3rd Grade, Week 1: Pendulum divination

What is a pendulum?
Pendulum is some object on a piece of thread, normally used to find how straight vertical surfaces are.

This object can also be used for divination, simplified procedure is that you grab the piece of thread, place the pendulum into the air, you ask questions and the pendulum swings in certain manner to give you answers.

Many people buy pendulums meant for divination, these are usually made from stones or crystals with a small chain attached to it. Trust me that you can use any object you desire as a pendulum, whether a ring on a piece of thread or a long hair. Important aspect is that the object is heavy enough to affect the thread (too light object and a human hair will hardly point down)

Charging the pendulum
To charge the pendulum to be ready for Magickal practice simply remember what you have learned about the Vital Force during previous grades. Pump the pendulum with the VF with intention to use it for divination, that's it.

You can also cast Sigils to charge it or use any other way you find suitable. Or you can omit the charging for good, after all, Magickal tools are charged by the use, as well.

Practising with the pendulum
Draw a cross on a piece of paper. On both ends of the horisontal line write NO. On the both ends of the vertical line write YES.

Grab the piece of thread of the pendulum between the index finger and thumb of of your leading hand.

Place the pendulum just above the center of thecross you have drawn.

If you are sitting, your elbow should be rested on the table.

Use your other hand to support the hand that holds the pendulum so there is no shaking that would affect it.

Command the pendulum to swing in the direction of the YES line (your hand must not move), then command it to stop, then to go in the NO direction, then stop it again.

Keep practising this till the movement is fairly visible and consistent.

Using the pendulum for divination
To use the pendulum simply place it above the YES/NO cross, let it rest and ask a yes/no question, swing of the pendulum will be your answer.
Always command the pendulum to stop between different questions so answers are't mixed and confusing.
Also if you don't like the answer don't ask again, that would be just stupid and could force the pendulum to tell you only what you want to hear instead of what you want to know.

Just a quick note: don't take pendulum too seriously (don't take any divination method too seriously), use it rather as a recommendation than some written-in-the-stone-truth.

3rd Grade, Week 1: Black mirror creation

What is a black mirror
Black mirror is a divination tool used for scrying. It can be used for telling future, seeing past, distant places, performing invocations and evocations, distant healing or reality manipulation.

Maybe the first scrying mirror used was the surface of a running water (eg a river). Later a black bowl filled with water was used, black reflective surface maximizing the effectivity of the mirror.

Water was later replaced with a glass, which was called a solid water and many people believed it has the same spiritual qualities as the water.

What do I need to create my own black mirror?
-picture frame (round ones look better but it really doesn't matter)
-black mat spray paint

Remove the glass from the picture frame and spray paint it black on one side. Make sure the surface of the paint is regular and there are no weak spots, it must be consistent.

After the paint dried, return the glass back to the frame, painted side should be on the bottom. This makes a nice reflective surface on the top. You can also avoid painting the bottom side of the glass by putting black colored paper inside the frame, but the painted glass looks better.

Alternatives
We already named the river's surface and black bowl filled with water. These are two alternatives for the black mirror described here.

Another alternative is the Cagliostro's mirror:
-crystal glass is filled with water and a candle is place behind it so the flame is visible through the surface of the glass. You then gaze into the flame to obtain visions. This alternative is good because it doesn't require much charging for the mirror to be functional but generally solid mirror is better for transportation and is ready to use anytime when it's charged. Cagliostro's mirror or any water based mirror must be prepared and charged before the operation, wasting the precious times and it also tends to become annoying over time.

Fluid condenser
Many people use Magickal fluid condensers, which simplify charging and makes it more stable (mirror without condenser discharges faster over time of not being used). Condensers are usually solid (eg dust of gold and silver mixed together) or there are fluid based condensers made from the mixture of herbs. This one is usually applied on a piece of paper hidden within the mirror.
Theoretically you can also use a sigil as a condenser but unfortunately I have never tried this idea in practice, maybe I will change it before this grade is officially published.

Working without a condenser is fully fine, just keep in mind that your working with the mirror will have to be much more consistent.

Third grade: selected topics

So, this is going to be the third and final grade of the curriculum.

Hopefully I will finish it before April so then I can fully concentrate on the Armanen runes magick.

Week 1:
--black mirror creation and alternatives
--pendulum divination
--alphabet of desire
--basic format of the rituals

Week 2:
--charging the black mirror
--magickal prayer
--preparing own incantation
--eyeless evocation

Week 3:
--how to recognize a spirit's presence
--basic invocation
--dream invocation
--evocation through smoke
 Week 4:
--first scrying evocation: Anael
--magickal chain
--shadow evocation
--physical manifestation of spirits

Week 5:
--basic planetary correspondences, positives and negatives
--remembering planets and calculating planet hours
--planetary correspodences on the tree of life and implications.
--planetary intelligences

Great joy

Yesterday my long lost brother contacted my mother, I haven't seen him for long 3 years.

And the news are even better, yesterday I have become an uncle. I will love to see his face when I tell him he is an uncle for last 2 years :-D.

May God grant long life and solid health to him and his daughter :-)

Boring

I guess my 48 hours cycles start to be a bit boring now, so rejoy, this is a bit different.

Yesterday at 1AM I made a decision to go to sleep and avoid another needless two days day. To make sure I will be in the office on time I replaced my usual before-sleep procedures with simply "I will get up at 5AM" litany in hopes that my body is still able to be set up for the 4 hours sleep cycle I used to have while living in my oratory.

My subconsciousness translated the affirmation in its own way so today I woke up at 5:50AM (yes, it was still 5, sorta), but what's funny thanks to this I recalled the dream I had when I used this techniques a couple years ago.

Set up is as a following: there is a giant hole on the road and I am traped inside, trying to jump from obstacle to another one and trying to reach higher and higher obstacles to get out of the hole, during that my wife appears and tells me I have to wake up while I immediately wake up. Some of you might have already figured it out, but yes, I had the exactly same dream while using the exact same technique to modify my sleeping cycle and woke up in shorter amount of time than desired and with a really interesting symbology:

-hole, being trapped somewhere
-trying to reach the top, trying to escape, but escape what? The hole is symbol for the sleep itself, escaping the hole means finishing the sleep cycle
-my wife's image as an security mechanism to push me out in case I don't escape the hole in time, this is my litany in action, using only person that can influence my actions to accomplish its goal, its reason of existence.

Surprise

Surprisingly enough, I have survived today without any problems. No real sign of tiredness, just like I was fully ready. It seems that my body adapted to the 48 hours cycles and my mind was as good as fully awake.

Getting used to it

Yet another 48 hours day...

It's amazing how much work one can do if he omits the luxury of sleep. I got finally my computer fixed (used my super old version of Slax to download new Knoppix and used the new Knoppix to install Debian), I also did some basic rituals, chopped some wood, stored some new plywood I recently acquired, cleaned the horse stables, cooked, did some Sigil work to fix my car (successful) and prepared what to do today in the office. The idea is that if I manage to do my work now in the morning I will be able to spend the afternoon on Youtube, therefore avoiding that "bored and tired as hell" stage of sleepless days.

Fortunately my relaxation exercises partially replace sleep :-D