The Slippery Spirit

An alraun is a magickal charm composed of a plant part, typically a root and traditionally the root of the mandrake plant, that is used as a corporeal domicile by a helping familiar spirit. Because of the connection between them, any reading or research about the alraun invariably forces one to research the mandrake. But during my study, I have come to question a couple of connections that are unclear. I have therefore come to these conclusions, which I will discuss: The alraun has a uniquely Germanic name despite that the traditional alraun plant - the mandrake - does not grow in any Germanic area, signaling possible confusion between the mandrake and another plant more common to Germanic latitudes. The lore of the mandrake has become so notorious that any original alraun lore has become potentially obscured through cultural marriage with the mandrake. Consequently, exposure of unadulterated alraun lore has become impossible. In contemporary usage, the german word for the man...

Please try to put aside all of your ideas about dragons. I am not here to explore the idea of the fire-breathing, scaled creature of today's movies. In my mind, the dragon is different than that and much more than that. Dragons in The West The Persians called the primordial chaos a "dragon," but that could have been a translation issue. We really have no English word for the thing that Tiamat was, but it was her body that was used to create the universe. This kind of dismemberment cosmogony was exposed to the cultures of the Ancient Neat East, including the Semitic peoples, before the writings that became the Bible were written. In Isaiah 27, we find mention of "Leviathan" as the dragon of the sea. Remember that the sea was present at the time of creation - "and God parted the waters and made dry land appear" - the sea was the primordial ocean, the representation of the chaotic world before it had any ordered form, and it was out of this that the wo...

i have a drumming CD so today i tried to do a shamanic journey with it. i got my supplies: a pillow, eye covering, ipod, earphones, privacy, and tried my first shamanic journey (since my recent relaxation exercises). the first thing i noticed is that absolute comfort is essential, because when you are as conscious as i am, every little complaint brings me back into full wakefulness. laying on the floor on my back was painful unless i elevated my legs. the next time, i will just do it in my bed and maybe even while laying on my side. that's the most comfortable sleep position for me, so it may work for this too. my blindfold was a fleece headband used for skiers. it also help to keep my earphones in place. the earphones that i used had those little sleeves to go inside the ear canal. this helped to exclude any street noise outside my house that i couldn't control. i also had to put on a sweater and heavy socks to keep my feet warm. i did my best to just relax. at first i just la...

the most recent lesson on my spiritual journey centers around my uncanny ability to remain conscious. trance work and shamanic journeying really doesn't work for me. though i've spent time studying how to be committed to a stage character, become okay with being watched, public speaking, let go of inhibitions, etc., my brain is still rather afraid to let go of the conscious world. i suspect its afraid of the unknown feeling of being floating in the waters of the spiritual world. some days i feel like the kid who stopped his swim lesson because he was too afraid of the water to make his first jump off the diving board. i've tried many times to just jump in. i've prepared in every way that the writers of such things have advised. but when i finally get down to doing it, my mind just sits there refusing to go. talking someone into jumping off a cliff isn't easy. all of the reassurance that their landing will be soft isn't going to dispel the fear their body feels. ...