Cartomancer

I've been a cartomancer for the better part of 16 years. Tarot is a many splendored thing. It's a meditation tool, a key to pathworking, and a good divinition device. So why do I rarely consult it about myself?
I dont want to know.
If something bad is going to happen, more often than not I can see that it will, and can't do a thing to stop it. Either because the reading is vague, or the person its about won't listen to reason. When I give another person a reading, its as much a counseling session as it is a divinition. By knowing what is going on in thier life I can piece together the puzzle of the cards. And I mean no bragging when I say I've become very good at this. Each card is a piece of the puzzle which makes a unique whole as regards the situation.
The funny thing is, 9 times out of 10, they ignore the advice, and 9 times out of 10 they come back to tell me I was right.
So I wonder why I do it.
Then I realize, I can't help myself, its what I do.

Back to business.

Having just moved, I have fallen out of my routine, so today I got back into doing the LBRP daily. What's that? What is the LBRP? It stands for Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentegram. Cue mass hysteria at the mention of the word pentagram. Ok people, Pentagrams aren't satanic. If you think that ask why so many are inscribed in old bibles and churches. Out of your system? Good. Most of the following was just copied and pasted from http://asiya.org/ cause I was too lazy to type it all out.
How do you do the LBRP? Well it goes as follows.
Part 1. Qabalistic Cross.

Face east. Visualize yourself growing larger and larger, taller and taller, until you tower above the room you are in. Continue this visualization until the city you live in is small beneath your feet. See the continent as tiny compared to your majestic body. Now even the Earth is small beneath your feet. However, no matter how small the Earth is, it is still firm and solid beneath your feet, anchoring you to the ground. You will not float away. Next, visualize yourself growing so large that the planets of our solar system are as tiny toy balls spinning near your feet. Soon they are too small to see as even the Milky Way galaxy becomes a small dot of light at your feet.

Now visualize a dot of light coming from far above your head. This is only a tiny bit of the light from this source, and if you saw its full brightness, you would immediately be blinded. As you grow nearer to the light, it forms a brilliant white sphere just above your head. It is nine inches in diameter, about the size of a dinner plate. It is brighter than 10,000 suns but still only a tiny portion of the source of this divine white light. Point to the sphere above your head with your finger and "draw down" a beam of the light to your forehead, just above and between the eyes (at the third eye). While pointing to your forehead vibrate: AH-TAH.

Bring your finger firmly down your body until you are pointing toward the ground, your hand covering your groin. As you do this, visualize the light at your forehead coming down along with your finger, down through your body and beyond your feet. Vibrate: MAHL-KOOT.

Now bring up your finger to your right shoulder. As you do this, visualize the beam of white light moving along with your finger so that the light protracts to your right, past your hand at your right shoulder. See this beam of light extend to the end of the universe, and beyond. Focus on this beam and vibrate: VIH-GIH-BOO-RAH.

Move your finger horizontally to your left shoulder. As you do, visualize the beam of white light now extending through infinite space to your left. As you focus on this beam of light vibrate: VIH-GIH-DOO-LAH.

Clasp your hands at your chest as if praying. Visualize within your chest, at the point covered by your folded hands, a brilliant golden glow. Vibrate: LAY-OH-LAHM, AH-MEN.

You have been spiritually strengthened by acknowledging yourself as the center of your universe with only the divine light coming through you.

Part Two.

Focus your attention now back to the center of your magical space; you are no longer at the center of the universe. Move to the eastern side of your space and continue to face east. Here, draw a Earth Pentagram, which starts at the bottom left side and goes to the tip for the first stroke see below. The pentagram is made of flaming gas-jet blue light.

Inhale through the nose. As you do, feel energy flow from the ends of the universe through your nose and body, and down and out of the bottoms of your feet to the center of the Earth. As you inhale, raise both hands to the sides of your head by your ears.

Step forward with the left foot. At the same time thrust your arms forward so that your hands point to the middle of the pentagram in front of you. (This position is called "the sign of the Enterer".) As you do this, exhale and feel the energy come back up your body, out your arms and hands, through the pentagram and to the ends of the universe. Use the entire exhalation to vibrate the God Name: YODE-HEH-VAHV-HEH.

Bring your left foot sharply back next to your right foot. Stomp the ground once with your left foot as you place it besides your right. Raise your left hand to your mouth and touch your lips with your index finger. As you do this, drop your right hand to your side. (This position is called "the Sign of Silence".)

Point to the center of the pentagram with your right index finger. Trace a line in the air at the height of the center of the pentagram as you move in a clockwise direction around the edge of your circle's space. Go 90 degrees so that you end up in the south, facing south. As you trace the line in the air, visualize a brilliant white light emanating from the tip of your finger. At the south, repeat what you did at the east: draw a banishing earth pentagram, inhale, make the Sign of the Enterer, but instead vibrate the God Name: AH-DOH-NYE. Then give the Sign of Silence.

Repeat as above, but move to the west and vibrate: EH-HEH-YEH.

Repeat as above, but move to the north and vibrate: AH-GLAH.

Complete the circle by connecting a white line from the north to the east where you began. Then moving in the same clockwise direction, come back behind the altar. You should once again be facing to the east.

Now visualize the brilliant white circle expanding up and down to form a sphere above, below and all around you. You have created a brilliant white sphere all around you with electric blue pentagrams at the quarters that have been charged and sealed with names of God.

Part 3: Invocation of Archangels.

Spread your arms straight out to the sides, so that your body forms a cross. Take a second or two to feel once again the energy flowing through you and making you a brilliant cross of light at the center of the universe. The cross also represents the four magical elements of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth in equilibrium.

Note: The following uses masculine pronouns for simplicity’s sake when referring to the Archangels, though they are genderless.

In front of you, visualize a figure standing on clouds. He is dressed in a yellow robe with purple trim. He carries a caduceus wand (the symbol used by doctors, a wand entwined by serpents). His robes wave in the wind. Feel a breeze coming from behind him. Say, "Before me, RAH-FAY-EL." (Vibrate the name of the Archangel.)

Visualize a figure behind you surrounded by waterfalls. He is dressed in a blue robe with orange trim. He holds a chalice. Feel the moisture in the air. Say, "Behind me, GAH-BRAY-EL." (Vibrate the name.)

To your right, visualize a figure in the desert. He is dressed in a scarlet robe with green trim. He holds a flaming sword and you feel heat coming from this direction. Say, "On my right hand, MEE-CHAI-EL." (Vibrate the name. The "CH" is a guttural sound as in the German "ach" or the Scottish "loch".)

To your left, visualize a figure on a fertile landscape. He is dressed in greens and browns and holds a pentacle. Feel the stability and strength of Earth. Say, "And on my left hand UR-EE-EL." (Vibrate the name.)

Move your left foot out to your left side so that your body is in the shape of a pentagram. Visualize another blue pentagram all around you, outlining your body. Say, "For about me flames the pentagram..."

Visualize a golden hexagram, a six-pointed star sometimes called a Star of David, within you, where your heart is. Say, "...And within me shines the six-rayed star."

Last Part, Rinse and repeat. Do the Qabalistic cross one more time.

Here is a summary that gives a schematic of the LBRP without the explanations.

1. Touch forehead, vibrate AH-TAH.
2. Point down, vibrate MAHL-KOOT.
3. Touch right shoulder, vibrate VIH-GIH-BOO-RAH.
4. Touch left shoulder, vibrate VIH-GIH-DOO-LAH.
5. Fold hands at chest, vibrate LAY-OH-LAHM, AH-MEN.
6. Go to east, draw pentagram, give Sign of Enterer, vibrate YODE-HEH-VAHV-HEH,
7. Carry line to south, draw pentagram, give Sign of Enterer, vibrate AH-DOH-NYE,
8. Carry line to west, draw pentagram, give Sign of Enterer, vibrate EH-HEH-YEH,
9. Carry line to north, draw pentagram, give Sign of Enterer, vibrate AH-GLAH,
10. Carry line to east, return to center.
11. Hands out, say, "Before me, RAH-FAY-EL; Behind me, GAH-BRAY-EL; On my right hand MEE-CHAI-EL; and on my left hand UR-EE-EL. For about me flames the pentagram, and within me shines the six-rayed star."
12. Repeat steps 1-5.

The instructions for the LBRP may look complicated, but once you are comfortable with the ritual, it goes fast.

Easy peasy no? You just learned your first magic. Notice no devil? Do dark demonic forces? Invoking Archangels seems to get rid of the bad stuff. This is one of the most basic rituals magick has to offer. Good for anyone to know.

All things start with a beginning.

My name is Joe (last name withheld for security reasons), and I am a Magician.
Actually that's a simple title. I'm a Sorcerer, Cartomancer, Astrologer, Geomancer, and several other things to boot.... What does all this mean? Well, for one thing, it means I don't tell a lot of people about my studies. Most people take a dim view on the supernatural in general, and view practicioner's as insane or misguided at best, or a threat to their way of life at worst. I've been doing this since I was 16, with a deck of Rider-Waite Tarot Cards, and a copy of Kraig's Modern Magick. The people that I know personally that know about this I can count on my fingers.

So, what is magick? Well there are a lot of definitions. There are two I prefer, one is from Aleister Crowley. "Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will." Another is from, of all places, a comic book called the Books of Magick. "Science is a way of talking about the universe in words that bind it to a common reality. Magic is a method of talking to the universe in words it cannot ignore." In simple language, Do cause A. And effect B happens, sometimes with no apparent interaction between the two.

I don't make deals with the devil, though angels pop up from time to time. I don't put curses on people, though I know folk who do, and its not outside of my ability. I'm here just trying to get along in life the best I can, I just have a few extra ways of doing it.

I have friends that are interested in starting to learn, I'm there to help as needed. I have friends that know and are a bit skiddish about it. I'm there to alay fears for them and show them what they want to learn or not.

So that's a beginning. You'll be hearing what I do in detail. So if your up to it, tune in, if not, not fine too. You'll hear what I'm doing and how it effects me, my friends and my family.