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  • Weekly Astrological Forecast for December 30, 2024 through January 5, 2025

    December 30, 2024 through January 5, 2025

    A Capricorn new Moon occurs on Monday, setting the tone for the last few days of the year and promising new beginnings in 2025. Transitioning from the old to the new will inspire us to take action to address unfinished business to clear a path to the future. New ideas for success will be prominent under Wednesday and Thursday’s Aquarius Moon, as the sign of innovation inspires us to think outside the box and explore alternate routes to our goals. Venus will move into Pisces on Thursday, spending the next four weeks awakening our interest in all things spiritual and metaphysical. It seems 2025 could be the perfect year to start expanding and honing our intuitive and psychic skills! And with the Moon traveling through Pisces the remainder of the week, this is definitely a time to focus on the desires of our souls and the longings of our hearts. Happy New Year Everyone!

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  • The Power of Pathworking

    The Power of Pathworking, by Simon Court

    (Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

    I always wanted to be a magician. From an early ag,e I knew that was the way for me. Not your rabbit from a hat prestidigitator nor vanishing cabinet illusionist. No. I wanted to be a real magician, a student of the magic arts. But where to start and what indeed made up those magic arts? I found The Magician, His (sic) Training and Work, by W.E.Butler.

    Aha. "Magic is the art and science of making changes in consciousness according to will," I read. Here was a definition I could take on board. And from these first readings I was led to The Mystical Qabalah, written by Dion Fortune. In the back of this book was a brief discrete note that the Society of the Inner Light offered courses. So, this fortuitous chain of events led me to those who offered training in what I wanted to do.

    The journey began, first with that Order and then with The Servants of the Light when the Society withdrew from teaching. What made this so wonderful for me was that back in those days, the middle of the last century, there was very, very little published on the topic that was from a reputable source.

    But, no matter where my studies took me, that first definition of magic remained my touchstone. It guided my learning, both in the occult arts and in more usual skills, skills more closely related to making a living and developing my own life, needs, preferences.

    In the course of this I found another aphorism that resonated: "What is above is like what is below, but after another fashion."

    Studying above and below in terms of supposed "Planes of Existence," the finer ones stacked upon the most physical of everyday outer experience, led easily and logically to rephrasing the rule as, "What is without is like what is within." This is in terms of the one being derived from the other. I had learned that the outer world is a manifestation of some inner forces or principles, so I decided that the inner and outer nature of me, of people, was exactly the same, built upon the same dichotomy and relationship.

    It followed that what we experienced in our meditations flowed out through our changing self into the changing world of effects. And so it was that I came to pathworkings.

    My first pathworkings and fantasy journeys were specific individual journeys to experience principles, thoughts, feelings on the inner that would flow out as changes to the way I related to the outer.

    When the "New Age" mind-and-manifestation people did their inner visualizations to obtain an item in the world it often worked. But, it did not work because their inner mind power had created or manifested that item in the outer. Nor was it because their inner work had attracted the item to them. It was because their inner work had led them to see details they might have missed, to sometimes choose between options with values changed by inner work, leading them down different paths to those that would otherwise have been taken. They achieved the objects of desire by the interaction of their changed inner nature with an unchanged outer world. Their work did not lead the item desired to them. Rather, it led them to the item. A new harmony between within and without had been created.

    This is magic.

    And this is why the great writers of the last century emphasized inner change, changes in consciousness in accordance with will.

    It was not long before I fell in love with the Pathworking method and studied and worked towards building an integrated set of workings that would address different aspect of my inner nature, my imaginings, my thinking and the dynamics behind my decisions to action.

    After some time, some experimentation, some testing, and some research, I had built a structured intertwined set of pathworkings to address how a person presents in the world of their experience and to give that person subtle control over their world of both action and thought. I assembled these into a book, The Magic of Pathworking.

    I read somewhere that, "the beginner magician takes his (sic) armor off when the battle has just begun." I cannot find that reference now. It may have been Aleister Crowley. The magical task of restructuring the inner self to no-fuss archetypal principles is like putting the sports clothes on before the event, perhaps even before warming up.

    If we want to see events in the world unfolding according to our inner nature, then the first task would be to synchronize that inner nature with reality, to bring inner and outer into accord. Once in accord an examination of where inner thoughts, feelings are heading may well give an indication as to where outer events are heading. Once inner and outer match, then reading the winds of change within may give clues to the winds of change without.

    And this brings us to magical ritual.

    Ah. The regalia. The accoutrements. The barbarous words and phrases of power. A wand, cut at the right time from the right tree, lovingly shaped and inscribed with mystic symbols. Barbarous words of power in a long dead language. An old magic mirror, bought at auction.

    No.

    You will find that all magic is performed on the inner. Outer regalia and tools serve only to help the mind set the scene. Outer movements and spoken words assist others of a group to synchronize their inner working, which is where the real magic takes place. My priestess and I make the three circumambulations to open the circle for our group. What we are really doing is ascending a spiral staircase together in the turret of a castle. Or sometimes we are walking a circular track up a conical hill in the centre of a plain. All our group participants are in the same inner reality.

    One of my teachers said that a group of magicians could perform a rite while riding on the subway. Magicians can perform, and have performed, rites in the same inner space while physically scattered across the globe.

    Magic takes place on the inner. And the technique used for this is exactly the same as pathworking. I have set this down in a new book that is just about ready for submission. Some might say that I am giving away secrets here. Well, the second book on magic I acquired was written by Dion Fortune, and she was wont to say: "The greatest secrets of magic can be shouted from the rooftops, but only those with ears to hear will hear."

    But why do we do these things at all? To gain power and riches? To bend others to our will?

    Perhaps some do.

    I happen to think that the true worth is changing oneself in ways that let those positive changes within flow out into reality, lifting it. It is a "rubber sheet" theory. If you take a rubber sheet with the edges fixed in place and pinch and pull one point upward, other parts are also pulled upwards to varying degree. If the magician rises, they pull up others with them.

    I say "rising," but only by means of illustration. A better fit is the idea of a journey, a quest, and the distribution of benefits or a return with the prize.

    What is it all for? This brings us to mysticism.

    My mysticism is always Quest-and-return. The Qabalistic magician might ascend the Tree of Life in their magic, the way of evolution, later to descend the way of involution, bringing back the Prize to make it real or available for others and themselves. The Quest is a fundamental theme in human tales going back into the mists of time. It appears in those modern science fiction tales where the hero, gender irrelevant, alone or in company, attains something that benefits all, or saves the Galaxy. And it occurs in the stories handed down among the First Australians, some going back well over 20,000 years. A quest or task, pitched against trial and adversity, to achieve a prize, not for self but for community, local or global. And often with this is told the price of failure. Or misuse.

    Among many Europeans, and especially those of British origins, the Quest of Quests is that of the Grail. This is why I have prepared a work of pathworkings that take the practitioner in the steps and through the adventures of the knight Percival. The attaining of the Grail and the just as important return of the Grail's mystery to the kingdom of everyday life are foundation themes in European cultures.

    And this takes us beyond.

    For the Grail is but one expression of something fundamental embedded in human nature—the Quest. Be it the Grail, lost treasure, artifacts on a distant world, lost treasures in this world, the ancient Teacher in the Himalayas, the unattainable lover, the Beatrice, the Dulcinea, El Dorado, Shangri-La, and so many more, it is the attainment of the unattainable object or person of desire. It is the Impossible Dream made real.

    The idea that this is fundamental to human nature is a subject of mysticism. All magical study and practice leads to this goal. And it all boils down to some quite simple principles: lost and found, separation and reconciliation, exile and homecoming, and more.

    In the quests there is the start, the goal, and the journey between. This is followed by the return that is the resolution of the opposites. These are three parts, the two poles and the between. The between may be a path or a barrier.

    There is here a core theme of human existence. My current work is not a set of pathworkings. It is a presentation of the many different forms of this foundation principle. Each chapter addresses an aspect of separation/reconciliation, such as exile/homecoming, personality dissociation/reintegration, separation of lovers and their reconciliation, the Fritz Perls empty chair/two-chair tool, and much more.

    It is written in two styles to present the resolution of poetry and prose into a whole meaning. Then the resolution is wholeness, and resolution occurs at the boundary. The boundary that initially separates becomes the solution that unites.

    The mid Twentieth Century jazz pianist Thelonius Monk, who had a Middle Eastern musical background, once said that he would play two adjacent notes to hint at the quarter note between them. So this work consists of chapters in two parts, a grail motif in a poetic story form together with a psychological exegesis on the theme, with references to supporting academic literature. This work is current, nearly complete in story, note and reference form. I hope this little essay has given some idea of what I am about and what I am attempting to say. But more than that, I hope it has been useful in its own right.

    May your travels be rewarding.

    Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2020. All rights reserved.

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  • Double Vision: Are Hypnogogic Images Psychic in Nature?

    Two years ago I started meditating. I've had visions I experienced during meditation come true, and quickie visions or thoughts I had while awake come to pass. I've realized that I'm clairvoyant, though so far this is nothing major - just the occasional prophetic dream, vision, or sense of when things will happen. I'm highly imaginative, can visualize anything, and am a strong empath. For many years, I've noticed that as I'm falling asleep, I'll have these very quick but clear images or visions. I'll hear and see a scene just as if it were a clip of a movie or a commercial. There are many of them and then I'm awake again, remembering the images. This happens within a minute of me turning the light out and also when meditating. Then my eyes slide open again, so I'm not asleep yet I'm not awake. I heard once that the name for this is hypnagogic images. Of course, the scientific theory is that it has nothing to do with psychic information, though many people claim otherwise. Is this a common experience? Is it clairvoyant information? If so, what am I to do with it? I was born 5/21/68.

    Kathy

    Astrea:

    People born on your birth date are especially gifted in the very ways you describe. Being born on that Gemini/Taurus cusp makes you three times more receptive than most of us because you have both of your Gemini twins and your Taurus to weigh and evaluate the things you see and hear on a psychic level.

    If they take the time and use their energy wisely, most cusp people prove to be very psychically adept. This comes from having more than one personality perceiving and evaluating the things they psychically pick up. Tuning in is the hardest part, but the Taurus in you should be able to quiet the Geminis enough so that you can get to the bottom of things.

    Between the time we are awake and the time we fall asleep, our minds enter that hypnogogic phase. At that time, we lose touch with waking reality and move into the world of psychic vision. Everyone experiences this but not everyone notices or learns how to consciously work with it.

    Many people may disagree with me, but based on many years of experience, I NEVER discount things like those images you receive no matter how trivial they may seem at the time. Even if a specific situation or event isn't revealed clearly in those momentary visions, something can always be gleaned from the things we mentally see as we are falling asleep or waking up.

    I experience these sorts of visions more often right before I wake up, which is fortunate, because it makes it much easier to write them down right away. I assume you're saving yours on paper too. It's extremely important to record those visions so that you can learn how to use them to your best advantage.

    Since the things you see in those moments tend to come true, it would be wise to expand upon them by stringing them together so you can figure out what they're trying to tell you. Even the tiniest thing can be important in the big picture of your life, so write down everything you see under the assumption that everything is valuable.

    Sometimes it's better not to ruminate too much on the MEANING of things, and to allow insights and understanding to come about naturally. You'll learn to sort things out as more information comes in, and soon you'll be able to string whole visions together from the tiny gleanings you receive from day to day.

    *****

    Susyn:

    The period between being awake and asleep is known as the alpha state. Powerful insights, visions and psychic messages tend to appear during this stage of consciousness. Though scientific theories may try to explain these experiences away, most of the visions we perceive during this state can't be dismissed as meaningless because they often prove accurate.

    Though this is a common experience, most people pay little attention to it. Now that you've become aware of it, the accuracy of your visions should increase.

    One of the most powerful experiences I had during an alpha state came in the form of a dream in which I was talking with my mother who had died a few months before. In this state, she called me on my cell phone and we carried on a conversation. I was very aware that she was calling me from the spirit world, and could actually feel the phone pressed up against my ear.

    When our conversation ended, I awoke and could still feel the phone against my cheek, but when I went to reach for it, it wasn't there. I realized right away that this wasn't a dream, but rather an experience in which she was able to communicate with me. I asked her if she was all right and whether she could call me or if I could call her on my cell even though she'd passed away. I was awake but not awake, and profoundly moved.

    Your emotional state is one way to identify if what you are experiencing is a dream or clairvoyant vision, for normally, these events will create strong emotions that stay with you throughout the day.

    You can develop this gift by recording the images you receive and monitoring how often they come true. As you do, their frequency may increase. Once your subconscious mind and spirit guides realize you are paying attention, more information will come. As you work with these messages, your abilities will increase, which will make it easier to determine if you should share your insights with others or keep them to yourself.

    Continue to develop your meditation abilities, and watch for evidence of astral projection, another practice that tends to arise from this alpha state. This is just the beginning. As more of your psychic powers emerge and you continue to awaken, the transformational process you're involved in will point you in a clear new direction.

    Astrea:

    Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

    Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

    While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

    I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

    As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

    I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

    You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

    Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

    A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

    You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.

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