Color your own Tarot, Part 1

Over at the OFS-Demonolatry forum, someone posted a link to an Amazon.com page that had color your own tarot deck on it. That got a few people thinking and a community craft project of coloring, or creating, your own tarot deck was started where everyone could participate and show off what they were doing. I'm going to show off what I've been working on here as well.

Yesterday, I printed off a version of the Vacchetta Tarot deck on 110lb. white card stock. I also printed a design I found on the reverse sides. You can find the Vacchetta deck here:

Now I just have to raid my wifes art supplies to get some coloring pencils! Here is what I have done so far:



I'm planning on picking a few primary colors for each of the suits and then go into more details for the major arcania.

I trimmed the cards tight to the lines but now I'm thinking I should have left a border. Not only would this look better but it would also allow me to round the corners with a corner punch. I might have to re-think what I've done so far or maybe just treat my current deck as a prototype.

Belial Amulet

I'm working through an exercise where everyday I'm meditating on a different Demon to see which one resonates with me the most. I started Thursday with Belial and had a very strong experience that inspired me.

On Friday, I spent the day making up an oleum to Belial, as well as starting on a shrine and making an amulet. I went with polymer clay for the materials for the amulet and so made a shopping trip to the craft store to buy some supplies.

I have to say that the polymer clay aisle was very intimidating to the uninitiated but after about 20 minutes of staring, that which included 5 minutes of running after my youngest child, I settled on a product. I bought 2 different colors of 'Sculpey III', Chocolate and Leaf Green. I also bought a copper metallic ink pen, some hemp cord, a gloss and a brush for the gloss.

This was my first time working with polymer clay and I had a lot of fun. I broke off about a quarter of the chocolate color and a quarter of the green and started to mold them into a disk. When I got what I wanted, I took a blunt pencil and indented the sigil of Belial on it. I fired it per the instructions on the packet of clay, then filled in the indentation with the metallic ink pen. I then brushed on the gloss, got really unhappy with the results and started again.

This is my second attempt:



I didn't put on any gloss this time.

I'm happy!

Making an Oleum, Version 1

I've already made up a base earlier and so I wanted to finish it off an make an actual oleum. Due to the up coming holiday I wanted to make oleum of Leviathan so I gathered the ingredients, tools and that made up base.



The dry materials consisted of sea salt and calamus root. I grounded the calamus but didn't bother grinding the salt - it is salt, I don't think I could get it finer.



I added everything to the double boiler and boiled it for about 15 minutes:



I then strained it through a fine mess strainer:



The mix in the strainer still looked like it had a lot of oil still in it so I put it into a clean, dry rag:



and squeezed it:



then I strained it some more:



I then added tincture of benzoin to the oleum to add to its shelf life:



Next was bottling time:



And the finished product:

Making an oleum base

I tried my hand at making some oleum for the up coming Second Rite of Leviathan. I thought it best to first make the base and then later make the specific oleum for Leviathan. I figure I won't make a lot of the oleum of Leviathan which will leave me enough base to make different oleums later.

I went with Base #1 from The Complete Book of Demonolatry since I could easily gather all the materials that I would need.

First I gathered my tools; a double boiler, since I would be heating up oil on the stove top; two 2 cup measuring jugs; a fine mess strainer; a mortar and pestle and a suribachi; some 2 dram bottles and some mason jars.



Next I gathered all the herbs I needed.



Since I was using some root I thought that it would be best to grind it up in the suribachi. It was tough work and I didn't powderize all of it, but I thought it was enough.



For the rest of the ingredience I just mashed them in the mortar. I don't think it was really necessary since they were pretty ground up to begin with.



I added them all together in a cup and mixed them up before adding them to the double boiler.



I then added a half cup of Grapeseed Oil. I went with Grapeseed since I've read it is a better oil to use, but I'm sure olive oil will work fine.



This is what it looked like when I got the herbs and the oil mixed:



I boiled it for about 15 minutes before straining the oil into a clean cup:



I didn't get a lot of oil from this so I put the strained herbs back into the double boiler and added more oil, and boiled the mixture again. I did this about 3 times in total. I have about 1 cup of once strained oleum base when I was done.

I wanted to strain it some more since there was some sediment sitting at the bottom of the cup.



I strained it a few more times, cleaning the strainer each time and then finished by straining it through cheesecloth.



When I was done, I was pretty happy with the end product. It doesn't smell oily at all but more like the herbs that I used to make it. This picture makes it look greenish but it has a more reddish tint to it.



I'll make the herb mixture for the oleums that I want and add the base to it, then boil it. I'll let you know how that goes!

Tincture of Benzoin

Tincture of Benzoin is used to prolong the shelf life of oleums and so is an important product to have on hand. Usually 4 drops per 2 Dram bottle or 2 teaspoons per cup is enough.

I wanted to try my hand at making it for myself and so followed the directions that I found in The Complete Book of Demonolatry:

1 part Benzoin
3 parts alcohol

Now all I could find was Benzoin Gum:



Since the baggie contained 1/2 oz I figured I'd just add the baggie and 1 1/2 oz of Vodka in a mason jar.



I don't think that was the best idea since this is what it looked like:



I thought that maybe if I has added the alcohol first and then the benzoin I'd get better results. So, I went to Shaddow Domain, the local occult store, and bought some more. When I got home with it I decided to see how much volume was in the baggie of benzoin. It turned out that I only added the same amount of Vodka and not 3 times like I should have. I fixed this, then added more Vodka and benzoin to the jar and this is what it looked like:



Dismayed with this I thought that maybe I would get a better product if I blended it. So I did and then strained it before putting it back into the jar.



A far better product! It did however make shit of my blender that took me forever to clean. The benzoin gum powder makes very gummy gum when mixed with anything liquid.

Anyway, next time I think I will just buy the tincture of benzoin already made up

Demonic Enn Pronunciation Guide

Since I wrote the Enn pronunciations for the Nine Divinities I wanted to create one for the Dukante Hierarchy, so here it is. The pronunciations, found spelled out phonetically in the square brackets, are completely my own. I've heard the Enns of the Elementals spoken on the ABYSS CD so I used what I heard those pronunciations.

I've not heard the rest of the Enns spoken by anyone so I went with what I think they should sound like. I'll keep this guide organic and update it when I find better pronunciations.

*Dukante Hierarchy listing used with permission from S. T. Dukante*

Family 1

Satan –
Tasa reme laris Satan - Ave Satanis
[Tah-sa ray-me lah-ris Satan - Ah-vay Sey-tan-is]

Unsere –
Unsere tasa lirach on ca ayar
[Un-zer tah-sa lir-atch on ka a-yar]

Satanchia –
Furca na alle laris Satanchia
[Fur-ka na ah-lee lah-ris Seyt-n-chi-ah]

Agaliarept –
On ca Agaliarept agna
[On ka Ag-a-lee-a-rep-t ag-nah]

Lucifage –
Eyen tasa valocur Lucifuge Rofocale
[Eh-yen tah-sa val-o-cur Loo-sif-uge Row-fo-kal]

Flereous –
Ganic Tasa Fubin Flereous
[Gahn-ich tah-sa fu-bin Flare-e-us]

Lucifer –
Renich Tasa Uberaca Biasa Icar Lucifer
[Ren-ich tah-sa ubur-ak-a buy-ass-a ick-r Loo-sif-er]

Beelzebuth –
Adey vocar avage Beelzebuth
[A-day vo-kar ah-vah-jay Bee-L-zee-buth]

Belphegore –
Lyan Ramec Catya Ganen Belphegore
[Lie-an Rah-mek Kat-yah Gah-nen Bel-fah-gor]

Mesphito –
Mesphito ramec viasa on ca
[Mess-fee-toe rah-mek vie-ass-a on ka]

Delepitore -
Deyen pretore ramec Delepitore on ca
[Deh-yen pree-tor rah-mek Del-ep-eh-tor on ka]

Belial –
Lirach Tasa Vefa Wehlc Belial
[Lir-atch tah-sa veh-fa weh-lik Bee-lee-L]

Family 2

Luithian –
Deyan anay tasa Luithian
[Dey-ahn ah-nay tah-sa Loo-thi-en]

Leviathan –
Jaden Tasa Hoet Naca Leviathan
[Yay-den tah-sa hoe-t nah-ka Li-via-thon]

Sonnelion –
Ayer Serpente Sonnillion
[Ah-yer Ser-pent-eh Sun-ill-eye-on]

Family 3

Abbadon –
Es na ayer Abbadon avage
[Es na ah-yer Ab-ah-don ah-vah-jay]

Ammon –
Avage Secore Ammon ninan
[Ah-vah-jay Seh-core Ah-mun neh-nah-en]

Mammon –
Tasa Mammon on ca lirach
[Tah-sa Mah-mun on ka lir-atch]

Family 4

Rosier –
Serena Alora Rosier Aken
[Sir-ee-nah All-o-rah Row-zee-er Ack-en]

Astarte –
Serena Alora Astarte Aken
[Sir-ee-nah All-o-rah Ass-tar-teh Ack-en]

Ashtaroth –
Tasa Alora foren Ashtaroth
[Tah-sa All-o-rah four-en Ash-tar-oth]

Astarot –
Serena Alora Astartot Aken
[Sir-ee-nah All-o-rah Ass-tar-ot Ack-en]

Amducious –
Denyen valocur avage secore Amducious
[Den-yen val-o-cur a-vah-jay seh-core Am-duce-e-us]

Asmodeus –
Ayer avage Aloren Asmodeus aken
[Ah-yer ah-vah-jay All-or-en Ass-mode-ee-us ack-en]

Family 5

Eurynomous –
Ayar Secore on ca Eurynomous
[A-yar se-core on ka U-re-no-mus]

Balberith –
Avage Secore on ca Baalberith
[Ah-vah-jay Se-core on ka Baa-el-bear-ith]

Babeal –
Alan Secore on ca Babeal
[Ah-lan Seh-core on ka Ba-bee-al]

Family 6

Verrine –
Elan Typan Verrine
[E-lan tye-pan Veh-rin]

Verrier –
Elit Rayesta Verrier
[Eh-lit Ray-es-tah Veh-ree-er]

Ronwe –
Kaymen Vefa Ronwe
[Kay-men Veh-fa Ron-weh]

Family 7

Svengali –
Desa on Svengali ayer
[Dey-sa on Sfen-gah-lee ah-yer]

Tezrian –
Ezyr ramec ganen Tezrian
[Ez-yer rah-mek gah-nen Tez-ree-en]

Family 8

Asafoetida –
Asana nanay on ca Asafoetida
[Ass-an-ah nah-nay on ka Ass-ah-foe-tee-dah]

Rashoon –
Taran Rashoon nanay
[Tah-rah-en Rah-shoo-en nah-nay]

Taroon –
Taroon an ca nanay
[Tah-roo-en an ka nah-nay]

Family 9

Berith –
Hoath redar ganabal Berith
[Hoe-ath re-dar gah-nah-bell Bear-ith]

Agares –
Rean ganen ayar da Agares
[Ree-an gah-nen a-yar da Ag-ah-res]

Abigor –
Aylan Abigor tasa uan on ca
[Aye-lan Ab-eh-gor tah-sa uh-an on ka]

Lillith –
Renich viasa avage Lillith lirach
[Ren-ich vie-ass-a ah-vah-jay Lill-ith lir-atch]

The Nature of Demons

Over at the OFS Demonolatry forum I was discussing the nature of Demons and so I thought I'd drag what I said over here and expand it. Keep in mind that the following is my opinion, and as such is organic. It will most likely evolve as I learn more.

In the beginning there was nothing and then it exploded. It exploded because it became conscious and aware, and it wanted to be something. So when it exploded the nothing became something, that something being matter and energy. This is called the Big Bang.

The first consciousness did not vanish when the universe formed but just fragmented. The fragments are as separate from each other as threads are in a tapestry but they all make up the whole, which is Satan. Everything makes up the universe and the universe makes up Satan but not all of Satan since He existed before the universe and so is more than the universe.

Over time some of the matter became life and some of that life became sentient, both here and elsewhere in the universe. Just as some of the matter became life and sentient, so did some of the energy but this did not take a lot of time and happened not long after the Big Bang occurred. This sentient energy are many and are called Demons.

The Demons noticed us and made themselves known to us. We are like them except we are matter and they are energy. As matter we are taking a lot longer to advance than they ever have. They see us as younger siblings and treat us as such. If we ask for help and are gracious of the help given then they will continue to give it. If we demand help and are not gracious then they will respond negatively or not at all.

Saying we are matter is not entirely true. We are matter but we are also energy. Our bodies convert matter to energy and our minds are part energy and can manipulate energy. We transform more energy than we need and release a lot of energy aimlessly. Demons enjoy our energy and so like receiving it. They don't need it but it is 'nice' to them. When we work with Demons, we send them energy and this pleases them.

And that is my simpified belief of the nature of Demons.

Review: ABYSS: Daemonolatry Hymns for Ritual and Meditation

ABYSS is a CD produced Abyss and Reckless Recluse that I found though the good people who brought us The Complete Book of Demonolatry, DB Publishing. Just reading on the inside sleeve that the lyrics come from S. T. Dukante-Mallory, the daughter of Richard Dukante, and M.D. Delaney, a generational Demonolator and the author of Sanctus Quattuordecim. The vocals were provided by S. Connolly, the author of the above mentioned Complete Book of Demonolatry.

They are 12 tracks on the disc and it is only 13 minutes long but it finally allowed me to hear some hymns and some Enns in a voice other than my own! Oh, all the lyrics can be found in The Complete Book of Demonolatry

Positive: For something made in a home studio, I was impressed with the quality of the sound as well as most of the music and the vocal works. I liked how most of the hymns have a version with music and without music. I say most because 'Ave Rege Leviathan' is a choir piece and so has no music accompanying it. I totally loved the fact that there is a track with the elemantal Enns on it, finally I get to hear what they sound like (I will be updating my pronunciation guide soon)

Neutral: I didn't like the backing music to track 6 for Meleus De Quo Maga, the drum beat was too loud compared to the vocals for my taste.

Negative: A track list wasn't included so I had to make one up myself. Here it is for those who want it:

Track 1: Rite to Lucifer with music
Track 2: Rite to Lucifer without music
Track 3: Meditation with music
Track 4: Meditation without music
Track 5: Ave Rege Leviathan
Track 6: Meleus De Quo Mage with music
Track 7: Meleus De Quo Mage without musci
Track 8: Liturgy of Love with music
Track 9: Liturgy of Love without music
Track 10: Earth Meditations with music
Track 11: Earth Meditations without music
Track 12: Elemental Enns (Belial, Lucifer, Flereous, Leviathan, Satan)

Overall, I love this CD! I hope to hear more from Abyss in the future.

I rate it: 9.0/10

Herb Suppliers

I recently bought some herbs so I can start making my own oleums. I had to buy everything that I needed from two different online vendors and I noticed a huge difference in the quality and the experience and so I thought I'd share.

I bought the lions share of what I needed at Mountain Rose Herbs and I would have bought everything but they didn't stock it. Their site is easily navigatable and even allows you to save your shopping basket so you can come back later to order. The herbs were well packaged in sealable bags and well marked with what the herb was and how it was cultivated, whether it was wild harversted or organic. After reading the literature that was sent with my order I'm really impressed with the lengths that Mountain Rose Herbs go to to make sure that they are supplying high quality products. I admit I didn't give it much thought beforehand, but now I'm far more conscious to getting herbs that aren't ladened with chemicals.

Along with the herbs I ordered, I also bought some same amber bottles, a mortar and pestle and a suribachi. For those who don't know what a suribachi is, it is similar to a mortar and pestle but the mortar is grooved and the pestle is made of wood.

I was surprised at the high quality of the tools given how much I paid for them.

For the herbs that I couldn't find on Mountain Rose Herbs, I turned to the Penn Herb Co. to find what I needed. While their site isn't the best and their prices were a little high (in my opinion), they did have a huge selection. The herbs I bought were decent quality, they just weren't to the level as Mountain Rose. In fairness, I'm sure I would have been more than happy with them if I didn't receive my order from Mountain Rose first.

Another difference I noticed is that with the cheapest shipping option, Mountain Rose offered tracking on the shipment while Penn Herb did not. Not a huge problem, but I do like checking on my packages.

Book Review: The Art of Creative Magick

Yet another title from author S. Connolly, this one directed towards all magical paths and not just Demonolatry. It can be still used by Demonolators, in case you were wondering. In a nutshell this book is a book of permission, permission to do magic as you want to do magic and not being constrained to other methodologies. On to the review:

Positive: This book reads really easy and I found myself devouring it very quickly. It is divided into sections: 'Symbolic Aspects', 'Spiritual & Belief Aspects' and 'Purposeful Aspects'. The first section covers your ritual space, decorating it, rituals tools and creating talisman, amulets and sigils. The next section covers beliefs in magic, creating a person pantheon and invoking your god(s), with the last section covering rituals and spells.

As said before, this book really empowers its reader to do what feels right for them and create their own form of magic.

Neutral: There is no 'Contents' page and I only noticed that when I was writing this review.

Negative: I don't see this as negative, but I can see how some would: Creative Magick encourages people to practice magic in a way that works best for them. I'm sure some practitioners would see this as bad,

Over all, this is a small book that is big on advice.

I rate it: 8.0/10

Ok, Vacation over...

I took a week off from posting to concentrate on getting everything ready to go fro 2 up coming promotions at work. I got what I need done for now, so I'm back!

I have a lot of things to post about, so lets get this show on the road...

Book Review: Sanctus Quattuordecim

Sanctus Quattuordecim, as you linguaphiles out there know, means (the) Sacred Fourteen. It is a book about sigils and as you can imagine, it has 14 of them contained within. These sigils have been supposedly passed on to the author's great-great-great-grandfather though ascension and are now being shared with us who have bought the book. On to the review:

Positive: 14 sigils might not seem like a lot but these sigils are pretty comprehensive in their scopes and help with everything from concentration and learning to purification and cleansing to separation and revenge. Along with each sigil is a list of correspondences from what Demons, plants, planets, colors, hour, day, numbers, stone, element, and metal are associated with each one.

Not just throwing out the sigils, the author also explains how they can be used. He mentions how to join or trine sigils, not just the ones discussed in the book. To finish it all off, he talks about 14 rituals that can be used with any of the 14 sigils.

Neutral: I'm not too incredibly happy with how the sigils are drawn in the book. They do show the sigils but they are kind of pixalated from being drawn what looks like freehand in MS Paint. In saying that, I probably couldn't have done better!

Negative: Nothing struck me negatively with this title. It was short but it was cheap so that didn't bother me.

Over all, the material in this book is designed to be used by people who already know the basics of Demonic Magic. You can learn all you will need to know about demonic magic in The Complete Book of Demonolatry and The Complete Book of Demonolatry Magic.

I rate it: 8.5/10

Projects to blog about

I thought I would have had some of the projects I've been working on completed by today, but sadly I don't. Life has been cruel to my spare time, and frankly, season 2 of Heroes came out on DVD not to long ago and I've been watching that. So, instead of showing you the end result of what I've been working on, I thought I'd just tell you what I've been working on. Maybe it will get you excited to see the end results.

I've been reading through The Magician's Companion for the last 2 weeks or so and I'm almost done, so once I am, I'll be posting my thoughts and a review. Goetic Demonolatry, Sanctus Quattuordecim, and The Art of Creative Magick arrived from lulu yesterday so I'll be reading them very soon. I've already given them a brief once over and I know I'll have great things to say about 2 of them and not so great things to say about the other. I won't say which one just yet.

I've been planning to buy a few books on Hermetics and use the money I get from selling my plasma to pay for them. With the purchase of a pickup last week, that plan is going to be limited while I divert some of my book money into my truck payment. So, I guess that means I'll just start re-reading some older books of mine and refresh my memory enough to review them instead.

Since reading the Al-Jilwah for the first time last week, I've been doing some research into it and so I'm planning on posting my thoughts on Yazidi's Book of Revelations. There is a lot already out there in web-land but I just don't feel right not adding my two cents!

Now that I have a pickup, the huge overhaul of my garage has begun and the cleaning of some space is now immanent. I'll be able to start experimenting with, and making, oleums. My candle making supplies have resurfaced which I'm viewing as an auspicious sign for my want to make my own ritual supplies. I've been keeping an eye open for other bits and pieces to serve as my ritual tools. The coming of the 2nd Rite to Leviathan is spurring me into overdrive. I hope to be ready for it. Of course I'll have a lot of say as I get prepared and I'll be sure to share it here.

I have a pray ritual that I've been tossing around in my head concerning The Nine Demonic Divinities, I've been working through a fully comprehensive pronunciation guide for Demonic Enns, and I've been comparing Demonic correspondences with other cultures/religions/pantheons and I've been coming up with some interesting conclusions and ideas.

I have plenty on my plate to keep me blogging, I just need to get some of it finished and finalized first!

Demonic Enns Pronunciation - Nine Divinities

I've been trying to learn to pronounce the Demonic Enns and I'm not sure if I'm sounding them right. I thought I'd write out how I'm saying them as phonetically as possible to share with everyone. Please leave a comment saying if you say them differently, or the same for that matter, maybe between us all we can get a more accurate pronunciation. Maybe it might grow into a guide.

It really is difficult to learn how to say them correctly when you are just reading them out of a book or off of a screen. Anyway, here are the Enns to the Nine Demonic Divinities with my phonetic pronunciation in the square brackets

EDIT: I've heard some of the Enns been spoken and so I'm updating my pronunciations

Satan -
Tasa reme laris Satan - Ave Satanis
[Tah-sa ray-me lah-ris Seyt-n - Ah-vay Sey-tan-is]

Lucifer -
Renich Tasa Uberaca Biasa Icar Lucifer
[Ren-ich tah-sa ubur-ak-a buy-ass-a ick-r Loo-sif-er]

Flereous -
Ganic Tasa Fubin Flereous
[Gahn-ich tah-sa fu-bin Flare-e-us]

Leviathan -
Jaden Tasa Hoet Naca Leviathan
[Yay-den tah-sa hoe-t nah-ka Li-via-thon]

Belial -
Lirach Tasa Vefa Wehlc Belial
[Lir-atch tah-sa veh-fa weh-lik Bee-lee-L]

Verrine -
Elan Typan Verrine
[E-lan tye-pan Veh-rin]

Amducious -
Denyen valocur avage secore Amducious
[Den-yen val-o-cur a-vah-jay se-core Am-duce-e-us]

Unsere -
Unsere tasa lirach on ca ayar
[Un-zer tah-sa lir-atch on ka a-yar]

Eurynomous -
Ayar Secore on ca Eurynomous
[A-yar se-core on ka U-re-no-mus]

The Freedom of Definition

Who gets to define your religious beliefs?

Do you?

Does anyone else?

I'd answer those questions as: Me. Yes. No. I can't imagine many people not doing the same. Everyone has the freedom to practice and believe in whatever religion they choose as well as to define what it is they practice and believe in.

This is all stemming from reading other peoples writings where I see them defining the beliefs of other people. I've seen Muslims define the beliefs of Christians, and Christians define the beliefs of Pagans, and Pagans define the beliefs of Satanists, and Satanists define the beliefs of other Satanists, and so on ad nauseam.

It is wrong, and if you do it then you should stop it. I've been racking my brain to remember if I ever defined another persons religion and I can't seem to recall anything, however, I'm sure I have. I apologize.

Don't get me wrong, just because I believe that you should not define other people beliefs doesn't mean that I think you shouldn't, from time to time, take their own definition of their beliefs and bash them over their heads with it. This is not my attempt to get people to play nice, it is my attempt to get people to stop being stupid. That is what this is all about, to stop people from lying about each other to try to win an argument or make a point. If you truly wish to argue a point or vilify someone else's beliefs then just use what they have already said, or use whatever 'book' they subscribe to, just don't make shit up.