MONITRICE

Kali 65

On January 5th E was involved in assisting in the delivery of one of my spiritual friends baby. The baby was actually delivered by a mid wife and as a nursing student E was asked and allowed to be a part in this wonderful event. The expecting mother is named Libby, she had read articles on female support during labor and delivery, this female support person is known as the Monitrice or Doula E was honored that E actually had a title!

E have assisted in labor and delivery before in thee hospital under supervision ov a physician, some male some female, but the experience with the mid-wife was quite different.

First, thee Mid-wife did all prenatal care with Libby. She instructed Libby on how to care of herself and the fetus thru nutrition, exercise, etc..She taught her how to prepare her nipples for breast feeding by standing in a sunny window for 15 minutes a day, also perinieum massage with vitamin E oil to decrease chance of tearing or epistomy intervention upon delivery. Of course Lamaze was part of preparing for the Labor and delivery. Many Women experience problems with hemorrhoids during their pregnancy and especially after “pushing” during delivery. Oatmeal! Thee answer! Libby did not have this problem, she ate oatmeal every morning and

drank water all day long.

During labor Libby, her husband, My love, and myself coached her through. C7's job ended up being to take care of Libby's anxious sister in the lobby. During labor the lights were soft, and we had picked out music (Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Kondole) to guide Libby thru her contractions. This all began at 8:00 in the morning. The goal was no intervention that was invasive. The research on Monitrices revealed that having another Female present lowered stress, lowered pain, and the need for invasive intervention (catheters, epidurals, etc.). E gave Libby all my NRG during the long laboring day. Nurturing her by keeping her hydrated, cool sponge baths, lips moistened (they dry out while breathing so heavy), music playing, fanning, massaging, and rubbing kept me busy all day long. During the transitional stage ( A.K.A. active stage) of labor things got tough, this was her first baby and no one could prepare her for the painful contractions during this stage. We helped (the Mid-wife and E) Libby to the Jacuzzi twice, this is a wonderful non-evasive intervention. This lowers pain and stimulated circulation. When transitional labor began (5cm, contractions one minute and one minute apart) the Midwife did not leave Libby's side. She aided in positioning and working with the contraction, for this is the force to get the baby out. Midwives don't fight this force, they work with it, this lowers laboring time. At one time Libby had urinary retention, at this point most physicians would order a urinary catheter. The Midwife took an ammonia popper and waved it about 1/2 inch away from her urethra, E turned on the water to a drizzle and within a minute she voided. This Mid-wife had all kinds of tricks up her sleeve!

Libby was ready for delivery, her husband and E each grabbed a leg under her knee pulled them up to her chest while simultaneously lifted her head so her chin touched her chest. The pushing went on for 45 minutes. The Mid-wife encouraged Libby through the whole process, she told her she was doing great and to continue to keep her focus. Soon we were able to see the baby's head, bright red hair. The only intervention that the Mid-wife had to perform was a one degree episiotomy because the cord was around the baby's head. Everything was alright it was 6:50. A warm blanket was placed on Libby's chest and when the baby came the baby was put on it, then Jeff cut the cord. It was a glorious moment, instant bonding. Libby came out of the trance she was in, kissed me and Jeff while the nurse quickly cleaned up the baby, still on Libby's chest. Nursing the baby was next, only minutes after birth! This is not done in the hospital normally. They named the baby Beth- she is beautiful!

My experience with the Mid-wife and Libby was wonderful. The advice E was given when E asked the Mid-wife “what can E do to help the most when it's time for Libby to go into labor ?” She replied that E should get in tough with her spirituality. E told her we've done that for the last four years! She said that was the best thing one could do for another.

A'ANO'NIN: The Devil As A Woman Dressed In Red

Linda Falorio

In worship of Nature in all Her forms, in joyful celebration, and animal innocence, in the lustful dance of spirit clothed with form, lies the ability to materialise desire.

In The Shadow Tarot, the card of A'ANO'NIN speaks to the dark side of Atu XV, “The Devil” of traditional tarots. “The Devil”, known in the esoteric teachings of the Golden Dawn as “The Lord of the Gates of Matter”, and “The Child of the Forces of Time” falls astrologically under the aegis of the planet Saturn, Chronos, keeper of Time, higher octave of the Moon in its role as signifier of the slow, inexorable rhythms of nature. Alchemically, Saturn relates to the qualities of lead, to the denseness and heaviness of matter, the solidity of earth, to the pull of gravitation that keeps us on the planet, as well as the planet's seething molten core.

Saturn, outermost planet known in ancient times, thus defining the boundaries of the then known cosmos, defines our personal boundaries and vulnerabilities as well, both physical and psychological. Where the Moon, earth's bright satellite nurtures earthly life, dark and distant Saturn defines the limitations inherent in life's structure and form. Cold and dark, Saturn refers us to the geophysical North, the direction from which orgone energy streams into our life web, discernible as the pulsing aurora of the Northern Lights. Saturn thus is also associated with winter, December in the Northern Hemisphere, when the Sun enters Capricorn, Saturn's native sign.

In the Shadow Tarot, The Devil, though most often thought of as typically male, instead turns a feminine face to us as Set, ass-headed Egyptian god of deserts, Shaitan of the desert-dwelling Yezidi whose devotees worshipped facing North. In this card we find the soul in bondage to the senses and the earth: matter ruling spirit. Yet, where in traditional tarot the idea of matter dominating spirit has been seen as evil, in the Shadow Tarot we experience this as a condition to be sought. The feminine has long been maligned, yet there is truth in this, for if earthly existence is seen as an evil to be endured on the way to some heavenly paradise, the feminine has but two possible roles: that of virginal psychopomp, leading the soul to God, or that of temptress, leading the soul from God, binding man to earth as the physical gateway to the material world of sensuality and satisfaction of animal desire through the subtle pheromonal working of her body. Indeed, "matter" equals "mother", for it is she who clothes all things with form, she who holds the developing fetus in her body, thus she keeps our boundaries and holds us in reality.

A'Ano'Nin calls us to the lustful dance of spirit clothed with form. The soul is pulled into incarnation by desire. Enthralled by the rapture of the senses, the glamour cast upon us by our lovely planet that binds us to the blessings of the earth, we have fallen into Time that we may revel in the joy of physical existence.

In the pentagram -- the five-pointed star -- we see an ancient seal of protection. It represents the four elements of the Ancients -fire, water, air, and earth -- whose infinite combinations constitute the manifested universe crowned by the fifth element of spirit to which humanity aspires. Inverted, the pentagram becomes the sign of Pater Pan: “Pamphage, Pangenitor, all father, all begetter”. It represents the generative spirit of the fertile earth, the Goat Foot God, Cernunnos, Capricorn, Saturn, The Devil, of you will, none other than the god who “has a spiral force”, the spirit of A'Ano'Nin, which binds us all to life.

In the card of A~Ano~Nin, Set, the red-haired ass who has come to represent bodily passion and lust, appears as the alluring Scarlet Woman, or Suvasini -- “sweet-smelling woman” -- her body exuding powerful pheromonal essences. These affect the primitive mammalian limbic areas of the backbrain which regulate the most basic levels of instinctual behaviour. It has long been known that women who live and work together tend to menstruate during the same time. This is due to the release of hormone triggering pheromones at certain phases of the minstrual cycle, one woman's biology thus triggering another's, all taking place entirely below the level of conscious awareness.

In this card, the heightened emotions and intensification of the senses caused by stimulation of the ancient rhinencephalon through the primitive sense of smell are graphically depicted. Satyrs and fauns are found cavorting in the priapic bliss engendered, in a wild Saturnalia of passion and desire to which Set gives the sign of blessing. This pagan carnival (from L. carnem levare, “to put away the flesh”, as food) of Saturnalia was celebrated at the Solstice. This festival, generally beginning on the fifteenth of December, an interesting occurrence in that 15 is also the number of the major arcana of The Devil -- Atu XV, commemorated the rule of Saturn, beneficent Etruscan King in the fabled Golden Age of peace, prosperity, and universal happiness, in which greed was unknown, nor was there slavery or private property, for the citizenry held all things in common. The festival of Saturnalia was marked by feasting, revelry and mad pursuit of pleasure, in which masters changed places with their slaves, and all ate at a common table, keeping alive the idea of equality. Furthermore, war could not be declared, and executions were postponed. This season, then as now, was time for giving and receiving gifts.

But there was a darker side to the Roman Saturnalia. It was also a period of license, when customary restraints of law and morality were thrown aside, when all gave themselves up to pleasure, and the darker passions were given vent never allowed in the staid and sober course of ordinary life. The human personality was allowed to dissolve into madness, feeding on the dark world of the senses as the Maenads feasted upon their victims, torn to shreds in the ecstatic worship of their gods.

Saturnalia, though an ancient festival, bears a striking similarity to current native practices of those living high in the Andes mountains of Peru. At certain times of the year, these natives mount wild festivals accompanied by much chewing of coca leaves. During the festival they play pan-pipes and drums, engage in public erotic rites, and indulge in bloody fist fights, drinking maize beer and brandy through the night until stupor is attained.

The Devil, always a troublesome card to interpret, has often been explained as the soul or spirit in bondage to the senses and the earth. When this card is active in our lives, involved are issues of power over and control, bondage and submission. Competition comes into play, fuelled by material greed and ambition to make it to the top. Methods may be covert, involving subtle manipulation, and “playing politics” to win the game. Thus, The Devil, Capricornus, can be seen as the archetypal Organisation Man. He believes in hierarchy, hard work, and tradition, he believes in control of animal passions and lmotions, on self-control, and in submission to authority, in sacrificing his individuality in favour of the common good. This, in its highest expression supports the creation of a society in which the human spirit may be sustained and nurtured.

As every idea contains the seeds of its own opposite, The Devil as A'Ano'nin becomes that wild, untamed lustful animal spirit within us, that blind ecstatic force of nature which is an expression of the fertility and abundance of the earth. However, such free and joyful expression of the human spirit is feared as hubris that constitutes a societal danger, threatening the very ideas of hierarchy, structure, authority, and control upon which societies are based. Therefore, in order to function and survive, a society finds it must place limits upon individual behaviour defined as disruptive to the common good of the group. Furthermore, if it is not to devolve into anarchy and chaos, there must be a consensus of meaning, an agreement on what constitutes its reason for existence, its purposes and plans.

The individual, once he has become a danger to the status quo, arousing anxiety that the human universe may collapse into chaos and uncertainty must be repressed and brought under societal control. Society, to justify it's actions in the preserving of its powerstructure, calls upon the combined establishments of church and state and medicine to define such individuals either as “sinful”, as “criminal”, or “crazy” in the old game of “blame the victim”, or scape-goating.

Submission to a dead hierarchy that has ceased to provide little meaning or societal context beyond the ideological imperative of preserving its own ability to pursue material greed and ambition, breeds poverty of spirit, hopelessness, helplessness, and depression, which may be expected to eventually explode into violence, anger, and aggression, threatening the power structure with the very uncertainty and chaos which it so fears.

It should not be surprising that such release of pent-up energy as we find in the ancient Saturnalia, or in the modern Peruvian rites often degenerated into wild orgies of lust and crime, in which we can perhaps identify an ancient type of the disturbing current practice known as "wilding". Yet, the mad spree of random anti-social gang violence and aggression known as wilding, may also be seen as a result of the individual's repression by a society that imparts little meaning beyond pursuance of material greed and ambition, one that, rather than nurturing the free human spirit allows little opportunity for its expression, thus breeding violence, anger, and aggression.

When we find ourself in bondage to such a repressive system, rather than follow through with the cycle of repression-depressionanger-violence, we need instead to find the ability to see beyond the conventional wisdom cautioning us to quietly observe the status quo, we need to see through artificial societal limitations placed upon behaviour. Rather than exploding with anger at our repressors, we may then release ourselves in joy to follow the path with heart, the dictates of our spirits and our wills.

When we use this card for meditation, or when we see this card in a reading we are reminded to live through the senses. It is time to get back in touch with the cycles of the earth, to attune ourselves to the vast rhythms of nature, and the timeless wisdom of our bodies. We need to take time to get back to basics, to notice the mundane, to enjoy and appreciate those around us, with all their faults and failings, in that they are unique expressions of the phases and cycles affecting human life.

At times, we all feel stuck, and stressed, frustrated by subjection to senseless rules and regulations. We find ourselves bending to social pressure to conform to standards that we find devoid of meaning. We have moments when we fear we are in danger of becoming Myrmidons to corporate, patriarchal anality, that we have dutifully sacrificed the best in us, our vitality and youth, to the demands of industrial efficiency in our quest to “get ahead”.

Such social pressure and overwork tend to block the streaming orgonomic energies of our bodies, and we may experience depression, sexual impotence, or vague feelings of anxiety and guilt when we allow ourselves to experience sensual pleasure. We are left feeling isolated, trapped, controlled, depressed, and alienated from nature and the body. Longing to escape, we may become attracted to religions, or other world-views that validate denial of sensual pleasure in the here and now, promising release through transcendence of the material world and the world of the senses. On the other side, when we seek to break free from social sanctions and express our freedom and pleasure of the senses, we may encounter those who, in venting a sense of vengeful righteousness based on fear, seek to impose their restrictive sex-morality upon others -- what Wilhelm Reich called “the emotional plague”.

“Be Here Now”, staying in the moment is the secret of A'Ano'Nin, for in attunement with the natural world, we find the ability to draw healing energy and vitality from direct contact with the earth as the Greek, Tellus derived his strength. One with the earth, we are able to find power spots, and to “ground” potentially disxuptive forces by channelling them back into the all-accepting earth. In our attunement with nature, in our love and acceptance of the basis of life, on our own natural instincts and humanity, we find the ability to contact all manner of fairies, gnomes, sylphs, undines, and devas of the kingdoms of the earth, and to communicate with all forms of life. In feeling at one with the expression of life, at ease in a wholistic world of which humanity is a natural part, where instincts are not evil, where everything/everyone/every act is acceptable as a necessary unfolding of The Faceless One, Hecate, La Belle Dame Sans Merci - the Unfathomable Great Goddess, we gain the ability to materialise desire in the Here and Now.

“Not To See The Sun”: In the Shadow of The Chariot

Linda Falorio

There is power in the ability to take whatever one wants and needs without regret, to sustain life, energy, creativity, that one may do one's Work.

Characith, domain of boundless energy and creativity, personal magnetism, and eternal youth, is the shadow side of Atu VII, The Chariot. Here we find the secretive sign of Cancer, ruled by the inconstant Moon, the light in darkness. Here is the Crab of traditional astrology, whose symbol, while representing the crab's two claws also brings to mind female breasts, linking with the ultimate power of feminine attraction in her role as bearer and transmitter of the blood. Here we find the urge to the nurturance and protection of life that it may flourish. Here too are enclosed ideas of orality, and nutrition as it is involved with ingesting and digesting food, transforming it into our own substance to sustain life, as well as the savageness necessary to its appropriation. Concealed in the shadow, we also find that orality glyphed by the crab's claws when laid side by side.

The number of The Chariot is seven, which is also the number of Athene, Goddess of Culture and the Arts. Seven is the number of the Summer Solstice, which begins the seventh 28-day month counted from the Winter Solstice in the ancient 13-month lunar calendar, it is the month of Cancer, the Scarab, the Crab. The raised middle finger, ancient curse that yet vigorously survives into the present, is the symbol of Midsummer and of feminine sexual power. It is also related to death, for the sexual heat implied by the sun at zenith implies as well the waning power of the sun, the inevitable coming of the dark, when the lushness of midsummer vegetation must eventually come to die.

The image of the Chariot refers to an independence of thought and action which follows from the individual's development of conscious control over their mind, body, and emotions. Where A'Ano'Nin operates on the physical plane in the world of pure sensation, Characith, the shadow side of The Chariot operates on the astral level, manipulating the subtle life energy that underlies the physical form. The body is merely the vehicle of the satigfation of desire. It i9 a hedonistic pleasure-seeking organism whose activities in seeking the prolongation of animal life are mediated by the balanced complementary workings of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems which must be brought under conscious control of the will. Such control is achieved by bringing the contents of the unconscious to the surface of consciousness where they may be examined. The Charioteer thus confronts the Dweller of the Threshold who is found to be none other than the Ally. Unconscious internal divisions thus removed, the Chariot rolls easily to victory.

Pallas-Athene, male-in-female, female-in-male, is the Charioteer. As the archetypal embodiment of the light of the mind and the dawning of wisdom, she aptly conveys the meaning of this card's magical title, “The Child of the Powers of the Waters, the Lord of the Triumph of Light”. She is further identified with the Libyan Triple Goddess, Neith, and with Egyptian Nuit, Goddess of the Upper Heavens, by the sky-blue canopy studded with stars beneath which she rides. Her armor is of amber, much loved of Rhea, Goddess of Midsummer, whose ferocious heat causes trees to split and ooze this precious resin. Sphinxes white and black are held in rein to signify that she has united left brain/right brain, male and female, active and passive within herself, bringing all under conscious direction of the will. “Olulu, ololu” were the Libyan cries of triumph uttered in honour of her name.

The Chariot's direction is the West, direction of the setting sun, and of the Valley of the Dead Egyptians. It is the place of Amenta, the Underworld where the soul wandered after death. West too is where the Hesperides lay, that far-western orchard isle reserved to the ancient worship of the Goddess. Here where the moon ruled, the sun was shunned, and the dark feminine world of instinctual life was exalted. On this, Island of Innocence, there were no records kept, nor Time, reason was yet submerged in dark seas of instinct and emotion. The primal rhythms of the body, the hormonal secretions of the ductless glands which followed the timeless rhythms of the moon determined the face of existence in this land, where every day was as a thousand years, and each thousand years passed as but a single day. Here abode Hespere, Aegle, and Erytheis, the Hesperides, called Daughters of the Night, none other than the Triple Goddess in Her death aspect, and related by their common blood to the Erinnyes of Atu IV, the 15th Tunnel of Tzuflifu.

In the West lay also the legendary Isle of Avalon, Island of Appletrees, Land of Youth to which King Arthur's dead body is said to have been conveyed by Morgan le Faye. This island shrine surrounded by water too was connected with the Moon-goddess, and with death. So too did the Queen of Elfland, as did the enchantress Nimue, both types of the pre-Celtic Great Goddess, carry off the sacred king to their enchanted islands. Bringers of Death, they yet each granted immortality to the victims they seduced. Givers of Life, each could appear both old and young, as does the Moon in her monthly phases.

Characith, The Chariot, The Crab, has a deep connection with the feminine powers of generation and regeneration which mirror the Moon in its monthly phases. The release of the ovum is related to the Full Moon which symbolises the height of fertility, while menstruation is of the Dark of the Moon, a time of blighting and of death. The baleful "Moon-dew" used by Thessalian witches in their curses was comprised of a girl's first menstrual blood taken during the eclipse of the Moon.

The menstruating woman has been universally feared from ancient times unto the present. The frightful onset of bleeding when there was no wound was experienced with fear and awe, and believed to possess powerful magic. Its occurrence has been explained in many ways. According to Greek thought, the bleeding womb wept with sadness because it bore no developing child. Modern thought similarly misses the point in attempting to demystify the feminine power of generation and regeneration inherent in the time of bleeding. Its importance is summarily dismissed by defining menstruation as illness encapsulated in the noxious phrase “pre-menstrual syndrome”, thus invalidating as well the psychic insights manifest as extreme emotional states that are common at this time. Some Native American cultures, however, recognised this as a time of great power, and accorded much importance to the dreams that women had during their bleeding times.

This mysterious energy which might prove to be beneficent, or, could turn malfeasant, had to somehow be kept within bounds. “Not to touch the earth, not to see the sun” was the operating taboo that determined the practice of confining girls at the onset of menstruation to effectively insulate her feminine powers from contact with the world, particularly that world which pertained to men. For the young woman at puberty, such practices were apt to be extreme, making her literally a “Daughter of the Night”, for it was thought that at this critical time, no man might look upon her face and live. Specific practices are legion.

The nubile Moon Goddess, Danae, associated with the Summer Solstice, is said to have been confined by her father in a subterranean chamber where Zeus yet found her out, appearing as a shower of gold, and impregnated her. Zulu girls would cover their heads with a blanket so that the sun might not shine on it and shrivel her into a withered skeleton. In New Ireland, girls are confined in dark airless cages of pandanus-tree leaves which are raised about three feet from the ground, their feet never allowed to touch the earth, for 4 or 5 years. Among the Ot Danoms of Borneo, girls at about age 8 or 10 are shut up in a small room or cell in almost total darkness for a confinement that may last as long as seven years. When, upon attaining "womanhood" she i9 brought out, her complexion is pale and wax-like. She is treated as if newly born into the world, a great feast is made, a slave killed, and the girl smeared with his blood. In Brazil, girls were sewn up in their hammocks like corpses, and made to fast so that when they were brought down, they appeared skeletal. In Australia, some tribes go so far as to bury the girls in the earth to hide them from the sun. It was forbidden to allow the sun to shine upon her during her seclusion, but at night she was allowed to slip out. This state of seclusion was also discontinued during eclipses, when the girl would be allowed to go forth and pay her devotions to the monster who was thought to cause eclipses by catching the sun and moon between its teeth, and with whom she was thought to have some dark connection.

Such practice of secluding young women at menarche, and the many taboos associated with women in general during their bleeding times reflect the primal horror which strikes patriarchal consciousness when brought face to face with the power of the feminine to bring both life and death. Perhaps in this and the shadow. Perhaps even the popularity of wearing sun-glasses, whether it be summer or winter, day or night, among the secretive natives of this sign, signify that they, in recognising their inherent power, have been touched by the ancient taboo.

Such images of pale, skeletal wraiths who shun the sun, moving about only in darkness or by the light of the eclipsed moon are too reminiscent of the legendary vampire, whose dark powers are appropriately associated with the shadow, Characith. We are reminded of the vampire's connection with the moon, with blood, with fatal sexual attraction that is not genital, but rather is linked with a kind of erotic oral fixation. In Characith, the Vampire's fangs have transmogrified into dread vagina dentata. While the two red wounds inflicted by the vampire's abominable nightly habits remind us of "two suns of the upper and lower horizon", engendering nostalgia for a lost planet far beyond our world where there are two moons that grace the blackened sky. These are symbolic of the reddened moon, menstruation, the Moon of Blood, the Black Sun drinking the blood of the Goddess.

In Characith is concealed the mystery of the deep identity of male and female as complimentary energy systems. In the evidence of the identity of phallus with kteis, and of the corpora cavernosa / clitoris in the female with the prostatic glands / prostate in the male, lies the secret of distilling the elixir of ecstasy and magickal immorta 1 ity .

The Ophidian Serpent curls upon the sigil, extending forked tongue to a shimmering drop of the elixir of immortality that has been thus distilled. Yet vampires are created of those who linger here to drink, reminding us of the practices associated with blood, with the eclipsed moon and menstruation, and the physical result of the long confinement of women to the night, for they too easily becorne addicted to the pleasures of pursuance of their dark desires. Draining life to sustain their energy and life beyond its ordinary span, they acquire the power of bewitchment, casting strong enchantments to lure fresh victims to their astral touch. For the vampire's secret of eternal life lies in his power to appropriate the energy of others -- their very lifeblood -- as his own. The wheeling bat, vile creature reputed to live on human blood evokes repugnance, yet dark desire and delight; while leprous nocturnal hands hold back the veil, proffer the Cup, inviting us to drink.

As bearer of the Holy Graal, Characith is Gate of Life and Death, the portal through which all human souls are pulled into incarnation, and sustained in their growth by mastery of the life-force. Thus in Characith we find mastery and control, we find protectiveness, compassion and understanding, yet here is also found savageness, shrewdness, and tenacity in appropriating the life energy of others to one's own designs.

When we see Characith in a reading, or choose it as a meditation tool, no matter whether our gender happens to be male or female, we are reminded to honour that deep instinctual “feminine” part of us. For in honouring that part of us that is able to move beyond linear time and the constructs of reason that declare we are of such and such age and must tailor our behaviour accordingly, in honouring and validating that part of us with which we are able to taste and experience completely the ever-present moment of becoming, we are able to remain forever young.

To touch the feminine world of Characith is to be able to lose ourselves in a mindful ecgtasy in which we yet remain centred and in control of our total energy sphere, in control of the functioning of our nervous system, and in control of our hormonal balance guided by the primal pulsing of the moon which mediates our ba5ic instincts and emotions. To touch the world of Characith is to be able to take whatever life energy we need in whatever form is necessary to satisfy our desires as they emerge from the unconscious into consciousness, desires which are in fact a sentient expression of the deep self, and of the will.

Thus, whether we use the life energy in the form of eating the living flesh of animals to nourish physical life, or whether we need money or goods to carry out our work, or whether it is the sexually based orgonomic energy of others that we appropriate as our own, we are able to take what we need from the universe without guilt in order to ensure the survival of those things we cherish.

When we encounter abhorrence of this, the basic formula of our planet -- that life must feed upon life -- we know that we have found the other side of Characith. This may rnanifest in many ways, such as the experience of horror at alien life forms and their "noxious" feeding habits, an attitude which fuels the Sci-fi film industry. We see those who will eat anything as long as it has come shrink-wrapped from a supermarket shelf, yet are appalled to think upon the fact that their juicy steak was once a living animal, refusing to accept the facts of physical existence, denying both their own animal instincts and the true meaning of their behaviour, and dishonouring the animal that gave away to them its life.

Those who have touched the energies of Characith, acquire an intense sexual attractiveness that they may turn on as they choose in drawing others to them. Yet we see those who express displeasure at sea-tastes and smells, and at the tastes and smells of vital sexual fluids, indicating their repugnance toward and fear of the feminine element in nature, and in themselves.

It is when one is out of touch with the deep feminine that one may wantonly take other life, energy, and resources for one's own satisfaction. Then there is danger of experiencing physical exhaustion from too avid pursuit of pleasures, and danger of becoming drained at the tongues of vampireg more adept at appropriating energies than oneself. And in pursuit of energy and youth, we find those who stubbornly refuse to “give up the ghost”, to bow to the Inevitable and make way for fresh forms of life.

Yet the delights of Characith are great, for in touching the deep feminine, on the astral plane where they most easily manifest all one's desires are instantly met in a world of one's own creation. In Characith we find the path of the warrior who confronts his personal monsters and turns them into playmates, into Allies.

Mything Something?

Kali 64

It's not surprising that Joseph Campbell considers myth the only thing “worth writing about”. The dualities and polarities found in myths such as Theseus and Minotaur (Man vs Beast), and Tiresius the blind prophet (Male transformed into Female) can be metaphors for our biological structure and function, (from our basic bodily symmetry to the functions of the right and left brain) as well as a map ov our psyches, a psycocosm, when myth is applied to the astrological signs. Ultimately, the quests ov so many myths are akin to the goal of “all systems go” where both sides ov the brain are working in harmony for total success, where the main characters ov our personal myths come to some agreement or other end.

Whether one puts any stock in astrology to help foresee the future is not important right now. By examining each sign, one can find a myth that may relate to one's own personal journey, and increase one's awareness by looking at the pattern, the map. Aries~ myth relates to Kali and Robin Hood, promoting change and the adventure ov attaining goals. Taurus' myth of the Minotaur warns ov obsessions due to desires ov the beast. The mortal meets the divine in the myth ov Castor and Pollux, the Twins. (More duality) The list goes on. In dreams we may experience myth, facing fears in form ov a monster we must confront, or a journey we must complete.

By comparing Greek goddesses and our female psyches some insight about our personal myths and dualities can be gained. There are basically two types ov goddesses: autonomous, “virgin” (more on that x-tianized term later) - goddesses like Artemis, Athena and Hestia, and more vulnerable, relationship goddesses like Hera, Demeter and Persephone. If one identifies more with one type ov goddess as opposed to integrating two different goddesses into one psyche, one may actually be “victimised” by a goddess and the archetype may turn into a stereotype - Hera, an insanely jealous, paranoid and vengeful wife, or Artemis, “dikes on bikes” terrorism ov any male or non-following female. “Daddy's girl” is, ov course, Athena, Zeus' daughter. A dose ov Demeter, a mothering goddess, is a good balancing role for Athena, to get out ov the eternal child role. An awareness ov these goddesses and their myths can aid in one's personal mythological journey and inner balance.

Does TOPY have “it's” own myth? If one considerg the goal ov becoming self-nurturing and intact as something to be sought while sigilising through TOPY, then the myth ov the Virgin Goddess is appropriate. The original meaning ov the Latin word Virgo did NOT mean celibate. The pre-x-tian word meant intact, self contained. The Virgin Goddess Artemis was as nurturing as could be imagined, with her fifty breasts, yet also quite self-possessed. The Alchemist is also fitting, taking the crude aether and giving it shape, turning it to gold, through will. If one's goal is to share through networking, then Piscean myth of following the melusine to the depths and returning alive with greater knowledge to share, is also a helpful myth.

Notes of a Professional Babalon

Raven Greywalker

The art of sacred prostitution is not dead, though its forms and customs have changed.

The gates of its temples are known to businessmen and construction workers alike and stand by quiet suburban houses as well as ghetto street corners.

The initiations that wait within for some, are as sudden and shaking as a whip crack or as subtle and lingering as faded perfume.

SHe waits, who is Whore, Teacher, Lover, Confessor, Father, Psychologist, Wife, Physical Therapist, Friend, Brother, and Witch. SHe waits in a place not far from where you are and if you seek hir along the darkened passageways of the unconscious, SHe waits also within.

Law and social pressure have censured hir for many reasons, perhaps the deepest being that SHe is Choronzon's mate. Hir sexual potency is the creative and destructive urge of Chaos. To be touched by hir is to enter Da'ath, to know that you Are/Not, and to be changed.

SHe is WoMan girt with a sword and destroys the hive structure of society, so that we may be born as individuals and gods. The distractions of workaholism, consummerism, and duty to hive bleed off sexual energy and tie you into a game that hinders personal evolution. You begin to live for your work, your things and your children, not yourself.

You have been told that the spiritual and the physical are separate. Your body is that of Babalon, and no part of you is but of hir. Decry this division of self from self. The body is the soul. Sex is god.

Those who put their trust only in the rational and its ability to analyse and divide with categories and words, those who fear chaos, the unconscious and irrational power that is the root of integration, those who envy the Tao (archtypically feminine) sexuality of Being, and those who would prohibit the oldest means of women's' economic and 5ocial independence so that she remain weak, will continue to argue on the side of law and “morality”.

They will talk about the breakdown of the nuclear family structure (which history implies was never that strong or productive for individual evolution to begin with).

They will talk about pornography and crime (between which there is no proven link).

They will talk about the degradation of women (while degrading them by not respecting their rights to choose for themselves their sexual, artistic, and career choices).

They will talk about disease. Dis-ease is a thing that often comes from within. A child once hurt may become an adult afraid of touch and intimacy, out of touch with hir emotions and body, and feeling unworthy of pleasure. The physical manifestations of repressed emotion (stress that weakens the immune system) are many and their solution is not fear.

One of the solutions may be an above ground tantric priestcraft functioning in the world, that does not have to hide what it is and can operate without fear of authorities on the part of both seekers and clergy.

True healing comes not just through the mind, but through the body as well. In fact change can be effected more quickly working from the chemical level.

A sacred prostitute knows how to prod evolution, through psychodrama (taking on the godform of the seekers anima/animus to facilitate integration, re-enactment of a critical event or idea in the seekers evolution that needs adjustment, using role playing to create a time, space, situational boundary within which the seeker has permission to expose parts of hirself not normally exposed, so that, eventually the seeker feels safe being inimate with others in the outside world as She is, without shame).

SHe algo instructs from the physical level. The kalas of many mixed in hir womb are a strong potion for breaking down body armor so that new ways of feeling and thinking can emerge, they are also a way for all who come to hir to connect sexually/emotionally/energetically with each other through hir, and they are seed for hir own magickal children and evolution.

The strength of this potion requires that the vessel (prostitute) holding it be balanced within hirself or it may not flow freely among herself and others. If any part remains too long in the cup without being used properly there is a danger of poison (dis-ease), not just to hirself, but also to those unbalanced enough to be drawn to a poison cup.

Especially in the case of a biologically female prostitute, the connection with yang energies is important, and she should have skill and comfort with using them!

While the prostitute remains in dynamic balance with hirself and others, SHe is a connection point, a mirror for divinity to view itself, touch hir and you touch the dancing multiverse.

Because of this power is SHe reviled, and the term whore made derogatory. For those who fear union SHe is seen as a succubus draining strength, and indeed those who will not drink of hir, will be weakened. Starving people amidst the Feast!

But for others SHe is nurture, love, the source of vitality. Wordless SHe takes the message of the Great Work to all-proclaiming through touch that every One is a star.

By hir example SHe teaches openness, through hir those who fear touch can touch many and learn tG love and rejoice in their strength. SHe stands now outside our society as a link between it and those who have left it in search of the Unknown, and she gives light on that journey into the abyss.

Death Control Pills

Kali 64

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

- Shelley

As a myth, the Hindu goddess, Kali, consort ov Shiva, is not only part of our personal psyches but a metaphor for our biological world. Kali, the black, helps Shiva, creator/destroyer, do the dance that speeds the cycles ov birth and death by spreading disease and devouring men and animals. Each day we “die” and are “born” once more: on a cellular level we slough of the old and grow the new; the sex act can be considered a short life and death in itself; our culture's diseases and wars reflect the effects ov Kali. In India, she is worshipped. Death is allowed to take it's natural course. Kali, helpful to those she loves, yet also baleful and terrible as is reflected in the streets ov India - while sacred cows roam freely and are fed as well as possible, some low caste humans are too weak to feed themselves or plagued by disease, might eventually get their corpses sorted out by the body wagon in the morning. Many American'ts are horrified by this “imbalance” in India's culture. But how duz American't culture reguard and deal with the re-allity ov Kali?

How imbalanced and horrifying are we, in our own way?

A terminally ill patient is hooked up INDEFINITELY to a “life-support” system; another clinically dead person (whole body or head only) is in cold storage (kryonic suspension) indefinitely, until MEBBE a cure is found. Does the family mourn INDEFINITELY, with no ceremony, no ritual to mark the point, and continue living their own lives?

To avoid a messy conventional war, we beef up our “peace miss-iles” to simulate peace while keeping a world on edge. Some extremists believe a blood bath is in order, Kali needs to menstruate, she has been on her "death control" pills for too long now. Whether that is an answer or not, some change must take place. How long can we try to stymie the cycle of Kali by artificial means, with weakening fences and chains? More questions than answers, the roots lie buried beneath the snow at this point. Can winter last forever?

Kiss The Sky

On Channeling Babalon

Linda Falorio

“The Brothers of A:. A:. are Women” - Aleister Crowley, The Book of Lies.

A NOTE ON GENDER AND SEXUALITY. Though the terms Scarlet Woman and Babalon have traditionally referred to currents channeled exclusively by biological females, I find no compelling reason that this should be so, and believe that in our current state of psychological and spiritual evolution, our only limitations in what energies we are able to experience, explore and embody, are our own imaginations. Therefore, I have attempted to express the following ideas in gender-neutral terms. Where I have failed in this reflects only the limitations of my own imagination, and not the limitations of the human soul as it seeks itself. I hope that all readers, regardless of gender, will find here inspiration for their own creative paths.

THE PATH.

To walk the path of BABALON is to seek to allow oneself to experience existence as pure sensation, suspending value judgments of pleasure-pain, good-bad, attractive-repulsive by which we commonly limit and define our everyday human experience. To walk the path of BABALON is to seek to allow oneself to totally yield to sensations of pleasure and desire in encounterlng all facets of existence, without fear of dissolution of the "1". To walk the

path of BABALON is to allow oneself the freedom of initiating passion, within others, within oneself.

Among the five faces of the goddess -- Maiden-Nymph-Mother-Warrior-Crone -- Babalon is Warrior. Babalon is that individual of power who is open and aware and in touch with hir magickal sexuality, yet is defined by no other individual, only by hir own Will to experience existence. S/he is that individual able to stand-in for the goddess in channelling the total unconditional love of the universe for all things in creation -- regardless of perceived beauty or ugliness, attractiveness or repugnance, gender, or age, or personal emotional reaCtions. Secure in hir self and in hir magickal power, one who walks the path of BABALON is free to be totally yielding to desire -- the desires of others as well as hir own, yet retaining hir personal integrity, independence, and power.

Able to open hir heightened sensitivities to an awareness of existence as pure sensation, Babalon is the tantric adept, with all the powers that this implies. Babalon functions as skryer, as psychic medium, and oracular voice, in the voicing of hir own dreamings of reality, and not those of another. As Warrior, one who walks the path of Babalon actively works for the positive transformation of culture and society, in a role of leadership, and through the application of courage, will, creativity, love, and above all, the Feminine Voice.

TECHNIQUES FOR ENCOUNTERING THE OTHER, TECHNIQUES FOR ENCOUNTERING THE SELF.

a) "Take what they give." In each encounter in your daily life, take whatever the other gives you. If they are angry, accept that. If they are sad, let that pass into your consciousness. If they are sexually attracted to you, let that into your energy field as well. No matter what your personal reaction might normally be, whether fear attraction, boredom, repulsion, accept the individual before you without judgement. Absorb their energies into yourself through touching them lightly on the shoulder, take their hand in yours, let essence flow from their eyes into yours. Radiate back to them both love and acceptance. Realize that this has nothing to do with your "personal" reactions, but is the channeling of Babalon as s/he touches the human sphere.

b) As an extension of the above, imagine having sex with everyone you encounter, whether attractive or not, whether old or young, regardless of gender, and traditional sexual taboos. Continue this practice until you are able to imagine such encounters without excitement, repulsion, guilt, shame, or fear. All such emotions having lost their power over you, you will have developed kindness and tolerance for others~ differences, for we love that best which is most like ourselves.

c) Dissolve ego-boundaries via the moment of ~the kiss". In that ineffable moment, the boundaries between oneself and the other blur. Prolong this moment until you feel an eneroy and awareness other than "yourself" move through you. Kiss a plant. Kiss an inanimate object, such as a stone, a car, a pencil, your athame. Kiss an animal. Kiss another human being. In so doing, you will for that moment of the kiss, merge your interior essences and learn something of the being of the other. Be warned that the other in turn will have taken away a part of you as well.

d) The mirror: trade places. Using your imagination, stare into the eyes of another person until you have ~become" that person, looking back at yourself who has thus become "the other". This can be very intense, even unsettling for both parties. When successful there is a flash of union with the other that is a flow of pure universal love, a reaching out and identitication with them, as all love is union with that which we desire, that which we would absorb into ourselves.

For the adventurous: try this with someone you don't like, or someone with whom you are angry.

e) Mirror, mirror. Gaze at your reflection in a mirror until it is no longer familiar to you, until the face has become that of the other gazing back. Radiate kindness to that other in the mirror, give it your acceptance, let your love flow out to it and then return as it is again reflected back to you.

f) "Magickal Monogamy". When we seek the muse of inspiration via union with the other, we encounter this difficulty: the muse lies within us, not the other. No individual can therefore give us what we do not already possess within ourselves. Thouqh, we may find in that first thrill of a new lover the spark which ignites the elusive inspiration which we seek - at least temporarily. Yet, if one persists in tantric practice with one given individual, there is a deepening of power as masks are shed. Rather than becoming familiar and boring, there is a point at which the lover becomes totally mysterious, totally OTHER -- and thus a transcendent channel of creative magickal force.

KISS THE SK~l/Falorio 2

ORGASM MAGICKS.

Orgasm is energy. Voluntary rhythmic movements of body and breath build energy patterns, inducing deep primal responses in body and psyche. At the moment of orgasm the sense of personal ~lu enlarges its boundaries, merging with the life stream of the universe, the mind and body aglow with a thousand pin-pricks of dancing energy and light. Orgasm creates a gate into other dimensions. Where the ordinary person merely looses consciousness of self, falling happily asleep, the tantric adept rides the stream of orgasmic discharge into astral worlds, where s/he accesses creative realities where the power to will a thing is enough to make it so.

a) Breathing Orgasm.

In your temple or shrine room, establish a breathing rhythm. Visualize the life force around you as brilliant dancing points of light. Breathe this light into your body; allow yourself to experience the surrounding ocean of vibratlng energy in which we constantly swim, and from which we derive our being. As the breathing rhythm becomes established, you will move deeper and deeper into a meditative state; your consciousness will calm, becoming lucid

and.clear. Experiment with each of the following practices until there arise distinct physical sensations, which lndlcate success:

>Imagine that you are breathing in and out, not through your nose or mouth, but through the bones of your legs; breathe through the bones of your arms.

>Breathe through the top of your skull, continuing until your mind expands, opening to the universe.

>Breathe through the pores of your skin, until your body feels cleansed, entirely alive and open to sensation.

>Breathe energy up from the base of your spine to the top of your skull. Breathe energy back down from your head to the base of your spine, your body becoming charged with energy and light as you breathe the energy current up and down your spine.

>Breathe energy up and out through the top of your head, then down and around your body, appearing as the brilliant blue of your protective aura, growing into the bright blue of the circle that encloses you within your sacred space, a circle that becomes brighter, more vital with each breath.

>Breathe through the seven vital centers of the chakras each in turn, awakening them to vibrate with living light.

d) Body Orgasm: Tree of Night Tantric Exercise. In communion with the Angel of your Higher Self, bring yourself to orgasm, without anxiety, without guilt. Record your visions.

>Orgasm through the base of the spine -- Malkuth. Here we experienCe the power of tantric energy exchange; the power of distilling the transforming elixir as the semiochemicals of the sexual kalas pour forth from the body, and the Silver Rain of Nuit drops down from the stars.

>Orgasm through the center below the navel -- The Knot of Brahma. Here we connect with personal power, experiencing the Ch'i as tentacles of light, radiating, reaching out to objects of attention and desire. We are able to "see" ourselves and other humans as qlowing luminous eggs, interconnected nodes of light, vortices of sentience that pulse with the rhythm of ~ife.

>Orgasm through the navel -- Yesod. Here we experience the power of fascination and enchantment, of imagination kindled by desire; the power to create illusions, to create our own universe -- be it heaven, or, be it hell. Here we experience the "juiciness" of life, its richness, and the sensuousness inherent in all that flows: emotions, rivers, blood.

>Orgasm through the diaphragm -- Veil of Paroketh/lnot of Vishnu. Here we find the power of speech in silence; the power of invisibility; the power of the shroud. Here we find the ability to enter outre dimensions via the cosmological black hole of interstellar space, which is matter collapsed upon itself by the power of internal attraction.

>Orgasm through the compassionate heart -- Tiphareth/The Crossroads. Here we find power of invisibility, the power of entering another's body, heart, and mind. Here we experience the reality of Self as nothing more than an Ego-less Void.

>Orgasm through the throat area -- Knot of Shiva/Daath/Entrance to "Universe B" and the Tunnels of Set. Here we experience the power of the shaman, of shape-shifting, the power of conscious transmutation of the primal cell. Here we touch and experience the combined male-female / temale-male existent as nascent possibility within our own body of light. Here too we realize past-present-future as existent in the Now.

>Orgasm through the third eye -- twin-petalled Binah / Chokmah at the center of the brow. Here we experience power to enter the Dream Time; to leave the body at will. Here is power to externalize, objectify, and universalize our internal, subjective, highly personal conception of reality. Here too is power to utter the "birth words" of Master of the Temple.

>Orgasm through the crown of the head -- Kether/thousand-petalled Sahasrara Chakra -- raising kundalini up the spine, allowing consciousness to pour out through the top of the skull into the exploding universe, the everexpanding shower of stars. Here we experience the light and energy of the Stars above as source of inspiration and spiritual sustenance, the seeding of our race; and access the power of trans-dimensional, interstellar time-travel.

>Orgasm through every bodily pore. Here we experience the interconnecting points of singing light that cover the living flesh, feel the vibrating nadis of the subtle body, tiny pricklings of light that are the blessings of the kalas of the stars as they rain down from transplutonian dimensions. Here we experience the universe alive with whirling, pulsing many-colored stars. Here we find the power of calling the Great Old Ones, timeless travelers, the gods who are ever-returning, spiralling from past and future into an eternally unfolding now.

TANTRA OF EARTH AND SKY. ~ith arms upraised, breathe in sun, moon, and stars. Reaching up to them, let their energy flow through you. Experience their benediction as a Drolonqed kiss.

Placing hands upon the earth ~if inaoors, the floor, yet visualizing earth), send streaming orgasmic energy into the all-accepting body of the earth. Experience the blessing of Hir all-embracing love as a profound opening of the heart into stillness, silence, peace.

Confrontation with the shadow

As there is no light without shadow, so we are compelled to recognise that there is a hidden dark element to our human natures which refuses to be evaded. Our world of today is suffering from an all pervasive schism wherein we find ourselves increasingly alienated and disconnected from our primal roots in mother Earth. As a consequence of the exaggerated emphasis of the dogmatic Christian and post Cartesian ethic upon goodness, purity, and generally the day time realm of sensible activities and rational mind structures, to the exclusion of its opposite poles- there has arisen a profound need to counterbalance this rigidly divided universe. Thus many contemporary witches and magicians are determined to explore the nocturnal, irrational, dream-Time consciousness in order to integrate those other essential facets of their being. They attempt to reach such states through the practice of ceremonial rites, and in their magick circle to enter the door to another dimension, that which is mysteriously interwoven with the ordinary reality. Shamanic traditions refer to similar procedures, also for the Celts there was no separation with this invisible 'otherworld', where all things were connected by the universal laws of correspondence. What is particularly indicative of this 'darkness' in the popular mythology is the 'superstitious' fear of the so-called 'Devil'. Nowadays most of the more enlightened witches are aware that this is none other than the horned god of fertility, known by various names- Cernunnos, Pan, Dionysus of the old pagan religions. That notorious image which the Christians (of the established church) have conveniently invented in order to project upon it all that is considered 'evil' and contrary to the will of 'God'. This fallen part of the divinity has also been designated as Lucifer, that rebel angel who is actually the light bringer. Bearing a special affinity with the planet Venus, (s)he it is whose sacred mission is to bring the glory of the stars into the hearts of Wo-men. Occult teachers Rudolf Steiner and Edouard Shure have spoken about the necessary reconciliation of these two cosmic principles- Christ and Lucifer, to maintain one without the other leads to a dangerous imbalance. Our souls task is to combine both of these energies if we are to develop to the essence of wisdom and understanding. An especially relevant function of this Luciferic intelligence is to shatter constricting taboos and to challenge our stagnant customs beyond their prescribed limits. In true iconoclastic style, to encourage an expression of all those bodily instincts which are usually condemned and incarcerated in the guilt and shame syndrome of social convention. In ancient Greece this deep truth was clearly grasped, that society must provide a safety valve, an officially sanctioned outlet whereby all those impulses which are denied can be diverted into more liberating channels. An admirably healthy arrangement which should be introduced once again in the new age, if the seeds are now sown at a propitious moment! So this 'devil' declares and it harms none, do what thou wilt. Seduced by that wise serpent to taste the forbidden fruit and commit the ultimate sin of lust, we thereby attain to the revelation of love and knowledge. Who is the dreaded beast which terrifies us in our wildest fantasies, what dire monster lurks behind the mask of civilised politeness and timid hypocritical pretensions? It is none other than our secret shadow

selves which have been for centuries stifled and enchained but have nonetheless not lost their fascinating power to haunt the imaginations of Wo-men. Whether we choose to acknowledge its presence or not our dark shadow self continues to exert its wild influence, causing chaos and panick- the pipes of Pan. Its suppression has produced an interminable amount of destructive behaviour, which can be witnessed by the collective outbreaks of insanity manifesting in the shape of cruel wars and oppression throughout the annals of recorded history. Human beings have always required a scapegoat upon which to unleash their accumulated negativity, fear, envy etc. - a stigmatised 'alien' who is responsible for all the abominable trouble in the world- Jews, Blacks, Communists. And most typical of all scapegoats, the lord Satan himself, who is the personification of those divine natural appetites residing in the heart of each and every one of us. In this context one could refer to numerous corroborative examples from the literature of psychology and esotericism, i.e. the works of Carl Jung, Starhawk and ursula Leguin, which have also investigated this curious phenomenon in various guises.

Thus our shadow self should not be regarded as an enemy, we must consciously work with it and strive to integrate those potentially harmful forces into a more harmoniously balanced perspective. To confront that intangible fear and thereby to transform it, by a miraculous alchemical process into the radiant gold of our deepest selves.

This is indeed the work of love, to heal the split- to discover that real beauty we must accept and embrace the beast within us.

RUBY TUESDAY

Grabbing, Transforming & Using of Undirected Energies

Not every energy is used, much is spilled and stays unused. If one is aware of this one can 'collect' these energies, transform them, store them up in your own battery and use them for directed purposes. New Year's Eve is a date when we can collect much of this. Think how many people share wishes 'automatically', 'meaninglessly~ and it is possible to grab a large amount at once. Take care with this and see to it that you can transform it all, so that you don~t experience any frightening side effects. The source of undirected energies is not limited to certain events. There is a way for female witches to collect a portion every day, by taking undirected energies that males on a certain level spit out, though it is not as simple as it sounds. You need to lay a filter on every level, and keep a strong will, to not become influenced or be led astray from your original intention. As a woman, being a vault, an enormous cup, you can store a lot. If you have a dedicated priest, you can share the neutralised force and direct it. Always stay alert. There are various little dangers and traps when working out these practises. of course these are not the only ways, the ways are countless, you ~ust have to be smart enough to notice them. Also negative emotions from others can be a source of energy, if you can stay unaffected and 'neutralise or filter' the violent flow. Other simple sources of energy are: some kind of music (bestowed with life), trees (beautiful lovers), ritualised food (spiced with thoughts), other-level creatures of your own tribe (no material earthlings like us). In fact, the first and most necessary rule to be practised throughout (certainly when engaging in practises with others who serve merely as a tool), is follow and be aware of your thoughts, not only during a ritual, but also in everyday life. This is an enormous task, seemingly impossible, because we don't always know what we are thinking, and this undirected flow of energy is a main obstacle in the accomplishing of the Great Work. If anyone has questions about the nature of taking up undirected or unconscious energy from others: you can help them avoid creating obstacles for themselves by taking the energy away, and help yourself - if you can neutralise it - by using it for the Great Work

Serve and eat pretty thoughts on your dishes,

K.E.E.M. NilfHIMR, A.Z.T.

The Red Mistress

The Menstrual Period is the most powerful time for ritual. There is much chance for 'clear dreaming', even for those surrounding the menstruating woman. The second day the blood is normally already clear red, this is the time for the menstrual ritual, with or without a partner.

When you are going to do the menstrual partner ritual, see that both parties are ready for it.Even when the outer taboo is taken away, there is a chance that by the act itself some inner thing may still restrain you from making the ritual through till the end. You need a room or temple, darkened, lit only by black and/or red candles, preferably a red carpet, primitive drummusic, womb-like. The woman remains totally passive in the beginning, deathlike, unemotional, awaiting. The male priest has to perform full adoration, his behaviour or thoughtspatterns will influence the female. The male gives honour to this face of womanhood, and when the transformation of the woman into her other self takes place she will feel something very old, her animal self, and her passivity will transform in active acting, self-confident, the priestess in woman. All the force has to be gathered. The Red Mistress weaves the male offer-energy in Her web, shapes it, and gives life to the Magickal Child, or the uniting ov divided parts ov one Higher Self, or whatever aim you wish to use it for. When sperm, juice and blood are mixed together in the womb or chalice, each one takes a bit and devours it. The course ov the ritual determines the force ov the potion, and its results.

It will be clear this ritual cannot be successfully performed unless the partners possess a certain level ov being, and have a degree ov 'unification', or are closely connected in some other way. Also it is an advantage when the woman has already experienced manhood. How this is achieved I cannot tell you in exact words. The experience is that one sees the male genitals as self-existing, a universe (genitals) on a universe (man), which possesses its own thinking. There is a kind ov wordless communication between woman and penis which is felt by the man watching it, as an outsider. The art then is to separate yourself from your own female genitals and give them a life ov their own, whereafter you let both sexes meet without interference ov the persons themselves. The result is a deeper understanding ov the opposite sex, a healing ov the opposites within yourself.

Rituals during this period ov woman are not unusual. A woman is then most sexual active, though this is most ov the time unconscious or repressed. (The main factor is, I think, the fear ov being disgusted, treated as something dirty. We are being made to believe we are dirty and unclean at that moment, but in reality this is unnatural for us). The odour ov a menstruating woman works as an attraction to the male sex, it is still used by very clever courtesans, though there are very few in number left. Mark how you behave when you are in your new moon, enclose it in your diary. The more you open yourself for this power and let it be, the more you will recognise her possibilities, make rituals around it with your own natural calendar and inner moons. Once one has experienced

its power, has become one with it, one will look forwards to its coming, and enjoy and love this process. You will become aware that each time at this period you possess a bulk ov innergy (energy) that can be shot off to whatever target aimed at. The power is the same as the one created by a group ritual.

Also, many woman are being sterilised nowadays. I have noticed some people in the magickal world are not always sure if this is advisable. But it really changes nothing of the effect or power ov our magickal abilities, it is all a matter ov thinking-patterns. The egg, that never arrives in the uterus, falls in the abdominal cavity and is being digested. This is purely selfmanuring. The forces are preserved instead ov being thrust out. One only has to assimilate it, and this is for some the main problem, I think.

K . E . E . M

Nilfhimr, Anti Zombi Tribe

KALI IN HINDUISM Kali is a devouring, destructive Goddess.

In accordance with the Indian predilection for bringing together seemingly contradictory aspects ov life, Kali is thee fierce, terrifying aspect or "Devil", (who in other forms is represented as tranquil and pacific).

In Indian Art Kali is depicted as a hideous, black faced hag, smeared with blood. She has a protruding blood stained tongue and sharp, bared teeth. Her four hands hold, variously, a sword, a shield, a severed head or a giant and strangling noose. She is naked, except for her ornaments, these consist ov a garland ov skulls and a girdle ov severed hands. In painting and sculptures she is often shown dancing on thee inert body of her consort, (Siva).

Kali is said to have developed her taste for blood when she was called upon to kill the demon "RAKTAVIJA". For each time a drop ov his blood fell to earth, one thousand more like himself were produced. In order to vanquish him, she pierced him with a spear and holding him high, drank his blood before it reached the ground.

Daily at her temples, such as thee "KALIGHAT" in Calcutta, Goats are sacrificed to her to ease her thirst for blood.

Thee "Thuggee Cultists", who operated in India until the nineteenth century, were worshippers ov Kali. They carried out Ritual Stranglings and offered their victims to her.

Kali is often associated with thee Goddess "Durga", who is also a fierce aspect or Devil.

However Kali is a duel deity, who's benign and joyful aspects become apparent when the reality ov death is faced and overcome. She then reveals herself as eternal peace, when depicted in this state her four arms are out-stretched in a gesture ov reassurance.

Kali 47

Non-Work

The short yet full lie-ves ov ancient Egyptians makes one more aware ov the time wasted each day in a society where our lie-ves are prolonged by modern medicine. Pop culture heroes such as James Dean find a place in our hearts because they are a modern-day reminder ov how little time we may have. Late German artist Eva Hess became a sort ov "pop hero" upon her "premature" death after a productive life and early sucksess. Some ov her thoughts about her work serve as inspiralation for NOW in one's search for NOW:

"I would like the work to be non-work. This means that it would find it's way beyond my preconceptions. What I want of my art I can eventually find. The work must go beyond this. It is my main concern to go beyond what I know and what I can know. The formal principles are understandable and understood. It is the unknown quantity from which and where I want to go. As a thing, an object, it acceeds to it's non-logical self. It is something, it is nothing".- Eva Hess

Everything we pick up in the course ov a day can help us in our non-work, can help us go beyond what we know and what we can know. When we begin to make something it doesn't always turn out as we had intended it to, but it usually reveals something to us in that accident, something that we need to know. In our non-work we can create beyond our preconceptions, as well as solve everyday puzzles and problems NOW. Everything we touch is fertile food for thought, especially when we are aware ov it and strive to make more out ov each day.

Kali 64

Female Sexuality

"A woman has not made the separation between love and sexuality which a man has made".

Fact? Myth? Or just another generalisation? Is woman's sexuality different from that of a man's?

"A woman needs to love the man she gives herself to or be loved by him".

Another generalisation? I am sure that love would heighten a sexual experience for both the man and the woman, but I am also sure that a woman's sexuality is fundamentally different. To what extent are we aware of these differences, and how are they experiences and how are they expressed in our own relationships?

If we take erotic writing, for example, often it is explicit to the point of being clinical. Sexual games are often expressed in the form of the hunt, the pursuit and the conquest. Does this excite a woman's sexuality? Women often express themselves in a more sensitive and sensual way than men, and maybe their physical anatomy reflects this. Women are sensitive to caress. Their erogenous zones are spread all over their bodies. A women's sensuality is rarely as direct, or as immediate as a man's. Perhaps a woman's sexuality is better expressed in oriental tales of love games. Women need to use their charm and persuasion to create the atmosphere of eroticism that they dream of. The woman as the seducer!

Women need not only express what they don't like, but more importantly, what they do like! We have to discover what moves, stirs and arouses us and also how to reach it. We want to attain maximum pleasure. We have to first look again at ourselves and our potential for sensual delights. Our bodies have more than one or two apertures for penetration, for each curve and line can give pleasurable sensations. Only when we know ourselves, can we express our desires.

We have to dispense with any competitive urge or guilt before we can begin to discover ourselves. From then onwards, our discovery of sexuality is full of surprises and new expression. The experience of love and desire can mingle and fuse with our dreams and fantasies, to reach it's highest potential.

Erotic fantasy is certainly a tool to excite the imagination. Fantasy stimulates the emotions and lifts sentiments beyond the mundane. It is a vehicle for liberation. Sexual roles are directly linked to the emotions and sentiments. Within every one of us, there is the potential to play out every kind of role that exists, and so to live out every aspect of human emotion. We all tend to think of ourselves in the light of a certain character and so tend to exaggerate particular roles to the exclusion of others. We are nursing the potential of a multi-faceted personality.

Of course there are as many different types of women, as there are

women themselves. Each can live out their fantasy; to be a virgin, whore, or priestess - ultimately each will become a goddess, through worship of their selves.

Only when your emotions are experienced, purified and consciously controlled can you engage in sex magick without fear or guilt. So through living out various roles and fantasies, we resolve the conflicting dualities within ourselves, confront our fears and weaknesses and, above all, develop the capacity for creative innovation.

Kali 8

Thee Evolution of the spirit and thee physical

Thee issue will be modeled after thee natural archetypes of thee life cycle.

A. Birth 1. innocence and emergence.

a. childrens ideas on Magick b. before good and evil, when and how do we begin to learn thee polarities that colour our lifelong judgement. 2. Birth ov ideas, most great ideas are a result ov a

conceptual leap. What factors(mother and father) cause this to happen. 3. Re-birthing experience.

a. floatation tank b. Ietting go ov past experience to allow new ideas, feelings, control, etc. to emerge. 4. The Birth ov humanity out ov the cosmic stew, aka

Genesis Porridge....ln the beginning was the word... and this was thee Mother ov thee idea which was thee Father ov creation (creative thought, the ability to do magick and thee other little neccessities ov life.) 5. Midwifery

a. The art and practice ov... b. Interview with... Midwife's probably put more thought into thee spiritual aspects ov birth than any other profession. B. The Maiden

1. Early magickal discoveries, pre pubescent vision.

2. Imagination, The maiden probably has a more intuitive

grasp upon using archetypes to her advantage than another other group. One only has to watch a young girl dress up in her mother's clothes and have tea parties or play with her baby dolls to see that. This is equivalent to manifesting a god or goddess in a ritual, she is trying to effect thee same result. Through her play she is beginning to grasp what is meant by motherhood, she intuotively invokes the gnosis ov motherhood. 3. Menstruation

a. The sacrifice ov innocence for Womanhood. b. Menstruation and power rituals, for partners.

1. This could be menstration from a male perspective. How does it affect thee male partner?

2. Have there ever been any rites created (modern) where a men emulates thee blooding?

3. Rituals using Womans menstrual blood.

4. Birth Control a. Using thee dreamachine as a method ov birth control,

article already written by Kali 60. b. Thee moon's use as birth control. When i read thee article by Kali 60 i wondered how this worked. i think it has soumting to do with the effect ov light on a womans cycle. For example thee more time spend outdoors thee more likely it will be for her to get her menses on thee full moon. c. How Thee use ov different methods ov birth control effect Magick.

C. The Mother

1 .healing

a. Witches and healers; Women who heal are called Witches and Men who heal are called doctors. What about male witches that heal. What about Women who are doctors? b. Men should not have anything to do with thee birthing process, this is a woman's mystery and only trained midwifes or Female doctors should practice this branch ov medicine. (controversial, but many people who pratice holistic medicine feel strongly about this issue.)

c. intuitive healing d. Earth not represented as thee benvolent mother Goddess but as humanities nemesis. Her will to survive pitted against our will to survive. 2. wisdom

a. Community awareness

b. Learning about oneself through ritual; once again

thee "Mother" giving birth to her ideas/children, as they

grow and develop so does thee "Mother".

3. Sexuality

a. Tantra b. Sexual alchemy D. The Hag/Crone. ( E think this section also should contain

variations ov thee feminine experience, especially Woman as Warrior.)

1. Discovering true inner power. a. Artifice is an important device for thee young. Once thee tools ov artifice are no longer available then one begins to develope true power. b. Duality is more apparent once thee physical traits ov individual sexuality are gone. 2. Rites ov mock death (petite mort) 3. Feminine Magick without thee goddess. 4. Giger's Mother Alien as thee ultimate Kali figure. 5. The creation ov Goddess' out ov contemporary heroines

(No, not neccessarily Madonna).

6. Three stage ritual and thee Hag

7. Marriage ov thee Hermit and thee crone. (more tantric

alchemy.)

E. Conclusion