Llewellyn Publications's Blog, page 96

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The Two Aspects of Occultism Today

There are lots of ways to divide the approach to occultism in various forms today. For this post, I’ll describe it as the technological/spiritual, and the religious.

The technological/spiritual sees magick as means to achieving goals. Often, part of the technology involves the use of spiritual practices. Thus, although magick doesn’t require a religious basis, for many people it includes a deeply spiritual basis. In fact, one of the goals can be attuning oneself with the Divine. This can be called “finding your true will.” Your true will is seen as being totally in harmony with the Divine, and once you discover what your true will is—your direction in life—you should do just that. Not following your true will can lead to unhappiness and frustration.

The religious aspect of occultism, as found in Spiritism, Wicca, and other religious formats, does have a religious structure that can be more or less vigorous. One of the major differences between religions that may be seen as more occultic than others is that they often avoid intermediaries—priests, ministers, rabbis, Imams, etc.—and seek a direct relationship between the Divine and the practitioner, what is commonly known as mysticism.

In both instances, both religious and spiritual but not formally religious*, there is still the concept of some sort of relationship between the Divine and the practitioner. But what happens when this relationship is perceived as breaking down?

Experiencing the Dark Night

The concept of The Dark Night of the Soul is the feeling of desolation, abandonment, and total aloneness that can occur when a practitioner no longer experiences or hopes for that direct relationship with the Divine. The God or Goddess no longer communes with them. You may feel as if you are the only person in the universe who feels this pain and suffering, the loss and lack.

The “Dark Night of the Soul” comes from the title of a poem, and then a treatise written about the poem,  by the 16th-century Spanish poet known as Saint John of the Cross. The poem tells the story of the passage of a soul from within the body to union with the Divine. This, of course, is very dualistic, tracing back to the dualism of Aristotle. However, for the topic of this post, this dualism—along with all the categories and steps similar in nature if not content to Dante’s Inferno—can be ignored.

The story of this passage is called “dark” because, as Wikipedia states, “darkness represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator…The main idea of the poem can be seen as the painful experience that people endure as they seek to grow in spiritual maturity and union with God. The poem is divided into two books that reflect the two phases of the dark night. The first is a purification of the senses. The second and more intense of the two stages is that of the purification of the spirit, which is the less common of the two.”

The experience of the Dark Night of the Soul is horrifying. It can tear you apart mentally, physically, and emotionally. And if you make it through that part, the spiritual separation from the Divine, the sense that nobody has ever been as alone from the God and Goddess as you are now experiencing, is far worse.

The Abyss and the Dark Night

On the Tree of Life image above, the space between the upper triad and the remaining seven Sephiroth is called The Abyss. Sometime this is seen as being part of the horizontal path that connects the lower two Sephiroth of the upper triad, but the vast emptiness between the upper three, known as the Supernals, and the lower seven, implies the vast chasm between human and Divine. Crossing the Abyss—moving from the greater physicality below to the spirituality above—and reaching to the Divine is a goal for many mystics and magicians. But what if you get caught in the Abyss, separated from both humanity and the Divine, lost to the ways of the spiritual and the physical? For you, there can be

Nothing
Nothing
Nothing

 

Just a vast emptiness in body, spirit, and soul that nothing could possibly defeat. It’s a feeling of …nothing, of total loss, of being

 

alone.

Very Alone.

 

It’s a feeling of being devoid of hope. Devoid of help. Of being lost in a void so vast it can only be called an abyss. The abyss. Being lost in the abyss is the Dark Night of the Soul.

It can come at any time. Some of you reading this may be experiencing it now.

Been There. Done That.

Yep. I’ve been there. I’ve felt so alone that to try and empower myself I hung in my room a sign I made quoting a song by Simon & Garfunkel:

I am a rock,

I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;

And an island never cries.

I stared at it while trying to go to sleep, trying to believe it was true. I packed away all of my books and my magickal tools. I didn’t need to search for the God and Goddess. I didn’t need magick. I just wanted to be like everyone else. But I had changed. I couldn’t go back. I was left floating. Alone. In the Abyss. Traveling through the Dark Night of the Soul. And yes, I had thoughts of ending the pain and misery of being alone.

The Solution

I pretended that I was doing better. I wasn’t. What saved me was an occult book store. I walked by and saw an interesting book in the window. I went in and started looking through it. The author made a statement about what another author had written. “Wait a minute,” I thought. “That’s wrong.” I immediately went home and started unpacking my books, looking for the one I felt had been misrepresented. As I pulled out my books, I started looking through them. I re-read things I had read once years ago and ignored since, and was reintroduced to their beauty and wisdom. One book led to another. By the time I got to the book I felt had been misrepresented, it didn’t matter. I was back on my path again. The next step was opening the box with my tools. I had forgotten the time and energy I had put into creating them. I felt their impact on my psyche and soul once again.

And I started doing my daily work. I forgot how much I had missed it. I learned quickly. I remembered that walking the path is every bit as important—perhaps more so—as achieving a spiritual goal!

The bookstore and book merely triggered my solution: Do the work. Focus on the work, not achieving the goal. The goal will come. Just as relationships with friends and loved ones have their ups and downs, so too will your relationship with the God and Goddess go through such cycles. When it is in a down phase, do the work. Eventually, you will not only find yourself back on the path, you’ll find yourself racing ahead. And then, when you are in an up phase, remember to do the work.

If you stay on the path you will eventually achieve your goals.

Leave the path and you’ll be lost and achieve nothing

until you regain your path.

 

 

*I recognize that there are other approaches that are beyond being merely non-religious and are completely secular, but these tend to have an insufficient number of practitioners to be impactful on the general occult world at this time or are practiced by dabblers looking to play at the latest fad, and who will change to another fad in the immediate future.

 

 

Have you experienced it?

[image error]

Dr Alexander Thorkel (played by Albert Dekker) from from the movie “Dr. Cyclops” (1940)

Although many scientists are loathe to admit it, the basics of what is known as “the scientific method”—essentially the ability to reproduce experimental results under identical conditions—were based on the practices of magicians and medieval alchemists. Sir Isaac Newton, who codified modern physics, wrote more on alchemy and religion than he did on physics. Most of the founders of modern astronomy saw the observation of the skies as a minor part of what really consumed them, astrology.

Looking at the records of the alchemists we can easily see the foundation of modern science. The records show what was done, for how long, and the results. Not getting the desired results (the Philosopher’s Stone which provided perfect health and longevity or gold from a base metal) was recorded and changes were made to the experiment in order to obtain the desired conclusion to the experiment. These, too, were recorded.

Unfortunately, among many magicians today this process has not continued. As a result, magick for many has retreated from its scientific past. We have no way of knowing if our experiments/rituals were successful, what changes can improve or lessen the impact of the ritual, or if any success is merely fantasy and serendipitous chance.

The solution, in my opinion, is not to return to the past as if we were trying to get back into the womb. Rather, I believe we should take the best of the past and adapt it for use today and for the future. One way to do this is to start keeping complete records of your experiments/rituals.

[image error]

James Mason as Professor Lindenbrook Leading the Expedition in the 1959 Film Version of “Journey to the Center of the Earth.”

In Modern Magick I proposed a design for keeping such a record or diary. I think I was strongly influenced by my recollection of the James Mason movie version of Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” At the end of the film he tells his admirers that he will not claim that he traveled to the center of the Earth in spite of having several witnesses because he lost the diary of the adventure. Keeping such a record became important to me, and if you practice magick it should be important to you.

Making a Magickal Diary

In Modern Magick I wrote this about a proposed model for keeping such a record:

All of the data listed is important, and you should include information for each aspect every time you make an entry. In the future you will be able to see what conditions give you the greatest success when doing magick. Some people are most successful when they are happy and it is a warm night. Others have their greatest success when they are depressed and it is raining. Together, your ritual diary or magickal diary and dream diary become your own personal secret magickal text which is really only good for you.

By “Phase of Moon” I mean Full, Waning or Waxing… By “Weather Conditions” I mean rainy, cloudy, hot, muggy, warm, cold, etc. By “Emotions” I mean happy, sad, depressed, etc. By “Performance” I mean was it done well? fair? poorly? etc. By “Results” I mean how do you feel? What did you experience? etc. You may also want to add comments to this section at a later date, in which case you should date the addition.

… If you do rituals in the morning, at noon, and in the evening of the same day, you’ll have three pages like the ones below in your ritual diary. [Emphasis Added]

__________________________________________
RITUAL DIARY ENTRY

DATE:                                                      DAY:                                                       TIME:

Phase of Moon:  

Weather Conditions:  

Emotions:

Physical Condition:

Name of Rituals Performed:

  Performance:

   

Results:

 

 

__________________________________________

Merely because I didn’t include something here doesn’t mean you can’t include it in your record. For example, I would suggest adding the category “environment” so you could discuss where you performed the ritual. If you performed a divination before attempting the rite, what cards did you get and how do you interpret the cards?

Although more and more scientists are acknowledging that merely observing an experiment can have an effect on the results of the experiment, most of the variables in scientific research are highly controllable. In magick, many of the variables, such as internal emotions and the intensity of those emotions, are more challenging to identify and quantify. By recording as much information as honestly as possible, you can, over time, discover the situations and practices that will result in the greatest magickal success.

What do you include in your magickal record?

 

We began this month with the Star card from the Book of Shadows Tarot, the card that in that deck represents Imbolc. As we carry the gentle energy of that card forward, I thought it would be nice symmetry to end with a reading based on the Star.

The spread is from tarot star Rachel Pollack and her recent work, The New Tarot Handbook.

A Reading for The Star

Take out the Star card, look at it for a while, then set it on the table. Mix the rest of the deck and turn over one to three cards for each of the following themes:

A. Hope

B. Guidance

C. Peace

D. Healing

 

 

The Full Moon in Virgo occurred yesterday, Monday, February 25 at 3:26 pm Eastern (8:26 pm GMT) at 7 degrees. Full Moons represent the culmination of those things that were begun with the New Moon (in this case the February 10 New Moon in Aquarius), which found us evaluating our friendships, intellect, and global contributions.

The Virgo Full Moon opposes the Sun in Pisces; we are reminded to check ourselves in the progress we made towards our goals set during the Aquarius New Moon. Are we being too worrisome or analytical (Virgo) in our approach? Or, conversely, are we not being steadfast enough, simply accommodating the wishes of others (Pisces)? Keep in mind that Saturn is retrograde until July 7 and Mercury is retrograde until March 17, so this Full Moon period is going to be a reflecting and introspective one.

It’s very apt that the Steampunk Tarot has finally become available as an app through The Fool’s Dog. They do an excellent job.

Here’s a few things I love:

The usability, obviously. It has to be easy and intuitive or forget it. But it comes with a comprehensive manual just in case you need help.
The entire book is included and in color.
There are lots of spreads. And you can make your own.
You can change the spread cloth. Lots of options, including one specifically designed to go with the Steampunk Tarot basic on the Wheel of Fortune card. I would love one of these in real life.
You can journal about your readings within the app.
Sharing is easy. I use the Share to Facebook option all the time.
You can control all your options, like using reversed cards, using Majors only, or including a significator.
You can edit the card meanings, which is really nice.

I cannot say enough good things about this app. I have a few other deck apps from The Fool’s Dog. I love them and I use them. And am proud that the Steampunk Tarot is now part of their offerings.

You can order yours through the product page HERE. You can also order through the Apple app store or just see more images HERE.

 

Today I feel like talking about a sad card. Maybe because I’m feeling a little disheartened myself. When you are feeling a certain way, do you ever flip through your decks, look at cards, and find yourself attracted to ones that reflect your mood? I suppose it’s a natural way to connect with the cards. In them, you can find compassion and understanding reflected back at you…and if you look deep enough, maybe you can learn something useful.

This is the 5 of Cups from the Ludy Lescot Tarot (HERE):

This particular image is so poignant, if perhaps a bit over dramatic. But there are times, there are definitely times when a loss just feels that overwhelming and there is nothing to do but throw yourself on the ground and weep. Now I don’t think this is good to do for very long, but notice in the image, the cup on the ledge is still pouring out liquid, so it couldn’t have been overturned more than a moment ago. This is a reaction to a fresh wound, an agony that you haven’t been able to get used to yet.

There is a shadow of someone walking away. Again, he must have just left her side. The hurt is so very raw.

Sometimes we focus so much on “being happy” and feeling good and fixing things that we don’t take the time to feel pain and sadness. Sometimes we, as tarot readers, focus on finding the positive message in every card, denying ourselves, our clients, the right to weep and wail at the tragic injustice of being hurt! So this card says it’s okay to cry. At least for a little while.

Then, of course, we have to get up, brush off our cute outfit, pick up our precious cups, and move on.

Brazil was the name of a strange and wonderful film by Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam. Whenever I think of that name, however, I think about the famous song of that name. It has a melody and rhythm that keeps repeating in one’s mind.

The full name of the song is “Aquarela do Brasil” (“Watercolor of Brazil”). It was written in 1939 and it began a new form of the samba called the samba-exaltação (exaltation samba) which was considered very patriotic. Some claimed it was literally pro-fascist (this was at the very beginning of World War II, a time when fascism was considered by many to be just an alternate political system and not a fountainhead of evil), although its composer, Ary Barroso, also wrote a very anti-fascist song. It didn’t immediately become popular, but after it was used in the 1942 Disney animated feature, Saludos Amigos, it became a wordwide hit. In fact, it was the first Brazilian song ever that was played over a million times on U.S. radio. That may not seem so important today, but in 1943—before the internet, before eight tracks and cassettes and CDs, before TV became popular—radio was the ultimate form of public media.

So what brought my attention to thoughts of Brazil? It seems that there is a class action lawsuit that was filed in Brazil against Apple (formerly Apple Computer). Apple introduced the 3rd generation iPad, known as the “New iPad,” in May, 2012. A relatively small upgrade was made in October, 2012, giving the iPad a faster processor, an extra camera, a new connector, and a few other things. So why the lawsuit? It claims that people who bought the New iPad thought they were getting high-end equipment, but, the suit claims, it was actually an obsolete version.

So essentially, then, this is the claim: even though millions of people were, and remain very happy using the New iPad, because an even newer version of it was going to become available, it was no longer any good. Apple knew this and deceived purchasers.

Millions of people are still using the 1st and 2nd generation iPads and have no desire to get something new. Millions more are very happy with the New iPad. If they had never heard of anything newer becoming available, they’d might still be happy with it. But because it’s no longer the top-of-the-line, the unknown number of people forming the class filing the lawsuit claim it’s obsolete.

I don’t think so.

A new Ford Focus doesn’t have all the bells and whistles and technology of a Lexus LS. That doesn’t mean the new Focus is obsolete, it just means it’s not state-of-the-art. And in today’s world that state is always evolving. There must be something else the people making the lawsuit actually want, and I think I know what it is.

The Magick Pill

In my opinion hope is an important and valuable trait. But there is realistic hope and fantasy hope. Realistic hope gives people something to strive for. It gives direction in life and a reason to continue on no matter the odds. Fantasy hope takes people away from achieving goals. Realistic hope is struggling to study and pass a difficult class. Fantasy hope is wishing that something will instantly install all wisdom into you so you will pass the class while you do nothing. Realistic hope is fighting to win a virtually impossible battle. Fantasy hope is for angels to appear in the sky and win the battle for you while you do nothing. A name I give to such fantasy hopes is the magick pill.

A magick pill is a mythical substance that immediately gives you everything you want. If you don’t want to smoke, just take a magick pill or patch. If you want to lose weight, forget about exercise and dieting, just take a magick pill and by tomorrow morning you’ll go from looking like Orson Welles to looking like Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law or  Matthew McConaughey. What? You’re willing to work? Take these magick pills, or DVDs, and follow them for just 90 days, and you’ll go from looking like Bruce Vilanch to looking like Bruce Lee.

Coming back to Apple, their famed CEO, Steve Jobs, chose an alternative healing form of magick pill, excluding Western medicine. Had he worked with both it is quite possible he might have lived much longer. Unfortunately, he wanted his version of the magick pill.

The Magick Pill Excuse

When I first became interested in ceremonial magick, there were very few practicing magicians. Most had a “magick pill excuse” for not actually practicing any magick. “As soon as I get…I’ll start actually doing magick,” where that blank space is the name of another book, a magickal tool, working space, etc. They believed they couldn’t do magick without access to a magick pill. As soon as they have that magick book/wand/dagger/area/pill, they claimed they’d actually do magick rather than talk about it. Of course, what actually happened to many is that when they acquired one magick pill they’d discover they needed another greater, stronger, better magick pill before they’d start doing magick.

The Magick Pill Today

Today, even for practitioners of ceremonial magick, the search for the magick pill remains. Many will try one ritual or another, or will perform a ritual with such a lack of interest, intent, and energy, that the rite will not be effective. The assumption by them—which is rather one of extreme egotism—is not that they could be doing something wrong, but that they don’t have the magick pill. “I need newer and better magick,” they think. It’s not them, it’s that they don’t have the secrets. There’s something even deeper and will give them all the power and magick they want. Instantly. It’s a magick pill for magick.

This, unfortunately, is nothing new. There have always been purveyors of magick pills. On TV they sell mops, cleaners, diet products and other magick pills that will give you everything you want without you doing any work. The same is true for magick. Those old rituals are a waste of time. Try our new rituals! These replace the old rituals which are no good any more.

Crowley tried it. But he offered different rituals. In my opinion while they are effective they are not necessarily better. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say they are more effective for people who are drawn to Crowley’s system, but not for all people. Chaos magicians tried it. Again, however, Chaos Magick offers different rituals, rituals that are good for some people and not effective for others.

None of the purveyors of magick pills have offered anything that replaces the traditional methods of ceremonial magick. They offer different parallel paths that may be better for some people, but that does not make traditional ceremonial magick obsolete. Some of the magick pill pushers do so to make money off of fools. Well, as I like to say,

If it’s true that when the student is ready the teacher will appear

then when the student is ready to be ripped off,

the person who will commit that fraud will appear.

Dodging the Magick Pill Pushers

There will always be the magick pill pushers. They will try to make money selling you their products, claiming it is a magick pill. You don’t have to do any work; just take this magick pill and it will do all the work for you. Besides, nobody else offers our magick pill which is new, New, NEW!

You don’t have to be their victim. When it comes to ceremonial magick you can use the published techniques and methods that have worked for hundreds of thousands of people over many hundreds of years. Then, just do the work. I’ve seen many dozens of versions of the LBRP. Some are just modifications by magick pill pushers to make money. Some are by people trying to make it more appropriate to their path. But if you’re using an iPad 1, 2, 3, or 4, please remember that the technology is there to help you achieve your goals. If you can achieve all of your goals with the 1, you don’t need the 4. And likewise, if you can achieve all of the magick you need with the traditional methods, you don’t need a magick pill pusher to take your money. People use traditional methods for a simple reason: they work.

A good way to learn the basics of magick is through the use of the LBRP. Here is a free set of lessons on this basic banishing ritual and how it forms a basis for magick:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five


Part Seven

Part Eight

Once you have finished this, start studying and practicing the Middle Pillar Ritual

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

These free trainings, written by me and brought to you by Llewellyn, will give you the beginnings of magick.

Yes, it requires study. Yes, it requires practice. Yes, it works.

No, there’s no magick pill, no matter what the pill-pushers say.

 

Run for cover! (Really, just kidding.) Mercury will turn retrograde tomorrow, February 23 in Pisces; it will station direct on March 17. Since Mercury is so slow-moving, the effects of this retrograde period could potentially be felt for a few weeks afterward (until the end of March).

I’ve stated many times before that Mercury retrograde is truly not to be feared. While periods of Mercury retrograde are not ideal times to begin new ventures (and you should be extra careful with details of communication, travel, and finances), they are still powerful times of “re:” renewal, reflection, re-doing, recovery, etc. This is a time to use the powerful planetary energy to the fullest. Mercury retrograde in Pisces favors deep thinking and meditation. This is a time during which you may find yourself questioning your own self-imposed barriers, or examining ways in which you could be more spiritual.

Saturn is also retrograde during this period (through July 7), so you will have the added attention to your goals and limits during this period of Mercury retrograde.

PantheaCon

PantheaCon 2013 is over, and it may have been the best convention yet. Speakers came from all over, including Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero from Florida, Christopher Penczak from New Hampshire, Athena W. of Enochian.org who is up in Canada, and Lon Milo DuQuette from Southern California. Elysia, the head acquisitions editor for Llewellyn was there, as was Bill Krause, our publisher. Both of them were very busy, as was the area we had in front of the vending room. We offered book signing from some of the many Llewellyn authors who attended, and two panels on occult publishing. If you haven’t attended PantheaCon and enjoyed all of the people, events, hospitality rooms, dances, rituals, and dozens upon dozens of workshops, you should plan to attend next year.

On Monday, Lon, my wife, and I, in our annual trans-California journey, completed the six-hour drive back to L.A. We went down the I5, possibly the most boring highway in the universe. We passed “Cowschwitz,” (“Moochenwald?”) where the cows are kept until they are sent off to become hamburgers. Sometimes the trip is windy, and this was one of those times. Once, a tumbleweed flew in front of us and smashed into the front of the car. We had to pull over and tear it away. It reminded me a scene from a Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic.

More terrifying, however, was that there seemed to be a small valley where the tumbleweeds collected in vast numbers. We referred to it as “TumbleCon.” We could see that some of the attendees would break free and attack cars passing by on the highway. Some of them were rolling and bounding quite fast, and we thought they might be part of some sort of Vatican Ninja Hit Squad intent on “taking out” any who dared stand in their way. The sudden and highly unusual resignation of the Pope added to our conspiratorial fantasies. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Maybe he actually resigned to take command of the hit squad!

Water-Witched Wine

The name “Mondavi” is practically synonymous with California wines. The Mondavi family not only helped make Northern California wines popular, they helped establish the way wines are described.

As you can well imagine, to grow the grapes for wine requires lots of great water. Even in Northern California where there is a lot of rain, it is often too seasonal or there may not be enough. What’s needed is good water wells.

Calling in geologists to find water can be quite expensive. Often, small farmers all over the world turn to the ancient methodology of finding water known as dowsing, divining, or water witching. When he was a young boy, Marc Mondavi learned water witching. Over the next 40 years he has worked on and improved his skills. In fact, he is considered one of the top water dowsers in California. According to an article in the S.F. Gate:

“I don’t know how he does it, and I’m not going to learn,” said , whose  in Ceres (Stanislaus County) grows 40,000 acres of grapes and makes ‘s Two-Buck Chuck and 59 other popular wine brands. “But I’m a believer because I have water.”

Franzia has 300 wells on his various properties, and Mondavi told him where to drill a number of them. Rombauer Vineyards, maker of a famous Chardonnay, uses him. Patriarch Koerner Rombauer even had rods custom-created for Mondavi. When Carmen Policy, former president and CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, bought property in Yountville contingent on finding water, Mondavi was called in. He found a gusher.

Even though Marc and his brother Peter run the day-to-day operations of Mondavi wines, Marc clearly identifies himself as a genuine water witch. And this is clearly not some sort of publicity stunt. To honor his skill, he named his new wine brand The Divining Rod. Here is their logo:

They were represented at PantheaCon and want people to know that they want to participate and help out at book signings, festivals, conventions, events, etc. I received a copy of a child’s pop-up book that honored diversity and “a special understanding of nature.” They also had divining rod sets and even a booklet called Turning Water into Wine: a Guide on Water Divination by Water Witch Marc Mondavi. You can find The Divining Rod on Facebook and on their own website.

Of course, the bottom line has to be their wines. So far, they have just two. Their white wine is the 2010 Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay. I did not try it. Their red is the 2010 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. I did get a bottle (thank you!) to try. For those of you unfamiliar with cabernet sauvignon, it can have a very dry flavor that is tangy and a victim of a harsh bite. That is not the case with this wine.

When tasting a wine the first thing you do is look at it. This one is a mysterious, deep, dark red, implying a secret dark fruitiness. Then you gently swirl the wine in a large glass to help aerate it, releasing its inner secrets. The third step is to smell it to get the “nose” or aromas of the wine. This wine’s nose was flavorful yet surprisingly mild. Some cabernet sauvignons can be overpowering. It is only the fourth step in the technique when the wine is actually tasted. This wine was rich and full without the harshness found in many cabernets.

I would say this is an ideal wine for someone interested in trying wines for the first time, as an accompaniment to food, or as part of a ritual. Seriously. It doesn’t give you that cabernet “pucker face” that turns many ritualists off of this type of wine. It’s hard to do an invocation when your mouth looks like you’ve been sucking on an ultra-sour lemon!

This is a deliciously “safe” wine, making it perfect for many uses. Some connoisseurs may not think it’s adventurous enough. I think that’s true. But if I want adventure, I’ll travel to a far off country, thank you! For wine, this is great. “The Tasting Panel” magazine gave this wine 90 out of 100 points, which is excellent, especially for a new brand’s first effort.

Those of you who have regularly read my writing or who have attended my workshops know that I strongly support independent bookstores and retailers. I also support those people who manufacture for us not because they see us as a market, but because they are practitioners, too. Therefore, if you drink wine, I hope you will give them a try. And if you are putting on an event, get in contact with them to see how you can support them as they support us. I hope The Divining Rod has a bright future. They claim their wine isn’t only natural, it’s supernatural. Maybe it is.

Fox News

This is a blog about magick and what magicians are considering and doing. As such, the only news I give tends to be about where various authors are speaking. When it comes to local, state, national, and international political news, I have consistently said the same thing: become informed and use the power of the vote.

Over the same weekend as PantheaCon, Fox News aired a program with people commenting on Wicca and Paganism. Why? Because one college informed professors and students that everyone should be sensitive to each other’s religious holidays. That seems fair. But Fox news wouldn’t have it. They basically mocked Pagans and their beliefs, revealing their ignorance with their insults:

No, Fox News, Wicca does not have twenty holidays per year.
No, Tucker Carlson, there are more Pagans in the U.S. than there are Zoroastrians contrary to your false claims. In fact, there are more Pagans then there are Seventh Day Adventists. Are you going to insult them, too?
No, Tammy Bruce, this is not an attempt to “use” Pagans and Wiccans to attack Christianity.
Sorry, Tammy, there are many countries around the world where Wiccans and Pagans practice freely.
And sorry, but there is still lots of prejudice against Pagans and Wiccans here in the U.S. with physical attacks, people denied or losing jobs or housing, and as Patrick McCollum, a tireless worker for obtaining civil rights for incarcerated Pagans has shown, there is prejudice against a Pagan ministry within the California penal system.
Saying she didn’t “know a single Wiccan” doesn’t make a Fox panelist appear to be a great source of knowledge, although it didn’t stop her from making uninformed comments.
Tucker, you asked us to call you “a bigot.” Okay. I’ll go one further. You’re uninformed as well as being a self-described bigot.
Many, if not most Wiccans can name all eight Wiccan holidays. There are 17 Roman Catholic Holy Days. Without looking at the link, how many on the Fox panel can name them all? How many Roman Catholics can name them all?
Sorry, Tucker, I don’t play D&D. Some Wiccans do play D&D and some even watch you.
No, Tucker. Most Wiccan women are not “middle-aged twice-divorced living in a rural area…[and work] as a midwife.” By the way, why do you make being a midwife, a person who helps bring lives into the world, sound so insulting? In my opinion being a midwife is far more important than sitting on your behind and pontificating on things about which you have no knowledge.
Why did all of you show such utter contempt for your viewers that you didn’t even bother to show some integrity and do the slightest bit of research on the subject? Should we assume this is the way you and the rest of Fox News approach all of your news “analysis?” Should we assume all Fox News personalities are equally ill-informed, lack integrity, and are contemptuous of their viewers?

I need to acknowledge that later, Tucker Carlson, rather than go on TV to apologize, went on Twitter (with an audience that may only slightly overlap that of Fox News) to say he apologized. However he didn’t apologize for making stupid, ill-informed, inaccurate and absolutely incorrect comments. Rather, he apologized for hurting anyone’s feelings. That’s like saying, “Sure, I killed your dog, your daughter, and your wife. I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

The outright misrepresentation and stupidity exhibited during the brief segment of the weekend show has created a firestorm in the Pagan community. Naturally, there’s a petition about this, and as of this writing over 33,000 have signed.

Frankly, I don’t know why this surprises anyone. Fox News has a long, documented history of twisting and misrepresenting the truth to fit their belief system. Getting upset now at their lack of knowledge, their lack of integrity, and their outright misrepresentation of facts is way behind the curve. Fox News has been doing perfecting this for over fifteen years. If you’re just becoming aware of this now, you haven’t been paying attention.

By the way, although Fox News may be the most egregious offender when it comes to twisting and misrepresenting facts, they are far from the only new organization doing this.

Computers:

Can’t Live With ‘Em; Can’t Live Without ‘Em

When I give presentations, such as I did at PantheaCon, I use slides on my primary computer. It’s a laptop that I can carry around, but when I’m in my home office I hook it up to a larger monitor and a wireless keyboard.

Well, I’ve got a gazillion emails stored, so I did a little work to clean up the growing disorganization. In the process, I was able to make several hundred emails completely vanish. Ah, the wonders of magick!

Luckily, I was able to find them on a backup (Note: If you have anything on your computer that is irreplaceable you must have a back up and use it!). However, they’re not in the right places and I now have to sort through them all and put them in the proper mailboxes. Several people emailed me just before last weekend and during the weekend. If so, I will get to your email, but it may take a few days longer than expected. I apologize for the delay and thank you for your patience.