Hyper-Real Spirituality: Pop Culture Magic

 An article by our very own Frater Isla. Originally published October 31, 2013 via theblogofbaphomet.com

Most folk’ll tell you the use of pop culture iconography in ritual began in the 80′s with Chaos Magick and the IOT. A few folk’ll tell you it started earlier with people like William S. Burroughs, who was known to use a cardboard stand-up of Mick Jagger for “rites of performance.” But I think it can be traced back to the beginning if you consider that at one time, even the Sumerian gods were pop sensations.

Those in the chaos current have always accepted the use of pop culture as being magically relevant. Just examine the successful integration of the Cthulhu Mythos by Anton LaVey, Phil Hine, and many others into the magical landscape over the last fifty years. Borrowing from any archetypal pool is considered okay, as long as it gets results. Devotion to an entity isn’t necessary for it to be useful as a magical tool.

Recently, though, a trend has popped up that I’ve found myself right in the middle of: serious religious devotion given to fictional characters drawn from pop culture. I’m a member of the Sons of the Batman, a magical group that honors the Caped Crusader. Although it may appear to be a joke or an intellectual exercise, it’s definitely not, and we take the worship of Batman very seriously.
And we are by no means the only ones.

Probably the most successful religious group inspired by a fictional source (outside of Scientology) would have to be the Church of Jediism. The Jedis have even gained tax-exemption in the US as a recognized non-profit religious organization. Their religion draws from the fictional universe of Star Wars, but they do not recognize its stories as any sort of scriptural reference. Instead, they see it as a point of philosophical inspiration, from which they’ve drawn the “16 teachings” and “21 Maxims.” They definitely believe in the Force, though.

Jediism gained attention during the 2001 New Zealand census, after an e-mail campaign inspired more than 53,000 to list “Jedi” as their religion. In the England and Wales census that year, over 390,000 claimed the same. The figure dropped to 176,000 last year, still outnumbering all the other “alternative” religions (including Atheism, numbering 29,000).

In 2004, Matrixism announced its arrival. It considered the Matrix films and related media to be a “sacred text,” which are said to be inspired metaphors of an idea articulated by `Abdu’l-Bahá’, son of Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í faith. According to its website, there are over two thousand adherents to the “Path of the One.”

There’s also a Church of Elvis, a Church of all Worlds (based on the fictional religion from Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land), and even the first rumblings of a cult dedicated to My Little Pony. I’m sure with more digging, one could find many more examples.

Jediism and Matrixism were studied by Dr. Adam Possamai, along with other pop-inspired religions that he termed, “hyper-real spiritualities.” Possamai believes that these groups are the product of what he calls a “McDonaldised Occult culture,” in which the beliefs that were once kept secret by groups like the Golden Dawn or the OTO are now easily found on the internet and bookshelves everywhere, making open comparison an easy task. Compound this with a desire to synthesize a consumerist culture with the search for a spiritual path, and you’ll have some seekers finding a parallel between the religious teachings of more traditional sources and the themes found in fiction.

My own entrance to these ranks came about when I had the epiphany that my own beliefs were influenced not by Christ, Mohammed, Krishna, or Pan, but by the stories of the Batman. Without knowing it, by immersing myself within the Batman myth since the age of three, I was allowing it to mold my thinking as my ego and sense of morality formed. By acknowledging and actively reinforcing this belief structure, I began to experience a real clarity in my personal spiritual practices and the strange sense that I had possibly stumbled onto a kind of magical lynchpin. After years of experimenting with the deities of a variety of cultures, the myth that seemed to inspire me the most was the one I had so happily consumed since childhood, never imagining it to be divine in any way.

The switch from viewing these pop culture icons as mere tools to use in the practice of results magic to objects of spiritual devotion seems to coincide with a general trend. It appears that the prevailing themes of cynicism and irony which defined the attitude of occultism in the 90′s has been replaced with a hunger for sincerity. Unlike their predecessors, the modern youth culture is unabashed by its reliance on consumerism and seems willing to integrate it into their spiritual life.

It’s possible that rather than just being an interesting blip in religious evolution, devotion to the icons of pop culture may very well be the next serious movement in magic.

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Tithing Ritual

The following is an adaptation of the Discordian Tithing Ritual developed by the Church of Moo.

To be performed every payday, or whenever it seems unnecessary.

1. Obtain five crisp, new one dollar bills.  European Sons can use a single five Euro bill or five Euro coins.

2. Affix the following veve to each bill, using a rubber stamp or by drawing it.

3. Select five people with listed addresses at random out of your telephone book.  If you happen to already have candidates for membership in mind, use them.

4. Mail one bill to each person, enclosing it with this letter:

 5. Take every opportunity to state the activation code.  If you don't immediately receive a response, don't repeat it.  People are more likely to dismiss odd statements from strangers when not pressed.  If you find yourself in an awkward situation because of it, just laugh and say, "You know.  From Batman," and blow it off.

By practicing this ritual, you will be helping to spread the word of the Batman.  If the recipient does not hold onto the bill, and spends it instead, at least it will put the veve into circulation.

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You Heard Him

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The Streets of Gotham Run Deepest Through Your Heart

image from: zombiebacons.tumblr.com

   "We impose meaning on the chaos of our lives.  We create form, morality, order.  It's a choice we have to make every second of every minute of every day."  -Batman:  Absolution (DeMatteis, Ashmore)

My dedication to the Batman is renewed every morning I lace up my Chucks with the golden bat symbol I drew on them.  "Guard my soul, guard my path" - It's ridiculous word play on the role of my feet and the soles of my shoes, but it's an easy ritual to remind me each day of my promise to the Batman:  to walk the path of justice.  

Before you ask, no, I'm not a real life super hero, nor do I aspire to be one.  While the thought of beating up rapists and taking down corrupt politicians is exciting, my fear of heights and lack of combat skills and affluence greatly diminishes my ability to take on such a role.  So how can one aspire to be like the bat when you have absolutely nothing in common with Gotham's Guardian?

Simple.  Protect everyone you can, starting with yourself.

The banishing ritual of the bat is a good place to start.  It was a bit more involved than the original banishing ritual I had set for myself, but it proved to pack a mightier punch.  After working this ritual for a week, I noticed the Gotham skyline would sneak its way into my peripheral at various times during the day, reminding me that it was still there, guarding and protecting me.  

Daily rituals/altars to each member of the bat family came next.  Adding a tangible element with things such as custom votive candles and Heroclix worked wonders for solidifying my practice.  Though I didn't grow up in a Catholic home, nor do I align any of my beliefs within the religion, I've always had a strange attraction to Catholic rituals and regalia; the vast iconography and intricate shrines of the devout have always held my fascination.  Taking just a moment of my time each day to remember them greatly improved our relationship.  The bat family was becoming my family.  It became easier to converse with them and ask for guidance and help through these simple rituals.

Three years later and I'm still at it.

Catwoman and I go way back, but I've since developed a particularly special bond with Alfred.  Damien is still distant, but we have an understanding.  For me it's not overt fandom, it's how I live my life.  Honestly, I wasn't a huge comic book reader before I joined up with Sons of the Batman, but I'd always loved the essence of Batman.  I was familiar enough to appreciate and believe in the same ideals.  I never even owned a Batman shirt up to this point!  When I finally got around to acquiring one, it had the same life-altering effects as trying on a graduation gown or a wedding dress for the first time.  The loud, yellow bat logo blazing out from my chest became my declaration to the world of my new found path.

I feel I'm still pretty new to the ideas of chaos magick and voodoo, among other things, having only really been digging into them and devoting time/effort for about five years now.  I was having a hard time identifying with any of the "traditional" heathen gods and goddesses often worshiped by other followers of these paths; it wasn't until Batman came along that I was able to find my calling.

I am a Son of the Batman.

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Tenet #2: Holographic Universe (It's a Collector's Item)

The Holographic Principle model was developed when quantum physicist Gerard 't Hooft began to tackle inherent problems within the field of Black Hole Thermodynamics.  Namely, the idea that when an object is sucked into a black hole, it disappears.  From my understanding, this contradicted a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics: that information can't disappear.  Physicists like 't Hooft and Leonard Susskind found that when an object entered the singularity, the event horizon (the outer edge) of the black hole expanded.  What was happening was the information within the object was being spread out over the surface of the black hole in what 't Hooft would call a 'holographic' way. (To be honest, this may be a terribly inaccurate way of explaining this, considering Black Hole Thermodynamics and the function of entropy is way over my head. For a more informed source, read http://ref-sciam.livejournal.com/1190.html)

To better understand the concept, it will be helpful to start with what a hologram is.  If we shoot a laser beam at an image and then shoot another beam into the reflected light, we will get an interference pattern where the two beams cross.  We then put that interference pattern onto film, where it shows up as a meaningless pattern of swirls, but if a laser is shined through the film, then the original image will appear in three dimensions.  In other words, two-dimensional information (the swirls on the film) can be used to project a three-dimensional image (the hologram).

A similar function can be found at work in the black hole.  The object's information is on the two-dimensional outer surface, and the three-dimensional object itself is within the singularity.  According to physicists who subscribe to the Holographic Principle, this relationship between information and object can be found in any system within the bounds of a specified volume of space.

One more thing you need to know if you want to make sense of this post is that holograms are a type of fractal.  A fractal is a mathematical set that is self-similar  In other words, when it is expressed as an image, zooming into the picture will display the same image as zooming out.  Here is a slightly goofy visual aid that might make the idea easier to grasp:

When a hologram is cut in two, each piece will still show the original image.  You can continue cutting the pieces forever, and each one will be a copy of the original.  However, the image loses resolution with each cut, leading  to fuzzier and fuzzier facsimiles.

Though the concept of the fractal proper is only a few decades old, we find a similar idea expressed in the Hermetic axiom: "As Above, So Below," which originally shows up in the Hindu Vedas, but is more popularly remembered from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus: "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing."  The microcosm (the part) is exactly the same as the macrocosm (the whole).  An apt description of a fractal.

We also find the idea in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which can be used as a map of not only the universe, but the human body, and even the soul (among other things. See Israel Regardie's The Middle Pillar for it use as a psychological model).  The tree is made up of ten stations, or 'Sephiroth', and it is said that each sephirah contains another tree, with each of its sephirah containing another tree, and so on.

The Batman myth has this same theme running through it.  It is often stated that Gotham City is the Batman.

Batman 1 [Vol.] (Snyder, Capullo)   I chose this example because I like the panel layout, but there are a slew of them from every period to pick from.

Grant Morrison depicts the holographic relationship explicitly, with the Batman as a projection of Gotham:

Batman 679 (Morrison, Daniel)

We can look at Gotham City as a kind of Tree of Life, a pattern that is projecting the Batman holographically.  If we were to 'cut up' the Batman hologram, we get 'blurry images' like the 90's Dark Knight, the 60's Caped Crusader, or the 70's master detective.

The Bat-Family and Rougue's Gallery have a holographic relationship with the Batman as well.  In Hunting the Dark Knight, Dr. Will Brooker writes, "Batman's regular opponents... invert and caricature aspects of his persona in diverse and inventive ways, reflecting them in distorting mirrors and showing them as grotesque or ridiculous."  Each villain is a negative version of an aspect of the Batman, himself.  The Family, in turn, can be seen as positive versions of these aspects.  Together, they all become a matrix by which the Batman can be manifested. 

With the Bat myth and the Holographic Principle, we may have a model that can explain how magical thinking and seemingly arbitrary divinatory systems are able to produce actual results, as any seemingly random occurrence must be a part of the fractal pattern of the universe.  It would also go a long way to explain how a series of stories pushed out against a deadline and created purely for the entertainment of children and illiterates could become a model of the universe.

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Sippin' on dat Haterade (or: Why Pagans can be Worse than Fundamentalists)

"The mythic hero is also an amalgamation of a number of archetypal images, and as such is a part of our species' psychic inheritance, a universal constant that transcends culture and time."
                                                         -Don LoCicero Superheroes and Gods

"[We live in a society] without the kind of gods that used to exist, or the legends that used to travel back and forth with tribes.  The tribes each told the same stories in their own way.  I gave those stories the power of the old concepts with characters from our own day."
                                                    -Jack Kirby (from Les Daniels' DC Comics)

Well.  It took three years, but the internet has finally caught up with us.  And with the internet, comes the yucky egocentric and long-winded 'opinion' (read as 'fact') blahblahblogs vomiting up their eternal wisdom. 

http://thehouseofvines.com/2013/05/17/we-bleed-ink/ 

My original reaction to the different comments quoted in this post was a wavy-brained gaiety.  The trolls were all shoving to get in front.  ('I hate people who worship fictional beings like Dionysus, Krishna, or Jesus.  Everyone knows Allah is the one, true god!').

Instead, I'm giving you, fair reader, an easy argument in case you're ever backed into a corner by one of these overly serious, self-aggrandizing goof-asses.  I'm also taking the time to participate in the wonderful world of internets, where I can attack someone I don't know over a 50 word comment they made without ever having to worry about running into them in a remote back alley.


"Julian Betkowski weighs in with The Need to Understand the Role of Religion:

A lot of work has been done in certain portions of the occult community to position all of magic, all of the Gods, as mere figures of the psyche, as ghosts in the machine, phantoms of archetypes that haunt the unused byways of our neural highway. Again, whatever works for you, but that is not religion. That is apologetics. Apologetics for things that people are too afraid to openly acknowledge they believe in. If you think magic is real, and the Gods are real, then you are a nut job in contemporary American society. So instead, you say that it is all psychological and you are just exploring the hidden places of the human mind. That is perfectly fine, but it is also perfectly cowardly. We cannot have it both ways. The Gods are real, or they are not. There is no in between."

To say that this interpretation of Jung's Collective Unconscious is the only one is grossly assumptive.  I would have to point out that Jung didn't see the archetypes as 'mere figures of the psyche', but as the vitals of consciousness.  And this is not the only paradigm that would allow for the worship of fictional characters, either.

I'll say it right now: The Batman is a very real being and we have a very real relationship.

There. No apologies.  Happy, pappy?
 
I've already written about the fallacy of Aristotlean Either\Or logic, and how dumb it is to believe in a single, infallible TRUTH.  The statement, 'We cannot have it both ways. The Gods are real, or they are not. There is no in between,' is meaningless.  Fucking prove it, dork.

"Urbanpooka believes we have no right to disagree with others: [ok, dickhead]

This is not reasonable discussion. Reasonable discussion of another’s pagan practices should not involve telling that person that their practice is a falsehood, or does not exist outside their head, or has no impact in their lives. It is not reasonable because it cannot be proven. Forget the fact that it is horribly, horribly rude, and that even traditional pagans are often deeply offended when non-believers turn such “arguments” on them. When non-believers do that, I’ve heard it wondered aloud “Why are you being so shitty to prove your point?”

 Thank you, Urbanpooka.

"And the second comes from fathergia and was left here:

Honestly, this whole debate is upsetting me in a very big way. Not in the debate or the conflict, but in the fucking fact that we are having this god damn STUPID debate. Fucking, Christians and Hindus and Muslims don’t have to discuss and ARGUE with each other whether Batman and Wonder Woman are worthy of veneration or some EQUALLY stupid shit. THIS is why people don’t take us seriously THIS is why we CONTINUE to get ridiculed and made fun of by academics and the larger religious community, because we KEEP BRINGING UP STUFF LIKE THIS. I want to be a part of this community, I want to look at people and feel a sense of glowing pride and be able to PROUDLY exclaim ‘These are my people’. I want to be PROUD of my fellow Pagans, I want to point at them and smile and applaud their writings and accomplishments, but how do I do that when they are conflating Tony Stark with fucking MLK Jr? God damn, that is disrespectful. I respect that man, I mean, fuck, I have a ritual called Isonomia that I do on MLK Day. Conflating him with someone who doesn’t exist is ridiculous, I mean, what the hell? It is like she got inspired from the South Park Imagination Land saga of episodes. How do you connect with people who make you embarrassed and who disrespect people that you respect and admire to a great deal? How do you do that? I don’t know if you can. I just know that this has made me very unhappy. I hope shit like this doesn’t keep coming up."

Jesus Christ.  Where to begin?  Sounds like someone has lots invested in not looking stupid.  Considering the out of proportion rage and the theme of avoiding embarrassment, I would assume that fathergia is a 14 year old boy in the midwest who's sick and tired of getting beat up after school.  Of course, I'll have to do the one thing no one else in this debate seems able to do, and admit that I COULD BE WRONG.  

Criminy.

One thing I noticed here was the proliferation of people designating which gods are 'real'.  From what I can tell, the only signifier of 'realness' is antiquity.  So cross your fingers, Sons.  If we can keep the Batman popular for another thousand years, he may get another opportunity to apply for the deity position.

What I hope I've made clear:
    1. Yelling at people you think are wrong is dumb.
    2. Magic is about results.  If it works, then obviously it's doing something right.
    3. Batman is fictional.  So are all the other Gods.  Everywhere.

P.S.  Here is the post that I believe started to 'controversy'.  I may be wrong, since I've never looked at any of these blogs before.  That being said, props to Sunweaver for a great read.

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Tenet #1: Duality Dies at Dawn!

Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 2 (Morrison, Mahnke)

The scriptures often remind us that the Joker is a dark mirror of the Batman, always playing the role of allegorical opposition.  Their relationship is an expression of the dual forces in the universe.  Order and chaos, death and life, good and evil:

Batman 680 (Morrison, Daniel)

But we also find that, being opposites, one cannot exist without the other.  In Hunting the Dark Knight, Dr. Will Brooker states, "As counterpoints and contrasts, the villains are locked into a ritualized dance with Batman; on one level, he justifies their existence, and they justify his, just as each medieval carnival was linked to a sacred feast.  Without Batman, the villains would have no challenge, no real raison d'être, and the reverse is also true; the two sides, particularly the love-hate pairing of Batman and Joker, define and, in a sense, create each other."

Or, as the Joker himself says in Nolan's The Dark Knight, "You complete me."

Batman 663 (Morrison, Van Fleet)

In Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, we find the doctrine of 'The One Bad Day.'  It illustrates the notion that the only difference between the Clown Prince of Crime and the Caped Crusader is a matter of perspective.

Batman: The Killing Joke (Moore, Bolland)

The Bat myth explores the idea that seeming opposites are, in reality, halves of a whole.

Much like Ramakrishna's vision of Kali giving birth to the universe and then devouring it, the ongoing battle between the Batman and the Joker, when seen from a human vantage, gives us a cyclical view of reality; but when seen from a higher temporal  perspective (i.e. one where all times are simultaneous), a cycle becomes a solid object.  Ebb and flow become literal parts of a whole.

Or we can look at a thermometer (which is probably less annoying than trying to imagine what events look like when space-time is viewed as an object instead of a process).  On one end is 'hot'.  On the other is 'cold'.  But where in the middle does one become the other?

An object's 'coldness' or 'hotness' is not an intrinsic quality, but depends on the subjective judgement of a viewer.  Hot and cold may be opposites, but they're on the same thermometer.

The Batman teaches us that there are no dualities.  Rather than being a force of Good, he is a force of Justice.  Justice is blind, holding the scales of Libra in one hand, and the sword of reason in the other.  In Crowley's Thoth Tarot deck, 'Justice' is renamed 'Adjustment', and is defined by Crowley as "balance against each thought. it's exact opposite. For the marriage of these is the annihilation of illusion".  It isn't about good over evil or positive over negative. It's about balance between contradictions.

Justice isn't always aimed at the negative aspects of the universe, either.  The Batman is a counterweight to all the denizens of Gotham, not just the villains.  Think of the driven, cold, and calculating role he holds in contrast to the intuitive, empathic, and compassionate Dick Grayson.  Or the self-centered, self-destructive Bruce Wayne in balance with the reasonable and responsible Alfred Pennyworth.

In all things, the Batman is a call to balance, leading us to question the absolutes we take for granted.  And by revealing that duality has no reality outside of our perception, he has perhaps laid stake to the old mystical claim that everything is, in fact, one.

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Please Do Not Look Directly at the Bat Signal

    The Batman dies and returns as the Sun sets and rises.  Along with other solar deities, like Apollo, Ra, Baldur, Hyperion, Legba, or Christ, he can be associated with rebirth, harmony, compassion, masculinity, and beauty.  The Sun is the realm of the higher ego: Mathers' Holy Guardian Angel.  The God-in-Man.  Resurrection is a chief function, a condition fulfilled in Morrison's Batman R.I.P. and The Return of Bruce Wayne.  Sun gods are also gods of balance and equilibrium.  Christ speaks in terms of balance: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matt 5:3-5) Weights and pulleys illustrate the universe's occupation with this idea.
    In the Bat myth, we find The Batman acting as a balancing mechanism for every other personality in Gotham.  When he is with the Venusian Dick Grayson, he manifests his cold, unfeeling side.  With the wise and fatherly Alfred Pennyworth, he becomes the tantrum-throwing child.  In the presence of the Joker's chaos, he is order.
    Most scientific types believe that the Sun is the center of our solar system (http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=481), holding the planets in orbit with its gravitational pull.  The metaphorical connection should be obvious.  The Batman can have his name on the cover, and only show up for a few pages, like in Batman: Room Full of Strangers (Morse, 2004), or Batman: Devil's Asylum (Grant, Stelfreeze,1995).
    He can be read as the heart of Gotham, the hub that all others revolve around.  In kabbalah, the sephirah associated with the Sun is called Tiphareth, which means "beauty".  Tiphareth is tied to the sixes of the Tarot: Success, Science, Pleasure, Victory.  It is also connected to the heart.
    In Scorsese's  Last Temptation of Christ, Jesus says, "If I was a woodcutter, I'd cut. If I was a fire, I'd burn. But I'm a heart and I love. That's the only thing I can do."

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Need Help Witnessing to a Friend?

Just print, fold, and cut.

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Angelic Hours.

Here are my daily devotions. Criticism is appreciated.

***

 
SUNDAY: Bruce Wayne.  
- Associated with deities of resurrection, equilibrium, crops, harmony.

PLANET: The Sun
SEPHIRA: Tiphareth
COLOR: Yellow
SCENTS: Frankincense, Benzoin, Calamus, Clove, Citrus, Marigold, Olibanum, Rosemary, Rowan, Saffron
SHAPE: Hexagram


MONDAY: Selina Kyle.  
- Associated with deities of sexuality, clairvoyance, divination, cycles, emotions, dreams, the astral plane.

PLANET: the Moon
SEPHIRA: Yesod
COLOR: Violet
SCENTS: Almond Gum, Camphor, Chamomile, Clary Sage, Melon, Menstrual Blood, Orris, Poppy Seeds, Sandarac, Storax, Wintergreen
SHAPE: Enneagram


TUESDAY: James Gordon. 
- Associated with deities of war, sternness, purification, destructive forces, strength.

PLANET: Mars
SEPHIRA: Geburah
COLOR: Red
SCENTS: Cinnamon, Pepper, Basil (seed), Caper, Cardamom, Catmint, Coriander, Garlic, Ginger, Myrrh, Onion, Turmeric, Wormwood
SHAPE: Pentagram


WEDNESDAY: Barbara Gordon.  
- Associated with deities of knowledge, magic, systems, wisdom, communication, commerce, stability, messengers, Tricksters.

PLANET: Mercury 
SEPHIRA: Hod 
COLOR: Orange  
SCENTS: Bayberry, Caraway, Clover, Dill, Elemi, Fennel, Fenugreek, Lavender, Lemongrass, Licorice, Mace, Marjoram, Mastic, Sandarac, Vetiver, White Sandalwood 
SHAPE: Octagram


THURSDAY: Alfred Pennyworth.  
- Associated with deities of storms, sky, wind, fatherhood, ruling, majesty.

PLANET: Jupiter
SEPHIRA: Chesed
COLOR: Blue
SCENTS: Cedar, Burgundy Pitch, Copaiba Balsam, Copol Oro, Gum Ammoniac, Lime, Magnolia, Mint, Spruce, Nutmeg, Oak, Red Sandalwood, Saffron, Sage
SHAPE: Square 
 

FRIDAY: Dick Grayson. 
- Associated with deities of love, attraction, nature, motherhood, fertility.

PLANET: Venus
SEPHIRA: Netzach
COLOR: Green
SCENTS: Rose, African Violet, Almond, Apricot, Cherry, Honeysuckle, Jasmine, Lilac, Myrtle, Palmarosa, Strawberry (and all berry scents), Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Violet 
SHAPE: Septagram


SATURDAY: Damian Wayne.  
- Associated with deities of control, darkness, time, old age (crones), limitation, binding, boundaries, black magick, death.

PLANET: Saturn
SEPHIRA: Binah 
COLOR: Black  
SCENTS: Myrrh, Asafoetida, Cannabis, Cypress, Indigo, Scammony, Sulphur, Thyme, Yew 
SHAPE: Triangle

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The Cat and The Bat

 

Today we have everyone's favorite cat burglar hanging around our altar space in honor of Monday!  Wreathed in pearls and antlers, at her feet are quartz, an egg-shaped stone, and three of my rings: moon ring, moonstone ring (um, obvious choices, I know), and my engagement ring (because diamonds are a girl's best friend, especially if that girl is Selina Kyle!)  Today is a great day for her, there's a full moon out tonight, the Hunter's Moon to be precise.

 This pesky feline has been complicating Batman's life for quite some time now; since the moment they met actually...

Bob Kane states he and Bill Finger saw cats as "kind of the antithesis of bats."  

Oh reeeaally?   To me, black cats and black bats are both creatures of the night.  They are sleek and stealth, observant and cunning.  But when you consider that bats are basically flying rats and cats have a penchant for said rodents... the addition of wings to the traditional "cat and mouse" equation only heightens the excitement for the cat.  Really, would she ever be satisfied if the rat posed no challenge for her? *winkwink*

And they have played the "cat and mouse game" quite well...

 

Catwoman is the grey to Batman's black and white.  She is anarchy and pure sex while Batman is, let's be honest here, kinda sterile and a bit of a goody-good, his rough and tough demeanor aside.  Sure, Batman plays the part of a handsome, rich, eligible bachelor well.  But at the end of the day he's deep in a cave, alone and brooding in the dark.  Catwoman goes to parties and actually enjoys herself.  Stealing and catching crooks is a thrill.  While it is true they are both seeking vengeance for injustices wrought upon their lives, Selina Kyle knows how to separate from her pain and is able to go on with her life.  Catwoman does what she does to live, Batman does what he does to escape death.

***

Here is another quote from Kane worth mulling over in your brain:  

 "Men feel more sure of themselves with a male friend than a woman. You always need to keep women at arm's length. We don't want anyone taking over our souls, and women have a habit of doing that."  

Oh Batman, quit trying to be so tough all the time.  And stop lying too.  Everyone knows this woman shakes you to your core!  But why?  What is it about this feline fatale that keeps drawing him back?  Letting her escape?  Largely considered a benevolent character, Catwoman is still a criminal, period. She steals, she lies, she cheats, she was a prostitute...

But she is also that spark, that loveable, chaotic entity that keeps him on his toes (and isn't trying to murder him every chance she gets!)  She finds joy and excitement in some of the most unlikely places.  This isn't to say Catwoman doesn't experience her darker moments from time to time, we all do.  What sets her apart is her refusal to let it consume her.

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Holy Bat Book! (work in progess...)

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Altar

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A Place of Worship

A simple Batman altar built around preexisting elements (ancestor box, antlers for Artemis, roses for Mary, nazar boncugu to ward off evil.)  Always the red and the black.  The rosary I chose has the holy family on it:  St. Martha, St. Thomas, St. Bruce.  His incense is leather; strong, masculine, powerful.  Under his watchful gaze may the righteous be upheld and the the unjust be punished.

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Consecrated Prayer Box

The origin of the Bat-veve.  Etched in blood and paint on a circular box painted to resemble a pearl.  Pearls are wisdom.  They represent the righteous, the innocent, the pure.  These are the things which the Batman fights for and strives to protect.  This sigil can be used on just about anyone or anything; use it whenever you wish to invoke the Batman, to receive his protection, to bring an enemy to justice.  It represents the all-seeing eyes of Batman, the guidance of the four elements, the protection of the night.  In this context, the Bat-veve draws up and protects the contents of this box.

The embodiment of Justice, Guardian of the Night.  Always watching, always guarding his city, his people.   

 Who is the Batman?  What makes the Batman?  His origins have been encapsulated in this box.

•  Blood and pearls, the darkness of night.  Blood is life, power, energy, strength.  Pearls for the innocent, the honest, the faithful.  Darkness is the unknown, the terrifying, the hidden places.  These are what surrounded him the night his parents were murdered.
• Red roses of mourning, one for each of the lives altered that night.  Symbolizes his great love and commitment, his promise of justice.
• Apache tear to heal grief, ease pain, loss, sadness, anger; for protection and removal of negative forces. 
• Bat nut (or devil pod) used for protection; a literal representation of the Bat which was sought to strike fear into the hearts of enemies.  Its terrifying face scares off all those who would harm you.
• Quartz for  general protection and amplification of all included objects.

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Binding Two-Face

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Le Mystere de Koyle Pearl

2 am on deserted streets with my hand in my pocket, clicking stones strung together on a string made to resemble a pearl necklace. They're wrapped between my fingers like a rosary. I'm thinking about the Mask of Zorro, the yellow circle of light on concrete, and the gun, the gun.

With one end of the string held against my eye and the other pointed at the moon, the pearls become a glowing pathway. After weeks of meditation, they've become a tether connecting me to something deep and old. The necklace is the circle broken forever. It is the veil torn away. Divine hymen.

St. Thomas and St. Martha, the masculine and feminine, struck down by the bullet, leaving little Bruce alone and stripped to the bone.  It's the part of initiations they don't talk about in the Golden Dawn handbook: the bone-rattling fear and the ache in a corner of your heart "that cannot be pointed to".

St. Thomas: W-What is this?

Joe Chill: A stickup, buddy! I'll take that necklace you're wearin', lady!


The scene plays out as an anxiety dream with a million angles. The pearls and the pool of blood always waiting at the end.

And look: who's eyes are reflected in that pool?

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How to Stop the Revolving Door of Arkham

___Demonology___

Yeah yeah yeah. Demons are real beings made up of negative psychic energy, living on the astral plane. Demons are metaphors for the negative emotional states within the psyche. Demons are the empty shells left over when the divine manifestation departs.

I'm not smart enough to figure out what they really are, but just like you, there's a shit ton of them running around in my brain and making a nasty mess. So grab a broom and follow me!

(As always, the following is purely conjecture. Any more insightful approaches will be greatly appreciated.)

The Rogue's Gallery, or the Tree of Death, resides in all of us. The devil really did make you do it.

___Riddle Me This___

The Riddler is the demon of pride. He tells you how much better you are than everyone else. How much cooler and smarter. Always acting like he has the answers, but speaking only in riddles. You've heard his voice in your head, narrating the documentary that's all about you. 'He was a wise and handsome man. So amazing and inspiring in every way.'

Here's how you throw him back in Arkham:

You will need three candles. I used black, white, and yellow (for air, the Riddler's element). You will also need a length of cord, eucalyptus incense and something to serve as an idol. I got a sweet heroclix Riddler figure. A sigil would be fine, as well.

One part of the ritual involves the use of the "black mirror". I'm still experimenting with this and can't really judge if it works yet. The image of the demon is supposed to show up in the mirror. It's the secret of goetic evocation, or so I'm told by some youtube video.

The video says that one must use a mirror of polished obsidian, so I bought a cheap frame and spray-painted the back of the glass black.

-Set up the 'black mirror' within a triangle of candles. Place the idol in front of it.

-Perform banishing.
-Perform the invocation of the Batman.
-Light incense and candles.
-Stare into and through the black mirror. The reflection of the smoke and the candle flames may be the key to this trick..
-In your best Batman voice, call to the Riddler. Demand that he enter the triangle. I did this for about ten minutes when I found myself talking like a stuffed up Christian Bale and shouting, "Show yourself, Nygma!"
-Once you feel his presence, get all alpha-chimp and start interrogating. Ask whatever you like. See what happens. (This is where it can get weird)
-Take the cord and tie three knots in it. As you tie each knot, say 'Zur En Arrh'.
-Command the Riddler into the idol. Tell him he's going back to Arkham, and he won't be allowed out unless you say so.
-Wrap the cord around the idol. As you do so, imagine Riddler sitting in his cell, the door slamming shut on him.
-Put the idol away for later use

This template can easily be adapted to fit any of the Batman's foes. Replace incense and candle color with appropriate substitutes.


___KNOW YOUR DEMONS!___

Jonathan Crane- fear
Victor Fries- detachment
Ra's al Ghul- self-righteousness
Pamela Isely- narcissism
Waylon Jones- attachment
Jervis Tetch- obsession
Edward Nygma- pride
Oswald Cobblepot- One Percenter

Further "Reading":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S03X4Ug-EIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuhrnhQC0PA&feature=related
http://newtarot.com/goetia/goetic-invocation-alternative.htm

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Expanding Consciousness with the Batusi

Let's start at the easiest place: the dismantling of the false ego.

A great bald man (Sir Grant Morrison) described the false ego as a scaffolding around the structure of the true ego.  As the fragile skeleton of our ego rises in childhood, the false ego is built up as a support system.  We learn to like this and hate that.  We learn to "express ourselves" and "be an individual".  We learn to believe in Jesus instead of the Batman. 

All of these lessons give us a stable sense of of ego continuity which is very useful for the budding human being. We use it to compartmentalize our experiences, allowing us to function and live in the world.  But at a certain point (usually in early adulthood), they become a hindrance, keeping us trapped in an unforgiving world-view.  Unfortunately, we've missed the skyscraper and placed all of our attention on the guys installing the window panes.

That's why it's so embarrassing to find out that your homeboy from high school is still listening to Marilyn Manson and wearing eyeliner.  He's still stuck in the reality tunnel he had when he was 15, and never figured out that there's an infinite number of different viewpoints out there.

My generation only knew about the dark and gritty Batman of the 80s and 90s.  We were told that he was probably a psychopath and most definitely a fascist.  But what about the pop art Batman of the 60s?  He would go out in the daylight and dance the Batusi .  In the 50s, every issue had him in an alternate reality, or on a distant planet fighting aliens.  And, yes, there's even a gay Batman that can be found with very little imagination on the part of the reader.

I would not be the first to posit that all of these Batmen are equally valid.  There is no "real" or central Batman, just the current canonical model.  The different versions are like a rotating lens, focusing on different aspects and never containing the whole.  In this way, the Batman can be in any place or situation and still be the Batman.  Dig?

Now take a look at your "self".  You've spent years defining it.  You wear certain clothes, listen to certain music, like certain people.  It's just a mask.  Right now, you may be the happy-go-lucky 50s model, but does that mean you can't be the grim and gritty 90s model?  Just think of all the experience you're losing.

Here's a project: Pick something you hate.  When I did this years ago, I chose rap music.  Spend some time getting to know it, and then trick yourself into liking it.  Start telling people you meet how much you love it.  Next thing you know, you're swangin and bangin to the baddest Bun B mixtape on the block, and you won't know why you ever said you hated it in the first place.

This isn't an exercise to open your mind, but to see how easy it is to create the artificial boundaries of the egoplex.  The real idea is to recognize that the self is a construct.  You invented the rules of the game years ago, and the only one who can break those rules is you.

The Batman went to Nanda Parbat to experience death in the Thogal ritual.  All I have to do is try the Dougie in public.

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Myths of the Science Age (or: Why I Won't go to the Renaissance Festival)

Rabbi Yitzhak Luria said there are 600,000 faces of the Torah. One for each soul in Israel. In other words: everyone who reads the Torah finds a different (valid) meaning. This kind of thinking is hard to swallow in our culture. An investigation into the historical accuracy of the Pentateuch, for example, is totally out of place here. If there are as many valid interpretations of Torah as there are people, then they are all (T)rue.

Capital (T)ruth really hasn't been with us for long. It gained popularity in the West during the Renaissance and Either-Or logic became the preferred tool of the philosophy schools in Europe. Suddenly, Truth was everywhere, devouring cultural myths and shitting out replicants of itself. The clones came out screaming. "True or False. Yes or No."

Literal truth is considered only one of many interpretations of Torah. A common argument against the validity of the Gospels in the New Testament is that they were most likely not written by the apostles they are attributed to. But looking back through Jewish tradition, you find many examples where writers use famous cultural figures as pseudonyms. The widow of Moses de Leon (who had been handing out portions of the book he claimed had been written by Shimon bar Yochai for years) told everyone to stop asking for the rest of the Sephir ha Zohar, because it didn't exist. He'd been handing out tracts as he wrote them. The Sephir ha Zohar's continued popularity shows us that the historical accuracy of the work was not an issue. Can you imagine?

Myths attempt to explain ineffable ideas that can't be spoken of in Either/Or terms. We need myths to give meaning to our lives outside the production-consumption cycle (another great idea from the Renaissance, by the by), but we've sold them for a scientific certainty that doesn't even exist. "Just a myth" is now a term denoting falseness.

But what the hell does this have to do with the Batman?

It's 1939, and the science age is in full swing. Nietzsche long ago alerted us to God's death, and the Truth monster is bloated, lolling on its side and thanking no one in particular for the end of all myths. It can't eat another bite. It's spent the last five centuries hunting down and devouring anything that didn't make sense, goddammit! and now it just wants to take a nap. As the monster's snores bubble from it's bloody mouth, a kid in a drugstore picks up a copy of Detective Comics #27 and sticks it under his jacket while the clerk is restocking dictionaries.

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