived in Beverly Hills. It turned out that the guys starting the band were the sons of movie and TV producers.

One, however, was the son of a true movie star. His father was a tall and wonderful man who, after two sons with his wife of many years, had adopted a daughter. This actor had been in several movies, the most successful being one of my favorite, all-time science fiction films, a movie that’s still popular today. He went on to star in several very successful TV shows ranging from playing a famous Western hero to being a spy. The younger son, who became my good friend, was the band’s rhythm guitarist. We usually practiced at this home. I’ve promised not to identify him or his family more than this, and for this True Tale I’m going to call him Frank.

Frank and I spent time together as friends, and not just as bandmates. Once, he “ordered” me to come with him to something called the Teen Age Fair. These fairs were actually franchises and Frank’s older brother had become involved with its production. That particular day, a band called “Delaney, Bonnie and Friends” was playing. Frank pulled and pushed me up near the stage and we enjoyed a nice country/bluesy set. At the end, they stayed on the stage rather than leaving, and we waited for several minutes. Finally, one of the members said they were waiting for a guest and were having trouble finding him a left-handed guitar. I looked at Frank and he shot me a big grin. There was only one guitarist I knew of who might fit the bill. Sure enough, in a few minutes, out came Jimi Hendrix, playing with the band and standing just a few feet from me.

Frank’s father, who had started out as a “song and dance” man, was hired to do a show in Las Vegas. His wife said if Frank and I wanted to come out to surprise his father, she’d have a room for us. At the time, flying to Las Vegas was very inexpensive, so we took a flight from L.A. to L.V. The first night there we dressed up and saw Frank’s father’s show. It was a nice, one-man show and he was able to hold the audience throughout. That was a lot of work and charisma for anyone.

Into the Casino

The next day we again dressed up, but this time we headed into the hotel’s casino. Frank was 19 and I was 21. We wandered around a bit and finally sat at a blackjack table. Neither of us were very good and we were sort of playing for fun. Frank asked the dealer, who rapidly counted the value of the cards and paid off the bets, if he ever made a mistake. “No,” was the brusque answer.

“Oh come on,” Frank continued, “with all of the times you deal and work with money you must make a mistake now and then.”

“I said no,” repeated the dealer through gritted teeth. This, I realized was the dealers livelihood and he didn’t want to chance anyone thinking he ever didn’t fairly deal with the players. But Frank wouldn’t let up.

“Ow,” Frank said, as I started to repeatedly kick him under the table to get him to shut up. Instead, he asked again.

“Look,” said the dealer, “I don’t make mistakes, and if you keep asking I’m going to have the guard check your ID.”

When the hand was over I grabbed Frank and we left the table. I tried explaining what was going on but he felt it was a fair question and didn’t understand the problem. I let it go.

We wandered around the casino some more and saw a worker repairing a type of slot machine based around horse racing. There were several small horse figures that would go around an oval track. Each horse had its own odds, and you could bet between one and twenty quarters on any horse. We started talking to the repairman about various machines and this one in particular. He told us that this machine was set to most often let the horse with three-to-one odds win. That is, if you bet a quarter, you’d get back three quarters plus your original bet.

Over lunch, Frank and I worked out a system. We wrote out how many quarters we’d have to bet so we’d always come out at least one quarter ahead. The first bet was one quarter. The second bet was one quarter. The third bet was two quarters, etc. We could do this up to the maximum bet of twenty quarters.

We tried out the system, and to our utter delight, it worked! It worked slowly, but it worked. For the next several hours we plunked quarters into the machine and let the horses race. We’d regularly win about $5.00 per half-hour. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but it was pretty good back then and besides, it was like free money. By dinner time we had made about $40, more than enough for food. Frank, however, tried out another blackjack table, lost a bit of money, then took his remaining chips. “Let’s cash in our chips, put on some more comfortable clothes, and go to dinner,” he said. I agreed.

We went to the “cage” where you cash in your chips, and started back to our room. The floor plan is made so to go from the cage to your room you have to go through the casino. Everything in Vegas is designed to get the tourists to go through casinos and gamble some more. As we were walking through the casino, Frank reached into a pocked and found a single, one-dollar chip he hadn’t cashed in. “Okay, let’s go back and cash it out,” I said.

“No,” Frank said. I want to play a game I haven’t played yet.

The Magick Begins

“Which one?” I asked.

Frank looked around and started walking toward a table. “Let’s try roulette.” We got to the table and Frank looked around, somewhat dazed. There are many dozens of possible bets in roulette, and he pondered where to bet his dollar chip. Finally, he placed it on “red,” a bet that would make any red number a winner.

“Don’t do that,” I said. “The odds are bad and you only double your money if you win.”

“What should I do?”

“Place it on something that pays at least 3 to 1.”

“Where?” he asked.

“Put it on one of the three columns. You have a bunch of numbers and it pays 3 to 1.”

“Okay. Which column?”

Without thinking, I put my hand on the table. I let my mind go blank. I went with the first thing that popped into my head. “Put it on the left column.”

He did.

He won.

He now had his original bet plus three more dollars for a total of four. “Let’s go,” I said.

“No, let’s do it again. Which column should I place my bet?”

I repeated my action, making my mind a blank and waiting for something to come to me.

“Move it to the center column.”

He did.

He won.

He now had $16 on the table.

“Now where should I put it?”

Again I repeated my action, putting my hand on the table and blanking my mind. “Leave it on the second column.”

He did.

He won.

There were now $64 on the table.

There are a lot of traditions and superstitions in Las Vegas. One is that if someone is winning, you pay attention to what they’re doing. I suddenly had a feeling, a sensation that I should look up. The roulette table that had originally had about five or six people around it suddenly had fifty people trying to see what was going on. I also saw two armed guards making their way through the crowd. “Frank. Grab the chips and let’s go…NOW!”

I had used a commanding voice and Frank obeyed. He pocketed the chips and we were off back to our room.

Be Open to Magick

The purpose of these “True Tales” is to present concepts in the form of true stories that happened to me. In True Tale 1, the concept I explored was that magick is an art. Here, the concept is to understand that magick takes place all the time, 24/7. Rituals and spells are like nodes or high points in the magickal experience, but that doesn’t mean magick isn’t taking place at other times. Here, I recited no spell, performed no ritual. I simply opened myself up to the magick that was already there.

It’s sort of like a San Francisco cable car. There is an actual cable under the street, and that cable moves in a large loop, powered by an engine at the appropriately-named “powerhouse.” The cable car operator or “gripman” moves a handle that slides a “grip” into the cable, and the cable then pulls the car. As a magician, you can be open to pull the handle and grip the magick, or you can ignore it.

Reminders:

First, I’ll be leading a Tantric Magick workshop and ritual in Las Vegas on the 16th of November. For details, see this LINK.

Second, my first prediction contest is still on. The person who makes the most accurate prediction will win a Tarot deck of his or her choice, and that may be chosen from all the decks offered by Llewellyn. To read all of the rules and make your entry, please go to this LINK.

This contest will run for just six more weeks. At that time a winner will be selected from among the entries on the page at this LINK. Don’t wait until the last minute! Part of this is that the earlier you make a prediction the more strongly it will be considered than the same correct prediction made later. Be sure to make just one prediction and include dates or a date range when you think your prediction will take place. Remember, the more specific you are the more strongly your entry will be considered.

Don’t enter on this page!!!! Instead click on THIS LINK and read all the rules. Then make your entry there.

This is your chance to prove how accurate you are at making predictions. The contest is open to all people. Whether you just have a “hunch,” are a professional psychic, or somewhere in between.

Enter soon!

When I was about five, my father had a massive heart attack died. My mother, without a job and left on her own to manage a home and two young children, couldn’t cope and had a nervous breakdown. My brother and I were sent from our home in Los Angeles to live with relatives in Chicago. My mother, with the help of a psychiatrist, began to recover.

One evening, my brother and I, desperately missing our mother, sneaked downstairs and called her on the house’s only phone. In tears we begged to come back. The call had a startling effect on my mother, shocking her into reality and, with the help of her psychiatrist, began a quick road to vast improvement. Soon, she had a job as an accountant/secretary and we were back in her arms. It was good to be home.

My mother still had panic attacks and she showed us how to recognize them and help her by getting her a brown paper back for her to breathe into so she wouldn’t hyperventilate. I remember always looking around to make sure there was a fresh bag around and was concerned if there wasn’t one handy. Her attacks happened less and less, and with her success at her job, things improved. She decided we should go on a vacation.

We had a relative who was a “pit boss” in Las Vegas, the person who watches over the employees and makes sure that nobody—employee or player—was cheating. Years later, he offered to send me to dealer school, but I never took him up on it.

At the time, Las Vegas was a lot different than it is today. Today, it’s run by international corporations who own the massive hotels. Back then it was run by the mob. Today, the goal has become to get families into the hotels and restaurants, oh, and do some gambling, too. There are all sorts of amenities for families as rooms and meals have become expensive. The goal in the past was to get people into the casinos and lose money. It was a town for adults, not families. Rooms were inexpensive and meals were unbelievable bargains. There was little or nothing for children to do.

So my uncle the Pit Boss invited us to come to Las Vegas. If we could get there he would “comp” (provide a free, “complimentary”) us a room. Meals would be cheap. Today, shows can be incredibly pricey. Then, shows were cheap, and he could get us into one of those, too. My mother graciously accepted the offer.

Goodbye, Greyhound

Our car, an old Pontiac with decaying and smelly upholstery (we called the car “Annabelle”), would never make the trip across the desert from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, so my mother booked tickets on the Greyhound bus. A neighbor took us to the station, but the bus had a mechanical problem. It took an hour to fix it. “Don’t worry,” we were told. “You’ll get to your connection just in time to transfer to the bus that will take you to Las Vegas.”

Actually, we got into the the tiny station in the middle of nowhere just in time to see, in the distance, the vanishing taillights of the bus bound for Las Vegas. “Goodbye, Greyhound!” Next bus to Vegas was in six hours.

So there we were, stuck in the middle of nowhere for six hours. A young mother, two very unruly children, and N O T H I N G   T O   D O. How we survived that I’ll never know, but we eventually arrived in Las Vegas in the early hours of the morning. We got to our rooms and collapsed.

Hello Flamingo Hotel

We were in a quiet room high up in the Flamingo hotel where my Uncle worked. When we finally woke, we had breakfast which included what I thought was the best French toast in the universe. I could have lived on in forever. Now, for a young boy like me, there was a hotel to explore. I think I would have made a lousy explorer, though, because there was nothing interesting. I became bored quickly, running around floor to floor. The only thing in the entire hotel was a huge swimming pool outside in the outrageous heat and sun, along with a small, three-hole miniature golf course. Well, that’s what I thought it was. Today I’d call it a practice putting green. I was rapidly becoming bored. Very bored.

That night, we had received tickets to the hotel’s show. It featured the singer Patti Page. When I heard that, I couldn’t believe it! She was my favorite singer. It was that song, “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window” with it’s dog barks that I loved. This was going to be epic.

In those days, you had to dress up to go to shows. I was stuffed into my little suit and we had to wait a bit before going in. The man at the door who was letting people in stopped us, bent down and said, “Excuse me, sir, can you help us tonight?”

I was puzzled and didn’t know what he meant, but said, “If I can.”

“You see, Miss Page is going to be singing “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window” tonight. Do you know the song?” I could barely nod. “Well, dogs aren’t allowed in the hotel and we need some people to make barking sounds at the right time. Can you do that?” I could barely breathe. I nodded again.

It was a dinner show, but I could barely eat. I was going to be helping my favorite singer with my favorite song ever. Finally, the music started and out came Patti Page. I eagerly listened to every word of every song in rapt attention. And then it was over and she went offstage. “Wait! You didn’t sing the song!” Thanks to the applause she came back out and sang another song, then again went offstage. The lights came up and people began to leave. “No! You have to sing the song and I have to bark!” My mother took me by the hand and we left. I couldn’t believe it, and at that young an age children have one response for such utter disappointment. “Waaaaaa!” I was crying and crying and wailing out loud as my mother took us to the elevators that would lead to our rooms.

Nothing would stop my tears and cries as we got out of the elevator on our floor and walked down the long hallway to our room. Suddenly I heard a gentle voice ask, “What’s the matter?” We turned around to see… Patti Page herself.

As I wrote, we were in a quiet area of the hotel. The hotels usually reserve some rooms like this for the entertainers who need their rest. She had rooms on this floor, too. I was crying to hard and couldn’t speak, but my mother told her that I was all excited about wanting to bark when she sang “Doggie,” and was so disappointed. She smiled, crouched down to be closer to my height, and said, “We can’t have him disappointed with my show.”

And there, in the hallway, with just my mother, brother, myself, and Patti Page, she sang the song so I could bark at the right moments. We thanked her and we all went to our rooms. My tears ended.

More Boredom

The next day, my brother went to play golf on the putting greens and I stayed with my mother. She enjoyed the relaxing experience(?) of losing money on…I mean “playing”… the nickel slots. Unlike the slot machines of today where you can make multiple bets at the same time, the old slot machines only allowed you to put in one nickel at a time. Then rather than push a button as you do today, you had to pull down a bar or arm on the side of the machine. People would sit at the machines for hours, and five or ten dollars of change could keep you busy for a long time, hoping for a big jackpot that rarely came.

At this time there was no childcare and no activities for brats like me, so my mother sat at one of the slot machines right near a carpeted area. I was plunked in the carpeted area, separated from the casino and the slot machines by a gleaming chrome fence, where I could watch her and she could watch me.

So there was my mother holding a small paper bucket filled with nickels. She’d put one in, pull the arm on the slot machine, and wait. This was repeated. And repeated. Occasionally, she would interrupt this pattern when some nickels, for no earthly reason I could detect, would come clanking into the large area at the bottom of the machine. She’d put them in her bucket and continue: coin in, pull arm, wait; coin in, pull arm, wait.

I’m sure there are things more boring to a young child but I couldn’t think of any. I started to fidget, and then to wander. A watchful guard kept an eye on me, and if I went to far I’d hear my mother’s demand that I “Get back over here and sit down.” Sigh…

“Mom, I’m booorred,” I whined.

“Just stay where you are and relax,” she replied.

“Can I play with the machines?”

“No, that’s gambling. Only adults are allowed to gamble. Children aren’t allowed to gamble.”

“Well, can I just put the money in?”

“No, that’s gambling. You’re not allowed to gamble.”

“Well, you can put the money in and I’ll just pull the arm.”

“No, honey, that’s still gambling.”

I looked around and saw a target. “Well, if I can’t play over there, I’m going to play over here!”

That finally got her attention. “What do you mean?” she asked. As I started to walk away she came away from her seat at the slot machine and went over to where she could get out of the casino and charged toward me.

Over against the wall there was a row of several cigarette vending machines. I walked over to them, chose one, and pulled down the coin return level. This was a mechanical nubbin that stuck out from the machine at the top of a long, vertical slot. You would slide the lever down the slot to return the coins you put into the machine. The sliding of the lever reminded me of the pulling of the arm of the slot machine. I saw the guard begin to come toward me, too.

As I wrote, there were several machines there. I picked one of them and pulled down on the lever.

$1.35 in change came out. I had won!

My mother grabbed me. The guard, who had been watching everything, burst into laughter. My mother pulled me away, even as I grabbed for the money I had “won.” She took me to find my brother and we went for lunch.

Magick Is An Art

I know. Debunkers would say it was just a coincidence. Still, I could have selected any of the cigarette machines. What drew me to that one machine? What magickal ability did I manifest so I didn’t pick one of the others? There is no way to reproduce the situation, and even if there were, how could you have tested a little kid like me, repeatedly, to see what was going on?

I prefer to think it had to do with a simple fact about magick: it’s an art. Some people are natural artists. Other’s aren’t. The thing is, even if you are a “natural” at something, if you don’t practice it those who are not naturally born artists in their field can surpass the natural artist through diligence and hard work.

One thing that made this magickal event possible was desire and energy. It had been brought to a peak the night before during the private musical performance, but there had not been a complete release of the magickal energy. The boredom allowed the energy to rebuild and finally manifest with a magickal manifestation.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was able to see if I could reproduce the effect when I returned to Las Vegas…15 years later. I’ll share that tale next time.

I’ll be leading a workshop and ritual in Las Vegas on the 16th of November. For details, see this LINK.