something everybody knows, but still...

This isn't news, really, but I thought I'd put it out there for people who may not know. Scribd is a great place for finding various occult texts and manuals; lots of good stuff on there covering pretty much any topic. A huge Chaos Magic library, Golden Dawn texts, Goetia, all kinds of stuff. Just fyi.

Musicka Mystica Maxima Festival

I think I found my dream gig- the Musicka Mystica Maxima Festival. It's being put on under the auspices of the OTO, and features people like John Zorn, Genesis P-Orridge (I still have my slowly decomposing Throbbing Gristle T-shirt, I won't lie), Nautical Almanac (!!!), a few others... I can't imagine a better crowd for hypersigilistic music, and a festival with rituals?! Please. Burning Man's got 'em, sure, but, to be honest, my peacock feather cape's at the cleaner's and my crotchless leather kilt's too small. Wish I woulda found out about it earlier, I would've loved to be there. Gotta keep my eyes peeled in case there's another.

Bandoneon Blues...es...

Why the fuck is a bandoneon so hard to find for purchase? and how the hell can a concertina-like instrument with paper bellows cost more than a full-size, black-laquer-&-pearl sitar with a resonator? Just sayin'.

Proof of UK anti-Roma sentiment, both cultural and institutional

These are links to various pages on the interwebz for people who live in the UK and don't, for some reason, think Travellers and Roma are being institutionally abused: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/1996/10/10/britains-ethnic-cleansing/ http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2003/11/04/acceptable-hatred/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/3683483.stm http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=119 http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2007/11/13/106414/gypsy-roma-and-traveller-children-speak-out-over-racism.html http://nickgriffin.eu/2009/06/17/bnp-leader-condemns-belfast-anti-gypsy-violence-and-immigration-policy-which-a *the above also notable for user comments which bolster the premise of the story, oddly. And here are a couple that are notable mostly for the comments: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090524070522AAjUwrX https://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=63903 Hope that clears a few things up for people.

Make your own ghost

This is kind of a fascinating article, even if it is on about.com (link through title). This seems very similar to invoking a god-form, and is pretty similar to techniques I employ in magickal workings- I don't believe in a literal, sentient deity, but I do believe that the mind is a very powerful tool that can change its environment with the right mindset and with properly focused intent. Thus, I believe that anything can be invoked, essentially; a god-form is an archetypical template (hence the reason for the mixing of pantheons employed in working- each pantheon is a mixture of archetypes that correspond cross-culturally), and can be anything. While I tend to invoke more traditional god-forms (on the occasions I invoke anything, which can be described as, "occasionally, but not all that often"), it makes sense that one could conjure Daffy Duck or Superman, if one so chose. The possibilities, as with anything, are limitless. I recommend "Pop Magic!" by Grant Morrison as a good starting point- it might have a lot of hype surrounding it and I don't endorse everything in it, but there are some good ideas and information contained in it. It's important to remember, however, that reading books is no substitute for actually practicing magick. Learn what you can, and take necessary precautions, but dig in and do it- book knowledge is no substitute for experience and practice.

***LATEST TRACKS, 082409***

There will be a real-live, non-link-based post soon; however, my primary computer has suffered some difficulties, so I'm using a shitty Compaq from nineteen-diggity-six that hates it when I try to do complex things. Also, my time is heavily-invested in negotiating my recording contract at the moment, so why don't we do that when we're not being hustled by Brits, yeah?

Zombies will destroy us all.

From the Onion:

Lady Gaga: Spokesperson for mind-control programs and the Illuminati, apparently; plus, Beyonce's\Sasha's hypersigil

Interesting thought, at least- a shadow world government turns a person into a public face? Probably not really, though the idea's tantalizing... hasn't there been a movie like that? Oh, yeah, Metropolis. So could somebody do that from the other end? I might try that (not that I'm remotely famous)- change names and looks every three or so years, litter my music with references to Chaos... Oh, yeah, I do that. Another interesting idea: a music video as a hypersigil. I'm sure it's been done a few times, but I never really thought of it that way before. The video in question is (oddly) "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce and Jay-Z, and seems on some level to represent a rebirth ritual: story here. Again, probably alarmist on a few counts, but the idea remains a tantalizing one, particularly as it's of a genre you wouldn't expect to have much to do with magick. The central idea presented in the story, though, seems more to be that Beyonce's possessed, and her record company did it to her, somehow. Again, almost certainly not. Just some thought-provoking, if imaginative, stuff I found all at once :D

Simple Tarot Matrix

There are loads of places online, and lots of rather overpriced books, that will go inordinately deep into the meanings of the Major Arcana, and maybe the suits' meanings, but little seems to get said about the individual meanings of the Minor Arcana. Here's a very simple matrix; adapt it as it suits you. Meanings by suit:

• Swords: Communication (Air element)
• Pentacles/Stars: Materiality* (Earth element)
• Wands: Action, Deed (Fire element)
• Cups/Bowls: Emotions (Water element)

*Materiality, as in things of the physical plane. Materialism might and frequently does get tied up in that, but that's not the primary meaning. Numerical Minor Arcana by Position:

• A- beginning\power
• 2- partnership\duality
• 3- synthesis\joy
• 4- stabilize\construct
• 5- chaos\versatility
• 6- decision\challenge
• 7- wisdom\mystery
• 8- judgment\versatility
• 9- attainment
• 10- perfection\wholeness
• Page: child
• Knave: adolescent
• King: man\outer competence
• Queen: woman\inner competence

Example: 7W Wands symbolize action; 7 symbolizes wisdom or mystery Possible interpretation: at the heart of the matter in question lies acting on a matter with wisdom, either by doing the right thing, or by merely doing what you must; possible fear of what the action will mean or do, or a fear of going half-cocked and not understanding underlying dynamics to the situation. For the face-cards of the Minor Arcana (Page, King, etc), each symbolize a particular person (e.g., Knave symbolizes adolescent, as above). Here's a shortcut for incorporating the suits into the meanings of the cards. For this example, I'll use the suit of Cups, keeping in mind that they relate to emotion-

• PC: (child) emotional response of a child
• KnC: (adolescent) emotional response of a teen
• KC: (male, outward competence): emotional response of a man
• QC: (female, inward competence): emotional response of a female

This will hold for the other suits (e.g., KW- what a man would do in a particular situation). Thus:

• Swords: how do the people communicate?
• Wands: how do they act?
• Pentacles\Stars: how do they handle practical or sensual matters?
• Cups: how do they feel?

The real trick with Tarot readings when they concern others, whether we know them well or not, is to separate prejudices and the querent's personality from who is being read for\about. Anyway, hope that's helpful. Sometime soon I hope to have an updated gematria I've come up with that seems to work pretty well, particularly for sigilization of intent.

what to expect

To preface, you should know that, unless you're a music producer, a Chaote, music- or trivia-obsessed, open-minded, anti-authoritarian, or have no real political agenda, this blog's gonna be a waste of time to you. If you value absolute tact at the expense of straightforwardness, wish to bash religion (unless it's Scientology... don't get me started, seriously), have deepseated racial hatred, are either a rightwing neo-fascist or a foaming-at-the-mouth leftwing type (I hate both with equal vigor), or in general are looking for an overarching theme or purpose to this blog, you're SOL. This will primarily be a blog about music, the creative process, chaos magick, odd things that pop into my head, ranting about things I loathe, and so on. In short, it will have a million different subjects, none of which are likely to be "important", and will waste your time somewhat. That being said, I'd like to think it'll be at least semi-humorous, will link to my music, won't contain bitchy little rants about people you don't know and the minutia they've done to me to make me feel especially pissy, or proselytization, whether religious, political, or philosophical (those last subjects may get laid out at one time or another, but you don't have to like them or even agree- it's *my* blog, dammit). This blog's unlikely to get updated more than a couple times a week- I've got a real life in the real world and occasionally have better things to do- and probably won't show you the way to personal happiness, improved relationships, means of influencing people, or cheats for idiotic videogames, because none of that's my job and I don't give a crap about videogames. If you like the blog, check back and tell others. If you don't, don't waste your time and mine by sending comments I won't approve that do nothing other than prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you don't have a life. I don't go outta my way to piss people off, but, hey, it happens; don't take it personally if I walk all over your personal path to enlightenment by accident. I assure you, nothing I say here is directed at you alone. This blog, first and foremost, is about my music; as such, it links (via the title) to my artist page on soundcloud.com and gives you an opportunity to know what I do for fun. I don't do this for money (well, not exclusively, at any rate), I do it because I enjoy it, and hope you will too. Anyway, more to come soon...