Abramelin, day 235

Morning rite and noon prayer rite went well.

I can’t believe it’s taken me 235 days to finally get someone to comment on my entries and ask me what it means when I say a rite “went well”. Honestly, much of the time they are satisfying but sometimes they are not. Sometimes I am whining or ranting during these. If you go back during some of the entries I touch upon that. This has NOT been an easy couple of months besides, but a number of miracles have helped me along the way.

I dunno, maybe I need another FAQ that goes something like this:

Q: Why are you doing this rite?
A: To torture you all, my beloved minions and striped jellyfish.

Q: But what do you hope to get out of the Abramelin??
A: A sweet, sweet blog. And questions like these!

Q: But I’m skeptical, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WHYYYY
A: Because I’m here to torture you and make you ask these questions!

Q: But this I think that this rite is stupid and it won’t work waaaa
A: Then by all means, don’t do it! I don’t want you to do anything you think is stupid because that would be like stupid or something.

Q: But then WHY ARE YOU DOING IT
A: Why, to annoy you! Is it working yet?

Q: …are you making fun of me?
A: Is water wet?

Q: WHY are you making fun of me??
A: Hermes.

Day three of the new job and I’m still liking the place. I really hope this lasts! I have also learned what my hours are, and I love them to bits. I want to hug them and squeeze them and call them George.

Had some interesting insights today while pissing off all the right people (utterly unrelated to the blog comments, lol). I wanted a sign to let me know whether or not I’m on the right track and I got it, along with a bit of a revealing test. I have no idea if I “passed” or not but I do know that how I react to things now is NOT how I used to react, and I consider that a bonus. I’m not yet where I’d like to be but I’m definitely not where I was, and for that I am super extraordinarily grateful. I commented about this to my friends last night. I am so honestly grateful to not be where I was at the start at this rite let alone last year to the point of tears.

 

Evening rite went well. 😉

 

Abramelin FAQ

I’ve been getting a lot of questions since I started, so I’m going to do what I’ve been talking about doing and am finally doing an Abramelin FAQ. I will update/correct/add to it as needed.

 

Q. What is the Abramelin? Is this some sort of medical procedure or something?

A. The Abramelin rite comes from a book called The Book of Abramelin by Abraham the Jew and is an intense spiritual and magical operation designed to put you in contact and essentially unite with your Holy Guardian Angel, often abbreviated as HGA. There are currently two translations of the work, one by MacGregor Mathers, one of the founding members of the Golden Dawn, and another recent translation by Georg Dehn. The Dehn one was based on a more complete surviving manuscript and details an 18 month operation versus 6.

You can read more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Abramelin

Q. What is the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA)?

A. You will get somewhat different responses to this question depending on who you talk to. Some say that it is the equivalent of your higher self; based on my own experiences I would vehemently disagree. I think that the HGA can assist you in connecting with your higher self but that they are not the same thing. Nor should it be confused with a “supernatural assistant” who can run errands for you. Closest analogy I can think of, honestly, is the notion of the agathos daimon or “good spirit” among the ancient Greeks. As always, YMMV.

Essentially the Holy Guardian Angel accomplishes what it says it does on the tin; it’s your holy (sacred) guardian (protector) angel (divine messenger). In achieving knowledge and conversation, you will have a far greater chance of success in terms of spiritual and magical evolution, accomplishing the Great Work AKA your True Will, etc.

Q . What is this “knowledge and conversation”?

A. It’s a lovely euphemism coined to express both unification and communication with your HGA. Many people achieve the “C” in K&C (knowledge & conversation) and confuse it with the full deal. I myself was guilty of just that for years and like (an uneducated) virgin, it’s really hard to tell if you don’t know. “Knowledge” refers to knowledge in the Biblical sense; the unification is essentially a hieros gamos or sacred marriage between you and your HGA. For some this is subtle in experience, for others not so much. People tend to think it’s a single event and you’re done, but the reality is more that when you “achieve” it, it’s the first step of many and is an ongoing process. Same is true for simply achieving “conversation”…obviously. 😉

Q. Is the Abramelin text available to read online?

A. The Mathers’ translation is. You can find it here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/

Q. Are you doing the Mathers version or the Dehn version?

A. A bit of both, as I’m using both versions for my working. I’ve essentially “signed up” for the six month version but with the intent of going longer if it needs to take longer. I’m about getting this done right and completely, and not about the speed or length of time in which I do it.

Q. Are there other accounts of people’s experiences with the Abramelin?

A. Yes, there are. One excellent one is After the Angel by Marcus Katz and Lon Milo DuQuette. There are other works out there either in blogs or books, but some of those books are out of print. Google and you will find. 🙂 Another good book that just came out is a limited print release by Nephilim books, a collection of essays entitled simply Holy Guardian Angel. If you want to buy it, I recommend doing so ASAP before they run out as they’re only printing 500 copies. I own it myself, and it’s incredibly good. I highly recommend it.

Q. Do you plan to blog your entire experience or just part of it?

A. I plan to blog as much as I can based on time, comfort level, and what my HGA deems appropriate. So far I have found it to be immensely invaluable, and I hope others will find it useful as well.