- Tuesday 4/1
- Maggie and Mike arrive. Mishlen has keep a talisman that Maggie gave us almost 10 years ago in Cincinnati as a sacrament dedicated to carry on the Maatian Current in Cincinnati. Mishlen has carefully kept it all of these years. Tonight it was returned
to Maggie.
The last time Maggie and Mike were here in New Orleans it was to assist in the Northern Gate Working about 6 years ago. The purpose of the Working was to invite the loa to New Orleans and more northernly climes; so few trees are left in Haiti. To me, the
Working was a turning point. It is my sense that the present visit of Maggie and Mike will carry the same level of import.
- Wednesday 4/2
- The relationships of matter and energy and time are what's determinant. Nothing is static, everything is dependent on and defined by the movements of everything else. The field is not so much a place where all this happens but the conjunction, the int
eraction itself. As if the universe is recreating itself, moment to moment.
From a painting by Lynne Sharon Schwartz at a Gallery on Magazine Street
- Thursday 4/3
- RITUAL: Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: Drum rite to offer honor and respect to the loa
LOVE: Mike and Maggie in attendance. Mike dancing.
SUCCESS: All well done.
COMMENT: Maggie, Miriam, Mike, Louis, and Luis. AH! the M's and L's do flow. Balance and the Sacred Waters.
- Friday 4/4
- RITUAL: Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: Ritual to Maat and to the Marassa.
LOVE: Order of Service with special attention to the Marassa. This is followed by Maatian Rite from Maggie's book.
SUCCESS: Very strong due to early presence of the police called due to the loud noises. The police were polite and helped to focus the event.
COMMENT: Maggie did booksignings before and after the ritual at a pretty table Miriam had set up in the Temple proper. A meeting of the Priestesses of two currents. Ideal.
Conversation with Fire Clown after the ritual. Excellent practical techniques involving spinning. He is a practitioner of the chaos magicks. I learnt a great deal.
- Saturday 4/5
- Maggie doing booksignings at the Esoterica Shop in the Quarter.
Maggie and Mike have provided me with the impetus to make contact with the more Western magickal practitioners in New Orleans. Very good for me. I tend to book myself to the minute and leave little time for the chance contact which often bears so much fru
it.
- Sunday 4/6
- Long conversation with Maggie. We have known each other for so long and experienced so much of the magicks together. It is good to be with a magickian and friend with whom so much is shared.
Maggie had an interesting observation regarding my Buddhist prayers. She said the happiness is a by-product of doing ones will. In this context it would make more sense to pray that all do their Will rather than to pray that all experience happiness.
- Monday 4/7
- After dinner we went to Fire clown and Merick's house. Maggie and Mike have brought me into a contact with the chaos magicks and their practitioners. Anarchism and an openness to new experience. Yes...Yes...Yes.
Changes during Maggie and Mikes visit. Quite a few it seems...
The school where I work is changing its name.
The Principal has announced retirement.
The very nature of the class has changed.
Interesting, I had said I would seriously consider leaving the school when the Principal left.
I am back in a more intimate contact with the western magickians of the city, in particular those with a connection to Chaos.
With the year in London I knew that the outward mode in which I served the loa must change. With the miles between us, the three times a week I spent with the Voodoo Spiritual Temple must evolve into something different. Maggie and Mike are a big part of
the opening of the road for such a change.
- Tuesday 4/8
- Maggie and Mike depart in the early morning. Perfect timing to their visit. Change is constant, perhaps I am to blind to see the immense changes that take place on a daily basis. Either way, I do realize this as a time of change.
MEETING: New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. For the first time Miriam and I seriously discussed the form and the ramifications of me being gone for over a year. For a time, Miriam has been moving toward her Spiritist work as a Bishop. She is both a Mom
bo of the Voodoo and a Biship of the Spirits. Not so much an either/or situation as a change in emphasis.
- Bibliomancy Feast of Nuit, Liber L; using the beautifully illustrated and handwritten copy by Allen H.
L I; v 38 "He must teach; but he may make severe the ordeals." Her finger fell on the word "severe." Mishlen
L I; v 34 "But she said: the ordeals I write not: the rituals shall be half known and half concealed: the Law is for all. Maggie (Mike packing)
It is interesting to note that due to Allen's elaborate calligraphy, Maggie in reading the verse said...the orders are right not.
L III; v 1 There is division hither homeward; there is a word not known. Spelling is defunct; all is not aught. Beware! Raise the spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit. The finger fell on "spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit". Louis
In the Old Comment from the Equinox, Crowley writes of the "spelling" of Ra-Hoor-Khuit; "Suggested by a doubt arising in the mind of the prophet as to the usual spelling. But the "I" makes a difference in the qabalistic interpretation of the name."
- Wednesday 4/9
- - Bibliomancy Feast of Hadit; Liber L....Louis and Mishlen
L II, v 79 "The end of the hiding of Hadit; and blessing & worship to the prophet of the lovely Star!"
L I, v 33 "Then the priest fell into a deep trance or swoon, & said unto the Queen of Heaven; Write unto us the ordeals; write unto us the rituals; write unto us the law!"
- Thursday 4/10
- RITUAL: Voodoo Spiritual Temple
WILL: Honor of Ra Hoor Khuit
LOVE: Special service to Shongo, Ochosi, Ogun. All of Ra Hoor Khuit.
SUCCESS: Good ritual presence.
COMMENT: Again the Western asserts itself. The three days of the writing of Liber L are at an end.
- Friday 4/11
- - Silence...In silence comes the true consecration (@AC). When I am in silence, my thoughts and experiences collide and erupt into insight. Too much activity does not provide the ground for these types of collisions. All tends to stay on track, there
is no space, no time for the circuitous.
- Saturday 4/12
- London for a year is nearly positive...Ha! A change in emphasis for me as well as Miriam.
- Sunday 4/13
- T.C. arrives in the evening. A friend and a Brother...Order of Alsace Lorraine. So...I feel the sure hand of the ancestors in this though I am not sure as to the why.
- Monday 4/14
- Took TC into Temple of Blanc Dan-i. He kissed me and said that two months ago I had said "this is where I had a Temple." Two months ago, the floor was covered with dust and the alters in disarray. Now, this is a working Temple.
More med tests for London. X rays and extensive blood work. More forms to complete.
- Tuesday 4/15
- TC spoke about a way of divination he is working on using the bones of various animals. In a reading, the significance of an individual bone depends on what animal it is from, the function the bone served in the body of the animal, and the position of
the bone in the actual throw. He will go through the system with a me first, and next with Shasha. I am taking notes; this is excellent...something that TC can share with the community.
- Wednesday 4/16
- A call from the DR. doing the tests for London. The chest x ray may show a small spot where two bones cross. She said not definite but a matter of concern.
Shocked, confused, and worried for about two hours. Went for another series of x rays with a sense of dissociation.
Voodoo Spiritual Temple Meeting - By this time, the training and teachings I have received have asserted themselves:
-Odd...I thought that this is terrible news. Then it occurred to me that all the news meant is that I would die. Not such a terrible thing. Rather an awe inspiring adventure.
-We all die. It is matter of "when" not "if."
-I tend to see myself as Passing some time in the tomorrow, not today. Silly.
-A good twenty years ago I saw a path that take me through a number of spiritual systems; the Buddhist system being the last one for this time around. Now I know Mr. Norbu and the Tibetan Center in Bloomington. My perception seems to have been mostly corr
ect. Now I know that nothing that is spiritually good is left behind. I carried Ceremonial Magic into the Thelemic Path and Thelema into the Voodoo Way. Now I carry Voodoo into the path developed by the Tibetans. The loa grow stronger in the Buddha's pres
ence...more properly fed.
-I live my life in a way that does not avoid experience. I like Mr. Crowley's story about the boy who uses up his little toys before becoming an adult. They are not saved to moulder in the attic. I do not wish to hold back what I have, but to use it up i
n experiences before I Pass
We will hold off a bit until OKing Festivals for the Summer. The redefinition of roles in the Temple will continue, London may still be on.
- Thursday 4/17
- T.C. died today. He was helping Mishlen plaster the back room. I was taking my day sleep. Mishlen apologized for waking me up and said that TC was having problems. TC said "let me go." I considered the option and then remembered that he said that he
had work to finish on the Bones Divination. I did a version of cpr and brought him back. The doctor at the hospital said his lungs were coated with dust and could not take in oxygen. He had a systemic failure. Very nice, I saved his life.
So...in the Emergency Room he asks if he seems to be OK now. They tell him what happened. He stands up, pulls the tubing of IVs off the machine. Pulls his many monitors out, and says that he is getting the fuck out of there. No shoes. He leaves and walks
27 blocks back to the house. Monitors still stuck on him and the IV dripping blood. Ah! What a sight on a New Orleans night. Encounters with the police, bums, and dealers on his walk.
I went looking for him and bought some beer and cigarettes to celebrate his being around a bit longer. He takes a drink of beer...OK. Takes a drag on the smoke...Not Good...and starts a coughing fit. We all go to bed.
T. had no breath, no pulse...stillness. I sat on Deaths chest.
What a gift to receive at this time.
- Friday 4/18
- So much activity...it is time to balance with the passive. More Med tests for me and sleep with Mishlen.
Ronnie called. She has very serious health problems and now I could speak to her as an equal in that regard. This is an awe-full expansion.
Yesterday TC died in my arms and I brought him back. He has my breath in his lungs. I have touched death and life again. What a gift from the Hidden Ones...what impeccable timing.
- Saturday 4/19
- Conversation: Maegdlyn & Greg - concerning laughter...When you laugh you pull your lips back and show your teeth (usually). To a great deal of animals this would be a prelude to aggressive action. Odd, in some cultures the mouth is covered when one la
ughs.
Temple Blanc Dan-i...Maegdlyn and Greg offered a bottle of rum to the Spirits of the Temple. Greg also offered the sounds of his violin. It is an important joy to have a home Temple again.
- Sunday 4/20
- Maegdlyn and Greg made offering of rum they brought to ManMan Brigitte, et al in the house Temple Blanc Dan-i. Manman had been on Maegdlyn and Greg's altar, now, with this kind offering the magickal link is strengthened.
- Monday 4/21
- Maegdlyn and Greg depart. A shift in currents is well supported by events. Maggie and Lyrus come, next there is the days of the reception of Liber L, next T.C. arrives, then Magdelyn and Greg come. All of these people have a deep association with the
Western Magickal currents that I work.
- Tuesday 4/22
- RITUAL: Pass Over; Miriam, Singh, and Julia over our house
WILL: A careful house cleaning coupled with the offering of the unleven bread and a marking of the front door.
LOVE: A beautiful fire in the courtyard. Bread and wine. Playing like joyful children throughout the house to spiritually clean the house.
SUCCESS: Freshness
COMMENT: This was quite a surprise. I had prepared for a Temple Meeting. I believe that all of my friends at the Voodoo Spiritual Temple are concerned about my health. Again, the worst that could happen is that I would die...a very serious but not overly
important matter.
PassOver - Would I be willing to offer a scapegoat as is traditional on this great feast? No...I would have more to lose than to gain. The scales must balance.
- Wednesday 4/23
- Mishlen removed the seal Sing placed on the front door in last night ritual and there was a baby dragonfly behind seal. Mishlen opened the door and the dragonfly flew out into the evening.
- Cat Scan in the morning. Amtayus locket and small statue with me. The locket contains a piece of bone from a Tibetan monk who has passed. This is a good opportunity to increase my practices and, no matter what the outcome of the tests, maintain them.
- Thursday 4/24
- Court Hearing concerning the noise and use of courtyard at the Voodoo Spiritual Temple. It looks as if Thursdays we will have the use of the courtyard.
Drum practice with Mystic Herd of Nuteria in the evening for Jazz Fest.
- Friday 4/25
- Passive...rest. So much doing now.
- Saturday 4/26
- Jazz Fest in the rain. Actually found a parking space.
Pacquet of posters of Owen and Gwenivere in Ritual Gesture to Magdelyn to sell as donation to Green Dome Temple from Black Moon Publishing. The photos were taken about 15 years ago in Cincinnati it is good that about 20 of the posters are returning.
- Sunday 4/27
- Jazz Fest with Nuteria. Tasty set, really moved despite the soggy weather. The Nuteria rhythms are almost exactly similar to those used in the Spiritual Voodoo Temple. I did a part of the calls and the loa flowed into the tent.
- Monday 4/28
- Dr. called and said that she and four specialists believe that the spot on my lung is not serious. For a precaution, the doctors want me to get another x ray in 6 months. I am glad though Mishlen is not overly thrilled. It is my Will to live longer th
an Mishlen that she should not grieve for me. This is what she wants. Looks MUCH more likely now.
I have always told Mishlen that I wanted to live longer than her. This again may be the case.
So far, the main thing I have learnt from all of this is that spiritually I have all that I need to attain. I HAVE ALL THAT I NEED RIGHT NOW. NOTHING MORE IS NECESSARY.
- Tuesday 4/29
- Picked up physical from Doctor. England may still be on.
Meeting of Voodoo Spiritual Temple. Letter to Mayor, looking for grants to expand the Temple into the community.
- Wednesday 4/30
- Through swamps to Baton Rouge. Saw what looked like a dead owl by the side of the road and stopped to pick it up for an artist friend. It gave me a start when it appeared to have a cigarette in its beak. Mr. Norbu had said that animals could become
Buddhas. I believe that this bird in some way offered itself for my well being. The Spirit was still within the bird. Placed the body in the Temple Blanc Dan-i on alter to Manman Brigitte...on her stones with a small statue of a healing Buddha at the hea
d of the bird.
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