Carolyn Elliott here, editor of WITCH – so I’m in the midst of a 12 week magical project called The Promethea Working – which you can read about here (part 1) and here (part 2).
I’m on week 3 of the Promethea Working now, and here, I’m about to tell you all about my progress with it.
There is exactly no reason especially why you should care – unless you happen to be inspired by examples of other magician’s workings. I know I’m inspired by examples, so that’s why I’m publishing this here for you.
So.
I’ve been doing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram every day, walking 5 – 7 miles every day for my fitness, affirming my identity with Promethea, and recording my dreams every morning.
I set out intending to also do the Middle Pillar and more Promethea-inspired fiction or poetry writing, and I have not yet done that.
But.
I’m still experiencing some fairly intense and consistent Promethea-related synchronicity, and feel myself evolving at a rapid clip.
Something that’s become extra clear to me — is just how much whenever I’m unhappy about anything, it’s because at some level I’m choosing to be – usually because I think somehow my unhappiness will get me something that I want, maintain my identity, or prove that I’m “not crazy.”
Here’s the big secret to life, boys and girls: that assumption of mine is absolutely incorrect.
Unhappiness never got anything anybody that they wanted, and being unhappy about something does not prove that I’m “not crazy” – it actually makes me crazy.
I’ve been meditating more on the Death tarot card, which is the arcana associated with the path between Netzach (Victory) and Tiphareth (beauty) on the qabala’s Tree of Life.
I’m trying to get to Tiphareth, folks. Why? Because Tiphareth is the heart of the tree, and it’s the level of consciousness where the magician is said to have “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.”
What exactly is Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel? (K&C for short)?
Well, that’s a very good question, and fairly debatable. Some people think K&C is just communication from your higher self via dream and synchronicity- but I’m inclined to slightly disagree on that point.
Communication with my higher self via dream and synchronicity is something I’ve had going on for a long time – at least since I wrote Awaken Your Genius …
…. and I’m inclined to suspect that Frater Archer of theomagica is correct when he suggests that having actual Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is a bit more than that – it’s having a relationship with one’s higher self that is direct, and conscious rather than indirect and mediated by the unconscious.
So that’s what I’m aiming for.
Symbols associated with the Death arcana include the Egyptian beetle, Kephra.
I hadn’t mentioned this to my partner, Taia – but yesterday he told me he wants to change his last name from Kepher to Kephra.
The Death arcana is also a lot about dropping identification with the physical body and “the small self” in order that one can be more transparent to the higher self and the K&C of Tiphareth. This is something that I’ve been actively working on since last week, when I realized just how identified with my body and my gender I have been.
This week Taia and I did a very intense solar magic ritual together, affirming our commitment to each other and to living as sovereigns.
I have noticed that I dream more intensely at night when I do at least 30 deep vase breaths (pranayama) during the day. My best guess is that this is because the deep vase breaths energize the etheric body.
I have been continuing to give offerings to the Seal of Asmodeus on my altar, and to talk kindly to Asmodeus’ critical presence when I notice him appearing. It’s really amazing how much Asmodeus loves to dislike everything – and how much he tenderly wants to be liked.
I suspect Asmodeus is my ill will, and the male part of me – my animus.
I had a deep dream the another night about the importance of magic circles. In the dream the name “Abrasax” came to me quite clearly. When I woke up, I remembered that ABRASAX is a name that invokes the 365 degrees of the wheel of the year, the divine circle of time.
image: from the Promethea comics