Aurora Dawn Newsletter

Late one night in a small Alabama cemetery, Vance Vanders had a run-in with the local witch doctor, who wafted a bottle of unpleasant-smelling liquid in front of his face, and told him he was about to die and that no one could save him.

Back home, Vanders took to his bed and began to deteriorate. Some weeks later, emaciated and near death, he was admitted to the local hospital, where doctors were unable to find a cause for his symptoms or slow his decline. Only then did his wife tell one of the doctors, Drayton Doherty, of the hex.

Doherty thought long and hard. The next morning, he called Vanders’s family to his bedside. He told them that the previous night he had lured the witch doctor back to the cemetery, where he had choked him against a tree until he explained how the curse worked. The medicine man had, he said, rubbed lizard eggs into Vanders’s stomach, which had hatched inside his body. One reptile remained, which was eating Vanders from the inside out.

Doherty then summoned a nurse who had, by prior arrangement, filled a large syringe with a powerful emetic (a medicine that induces nausea and vomiting). With great ceremony, he inspected the instrument and injected its contents into Vanders’ arm. A few minutes later, Vanders began to gag and vomit uncontrollably. In the midst of it all, unnoticed by everyone in the room, Doherty produced his pièce de résistance - a green lizard he had stashed in his black bag. “Look what has come out of you Vance,” he cried. “The voodoo curse is lifted.”

Vanders did a double take, lurched backwards to the head of the bed, then drifted into a deep sleep. When he woke next day he was alert and ravenous. He quickly regained his strength and was discharged a week later.

The facts of this case from 80 years ago were corroborated by four medical professionals. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that Vanders survived. There are numerous documented instances from many parts of the globe of people dying after being cursed.

With no medical records and no autopsy results, there’s no way to be sure exactly how these people met their end. The common thread in these cases, however, is that a respected figure puts a curse on someone, perhaps by chanting or pointing a bone at them. Soon afterwards, the victim dies, apparently of natural causes.

The above story is a true one and it clearly shows how magic really works. You can read more about the above story at The Science of Voodoo

Your beliefs create your reality regardless of whether your beliefs are true, false, create pain, or are not even relevant to who you are today. Beliefs are a powerful part of your ability to interact in your world. When a person works magic that person is using their beliefs to generate the energy necessary to create what they want in their life.

The above information begs the question about whether a person can be affected by a magician sending out energy, either positive or negative, if the recipient doesn’t know the magician is sending any energy at all.

It all comes back to the belief of the sender and the recipient. See, we are all connected and I can connect with other people energetically but the energy I send out to another person is only as strong as my belief in my ability to connect energetically. Likewise, the recipient will only be affected to the level that he or she’s belief allows it.

A question I get a lot from my students is about protecting oneself from dark magicians. They want to know how strong one has to be to effectively protect oneself from a powerful dark magician. The answer lies in whose will is strongest and your will is only as strong as your beliefs fueling your will.

There are many techniques that work to help you change your subconscious beliefs but they work best when you know the root belief. Before I became a certified spiritual life coach, I thought the beliefs I needed to change to allow more money to flow into my life were beliefs like, “I can’t afford anything I want,” “I can’t ever have more money than I need,” and so on.

What I later found out was that my root beliefs surrounding money were really about how valuable I believed I was and my beliefs about needing to be powerless. Money makes me feel valuable and powerful so my ego would work hard to make sure I didn’t have any more money than what I needed so I would remain powerless and un-valuable.

There are many techniques that teach you how to use the Law of Attraction and how to manifest what you really want along with other techniques like Emotional Freedom Technique and The Sedona Method among others that teach you to change your beliefs. Unfortunately very few of these techniques actually teach you how to get to your root beliefs.

A person who is disciplined can make changes to their beliefs but your ego has kept you asleep for such a long time that it’s near impossible to find the root beliefs without assistance. However, it can be done, it just takes a great deal longer and a lot more effort.

I’m currently working on a book that will help individuals surface and deal with their subconscious beliefs. The book will accompany a teleseminar I’m developing and will soon be available. I hope to make this teleseminar as reasonably priced as possible so more people will have access to this information. I’ll share more on this later.

I’ve been tip-toeing around high magic for some time now and I’ve finally decided to actually start practicing some things just to experience them for myself. I have shied away from the qabbala because of it’s connection with Yaweh. But I’ve decided to look past my preconcieved ideas about Yaweh and the Bible in the effort to understand the lesson these rituals can teach me.

So this article is about what I’ve learned about the Qabbalistic Cross. As always your comments are welcome at www.aurora-dawn.com/blog

Blessings,
Dawn

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Many of the Eastern philosophy and rituals have the practitioner move energy from where they are upward to the heavens. This runs along the lines of wakening the kundalini and moving up to the crown chakra. This is how the East moves towards enlightenment.
In the Western rituals of the magician we find the opposite at work. The magician draws the energy from the heavens down to where he is on the earth. They both accomplish the same end which is raising consciousness through uniting Spirit with the Material.

The Kabbala is an ancient spiritual path that comes from a mystical branch of Judaism and has been adapted to the Western world of magic. Much of what is practiced in modern magic is found in the Golden Dawn and many other groups but this is not the original Kabbala and is therefore called the Qabala or Qabbala. The original Kabbala is very difficult to find and one would need to be a Hebrew scholar to read and understand these writings. This is not a big deal because a ritual that resonates with you is just as powerful as an ancient ritual. Using a ritual is what strengthens the energy you are sending out through your intention and it matters little where the ritual came from.

We have seen the symbol of the cross to mean sacrifice as with Jesus dying on the cross. For this reason the symbol in Christianity has become a central focal point with a meaning of salvation from sin. As I have written previously, the ancient Egyptians defined sin as merely not doing the cleansing work necessary to be in the presence of the gods. The way one knew a person was not doing the “work” or was living in sin was visible signs of aging.
The Qabalistic Cross is a Hermetic ritual that many magicians use as the foundation ritual for other rituals. It is used to align the magician with the divine by bringing energy down from the heavens into the body. This ritual can be used to bring the magician into that place that is not a place at a time that is not a time to prepare the magician for the rituals to follow.

The symbol of the cross is in many traditions symbolizing life, immortality, union of heaven and hearth and the union of spirit and matter. The cross also symbolizes the center of all things. The arms represent the four directions and honoring the four directions is found in many cultures around the world. At the intersection we find this center representing the point where human and divine cross at the heart or center.

To better understand the Qabala one would need to practice its rituals to experience how they effect you. While the cross signifies spiritual transformation by coming in contact with the divine energy found inside one’s self, the Qabalistic Cross is a ritual that can take you there.

The Qabalistic Cross

In the Goden Dawn one is taught to use a steel dagger but you can use your index finger and middle finger extended with the rest of your fingers in a fist.

Rite
1. Stand West of the Altar facing East. Imagine yourself expanding, getting larger and larger. Visualize yourself standing with the Earth beneath your feet (about the size of a soccer ball). Imagine yourself continuing to grow and expand, until you are so large that entire galaxies spin around you. Visualize a ball of white Light, burning like a star, directly above your head. Raise either your Elemental or Planetary Banishing Dagger in your right hand above your head, pointing straight up, and pierce the star with the Dagger. Visualize a shaft of white Light rising vertically from the star above your head to infinity. Vibrate: Ah-TAH

2. Lower the Dagger to the groin area, with the tip still pointing straight up (Israel Regardie taught that one should never point a Magical Dagger downward toward the Earth so instead point the handle of the dagger at the Earth. Others feel the blade points toward where you are directing energy, so if you are directing energy to the Earth, then the tip of the dagger must point that way. In the end, choose the position that works best for you). Vibrate: Mahl-KOOT Visualize a vertical shaft of white Light, descending from the star above your head, to another star beneath your feet, and onward, through the center of the Earth, to infinity.

3. Touch your right shoulder with the point of the Dagger (you should feel the sharp tip), and vibrate: Vih-G’boo-RAAH. Visualize another star shining where the Dagger is touching your shoulder, and a shaft of white Light, extending horizontally to your right, and on to infinity.

4. Touch your left shoulder with the point of the Dagger, and vibrate Vih-G’doo-LAH Visualize another star, at the place where the Dagger is touching your shoulder, and a shaft of Light extending horizontally to your left, to infinity.

5. Bring the Dagger, pointing upward, and between your hands to your heart and vibrate: Lih-Oh-LAHM, Ah-MEN.

The Hebrew words used in this ritual loosely translate to:

Ah-TAH - THOU ART

Mahl-KOOT - THE KINGDOM

Vih-G’boo-RAAH - AND THE POWER

Vih-G’doo-LAH - AND THE GLORY

Lih-Oh-LAHM - FOREVER

If this ritual does not resonate with you, modify it or create your own. It’s important to a have a ritual that centers you and connects you with your divine Self.

Dawn Michele Ziemer is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, Witchcraft Teacher, Yoga and Meditation Instructor, Karuna and Usui Reiki Master/Teacher and Clairvoyant living in
Delhi, IA. To learn more about Dawn and to join her newsletter go to www.aurora dawn.com.
© 2003- 2008 — Aurora Dawn, LLC —

Just to be clear, the magic I am discussing here is not the slight of hand type of magic but the magic taught in witchcraft and other occult paths.  The spelling of magick with a “k” was first used by Aleister Crowley as an attempt to be clear as to what kind of magic he was talking about.

The general understanding of the magician is to use magic to create change according to the will of the magician.  Crowley explains in his book, Book Four, “It is theoretically possible to cause in any object any change of which that object is capable by nature.”  Crowley is explaining that magick cannot be used to work against the laws of nature so if it can’t happen naturally then magick cannot make it happen.

There are many who believe magicians, sorcerers, wizards and witches are only involved in conjuring and controlling spirits to their bidding and create change.  Here’s a definition of necromancy from http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=necromancy,

“necromancy (the belief in magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world).”  Many believe this is what magicians, sorcerers, wizards and witches practice in order to control their world and to control and manipulate others.  They believe the magician coerces spirits to work for him involuntarily.

If you study the history of the Middle Ages you’ll find a lot of stories about necromancy and all the horrible, evil things these “devil worshippers” practiced.  But if you look at the origin of the stories you’ll find many came from inquisitors, monks and Christian zealots seeking to create fear in an effort to coerce people to turn individuals in who may be practicing some sort of black magic, which really is any spiritual practice not in line with Christian doctrine.

Thousands of innocent people were tortured and murdered because of irrational and unfounded fear.  It’s unfortunate that so much of the truth was twisted and so many suffered as a result and all for the political agenda of a religious few.

I have to add a side note that I do believe there are those who practice black magic but this is not the magician’s path.  In Western Occultism this kind of person is called a sorcerer.  However, according to Don Juan of Castaneda’s work a sorcerer is a shaman so we have to be careful not to get lost in definitions.  When the European sorcerer works with these dark spirits, the will of the sorcerer eventually will be forfeited to these spirits.  Following this path tends to accelerate the aging of the practitioner as his life force energy is slowly siphoned off. 

There are many, many good spirits and entities that are more than willing to become an ally for the magician that it really isn’t necessary to call upon demons or evil spirits to do your bidding.  The ego so wants to dominate that it is tempting to use these evil spirits but why when there are those of a higher vibration that are waiting for us to work with them and they are safe and loving beings.

The magician’s path is one that seeks spiritual enlightenment in a way that is empowering to his self.  All religions seek to disempower their followers by telling them they must not seek out their psychic gifts because either those gifts are evil or they only feed the ego.  The magician learns the dangers of developing his psychic abilities and learns to do shadow work to keep his ego from getting him to use those powers to control others.  Once the magician does his work with his shadow he knows his ego and therefore is the master of his ego.

The magician also knows that to empower himself he must internalize and emotionalize his life’s lessons.  The way this is done is by embracing the pain and trauma surrounding the beliefs behind the lessons he is learning.  This is what I am calling shadow work because these beliefs are hidden in the subconscious or shadow part of the mind.  Bringing these beliefs to the surface, or the light, and embracing the truth about them, the magician heals his soul.

In the book Paenitere by William Blystone, William defines the initiation in to the occult as, “the calculated, conscious effort undertaken by the Neophyte to realize the spiritual powers latent within him.  These attainments steadily lead to the conscious realization of his immortal spirit, which is that gift the true Creator (God) gave him to nurture and develop when he was formed in the depths of eternity.”  William is saying that to realize one’s immortal spirit is to attain a level of illumination or enlightenment.

There is a fundamental occult truth that magic is an extension of will.  Aleister Crowley once said, “Magick is the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.”  This concept is diametrically opposed to the Christian teaching that the individual will must be brought into submission under Christ. 

But what does Christ mean?  Christ is a level of consciousness and when a person “submits” his will to Christ consciousness the ego is brought under submission because the individual has raised his consciousness to the level of Christ.

Another way of describing the path of learning and practicing magic is by looking at martial arts.  Martial arts can be learned by an individual and used to hurt other people or it can be learned and used to help others.  Martial arts is a mental and physical discipline in much the same way magic is a mental and physical discipline. 

In the book Self-Initiation of the Golden Dawn Tradition, Sandra Tabatha Cicero explains that all rituals from the initiate to portal grade must be carried out only under the authority of the student’s Higher Self and not under the ego of the student.  In many occult paths the student is taught how to develop a relationship with the Higher Self for the purpose of getting one’s own direction from one’s own Higher Self rather than from outside sources.

There really is a lot of confusion over what the occult actually is and what it involves due to the sensationalizing effects of Hollywood and the media.  The popular opinion is that the occult is connected with Satanism, black magic and dark ritual practices.  Occult studies refer to studying secret knowledge and for those who have inside knowledge of the occult understand its deeper spiritual connotations that go beyond the material world.

Bottom line is that most occult paths will lead the student to Self-realization and the actualizing of your potential in all your dimensions.  It is understood that your own Spirit must ultimately be your Guide and Master.  A true Magi or Master can show you the path but you must learn to follow it

Hinduism is known to be the oldest surviving Asian religion and can be traced back to four ancient works of sacred teachings called the Veda. The Rig-Veda was the first to be written with the largest collection of hymns, at 1,028 in total. These hymns were recited by the priests to invite the gods to participate in sacrificial ceremonies. Written sometime between the twelfth and eight centuries BC, and passed along by word of mouth through scholars who studied and interpreted sacred texts were so meticulous that they were successful at preserving the sound of the ancient Sanskrit hymns with near perfect accuracy. Even though the meanings of some of the words were lost, it was not considered important. The sounds not the meanings were believed to carry supernatural power.

The Rig-Veda describes sacrificial rituals including the slaying of animals to please the gods. Another part of these rituals was consuming the juice of a climbing vine, called soma (Asclepias acida). The juice was mixed with milk, filtered through sheep skin and imbibed. Soma is considered a powerful hallucinogen and it seems to give the drinker supernatural powers.

Two other Veda texts also gave a lot of attention to sacrificial rites but it was in the fourth Veda, Atharva-Veda, written around the second century BC that exposed the most interesting aspect of the Hindu religion. The teachings in the Atharva Veda were devoted to magical spells and charms designed to get rid of disease causing demons, renew the affections of a lover, win victory in battle and generate financial success. As you can guess, these incantations were a valuable political tool for the priests serving the rulers of their day.

The quest for magical powers led to asceticism in Indian thought and religion. Those who learned these magical abilities were commonly called munis (wonder workers) in the Rig-Veda. It was said they knew the secrets of the gods.

These ascetics learned these secrets through the discipline of fasting, celibacy and drinking poisons. Munis were said to accumulate these supernatural powers, called tapas, through holding uncomfortable positions for long periods of time. Their abilities included magical feats such as levitation, healing, telekinesis, translocation, and much more. Tapas were also obtained through extreme forms of self torture including sitting or lying on a bed or nails or holding a leg or arm motionless for months until it started to waste away.

Transmigration (reincarnation) came about through these ascetics and became the central doctrine of Hinduism and Buddhism. With transmigration the devout is able to escape from samsara, their undesirable condition, and achieve a state of enlightenment. A person becomes conscious of the essential identity (atman) of his or her individual soul through this mystical experience. Then he or she unites with the impersonal Supreme Being known as Brahman.

There are many paths leading to this enlightenment, but it is said that the path of the ascetic is the truest path, living a solitary life, eating very little, keeping body and mind under control through the extensive practice of meditation.

At the time of the final portion of the Veda, Upanishads, the practice of yoga consisted of sitting completely still and erect, with the eyes focused on the tip of the nose. The objective was to bring thought and senses under complete control until the mind became a single point.

Between 200 BC and 200 AD, yoga in the Bhagavad-Gita had become a name given to any practice designed to reunite the soul with God. Yoga had evolved away from its classical paths and spread across India. Yogis were gaining great respect even though traditional Hindu priests believed them to be no more than mere magicians (illusionists).

Yoga adepts were regarded as proficient masters over the force of gravity to levitate themselves right off the ground. They were also known to make certain events happen without any physical effort, solely through the force of will. Many other supernatural abilities were also attained through this practice.

At the core of the yoga techniques for obtaining supernatural abilities was strict control of the breath. It was said that through the control of the breath these accomplishments were made possible. Using special techniques the yogi would make his breathing as slow as possible, always extending the period between breaths. Some yogis would even reach the ability to hold their breath for hours.

Oprah had David Blain on her show April 30, 2008. If you were watching then you know David held his breath for 17 minutes. David is known as a stage magician but this was no magic trick.

You don’t have to be a spiritually evolved individual to learn these supernatural abilities but this is not the practice of yoga. Instead these exhibitions of supernatural ability are traps on the path to enlightenment. The Buddha himself warned of the dangers of “showing off” magical abilities. Showing off is from the ego and when the ego is under your mastery, you will not have any desire to “show off” your abilities.

Disciplining the body and the mind to attain these supernatural abilities does not get you closer to realizing your true spiritual Self. These abilities could even be used to harm others. The greatest reward one can gain from developing these special abilities is to learn them after properly learning to be the master of the ego.

While I was learning yoga I was discouraged from seeking psychic abilities because it would only make me a slave to my ego. Many yoga masters will not teach their disciples these supernatural abilities until the disciple has proven mastery over his or her ego. Once the ego was under control, it was considered safe to teach the disciple these powerful abilities.

I do want to note that each individual always be building and expanding his or her psychic abilities to communicate with the spirit world. The spirit world is actually more real than our 3 dimensional world and it holds all the answers to any question any of us could have ask. Being able to communicate with the spirit world will help you on your spiritual path to greater enlightenment and empowerment.

If you’re interested in building your supernatural powers using yoga then I suggest studying Kriya or Kundallini yoga. It is best to use the guidance of a teacher to properly prepare for this path. Also Sri Auribindo taught the importance of spiritual evolution which can be found in developing psychic abilities.

Dawn Michele Ziemer is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, Witchcraft Teacher, Yoga and Meditation Instructor, Karuna and Usui Reiki Master/Teacher and Clairvoyant living in Delhi, IA. To learn more about Dawn and to join her newsletter go to Aurora Dawn.
© 2003- 2008 — Aurora Dawn, LLC –

There is a secret I want to share with you that very few people know about.  There are numerous early Christian paintings depicting Jesus with short curly hair, clean shaven, and a wand in his hand.

When I first saw these paintings my eyes nearly popped out of my head.  I remember as a Christian being told that magic (or magick) was evil and the occult was something very dangerous.  But here it is, Jesus using a wand to perform his miracles.  How could this be?

Before I go any further on this subject it is necessary to take a look at Osiris to better understand where the idea of using a wand came from.   Most of us understand Osiris to be a god, a human-like being, and this is one way he was portrayed.  But according to William Henry, Osiris is also portrayed as a Pillar, Device or World Tree.  In other words, Osiris was a device used by the ancient Egyptians. 

The Osiris device was a technology and symbol for a whole host of sciences.  The Egyptians called Osiris a ladder or stairway to heaven.  The pharaoh served food to Osiris as a sacrifice and what’s interesting is the sacrifice never included blood, animals, or humans, which makes the Osiris completely peaceful

Raising Lazarus, water to wine, multiplication of loaves, and the widow’s son

Jesus depicted in ancient Christian sarcophagi 4th and 5th century work

So what is the wand in Jesus’ hand?  It was said to be a branch from the Tree of Life (the Osiris device). Students of Judeo-Christian prophecy claim that the ‘End Time’ will see the appearance of Revelation 12’s ‘woman clothed with the sun’ who bears a child who rules with a rod of iron. It will also see the return of the prophet Elijah and the rebuilding of Solomon’s Temple, an act that is instrumental in the creation of the New Thousand Years of Peace.

It is thought that Elijah will return the Rod of Jesse – the rod signifying his power, a branch from the Tree of Life - to the Messiah, who will be seated on the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies of Solomon’s Temple on Mount Moriah. He will replace the Ark of the Covenant that had symbolized him, in the place where God is believed to have first walked with Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden.

Just as a branch from the Tree of Life was kept before the Ark of the Covenant, he will set the Rod of God before himself on the Throne of God, where the Tree of Life had grown in the Garden of Eden.

After the Church council met in 400 AD they decided to have all pictures depicting Jesus to have a beard, long hair, and no wand.  After this time you no longer work for the gods but now worship a god in a master/slave relationship.  You can aspire to be like god but you will never be equal to god.

So why did they take Jesus’ wand away?  Well, like William Henry says, “You can’t have a planet full of Christ like beings running around because they don’t pay taxes and they are completely unmanageable.”

So how does this help you on your spiritual path?

Very good question, I’m glad you asked.  The very idea that early Christians show Jesus with a wand reminds me of the fact that all religions were/are all man-made.  There’s nothing wrong with that but it means these are spiritual systems to help you to grow spiritually but should never be taken as from God or even from the gods.  Religion is man’s way of trying to get back to where we were before the “fall.”  

So what was the “fall” all about?  I’m going to save that for another article.

For further study on this subject:

http://rome101.com/Christian/Magician/

www.williamhenry.net (DVD The Lost Secrets of Jesus)

Dawn Michele Ziemer is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach, Witchcraft Teacher, Yoga and Meditation Instructor, Karuna and Usui Reiki Master/Teacher and Clairvoyant living in Delhi, IA.  To learn more about Dawn and to join her newsletter go to Aurora Dawn.

© 2003- 2008 — Aurora Dawn, LLC —