this weekend i found a small and unexplained but important bit of information in jerry peterson’s online edition of the sixth and seventh books of moses. upon carefully examining it in light of what has been written on these pages, that information explains the 3rd element of foundational mosaic magick, the element known as timing.
according to the appendix i found in the peterson online edition of the books of moses, the rituals of
: ‘man,’ or drawing the energies of draco, the serpent of the garden of eden (and especially eltanin, the head of the serpent, and rastaban, the bright eye of the serpent) down through the elemental body
: time (timing the sun and moon to gain a feel for their energies), and
: earth (ritual magick)
are the three keys to doing the grimoire’s work.
in the beginning of the greater key of solomon book i ch.i and ii as well as the sacred magick of abramelin the mage book ii ch.vi - x, you find that western magick is done according to natural cycles of the sun and moon. however, in the grimoires, these cycles are combined and not explained to the non-astronomer. i believe the solar and lunar cycles need to be separated and observed separately in order to be understood, and i also believe that observing these separate cycles over the course of one full year is an important part of the abramelin operation of attaining knowledge and conversation of the holy guardian angel.
the separation of solar and lunar cycles is done to make it easier to solar phases of the day, sun against the ecliptic zodiac constellations, and sun as it waxes and wanes through the solstices and equinoxes, forming a solar year. it also allows the observation of the lunar phases of the month culminating in the full moon sabbats, moon against the ecliptic lunar mansions, and the full moons of the esbats on the wheel of the year.
the moon waxes and wanes over the course of a month whereas the sun waxes and wanes over the course of a year, and the moon moves through a mansion at the rate of one a night whereas the sun moves through its constellations roughly one a month. separating these two and observing them individually makes it easier to observe their separate effects. they will also combine at different times, namely during the sabbats and also in eclipses.
the sun’s times are
i. time of the day (leading to the midnight witching hour)
ii. the movement of the black sun against the zodiac, and
iii. the lunisolar wheel (through quarters/equinoxes and solstices).
i. because the sun blocks out the other stars, you use the black sun to observe the occult properties of the nighttime sky rather than the actual sun itself. this in itself is a very powerful occult act that erik has mentioned as an exercise in mastering evocation. the phases of the black sun are noon (the black sun’s midnight), sunset (the black sunrise), midnight (the midnight witching hour or the black sun’s noon), sunrise (the black sunset).
ii. you watch the black sun move through the night sky against the backdrop of the twelve signs of the zodiac, reading the information on the sun as it moves through the signs to understand. you may also do solar rituals such as aleister crowley’s liber resh vel helios during this time.
iii. you observe the yearly change of seasons using the eightfold wheel of the year. the sun waxes as it moves from thew inter solstice to summer, and wanes as it moves from summer solstice to winter. the vernal and autumnal equinoxes are times of great power in waxing and waning solar magick. all four periods align with a full moon giving these times extra magickal power.
the moon’s times are
i. the lunar phases (leading to the five esbats)
ii. the moon in the lunar mansions, and
iii. the lunisolar year (through cross-quarter sabbats).
i. the moon has eight phases which can be observed in real time using a lunar phase calculator. full moons and new moons are the times of power, and these have variations:
: a dark moon is a new moon where the moon seemingly disappears for 3.5 days;
: a black moon is the second of two new moons in a one-month period, or the absence of either a full or new moon in any month;
: a blue moon is the second of two full moons in a one-month period.
ii. in the occult when you follow the movement of the moon in the sky you use the lunar mansions. you then find the meanings of the energies the moon will draw or repel at those times.
iii. you observe the change of seasons over the course of a lunar year using the sabbats from the eightfold wheel of the year, especially the crossquarter sabbats.
in the books of moses, the different rites to be done on eclipses are shown but not explained. eclipses are times of great magickal power. there are two types of eclipse, the solar eclipse and the lunar eclipse, and they both have different energies and uses.
i. solar eclipses occur when the moon moves between the sun and earth. they can only happen on the day of a new moon. these eclipses add power to new moon type rituals. to do rituals in a solar eclipse, you find the waxing/waning phase of the sun. the moon will be new. that will give you a certain type of energy to work with. from there you write your ritual.
ii. lunar eclipses occur when the earth is between the sun and moon, making it disappear in our shadow. they can only happen on the night of a full moon. lunar eclipses add power to full moon type rituals. to do rituals during a lunar eclipse, you find the waxing/waning phase of the sun. the moon will be full. that will give you a certain type of energy to work with. from there you write your ritual.
a list of upcoming solar and lunar eclipses, as well as their geographical areas and how they will look from earth, can be found here.
this is important information to know in order to make sense out of the complication of the grimoire, but it takes time to observe and learn these things and we are all impatient, so we skip the main parts of the work to do the fancy shit that impresses us, thereby missing the whole point of it all.
