महा शिवरात्रि

Weekday:

dies Ueneris

Śukra vāsara

Haeney

Prickle-Prickle

Date:

Chaos 59, 3180 YOLD

Ab-ba-e 29

Moon of Stellar Clarity 7

ante diem XV Kalendae Martii MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.

Anno IVxxi æræ legis: ☉ in 10° ♓, ☾ in 3° ♓

9-Ocelotl 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli

Anthesteria/Dystros 29 in the 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad

Parmouthi 9, 1412 years after the last Pharaoah

Mīna 29 of Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode

27 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, year 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

Yesterday was Maha Shivaratri.  I've never actually done any work in Hinduism, so I didn't actually have much of a clue whatsoever of how to celebrate the day.  Nonetheless, it is the most important day of the calendar to Lord Shiva, and one of his 1008 names is a mup deity (Ardhanarisvara, Shiva and his wife as one, vertically hermaphroditic), so I had to do something.  Names are a big deal for muppets, of course.

I ended up taking my cues from the Wikipedia article on the holiday.  I also tried to RSVP to SHARANYA's Amavasya Satsang which happened to be last night.  SHARANYA became communi of the ἐκκλησία Αντινοου in 2010 and I have thought ever since that they would be the ones to introduce me to Hindu work.  Unfortunately, they had a private thing eclipsing their satsang, so I'll have to go another time :-(

So, Wikipedia.  Wikipedia mentioned that many people fasted for twenty-four hours to observe the day, followed by meditation through the night.  And, of course, washing the lingam.

I hadn't fasted since college, when I would fast every Thursday out of a desire to play with that particular altered state of consciousness.  Later in my college career, I had done 4- and 5-day protest fasts which were absolutely amazing.  I had forgotten how difficult fasts could be when you're out of practice, and how much of a rest the brain comes to while fasting.

Yesterday's fast forced me to see how depressed I've become, and for that I am grateful to Ardhanarisvara.

I spent much of the day intermittently searching for my lingam.  I never fully moved into this apartment (and now I think I'm finally going to move out soon), so all my stuff is still piled in boxes and mess in my room, including my very pretty lingam.  I was unable to find it, unfortunately, leaving me a in a tiny bit of a quandary.  Until I realized that I have a lingam with me at all times and, even better, it is particularly apt for Ardhanarisvara work, as it is part of a male-assigned body that's changing into an estrogen-dominant body.

So, after night fell, I ended up in my room, masturbating myself to erection and then washing said erection with milk and purified water, amidst the light of a candle (as I have no lamp to light) and the smell of incense, chanting the only mantra for Ardhanarisvara I know: AUM AIM HRIM KRIM ARDHANASHVARAI NAMAHA.  I did this for an hour, interspersed with twenty minutes of just chanting, sometimes looking at a picture of the deva-devi, sometimes eyes closed and eternal, and eventually turning out the lights, too.

Chanting, chanting, the words echoing in the universe of my lungs, rippling cosmogonies across time, my flesh melting/dancing into fractals, ineffable regions of my brain unlocking.  I'd never chanted that long (and I had to take a lot of breaks; the longest I spent chanting in one go was ten or eleven minutes), but I quite enjoyed it.

And right at the moment my fast finished and I was about to get up and break it with some food, I put out the candle and dropped like a stone into sleep.

Seriously, I had never had that kind of an immediate, stark break with wakefulness.  In fact, it didn't even seem like I was falling asleep, more like I was being fallen asleep, like Ardhanarisvara wanted me elsewhere and I went.  I wish I could remember my dreams.  Woke up feeling crazy refreshed, though.  It was one of the best sleeps I've had.

What I don't say is for Lacuna: some disjointed words on a few of my deities

Weekday:

dies Mercurii

Budha vāsara

Chwar Sham

Boomtime

Date:

Chaos 57, 3180 YOLD

Ab-ba-e 27

Moon of Stellar Clarity 5

Idi Februarius MMDCCLXVIIab urbe condita

Anno IVxxi æræ legis: ☉ in 8° ♓, ☾ in 3° ♒

7-Malinalli 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli

Anthesteria/Dystros 27 in the 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad

Parmouthi 7, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh

Mīna 27 in Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode

25 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, year 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

Today is another day without any festivals for me to observe, so I thought I would talk about some of my gods.

First, though: I'm still looking for a list of Nahua (Aztec) festivals that pins them to dates in the tonalpohualli or xiuhpohualli.  I want this most especially for the Nahua festivals, as the count of days was their primary form of divination and any ritual calendar pegged to a calendar other than the Nahua one would, I fear, miss the point.

That being said, Q of The Elven Table asked for some more information about the Beast with Flowered Horns and the tzaddikim shel haShem.  I also recently ended up writing a nice paragraph or so on why I have included Azathoth in my pantheon that also relates to the Beautiful Bithynian Boy and to the Zep Tepy bit of the ritual structure I posted earlier, so I thought I'd include that as well.

Damn, I can sound pretty fucking boring when I wanna, huh?  Allow me to clear the air with a tiny bit of awesome:





And, as I promised for every day without festivals to celebrate, the divination of today (7-Malinalli 1-Miquiztli):

"Day Malinalli (Grass) is governed by Patecatl as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. This day signifies tenacity, rejuvenation, that which cannot be uprooted forever. Malinalli is a day for persevering against all odds and for creating alliances that will survive the test of time. It is a good day for those who are suppressed, a bad day for their suppressors.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Miquiztli (Death) is ruled by Tonatiuh. This trecena signifies the vast cosmological forces at play in the lives of human beings. These 13 days are all influenced by transformative powers of unknown dimension, origin and intent. The days of this trecena often pass by unnoticed since they are not remarkable until the elementals turn their attention to this place, the first of the thirteen skies; when this occurs, though, the whole of the world changes. It is during these days that the song of the Old Ones may best be heard. These are good days to fulfill old obligations; bad days to go back on one's word."

Now a little word on inventing your own gods!

As the Beast with Flowered Horns once put it, willfully mangling a Quentin Crisp quotation: "We all come into this world, not existing.  Everything else is drag."

One of the issues that I have run into with other folk who profess an immanent view of divinity and body primacy is an enshrinement of biological essentialism.  If, they think, divinity is entirely here and if, they think, we should listen to biological processes and our own bodies first and foremost and if, <judgmental muppet>they don't think (cause this is the part where they haven't done the work)</judgmental muppet>, what is divine knows what is best for us, then obviously we can derive what is right and proper from base biological facts.  mup takes a differnt view, and all three(+) of the deities has something to say about that.

Hmmm, maybe I should start with Azathoth, then . . .The blind idiot god at the Center of the universe.

It's (part) of why I often tell the cosmogony with another of my gods, Antinous, as the "creator". Antinous, see, was a verifiable, historical being BEFORE he created the worldand the history in which he lived.  At the Center of the universe, at the bottom and beginning of all causal chains, is recursion. All sets are defined by their elements. Things are caused by their own effects. Cycles are the truest causa causans, recursion the primum mobile.  If this is at the Center of things, what better image for that than Azathoth, the blind idiot god among the nuclear chaos?

The tzaddikim shel haShem (the saints of the Name) are parts of the soul.  Small little, fairy parts of your soul, which is why they must be discussed in terms of groups rather than individuals.  There are so many of them.  They are part of your soul, but they are also not yours.  They exist at your skin, at your ixtli (your face -- your character, how pwople can know you), at the borders and boundaries and crossroads between Self, Other, and All.  In mup, we call those the lands of Just, Or, and And, respectively, and each is ruled by a guru-archetype (in order: none, the bimbo, and the autist).

You have one group of tzaddikim shel haShem for each of your names.  That's one reason why muppets make such a practice of collecting names.  I, for example, have the situation saints, the sad saints, the wave saints, the silly saints, the bimbo saints, the craft saints, the princess saints, the reptilian saints, the weird saints, and the whole saints.  Everyone has the wild saints, which are the saints of all the names you have not yet acquired.  All of these saints are what does the work of your magick in the mup conception.  Their acting is your yollotl (your heart, the part of you that desires and moves), but at the same time remember that they are not fully you.  They're also everyone and everything else, but that's a whole other post on mup's queering of the Self.

Can you spot the pun in the name of these gods?

The Beast with Flowered Horns is what you/we already are and what all this spiritual work is intending to achieve.  The Beast with Flowered Horns is the muppet standing in eir power, possessed by all the mup gods,  with eir tzaddikim shel haShem dancing and playing on eir skin.  The Beast with Flowered Horns is the accidental active, mindful, and intentful presence and participation in the experiencing of things.  The Beast with Flowered Horns is that quality which is common between imagination and Will.  The Beast with Flowered Horns prefers the fairy pronouns fey, fem, fear, and fierce. 

Fey might be the same or similar to the kia; more research is needed.

More evidence that I need to improve my social networking skills

I think I learned why Diuus Imperator Antoninus Pius was giving me such a hard time when I was trying to read with him in honor of his adoption by Diuus Hadrianus Caesar today.

I hadn't realized that Calpulli In Xochitl In Cuicatl, the calpulli I've danced with off and on since, oh, November (maybe? linear time is weird), had been planning to dance la ceremonia de Cuauhtemoc, who was the last tlatoani of the Mexica people.  He was born on Feb. 21 and hanged by Hernando Cortes on Feb. 28 at the ripe old age of 26.

As soon as the first permiso started, I realized why it had been so difficult to bring Diuus Imperator Antoninus Pius down earlier in the day.  He wanted to stand beside Cuauhtemoc as two emperors, of mighty and numerous peoples, accorded the same and equal honors.  I should have realized!

In honor of the great tlatoani Cuauhtemoc and in deference to Diuus Imperator Antoninus Pius's wishes, I present you with the tlatoani's last speech, in his language, in the language of his descendants, and in my language (why?  Because words fucking matter, that's why):

"Totonal yomotlatih
Totonal yoixpolih
iuan zentlayohuayan
o tech kahteh
mach tikmatik manka okzepa uala
man ka okzepa kizakin
iuan yankuiotika tech tlauilikin
mach inoka ompa kah miktlan maniz
manzanueliui tozentlatikan
totechtechokan iuan tozolnepantla
tiltlatikan nochi intlen toyolkitlazohtla
ki hueyi tlatktiomati
man tikin pohpolokan teokalhuan
tokal mekahuan totlachkohuan
totelpochkahuan tokuikakalhuan
man mozelkahuakan tohumeh
iuan man tochan zakua
kin ihkuak ki xouaz toyankuiktonal
in tahtzinzin iuan in nantzintzin
man aik kikuakan kimilhuizekeh
itelpochhuan iuan matechnazkech mo
pipilhuan inoka nemizkeh
uel kenin yoko xin axkan totlalzoh anauak
in tlanekilizihuan tlapeluilliz in
tonech toltilliz uan za ye
nopampa tokenmauiliz iuan tokem
poliuiz oki zelihkeh totlachkatzintzinhuan
iuan tlen totahtzinzin auik
yolehkayo pan oki xi nachtokatech
toyelizpan axkan tehuan tikin
tekimakah in topilhuan
amo kin ilkauazkeh kin nonotzazkeh
kin mopilhuan
uelkenin yez kenin imakokiz
iuan uelkenin kiktzon chikahllauiz
iuan uelkenin kiktzon kixtikin iueyika
nehtoltiliz inin toltlazohtlalnantzin ANAHUAK

Nuestro sol se ocultó,
Nuestro sol se perdió de vista
y en completa oscuridad nos ha dejado,
pero sabemos que otra vez volverá
que otra vez saldrá
y nuevamente nos alumbrará,
pero mierntas allá esté
en la mansión del silencio,
muy prontamente nos reunamos
nos estrechemos
y en el centro de nuestro corazón
OCULTEMOS
todo lo que nuestro corazón ama
y que sabemos es gran tesoro,
ocultemos nuestros recintos de la energia,
nuestras escuelas, nuestros campos de pelota,
nuestros recintos para la juventúd y
nuestras casas para el canto....
QUE SOLOS QUEDEN NUESTROS CAMINOS
y que nuestros corazones nos encierren
hasta cuando salga NUESTRO nuevo sol.
los papacitos y las mamacitas,
que no olviden conducir a sus jovenes
y enseñarles a sus hijitos mientras vivan,
como buena ha sido hasta ahora
nuestra amada ANAHUAK.
Al amparo y proteccion de nuestros destinos
por nuestro gran respeto y buen comportamiento
que recibieron nuestros antepasados
y que nuestros papacitos muy
entusiastamente sembraron en nuestro ser,
ahora nosotros, indicaremos a nuestros hijos,
no olviden informar a sus hijos,
como buena será, como se levantará
y como bién alcanzará fuerza....
y como bien realizará su gran destino
esta nuestra amada madrecita tierra.... ANAHUAK!!!

Our Sun has gone down
Our Sun has been lost from view
and has left us
in complete darkness
But we know it will return again
that it will rise again
to light us anew
But while it is there in
the Mansion of Silence
Let's join together, let's embrace each other
and in the very center of our being hide
all that our hearts love
and we know is the Great Treasure.
Let us hide our Temples
our schools, our sacred soccer game
our youth centers
our houses of flowery song
so that only our streets remain.
Our homes will enclose us
until our New Sun rises.
Most honorable fathers
and most honorable mothers,
may you never forget to guide your young ones
teach your children, while you live
how good it has been and will be.
Until now our beloved Anahuac
sheltered and protected our destinies
that our ancestors
and our parents enthusiastically received
and seeded in our being.
Now we will instruct our children
how to be good
They will raise themselves up and gain strength
and as goodness make real their great destiny
in this, our beloved mother Anahuac."

AUE, UIUE, DIUE IMPERATOR ANTONINE PIE!

OMETEOTL, CUAUHTEMOC!

Adoptio Diui Antonini Pii Diuo Hadriano Caesare

Weekday:

dies Martis

Maṅgala vāsara

Se sham

Sweetmorn

Date:

Chaos 56, 3180 YOLD

Ab-ba-e 26

Moon of Stellar Clarity 4

pridie Idorum Feb. MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.

Anno IVxxi æræ legis: ☉ in 7° ♓, ☾ in 18° ♑

6-Ozomahtli 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli

Anthesteria/Dystros 26 in the 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad

Parmouthi 6, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh

Mīna 26 of Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode

24 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, year 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

Compared to the glut of festivals yesterday (which will happen occasionally in this practice), today has been relatively simple: only the adoption of Antoninus Pius by Dius Hadrianus Caesar.




I originally tried to come up with some sort of appropriate reconstructionist ritual to honor him, but I was having a helluva time pulling up even the smallest bit of useful information.  Does anyone know of any good sources for the practical details of the imperial cultus?  Or a good reconstructionist pagan imperial cultus?

What I eventually did was dig up the one book I have that even remotely touches on the subject, Rituals and Power: the Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor by S R.F. Price and did much the same thing I did for Saint Doctor Dame Anna Mary Bonus Kingsford.  This time I opened with the Obelisk and then, having lit a candle and poured some cherry Coke to the diuus imperator, I sat down to read the book.

For some reason, it was incredibly difficult.  I kept jumping off to find the primary sources Price mentioned, only to be unable to find them at all!  A similar thing happened when I went looking on the Oakland Public Library's online catalog for works cited.  The best reason I could come up with from the ritual side was that, though I had called out to Antoninus Pius to read with me, I hadn't actually chanted the "Ignis corporis infirmat, ignis sed animae perstat" until I realized about halfway through the ritual.  I have also considered that Antoninus might not like me or even that my anarchism prevents the imperial cultus from being a juicy part of my practice.

Perhaps the most accurate reason is simply that I had spent about 5 hours by then awake and sitting on a chair in front of a computer, and my energy levels were suffering as a result of the lack of direct sunlight, fresh air, and motion.  This is certainly a thing I need to address.

Regardless, I read for about an hour and then devoked the Obelisk and libated Antoninus Pius's cola out front on the edge of the street.

Today is also the day I return to the calpulli I've danced with on and off for the past few months.  I've spent three weeks away from them during the lead-up to Pantheacon and this is my first time back.  I will be spending some of the scant money in my wallet on chocolate for their altar.  Danza Azteca is really fucking hard for me, for a lot of reasons (including, most especially, the fact that I have long lacked both physical and musical intelligences) but that struggle is part of the gift of the dance.  The motion and the sweat of the dance is given to whichever god I'm dancing in the moment, but the tlazolli (the shit) of my own internal struggles and shame and fear?  That goes to a mup goddess, Tlazolteotl.  It's why I'm there, after all.

Festival of Eating Onions for Bast, Πανκρατης και Πανπροσδεξια, and the Birthday of Heru son of Aset

Weekday:
dies Lunae
Soma vāsara
Du sham
Setting Orange

Date:
Chaos 55, 3180 YOLD
Ab-ba-e 25
Moon of Stellar Clarity 3
ante diem III Idi Februarii MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.
Anno IVxxi æræ legis: ☉ in 6° ♓, ☾ in 3° ♑
5-Itzcuintli 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli
Anthesteria/Dystros 25, 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad
Parmouthi 5, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh
Mīna 25 of Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode
23 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, year 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

Well, today had quite a few festivals on the docket! In addition to the three above, H. P. Lovecraft began "The Whisperer in Darkness" today and August Derleth was born today. Neither is terribly central to the reason for my inclusion of Lovecraftian festivals to my tonalamatl (which is my work with Azathoth), so I might try to read "The Whisperer in Darkness" before I sleep tonight, but I'm not going to stress about it.

Still, three holidays for me to celebrate!  AND I served my sir for nine blessed hours today as well.  I kind of wish I could blame the all-in-one, relatively light ritual I did to honor the festivals on the timing, but that would actually be a lie.  For whatever reason and however, I knew from this morning that I was going to celebrate all three as a birthday feast, gathering three friends or potential friends (Pankrates, Panprosdexia, and Bast) to celebrate another friend's birthday (Heru).

Having a total of $17 to my name today, this was going to be a bit of a challenge.  Luckily, my apartment had onions, honey, and a can of green beans.  I popped over to the dollar store to buy another can of green beans, two cupcakes, and a package of birthday candles.  I was ready to go.

I got home and prepared the kitchen, but didn't do any actual prep work.  I invoked the Obelisk of Antinous, because, crossroads of the gods that he is and I am through him, the Beautiful Bithynian Boy is the mutual friend introducing the gods and I.  As I described in an earlier post, I didn't read the capstone as is traditional ekklesia practice, but instead used the formula from the Sumerian semi-reconstructionist temple in which I work.

Despite my roommates playing a video game and watching Heroes in what is essentially the same room, I felt immediately the numinous Temple around me, calm and ready to work my magick.  I chopped some onions and sauteed them in butter and honey (honey for Panprosdexia and onions for Bast).  Once those were ready, I added the green beans (legumes for Pankrates).  I prayed the whole time, calling out to the three and inviting them to the birthday feast.  Several times I noted my speaking not really being mine to control and a sense of them there (it is stronger yet as I type this).

With feast cooked, I skrunkled everything off into my room and sat and ate, while typing each of the three guests' names into Google and reading/posting what came out, posting to Facebook as I did so.  I then lit a birthday candle on one of the cupcakes, read the third chapter of Liber AL uel Legis, and sang Happy Birthday to Heru, son of Aset.

I then devoked the Obelisk by performing it in the reverse order, gave the offering to what holy beasts would have it and sat down to write this post.  It was only until I started this paragraph, though, that I remembered to perform the VSLM.  I suppose the giving away of the food and the typing out of the events was part of my uotum, both of which make large amounts of sense (even dollars, if you think about it!)

Was this proper reconstructionist ritual?  Hell, no!  Was this proper ritual in any of the traditions upon which I draw?  No!  Well, okay, maybe, 'cause Discordianism, but still!  I wish it had been a bit more high church, I do, but it was all I could do to finish it before midnight, and near as I can tell right now, the gods were happy with it.  *shrug* Who knows?  I could be wrong.  They might change their minds.

But this is what I did and this is what I got.  Bed now, please!

mup Ritual

The weekday is:

dies Solis

Ravi vāsara

Yak sham

Prickle-Prickle

The day is:

Chaos 54, 3180 YOLD

Ab-ba-e 24

Moon of Stellar Clarity 2

ante diem IV Idi Februarii MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.

Anno IVxxi æræ legis: ☉ in 5° ♓, ☾ in 19° ♐

4-Atl 1-Miquiztli  2-Tochtli

Anthesteria/Dustros 24 in the 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad

Parmouthi 4, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh

Mīna 24 of Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode

22 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, Year 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

So, the personal book of days is almost complete for the months of February and March.  I'm filling it out month by month, maybe two by two, so that I don't get bogged down in that kind of spiritual busywork (a common problem of mine; see my Antinoan Spiritual Exercises of a couple years ago).

The only thing left is to add in the Nahua/Aztec festivals.  Unfortunately, all I've been able to find so far are calendars that match the festivals to Gregorian dates, which feels unsatisfying to me.  I'd much rather have a calendar listing the festivals in accordance with their timing in the tonalpohualli (the "count of days", the 260-day sacred period) or the xiuhpohualli (the "count of years"; the 365-day calendar), because I worry that the ones tagged to the Gregorian calendar are going to miss something that I (as a white person) am not going to see.


Today, it turns out, is a day without any festivals to remember!  I had thought, for a second, as I was adding the festivals from my good friend PSVL's ritual calendar for eir worship of Antinous and related divine beings that the Terminalia would be celebrated today.  Looking it up on Wikipedia, however, informed me that it was celebrated on ante diem VII Kalendae Martii.  PSVL has tied eir celebration to the commonplace Gregorian calendar -- a highly reasonable proposition that certainly makes things earlier! -- and 7 days before the first day of March in that reckoning is, in fact, today (as the Romans counted inclusively).  However, today is actually ante diem IV Idi Februarii, which is quite some time BEFORE the Terminalia, so no festivals for me to celebrate today!

 

That leaves me two things to write about today.

One will, I expect, be a regular feature of this blog.  The Nahua tonalpohualli is not merely a calendar, but it also functions as a divinatory system.  Each of the day-signs has its particular energy, in resonance with one of the teteo, and each of the trecenas (13-day "months") has its own particular energy, in resonance with one of the teteo.  The combination of the two gives an almost unique character to each day.  Accordingly, I will post the details of the day's energies in the tonalpohualli on those days when I have no festivals to celebrate.  I am certain that other systems, such as the Thelemic system which reckons everything by the signs in which the sun and moon stand, have something similar.  Anyone wanna help me learn that, as I am (slowly) learning the tonalpohualli?

Today's energy is as follows:

"Day Atl (Water) is governed by Xiuhtecuhtli, God of Fire, as its provider of tonalli (Shadow Soul) life energy. Atl is a day for purification by subjecting oneself to the ordeal of conflict. It is a good day for battle, a bad day for rest. Water brings out the scorpion, who must sting its enemies or else sting itself. Atl is the day of the holy war, which is always a battle with one's own enemies within.

The thirteen day period (trecena) that starts with day 1-Miquiztli (Death) is ruled by Tonatiuh. This trecena signifies the vast cosmological forces at play in the lives of human beings. These 13 days are all influenced by transformative powers of unknown dimension, origin and intent. The days of this trecena often pass by unnoticed since they are not remarkable until the elementals turn their attention to this place, the first of the thirteen skies; when this occurs, though, the whole of the world changes. It is during these days that the song of the Old Ones may best be heard. These are good days to fulfill old obligations; bad days to go back on one's word."

So, cosmic shifts and changes that sneak up on you and then change everything, keeping to all one's old obligations in the midst of an ordeal of conflict?  And I'm holding a heart circle for my former employers, Planting Justice, today.   Well, woot.

The other thing I thought I might talk about today is mup ritual.

This is actually somewhat shockingly difficult to talk about for three reasons.  First, mup is most certainly not Wiccanate, but like many pagans, I had the Wiccanate ritual structure imprinted on me pretty early on.  Resisting the gravitational pull of that early training has made constructing ritual structures difficult, to say the least.  The second is that I consider mup to be "my undertaking perpetually" but also to be a sort of post-graduate degree.  I have not the experience in these numerous traditions I want to draw from.  I am honor-bound to draw from them in full knowledge of their context and meaning; else I am just another white girl willfully misunderstanding the ways of another culture.  Without that knowledge, I always feel very nervous about presenting any kind of ritual structure for mup.  The last is the very nature of mup magick.

I did a spell recently, to increase my self-reliance, self-sustainability, and self-sufficiency,  It ended itself a little bit earlier than I had planned to end it, but it was still very effective.  And it didn't involve one bit of chanting or calling directions or asperging and charging or meditation or any of it.  I attached a bowl, a mug, and some silverware to my belt and for a month, those were the only things I used to eat and drink.

I cast another spell a little earlier.  I determined that I had not fully developed a yollotl, a heart, the part of you that moves and wants in Nahua thought (as discussed by Miguel León-Portilla).  So, I took a new name, my tenth: Gandalfina Ixtliyollotl Face-and-Heart.

This blog is a kind of spell as well.

If we are to take to heart the immanence of divinity, if we are to truly and deeply view everything as sacred and holy, then magick is like breathing, it's like seeing.  To the Beast with Flowered Horns, every action and sight sparkles with the tzaddikim shel haShem dancing their fairy dances and doing their fairy work.  Most mup magick, most mup worship and devotion and prayer, is nigh indistinguishable from daily life.

That being said, there is a place for "high church" rituals and I do have a love for them.  I haven't quite worked out all the specifics of mup ritual, though; it's very much a work in progress.  And as I write this, I can feel the desire growing in me to maybe start a mup group in the East Bay.  Anyone wanna join?  Maybe help me work out the details?

 

What I do know is that there are two very important ritual roles in mup that I have yet to see anywahere else in the neo-pagan world: the Waldorf and the Statler.  These two ritual roles have the job of heckling the ritual.  I used to say that they mocked the ritual, but I think heckling is the better description, as the purpose of heckling is to increase the energy and the power of the situation.  The one time I led a mup ritual, my friend Rameen (now Ghagiel and in between Tanuki and all three of those at once) was amazing at this work!

I mention the Waldorf and the Statler first to make it really clear that all of this structure that I'm about to describe can (and should) change at any moment, including in the middle of the ritual.   The following is just one vision, one imagination of how to do it.  It doesn't even incorporate all the influences I would like it to!

Before any other rituals can be undertaken, the first step is to reset the clock, as it were, to call in the Zep Tepy, the very first moment of the world, the Big Bang.  One practitioner steps forth, ideally standing before a full-size black mirror or some other representation of the obsidian void of space.  E is greeted with a chant of "Aue, Aue, Antinoe," repeated three times or as many as is necessary.  E then reaches out to the mirror or whatever and two practitioners, one holding a bowl of salt water and the other a bowl of fresh, say together, "In the beginning."  And then the respective practitioners: "Tiamat, the salt water," "and Apsu, the fresh water," and then together again, "mixed their waters, and the Universe was created." 

That brackish water, the in-between queer reed-marsh water, is sprinkled in part upon those assembled and then remains available for use during the work.

Some sort of pole is then stuck or stood in the center of the space.  Copal is lit in the copal burners.  The huehue drums begin.  The Obelisk is invoked, according to the custom of the ἐκκλησία Αντινοου, east then west then south then north, maintaining rotational symmetry the whole time.  Those who hold the copal trace quartered circles at each direction while the text chanted and the vowels intoned.

Instead of reading the capstone of the Obelisk, however, comes the Sumerian chant: "Zi dingir ana kanpa.  Zi dingir kia kanpa.  Ina abzu.  Ina niiru.  Ina zumru.  Atamë petababka.  Kakama!" (transl.: "Spirit-god of sky, remember.  Spirit-god of earth, remember.  Through the darkness.  Through the light.  Through the body.  Gatekeeper, open the way.  So mote it be!")

And then whatever work needs to happen happens.  This will, necessarily, vary for the rite at hand.  One important aspect of mup magick, however, is that some element of the purpose of the rite should be determined randomly in the midst of doing it.  This is vital to achieving the necessary state of silliness.

One important element here, however, is the giving of offerings and sacrifices.  Should these be a part of the work, the "ins and outs" must be minded.  First to be invoked and first to receive offerings is Pombagira, the lady of the seven crossroads, as she it is who will deliver the axé of your offering or sacrifice.  And after the offering/sacrifice, whatever portion was given to the deities and not eaten is to be left on Tlazolteotl's offer, as she it is who gains the remains, the left-over, the shit.  She it is who is the cycle of decay and she it is who is the ugly parts.

At the end of that work, the Obelisk is devoked in a similar fashion but in reverse order, though the Sumerian (which is first now) lacks the "Atamë petababka".  And the final action is performed by every practitioner: while tracing a V in the air, they chant, "uotum soluit libens merito" and they do the same while tracing an S and while tracing an L and finally while tracing an M.

Banish with laughter and the rite ends.

Διασια

Well, that's done.  I don't think I quite hit the mood called for in the ancient texts (στυγιωτης: Στυξ-like, gloomy chill).  Being that this was my first home fire offering, my mood had more to do with fear and worry than anything else.  In the process, I did set off two deparate fire alarms in the apartment, having to pause the ritual to flap at them until they shut up.  However, this fear has a certain, wholly separate resonance to the River Στυξ, I would think.  Though surviving Greek texts don't record the sort of fear of the afterlife that, say, many Christians express -- depicting the underworld more as a bleak expanse of grayness and boredom -- I imagine that image of the afterlife must have provoked not a few fearful feelings!

Regardless: the Διασια ritual.  I went out and bought a small packet of animal crackers to give to Ζευς Μειλιχιος as the ancient texts say that cakes in the shape of animals were given to him on this day.  Ζευς Μειλιχιος is a chthonic aspect of Ζευς, one more associated with the ground (and beneath it; this is Ζευςin the form of a Πλουτος, a wealth god of mined preciousnesses).  Which means that his sacrifice is a holocaust, one in which the wholeness of the offering is given to the flames.

A little unknowledgeable in the fullness of Greek reconstructionist ritual, I simply lit a fire of paper in a saucepot and began talking to the god.  I hope to do more in the future, but right now my goal is to do something for these festivals.  The perfect can be the enemy of the good (or in this case, the at all), as they say.  I spoke to Ζευς Μειλιχιος, asking three things of him:

1. That I might soon find myself in a healthy living situation with a stable financial situation to support it.
2. That any curse that I may have upon me and that the μιασμα of any crime (known or unknown) that I might bear be removed.
3. That I do well in my observance of these holy days.

All these things I asked of him by my remembrance of his ancient festival and by the loveliness of Antinous, who walks when I walk.

After offering the animal crackers, I poured some milk into the fire, as a wineless offering is traditional.  I then let the active flames burn down, before covering the pot and putting the fire out.

The Feast-Day of Gnostic Saint Doctor Dame Anna Mary Bonus Kingsford

Pungenday, Chaos 53, 3180 YOLD

Ab-ba-e 23

Moon of Stellar Clarity 1

a. d. V Id. Feb. MMDCCLXVII A.U.C.

Anno IVxxi æræ legis; ☉ in 4° ♓, ☾ in 5° ♐

3-Tochtli 1-Miquiztli 2-Tochtli

Anthesteria/Dystros 23, 1st year of the 698th Olumpiad

Parmouthi 3, 1412 years after the last Pharaoh

Mīna 23, Vijaya, 5123 years since Śrī Kṛṣṇa returned to his eternal abode

21 Rabīʿ ath-Thānī, 6763 in the Yezidi calendar

Third Quarter Moon (9:16)

One of the two festivals to be celebrated today is the feast day of a Gnostic saint, which is a Thelemic feast day.  I actually don't see her name on the list of Gnostic saints given in Liber XV now that I check (I got the festival from this liturgical calendar), but I am very glad to have ritually met this OTO initiate.

Not having done any actual work in Thelema yet (despite Hoor-paar-kraat's place in mup), I didn't feel an actual ritual was called for so much as getting to know some of the ideas and reaching for an understanding.  In this way, I magickally met and introduced myself to the Saint Doctor Dame, and listened for who she is.

That being said, just reading a text in and of itself, though holy and sacred isn't fully a devotional act, as my good friend PSVL has noted though I'm now having trouble finding that post (I will edit it in when I do).  Accordingly, I pulled on some Antinoan ritual, the Εκκλησία Αντινοου being the context in which I've performed/been present for the most work with the dead.  As I lit the candle I was using to call her in, I sung/chanted the usual Εκκλησία prayer for the dead: Ignis corporis infirmat, ignsi sed animae perstat (repeat as necessary) -- The flame of the body may diminish, but the flame of the spirit sticks around.

Sitting at the chair before the computer, still chanting, I found myself saluting the directions with the candle by an odd order.  I first raised the candle to Above and then lowered it to Below.  Following that, I extended it to my Left and then my Front and then my Right and then my Back and then a simple circle in both directions before me for center.  The circle in both directions is, partially, something I've picked up from doing danza Azteca.

I then poured Saint Doctor Dame Kingsford a small glass of my cherry Coke, which I was sharing with her, started the timer, and begin reading the book of hers that is thankfully available in full online, Clothed in the Sun.  Her being a saint in the tradition of Thelema, I read for 93 minutes, ignoring all else but the book, the time, and the occasional copypasta or a document so I wouldn't lose anything.  She insisted that some of that copypasta go to Facebook as well.

93 minutes of reading dense and obscure reports of spiritual visions is fun, but a little taxing (especially when it's just on the edge of your normal thought-patterns in such areas).  I found myself very excited in the beginning, with heavy OMG moments as I read various parts of her text, and then stretching out with a mind somewhat harder to penetrate with new ideas as time went on.  I never quite hit "TQ: Full", though, and that naturally lessened some near the end.

Twice more, Anna desired that I giver her more cola, including the last swallow.  Twice more, I gave it to her, including the last swallow.

When I was done, I lifted the drink, rather than the candle this time, and thanked Anna for reading with me.  I told her I hoped to see her again, maybe in my dreams (I'm curious as to how she will womanifest in my dreams if she should choose to so visit) and then used the drink to thank the directions in the reverse order in which I had invoked them: Center, Back, Right, Forward, Left, Below, Above.  I chanted the Latin again as I blew out the candle.

On an inspiration, I poured out the cola in a line at the threshold to my apartment (there's a slight step, so it all stayed outside), chanting more Εκκλησία Latin.  This time, the chant was. "Haec est under, haec est unde, haec est unde uita uenit."  I think the urge was to create a door by which honored ancestors could enter with the living.  The possible dangers thereof are obvious, hence the chant:  "This is whence, this is whence, this is whence life comes."  Only those spirits who will bring life may enter!

What the Hell is This?

I have lots of names: Christopher Douglas Salvatore Hughes, flurp, Gaius Ualerium Tristissima Liber, Staci Everheart, Grok Amiri, et alia laughing and weeping, Wizard Lizard, Princess Teacup, Pope Uncommon the Dainty, Gandalfina Ixtliyollotl Face-and-Heart, and all the names I have yet acquired.

And I'm a muppet.

That is, it's an exoteric non-secret that I chose the syllable mup as the name of the religion I've been creating for the past decade or so in order to be able to call its practitioners muppets.  Because Jim Hanson died for your sins (not really).

mup (which aggressively refuses to capitalize itself) draws on a wide variety of traditions, taking a sort of post-reconstructionist praxis, in which a very strong grounding in historical knowledge and understanding is required before going off and doing something crazy.  It's also a complex thing, still in flux and still in creation, which is kind of the point of this blog, really.

The most important altered state of consciousness to mup is silliness -- which is VERY distinct from humor.  You can easily have a silliness that's not funny, just as in classical understandings panic (πανικον, from the name of the god Παν - Pan) is the altered state of consciousness that arises when one is lost after moving through the fear.  This blog, however, is about a very different altered state of consciousness, one which blends and merges with ontology, with how one moves through the world.

It is my intention to celebrate all the holidays, festivals, and ritual observances (or realistically, as many as I can) as possible for all of the traditions from which mup draws its pantheon.  Which is a lot.  In this way, I seek to recognize every day as sacred and holy, though differently so every time.  In this way, I work to break my brain open that I might see the divinity of all that is and dance within it, every breath thick with the numinous.  In this way, I am and will become the Beast with Flowered Horns.

To this end, I have begun compiling a Book of Days or tonalamatl for myself, to know the ebbs and flows and tides of destiny through the days and to know what needs celebrating when.  You can see and comment on my work here.  Much of what I have compiled has been a little bit thrown-together, so if anyone has any informatoon on these home traditions of my deities, I would appreciate learning more.

The fifteen mup deities (and their traditions of origin) are as follows and I am too geeky NOT to put them in their original scripts where possible:

• Antinous (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) - Ἀντίνοος,
• Ardhanarisvara (Hindu) - अर्धनारीश्वर
• Azathoth (Lovecraftian)
• Eris (Discordian, Greek, Roman) - Ἔρις
• Hermaphroditos (Greek, Roman) - Ἑρμαφρόδιτος
• Heru-pa-khered / Harpokrates / Hoor-paar-kraat (Egyptian, Greek, Thelema) - Ἁρποκράτης
• Inanna (Sumerian) - 𒀭𒈹
• Melek Taus (Feri / Yezidi) - ملك طاووس
• Pombagira (Congo / Ifa / Umbanda)
• Tlazolteotl (Aztec)
• the Beast with Flowered Horns (I made fem up)
• brahman (Hindu)
• Deep Reality (Robert Anton Wilson's philosophy)
• Lacuna (I made up)
• tzaddikim shel haShem (I made them up)

Does anyone know how I might be able to type in hieroglyphics above?