Do Not Read The Next Sign!

I wonder if this has ever happened to anyone else.  You’re told – and it actually makes a lot of sense – that your thoughts are the creative force behind the world you live in.  Everyone pretty much believes that anyway, or you wouldn’t be bombarded with, “You have to think positively!” every time you turn around, to the point where you fight the urge to slap people.  So, okay, for the sake of this argument,  let’s say you believe it.  And you start becoming your own thought police.

The problem is:  there are some of us – and by “some of us”, I mean me – who have a contrary personality.  The minute you tell us we CAN’T do something, we immediately want to prove you wrong and begin plotting ways to do exactly what you’ve ordered us not to do.  The minute I read, “Do not read the next sign!” – you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to read it.  And of course immediately regret it, because it’s usually a stupid advertising ploy describing in gory detail the cruelty of your current brand of toilet paper on your sensitive ... whatever.  Point is, while I’ll deeply regret reading the second sign, I can’t seem to stop myself from reading it.  I’m annoyingly contrary (or gullible)  like that.

There are other reactions to a sign like that;  the people who already know it’s an advertising ploy and don’t give a crap about the second message, and those so beaten down that obedience is second nature.  The women who read the first sign and say, “Yes sir, I won’t read it!” – and don’t – are usually the republican women who hold obedience up as a beacon forestalling the encroaching gloom of their inevitable decline, and are also the women who fervently adore domestic discipline (and what’s even funnier:  they also  truly believe the husband is the embodiment of Jesus in their household, so in effect these nutballs are actually begging “Jesus” to spank them hard for being naughty, naughty little girls.  I’m not a biblical scholar or anything, but ... WTF?)

I digress.

So I have become my own thought police.  I discovered that I could go for years without being buried under horrifying thoughts, but as soon as I accept that my thoughts can materialize, I immediately have a hell of a time controlling them.  Would love to know how anyone else has surmounted the problem.

Synchronicity:  one of these days, I will try to describe my initiation ... it was one of those things very difficult to put into words that are sufficient enough to communicate the internal experience.

However, I will relate one very small portion of it – this was the instructions given to me by the two deities who initiated me.  Lots of things I need to do this year (working on disciplining my thought processes being one of them) – another was beginning to learn the art of invocation; it was suggested that there were many other beings who could help me with trouble spots, but I needed to learn how to contact them.  The idea of learning about sigils came into my head, or, more accurately, the picture that Mr. Signpost had posted of a sigil he had created.  I thought, “I should learn how to do that”.

Synchronicity strikes again!!!  Within a few days, he announced he was giving classes in just that very subject. In Salem.  As he appears to have moved back to New York City, his announcement of a Salem class was a bit of a shocker.

Well, for two reasons.  One:  the very deity (Sekhmet) who – whether he knows it or not – has her paw on his shoulder every time I see them together, is the one who gave me the instruction.  And two:  Sekhmet, being my courage-inspiring Goddess, is now making me face returning to Salem, Massachusetts, after I’d sworn I would never set foot in the place ever again, after my brother’s death.  In other words: no sooner had she issued the directive, she’d handed me two tasks in one:  learn about sigils and magickal invocation from Mr. Signpost himself, and secondly, overcome an emotionally debilitating aversion to Salem, Massachusetts.

She doesn’t miss a trick, that magnificent lioness.  If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that she has little patience for whiners and whimperers – “I’ll help you get there, but you have to stand up and walk with me; I’ll not carry you.”  That’s basically the way she is with me.  She was willing to give me a breath of courage to overcome a lifelong needle phobia and inject myself with insulin, but I was the one who had to learn the process for doing it, take the deep breath and actually do it.  No one was more stunned than I was when I did do it. 

Applause for Lexa Roséan

Ahhh, Saturday. Saturn's day. Or "Day of Cronus", if you lived in Ancient Greece. One of my favorite (not) descriptions of Saturn, written in 1995: "Saturn is the Roman and Italic god of agriculture and the consort of Ops. He is believed to have ruled the earth during an age of happiness and virtue."

Italic god, is he? Really! So, he’s actually Saturn? (*sigh*) Does someone need to mention that the nation of Italy didn’t even EXIST until the 19th century? And that the word "italic" has nothing whatsoever to do with the nation of Italy? Once again ... [KA-POW!!!]

Source:http://www.crowl.org/lawrence/time/days.html#Saturday

Lest anyone think I do nothing but complain about annoying and illiterate witches all day, au contraire! Found a Saturn Anti-Theft Spell written by a witch named Lexa Roséan, based out of New York City. (Naturally). The way she wrote up this spell is spot-on perfect:

She cited the original source for it, and even quoted it. Now here I might have even been a little more specific. Was she referring to The Veritable Key of Solomon or something else? But I am definitely not going to complain about the way she did it. If needed, you could track this down. Just might require a little more research.

She next said, "Here are alternatives you can use to make the spell easier." I might have wanted to know why she chose to replace the original ingredients and steps with these new ones. But I’m still not going to complain, teaching witches like Lexa are so rare.

And THIS, friends and neighbors, is how you write up a spell for others to use:

Saturn Anti Theft Spell
Excerpt from Easy Enchantments by Lexa Roséan

This spell will invoke the watchful eye of Saturn to protect your valuables.

Ingredients needed: Earl Grey tea bag, lemon peel, ginger, peppermint, black pepper, cinnamon powder

In a medieval book of talismanic magic, believed to have been written by King Solomon, there is found a seal of Saturn which protects and guards all property and wealth one may possess. The Hebrew words hael hagadol hagebor v’hanorah1 are written around the outer circle of the seal. The middle circle holds the names of four great and terrible angels and the innermost circle contains the Tetragrammaton or the four sacred letters comprising the most powerful and holy name of G-d. Believe me, if you have a copy of this seal, ain’t nobody gonna touch your stuff!

I’m not talking a Xerox copy from a book. I’m talking a properly prepared copy drawn up by an initiated ceremonial scribe. A copy drawn on goat skin parchment using dragon’s blood ink and a crocodile quill pen. I’m talking a copy prepared in the correct manner and time. It must be made in the hour of Saturn, on the day of Saturn, which must fall on the third of the month of Saturn, in the year of Saturn’s rule.

Interested in the easy enchantment equivalent? One Earl Grey tea bag. Empty contents into bowl. Add lemon peel, ginger, peppermint, pinch of black pepper, and cinnamon powder. This is a very powerful protection powder that is used to invoke Saturn’s watchful eye. Sprinkle around your treasures or stuff in small pouch or zipper lock bag. Place in purse or carry on your person. Don’t worry, ain’t nobody gonna touch your stuff! http://www.lexarosean.com/spell11.htm

But here’s also a good example of why explaining substitutions is so important. I’m not sure what an "initiated ceremonial scribe" is, but all of the other ingredients are not that difficult to find, in today’s day and age. "Goat skin parchment" is no doubt used because Saturn rules Capricorn whose symbol is a goat. Companies like Pergamena sell white goat-skin parchment. Dragon’s Blood is a plant, not the blood of an actual dragon. Readily available. "Crocodile quill pen" – hmm. Would a Cross Sauvage Crocodile Pattern Fountain Pen be a viable substitute? If not, why not? What was the importance of a crocodile in an invocation of Saturn? Crocodile seems more of an ancient Egyptian spell than Palestinian (let’s stick with the ‘King Solomon wrote this’ belief for the time being), but I could very easily be wrong.

Speaking of Invocations of Saturn, does anyone know the source of the invocation below? While looking up the properties of Saturn I ran across this "Invocation of Saturn".

"Ancient Saturn, of bones and honored dead, he who perseveres and guards the astral gates, who leads the Lords of Karma and crystallizes that which is needed and removes all negative blocks from my path, grant me the authority required over all legions to manifest my will. Ruler of Capricorn, exalted in Libra, element of earth, banish all evil energies that stand in the way of my perfection."

In a state of grumpy annoyance that NO ONE who published this invocation on the net cited an original source for this (where's Lexa Roséan when you need her?), I did a Google search on "Ancient Saturn, of bones and honored dead" and found only mindless repetitions (9 or 10 times at least, judging by the Google options tossed back at me), by people behaving as though this was a traditional, time-honored invocation, but without bothering to cite a traditional, time-honored source for it. So maybe it IS a "traditional, time-honored invocation", but I doubt it, based solely on "banish all evil energies that stand in the way of my perfection." Who defines what "evil energies" are? And what, exactly IS "your perfection", sweeties? Why should anyone assume that it is "evil energies" standing in the way of your perfection? Or maybe YOU are the "evil energy standing in the way of your own perfection", and you’ve just banished yourself! Ahhh, justice.

Other issues with the invocation: "astral gates" and "Lords of Karma" are two of the last phrases you would expect to find in a traditional invocation to the Roman god Saturn – or the Greek god Cronus, either – so that’s another red flag. Lastly, a brief pass through the attributes of Saturn failed to turn up attributes mentioning "bones" and/or "honored dead". There would be a lot of other deities who are connected with "bones and honored dead", I should think ... or maybe I missed something. Actually, the "grant me the authority over all legions to manifest my will" did sound at least John Dee era-ish (and thus Crowley-ish), but the rest of it didn’t. Verifiable source, anyone??? Did somebody invent it? When? Who? Why?