Moonlit Notes from the Abyss (Nyxifer's journal)

In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God, at least until He decided to scribble out the whole thing and take up painting because no mere combination of letters was sufficient to express the sheer wonder of it all.

The problem is that with magic, being in many respects a science of language, you have to be very careful with what you say, because if you suddenly declare yourself to be a magician, without any knowledge of what that entails, then one day you are likely to wake up and discover that that is exactly what you are.
–Alan Moore

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This GIF is beautiful Sublimis, thanks for sharing!

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Finally received my new Ouija board from the Ukraine-based occult supplier Pandora Witch Shop. I’m in love… the planchette glides effortlessly over the exquisitely detailed birch wood, and I can already feel the energies pouring through the consecrated spirit gateway. :heart_eyes::black_heart:

Today marks the start of an in-depth pathworking I’ve been planning with this oft-neglected yet powerful tool for divination. Onwards and upwards, one letter at a time!

[The Magician’s] ultimate enemy is the great Magician, the Magician who created the whole illusion of the Universe; and to meet him in battle, so that nothing is left either of him or of yourself, you must be exactly equal to him.
–Aleister Crowley

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Its is really a beautiful one! Congrats!
I thought in the past in getting a OUI-Ja, but i lack patience for that, it is like my divination cards, I use it only in rare occasions, too lazy !

But i should try it again one day.

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Mega-Thread on Omens (their definition, specific examples, how to start seeing them, and theories about them):

As there is a door in the soul which opens on God, so there is another door which opens on the recremental deeps, and there is no doubt that the deeps come in when it is opened effectually.
–A.E. Waite

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So I’m pretty happy with how my homemade spirit board turned out. First time using a woodburner so there were a few fuck-ups along the way but thankfully they were more or less salvageable. I used oak for both the board and planchette (densely grained wood seems to house spiritual energies well) and after staining & finishing it glides like butter. :ok_hand:

Overall I can definitely tell an energetic difference between the store-bought boards and the ones I’ve made myself. I think anything can be used as a board (I’ve heard of people using scrabble tiles and even bits of paper successfully, not to mention the classic Hasbro cardboard version), but for some reason taking the time and energy to build something yourself from scratch (and particularly out of wood) seems to be exceedingly effective. Perhaps it’s just the placebo effect because I believe it’ll be more powerful, or maybe it’s my directed intent during the crafting of the tool that is syncing up with and changing the spiritual vibration of the board. I’ll get back to y’all when I figure out a way to test this. :thinking:

Anyway, ended up using it last night with the girlfriend to successfully contact our (recently) deceased kitty which was emotional but ultimately cathartic for us. I’d never talked to a dead animal before (although I’d heard that it was possible) so intellectually it was quite an interesting experience. Not very complex vocabulary but strong emotions and an overwhelming sense/repeated affirmations of love (the planchette kept going to the Sun almost as a symbol of life-affirming warmth and connection). :sunny:

Just a little moment of bittersweet happiness I figured I’d share from my spirit board pathworking.

We are immortal volunteers
Living in the sensation of being everything
And the certitude of being nothing.
We are just an outline.
–Paul Valéry

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Simple down-and-dirty tek for manifesting your desires via sigil magick:

Belief is the cradle of myth. What about reality, you ask? Well, as far as I’m concerned, reality can go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.
–Stephen King

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Last night I finally was able to initiate contact with a spirit guide (maybe two?) through a lucid dream/astral experience! :heart_eyes:

I dreamt I was walking in a house and I go lucid. I look at my hands and notice that the knuckle of my pinky finger is awkwardly bent at right angles and I watch as the length of my fingers lightly morph in and out, affirming my power over the thought-responsive dream environment. I hold my intention in mind to talk to my spirit guide, and open a door at the end of the hallway knowing that they will be on the other side.

I walk into a well-lit cozy bedroom with wooden floors and a twin bed by a big open glass window looking outside with a nice view of some trees and buildings. It feels like a a nice place, not too lavish or wealthy but warm and happy. Sitting on the bed is an old black man with short salt and pepper hair in comfortable clothes. I am extremely nervous/anxious and feel it in my chest because I’m so excited that it finally worked, but finally calm down enough to ask him for any advice he can give me.

He tells me that I won’t see him again and that this is just a one-off thing. He is understanding and tells me 1) to be healthy and 2) to raise my energy. He points down and I see a light (or flame?) reflecting off the wooden floor and increasing in intensity like a chi master sparking flame in a newspaper. I see an older light coffee colored woman who was sleeping next to him roll over and it feels like this was a husband and wife who died and now live in their Summerland version of paradise.

I end up losing lucidity but eventually regaining it in a similar hallway to the first. I hold a similar intention but ask to see a guide rather than a “spirit” guide on the off chance that doing so will allow me to communicate with non-human guides. I open and walk through another door and find myself in complete blackness.

I feel with my hands in front of me and discover a woman standing there wearing a form-fitting tee shirt and jeans. I literally can’t see anything (it’s like I’m blind) and I get nervous that this is some kind of hideous, eyeless monster waiting to devour me with her fangs so I fumble my hands up to her face (feels 100% normal) and she flinches back, not in a absolutely disgusted way but more in what feels like an instinctive reaction to a stranger groping your face. :joy:

I try to talk to her but my words are muffled and I can’t hear anything I’m saying so it’s like I’m blind and deaf, and I wake up feeling incredibly excited.

Thoughts/feedback, anyone? :thinking:

No one who does not know himself can know others. And in each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a different situation to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude–the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation.
–C. G. Jung, “Collected Works”

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First bit sounds less like a dedicated guide but more a passed magician taking notice of you and giving advice and possibly other aid.
Now to understand spirit guide for me would refer to one you would have more contact with and not a one off thing.

Though I get the feeling you should focus on the concept of RestHome for your next lucid dream and no not the place for old folks this is different.

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Right, I thought it was interesting that he told me I wouldn’t see him again. Didn’t think about him possibly being a magician but it make sense.

What’s that?

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It is similar to the concept of Summerland but it is a bit different. Enough so that I would consider a separate place in general that would surround and embody many different afterlives and the spaces between but it is more than just an afterlife as well and more its own dimension of existence.

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Huh, I’ll try to pop over there next time. Thanks for the feedback, man! :smiley:

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Also Jormungandr can help get lucid and semi lucid dreams working a bit better but he tends to keep you in his realm to talk all night when you call him. Still would highly recommend spending time with him. You passively assimilate a new type of perception by being in his realm along with a few extra interesting things.

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Definitely the “this is one time only” sounds similar to a teaching one night stand and Im not sure thats too great development wise. Hopefully you get a serious guide

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This is interesting to me, because a few years ago, after I found out that some “higher power” had bound my prosperity, Lady Eva had undertaken a journey for me to find a spirit for advice on how to overcome this binding, and, though her intention was to find one that had a personal connection to me, she was approached by a spirit that looked like an African shaman who had no personal connection me, but wanted to help.

This meeting sounds like it could be something very similar.

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Yeah, I’m gonna keep trying until I find a dedicated mentor. Still a cool first time experience though, even if I did get pawned off to an astral freelance consultant. :joy:

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Had a powerful dream vision of some kind of infernal entity last night. It had the chubby legs and feet that cherubs have in popular culture, but the head and torso were completely obscured by a pitch-black cloud of darkness radiating out from the center of its face. Didn’t get a name though.

Video meliora, proboque, deteriora sequor.
(I see better things, and approve, but I follow worse.)
–Ovid, “Metamorphoses”

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Courtesy of @Haplo I was inspired to finally sit down and crunch the numbers for something I’ve believed for a while but had no hard proof. Et voilà! :smiley:

Thesis: Using reversed cards in a Tarot spread means that, probabilistically speaking, you are more likely to foretell a negative outcome/answer for your question.

Methodology:

Using the Biddy Tarot definitions (Learn the Tarot Card Meanings | Biddy Tarot) I’m categorizing a card (whether in the reversed or upright position) as having a negative meaning if the number of clearly positive terms in its definition is greater than the number of clearly negative terms. I did not count those that were on the fence; i.e., the definitions that had equal numbers of positive and negative words.

Results:

17 / 22 of reversed Major Arcana have negative meanings compared to 3 / 22 upright Major Arcana.
7 / 14 of reversed Cups have negative meanings compared to 2 / 14 upright Cups.
7 / 14 of reversed Swords have negative meanings compared to 7 / 14 upright Swords.
10 / 14 of reversed Pentacles have negative meanings compared to 1 / 14 upright Pentacles.
8 / 14 of reversed Wands have negative meanings compared to 1 / 14 upright Wands.

So we have (17 + 7 + 7 + 10 + 8) = 49 reversed cards with overwhelmingly negative meanings compared to (3 + 2 + 7 + 1 + 1) = 14 upright cards that have overwhelmingly negative meanings.

Therefore, assuming the probability of randomly pulling a reversed card vs. an upright card from a shuffled deck is (1 / 2), the probability of getting a negative card allowing reversed meanings is (1 / 2) * (49 / 78) + (1 / 2) * (14 / 78) = (0.3141 + 0.0897) = 0.4038 or 40.38%.

vs.

The probability of randomly pulling a negative card from the deck using only upright meanings is (14 / 78) = 0.1795 = 17.95%.

In other words, you are (40.38% - 17.95%) = 22.43% more likely to pull a negative card by allowing reversed cards in your Tarot spread.

Discussion:

This seems to confirm my hypothesis (please tell me if I’ve made any mistakes with the math!). Of course I am not considering the other big factor in Tarot readings which is the use of intuition to determine a specific card’s meaning outside of the standard definition, nor am I taking into account the fact that the meaning of various cards changes depending on their context and placement within the reading as a whole, but going from the numbers alone it seems like allowing reversed meanings does make it more likely you will get “negative” cards.

The question is, now, how does the mechanistic probability of selecting a particular card interact with the synchronicity of “randomly” selecting a card that matches up perfectly to answer your question? In other words, how does Randomness/Chance mesh with Predetermination/Fate?

I’ll get back to y’all on this as soon as I figure out all the other unsolved philosophical and spiritual problems that torment me. :rofl:

I used to think the brain was the most important organ. Then I thought, look what’s telling me that.
–Emo Philips

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How to use the Ouija board by yourself and various tips & tricks for success:

The glass mouth sucks blood-heat from my forefinger.
The old god dribbles, in return, his words.
The old god, too, writes aureate poetry.
–Sylvia Plath, “Ouija”

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Have observed a fairly consistent motif of traveling through a dark ribbed tunnel during my astral experiences lately. I had no idea what this means (besides the usual Freudian interpretations) but then while rereading Michael Harner’s The Way of the Shaman I discovered that this is a common description of the tunnel to the Lower World that shamans travel through. I keep feeling that I’m traveling up though when it happens. :thinking:

“There were these giant black animals, something like great bats, … who said that they were the true masters of the world.”
…He stared up toward me with his sightless eyes, and said with a grin, “Oh, they’re always saying that. But they are only the Masters of Outer Darkness.”
–Michael Harner, “The Way of the Shaman”

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