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Hello, Good People of the Internet!
I hope you all are feeling quite well and are getting enough sleep!
Ever since my Wife opened a preschool in the house several years ago, I've been more often sick than not. It's just the nature of having many small germ-ridden children in the house. But the last three weeks were pretty bad. All three members of the Kelly clan were walloped with a number of increasingly fun ailments. I'll spare you the details.
Anyway, I'm more or less back to myself, as is my wife, but the wee man is still not back at school. He is improving, though.
Fun times, but the show must go on and so, I fought bravely and managed to remain productive - I'm a hero, really.
Here's what I've been up to... |
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I recently got the itch again to ramble into a video camera and put it online. Click on the Video Thumbnails, and they'll open on YouTube - I can't work out how to embed the videos in the newsletter so that they open without a redirect - perhaps that's just not possible.
In this first video, I discuss why I took a break and why now is a good time to begin again. |
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In the next video, I talk about why a lot of the common answers to the question of "Why is this happening?" all fall apart for me upon closer examination. Looking back on this it is obvious that there is a bit of a Non-dual presupposition in a lot of this - which is interesting given that I am less convinced by that school of thought than I once was. |
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The next Vlog will be out within a few days and will be a return of the monthly Questions & Answers vlogs.
NOTE: If you prefer Audio Only then you can listen to the vlogs on the podcast feed here: https://wp.me/P75qU6-H8 |
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CHAOS MAGICIANS ARE LIARS! |
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I recently made a Meme that became quite popular on Facebook... |
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First, I want to clarify that I'm not saying that people should read or watch these things, that they are essential to Chaos Magic, or that you are not a real Chaos Magician if you haven't watched the show or read the books. Not at all.
The meme is referencing that, for some reason, a tremendous amount of Chaos Magicians lie about having consumed this particular media - more than likely because they're often touted as essential media to a Chaos Magic worldview.
I once read that the movie most Film Buffs lie about having watched is Citizen Kane, and I'll admit I have never watched it. I will at some point, but man, there are only so many hours in the day.
For my part, I have indeed read all of The Invisibles, but only within the last decade. Before that, I read the first book collection several times but always gave up.
Also, I have watched all of Twin Peaks, but again only recently. I watched the first season several times but always got bored during the second season. Once the cat is out of the bag with the original murder mystery, the show is a bit aimless and meandering and doesn't really know what direction to take. The recent third season was really good, though.
And with Illuminatus, though I am a huge fan of Robert Anton Wilson, I have only read part of the first book in the trilogy - and even on audiobook, I only got slightly further. I will get back to it as I was enjoying it, but it's one of those audiobooks I need to pay attention to rather than have on in the background as I was.
The takeaway here is that we probably all have lied about watching or reading something to feel legitimate in the eyes of others. I know I have, but thankfully a lot less so over the last number of years, as it is something I have made a huge effort to eradicate from my personality.
When I was a Sound Engineer, I used to go into different venues and pretend I knew what all the buttons did because I was under the false notion that I was meant to know everything. This put me in many awkward and sticky situations that could have been easily avoided by asking for help or admitting my ignorance.
One day I stopped doing that and started owning up to what I knew, what I didn't know, and what I needed help with.
Almost immediately, my sound engineering life got so much less stressful - and surprise surprise, I learned a lot of new things that I wouldn't have had I continued to pretend I knew everything.
But biggest insight of all - no one cared. No one treated me any differently. No one looked down their nose at me for not knowing something. If anything, I seemed to get on better with the various in-house engineers.
This is not to say that if you do read The Invisibles, the secrets of Chaos Magic will open up to you and you'll be given the super secret Choas Magic handshake* But if we could all start to be more honest about our experiences and our studies, I think we, as a community, will all be much better off.
At the end of the day, no one really cares if I've read a book or not, but they will justifiably judge me if they catch me lying about it. And I'll learn absolutely nothing if I pretend I already know everything.
Honesty and kindness are the best tools to make the world a better place. So, my motto going forward, and feel free to join me is: Honesty and kindness above all else.
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*Yes, there really is one. What do you mean you don't know it? Are you even a real Chaos Magician? |
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This is usually the place where I do a divination using the Forty Servant deck, but I thought due to the imminent release of The Nidana Cards that maybe I should do the reading with them instead.
QUESTION: What should be kept in mind?
These two cards are found sequentially in the deck but are in reverse order here. Tranquillity is usually found after rapture or ecstasy, but not in this case. Therefore what should be kept in mind is that sometimes you need to allow it before you feel it. The advice for those looking for peak spiritual experiences is to relax, rest and let go.
Stay tuned for news of The Nidana Cards imminent release! |
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Dave Lee's "8 Musics for 8 Magics" |
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I spoke to Dave Lee earlier in the week, and he told me about his new Magic-Music project, "8 Musics for 8 Magics" and I thought it would also interest a lot of you good people. Here's how Dave describes it:
"The album has been a while in the making. It's designed for people to do magic to, but also it's 8 electronic compositions by 4 composers on the magical scene. All the words by me - 5 minute guided meditation embedded in the middle of the tracks, most of which are 15 minutes.
The 8 Colours are a chaos-magic take on the 7 Planets of traditional magic plus Uranus/Ouranos. The 8 Colours is one of those systems of thinking into which you can categorize anything (well, that’s the idea). These are called cosmologies, or psychocosms. "
Check it out here on Dave's Bandcamp:
https://davelee1.bandcamp.com/album/8-musics-for-8-magicks
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READING
MAGIC IN ISLAM
By Michael Muhammad Knight
https://amzn.to/3oI8JvN
Recently I have started investigating Islamic ideas, particularly the more Sufi and mystical end of the Islamic spectrum. It is quite eye-opening just how little I know about Islam. I know quite a good deal about the various faith, religions and spiritual outlooks from around the world but never bothered with Islam.
Why is that? I think a lot of it is coming from the fact that here in the West, we seem to have a huge US vs THEM narrative around Islam more than many other religions. I probably could make an argument that the distasteful elements of Islam make it deserving of being ignored, but there are some equally distasteful facets of Christianity and yet, I have no problem reading the Christian Mystics or contemporary Neo-mystic-Christians.
So, I had to ask myself, is my avoidance of Islam due to a sneaky bit of racism or xenophobia? And I'm not sure I liked my answer.
Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that if, like me, you are looking to understand Islamic thought from a Magic point of view, then this is the book for you. It's easy to read but chock full of information and insight. Within its pages, you will meet a whole host of very cool and exciting Magicians that, if you are anything like me, you probably haven't heard of before, and at least for me, that's a huge oversight.
Also, the Let's Talk Religion is a fantastic resource to get up to speed on all things Islam (and a host of other areas of religious thought).
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And that's it for another AIWW Newsletter, I hope you got something from it. If you'd like to chat about you can hit reply to this email or come find me over on Discord.
If you would like to support me in doing all the things I do, then feel free to join the PATREON, Buy me a BOOK, Buy a PRINT, Buy a FORTY SERVANTS deck, or just send me some money via PAYPAL. This really does keep the train rolling!
So, until next time,
MAY YOUR BEST DAYS BE AHEAD!
T |
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My name is Tommie Kelly, and I’m an artist, musician, writer & wizard from Ireland. These periodical newsletters are about my adventures in creativity, spirituality, and magic.
Check out Adventures In Woo Woo where you
can read the archives and subscribe to future newsletters.
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Tommie Kelly
County Louth, Ireland.
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