Well, what fun it has been working on the Arbatel lessons….. a text that drove me and Michael the editor totally nuts with its antics. So much so that it deserves a blog post, plus missing star information….
Throughout the Quareia course you will find references to meditating in stillness and silence. Such a thing sounds simple but it very hard and takes a lot of practice. (...)
I have finally got to the last module in the Initiate section and by now, January 2016, there are people all over the world studying the course. While the first section of the course is complete self study, I have had some questions repeatedly asked of me, and so I thought it would be a good idea to put them in a blog post, and thus save me having to answer them repeatedly.
Now that I am half way through writing the course, I thought it would be interesting to take a minute to reflect on the process, and what a learning process it has been so far.I am using magical ‘contacted writing’ to write the course, an old method of writing while tuned into inner magical contacts, and while I have done that many times before as both a magician and a writer, doing such a long and involved course has brought up some interesting dynamics. (...)
Spring came pretty fast and almost unnoticed in the factory of Quareia. My original intention was to have the apprentice section writing finished by the spring equinox and I managed it with one day to spare (phew). And what a bumpy time March was! So much astrological power was flying around along with the solar eclipse and the equinox itself: the final ending of the apprentice section closed with a powerful full stop and a strong sense of magical completion. (...)
(...) If you follow its path consider yourself in the business of turning yourself into a spiritual adult. Now, the paradox on this path is this: For many years you'll be the baby, the teenager and the adult all in one person. Life doesn't come with an instruction leaflet; all boundaries are temporary in nature. As part of your journey with the Quareia material nobody will disciplinise you, except for yourself. And nobody will praise you, except for yourself. Someone once said, 'Integrity is what you do when nobody is watching'. Without integrity you can still have a fulfilled live, believe me. You might even be able to become a magician in the traditional, sad sense. But you certainly won't get anywhere with Quareia.
With ten days left to go, we have managed to raise over the half the target amount. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness, wonderful messages, and course feedback that Frater Acher and I have received. The magical community truly is a great family! Some people have asked why we need to fundraise, and that is a very valid question that I feel deserves a proper, open, and honest answer. Frater Acher put it very eloquently in a recent discussion Its like creating a public library – you need the funds to acquire space, books, shelves, etc… But once everything is set up ways can be found to maintain it without additional fees. (...)
I have had a few different emails asking very sensible questions about how best to approach the Quareia course, so I hope this post answers those questions and others. (...) I am applying the Vaganova method, a teaching method where the tiny building blocks for an action are put one on top of the other slowly and carefully, with lots of muscle building, and the deepest most obscure part of a ritual action is taught first through very simple actions. So anyone dipping into say the Hexagram ritual lesson or the Pentagram ritual lesson (the favourite of dippers and skimmers) will find themselves sat scratching their heads in confusion. It will make no sense, as those lessons teach, through simple action, the powers that work behind those rituals.
The Quareia second module is now ready and will be soon uploaded. This module is about foundation patterns in magic. All magic exteriorises in a patterned form, usually as ritual, sometimes as an utterance or a series of sigils, which externalises the power and energy that the magician has tapped into. That power and energy is usually accessed through inner work, which is to say that first the magician connects through visionary magic with an inner energy and a consciousness (a being, a deity and so forth), and then bridges that energy in collaboration with a being, and gives it a form by working in ritual or with lettering, sigils, utterance, etc. That exteriorises the magic in our world and sends it off to do its job.
It has been one week since Quareia launched and the response has been wonderful. People are downloading the first module and are working with the lessons, the second module is two thirds written, and the fund raising is creeping slowly and steadily towards it’s target.
This is all very heartening on so many levels. Such a project is long over due in magical circles and I guess I had to be booted kicking and screaming into action – I was hoping over the last six months that others would step into such an idea and all I would have to do is cheer them on. But it didn’t happen. So I was left holding the plates for washing up! But it is good – mapping out and starting to write this course has forced me on so many levels to look at the work in a new light, a new approach and without restriction.