Imbolc and Candlemas

Along with seven created beingsI was placed In a fire of purification. I was myself gleaming fire, When I was first given life... -- The Black Book of Caemarthen, Taliesin My Imbolc candle, 2009Imbolc Imbolc, the first Wiccan Sabbat in the Gregorian calendar, is one of four Sabbats that are adapted from the ancient Celtic fire festivals [1] which are mainly based on agrarian and pastoral cycles. It is usually celebrated on or around February 2, or at the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. 'Imbolc' (pronounced 'imolk') is an Irish Gaelic word meaning 'in the belly'. The festival is also sometimes called 'Oimelc' ('imelk') meaning 'ewe's milk'. Both refer to the time of the year when mother sheep begin to lactate and are ready...

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An Eye for an Eye

Eric gave me a pair of feathers which he nabbed during a Santeria ritual and I, still in Martha Stewart mode after making a batch of orange pomanders, have been thinking of what to do with them. Being that the feathers were taken from sacrificial fowls to Orunmila, god of wisdom and seer of the future among the Lucumi, I thought that they would make a very nice addition to a god's eye. The god's eye is a traditional craft and spiritual object among the Huichol Indians of Mexico. In their native language it is called "tsikuri" which means "the power to see and understand things unknown".  It is sometimes used as a protective symbol, and it is said that the four points of the tsikuri correspond to the elements of earth, air, fire and water. I...

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A Sun-Kissed Charm

I made these fragrant, fruity, fortune-bringers during the first new moon of the year which was luckily also the time of a partial Solar eclipse. Orange pomanders, as these are called, have been around since medieval times and was primarily used in Europe to freshen the air and to ward off disease. These days they are mainly used as holiday ornaments [1]. The basic herbs used in making orange pomander - orange, cloves, cinnamon - are associated with the Sun and the element of fire, and for that it can be also be used as a charm to bring about general good fortune. The new moon was in Capricorn, which was perfect for spell work involving career, business affairs, or anything that has to do with "getting to the top". I'm taking advantage...

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Message from Cyber God

The personal computer has become our temple. The binary digits 0 and 1 are the god and goddess of the new aeon - the Yin and the Yang of the digital Tao, the Yoni and Lingam of the present age. Man created Computer as God created Man in his own image. Whether we humans admit it or not, we have in fact created new gods and have become subjects to their benefic and destructive powers. Bitstream is the new mana. -- Frater Murmur, Oct 2009 As a meta-magician I see nothing wrong with the PC as an instrument of augury just as the ancient people would use yarrow sticks, chicken guts, incese smoke, or oracle cards. There is of course much benefit from using tangible materials, like making it easier to enter into altered states of consciousness, but...

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Kabbalah for the Wicca

To kick off its series of workshops for the year, I am holding a lecture for the Philippine Wiccan Society[1] on occult symbols of the Western mystery tradition, which will hopefully be followed by a workshop on talismanic magic. I'm having a blast making the PowerPoint slides. It takes me a while to finish one slide because I am so amused by the animations that I play them over and over again. I'm being careful that the slides illustrate my ideas clearly since I am hardly eloquent at explaining stuff. The lecture will be geared towards beginners and casual magicians so I'll try not to use any Hebrew or Gnostic terms - without resorting to bullshit. Part of the lecture is a discussion on cosmology since I feel that this must come...

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Yipee Yule

Dec 26, 2009 - I woke up at dawn to meet up with Pol and Ariel to celebrate the Yule Sabbat during the sunrise. It was quite a feat to do after staying up late on a busy Christmas day. We met at McDonald's, then took the cab to Quezon City Memorial Circle. It was still dark when we arrived, and we were surprised to see the place in utter disaster. A lot of people have spent their Christmas day in the park and now there were junk everywhere. The park janitors have not even begun to do their cleaning since it was still too early. After about half an hour of walking around we finally found a relatively clutter-free area for the Sabbat ritual. Pol and Ariel have their complete Wiccan implements but I only had my camera. I found a fairly...

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In the Beginning.

God. The beginning is always the hardest part. It's 5:12 AM as I am typing these words. I started writing at about 1:30 AM as the sounds of the firecrackers were beginning to wane. After two mugs of coffee I finished a lengthy introduction about myself but immediately scrapped it away after realizing how self-absorbed and annoyingly highbrow I sounded. I guess for now those three words below the blog title would suffice as a description for myself: Pagan, Pinoy (Filipino) and postmodernist. I reckon that the last word needs some explaining: Many people are confused by the term postmodern. It has become a term that is bandied about in intelligent conversation...[1] How true. Any paragraph with the word "postmodern" in it looks so intellectual....

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