I mentioned recently that I got Jason Miller’s excellent “Advanced Planetary Magic”, which, again, you should totally get, since it’s worth far more than the cost. It’s a collection of 49 short prayers or invocations to be used during different combinations of the planetary hours and days for different ends (so there’s a Moon/Saturn call to be done in an hour of the Moon on the day of Saturn, a Saturn/Moon call to be done in an hour of Saturn on the day of the Moon, etc.). As part of his goal to get this magic out in the world and practiced by the masses, Mr. Miller started up a project called The Crying of Calls 49, where people participate by calling out one of the calls each for 49 consecutive days in the proper hour for a given week. So, the first week is for the Moon calls, the second week for the Mercury calls, and so forth. I’m posting my results in the Facebook group for the project, but I also thought I’d share my results and experiences with you all as well. I won’t share what the Calls are or what they’re for, since you should go buy the ebook and find out for yourself, but the astute among you will figure it out.
This past week, Monday 7/29 through Sunday 8/4, we did the calls to the Sun. Below are my experiences and thoughts:
7/29: Sun/Moon
Made the Sun/Moon call today in the second hour, just before sunset. Standard operating procedure with frankincense and jasmine incense.
I got a beautiful buzz from this one. Unlike the Moon/Sun call, the energies of this one really meshed well and didn’t need to “align” or anything. I’d term this kind of feeling a “soldier’s peace”: resolute and authoritative, but secure and nurturing all the same. There’s no whiff of doubt or confusion in the air, just a pleasant, quiet, deep smirking joy within me. The stillness of the Sun’s energies are much brighter this time, but made softer and with less of a burn than pure solar force due to the Moon’s influence. I can’t speak to the balancing effect of this Call, since I expect that to happen over the course of the next day, but it is very solidifying and centering. Perhaps, instead of the energies clicking into place around me as it was with Moon/Sun, it’s me who’ll be clicking into place with the energies.
7/30: Sun/Mars
Made the Sun/Mars call tonight in the third hour of the Sun, standard operating procedure with pine/frankincense incense.
What memories! I did an intense Sun/Mars working over the course of two weeks back at the start of 2012, and it was a constant energy rush for that entire time. Tonight was like that, but not as intense, but then, it wasn’t as intense a working. Still: forceful, strong, a sort of fuck-all Sonic the Hedgehog-like attitude to everything came over me, and even gave me a much-needed energy boost for getting a crafting project done that same night (though with one or two minor hideable mistakes due to being in a rush). The sigil didn’t inhale as much as it did melt over me; the solar gold sigil of the Sun melted in the flames of Mars, and “bonded” with me as I inhaled it to form a sort of empowering light armor of Light. Excellent stuff, and a good method to combine these forces. Mars and Sun is the only pair of forces I’ve ever worked with combined before, so this being so similar definitely works for me. The solar stillness from before has become definitely more resolved and adamantine, which is awesome to maintain such an awesome Fire.
7/31: Sun/Mercury
Made the Sun/Mercury call tonight in the second hour of the Sun, standard operating procedure with frankincense and cinnamon incense.
“Vajra”, the adamantine lightningbolt of enlightenment, is probably the best single word I have for this feeling. It’s not the bright, slow stillness of the Mercury/Sun call, but much brighter, much stronger, much more forceful externally. The stillness of the Sun is more of a calmness, an equanimity, with a huge buzz and undercurrent of strong Mercurial flow underneath it all, like a self-composed scholar or guru teaching the basics slowly to beginners but inwardly reviewing an infinite number of possible cosmoses. It’s cheerful, but not necessarily joyful; it’s fun, but not for the sake of enjoyment. I feel like my head’s been completely opened, like I’m able to think subtle things just on the outer boundaries of my mind that I wasn’t able to recognize before. I can really dig this prayer, and expect to be one of the ones I pull into frequent use.
8/1: Sun/Jupiter
Made the Sun/Jupiter call in the second hour of the Sun today, standard operating procedure.
This is a much more mild experience than what I was expecting, especially after the Sun/Mercury call yesterday and from my other experiences with the Sun and Jupiter separately. The coolness and richness of Jupiter was certainly present, as was the stillness of the Sun, forming an overall relaxed but posh feel, like a high-class lounge for CEOs and other magnates. Nothing particularly striking, though visualizing the sigil of the Sun today was…interesting. I wouldn’t say “crackling” or “buzzing”, since those are more Mercurial qualities, but “erupting” or “bursting” like lightning; the edges of the sigil seemed electrified and sparking, yet inhaled like satiny oil. A good feel, all the same, though nothing particularly striking.
8/2: Sun/Venus
Made the Sun/Venus call last night, standard operating procedure with rose/frankincense incense.
This was a good feeling, and much smoother than the semi-broken feeling I got from the Venus/Sun call this past Sunday. It was powerful yet relaxed, smooth and light, but it wasn’t focused on me. It was similar to one of the Saturnian curses in that it was a primarily externally-directed call, which makes sense given the purpose. It was like I was at peace, but that peace was reliant and tied up with in the people around and affecting me; a total confluence of agreement and harmony, truly a Cytherean thing. The sigil didn’t seem to inhale properly, much like the Venus/Sun call, but here it seemed to wrap around and link me to the rest of the world outside my sphere. With these kinds of energetic circuits linking me to others I rely on, this call is definitely good for this kind of work.
8/3: Sun/Saturn
Made the Sun/Saturn call tonight in the second hour of the sun, standard operating procedure with frankincense/rose incense.
This was very heavy, and I’m feeling like a cross between wanting to slumber (not just rest, but deeply slumber) and wanting to mourn, but not for the sake of my own self. The sigil seemed formal, the gleaming gold on solemn black, reminiscent of an old tribal funeral mask; when inhaling it, it seemed to turn to dust and “locked” me down to the things that…matter? That’s probably the word I’m looking for; the things that matter, though it’s unspecified what in my image. The feeling I get from this is a sort of hyperstillness between the crystal solar energy and the bleak saturnine energy; it’s not cheerful by any means, nor is it uplifting, but solidifying, sobering, focusing. The stillness seems to be a stillness of time, and my sense of it passing is kinda messed up afterward. This would be good for meditation, certainly, before any deep or serious work like a vigil or a fast.
8/4: Sun/Sun
Made the Sun/Sun call tonight in the third hour of the Sun, standard operating procedure, but saying the Orphic Hymn six times tonight in special honor of the pure Sun ritual.
WOW. This one packed a MAJOR punch of solar force into my sphere. Inhaling the sigil didn’t seem to work tonight; instead, I seemed to be inhaled and completely suffused and engulfed by the huge force of solar Light that the ritual produced, really linking me into the Sun instead of vice versa. While that same stillness and composure is present, it’s been greatly magnified into a kind of bright, new self-contained dynamism present in everything around me; this is a fascinatingly new way to see things, as if the Holy Name itself were revealed to me giving me a new understanding of the deep basis of everything. I feel…good. There’s really no other way to describe it. I feel good. Closing my eyes seems to give me more light to see with than opening them, when even looking at candleflames seems dark. I feel empowered, strengthened, and most importantly “pointed upward”, so to speak, in the right direction.
