The Abyssal Angels

abyssalangelsIf you weren’t quick enough to get copies of Infernal Colopatiron while they were available, you can get copies of The Abyssal Angels, which is an affordable redux of Infernal Colopatiron (available in inexpensive hardcover, paperback, and ebook) that discusses gate opening and theophany and includes SOME of the information contained in Infernal Colopatiron. However, please note that Abyssal Angels IS NOT The Infernal Colopatiron.

The Abyssal Angels doesn’t go into the same depth as Infernal Colopatiron and does not include all of the material found in Infernal Colopatiron.  Abyssal Angels can be bought in hardcoverpaperback or ebook. (Nook, too.)

For those of you who own Infernal Colopatiron, there is nothing new in Abyssal Angels. This is, essentially, a stripped-down-for-mass-consumption version of the infamous grimoire.

A Magickal, Spiritual Life

dawnSpirituality is not something that can be so easily disconnected from living life itself. So when one asks if my practice is more spiritual vs. more magickal, I often reply that life itself is both spiritual and magickal.  Neither of these things can be separated out of my life.  Nor would I want them to be.

I find magick in the night sky. I find a good rain storm spiritually uplifting. Even walking through my garden becomes a mystical experience when I tend the magickal plants growing in it. Yesterday, for example, I picked several sprigs of mint. Some to dry for an incense I’m making, and some to re-pot in the greenhouse.  When I’m cleaning my floors I view it as an opportunity to engage in moving meditation, making the simple act of doing domestic chores a spiritual exercise. When I cook I find myself weaving magick into whatever I’m making to bring good health and prosperity to those eating it.

Spirituality and Magick are not weekend hobbies. They’re not something you put on Friday night before going out with your friends or take off Monday morning before heading to your boring office job. Spirituality and magick are, or should be, inseparable parts of us that are experienced daily in just about every task we undertake.  The easiest way to realize this is to be mindful of what you’re doing day-to-day and how it impacts your spiritual and magickal life.  Everything we do from recreation to work, to bathing impacts our well being and our spiritual health and how we perceive our magickal practice.

Yes, I imagine this doesn’t sound evil or scary enough for those who are primarily “image occultists”, but then my magickal and spiritual practice is not a fashion accessory. It’s who I am and it permeates every part of my life.

In what seemingly unrelated day-to-day activities have YOU found spiritual nourishment or magickal inspiration?

Much Ado about Being Overdue

Well, half the year has already passed, and I’m finally at a point where I can sit down and start my writing again. I would have never guessed that something as simple as changing jobs could have completely destroyed my schedule and routine as much as it has. Who knew?

A couple of months ago I traded in a minimum wage part time job, which allowed me ample time to run my side business and work on my writings, for a higher paying full time position that has dominated my time and schedule far more than I would have expected. With the added commute time, and the drastic increase in hours, it has been really difficult for me to keep up with everything and still keep my sanity. But with that being said, I’ve finally hit the end of my “orientation” period, things are settling down, and I can finally sit still long enough to string together a random thought or two and actually put it down on paper.

For me personally, Magic and Spirituality are two completely separate things. Magic is a working. It has a specific, focused goal. Spirituality is a path. It’s a process of growth and exploration. And while magic may serve spiritual purposes on occasion, and vice versa, for the most part the two are separate and unique.

A magical working can be many things. But it will always have a goal, an end result. From searching for answers, to influencing personal relationships, or even the acquisition of material wealth, magic is meant for a purpose. Without a purpose, magic cannot be successful. Raised energy must be directed for it to be effective.

Spirituality is something that stays with us for life. It challenges and changes us. It forces us to explore and examine things about the world, and about ourselves, that we may otherwise not be willing to delve into. The relationships and connections that are found through spirituality shape our present and our future. Matrons/Patrons or “Guardians” change over time. They stay with us for a while, and guide us down the path that will lead us to our next spiritual discovery. This does not mean one matron or patron becomes less important, or leaves less of an impact on our lives. It just means that as Human Beings, we grow and evolve, sometimes even when we don’t want to. And often times, especially when we’d rather not move on to the next thing, it is our Matron, Patron, or Guardian that pushes us towards that end. Without the assistance of our otherworldly tutors, many of us would not be where we are today. In my case, I know this for a fact.

MM

Gravitation

Spiritual and Magical practice in my case are unseparable, I do a lot of magic that has consecuences in my life and that usually pushes inner reflections unto my being and how I relate to the universe and how the universe relates to me, since Im the center of activity into my own life I really don’t like to merely observe, and its not about merely making use of magic in an instrumentalistic way, but as much as magic changes our lifes, the inner self must be refined, aspects that can be taught a little bit of illumination into our lifes, and its completely personal even when in possibility to affect those around you, you cannot expect magic to be effective without the proper expirience and focus, at least not the way you actually want.

That being said spirituallity hardly its passive either, being in contact with the divine usually involves movement or your life in some ways, and that means that even if you are not involved in a lot of magical work, you will have plenty to do (or not to do if medidation or other contexts included) about your life and yourself, maybe a less if you consider that you are stirring that cauldron way more softer, but none the less life will challenge us all.

Blessings

Jadean Lazulli

Enter July

This month our bloggers talk about the spiritual vs. the magickal. Which part of their practice is more important to them? Why?

As always, feel free to participate in the discussion. We’re always looking for new bloggers so if you’re a Demonolater and you would like to blog here, be sure to contact me at [email protected] and we’ll talk. Our bloggers regularly rotate due to to time constraints.

Remember bloggers, that if you haven’t blogged in six months, that gives me the green light to remove you from the schedule. Thanks so much for your participation. Together we make this site more informative!

Just June

Welcome to summer. I imagine many of you are putting together your fire festival and solstice celebrations to Flereous, the Asmodai, and all other relevant Daemonic Fires.

This month we ask our bloggers who are your favorite Demon(s) to work with and why?

I imagine we’ll get some interested answers. Stay tuned for June and I hope you’re all enjoying the weather out there!

Infernal Colopatiron Update

Two things from Official Melissa Press!

The first thing is that there are only 21 copies of the standard edition of Infernal Colopatiron left. There were only 200 copies of the standard edition printed.  There were only 30 copies of the Deluxe Edition printed and those were sold out over a year ago.

The second thing is that I have up to 25 unbound copies of Infernal Colopatiron available for fine leather binding. I have a bindery ready to go and I am, for sure, having 10 of these copies bound in black leather with copper foil stamping.  I will have more than the 10 copies bound (up to 25) if they are pre-ordered.

This very limited, fine leather, hand bound edition is going to cost $300 + shipping per book. Because there is such a limited number available, I’m only going to allow one per customer.

I will take requests for certain numbers as long as it’s not #1 and falls within the number of copies being printed.

I will be signing and consecrating each  of these books myself before they ship.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anyone interested in reserving one of these leather bindings should contact [email protected]. I am asking for 1/2 the cost up front to reserve the edition (with a $25 cancellation fee if the book is at the binder and you change your mind) and the other 1/2 at the end before I ship.  I’m not expecting them ready to ship until September (possibly sooner), but trust me – it will be well worth the wait. If you’ve seen the fine leather bound funerary editions of Keys of Ocat, the binding will be similar as it’s being done by the same binder.

I will close pre-ordering on June 15, 2013

If only the 10 are printed and only 5 are pre-ordered from that,  I will sell the remaining 5 first come – first serve. However, if 13 are reserved – I’m only printing 13.  So it goes.

Here’s what the Keys of Ocat fine binding (done for Nephilim Press) looked like to give you a rough idea of the beautiful work this binder does:

keys funerary 2

On Prayer

Prayer its a practice of worship, and If recall well Jason Miller’s explanation, the etymology of whorship its “To recognize Worth”, we pray to connect with those entities that are worthy into our lifes, Daemons, Gods, Etc.

Prayer could be much of a conversational act, a show consideration, because the forces we call are living beings and just as any other person they took the time to put something of their energy, wisdom,  into our lives, and constantly contribute with it as we contribute back to them, its a two way relationship.

So to be a Demonolater its to Worship (To recognize the worth) of the Daemonic divine, and prayer gives us a way of making comunication besides complex ritual or magical operation and it opens ways to stay in touch even in situations you cant dedicate a lot of time, and I think its one the basics of any spiritual tradition is to pray.

Blessings

Jadean Lazulli

Prayer

Prayers exist in many religions.

Those of us raised in Christian households (or those of you who have heard “Enter Sandman” by Metallica) probably know the one that goes something to the effect of “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take.”

If you think about it, the meaning is quite beautiful. In a Christian perspective, it is important that one’s soul reaches Heaven. By reciting that prayer before they go to sleep, they’re hoping that if they pass in their sleep their soul will reach Heaven.

Catholic followers will pray on rosaries with different color / shaped beads letting them know how many prayers they’ve said and when it’s time to say a different prayer. My maternal grandfather regret the lives he had to take during World War II and spent the rest of his life praying on his rosary in the front yard of his house every morning. He even groped around on his death bed for his rosary.

Muslims pray five times a day: dawn, noon, afternoon, dusk, and night. They will kneel on a rug, face the direction of Mecca, and pray at specific times. There are even clocks that will remind them to when to pray nowadays.

Buddhists, while I am in no way an expert on the subject, require that monks recite a prayer over a piece of fruit being cut for them by the one offering it as alms so they don’t destroy the seed. They also have beads to count the number of mantras they chant.

Back in middle school I think I happened upon a prayer or spell that had something to do with imagining that you were really warm when you felt cold. I still catch myself using it every now and again because I feel like it works. I hate feeling cold.

I used to think prayer was useless, but the more I think about it the more I’m certain it’s important. Many people around the world pray. If you think about it, it’s a sort of magic that works using one very important ingredient: desire. Like other magics, its purpose is to manifest your will on a situation. The key difference, in my mind, is that as opposed to a full ritual it only requires your sincerest wishes and taking time to recite the prayer(s). Maybe an implement like a rosary or prayer cord is used.

There are so many different reasons why people pray.

The desire to see someone’s loved one cured of a serious ailment.

The desire to overcome life’s turmoils.

The desire to get a promotion at work.

No matter what the reason I find the act to be fascinating and beautiful. It’s a very personal act and you can really write your own prayer for any purpose. Or you could use an existing prayer that has significance to you. There’s even a book of Demonolatry prayers called Ater Votum that can be found on this website. Go to the tab Library & Archives, wait for it to cascade, then follow it to the Files & E-Books (Downloads) section. The name of the link you’re looking for is Ater Votum Demonolatry Prayer. Click on the word PDF.

It contains many practical prayers that a modern practitioner may find useful. I implore you to check it out, and maybe you’ll find something that strikes your fancy when you’re in need. Somewhere in recent years I’ve fallen out of the practice of prayer, but there was once I time where I would pray in the morning, when I had ample free time to think (on the bus, for example), and in the evening before bed. I actually made a prayer last night before trying to do an elemental balancing meditation. I was in quite a bit of pain and haven’t been able to find a remedy for it. (Feel free to laugh, but I’m serious! It’s gotten so bad that I’ve been brought to tears and taken to the ER before. When doctors looked at me they tried to maim me instead of help!)

I held my hands against the spot that ached and said the following:

Leviathan please take this pain.
Lucifer please take this pain.
Belial please take this pain.
Flereous please take this pain.
Satan please take this pain.

Verrine, I implore you to hear my plea. I wake with this pain and then I can’t sleep. I don’t know what’s wrong with me and modern medicine hasn’t worked. Please help me heal and take this pain from me tonight.

The order of the Demons I invoked is sort of wonky, I know, but at the time it was 2AM and I was in a lot of pain. Anyway, after I said my prayer I started to do an elemental balancing meditation and fell asleep in the middle of it. I woke up feeling great, albeit I ended up sleeping in. And a different problem I’ve been experiencing was healed as well…but that problem was probably remedied by a medicine I started taking. There’s definitely something to prayer and I know I’ll never take it for granted again.

Groveling in Servitude and Other Amusing Assumptions

I admit it – prayer is one of those aspects of spirituality that I haven’t always been comfortable with. In my younger years, before  I really understood what it meant to “pray”, I always envisioned those who prayed as groveling servants hoping deity would throw them a bone for being subservient and obedient.

As I got older I realized that prayer, while often seen as a plea for help from the weak, could actually be both invocation and evocation.

Wikipedia (yes, biggest bathroom wall on the Internet), defines prayer as “an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity, an object of worship, or a spiritual entity through deliberate communication.”

I rather like this definition because it doesn’t judge what that communication entails necessarily. Some use prayer as a magickal genii, hoping to get something whether it be favor, wisdom, material goods, or even emotional relief. Others use prayer as a method to evoke certain things from within the divine self or to invoke certain things from the divine external.

All of that said, I tend to use prayer most as a method of honoring the Daemonic, as a method to evoke and invoke wisdom, strength, and opportunity, and I leave the misnomer of prayer = groveling to the people who really think gods are magick genii in a bottle ready to grant them three wishes.

Yes, prayer does have a place in my practice. Yes, it’s a very personal thing. No, I don’t think you can really do it wrong. Do what’s right for you.