Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Temple >

Modern Magick - Lesson Two.

Page: (1)2

14:51 / 19.07.02

I'm not sure how many people have gone on to lesson two yet, but I figured now's as good a time to start a topic about it as any.

I started doing the LBRP yesterday and horribly botched it up. I forgot some of the words, I forgot what order to call the archangels in, and I forgot to do the kabbalistic cross after calling the archangels. Nervousness over my interview may have had something to do with it though.

*Note to self: Nervousness is not conductive to ritual.*

Boy in a Suitcase

07:34 / 20.07.02

I've been doing this awhile too. I would recommend taking an hour here and there to just do the LBRP over and over again. It has no ritual significance until it's been mastered anyway. Lots and lots of practice without worrying about any kind of effect.

18:22 / 20.07.02

I have a copy of a tape that is part of a set of instructions from (I think) The Golden Dawn folks, and it's been immensely helpful. If you have a walkman type player, you may want to make a tape of instructions and a tape of just the ritual - what you say as you perform the ritual.

Getting the input as audio, learning what it's supposed to sound like, in addition to absorbing the ritual as text, makes a huge difference for me. I've been alternating doing the ritual with the tape and from a printed sheet (Thanks, Stone Mirror, for the various LBRP links - Rowe's stuff is wonderful!!).

19:11 / 20.07.02

That tape of Golden Dawn instructions sounds interesting. Is there somewhere I could purchase a tape of my very own. I'd love to know what everything is supposed to sound like instead of just winging it.

04:24 / 21.07.02

I don't know where you might be able to find the tapes now. A friend camped in my living room for a while, and I got to pick through his library; found the set of tapes and got a minidisk recorder and helped myself. (Arrrr. Where'd that damn parrot get to?) If there's a metaphysical bookstore near you, you could check with them... Meanwhile, at New Falcon Publications they're selling cds with the various rituals on them, but it looks way too expensive to me -
http://www.newfalcon.com/books/golden_dawn_audios.htm

Seriously, if you have access to a microphone, read the instructions onto tape (or mp3 or whatever). It's what I have, just in Israel Regardie's high-pitched, reedy old-Brit voice (which takes a little getting used to).

11:36 / 21.07.02

Ouch. I don't have 31 dollars. Why is everything so damned expensive? I refuse to venture into my local occult store ever again.

I've got both a minitape recorder and a freeware program and microphone, so I suppose I'll probably eventually use one of those to record the instructions, unless my memorization skills improve dramatically in between now and tonight.

I'll just have to get used to hearing magick rituals read off by someone with a southern twang. "Now ya'll breath in, until your lungs can't hold no more air"

03:08 / 23.07.02

Iszabelle writes Thanks, Stone Mirror, for the various LBRP links - Rowe's stuff is wonderful!!

Sure, no problem. I've turned up some things on the Middle Pillar ritual as well that are entertaining and helpful: here, here, here...

Some notes from Crowley on the Ritual of the Pentagram here and here.

A very nice commentary page on the Liber Resh solar adorations can be found here.

03:46 / 23.07.02

And, by the bye, there's a bunch more (highly impressive) Enochian stuff from benjamin Rowe here...

17:44 / 23.07.02

Some gematria for the Middle Pillar exercise:

Kether: AHYH = 1+5+10+5 = 21
Da’ath: YHVH ALHYM = 10+5+6+5+1+30+5+10+40 (or 600) = 112 (or 672)
Tiphareth: YHVH ALVH VDAyTh = 10+5+6+5+1+30+6+5+6+4+70+400 = 548
Yesod: ShDY ALChY = 300+4+10+1+30+8+10 = 363
Malkuth: ADNY HARTz = 1+4+50+10+5+1+200+90 (or 900) = 361 (or 1171)

If anyone was looking for the transliterations of the archangelic names, they're as follows:

Raphael: RPAL = 200+80+1+30 = 311
Gabriel: GBRYAL = 3+2+200+10+1+30 = 246
Michael: MYKAL = 40+10+20+1+30 = 101
Uriel: AVRYAL = 1+6+200+10+1+30 = 248

I've done the transliterations as follows:

A: alef (1)
B: bet (2)
G: gimel (3)
D: dalet (4)
H: heh (5)
V: vav (6)
Ch: chet (8)
Y: yud (10)
K: kaf (20)
L: lamed (30)
M: mem (40, or 600 if final in some systems)
N: nun (50, or 700 if final in some systems)
Ay: ayin (70)
P: peh (80, or 800 if final in some systems)
Tz: tzadi (90, or 900 if final in some systems)
Sh: shin (300)
Th: tav (400)

A nice list of the Divine Names, etc., associated with the various sefirot can be found >here--you'll probably need to install a few fonts, though.

A rundown of the Hebrew gematria can be found here.

14:03 / 29.07.02

*bump*

Anyone else doing the LBRP regularly? I've been managing at least once a day, twice more often than not--ideally right after rising and right before I go to sleep.

I've also gotten started with the Liber Resh adorations, but have had more difficulty working those into my day in a smooth way. Too many people around, too many distractions. Going outside on my lunch hour, in the midst of Silicon Valley, facing south and making the grade sign while chanting to Hathoor takes a fair amount of nerve, at least if I'm not going to be continually looking over my shoulder to see who's watching in bemusement.

In Magick Without Tears, Crowley advises his pen-pal that she should get into the habit of doing these without fail no matter what else is going on: on the bus, sitting down to dinner, etc. Neither she nor I are quite as brave as Uncle Aleister, I suspect.

14:14 / 29.07.02

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of performing these small ceremonies regularly, and being as nearly accurate as possible with regard to the times. You must not mind stopping in the middle of a crowded thoroughfare--lorries or no lorries--and saying the adorations; and you must not mind snubbing your guest--or your host--if he or she should prove ignorant of his or her part of the dialogue [referring to the Thelemic "grace"]. It is perhaps because these matters are so petty and trivial in appearance that they afford so excellent a training. They teach you concentration, mindfulness, moral and social courage, and a host of other virtues.
--Magick Without Tears, Letter A

Professor Silly

14:50 / 29.07.02

Bare in mind that modern Hebrew and ancient Hebrew have their differences, and that a lot of texts are by those that don't have a firm grasp on the language.

Here is some of what I've found (capitals denote emphasis):

"aTAH", not "aTEH" or "aTOH"
"malKOOT", not "malKOOTH" -- the letter Tau sometimes appears as "Th" and other times as "T"
"ve'gevoorAH" -- "ve" is just an added letter to mean "and"
"ve'gedoLAH", not "ve'gedooLAH" -- this is the fem. version of "gaDOL"

"adonAY", not "adon-EYE"

21:51 / 29.07.02

I think a lot of what Crowley wrote about doing this stuff was bullshit at least when it comes to doing it himself. Kenneth Grant reports that when he shouted "Apo Pantos Kakodaimos" (away, every evil spirit) at a couple of priests (as Crowley suggests somewhere)in AC's presence, Crowley was v. embarassed and said "I wouldn't have the nerve to do that".

22:43 / 29.07.02

I haven't been keeping up with it and I'm horribly ashamed of myself. I'm having trouble with getting the vibrations right so I get frustrated, and I just throw my hands up in exasperation. But, I will persevere.

The adorations are something I shouldn't have trouble with, oh sure I've got nosy neighbors, but they already think I'm odd. Standing out in my back yard and holding my hands out at an odd angle isn't going to change their opinion of me. It may be a bit more difficult to do next month though. I don't exactly have the self confidence to stand up during class and do the noon adoration.

01:05 / 30.07.02

I think a lot of what Crowley wrote about doing this stuff was bullshit at least when it comes to doing it himself.

I don't know one way or the other, and I'd be hard-pressed to choose between Crowley and Grant for truthfulness, but I think Crowley's advice is probably sensible, if excruciatingly difficult for most of us to follow.

Whether Crowley had the "moral and social courage" he advocated developing is a different issue...

01:28 / 30.07.02

Chevy Fenderson provides pronunciations:

"aTAH", not "aTEH" or "aTOH"
"malKOOT", not "malKOOTH" -- the letter Tau sometimes appears as "Th" and other times as "T"
"ve'gevoorAH" -- "ve" is just an added letter to mean "and"
"ve'gedoLAH", not "ve'gedooLAH" -- this is the fem. version of "gaDOL"

"adonAY", not "adon-EYE"

I have some quibbles.

It's actually mal-KHOOT, with the "KH" being pronounced like the "ch" in "loch" or "Bach". The Hebrew letter tav at the end of the word is frequently transcribed as "th" when is has a dot (called a dagesh) written inside it and as a "t" when it doesn't. In modern (Sephardic) Hebrew, it's pronounced simply as a "T" in either case.

(The letters which can have a dagesh written in them--which presumably once had the effect of changing the sound of each of them, but which now does so in only a couple of cases--are the "double letters" mentioned in the Sefer Yetzirah...)

It actually is "vuh-geh-doo-LAH". While gadol means "great", gedulah means "greatness": it's not simply the feminine form. Gedulah is an alternative name for the sephirah of Chesed (which is pronounced "KHEH-sed", by the way...)

It's definitely "ah-doh-NYE"; it's definitely not "ah-doh-NAY".

Boy in a Suitcase

04:41 / 30.07.02

My progress... been doing the LBRP quite a bit but have recently lapsed back into Peter Carroll's Gnostic Pentagram Ritual for other work I've been sidetracked with (by the way, both of these banishing rituals heavily inform each other, especially the vibratory part–read the text of GPR in Liber Kaos to find out how to really do this). Bought a black robe for $85 at local shop (actually needed it for other reasons also, though) and found they have the MM tape but haven't bought it. Did a bit of Liber Resh but haven't made it routine yet. Haven't started Middle Pillar.

Professor Silly

14:32 / 31.07.02

"It's actually mal-KHOOT, with the "KH" being pronounced like the "ch" in 'loch' or 'Bach'."

That's the same pronunciation I meant. How else would a "K" sound?

"It actually is "vuh-geh-doo-LAH". While gadol means "great", gedulah means "greatness": it's not simply the feminine form"

Fantastic! I was going to ask you your source...but I just double checked in my English to Hebrew dictionary under "greatness" and lo and behold...you're right. I stand corrected.

But what is your source for Adonai?

15:42 / 31.07.02

That's the same pronunciation I meant. How else would a "K" sound?

Well, but this isn't a "k sound". It's more like the sound you make right before you "hawk up a loogie"... Ask a German speaker to pronounce "Bach" for you, or a Scot to say "loch"--it's not the same as the letter "K".

But what is your source for Adonai?

Um, standing around saying it in synagogue on a regular basis for a number of years, for starters...

When I was a kid, we all used to pronounce things in Hebrew is the Ashkenzic dialect, as most Jews were descendents of Ashkenazim ("European" Jews); the word was pronounced "Ah-doh-noy". These days, the Sephardic ("Mediterranean") dialect used in Israel has pretty completely taken over: the pronuncation is, as I mentioned, "ah-doh-nye". I've never heard "ah-doh-nay".

What's your source, just out of curiosity?

Professor Silly

22:36 / 31.07.02

>"it's not the same as the letter "K"."

We're on the same page now--it almost has a "Q" quality to it, right? Does Hebrew even have an English "K" sound anywhere? Never the less, "Kh" does seem the standard transliteration for Koph, I apologize for the confusion.

>"Um, standing around saying it in synagogue on a regular basis for a
>number of years, for starters...
>
>"When I was a kid, we all used to pronounce things in Hebrew is the
>Ashkenzic dialect, as most Jews were descendents of Ashkenazim
>("European" Jews); the word was pronounced "Ah-doh-noy". These days,
>the Sephardic ("Mediterranean") dialect used in Israel has pretty
>completely taken over: the pronuncation is, as I mentioned, "ah-doh-
>nye". I've never heard "ah-doh-nay".
>
>"What's your source, just out of curiosity?"

You're just what I've been looking for--someone who has learned the language prior to coming to magick. I might fire off some questions to you from time to time. My current sources? I use Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia(1994) to look up spellings in Hebrew, then cross reference to Webster's NewWorld Hebrew Dictionary(1992).
The later is where I picked up the strange pronunciation. Now I'm wondering which would most closely resemble the ancient pronunciation. Do I need to find a Bible with pointed Hebrew to be sure?

02:42 / 01.08.02

We're on the same page now--it almost has a "Q" quality to it, right? Does Hebrew even have an English "K" sound anywhere? Never the less, "Kh" does seem the standard transliteration for Koph, I apologize for the confusion.

Well, hm. I wouldn't call it a "'Q' quality"--I'm not even sure what that means. A "Q" sounds just like a "K", except that it's always followed by the letter "U" which makes a "W" sound...

The sound I'm thinking of is a guttural, non-vocalized sound made at the back of one's throat, and it doesn't naturally occur in any way, shape or form in the English language. As I said, find someone who knows (or even someone who studied even a little) German and get them to say "Bach" for you.

Hebrew has two letters which (potentially) make a sound that's close to the English letter "K". The letter kaf--the eleventh letter of the Hebrew "alef-bet", which looks a bit like a backwards letter "C"--when written with a dagesh (i.e. a little dot in the middle of the letter), sounds like a "K". Without the dot, it's that sound I've tried to describe in the previous paragraph. I'd transcribe kaf-with-a-dagesh as "K" and kaf-without-a-dagesh (technically "khaf", pronounced starting with that sound) as "Kh".

Secondly, the letter qof--the nineteenth letter, which looks sorta kinda like a "P"--makes a sound like an English "K". I'd transcribe qof as a "Q".

The letter chet--the eight letter of the alef-bet--always makes that sound. I'd transcribe it as "Ch".

"Malchuth", by the way, is spelled mem-lamed-khaf-tav, and I'd transcribe it as "MLKhT".

The later is where I picked up the strange pronunciation. Now I'm wondering which would most closely resemble the ancient pronunciation. Do I need to find a Bible with pointed Hebrew to be sure?

Huh. That's pretty strange pronunciation, for sure.

Bottom line, no one has a clue what the "ancient pronunciation" was like, it's been lost. The pronunciations in use today have been handed down over the generations, for sure, but how they relate to what was done a couple thousand years ago? No one knows.

The vowel pointings in a "Hebrew bible" were added (so scholars tell us) around the 4th century CE ("Common Era"--means the same as "AD", but he's not our Lord, if you see what I mean).

How were they actually pronounced? No one has a clue.

16:56 / 03.08.02

There's an interesting essay on the LBRP here.

Some stuff on Liber Resh here and here.

An essay on the magickal diary here.

All of this is from a very Thelemic (i.e. Crowleyan) point of view; don't let that scare you off.

02:07 / 05.08.02

Some folks were asking about an online version of Kraig's Modern Magick, I haven't found that, but there's an early "shareware" edition of Gerald del Campo's New Aeon Magick here...

20:04 / 06.08.02

I've been managing the LBRP twice daily for almost a week now, along with the Liber Resh adorations. The repetition is really helping with both my comfort level about the rituals and my visualization skills. I'm getting what seem like shadows or negative images of the pentagram flames during the LBRP - kind of the effect when you stare at a bright light and then look away and blink.

Thanks muchly for the links, Stonemirror - I've been finding the info very helpful.

21:46 / 06.08.02

As I mentioned elsewhere, I've been doing the "less Thelemic" version of the Star Ruby (i.e. as described in Crowley's Book of Lies) the last couple of days, and I've found that to be an interesting alternative to the LBRP.

I'll post some links to info on the Star Ruby when I get a chance. I'm glad that the stuff I've turned up on the LBRP has been useful, or at least entertaining...

23:09 / 06.08.02

In one of the articles linked above, it's said that when doing the qabalistic cross, you should touch your right shoulder with your left hand and your left shoulder with your right hand. I tried doing that today and it just felt "wrong".

I'm still not "seeing" anything, but that doesn't bother me as much anymore.

02:01 / 07.08.02

There's clearly a lot of room for variation: right forefinger, left forefinger, right thumb (either by itself, or between index and middle finger), etc.

If it doesn't feel "right", I'd say don't do it...

13:37 / 09.08.02

I'm getting to the point of seeing flashes of blue fire... It's not consistent, but it's pretty. I'm also about ready to move on to Chapter Three, it being the New Moon and all - anybody else moving on?

13:52 / 09.08.02

Sorry can I pipe in here for a second, I know I'm not part of your group but I'm just curious whats "modern" in this modern magic book?

14:58 / 09.08.02

Bear - good question, since the book does focus on old-fashioned ceremonial magick. Part of the "modern" aspect is, I suppose, the notion that you can do this work yourself rather than working through a traditional initiatory group like the Golden Dawn or the OTO.

I'm not moving on yet, in fact I haven't even started the Middle Pillar ritual. An excessive workload during July put me off track and I've only been into a daily grove for the last 10 days or so.

17:28 / 09.08.02

I'm not moving on yet either. I haven't started the middle pillar ritual, or even the liber resh stuff. I've only recently started doing the LBRP consistently this past week. I'll probably kick it up a notch and start the liber resh stuff tomorrow and start on the middle pillar on Monday. Unfortunately, my schedule is going to get completely screwed up on the 19th as thats when classes resume and I usually go through all this around 1:15 or so everyday. I can't quite stand up in the middle of class and start doing the LBRP. That might get me some strange looks.

I've actually started seeing the pentagrams a little bit, but they're kind of clear, which makes seeing them a bit difficult.

I really never thought about the 'modern' in "Modern Magick". I just thought it was a pretty nifty name.

Professor Silly

17:15 / 11.08.02

Once your techniques are developed enough you can do Resh in the astral realm, without standing up and speaking outloud etc. Just close your eyes, form your astral body, turn to face the proper direction....

15:31 / 12.08.02

There's a concept of "dream yoga", pretty similar to lucid dreaming, in Tibetan Buddhism. In a dream state, you can generate mandalas, deity-forms, or thousands of replicas of yourself to perform rituals, etc.

I always half-way viewed this as a sort of dodge to squeeze some of the ngondro obligations (like hundreds of thousands of prostrations, or repetitions of a mantra, etc.) into a reasonable amount of time...

18:13 / 12.08.02

I did a non-physical version of the LBRP this weekend - went to a nearby beach, didn't feel like doing the gestures or vocals in view of the public. So I picked a spot on a high rock, and did visualizations of everything with my eyes closed. It worked out really well - the breeze came in from the East at the appropriate moments, the sun was bright in the south, the Marin headlands were to the north, and all of the Pacific Ocean was to the west. I got some of the inspiration I was looking for afterwards, but my contemplation was shorter than I would have liked (the beach got rather crowded, blew my concentration completely).

Has anybody else tried anything like this?

20:04 / 12.08.02

I tried doing the LBRP like that the first time I did it a few weeks ago. It didn't work all that well since my visualization skills aren't up to snub. They're slowly improving with practice though. Somewhere along the line, I've stopped recording things in my ritual diary. It's probably because every single entry basically looked the same.

Page: (1)2