October | 2012 | The Blog of Baphomet

Frequent flyers on Air Baphomet will be aware that one of our major preoccupations is how we as magicians work with concepts of mystery. When words and concepts begin to break apart, how do we work with those technologies that allow us to effectively navigate inner-space? Whether via the use of Zen sitting practice or core shamanic practices we are seeking to enter those potent, chaotic realms within which the magician may seek to divine the currents of possibility (at least that’s the general idea!). This is the magic of the Void, and I’ve recently been expanding my appreciation of it by digging into Michael Kelly’s latest book “Draconian Consciousness”.

This the fourth draconian book written by the ever prolific Mr. Kelly, and in it he seeks to enter deep waters in mapping the path of initiation for those of us trying to manifest our inner work within the realm of midgard. In the book Michael explores the nature of the magicians character as they mature and the role played by the Void/Abyss as a necessary stage whereby more realised aspects of Self are uncovered. It is a work that at once seeks to evolve the psychocosm of the initiate, whilst remaining ever mindful of the need for sorcerous application at a material level.

If you’re new to his work, I’d recommend starting with “Apophis” the book in which he vividly describes the way of the dragon as divided into its seven “heads”. What follows is a brief review of Apophis that I wrote for “Mandrake Speaks” a couple of years ago:

“I’ll be honest, I really like this book. It doesn’t pull any punches; straight out of the gate:

“Draconian magic is in its very essence terrifying, alienating and antinomian, but – for the successful few – it is ultimately liberating, illuminating and joyous.”

No-one messes with the Draconian Mage

Now it could just be me, but to my eye a lot of contemporary magickal writing that purports to be weighty gives little advice as to how to actually do anything. Such writing is often quite successful in evoking a sense of the magickal and the liminal without giving concrete means for accessing real gnosis.

That’s why I like this book. For my money Apophis is one of the clearest expositions of what the draconian/Typhonian path might mean for the magickal practitioner. Although no longer a member of the Temple of Set, Mr. Kelly is very up front about how formative his time within the Temple was in terms of his current reworking and expansion of Draconian lore.

The work of Apophis (which is sub-divided into the seven heads of the great dragon) is concerned with the realities of awakening and the Setian goal of ‘becoming’ (“Xeper”). This process entails nothing less than the activation of consciousness as it relates to the emotions, the mind and the body. Drawing upon his experience as previous head of the Order of Leviathan within the Temple of Set, Kelly helpfully distils the Typhonian insights of Crowley, Grant, LaVey and Aquino and formulates a form of radical individuation somewhat akin to the Gurdjieff Work.

Although Kelly’s own journey has taken him outside of the Temple of Set, it is clear that he still finds great insight in exploring the “aeonic words” that have been channelled through that Order. The concepts of “Xeper” (become), “Remanifest” and “Runa” (mystery) are key in understanding how the magician engages with Apep, the raw, unformed, primal energy of the universe. Kelly explores this relationship via “the magic of the void” – this is a paired down empty hands magickal approach in which the adept sits with the void and thereby transforms/is transformed.

This is a work chock full of practical magickal experiments (some of which are highly amusing) which seek to locate and challenge the boundaries of our identities. Of especial interest for the Tantric practitioners out there is the focus on the dynamic role of the Scarlet Woman. The Order of Apep seems to be advocating a form of left hand path tantra in which the object of the magickians desire (whichever gender) challenges ones conditioning.

As the practitioner works through each progressive stage or draconian “head” an alchemical transformation of the self is sought- Siddhis becomes manifest and the ability to shape ones reality increases. Refreshingly Kelly sketches the last head as a potentiality that he is in the process of seeking to access. This seems in keeping with a work that is a once weighty and yet maintains a sense of humour and avoids po-faced mightiness.

Highly recommended.”

Buy Apophis or Draconian Consciousness

As previous articles HERE at theblogofbaphomet have described, one of the on-going projects I’m involved with is ‘Chaos Craft’. This involves using the Pagan Wheel of the Year and the eight colours of magick as the container within which a ‘bring and share’ model of running a magickal meeting is deployed. Using this approach individuals get the opportunity to bring their own practice or ritual work to explore with others. They lead that section of the meeting, acting as ‘Master/Mistress of the Temple’ or ‘High Priest/Priestess’.

Each ritual segment averages 30 minutes in length, with some practices being longer or shorter. Generally the arc of a meeting moves from creating sacred space or banishing, through a formal round of introductions, then into bodywork or spellcraft/results magick, slowly building towards a final main ceremony which is sacramental or celebratory in nature. Typically breaks can be programmed into this running order to allow periods for practices to settle, visits to the loo and cups of tea to be had. This modular structure also means that members of the group can opt in or out of certain practices, leave the session when they need to, and others can arrive later and be included in the narrative of that meeting’s process.

So here’s a little sample of what we got up to at our recent Equinox meeting. The italicised text is from the notes presented by some of the contributors.

Into the labyrinth…

Hail the September Equinox! Time of balance all across the earth! The clear skies of early autumn provoke the steel-sharp points of stars. The rivers are in full flood, the ocean rises high and drops away.

In the blue there are no boundaries, we recognise this time of balance in the sign of the scales, and we slip, in the northern hemisphere, into the dark.

Together we meet in the garden temple, greeting each other, toasting our company and the spirits of the land and the time. We propitiate Neptune, God of the deep blue sea, asking for riches from his Kingdom. We drum and chant barbarous words. We seal the spell with blue magicians’ flash paper.

We recognise the blue of our Buddha nature and of action and reaction. The intent behind this ritual is to celebrate and to reaffirm our connections to each other which are the real source of wealth, to the world, and to the cosmos. The pathway is visualisation – generating blue chaospheres from the throat chakra into the centre…”

Cut up excerpt from Derek Jarman’s “Blue” (used as a reading to support a tantric practice)

Blue come forth

Blue arise

Blue ascend

Blue come in

Blue protects white from innocence

Blue drags black with it

Blue is darkness made visible

Blue protects white from innocence

Blue drags black with it

Blue is darkness made visible

I have walked behind the sky.

For what are you seeking?

The fathomless blue of Bliss.

We honour the goddess Metis, Goddess of practical wisdom and magical craft. We speak with her in tongues, finding a way between the deep bass rumble of language and the shrill staccato of speech.

Next up is the, “arachnoid apophenia genogram rite”. Using the genogram to map our personal family systems so as to more fully appreciate meaningful connection – by adding in other factors -hobbies, pets, fetishes, gods etc, we sought to map our own personal tree of life. Once we had done this we identified one relationship that we wished to transform and sought to use colour, rune staves etc to help focus our intent. We used some trance drumming to aid this process!

A turquoise magick fills us during the next ceremony. Blue magick filtered through Green, helping us to gain wealth through doing what we love. Making good gold. We pray to Ganesh to break down the obstacles which keep our hearts closed, and to let our love call forth the wealth from our lives.

As night falls another witch woman leads a ritual; We can follow the descent of the goddess, of Ishtar and Persephone, we can make the quest of the hero with Orpheus, Theseus and Arthur. If we journey into the labyrinth, we can connect to our subconscious, and embrace the coming dark, instead of fighting it.

All who are willing to explore the spiral path, know this, it is full of mysteries, the labyrinthine ways are shifting, and unsettling, and not for the faint hearted. So we will take the witches’ cords with us for protection – the symbol of Ariadne the Goddess of the red thread, which ties us to life, to this world, to reality and sanity.

This thread was enchanted by She who Spins, by She who Measures and by She who Cuts. When I give it to you DO NOT LET GO. Form up the gates, and begin the chant into the labyrinth. Feel the walls growing around you, feel the thread which will lead us home, feel the narrow spiral path leading us down, into the spiral, into the silence, into the shadows. Sink Down, Sink Down, deeper and ever more deep, into eternal and primordial sleep Sink Down, be still, forget and draw apart, into the earth’s most secret heart.

Round one spiral, into the core, and out again, we return from this iteration of our descent into the labyrinth.

We move for the final ritual down into the subterranean temple and into The Blue Room.

In the underground circle we give our attention, beginning at the East, to the eight directions and the eight colours. Asking for the wealth of all these forces, we bid them hail and welcome.

Through the gentle equipoise yoga we find our own centre, our point of balance. Poised between the in-breath and the out, between dark and light, heaven and earth.

Blue cords are prepared, and in the centre of the temple a cauldron of rich soil. Cornucopias rest within it, spraying out flowers and seeded stems of the season. A blue ribbon encircles the cauldron and a spiral light of electric blue coils inwards. At its heart is a blue clay vessel containing a sacrament; blue coloured, peach tasting, effervescent water, upon which float delicate slivers of pure gold.

Bringing our attention to the throat chakra we chant the bija mantra of that powerzone, ‘Ham’. And knot our cords, bringing awareness to our wealth and to those things which we would take with us into the dark time to come. The witches’ cone of power is raised, majestic, strong and gentle. We relax, body armour coming off, singing and swaying, knotting and pulling the cords until the High Priest cries ‘down!’, and we drop the power into the cauldron, into the sacrament.

Azure liquid fizzes at our lips, we drink in the gold.

There is laughter and feasting (and a little more magick later that night and indeed the morning, but that, as they say is another story…).

The seeds begin to come, the fruits of the year, swollen with the light, the early signs of browning decay are everywhere. Spiders spin their dew spangled webs across improbably wide gulfs. We conjure for wealth and recognition of our wealth, that we may take this gold from the light half of the year into the west, beneath the dark blue waters. We harvest the experience of the light and wrap it in darkness so it may germinate there as ideas, new possibilities, future magick.

The autumn morning; heavy rain drops from indigo swollen clouds.

Golden leaves spiral through the air, to earth.