Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Everyone's Tired of Bune...

I mentioned that I was engraving a quartz crystal with Bune's sigil to a friend, and he was like, "Bune, again!?" He suggested that I might need to be careful about obsessing over one particular spirit, and mentioned that the Goetic spirits have a reputation for getting magicians obsessed.

I mentioned to my spouse what I was doing, and she said something like, "Bune Bune Bune, all you work with is Bune."

I guess that's the image I have because I write so much about him. I've been in a relationship with this spirit for almost two years, and I'm very happy with his work in my life. He's the only spirit of the Goetia that I have a long-term relationship with, via the Spirit Pot. So I talk to him a lot, and I talk to you about him a lot.

However, he is not the only spirit I work with. I'm working on Belial's seal, as well as the other 8 Kings of the Goetia. I've worked 18 of the 72 Spirits altogether from that particular grimoire, but mostly it's been one-time rites, or simple conversations. I'm also working with the Archangels of the seven heavens on my spiritual alchemy. They get a lot more face time with me than Bune or any other Goetic spirits. I have a personal relationship with God. We hang out and have fun together.

Then there's my HGA, with whom I've been exploring the Seven Heavens, and working with to understand his role in a magician's life better. He's not only a Guru to bring you to the edge of the alleged Abyss between the Supernal Triad of the Tree of Life. He's also a familiar spirit that has authority over the Sub-Lunar spirits. He can directly bring riches, love, peace, joy, happiness, prosperity, and everything else material you need to perform the Great Work in comfort and style. He can help you perform what Psychics call "Remote Viewing," and he can help heal people who are ill. Dude's pretty cool.

So as you can see, I do a lot more Work with other spirits than Bune. I talk about Bune the most because he's usually the one I turn to for money, and the fact is, money is always needed for something when you're raising three kids. Even when my income covers bills, mortgage, and consumables, there's college funds, trust funds, and our own retirement funds that need cash to grow. And the Lab needs equipment.

Which brings me to the crystal I engraved with Bune's seal. After the Crystal Skull experience, I decided to stick with just a Bune Legionairre in the stone, totally focused on bringing the owner of the stone riches. It's not finished yet. So far, I've got the crystal roughly shaped the way I want it, and the sigil in the stone.

There are two Seals for Bune in the Lemegeton's Goetia. It says in the grimoire that the first (top over on the left) is not as effective as the second (bottom over on the left), but I believe this is only a reference to its effectiveness in contacting the spirit the first time. After that, the first Seal is as effective for marking things as "Belonging to Bune" as the second. The first seal is also much easier to carve into things, like wood, metal, or stone. The second is easier to draw than to engrave or carve. Since the crystal is so brittle, I picked the first seal to engrave in the stone. It's got more straight lines, and less detail to try to capture.

Like I said, it's not finished yet. I need to sand it again to get a better polish on it. I need to flatten the base a bit. I tried to make an ink to darken the engraved seal so it stood out more when you look at the stone. I made the ink by grinding up some venus herbs, then roasting the ground herbs on a metal sheet over a candle flame. As it blackened, I stirred it, reground it, and roasted it again until all the herb mass was charred. Then I mixed it with olive oil, and tried to put it into the engraved seal, and it sort of worked. It's not really an ink though. More of an oily mass of ground charred herbs. Imagine that.

The stone's got a spirit in it though, a spirit working for me. Last week, I got $750 in incorrect bank fees returned to me, stretching back to May of the previous year. Job offers abound. If enough people want inexpensive plaster seals of the Goetic Spirits, I might be able to pay for an unplanned vacation. Life, as they say, is good.

4 comments:

  1. For a paint, you want an oil that polymerizes when it sets, like linseed oil. Olive oil won't do the job. If you don't want to use oil, something like gum arabic will work as an ink base. An alternative might be to use acrylic medium to keep your pigment in place, or, if you want to try really fancy, find a resin that'll dissolve in alcohol, and use a solution like that. Shellac, or Manila copal might work for that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The reason that everyone is tired of Bune is that they dont understand the relationship. Nowadays magick is, for most people, something they read about and perhaps experiment with, moving from one thing to the next.

    In older times though, if a magician or shaman had success with a particular spirit, than they would continue with it through thier lives. It gets more powerful the more you work with it. A true familiar spirit is not abandoned.

    I confess to being quite experimental in my approach as well. The exploration of the arte in all its aspects is a big part of what drives me, but really its far more traditional for a mage to have a few spirits that he has a good relationship with and calls upon again and again.

    As for the Goetic spirits being known to tempt people into obsession with them: POPPYCOCK! They have been known to obsess people but that is not the same thing at all. I have heard of a lot of problems arising from Goetia, and not one is related to a magician becomming obsessed with one spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ehhh... I'm afraid I'm the person R.O. is referring to, and I dindn't actually say exactly what he says I said. ;-)

    I did mention to be careful of obsession, but I wasn't at all thinking about an obsession with Bune. Actually, I was talking more about an obsession with acquisition, which is a fair part of the relationship there. Bune's fine, as far as Bune goes, but what R.O. needs to watch out for is R.O. I'm not singling him out, either. It's the big thing we all have be on guard against - ourselves and our desires. It's fine to want stuff, to need stuff, and to get stuff. It's not fine to let getting stuff run away with our values. That, in fact is the big problem with our society today; we've turned to the worship of money.

    Now, I'm not saying that R.O. is exhibiting that problem - yet. I'm just reminding him to keep a close watch on that heart of his (to paraphrase Johnny Cash).

    Figured I'd clear up the misunderstanding...

    ReplyDelete
  4. frater ro, you've mentioned a little about your family in previous posts. may i ask how working with the spirits has affected them? you mentioned having fun with the crystal skull. did your children or wife have any experiences with that spirit, or any other spirit you've worked with?
    i ask as i'm thinking about joining the Great Work, but with a family i'm not wanting them to experience any ill effects.
    i apologize for posting so far back in your archives, and i hope you get this post, but i'm making my way from the start of your blog...

    heath

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comments, your opinions are valued, even if I disagree with them. Please feel free to criticize my ideas and arguments, question my observations, and push back if you disagree.