Nice to see you here in the Astral Realms, Isaac

The astral realms are huge. They’re as large as you can imagine, and maybe even bigger,because they’re made up of everyone’s dreamscapes, plus their imaginations, all the places they’ve ever been, or seen in art or film. Given that there are over 6 billion people on this little fertile mud ball we call earth, that’s pretty big, wouldn’t you say? Where do you go when you sleep? Where do you go when you daydream? Do you have an astral temple where you do magick in your mind? That last was pretty obvious where you go. Chances are you go to the astral realms.

Over 40 years ago, Stephen invented his own plane, the half-astral plane. So if you’re really stoned, that’s where you end up. There are many denizens of the half-astral plane, that you should try to avoid: the spirits of dead Nazis, dead Republicans, the spirits of dead popes and other potentates of slave religions, the spirits of dead Mafiosi, dead Ku Klux Klanners, dead John Birch Society members, and other right-wing neo-fascists There are also positive spirits you can encounter on the half-astral plane; spirit of dead Timothy Leary and other old dead stoners and hippies, the spirit of Dr.Eric Hoffman, who discovered LSD, the spirit of Carlos Castaneda, Terrence McKenna, and all the other unsung heroes of psychedelica, The astral plane is a pretty laid-back place for the most part, so the next time you’re meditating, and smoking a doobie, you may wind up on the half-astral plane.

You may find the spirits of magicians, wizards and gothic magick users in general who either mispronounced the names of power, or made other mistakes in their rituals, and were exiled to the half-astral by the demons they were trying to summon and control. The more traditional astral realms are some of the following: the astral plane where all those projectors wind up; if their precious silver cord gets damaged or cut they may wind up as permanent residents of the astral plane, there’s a lot of controversy about this cord. A lot of people don’t believe it exists. We’re of the opposite camp, being long time astral travelers, we both believe in the astral cord. After all where does that jerk come from when you’re flying on the astral, and you wake up, if not from the astral cord? Where we differ with this camp of opinion, that believes in the silver astral cord, is that it’s a lot stronger and tougher than they say it is. It has to be, or the astral would be crowded with astral travelers who got stuck there. I think some people just enjoy spreading fear and disinformation wherever they go, upsetting a lot of people in the process. I think the astral silver cord is a lot like the umbilical cord that connected us to the placenta when we were babies, or the umbilical cable that connects an astronaut’s space suit to the ship when he or she does a space walk. There are many other astral planes or realms. In a way, it’s like an Escher painting, you know, the one where the walls and the sets of stairs are at funny angles to each other.

The ethereal plane is where the etheric double hangs out. There is more than one sublime body, you know. The ancient Egyptians knew of 7 separate and distinct souls. Then there is the causative plane. As you might guess, this is where the Shining Ones or Mighty Ones, the Goddesses and Gods hang out and cause the changes on the Earth plane that are Their Will. It is similar to the Briah plane in the Qabalah. If we as magicians and Witches Will to make changes in our lives on the Earth plane (Assiah), it is here we must journey. Then there are Yetzirah and Atziluth. Atziluth is at the very top, and contains only Kether. It is beyond mere causation. Yetzirah is just above Assiah. It is commonly referred to as the astral plane. Then there is Shangrilah and the Akashic plane where the akashic records are kept.

Then there are the 9 planes on Yggdrasil. The ten Sephiroth on the Tree of Life are planes. Stephen listed all these planes, and I said, “What do you think we are, Boeing?” A little humor there. The Dreamlands of H.P. Lovecraft. We’ve given you our ideas of what planes or realms there are. We’d like you to list more planes that you know of.

As of this writing, Isaac has not as yet gone to the Summerland. Knowing him, when he goes, he’ll go to the Isle of women. He has a great fondness for women, not just beautiful young women like most men his age like, but all women, old, young, fat, skinny, curvaceous women. He feels that he can learn from all of us. Isaac’s a tough old bird, he’s hanging onto life with his fingernails.

But it’s probably not too early to start sharing Isaac stories. I asked Stephen when he had first met old Boney Wits. “I first met him in 1970 shortly after arriving in Berkeley, CA. He was at Sproul Plaza harassing the Jesoids by providing countering all their arguments with better arguments. I joined him, and Isaac was impressed by the arguments I provided.” This was before “Real Magic [sic]” came out in 1971 I got my copy in 1974, and he autographed it “All my lust Isaac Bonewits” “When it came out, he had a bunch of author’s copies in the apartment that he shared with Robert Larson [Terlach]. I bought one and he autographed it for me. He also made me a Third Order Druid in ’71. We talked about druidism, magick, and thaumaturgy. He loved talking about thaumaturgy. There was a knock on the door, and Terlach told me to answer the door. There were two men in dark suits standing on the front stoop. They both had pink ties. I opened the door, and Terlach came out of his room dressed as a Viking, helmet, furs, everything. The two men were jesoids. Terlach said in his deep baritone voice ‘We’re from Odin’s Witnesses. Have you read your Eddas today?’ They left so fast they left tire tracks.”

“Then there was the time that he was walking on Telegraph Ave. carrying a sword. An unwise policeman took his sword away. He went and got a lawyer and got his sword back.”

I remember in ’76 that I saw a bunch of people at an SCA event staging a Witch burning. I was rather upset about this. I called Isaac and he got strident. I decided to write a letter to “The Page” and I was rather sarcastic about it, asking, “If we’re going to bring back Witch burning, let’s also bring back other fun things about the Middle Ages like the Plague.” I told the editor he could edit it for space considerations. The editor called me and said he liked my letter so much he was printing the entire thing..I met the guy who was head of the group who had staged the Witch burning, and he turned out to be a Witch himself. But his reasoning for staging that ”Witch burning” was never explained to me to my satisfaction.

“Isaac and I were protesting at the Japanese consulate the Japanese killing of dolphins. We had signs saying ‘Honk if you love dolphins’ and got a lot of good response. Then a limo came up, honked and parked. It was the Charlie Daniels band, who invited us to their show, and we got backstage passes and everything.”

“Isaac was really paranoid about my political affiliation, so I called the FB I, and we went in there Weinberg, Bonewits and me. I had my magickal diaries with me, so we stayed there for 8 hours correcting my file. We ordered pizza, and at last we were done. As we left I saw the guy surreptitiously push my file into the trash can. I never had any trouble with the FBI after that.”

If you knew Isaac, you can chime in with your Isaac Bonewits stories. People all over the Internet are sharing theirs. Why not here?

Back to the astral and the half astral. All the stories that ever have been written, and ever will be written are on the astral. They travel between the astral and the Akashic Library. You can also travel to the Akashic Library on the astral. All the magickal and Witchy spells that have ever been written or will ever be written are also in the Akashic Library, which is on the Akashic Plane. Akasha is Sanskrit for spirit, the fifth element.

The 5 suits of the Tattvas represent the five elemental realms. They are Prithivi, (Earth), Apas (Water), Tejas (Fire) [this may be where the name Texas came from, since much of that large state is very hot and dry], Vayu (Air), and Akasha, which you already know is Spirit. They also represent the 5 states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, plasma, and the 5th state which has no mass at all. .

Last night we did a reading for Isaac, who has, as of 8 a.m. EDT, 5 a.m. PDT August 12th, shed his mortal coil, and gone to the Summerland, where he was met by several people he knew, and one he didn’t know (Doc). We used Caitlin Matthews’ “Celtic Book of the Dead”. Well acquainted with both “The Egyptian Book of the Dead” and the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”, she thought that the Celts should have one too. She based it upon some legendary voyages, called “immramms.” We also used Stephen’s Tattwa deck. Because Isaac is dead, we used the spiral journey lay out with one of the rounds removed, that of the totemic or earth round since he had already gone. We did the “Vision” round, and then for the rest of it matched them up with the Tattwa cards, since we thought he’d be going to the elemental planes. The complete reading took 5 hours. Of course there were interruptions. One interruption was welcome. It’s from the lady who may move in here with her son. I think Doc is still looking out for me. It wasn’t just the two of us. We also had Walt and Julie, two Pagan friends of ours. I took on the Goddess of Death role and Stephen took on the God of Death role. Isaac deserved the time. The time was our sacrifice to his memory. Sacrifice is a cornerstone of most high magick , you have to show yourself worthy. You sacrifice your blood, life energy or time to prove your worthiness. It was a standard group-grope. I presented the card, added something to the book’s description if I were inspired, and passed it on to the next person. I presented the feminine perspective, whilst Stephen presented the masculine view. Walt and Julie had never met Isaac, but could contribute things about the Otherworld.

It was I, you know, who gave the name “group grope” to the group readings Stephen likes to do with a plethora of people, decks and toys. I suppose I’m a minimalist, but I don’t like anything that might distract me or my querent (querent=client) from the reading I’m doing. My table has nothing on it except the reading cloth and the deck or other tool (“She said tool, Beavis.” “Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh”) I’m using. If I have the facility, I might dress it up a bit with incense (if my querent isn’t allergic) and maybe some music playing. Stephen.likes to dress things up with several cloths on the table, doodads (including putties), everything he can think of to fancy it up, which is just too confusing for me. I also like to secure for my querent a feeling of privacy and security, which I realize is not too possible at a big festival or faire, but I want to foster a feeling of at least discretion, which is not possible if 6 people are giving their views on the card. If you know of other well known Pagans who have gone over to the astral realms besides Isaac, Gwydion, or Robin Goodfellow? If you do, please let us know.

There are many books about the astral realms in our library, but you can get some into yours by going to Mind-n-Magick and shopping in their book store. Be sure and get their toolbar. It’s free, and it’s killer.

They took the bus bench away from the sidewalk in front of the Kmart parking lot. Why are the Regional Transit people taking benches away from bus stops when they should be putting more in? It’s yet another way in which ordinary people are being shat upon just because they either aren’t rich enough to afford a car, or choose to take mass transit because they’re environmentally aware, or too old or blind to drive. Where are people supposed to sit whilst they wait for a bus that only comes when it feels like it? I’m lucky because when I start walking and taking the bus again I have my sporty red and black walker, which has a seat on it. So I have a chair wherever I go. I take my walker with me as a protest because I noticed early on that this town is notoriously short on places for people to sit either whilst walking to the shops or waiting for a bus that might or might not come. And now they’ve taken another one away.

Seven weeks ago, I broke my right ankle. It was in a gallstone attack. I went to the bathroom, and was going to go to my room again when I was hit by a wave of pain so severe that I passed out. I must’ve sat on my ankle hard because when I tried to get up, my ankle went crunch! I sank down on my rear again against the door. Stephen and I had a dialogue: ”Are you all right?” he asked.

“No, I’m in a lot of pain.”

“I’m calling 911.”

“Ok.”

He asked me the questions the dispatcher asked him. I answered them. At length they arrived. I took my book and my purse with me. We went to Kaiser Morse hospital. I gave them the address. They knew how to get there. We arrived after a few minutes. They admitted me, and the next morning, my ankle was operated on. Then I spent from then until Wednesday the 7th in the hospital. I came home, and am now in full recovery. Six weeks ago I got into my room, and finally got access to my computer. Will give you updates as we proceed. Update: a month ago I got out of the house. My physical therapist taught me how to hop down the steps using my aluminum walker. I used it to go to the liturgy meeting, and then Sunday I went to our Grove’s Lughnasadh ritual, where I donated a dollar, and offered some whiskey to Miach for my own healing, the healing of my friend Snoodlady, who was in the hospital with a serious sinus infection that gave her double vision and vertigo, and my friend Cherye who has a nasty staph infection in her legs and feet. On two fronts there were immediate results. Snoodlady felt well enough to come home on Monday, and I learned to carry my walker whilst in my wheelchair. My physical therapist taught me some exercises to do in my wheelchair, and I worked myself up to 32 of each. The last one I learned was the wheelchair pushup. I did 32 of them today, for which I am very proud of myself. Stephen thought that you should know. ..

I was right about August being my month. August 20th is my surgery date, with July 13th being my pre-op appointment with the anesthesiologist. My pre-op appointments last Friday went very well. So I am praying for quick and safe healing.

We need paid readings and donations. Send donations to my Paypal account tezra.reitan@gmail.com and to Stephen’s email account at any of his email addies. If I get $5 donations, I shall send the donor a copy of one of my ebooks. For $20, you can have all five ebooks.

Remember, if someone from a Ning network asks you to pay, say “No way!” The only way this’ll work is if we all stick together and call the a**holes on their BS. We have to be willing to walk away from our networks, because they are counting on people being scared to walk away from their networks. This guy Jason Rosenthal is a bully, and there’s only one way to deal with a bully, and that is, to stand up to him.

He managed to scrape the $87 together. But it meant cutting into the rent money. He is already $1800 in the hole for the rent, and I am $800 behind, because I can’t afford to pay $500 per month in rent.. You guys have not been doing your part. It’s not as though he’s begging for hand outs. He is willing to return value for value given. And $32 flat for a reading or a class is really a bargain. Ordinarily he charges $32 an hour, so $32 flat is a very good deal. Remember it’s 916-455-2267. Raise me on Windows Live Msgr or AIM and I’ll give you my phone number, and the hours you can call me.

Back before my accident, Stephen was able to scrape $50 together to pay our friend to put our website together, and she’s working on it now. I’m looking forward to seeing it. It should be very impressive. Fear not, we’ll keep you abreast of all developments on this front. Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick will then be on the internet map, so to speak, in a big way.

Inquiring minds want to know: How do we add music to our sites? Please let us know. The person who helps us do that earns a reading on webcam on the popular IM clients. The person who helps us establish ourselves on the Paganspace.net chat client earns a reading. We’re using readings as currency here because we have no other medium to use for an incentive. All the money we make goes for paying the bills of bare-bones living.

Stephen is hopping mad right now (appropriate for a frog, no?) because his ex-wife Debbie is taking one of the twins and giving her to a strange woman who lives at their complex. He has grown quite attached emotionally to both of them, and doesn’t like to see the pair split up. I was prepared emotionally a long time ago for this eventuality. I just don’t know why it took Debbie so long to do it. I suspect that she calculated it so as to cause the most hurt to Stephen. Yes, she is that cruel. She claims to be a Wiccan, but doesn’t abide by the Rede at all, and never has a good word to say about anyone. I try not to think about what she says about me, but I shudder at the emotional abuse she piles on their daughter. Stephen was so emotionally distraught that he broke a pair of his glasses accidentally right after she called. Debbie never lifted a hand to care for these animals from the day they were born. Until my accident, we took turns feeding them, then Stephen took it over. It was he who shelled out moneys for food and kitty litter. Debbie has never compensated him in any way for the expenses. It was I who arranged for the twins to get spayed.