Somnium Homunculi

Posted in Embodied, Introductions, Somnium Homunculi on February 8, 2010 by Ezikiel

Overview

As a guild, we focus intently on the expanded awareness and understanding of the Embodied State of being. While most of our materials will be developed and discussed with the participation of all interested members, we are not above finding inspiration and learning from the community at large.

We will be open to receive applications from all interested parties, provided they show aptitude for the Embodied awareness, and are willing to participate in no small way with a group dedicated to the understanding and expanded awareness of the Nightside community. We will open our chats, forum, and newsletter to any member of the community approved through the application process.

* Application required and S:.H:. holds the right to approve or deny any membership.

Mission of the Guild

While pursuing the edges of spirituality, we’ve come to know ourselves on a separate level of discernable reality. Because of our expanded self-awareness though meditation, realization has struck that we are something “other,” something almost inhuman under the surfaces of our material world. The Somnium Homunculi is the pursuer of greater knowledge and understanding of these dynamic personal experiences. Even though our bodies tell us that we are all basically human, our spirits soar to new and exhilarating heights of transcendent consciousness, and the Guild is a place for us to grow and learn from those experiences as we manifest this truth of self.

Using the many tools of our fore-fathers of magical and rational thought, we strive to understand in fullness the nature of our Being, and to manifest that nature in accordance with our own Will.

The Guild as a whole incorporates many spiritual and metaphysical understandings, focusing on developing and manifesting the Embodied Consciousness. While we do use theories and practices of many magical and spiritual cultures, the main tenet of the guild will be to develop a magical system that harnesses and channels our energies as the Embodied into manifestation of the Will, and Evolution of the soul. Being a LHP magical group, these will mostly be focused on higher workings of self-transformation and realization.

It will be required of membership to participate actively, and offer their viewpoint in the discussions and articles being posted. It will be encouraged (but not mandatory) to share brief glimpses into the Personal Journal work and experiences with others, and to offer essays and articles. We’re here to elevate our consciousness not only as individuals, but as a group.

Application Process

An application is required to become a part of the Guild, and any further involvement is up to the Guild administration and the applicant. The application consists of several questions into the history and experience of the applicant. Being a Left Hand Path resource pool for serious and practicing magicians, we do suggest having a bit of history with basic magical concepts and practice; however, being new to magical rituals and techniques will not cause us to deny membership.

The process for application to being recognized as an Ascended degree within the Guild is a simple petition, with proof of works accomplished. Only through hard work to understand the deeper meaning of each initiation level will each member of the Guild be able to ascend. No titles or degrees are offered out of hand. If the applicant feels that they have surpassed the teachings of their Degree, then the work that they present to the administration will be their proof of ascension to become recognized. Each ascension is detailed in the following chapter, along with the concepts behind each degree.

Guild Structure

The Guild consists of a Forum and a Group Chat. Each of the two “phases” of the guild will have several areas of interest for all members. Though there is personal work aside from the Guild and social functions, much of this is done privately, or in smaller groups.

The Forum

The Forum will consist of several areas, each with a privilege setting to make sure that the discretion of the Guild is maintained.

General Discussion:

This area of the guild is for all members who’ve completed the application process and have been approved. General Discussion would consist of introductions, reading lists, and so on.

Archives:

This area is Admin post only, where the archives of past discussions and chats, and notes on person study groups/ meetings will be for everyone of 0° and higher to read.

Announcements:

This area will be for Admin post only, to announce chat topics, times, and organize a calendar of events. Everyone of 0° and higher will be able to read.

Inner Circle Discussion:

This will be an area of 1° and higher privilege. In this forum thread will be articles, Journal entries, and more serious discussion or responses to chat archives and topics.

The Chat

The chat will be where most of the happenings go on, and the real time chat will consist of topical discussions relevant to the Guild. Only members of the guild will be invited into the chats.

The Chat will be hosted on an embedded chat host, with a URL available to S:.H:. members and staff only.

E-mail

Infrequently, it may be necessary to e-mail every member for urgent updates, or Guild-wide announcements. All members of 0° and above are required to have a current e-mail address and messenger handle to assist with this. If it is required to contact someone more directly, it is encouraged to privately exchange more personal information (phone numbers, etc.).

Specialty Contact Groups

Members of the guild may wish to have their contact information on file in a more visible locale in order to encourage people to contact them with further discussion opportunity. This contact information will be per request only, no member’s information will be posted or released without express consent of that member. If a guild member does decide to have their contact information more readily available to the other members of the guild, than they just need to ask the Admin to add their name to the list, and specify which contact information should be posted in the contact roster.

Etiquette and Rules

The Somnium Homunculi has a strict list of rules and procedures designed to increase our ability to learn as a group, and keep a respectful awareness of our Kin brethren during our interactions. As with any online community, respect and integrity will take you far.

At no point within any member’s studies with the Somnium Homunculi will any of the Initiates engage in flame wars (ignorant and emotional ranting intended to hurt, insult, or deface the character of another), either within the Guild Halls, or outside of them.

Every member is held responsible for their own actions and words. Because of the amount of trust given to our Initiates, once that trust is broken (in the form of plagiarism, or breaking any of the other above-mentioned rules) the Initiate will be dealt with according to the severity of the incident. Action may range from a warning, up to and including banishment from the Guild and all future functions.

In any interaction through e-mail, all members are expected to address someone by their title- they’ve earned it. For example:

“Dilucidimus (Last name, or preferred pseudonym),”

Participation within the Guild Functions is essential, therefore it is also out of respect for any speakers or presenters in chats to be on time for the chat, and to not talk over anyone presenting.

In the Forums, there will be no disrespectful bashing of another person’s ideas. Any confrontation otherwise will be dealt with strictly by the Administrative staff, and handled according to the severity of the remarks and or statements.

Ascension

Our guild is focused on expanding awareness, therefore we will offer the titles of Ascension as the requirements are met, and the members denote an interest in taking the titles. Only the ascended can truly understand the meaning of the titles offered, and only they can choose to use or discard them. As a rule of thumb, once a person feels they have reached the point of understanding apparent to the title, they will petition to be recognized as such by the Guild/Community. With each of these titles, it is understood that the person holding that title has done good work for themselves, and it is a title of honor. No office or power of office is extended to any of the titles; they are signs of personal achievement. That is not to say that members of the higher degrees cannot reach out to the community to guide others, or that Guild members are required to keep their achievements private.

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Otherkin

Posted in Introductions, Magic, Otherkin on May 28, 2009 by Ezikiel

I am quite hesitant to write this post. Not because of the delicate nature of Otherkin terminology/ semantics, but because every site or resource I’ve come across hasn’t helped me understand my definition of self any more than than the last. I’m one of those who are not content with how I am today, because I know that I can improve on who I am, and how I manifest my world. This journal and series of articles, among other things, is proof to myself that I am Becoming- though it is vague so far as to what that is. Even with the pedantic rambling I’m sure will ensue, hopefully this article will prove helpfull.

Otherkin

A calling of Self

While I do identify with a darker aspect of myself, calling it names is difficult. I feed as a vampire would, taking the life energy of others in order to sustain any sense of homeostasis. With out it, I become at first irritable, then downright ill with headaches, chills, an impressive appetite that never keeps me satiated, muscle pains, night terrors, and general intense unease. While I was going through these bouts of binge and such, I started to question why it is that my nature lends itself to the predatory parasitic. Not complaining, mind you- one can’t really change who they are, just trying to understand how I came to be this way, and what it means to me to understand these concepts so acutely. Firstly, allow me to divulge a little more about myself than previously.

My Otherkin nature is a mystery to me. A mere shadow, though sentient. I’ve memories of several eons (of course, these are mostly speculative, but bare with me here) where I would float from dream to dream, earning from the Dreamer. through these subconciouse travels, I learned my first thoughts, the uses of magic, and the importance of the arcane symbols. I began to understand my self through the experiences of others.

At first, I would begin as a side stepped obstacle in the dreams. I was simply a watcher on the landscape. Soon, with my new found knowledge, I was able to actively participate in the dreams of others. Not long after, I begame the gaping Maw that people would run from, and this is when I learned to nourish myself on these dreams. I remember vividly the dreams of the Fae, the Celestials (though their dreams were more akin to guided meditations than anything else), and the God-forms. From the first dream, a part of me was alive. If the gods created while they were awake, I was what they manifested in their sleep. Their Children were my playground, and I was something formless and yet cohesive.

Now, this is not to suggest that I’m “UBER PWNAGE RaWWrrR,” (clearly…) or really all that different from any other creation in the multitudes of consciousness that have existed from eons back- I was simply another of the dark children birthed from where ever it is the things that go bump in the night are. Creation mythos aside- and quite outside the scope of this article, let’s move on to the more pressing matter of how these epiphanies came about.

My awakening, while deviod of any mentoring or understanding at first, was quite problematic. Try explaining to your parents that you can see and “taste,” peoples “souls” and that you take them into yourself in order to suvive. While at the tender age of 7, I didn’t really have much more of a concept to base that on. Regardless, they didn’t take it well. Even with the advent of the internet, there wasn’t a lot of information out there 13 years ago on Otherkin, or the Vampyre community.

It wasn’t until much later, after learning how to cope in silence, did I learn of the Vampire community. Still being a minor, finding answers and getting contacts within the community was difficult, though I was able to find a few people willing to at least point me in the diretionof several good books and websites that would suffice until I was 18. This period of learning and absorbing knowledge was greatly fueled by my spark of interest in the Occult. Several of the posts so far on the Dusty Grimoire have been from practices I’ve adapted and hypothesis I’ve developed during this time.

During my studies, I learned of Psionics- mostly through Psipog.org and their IRC client chat rooms. I made myself comfortable there and made great use of their articles (which are still archived, and suggest them highly) to fuel my understandings of magic and energy work, And still use their basics of energy manipulation in my daily meditations.

And, that’s pretty much where I’m at today. I wanted to thank you all, once again, for keeping up with the Dusty Grimoire so far. Hopefully I’ve been of help or at least somewhat interesting. Feel free to message me or e-mail me at Ezikiel@dustygrimoire.com- if you have google talk even better. :)

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Ramkht and I

Posted in Magic, Rant, Wordy intellectual material on March 26, 2009 by Ezikiel

I’ve been lokoing into the more ceremonial magics lately. Though I’m certainly not tired of my Psionic theories and training, it harkens back to the new beginnings to return to the craft I once held to passionately. In many ways, I’ve been writing and developing new Rituals to express myself through. There is one instance in particular I can think of, where I co-wrote with several other talented individuals a celebration and change ritual to bring balance between the soul and harmony into the life and body. It was an amazing working, and I plan to adopt it as my Vernal Equinox trademark go to working from here on out.

Because of my almost limitless inspiration from/for Greater workings, I’ve decided to pursue it and all of it’s vested interests as far as I can. With my history of energy work, I assume that this will only help to encourage the success of the working to be much more adept.

Following in the vein of traditional magics has never interested me much, what with the heavily Judeo-christian roots that many of the Thelemic systems use. No doubt, the names were replaced by paranoid magicians who thought that to preserve the true intent of Magic as a way of life, that it could just as easily take on their new religion as well. A testament to the ingenuity of their kind, but it still peeves me that I don’t know the original names of power that predate the Judeo-christian mythos. Perhaps that’s why so many substitute their own names and semantic dogma to the same level of success. This same fact was the reason I started my study into psionics in the first place. 

“If you can easily change the names of power, and even the whole system, why even bother with all that jazz anyhow?” 

This is a question I’ve wanted to answer for many years, and after so long working “in the raw,” so to speak, I believe I’ve found my answer this riddle. Using energy manipulation, and my degree system of Psionic programming and workings, adding that to the structure and elevated emotional states of the Gnosis magics, I have found that even though my level of success hasn’t changed, but my mind is changing more readily. I’m awakening aspects of myself through Psionics, and channeling those awakened selves into a larger system though the Greater magics. I’ve been finding the tenous balance of my Right and Left hand, of my dayside and nightside. That center area of grey is my key to Xeper, I can feel it.

Of all these inspirations, I would be want without explaining how this all relates to the title of this post. The OVC (online vampyre community) generally accepts a Caste system of triumvirate work. The Ramkht, Mradu, and Kitra all have specific functions as they work energy, create a ritual space, and enact the Communion of the Ancients within the specific Houses. Each house has their own teachings, and some don’t use this particular system at all, but through and through, my exposure to the OVC has seen these three “types” of vampyre almost omnipotent.

The Ramkht caste (or road) is the Priest. They are often called upon to settle disputes between houses, act as the vessel for scholarly materials, initiate and recognize the  varying degrees of adept-hood within their house, and often times symbolized by their ability to fine tune and redirect energy and it’s purpose. They are the mystics in other words- the aspects of all things metaphysical and the knowledge of how to apply these teachings.

The Mradu caste (or road) is often considered the warrior. They are the guardian of all within the temple, protecting it from the dangers of the community. They are enforcers, swords and shields of the family. Not only are their grounding abilities key to any ritual opening and closing, but their air of steadfast strength is also key to holding the walls of the temple solid, and allowing the temple to exist because they are the anchor. They are the sentry, constantly keeping watch over the working and adding their prowess in protective magics to keep all the Nightkind safe.

The Kitra caste (or road) is the constant companion. The healer and counselor. They act as the mediates, using their ability to cycle purify the energies of any given situation to it’s fullest extent. They are the filter by which all of the sacred is experienced, channeled, and offer their services for the Ramkht to direct ad program that energy. The  Kitra are the Seers of old times- they are the channel by which all energy can be focused from and through, they are the channels of all things sacred.

While my interpretation of these roads is well researched (from what I can tell,) I’ve obviously added my own archetype twist to the castes. Resonating strongly with Shamanistic and Celtic lore (it’s in my genes, don’t hate me) these archetypes in all cultures seem to epitomize the beauty of each road, at least to me.

Now, in my own studies, I’ve often found myself as more of a Ramkht. whenever I’m doing a working in a group (which granted, isn’t all too often) I find myself redirecting and programming the energy, intensifying the intent of the ritual. With my scribe nature, I’ve got hundreds of pages of research notes and even more of journals, random essays, and articles. I’m not as much of a community organizer (mostly because the “community” at large isn’t centered in Idaho), however I do often organize discussions, meet and greets, and pow-wow of all kinds in reference to the magical community. With the at home Dusty Grimoire discussion group, we’ve had attendance of over 15 people, many new to magic, to learn and grow as individuals.

Being a writer as well (don’t laugh, I write good…) I’ve come up with several different rituals and working of my own devices. As a Ramkht, these tools are an important aspect of my Road. Ramkht are the scribes, but also the scholars. Any one magical text is an affront to the true self of the person working the ritual other than the person who wrote it. Without writing our own workings, with our own symbols, and our personal understanding of the universe intricately laced throughout the delicate bits, the magic is useless. Anybody can get up and preform the Black Mass, but true will is preforming the Greater magics from your center, from using and understanding yourself well enough to preform your ownmagic. That is true magic. That is the way to understand the objective and subjective self. That is my Xeper.

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Ritual and Goal keeping

Posted in Magic on December 27, 2008 by Ezikiel

To me, Ritual work has always been a way to signify to myself and the universe that the goal is going out, and I have committed energy to it’s stable growth and realization.

I’ve been doing research lately. That’s a far cry from my usual studies of self and meditation. I’ve been reading several books detailing the Qabbalistic rituals and the use of the tree of life in ceremonial magic. While that is proving quite interesting, it is less fruitful for me. I’ve always been a magician who implied intuition and raw energy to my workings. I never saw the need to light candles or arrange stones on an altar in order to permeate my circle with a specific intent. I’ve been trying to understand the basics of magical workings from a new perspective. It’s been so long since I had gone back and tried the “simple” workings of a magical system. I’d forgotten how different the state of mind become while you focus on the creation of the altar and arrange in the physical all the things that your rite will need. Going through and doing these rituals again (several of my own devising, in case you’re interested) I’ve noticed that my techniques of consecrating the space and tools is so different from what I’ve read. I thought that I would share these techniques with you all here, and see how many of us are doing variants of my own ideas.

When I cast the sacred space, I use vibrations. To set the parameter, instead of a ring of fire (hahaha, unintentional pop culture reference!), I feel the waves of energy bounce back at me, and begin “echoing” throughout the space. Being a more tactile person, I also feel this energy radiating, and getting stronger as I push and pull. My boundary is often only a few feet from my body, so the tangible pulse of this energy raises quickly and takes very little effort for me to maintain. Once I feel it is sufficient, I push out, shoving all of the energy that I just built to the very edge of the space and lock it down. This pushes all of the energy that was within the space out as well, clearing it.

As for ritual tools, I don’t often employ physical ones. If I need a sword, I manifest an etheric one.  Just like when you consecrate a sacred tool, the physical simply houses the spirit of the tool that you imbue it with. Classic techniques suggest a rebirth of the tool in your hands, creating something sacred from the mundane. You are essentially creating a new sword from your own spirit to use in your magical workings.  Forging these etheric tools requires the same intensity of the vibrational circle casting, in a much smaller space. The density of the energy forges the “body,” and the rhythm of the vibrations creates a harmony with your own body. Creating these tools can be essential to your ritual, or they can be used to gather experience in moving and manipulating energy; and we all know how much I enjoy making myself more adept at such things.

Doing these etheric projections, while they may seem counter-intuitive to most (why make a knife from energy when you can just pick one up?) have increased my ability to understand and shape the energies I put into my working. If there is ever a need to defend myself, I can use these projections as a warding, or to turn the tide of a conversation. Let me give you an example.

I want to make a customer who is very upset calm down. He’s yelling, throwing a fit, and won’t reason. While he is getting things off of his chest, I visualize a shield and sword in my hands. Using the shield, I’ll deflect that hostility, and using the sword, negate the energies that he’s throwing at me. I can stay calm, and he’ll get what he needs to out of himself. To make him more calm, still with the shield, I’ll begin projecting an aura of calm. Feel relaxing waves of energy radiate from me. As I’m deflecting and negating his energy, I can begin to cycle this calm attitude to him.

Using these concepts in my ritual, I get to practice my skills of visualization. Most of the time when I use these techniques, I don’t have the time to light a circle of candles, begin chanting, and building a cone of power. Learning to harness the power of my goals and intentions on the fly is (in my experience) just as important as learning to discipline your mind into a meditation and ritual schedule.

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On the Ancient and mysterious

Posted in Magic on December 12, 2008 by Ezikiel

The ancients are, by definition, old things. Gods and creatures idolised and immortalised by their subsequent generations for their qualities and ideals. Many of the Ancients I’ve encountered in text and practice have been an amalgam of  energies and thoughts from the different cultures and people that have since put thought into them. Being a part of the astral, and therefore not needing a concrete body to contain their energies, I’ve noticed that many of them have taken on a form more suitable to their liking. From Shiva’s many armed glory, to Lillith’s curvature and terrifyingly beautiful physique, the Ancients have mastered, in their own way, to harness the energies being given forth to them in order to make themselves known and retain their will in a cohesive being.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been invoking several of these ancients to fuel my meditations and workings. Having tapped into those energies to channel them into my magic has been an interesting endeavor. I Invoked Aiacos, a Greek god of judgment in the Underworld, and used his energies to make a few decisions (being a Libra has it’s drawbacks), Evoked Arachnia into a living Altar to commune with a goddess on many of life’s questions, and got some interesting tidbits of insight.

Using these energies and channeling them (either into myself, or into something else) is strange to me. The energy has a will of it’s own- allowing that will to super-cede my own and allow it to flow was a challenge (to say the least) for me. I would assume that it gets easier, with practice and time, to let something come in and commune with it on a spiritual level, trying not to impose a will onto it (Aiacos doesn’t like that one so much, I still taste rotten meat sometimes…don’t ask).

Though, with the limited experience I’ve had with Invocation and Evocation of spiritual entities, I have yet to have a scary experience, or on that didn’t prove enlightening on some aspect or another. From Aiacos, I am learning to make clear decisions, to balance the scales and find the middle path for myself. From Arachne, I’m knitting much more (Yay, presents for friends and family!) and with better conception of the finished product. Not only that, but I’m beginning to see the parallels between the web of the Wyrd (Old Norse concept, works well for me) and how we manifest out destiny. Every little loop that I pull through an old loop shapes my sock (or sweater, or skirt, or shawl, I’m not addicted) into something from a stringy mess of woolly softness, to a beautifully crafted masterpiece (don’t deflate my ego, those socks are AWESOME) of design and function.

All in all, I have found another aspect of my craft to perfect, and plan on doing much more in the near and far future.

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