jarandhel

So, I haven't had a lot of time to do magical stuff recently what with jobhunting.  But I find that from time to time I need to do something else to keep from driving myself insane looking at classified ads online.  Mostly I've been reading webcomics and playing some old computer games and watching some tv on hulu.com to help de-stress.  But last night I couldn't seem to fall asleep, and I felt drawn to do things a bit more metaphysical.

Magically, I do a lot of what I term "relational magic".  It's magic that involves links, bonds, and connections.   I base a lot of it on Huna's aka theory, though I also find concepts like the laws of similarity and contagion and name-magic to be quite useful.  I'm still working on blending these and other elements into a more coherent whole.

One of my side projects for the past year has been gateworking.  Having reverse engineered the Orgone Crystal Matrix, popularly known as the Reiki Matrix or Babalon Matrix, I've been curious about how it can be used for gateworking.  I've come to find out that it is primarily used for a form of gateworking that I would variously term shamanic journeying, pathworking, or spiritwalking depending on the context.

I'm exploring other ways to work with it for gateworking.  Presently, I am attempting to use it to strengthen the connection between this world and Alorya, an elven world I have memories of, by cycling energy back and forth through the aka cord that connects the two worlds.   Another way of looking at it would be that I am attempting to broaden the portal between the two worlds.  I'm not entirely sure if it will work or not, though the theory seems sound.  It is somewhat like exercises used in Huna and other traditions to strengthen the connection between the three aspects of the human soul.  Only the cord stretches out into a road... one which spans worlds.

Just an experiment for now.  Don't know if it will go anywhere or not.  But it's improved my mood from jobhunting somewhat, and that's magical enough for me. 

Does anyone know of a place either in the Rockville/Gaithersburg/Kensington neck of Maryland or the Arlington/Alexandria/Fairfax neck of Virginia (DC would work, but I would rather avoid going there if possible) where it would be possible to get odd little mechanical doodads and parts either free or very VERY cheap? I'm thinking like something on the level of a junkyard almost. I'm already watching Craigslist, and I keep my eye out for things left on the curb even though technically dumpster-diving is illegal in arlington, but so far it's real hit-and-miss. I can't even really say what I'm looking for, because I'm not looking for specific parts so much as parts that could be used to join other parts in certain ways. The closest analogy I have is to "junk art". The right part could be damn near anything, and I won't know till I see them in most cases. I know I can probably find stuff in home depot that would work, but that's kind of expensive and I'm leaning away from that for the moment but will revisit it if necessary.

This is just a quick update on my last post. I'm now in contact with Seran DeFae, an old friend who has done his own work on reverse engineering the Babalon Matrix. So far, all of the information I've gotten from him, including a look at his Matrix design, leads me to believe that my redesign of the Matrix includes all essential components and should work. Which I was pretty sure of anyway, but it's nice to verify. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

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My project list is getting a bit long again. Working heavily on the Babalon Matrix v2.0 project, trying to get the full design laid out on paper for the final device, at least as much as I can without seeing the specific motherboards I end up with for it. On top of this, I've been feeling a bit of a pull towards (finally) getting involved in fermentation, pickling, and cultured foods. I've been interested for a while, but it's never felt like the right time. Now, though, it does. To the point where, when making our lists for the office secret santa program, all three options I gave were books on that subject. Wild Fermentation, The Joy of Pickling, and Nourishing Traditions. (The last one was a compromise, I really wanted The Permaculture Book of Ferment & Human Nutrition, but that was way too expensive for an office Secret Santa.) I've also been dragging my feet about finding a local brewery supply store and finally trying to make my own mead. Mainly because I think I've asked Ri where one is about three times now, and I never seem to remember to write his answer down. I actually got to the point where I was telling myself that I would try to make a very small batch with baker's yeast and a nalgene bottle (pretty airtight and not too likely to be able to explode, even under pressure) and if that worked I might see about the more expensive equipment. Then tonight, I was out at a store that under no circumstances should carry this kind of stuff, with no thought in my head about getting anything relating to brewing. I was at CVS, looking to see if they carry space heaters. (They carry fans in the summer, why the heck don't they carry space heaters in the winter?) And what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a microwbrew kit and it's called MrBeer. It's not the fanciest, it's probably a piece of crap compared to the better ones, but it's cheap and I'm reasonably certain that it will work for making mead. I'll probably toss the corn syrup solids ("Booster") and West Coast Pale Ale Beer Mix (wort) that came with it, unless anyone wants that, but at the very least I can use the brew keg, bottles, and brewing yeast. Even if they only last for a few batches, they didn't cost much, and I can see if I want to try doing this at a more serious level. Of course, since it's beer yeast it will have a lower alcohol tolerance, but that's not necessarily a bad thing... it's not the relatively low alcohol content that makes me object to drinking beer in the first place, it's the flavor and smell. And I know to use less honey to make mead with beer yeast than I would with champaign yeast or wine yeast. I've already got enough honey to try to start making a batch, and I think I might do so either later tonight or tomorrow. If this batch turns out alright, I've got a few ideas for future batches already. HMart, for those who don't know, sells two types of honey that I like a lot... one of them is cactus honey infused with pomegranate extract. The other is cactus honey infused with deer velvet antler extract. Each of them has instructions on how to mix it with warm water to create a nice, flavored honey tea. Both are quite enjoyable. I really enjoy mixing the two together and drinking that as a tea. I wonder how those would taste made into a mead, either separately or together?

After much searching online, I finally found a reasonably cheap source of synthetic quartz crystals: http://www.teachersource.com/catalog/page/Earth_Science_Biology/Rocks_Minerals/

They're available for just 9.95 each for approximately six inch lengths. From the photo, they appear to be as-grown crystals, rather than lumbered.

I'm still going to be looking for a cheaper source, but so far this is the cheapest I've found. The site also has a number of other interesting products available, including ring-shaped neodymium magnets, a variety of rather strong rare earth magnet.

PS: The posts on the basics of orgonomy for this thread are coming, I'm just pouring over a lot of material on the subject and trying to figure out how to properly summarize it.

As some of you already know, I've got a new research project. I'm going to be reverse-engineering and then hopefully modifying and improving a technomagical device known as a Babalon Matrix, which is based at least in part (possibly entirely, but it's too early to say that for sure just yet) off of Orgone technology.

Now that I've had the chance to study the device closely and get information on its construction, I'm going back and researching more on the theory behind orgone devices and their construction, to help me see what principles of orgonomy have been used in the Matrix. I've already found a lot of interesting information, but I am also finding an entire culture steeped in paranoia and what I would tend to consider "psychic warfare syndrome"... a lot of astral battles going on that may be with tulpas/constructs created by their own fears, and little more. I think I've moved past that stage in my own development, but at the same time I have never had to immerse myself in a culture of it before. Thus, the reason for this post: watch me, please. Help keep me grounded if it seems like I'm starting to drift into paranoia. You guys know me, you know how obsessed I get with my research projects, and that's cool... but if that obsession looks like it is starting to go in unhealthy directions, try to get me to back off from it for a while and get myself back into a better headspace. I'm going to try to keep an eye on myself too.

I may end up posting a lot of the material on orgone that I find in my research here. Not sure yet about the plans for the matrix itself... I'm still working on contacting the original designer, and his wishes will have a large bearing on that unless I make significant changes to the device or learn that its design is already commonly available under another name in orgonomy circles.