The flower I've been thinking about has been showing up in my visions etc turns out to be Nymphaea Caerulea also known as the Blue Lotus or The Blue Lily of the Nile. There are a variety of reasons that this is mind blowing for me, only some of which are posted here.

"The Sun was "reborn" each day from a great Blue Lotus blossom in some myths." This is the exact imagery that was in my head, this sky blue paling into white flower blooming and unfolding into the sun in the sky. This has been the central image/metaphor of the last couple of months of my self work.

And this flower just happens to be psychoactive.

They are a nexus connecting to different spaces and joying the world of man with that of nature. To be under the bridge is to be outside the world and among the mechanisms that allow it to operate. It is a zone of multple flows, orthogonal at different layers.

The Lion's Gate Bridge in vancouver has struts the shape of inguz and the perfect shade of green, The shade of growing, the colour of an open heart chakra. The colours and shapes I tattooed on my solar plexus.

{Lion,Sun,Heart}+{Ing,Blooming,Green}

Well... today I realized I am approaching the lowest point in my life, while simultaneously finding the mojo again.

Mundanely I'm at the worst point I've been in since suicide was a serious consideration. IF I was the person I was then, I probably would have killed myself this week. Despite being in the EXACT situation I've dreaded for... well... a long time, I can't actually bring myself to feel bad. I think I bottom out at 60%

I also realized that I was plugged into the synchronous field again. It was subtle... faint and tenuous in a way it never was before but IT WAS THERE. I suspect it was so faint because I just haven't been paying it attention. Or that my frequency just hasn't been compatible.

Over the last few days I've been "walking the circuits" and "feeding the spirits." At some point I consciously realized (or decided) that's what I was doing. As such I've been noticing zones, components and um powers coming online again with the kind of flicker and hum of cold war era bunker systems booting up.

Part of this remembering/deciding is that I'm not going to worship the gods of damaged goods (at least for a while) but will instead invoke the angels of my better nature. First on the docket is (feel free to laugh, I don't mind) Sheriff Andy Taylor.

PS if anyone has questions about my highly personal terminology, I'd be happy to attempt explanation.

   Tonight is the last evening of Diwali- Festiwal of Lights. I'm going to light divas and have some blooming tea. I don't know how traditional this is but I like blooming teas on all occasions. The tradition of Diwali involves sharing sweets/snacks with others, wearing new clothes, worshipping cows, taking a bath before sunrise, meeting family and friends and burning little clay oil lamps. Sweets seem a similar idea to trick-or-treat. I didn't embrace all aspect of Diwali. There are different traditions regarding Festival of Lights in each part of India and Nepal. It is celebrated all over the world. I only found out about Diwali this summer and decided it will be lovely to join the celebration. 

   For me Diwali started from lovely dinner in local, authentic Indian restaurant 'Ganesha'. I broke my vegetarian diet having a little bit of lamb, tasted absolutely amazing! We shared bottle of white Indian wine- admittedly one of tastiest white wines I had for a long time. At the end me and Anton tried original Indian desert with kulfi ice cream. After coming back home we lighted divas, burned lots of incense and prepared blooming tea. It was charming evening. I will definitely include Diwali in the list of festivals I celebrate each year. Indeed, I hope one day to celebrate it in India. Finishing, happy Diwali to everyone!

A truly underground party. In some sort of cavernous mine. I started out wandering, taking it in, talking to some of those that I came across.

When I happened upon somebody walking through a crowd of hanger-abouts, spouting some memebombs. Walking up to him, I mentioned how glad I was that somebody was doing what he was doing. Turns out, that I knew the guy. And surprised about seeing him in such a place, I decided to follow him for a while.

We ended up on the very top floor of this party zone. Never did find out how many floors were below us, but I did notice the roof high above our heads. He was manipulating pieces on a board game. I felt that it was important, that somehow, he was manipulating reality with the pieces he was moving around.

We continued chatting until I noticed the couple sitting on a railing. What caught my eye was, him leaning backwards too far and falling off! The gal next to him wasn't fazed in the slightest. I overhead somebody nearby say, "He didn't really fall down, did he?", and a tiny shard of dread crept up, wondering if he was okay. It passed after a few moments.

Noticing my friend had walked off, I did the same.

I came across another crowd sitting about. They seemed to all be watching something which I didn't manage to see. I sat down next to a girl and chatted her up.

Then, I started feeling dizzy. I got a little disoriented and found myself leaning against her. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind. I told her that I needed to walk around.

She walked with me, and eventually, we found an exit which led to ground level. We didn't walk through it, as I felt there was more to this party that I had to see. I knew there was even more going on above ground, and eventually, I wanted to check that out. The exit looked like that of a mine shaft. It winded around a corner so I couldn't really gauge how far underground we were.

At some point, I walked down a narrow (and potentially dangerous) walkway of grey blobby material that was a bit springy. There was somebody bouncing up and down a giant balloon/trampoline thing.

Everybody seemed to be having fun, actively engaged in various levels. A current I could feel all around, this excitement, bubbling from the sheer novelty of it all...

Taken From: serpent.antonchanning.com

For some time I have documented the spread of Open Source Sorcery by starting a page in the KIAwiki just for that specifically. This followed the spread of the Open Source movement in computing that believed in sharing the code that programs ran on to allow community feedback on parts of the code that needed improving. Some Open Source licenses went further, releasing code on permissive licenses that allowed for branching, or even protected the code so that all branches need to be released on the same license. As the buzz word grew some new occult groups formed and adopted the term. Mainly they seem to have used it to mean open participation, or that the rituals, theories and other writings of the group are made public, albeit often on a still restrictive license. Sometimes without even permission for others to republish. Others however have begun wiki projects with licenses such as the GNU Free Documentation License or Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike. These licenses qualify not just as Open Source, but moreso as Free Cultural Works. These can be copied, modified and redistributed, by others, provided they give credit and provided they use the same license for the work they release it as a part of. There is no restriction on commercial use, but exploitation is protected against by the Share Alike license. If some Hollywood producer were to try and use some clips from a CC AT SA film, they would have to release their whole film on that license, or pay the copyright holders of the clip for rights to use it without those terms. But if somebody wants to use it on a blog with an advertising banner, no problem. Wikipedia and other projects show the power behind the kind of collaborative approach that a Free Cultural Works can provide in the realm of reference texts. The GNU/Linux operating system and most of the software that runs on it demonstrate the power of this approach in writing software. Less well known projects such as Kaltura video are forming and will in time demonstrate the power of this approach in the realm of film, soundtracks and other creative projects. With this in mind I started a page in the KIA wiki called 'Free Cultural Sorcery', which is an attempt to catalogue those open source sorcery projects that opperate on a Free Cultural Works approved license. Projects that I organise that fit with this definition include the content on this blog (excluding the nest which remains copyright of its contributors), the KIA wiki, and now the films on alchemical.tv. For the latter, I am hoping to draw together artists, musicians, script writers and film makers willing to collaborate on Free Cultural Sorcery film projects. Whether or not others join us, Lolita Perdurabo and I will be working on such projects in any case... 8-)

I danced for hours this morning.

Almost 6 hours straight in the same place. Witnessing the crowd grow slowly, from a light crowd into a huge mass of pulsing bodies. And sweat.

People from all over the world are here in the Emerald City right now. (try to keep this in mind!)

And I'm doing it all again tomorrow morning. (but better, of course!) ;)

Taken from serpent.antonchanning.com

A while ago, about the time KIA was entering version 4 I wrote an article giving a history of KIA's progress, entitled 'KIA Network, Forum and Wiki Integrated'. I mostly intended this as a promotional announcement about how KIA had evolved to encompass a social network, a forum and a wiki with single sign on (a big achievement for me at the time, as I'd been planning it for years), but I also gave a look back on how KIA had got to where it was back then, including its logo history and name changes.

One of the things about KIA has always been its openness, and whilst I am not aware of anyone taking advantage of it yet, the fact the logos are released as creative commons, means anyone so inclined can take them in modified or unmodified form, and use them in their own projects (provided they release any modifications and redistributions on the same license). This was to facilitate the growth of KIA as a decentralised movement that didn't revolve solely around activities on kiamagic.com. However this hasn't happened as far as I'm aware, and I'm left wondering if its even necessary. Probably a valuable contribution regardless of necessity.

The reason is that free open occult network already exists and doesn't need to revolve around any particular image, flag or name in order to exist. KIA can be seen as a small part, or node, within an already existing open occult network that spans all cultures across the globe. Another such node within this network might be Free Illuminism (aka Congregational Illuminism). This describes itself as a bottom-up, decentralised open system, non-hierarchical and non-authoritarian. They say that by doing away with hierarchy, they do away with the pointless politics that can prove so much distraction in the work. They say they have 'an ever-growing number of sincere and dedicated Illuminists who have voluntarily come together in free association with each other to work in unity, openness and peace.' This sounds good to me, and rather in tune with what KIA has been trying to achieve since its inception. To me, KIA and Free Illuminism seem eminently compatible, to the extent they seem like different names for the same thing.

Other examples include the growing number of open source occult resources and wiki's on various occult subjects that can share content with each other via permissive licenses.

Perhaps the importance of KIA within that network relates to the importance of what we do together within it. How well it delivers something of value to its participants given the effort of their contributions. This of course leads to the question 'what do we consider something of value?' We may have to answer that each for ourselves, but to really take things forward some kind of consensus on where to from here may need to be reached. This may include common esoteric projects as well as simply developing more features for the website. Back in its early days, KIA didn't shy away from big collaborative rituals that spanned the world. This may or may not be what we are looking for today.

Another thing I have been looking into lately is the idea of hosting user websites on subdomains of kiamagic.com. The idea behind this was not so much to monetise KIA but to raise a fund that could be used to develop KIA further. This would likely be in the form purchasing the development of plugins for Elgg, which KIA would release on a GPL license. I have ideas for not yet existing plugins that would be great not just for KIA, but for all Elgg websites, but I don't have the time develop these myself, nor the money to pay for them. Which is why I got the idea of a development fund. Of course, subdomain websites are not the only means by which money can be raised for this. I conceived of it as a way of giving something back to those that contribute.

Taken from serpent.antonchanning.com

Just enjoyed a magical weekend camping in Cheddar with Lolita Perdurabo, Hippi Condomando and Andy Armour. The campsite was beautiful, and we managed to get spots by the river for our tents. Ducks and Geese wondered around, bats flew along the river at night, and at one point as we were sitting outside the tents, a hedgehog ran across Lolita's boot!

Cheddar is a charming little town with, as you would expect, some very nice cheese. The early autumn weather meant we weren't in a Cider mood, and so we mostly enjoyed the Cheddar Ales (Goats Leap being my favourite) rather than the local scrumpy. And of course one morning we indulged in the obligatory cream tea (although Lolita and I had ours with Coffee, kind of making the 'tea' part of the name a misnomer). The amount of clotted cream served with the scones was a little intimidating to the arteries mind...

And of course, the main attraction of the place is the proximity of the famous Cheddar Gorge. What a truly magickal place! We had all recently watch the australian classic 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', including the documentary about its filming and one the things the actors and film makers involved in that film all commented on was the faces in the rock and atmosphere this created there. I couldn't help but see a parallel in Cheddar Gorge, given the faces apparent nearly everywhere in the rocks and vegetation. For me this place is enchanted and one of the most magickal places in Britain, or indeed the world.

We saw quite a lot of goats over the weekend, but by far the most spectacular event was on our last day when we came into contact with an old goat that put me in mind of Baphomet.

It sat there serene, smiling at us as we watched. I felt a strong communication between us and a sense of mutual respect and friendliness. I had a strong feeling that this goat was Baphomet in manifestation, serene and godly, with a court of younger goats behind it in the trees. I said the name Baphomet aloud and it looked at me in recognition, similarly when I mentioned the name Pan. It seemed happy to be recognised by such names.

What is more, this was not just a goat from a farm, but an encounter with a wild goat living on the cliffs of the Gorge. A wild and wise old goat, clearly sovereign and not intimidated in the least by human presence. We passed it on the way to the cliff edge were we enjoyed a flask of tea and a stunning view. When we return, the smiling old goat was gone, our audience at an end.

Update: Lolita has her own account and more photos on her blog: Cheddar Gorge and Goats

I spent last weekend on camping with friends in Cheddar. It is a place where the real cheddar cheese is produced. Cheddar is a town lying at the foot of the gorge that reaches 120 meters at its peak. The view from the top of the cliff is amazing. You can see the rocks on the other side of the gorge and wild goats feeding on the steep slopes. It is truly impressive.

Spending time in wild places can refresh and empower me for a long time. Being close with nature seem necessary to me to maintain physical and psychical  health.  Contact with nature is magickally empowering in all possible senses. Being in nature can be much more powerful and inspiring than ritual performed at home. That is because in wild places magick just happens before your eyes. You don't need to imagine, visualize anything. It is all there.

On Sunday we went for a walk to the top of the gorge. We were walking down the cliff to the viewpoint. On the side from the path there was small thicket and in there were goats, lots of them. In front of us there was very old, huge goat with long massive horns!
Absolutely beautiful. We stopped to look at him. He wasn't bothered by us at all. Being on his own territory he knew we were not a threat. He was lying on the grass, looking at us and smiling.  It felt like being greeted by divine being. This goat is an extraordinary creature and very magickal indeed. I had a strong sense of mutual respect and recognition. We just felt personally contacted by this Spirit.  Unforgettable experience. It was amazing that we all felt totally safe in front of this strong, big wild animal. We felt such a friendliness, kindness and wisdom emanating from him. Very warm, loving feeling. He seemed so proud and confident and incredibly cute in its own way (at least to me).

Anton described this experience from his own perspective in here: audience with baphomet

Here's Hippi's photo of the goat:

and more goat....

and some shots of the cliffs and the gorge...

closing, a little goat!