The Unicorn Root, and the Magical Tradition of Lothlorian...

“Cedar is an appropriate herbe for using amethysts and sapphires. Should you have these gems, they should be stored in a small box made of cedar. Incidentally, it is said that Unicorns absolutely love to have little cedar boxes around in which to store their treasures.” (P. 207, italix mine.)

UNICORN ROOT

“The true Unicorn Root is used by those who keep one or more astral Unicorns about, and is the patron herbe of the magical tradition of Lothlorian. It is a Visionary Herbe, used by those who enjoy an element of joyful fantasy in their visionary workings.”

- Paul Beyerl, The Master Book of Herbalism. (p. 251)

I don't even need to troll this, do I?*

Now, serious question: I believe that on Mr. Roth's site, he states that if you plant mandrake next to grapes, the grapes will take on some of its more... interesting... properties. Is this true? Because if so, I know of this daimon, see, and you know. Boons of the drunken daimons and all.

*I'm especially fond of the “Orc Root,” which causes one to be beset by the angry legions of the realm of Orcus. It's especially prized in the magical tradition of, “GOOD GOD, BUT WHY?!”

Quote of the Week

“I thought the hero found hanging upon some oak of Dodona an ancient mask, where perhaps there lingered something of Egypt, and that he changed it to his fancy, touching it a little here and there, gilding the eyebrows or putting a gilt line where the cheekbone comes; that when at last he looked out of its eyes he knew another’s breath came and went within his breath upon the carven lips, and that his eyes were upon the instant fixed upon a visionary world: how else could the god have come to us in the forest? The good, unlearned books say that He who keeps the distant stars within His fold comes without intermediary, but Plutarch’s precepts and the experience of old women in Soho, ministering their witchcraft to servant girls at a shilling apiece, will have it that a strange living man may win for Daemon an illustrious dead man; but now I add another thought: the Daemon comes not as like to like but seeking its own opposite, for man and Daemon feed the hunger in one another’s hearts. Because the ghost is simple, the man heterogeneous and confused, they are but knit together when the man has found a mask whose lineaments permit the expression of all the man most lacks, and it may be dreads, and of that only.”

-Yeats, PER AMICA SILENTIA LUNAE.

Via VVF.

On another, but similar, note: wikipedia now appears to have an entry on Heroons. I await the day that the hero cults of old return...

Further comments on the Stele of Jeu.

I have commented several times in this blog on the “Stele of Jeu the Hieroglyphicist,” also known as the “Rite of the Headless Daimon,” in the PGM. It is, as I've stated before, the backbone ritual behind both Crowley's Bornless One Ritual and Liber Samekh.

In the past I have insisted that the entity conjured by the ritual is the Agathos Daimon, based on the way the ritual ends: “My Name is a Heart Encircled by a Serpent: Come Forth and Follow.” This line is highly important, but not for the reasons I assumed (such as the explicit imagery of the serpent and the heart).

As it turns out, the Headless Daimon could actually refer to a number of things, some of which I will get into with this entry.

• In the first place, it may be a reference to the Sternophthalmoi, or Blemmyes*.
  Amongst the ways of referencing them was to refer to them as “Akephalos” - “without (a) Head”.**
• The term Akephalos is also used and applied to certain strains of Egyptian Magic, as it turns out.
  I had no idea because I am rarely interested in “Egyptian” magick as it's put forward by Neo-Pagans and Ceremonial Magicians. Nonetheless, not realizing this aspect has been a problem.

I shall now quote John Coleman Darnell's “The Enigmatic Netherworld Books of the Solar Oriris Unity.” The reason for quoting it will become quite clear in a moment:

“He is the Headless Body, the mummy without a face;

he is the color changing bull, the commander commanding eternal silence,

the tkm of every day, the great silence.”

“This is the mighty eastern giant, his Orisiran part as Akephalos, his solar part as the Buchis bull, the tkm-form of the sun at the horizon. But there was also a desire that the head be knitted to the body in the Netherworld. In the final text to the Sixth Division of the Book of Caverns, Khepri is termed ts-tp, “attached of head.” Akephalos was not powerful without his head, but because of what his headlessness implied – his head was with the sun (italix mine), and was the sun.

The heads before headless mummies on the Second Shrine of Tutankhamun are connected by light to disks atop the back of the serpent. This representation recalls Amduat and the Book of Gates scenes of disks and heads atop the back of Apep, emerging from the coils of the serpent. The heads emerge and rise up to rejoin the headless corpse...” (P. 116-117)

In the footnotes to page 116, he further explains:

“The light of the deity and the voice of the deity are equated, and this for the headless Akephalos, the headlessness merely heightening the emphasis on the portentiously unseen solar head.”

Now, in the past, I have shown enormous hostility to those who suggest that the “Rite of the Headless Daimon” is just an exorcism, as the enormous amount of information within the ritual itself suggests otherwise. Yes, it is clearly an exorcism and that is the primary function of the ritual. However, there is something else going on, and making this clear has made me a tad annoyed at times. Especially when dealing with individuals who have never done the ritual and then claim that Crowley's version serves a purpose the original does not. This is completely incorrect, and will always be incorrect. The rituals serve the same function.

That said, my insistence that the spirit was the Agathos Daimon? I now must admit that it appears I was wrong. I also need to dive into the PGM and go over rituals involving executed criminals and their ghosts (as some of them ended up “headless” and were manipulated afterward), to see what else I'm missing. Nonetheless, I felt that I needed to post this entry and redact my past stupidity. As it turns out, I'm still a clueless fool.

* There is also some interesting research to be done into why the Nubian tribes were referred to as such on my part, as I think it may actually link together in the end. But, I could be wrong.

** The word "akephalos" is precisely the only association Headless Monsters bear to the ritual. My sense of humor is odd, sorry. Pay attention to the word and concept, not the monsters.

Examples of Affirmations in Prayers

The word “Affirm” means to “validate, assert as true,” or “declare one's support for” a given subject. In the context of affirmations made during the course of ritual, magical or spiritual work we have many given examples of it occurring.

I say this because reading Robert's last entry on the subject has me thinking about it.

Most prayers revolve around affirmations: a good example of this is the Psalms, which can be thought of as a sacred hymn or song. Let us consider the affirmations in Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd...”

The Lord is a totally awesome guide.

“He restoreth my soul...”

The Lord is totally holy and good for my soul!

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”

Have I mentioned how awesome, Holy, and filled with 'goodness' the Lord is? No? Well, he totally is.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

With the Lord beside me, I am Without Fear, even when dwelling in the Land where Death's Shadow doth abide. His Holy Might is besides me, and therefore I may walk with security. The Lord is like totally cool, man.

And so forth. But, lest we think that 'songs sung with a harp for spiritual purposes,' are uniquely Christian – let us examine a few of the Orphic Hymns that I have been so fond of discussing lately. In particular, I'm drawn to Hymns #27 and #28 (Hermes and Persephone, respectively) today.

Hymn #27 begins:

“Hermes, draw near, and to my pray'r incline, angel of Jove [Zeus], and Maia's son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.”

Unlike the way that Psalm 23 begins, with an affirmation of the Lord and his mighty stature, the Orphic hymns often begin with a blatant request for the attention of the spirit or God that is being called upon. This is obvious here with the lines “draw near,” which his presence as the messenger (angelos) of Jupiter pretty obviously facilitates. His familial line (son of Maia) is designated, and his attendant positions: he favors those in contest, he rules mankind (as an Olympian, or a God), and he has a benevolent heart and a prudent mind. In the last case, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes tells us that: “He sang the story of the deathless gods and of the dark earth, how at the first they came to be, and how each one received his portion. First among the gods he honoured Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses, in his song; for the son of Maia was of her following.” I have discussed Mnemosyne before, but her relations with Hermes – while not explicitly stated – seem to at least be implied, both in his phenomenal mental faculties (he appears to even be able to bathe or drink from the Lethe without problems) and his use of the poetic arts for his various purposes.

“Celestial messenger, of various skill, whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, 'tis thine thro' air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine, in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow'r endu'd all language to explain, of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain...”

Again we see an affirmation of Hermes role as a deity of skill, and I suspect that the reference to “Argus” in the Hymn is an alternative spelling for “Argos,” the dog. This ties together with his strength in the arts of thievery (“in fraud divine”), and one imagines that being an amazing gymnist would facilitate better methods for breaking and entering, at the very least. One particular drawback openly stated is that Hermes also loosens care, and the Hymn openly admits this.

For the most part, even the traits that some might frown on in Hermes, the Orphics affirm as important to his sphere of work. Later on in the Hymn, his cunning with words is referred to as the “dire weapon of the tongue,” again demonstrating that the abilities and spheres of influence that are primary to Hermes are not distinctly 'wonderful,' but suggesting to me that his mastery of them is part of what makes him “divine.” While we might typically shy away from the dark side (if you consider theft less than divine, for example) of the Gods, the Orphic hymns do not demonstrate this tendency at all. Instead, the Hymns seem to be a pretty open-minded representation of the deities.

To this end, I want to end this blog entry by looking at the Hymn to Persephone, #28.

“Daughter of Jove [Zeus], almighty and divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Pluto's [Plouton's] honor'd wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life:
'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Jove's [Zeus'] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, fatal [Praxidike], with lovely locks, infernal queen...”

In this case, the designation of familial ties (to the hymns, at least) specifies Persephone as the daughter of Zeus. Her state as the Queen of Hades is reinforced prior to the request for inclination toward the particular rites in which the Hymn is being used, which I take as to an affirmation of her importance to the “Orphic” sphere of thought. She's then treated to various other affirmations: “the source of life,” “Pluto's honored wife,” and her great insight (“earth's profundities”) is honored. What is interesting is the affirmation that she is Praxidike: The Exacter of Justice. In this instance, we might turn to the Orphic “Gold Leaf” tablets which have been referenced before in this blog: “And to be sure, they will consult the Subterranean Queen, And they will give you water to drink from the lake of Mnemosyne...” (Orphica Tablet from Hipponion c. 400 BCE. Taken from Bernabe, p.8)

To be sure, it would suck greatly to run into Persephone if one had crimes on their hands and she was appearing in her role as Praxidike.

“Source of the furies [Eumenides], whose blest frame proceeds from Jove's [Zeus'] ineffable and secret seeds...”

When the Furies are mentioned, they are typically referred to as the Eumenides (Kindly Ones) because of their sheer danger. There are two hymns specifically to the daimons, #68 and 69. One set appears to be the Erinyes, with which we again find reference to Praxidike: “The boundless tribes of mortals you descry, and justly rule with Right's [Dike's] impartial eye.” In this case, they hold the righteous eye of Justice similarly to Persephone. In fact, I strongly suspect that this indication shows that to those using the Hymns, Persephone is the ruler of the spirits referenced in the two hymns. The latter, #69, again references Persephone: “Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial [Zeus Khthonios] born
and Proserpine [Phersephone], whom lovely locks adorn.”

This suggests that Hades (Zeus Cthonios) and Persephone are literally the parents of that range of daimons, and their rulers. This is particularly different from other sources for the parentage of the Furies. It does, however, make sense. By identifying Persephone as the 'exacter of Justice,' the Furies (who punish the unjust) necessarily fall under her jurisdiction, if you will.

“Mother of Bacchus [Eubouleos], Sonorous, divine, and many-form'd, the parent of the vine...”

This is a reference to the Zagreus myth, and Persephone's importance to that myth. Instead of dragging this out, I want to just point out the last set of requests and how they tie together with the affirmations of the Hymn:

“Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto [Plouton] reigns.”

As “Praxidike” and the ultimate judge of the Orphic soul, these conferences (the right to abide in the House of the Dead, the fair palace, or the blissful plains of happy spirits) are hers alone to give. The mention of the happy spirits, incidentally, makes me think of the “happy mystic band” who appear in Aristophanes comedy, The Frogs.

HERACLES: And next the breath of flutes will float around you,
And glorious sunshine, such as ours, you'll see,
And myrtle groves, and happy bands who clap
Their hands in triumph, men and women too.

DIONYSUS: And who are they?

HERACLES: The happy mystic bands,

XANTHIAS: And I'm the donkey in the mystery show.
But I'll not stand it, not one instant longer.

HERACLES: Who'll tell you everything you want to know.
You'll find them dwelling close beside the road
You are going to travel, just at Pluto's gate.
And fare thee well, my brother.

But then again, if you could spend half an eternity dancing madly and crowned in a state of perpetual intoxication, wouldn't that be something worthy of an affirmation?

Prayer. It totally sucks less than some people think it does.