Yael R.

Dragwyla First North American rights

Email: Polaris93@aol.com 5,717 words
http://polaris93.livejournal.com/

New Magicks for a New Age

Volume 4: Notebooks of a Magickian
Book 1

This volume is simply a collection of all sorts of things – the text of emails, thoughts, ideas, and whatever
else – with a relationship to the esoteric Arts and Sciences that I’ve picked up over the years. Enjoy.

(From correspondence with a friend, 5/14/95):

>>>. . . A mystic rectangle has two sets of Planets in sextile, with one Planet in each of the two sets trining
one from the other. [Subject] has all his Planets included in an arc of 119+º, a close trine bounded by
Mercury in the 7th in Sagittarius in Jupiter in the 4th in Leo. To have a Mystic rectangle, he’d have to have
something in Gemini sextiling his Jupiter and something in Libra sextiling his Mercury or vice-versa, and
there are no Planets at all in Gemini. (I’ll start doing his chart in earnest tomorrow or Friday.)

Ah... they have to be planets. I was including aspects to the

ascendant, moon’s nodes, etc.

I only use them when they are in conjunction or stellia with Planets or Lights involved in this configuration.
Other astrologers might not be so timid – and timidity it is. I just flat don’t know to what extent significant
points are significant in something like that. You’re probably right, but I’ll go ahead and stick to Planets
and Planets-plus-points for now, ‘cause I have this great big streak of purest jello serene right up the middle
of my professional back. <g>

>>>Unfortunately, there are no programs for astrology that do Fixed

Stars, I have to look those up in the lists of my texts on the subject <sigh> . . .

There is one that will do some of the fixed stars, but it

might be kind of expensive. There is a low-end shareware
version of it on AOL (that does NOT do fixed stars).
Somehow, interpretive astrological software, or software that depends upon somebody else’s archives
rather than algorithms that can automatically reproduce things from basic principles, always leaves more
than a little to be desired. Fixed-Star astrology depends upon who thought which Star meant what, if
anything, so this is a matter of depending upon somebody else’s archives. Which somebody, is the
question? Which Stars are important, which aren’t? What do the important ones signify? How about
things we’ve only discovered via high-power telescopes and non-visible light telescopes, etc. since the start
of the 20th century, that could not have been seen by earlier astrologers? Etc. At some point, there has to
be a judgment call even on what Fixed Stars and other extra-Solar objects and phenomena to use for chart
interpretation, and a computer can only do that if it’s in a book somewhere. In some cases, I’m the first one
to write the book on it. So software for this that didn’t draw on my own work would be highly inadequate,
to say the least. For another astrologer, that might not be so. And I do know from experience that people
tend strongly to be drawn to just the astrologer who can get the best handle on them, astrologically
speaking. Maybe it’s a genetic (commensal viral? <g>) thing – dif’rent strokes for dif’rent genotypes, i.e.,
there are different astrological schools that work, though they contradict one another, because each works
best for a given set of genotypes or species, and the latter vary widely. We ultimately tend to find the
astrologer who does best by us because somehow we sense our “own,” that is, somebody with the right
genetic (viral? <g>) makeup, and thus someone who has been drawn to the “right” school of astrology for
our needs.

>>>that finally was appropriate by the ruling classes as part of a religious “stick & carrot” set-up to keep
the masses properly cowed and controllable. Also, it gets used to explain everything, and something that
explains everything explains nothing. “Karma is something that New Agers believe in . . . until they get
mugged.” :)

To me, Karma is an invention which attempts to refute the

existence of disorder in the world. Sometimes “bad” things
just happen to “nice” people. No reason for it... they just
happen. But people need to feel this sort of sense of justice
in the world, so they come up with the theory that the “nice”
person must have done something “bad” in the past to deserve
such a “bad” thing happening to them. It’s difficult for many
people to accept that sometimes, life just ain’t fair. Shit
happens, y’know? A scary thought. People find it quite
discomforting to let go of their preconceived notions about
some grand master seeing to the workings of the cosmos,
and that there is a reason for everything. It is helpful of
course to look upon “bad” events as teachers, and in fact
that is undoubtedly the healthiest thing way to deal with
them. But that does not mean that some wise deity set them up
expressly for that purpose due to some “lack” in our inner
nature or as “punishment” for some sinful deed in another
life. Such theories were designed to increase one’s sense of
self-importance in the infinite universe. **In short, the
notion of Karma is a psychological device for dealing with
feelings of jealousy, unfairness, fear of the unknown, fear
of an uncontrolled universe, fear of disorder, and lack of
self-esteem, and in that sense useful, but, however, bearing
no semblance to reality, and a deterrent in the search for
truth.

and I now step down off *my* soapbox :)

Gee – you must have read my umpteen dozen rants on the subject! :) (Look under “NM3FF...” for what
I’ve put on diskette so far of them, among those files I sent to you.)
>>Because all of [subject’s] Planets are contained in an arc less than 120º, bound on one end by Jupiter at
4º 6’ Leo in the 4th and at the other by Mercury at 3º12’ Sagittarius in the 7th, his chart displays what is
known as a bundle pattern or wedge pattern.

Should the woman with a grand trine in fire who travels where
angels fear to tread be more cautious here? In other words,
Venus in Scorpio, from what I’ve read, sounds scary. But “I’m
not afraid!” ... should I be? The traditionally books all say
Venus in Scorpio is selfish love, which doesn’t sound good. I
like to think of it more as emotional intensity, which
doesn’t scare me a bit. (but maybe it should?) . . .

I would say those “traditional” books come out of an older phase of our present culture that looked askance
at sex and all sorts of other things, and didn’t hold with liberated women. I think your interpretation is
much closer to the mark; in one culture, the particular expression of that placement might come out
differently than that for a different culture, but the underlying influence, I think, is just what you’re saying
here. . . .

>>>Venus in the 6th tends to be almost hysterically anxious to avoid “germs” and mess of any kind, and
because She also rules [subject’s] chart, he may have a tendency to be the sort of joyless, ruthlessly
dedicated pursuer of “health” that gives feeling good a bad name.

no, at least not that I can see. He’s very interested in

health, but he’s not joyless or ruthless about it. He’s
finicky about what he eats, but he has to be, as he has to
maintain a very controlled diet due to his disease. He tries
not to be pain about it, but it’s something he has to deal
with.

Actually, [the subject] does have Venus (conjunct Sol) in the 6th [the data for his chart was originally an
hour short of his actual time of birth]; but here, Venus rules his 12th cusp, so rather than being expressed
as an essential part of his day-to-day personality, this has to do with a maintenance program to take account
of what is probably a genetically acquired (12th House) problem.

>>He may swing from being a workaholic to being lazy and back
again, and prone to mood-swings.

uh huh.

Okay, with Venus conjunct Sol in the 12th, both in Scorpio, that might still hold. He also has Mercury,
ruler of his chart, in Sagittarius in the 6th, weak by Sign, strong by House, which could do something
similar. But insofar as it comes out in his personality (Mercury/Gemini), it would affect only his gestures,
coordination, and so on (all Mercury) rather than poisoning all his feelings and moods. The latter will still
be rather volatile, because Venus in Scorpio in 6th, already “weakened” by those placements, is also ruler
of the 12th House of his unconscious mind, Deep Memory, and connection to the Collective Unconscious.
But Her variations will not be part of his core personality, however annoying they might be to him or
anyone else.

>>>Because Venus conjoins his Sun and sextiles his Mars, Who rules his 7th-house cusp – testimony of
enduring relationships of love with others – he will probably try to involve whoever he is interested in any
phobias, hysterias, fetishes, obsessions, or compulsions he may have along these lines, as well. These
problems could be compounded by his 7th-House Mercury – or could be alleviated by them, depending
upon how he uses that mutual reception by House (Mercury in 7th vs. Venus in 6th).

>>>(There is hope! <g>)

 is it *that* bad?

Goodness, no! I was only joking. And of course with the shift in time for that chart, an awful lot of the bad
things go straight out the window.

>>>He has Vesta on the 6th House cusp. All his spiritual fire seems
to go into his work. He has Mars, Pluto, and Uranus in the 5th House, with the ruler of its cusp (oº23’
Virgo), Mercury, in the 7th. (Now that must make up for a lot! <g> The real problem with his sex-life
would be . . . keeping up with him!!)

Now Yael, you know I’m only interested in his brain! :)

Oh, it gets better with that shift in his time of birth – while Mars goes into his 4th House, leaving his 5th,
Vesta enters his 5th. So guess where all his spiritual fire goes instead of his work! <VBG> (I’d love to see
the way that brain is shaped . . . <DOLRA–EBVBG>)

>>>headache, but this paradoxical thing of feeling driven to achieve infinite amounts of work in very little
time, and knowing that the harder you try, the less gets done. I end up doing nothing at all with my motor
racing like crazy! :@ So here we go again . . .

that’s the story of my life! I try to remember the fable

about the man who had to eat an elephant and finally did it,
one bite at a time. Sometimes I remember, sometimes I don’t.

Alright. One last (but I’m not making any solemn oath)
question on my natal chart: How does Juno in 12 interpret?

Let me quote from Demetra George, in Asteroid Goddesses (she couldn’t write her way out of a checkbook
– but boy, howdy, does she give good information! <g>):

Juno in the 12th house is significant in the

karmic aspect of relationships. Often the
partnerships one magnetizes have a destined
quality to them. There may seem to be no visible
reason for the union, but underlying the surface
is an emotional power that one cannot deny. The
visible relationship is only the tip of an iceberg
whose antecedent causes go back into past lifetimes.
Yet, it is these unconscious aspects that surface
and dominate the relationship interplay. Sometimes
the partner may be disabled or ill, so that one needs to
selflessly serve and make amends to them. In
other cases the partner may be a victim, and one
learns to release them and let them evolve on
their own. Juno in the twelfth house individuals
may experience loss, denial, or death of their partner.
On a spiritual level, partnership is connected to a
desire to merge with the infinite. Where mysticism,
dreams, ideals, and yearnings are shared, this placement
can signify an ecstatic union.

(Ibid., pp. 175-176)

Now, we’re both in agreement that the concept of “karma” is both inadequate and unjust – what legislators
call “bad law,” on many counts. In some cases, yeah, maybe somebody did something to someone else and
is paying out weregild for it in this life via such service (12th House). But I believe that all astrology does
is specify fundamental biological tendencies, which are resisted or acted upon by individuals and cultures
according to their kind and circumstances. The 12th House also rules the Collective Unconscious, and if
the Collective Unconscious decides that it’s okay to sacrifice the innocent to pacify whatever ogres menace
it, by God it will – and that also will show up as 12th House matters in natal charts, synastry, and event
charts. Too many astrologers condone such things as sexual assaults on children, things that show up in the
12th House and its rulers in the charts of children so assaulted as well as in the charts of the perpetrators,
and similar evils that leave such 12th-House “paper-trails,” as something the victims deserve, the
perpetrators only helping the victims to “work out their karma.” Yeah, and there’s this wonderful bridge in
Brooklyn, you’d love it, just a steal at only $10,000 (but just for you, bhubie, I’ll sell it for a mere $5,000,
this week only!!). I think in some sense society – or maybe opportunistic thrints who have infected large
numbers of society? <g> – “looks at” the charts of newborns and “decides” what to do with them, in a
Durkheimian sense, to meet its own needs or desires, regardless of any justice or lack of it involved in such
use. Children with difficult 12th-House placements and aspects in their natal charts who are born to
members of societies that cherish all children are not likely to be victimized in this way, whereas they
would be at strong risk for it if born to members of societies that don’t cherish children in the general case.
Funny thing, societies that tend to believe in “karma” always try to wipe out or “assimilate” the ones that
don’t, which latter are also the ones that tend to cherish children (whereas the first sort don’t). Does this
mean that the “Lords of Karma” believe in child-abuse as Business As Usual when it comes to
reincarnational penology? Yeah – which means that it’s time to get rid of the “Lords of Karma,” doesn’t
it? After all, they’re the ones who decided that Mother Earth had done something so vile that Her karma
involved being killed off by ecocatastrophe (pushing this idiot idea to the limit!), aren’t they?
Anyway, stripping out the ideas of “karma” here, let’s say that 12th-House Juno probably means that
you and the other person may well have known each other in one or more lifetimes and at those times
established very strong bonds between the two of you, strong enough to bring the two of you back together
in at least one more lifetimes, for whatever reason. In addition, this may well be true of most of your
relationships, of whatever kind, for whatever reason: kin, friends, teachers, students, and so on. Juno
seems to rule commitment to relationship, period, regardless of the type of relationship. (Hmmm . . .
wonder if this is a factor in the sort of personality that tends to harbor lots of grudges for a long, long time?
“Relationship” can also mean “relationship of hate/loathing/detestation/fear/etc,” and it would be
interesting to see how Juno in 12th [or conjunct 12th House ruler, etc.] reflected that sort of relationship.)

>>>Probably something like “relationships established in past lives will be taken up again in this one.”
The House and Sign placement of the ruler of the Sign on the 12th House cusp will tell which relationships
in this life that will occur. E.g., if you had Cancer on the 12th House Cusp, with Moon in late Aquarius in
7th, likely you’d marry or have as a business partner someone with whom you had the same relationship in
a past life. If you had

Fascinating! What about Cancer on 12, Juno conjunct the ruler

of 12 (moon), both in Leo in 12, in mutual reception with the
sun in Cancer in 11?? This is the sort of thing that
frustrates me... I know it must mean *something*. But it’s
*me* so it’s difficult to look at it from a distance.

Moon in Leo can mean, e.g., professional actor or actress, or artist. You could end up having a long-time
professional relationship with someone, say, as an actress in a play directed by the other person, who has
you acting in a great number of the plays which he or she directs. Or you could even be a Gala to a mate’s
Salvador Dali, i.e., be married for life to someone who uses you again and again as inspiration for his work,
the way Dali did his Gala. With Moon (you) and Sun (he) in mutual reception, this could mean a
professional/personal partnership of the sort the Curies had, too, as original researchers, mates, lovers,
friends for life. It could also mean that you had some sort of relationship with your father (Sun) and/or
mother (Moon) in a past life – with Moon in Leo, Sun in Cancer, they might have been your children then.
This help, as far as examples go? If not, just ask, I’ll give it another try, “Kahuna Mai Tai ta!!” (“No
problem!” in Lushspeak).
>>>Extending the analogy further, you may also need to damp the reaction a bit, for your own health. In
physical reactors, boron rods and coolant (water, sulfur) are used for this. Boron has atomic number Z=5,
which reminds one of quintiles = 72º, one fifth of a circle, Pentagrams, the Quintessence, Earth. Coolant:
water. Water is alchemy. Have you ever studied alchemy? If not, have I got a treat for you! :)

I am your enthusiastic student. The little bit I’ve read in

alchemy seems so vague, so frustratingly... “what the **** are
they talking about?” kind of material :).

Okay, astrology, East and West, is the discipline of acquiring spiritual literacy via working directly with the
physical and interacting with it on a physical level. Matter is the ultimate condensation and manifestation
of spirit, and by working directly with it, one gets the strongest possible sense of the consequences of all
actions and processes on the Inner Planes of spirit (will), emotion, and intellect. Western alchemy differs
from Eastern in that it is primarily concerned with the physical plane, whereas Eastern alchemy uses
metaphors taken from the physical to illustrate the nature of the spirit, and is almost entirely concerned with
the Inner Planes (though it does have a chemical side, working with physical herbs, minerals, and so on in a
way much as the West does).
Western alchemy holds that manifest reality is composed of four Elemental aspects: Earth, the
physical; Air, the intellectual and mental; Water, the emotional and creative; and Fire, the spiritual, the
will, the intentionality of the organism. Put together via Alchemical techniques, these make up the
Quintessence (Spirit, with a capital “S, “Will of God”). Decomposed by Alchemical techniques, each of
the four yields a “Mercury,” which is actually a vaporous substance, not the metal Hg; a “Sulfur,” a kind of
oil, not the physical element sulfur, Z=16 in the periodic table; and a “Salt,” not an ionically bonded
combo of a basic radical with an acidic one (proton-donor with proton-acceptor?), but rather an ashy
residue that is one of the results of the Alchemical decomposition. When these three are Alchemically
recomposed into the “original” substance from which they were derived by Alchemical decomposition, if
that substance is analyzed according to current standard physical and chemical techniques, it is exactly like
the original – but it has very different properties than the latter, especially when used as a medicine.
The substance can be anything, though traditionally only “living” substances are used, that is, parts of
plants or animals, or minerals in “living” rock, that is, rock that hasn’t been processed by modern
metallurgical techniques. (It is one of my great desires, no kidding, to do Alchemical decomposition and
recomposition of rare earths and transuranics, to see what the results are – though of course only a teensy-
tiny little bit at a time <g>.)
There are two major types of Alchemical processing: In one, first the substance is decomposed into its
Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt, then each of these three is decomposed into its Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, then
all 12 are recomposed into the “original” substance. In the other, first the substance is decomposed into its
four Elemental expressions, then each of these is decomposed into its Mercury, Sulfur, and Salt, then all 12
are recomposed. (The decomposition may eliminate one or the other stage of these two, that is, either the
breakdown into Elemental forms or breakdown into the Modes of Sulfur, Salt, Mercury, but you get the
basic idea.)
Now: notice the correspondence here with the Signs and Houses of astrology! The Salt, Mercury, and
Sulfur correspond with the astrological Quadruplicities of Cardinal (Mercury), Sulfur (Fixed), and Salt
(Mutable) Signs and Angular (Mercury), Succeedent (Sulfur), and Cadent (Salt) Houses. On the other
hand, the Elements correspond with the Elements of the Signs and the Triplicities of the Houses – Houses
of Life (Fiery: 1,5,9), Houses of Substance (Earthy: 2,6,10), Houses of Relationship (Airy: 3,7,11), and
Houses of Ending (Watery: 4,8,12). In Qaballah, Fire is the Path Shin, associated with Key 31 and Trump
XX, The Aeon/The Last Judgment, of the Tarot, and with the Planet Pluto; Water is associated with Key
23, Mem, and Trump XII, The Hanged Man, and with the Planet Water; Air with Key 11, Aleph, Trump 0,
The Fool, and the Planet Uranus; and Earth with Key 32, Tav, Trump XXI, The Universe/The World, and
the Planets Saturn and Earth. (Incidentally, the first alchemists, engineers, chemists, metallurgists,
physicists, et al were the smiths of the world, who changed the world by the art and science of the use of
fire. Above all, it is they – and with them the alchemists – who are represented by Shin and Trump XX,
The Aeon. This Path is associated in turn with Pluto, Lord of Subterranean Fire and molten magma, the
natural form of the molten metals which the smith forges into swords, farm tools, and other artifacts, which
are represented in Chinese alchemy by the Element Metal, associated with the Planet Venus, Pluto’s
astrological and esoteric “partner.”)
I mentioned the Fifth Element, the Quintessence, which is the result of combining all others,
representing Creation Perfected. Alchemy is also a discipline by which humanity can participate directly in
the perfection of all creation, including its non-human aspects, e.g., the mineral kingdom, by Alchemical
processing of the substances that are part of them (it says so, right here, on page 23! <g>). By practicing
this discipline, we grow closer and closer to God, in theory. The Chinese know this Element as chi, out of
which all things come, to which all go: it decomposes first into Yin and Yang, which then combine to form
everything else, which then either break down into Yin and Yang to form chi or form chi combining as they
are. Chi is associated both with Saturn and Earth, but also means “the middle,” the Center of all things.
There is a Sixth Element, Chaos, out of which all things come, associated with Eris and Luna, the sub-
Lunar realms between the Sphere of Luna and the Sphere of Earth that is populated by the Qlippothic
detritus of the Spiritual Planes, the Sign Pisces, and the Ain (Nothing) , Ain Soph (No Limit), and Ain Soph
Aur (Limitless Light) out of which the Tree of Life was born. The Japanese, who inherited their
metaphysics from China, associate this Element with Void, which is the Unconscious, the great primordial,
creative matrix from which all things come, which we can’t know consciously – we can only consciously
know its products.
This, by the way, is the Element that Bujinkan ninpo taijutsu makes use of, cherishes, builds on to
produce its results – training the unconscious mind rather than the conscious mind, teaching the conscious
mind, with all its inhibitions, to get the hell out of the way and let the unconscious draw on its own
primordial wisdom to do the job. Such training is necessary to break down the inhibitions conditioned into
us by a society that domesticates human beings rather than civilizing them, inhibitions against acting in
self-defense, against drawing on the 3.5 billion years of Life’s accumulated wisdom stored in us and in
Nature at large to meet our own needs, against acting in our own best interests, in order to keep us from
trashing the aims of society/our betters(/thrints?).
I recommend the following beginning textbooks on the subject:

Frater Albertus, Alchemist’s Handbook (Manual for

Practical Laboratory Alchemy) (York Beach, ME:
Samuel Weiser’s, Inc., 1989)
J. C. Cooper, Chinese Alchemy: The Taoist Quest for
Immortality (New York: Sterling Publishing Co.,
1984)
Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi’s Essence of Ninjutsu: The Nine
Traditions. Masaru Hirai, translator (Chicago:
Contemporary Books, 1988)
Jack Hoban, Ninpo: Living and Thinking as a Warrior
(Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1988)
Hanshi Steve Kaufman’s The Martial Artist’s Book of Five
Rings: The Definitive Interpretation of Miyamoto
Musashi’s Classic Book of Strategy (Boston: Charles
E. Tuttle, Inc., 1994)
Ajit Mookerjee, Kali: The Feminine Force (New York:
Destiny Books, 1988)
Israel Regardie, editor. 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings
of Aleister Crowley, especially Book II (Liber 777)
(York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., 1983 or later)
Melanie Reinhart, Chiron and the Healing Journey: An
Astrological and Psychological Perspective (NY:
Penguin Arkana, 1989)

By the way, the books on Bujinkan ninpo taijutsu included in this list are not just intended as
advertisements for all the wonders thereof (though there is that <g>!). The philosophy that goes with it is
drawn from Japanese versions of Taoist philosophy, which is to the East what Magick and the Western
Tradition are to the West. So there’s a lot in these books on Alchemical ideas as applied to the realest of
real-life situations: deadly combat
>>>. . . It certainly is! Those “winged things with talons” [on the desk you inherited] are gryphons,
heraldic emblems of great power, and the “female lions” just maybe might could be sphinxes.

I took another (long) look at it [the desk]. There are also 2

large
circular leafy branches which terminate in what would
appear at a distance to be flowers, but are actually the head
of a bird with a hooked beak... like an eagle. I’ll look up
the leaves and see if I can identify them.

>>>Attics are sort of physical versions of the Collective

Unconscious, especially when in a relative’s home. That no one knew where it had come from underscores
that.

they are, aren’t they? Nicely said.

Well, it was kind of obvious – over the years, I’ve put zillions of things in attics and forgotten them
entirely! :)

>>>That the relative was an ancestor means it is a link to your ancestors and the Earth and that portion of
the Collective Unconscious that has to do with your ancestral roots. For you,
that desk will always have enormous Magickal power. Think of it as a kind of living being. Ask it to show
you what it has to teach you – it will find a way to do so, though at first you may not realize that what
happens is the answer to your request to it. Anything that is really Magickal for you, store in it. If
possible, take everything utilitarian out of it, put elsewhere, and dedicate the desk from then on as your
Magickal storage-place, a sort of desk-shaped Ark or tabernacle or trunk, whatever. Take notes on things
that come up in association with the desk – one more way it will have to communicate with you. Give it a
name. Ask it to tell you its name and identity in dreams. And so on. And it will give you treasures.
Enormous treasures.

I’ve been storing my collections of photographs (family stuff

:) and stamps in it, along with mundane stuff like tape and
scissors, and my grandmom’s [household hints book.”
Think I’ll keep the family stuff in it, remove the
mundane stuff, and use it as you suggest. It’s so nice
conversing with someone who doesn’t find it humorous when I
make these connections. Keeping a reasonable perspective is
important, but there *are* other aspects to life.
Thank you.

I think psychiatrists or anyone else who pooh-pooh such notions sadly miss out on a great deal of what we
need to keep us healthy. Jung was wise enough to investigate such things and pay them – and the Gods
with them – an intelligent respect. It is so sad that our culture makes light of this sort of thing. Did you see
The Madness of King George III (movie), about that English King’s battle with madness, porphyria, his
wannabe-king sons, and his own physicians? (He and George Washington had one thing in common, for
sure: idiot doctors!) In that day, there was no science of medicine as we understand it, just a lot of
opinions competing for first place as to which one got used on the patient next. Almost all those opinions
were either reflections of the opinion-holder’s own ego or were drawn from somebody’s interpretation of
somebody’s translation of a comment written in French about somebody’s tome written in German about
Aristotle’s ideas on etc all of which lost greatly in translation, as you can imagine. The studies and arts of
the mind of the “developed” West are hideously impoverished and even malefic, as the medical “science”
of 18th century Europe and England was. In this case, what is missing is an understanding of biology and
the spirit as manifest in biology, which you would think would come from religion, but isn’t allowed to –
and Western “developed” religion is just as bad in the other direction! Only the Western Ceremonial
tradition of the esoteric Arts and Sciences comes close to the sort of synthesis that is needed – and even that
falls down at this point, because it doesn’t include (a) (you guessed it! <g>) Bujinkan ninpo taijutsu, (b) an
inclusive systematization of esoteric theory and practice that subsumes all the essentials of both East and
West, the way the Theory of Relativity includes Newtonian physics but also a lot of other stuff, and (c)
good, hard, solid objective biological/ecological science, all of it, as we know these today. My 3-volume
work New Magicks, such as it is, is my poor attempt to try to fill the gap; I suppose it’ll have to do until a
truly good version turns up. <g>

Speaking of numbers, what is the meaning of Crowley’s

“4638ABK24ALGMOR3YX 24 89 RPSTOVAL” [Book 2,
Verse 76 of Crowley’s The Book of the Law]?

For all of me, it could be a recipe for fried bread! I’ve seen several different supposed interpretations of it
– and I mean “different.” Maybe Crowley’s is closest to the mark – his is based on certain ideas from
Egyptian philosophy and linguistics as well as anything else. But it could also be just a red herring. Or it
could maybe be a reference to the Declaration of Independence (notice that “Verse 76”?), and the first or
last letter of every word in such and such a clause in it, or who knows what. Somebody I heard about
turned the whole thing into straight binary code, simple ASCII text, then started dicking with it, using
various operations from binary algebra on it and turning the results back into alphanumeric code from the
binary form to see what would happen. I understand he got as far as “NAND (LOGICAL NOT/OR (verse
55 of book 3))” which came out “I had one grunch, but the eggplant over there,” and gave up . . . <VBG>
But seriously, folks . . . Tell you what: if you find somebody’s interpretation of it that convinces you right
off, would you let me know? :)

I just loved your chapter on Persephone, one of my favorite

Goddesses. The section on her and Hades/Pluto was very
thoughtful, that on her mom was amusing and insightful (it’s
about time someone said it!) and the scientific speculation
was quite interesting. At first I was disappointed that
Pluto’s moon was not named for her.. but then she does NOT
revolve around him, does she? Perhaps she will be found as a
bridge between two worlds....

I was so glad you liked that chapter, particularly for those things! Otherwise, I seem to be the only !
*MODERN* *EDUCATED* *WOMAN*! who sees things that way – the lone pariah of PCU <g>. And
no, Persephone doesn’t have a relationship with Hades like Juno does with Jupiter. She spends a lot of time
away from him, often with Hekate (did I send you my esoteric poem, “Moonlight Sonata in Hell”, about
that?), and does have a life of her own, very much so. I wrote “Moonlight Sonata In Hell” and
“Persephone’s Dalliance” (text-file DALLIANCE) and some other things about that, very steamy, but true
visions (in fact, if they really were true visions about Her and Her Lord, given Their realm, the
Underworld, and its connections with the 8th House, biology, sex, death, etc., you’d bloody well expect it
to be steamy! <VBG>). I keep my Firestar semiauto in the chest I have for the things dedicated to Her
rituals, even though the gun itself is dedicated to Mars – after all, She is Mars’s higher octave, and She
seems to be very pleased having it to practice with on the Inner Planes (or maybe track down cosmic
felons, “Mrs. Hades, we are needed . . .”? <g>). She isn’t at all dependent or co-dependent on Her
husband, and of all of the Greek Gods Who are married, seems to be truly mature, in a truly egalitarian
marriage, I should only be so lucky!! :)