DOGS OF THE WORLD, UNITE AND TAKE OVER!

I believe Morrissey once remarked that WORLD PEACE IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS was his sequel to Viva Hate. His latest, I AM NOT A DOG ON A CHAIN, feels to me a sort of 3^rd installment in the Trilogy begun with WORLD PEACE.

I was never one of those who so swiftly switched from alienated adulant to virtue signaling denouncer at the whistle of outlets such as the Guardian. I read the opinion pieces which were all self-serving jerk-offs. And yet, there was the phenomena…droves decrying the “Alt-Right Racist Morrissey.” Which was about as unbelievable a load of shite as there could be. But it happened. And I watched zero research or critical thinking accompany it. I bear that in mind as I watch the same schmucks chucking about opinions on ANYTHING based on mass media headlines and the manipulative meme-ology of so-called social media.

Of course, Morrissey remained as petulant as ever with regards to defying the defining demarcations of a sonambulistic society on Low In High School which opened with the lines:

“Teach your kids to recognize and despise all the propaganda, filtered down by the dead echelons mainstream media”

The message continues on DOG with the title song, as brilliant a tune as ever crafted by MOZ:

“I am not a dog on a chain, I use my own brain

I do not read newspapers, they are troublemakers

Listen out for what’s not shown to you and there you find the truth

For in a civilized and careful way they’ll sculpture all your views”

They will even round you up to believe that Morrissey is a racist.

NPR reviewed WORLD PEACE and found Morrissey to be, perhaps, the only true “Punk Rocker” around. The grit, danger and exposure of fraud which was once Punk is now an appropriated genre utilized to entertain the brain-dead and sell fashion accessories.

Let me share a viewpoint: a friend suggested that Green Day “compromising their politics” was a way to “reach more people. “ Sounds a bit like championing “incremental change” vs. “Revolution” in politics today. A former CEO of Goldman-Sachs was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. But when it came to Bernie Sanders, he said he might need to support Trump. He clearly could “feel the Bern.” And there you have it. Bernie Sanders is Punk Rock. What was that leak about Obama having a plan to stop him if he got too big?

Green Day is Top 40 Radio. The Sex Pistols became an issue with British Royalty.

How much does an artist endanger themselves to deliver a genuine art?

And how much do artists compromise to ilk out a living?

One may ask: can you blame them? Every needs to live.

Some would say that “Everyone has a price.”

In the strange case of Morrissey, we find someone “worth it in this murkiness.” His genius was spreading out to speak to the emotive being of so many who were estranged by the sexual top dog politics of Pop. This earned him a deep place in the hearts of many for saying what would not be said in the glamour world.

Morrissey’s popularity in Latino culture is a testimony to this. A member of the band Mexrissey remarked that Mexico was never Number One-and Morrissey was a voice for Number Two.

And there you have it. Morrissey has always been with Number Two. And Number Three and Four. “The most inept that ever stepped.”

“But-he called the Chinese sub-human!!!!”

No, twit. He referred to people who eat dogs as sub-human. How many other artists on your playlist could write “Asian Rut?”

That’s what I thought. Now bugger off.

Morrissey just released CALIFORNIA SON which is as conceptual a work as Bob Dylan’s Trilogy. This is something of an “interlude” in his own Trilogy from WORLD PEACE to DOG. I think I waited 30 years, imaging Moz covering Dylan. It happened.

Please listen to this. And then revisit the masturbatory prose of every single asshat who used their “15 minutes of fame” to suggest that Morrissey is “racist.”

Remember Oscar Wilde? Hard Labor. The breaking of the human body. Slow killing. For what?

Being Gay.

I think Ireland officially apologized for imprisoning Wilde.

That’s nice. But I don’t think he can hear the politically expedient sentiment from that place where he “won’t be charged twice,” the space where “nature makes his bed.”

Through all the expression of emotional agony, sexual frustration and confusion, love and depression, Morrissey’s work conveys a tremendously powerful and positive spirit. You’ll find this in “Do Your Best and Don’t Worry.” Morrissey’s work has always expressed the despair of Vantitas (“Young Girl…one day you will be OLD”). Longing, loss and self-reprehension are perpetual themes.

And through them all….

Humor and an unrelenting drive into Ecstatic Joy.

Think of this as you enter the new album’s opening “Jim-Jim Falls.”

Think of this as we end our auditory voyage with “My Hurling Days Are Done:”

“Oh mama, mama and teddy bear
Were the first full firm spectrum of time
But now my hurling days are done
And there’s no one to tell and there’s nowhere to run…”

There is Death and there is Love.

In Between, there is Life.

Morrissey is a Cartographer of this Space. I tend to think he does this for his own Soul-and then offers his experience to us all.

DOG takes us into a world of cruelty which we cannot deny. The rich kill for fun. Children are gassed. “Bobby, do you think they know?” Bobby hopes not-especially if he lives in Saudi Arabia. We can chat identity politics in convenient cafes a million miles from genital mutilation. Pink hat protests with a pontificating Madonna might be measured against actual women buried in soil and stoned to death for choosing what to do with their bodies.

But if Morrissey said these people were “sub-human,” you’d call him a racist, yes?

There is a wonderful jangle in “What Kind of People Live in These Houses?” From poor to prosperous, we find the predictable psychology of the automaton:

“They vote the way they vote, They don’t know how to change, Because their parents did the same!”

There are far too many one liners on this album to cite. And you should experience them for yourself while listening.

Morrissey remains “Punk Rock.” In fact, he’s Punker than Punk.

It is my hope that some who have succumbed to brain-drain might stop and look back with anger at the opportunistic assholes who have impacted perspective as servile servants of Era Vulgaris, Inc. Look at their names. Find their faces. And fuck THEM. They are the drones in our Brave New World. They will usher in your New Masters with obsequious bows.

Didn’t Morrissey sing: “The Future is passing you by?”

It’s not just a line in a song. We are on the fast-track to the grave. “Everyone has a date with an undertaker…it’s a date you cannot BREAK.”

Thanks to Morrissey for singing and “not talking about it.”

DOG is fantastic. And for those who got sucked into the Guardian toilet-spin, you may have some catching up to do.

Join Roy from Beyond in applauding the Tribute.

May all tyrants fall. Let love reign.

Chewing the Cud

Coin Errors appear in a wide variety. We’ve written previously that the aims of the Numisgnostic are not necessarily those of the Numismatic. We’re not evaluating the topography of a coin based on how much it might be worth in the collector’s market. Rather, each coin has been imbued in its Spacetime voyage with an energetic history, a history witnessed by-and worn into-the surface of the coin.

Because we actively work with coins according to their content as such, we are not merely collectors. The “rarest” coin in the world may sit in a vault and serve no other purpose than gratifying its owner for having acquired something which seems significant. On the other hand, coins of power may pass from pocket to pocket without ever having that power tapped, directed or bringing about effect in the world.

The key is understanding how to identify, act upon and direct content.

From a practical standpoint (and real magic is ultimately a practical matter), imagine how significant our million dollar rarity seems to us when we’re gasping through crushed lungs on an interstate smash-up.

On the flip (pun possibly intended), imagine the value of a coin functioning as an active and operative talisman, serving as payment on a ferry between dimensions, delivering us from “Stuck” to “Onward.”

Despite our expressly magical approach to coinage, Numisgnosis is not hardly sneering at recognized mint errors in the “field.” There is simply an added level of interpretation, a different approach to designations of “significance.”

In the Corrosion Corp (which is the Numisgnostic Field Division), the real factor of significance is YOU. Of course, YOU are much more than you may be aware of. Ergo, the work with coins will follow after exercises intended to illuminate this fact. Going beyond this, you will be able to discern in each and every coin you find a content worthy of Alchemy on the spot.

It just so happens that some of these coins WILL contain coveted “mint errors” and these will be read and applied from a standpoint differing from that in the “marketplace.”

While working through rolls of coinage at Space Hoodoo HQ, we discovered an amazing CUD. This is, in essence, the result of a die breakage at the mint whereby the hot metal pools up onto the surface of a coin and creates a disfigured disc. The less than perfect coin escapes into circulation and we find it.

Now, the die is the set form. This doesn’t imply some horrible or imprisoning script we can only hope to escape from. We might regard the die as imprinting something akin to the Qabala’s Tree of Life. A Structural Form which represents a Totality of Being.
The CUD creates a COMMENTARY. It’s akin to an arrow shot into a Map of the Tree, marking the Zone most critical to your ongoing Pilgrimage. If one understands the Mandala (which is what a coin really IS), one can understand (and make use of) the marking!

When the Die breaks, a portal opens into neighboring realms. You can avail yourself of the opportunity and jump through.

Is this decision wise or foolish?

If you understand the Mandala, you will be able to see what the CUD signifies. Even if one lacks knowledge of a Mandalic Framework, any CUD will trigger a response from the Deep Mind.

The fact that a CUD error has reached you indicates that its passage through time and space has not been obstructed. Therefore, the CUD occurred specifically for YOU.
For the Numisgnostic, then, there will be no deliberation as to whether or not one should leap through this portal. What we’re looking at here is the Golden Opportunity.

Of course, our encountering a Mandala Access Point (M.A.P.) via the CUD points toward the same underlying principle manifesting through the innumerable surface scars borne by each and every coin. This leads us to the exercise of wherein a roll of 50 coins is obtained and the Numisgnostic is able to use each and every one as a Talismanic M.A.P.. There is no “sorting and searching” for something “of value.” Rather, each coin is assessed in relation to the Mandala.

The Mandala is not something which can simply be studied and learned. If this were the case, assessing any deviation from the Die would simply be a matter of intellect. It would be akin to reading a cipher.

To truly read the Mandala, one must understand what it is. This entails a type of feedback from the Formless into Form. Elements are understood energetically. This requires continuous practice.

Agents in the Corrosion Corp have gone through their “boot camp.” From this, they have brought their skill-set to the battlefield. Post-skirmish, the C.C. Agent applies this Coin Work to every aspect of navigating the Universe.

Change brings Death

1975 D Lincoln Lodgeroom Death Head

Notes re: the fashioning of a flip (from the Numisgnostic Notebook):

Change retrieved via a quick stop at the local gas station yields up a Death Head Lincoln. The coin isn’t etched by a rail-riding hobo. It’s clearly gone through the grind of vending machines and the like. The result? The profile of the 16th President of the United States worn, by chance or fate, into a skull.

Flip assembled at Corrosion Corp HQ. Pencil sketch. Ink. Colored Pen. Acrylic paint. Watercolor and then fixative applied.

The skull is read along Masonic lines. Not a morbid image of death but rather THAT WHICH REMAINS. The Eternal. The Self, no longer masked by the ego which has been aptly labeled the “Psuedo-self.”

Hence, this flip incorporates the image of the Square and Compasses, the conjoining of terrestrial and celestial space, our mortal life joined with an eternal consciousness transcending the wilting ego’s identification with the Psuedo-self.

The Mosaic Pavement-or checkerboard-is the field of seeming duality in which the Trifold Flame (a variant on the Hebrew letter SHIN) manifests to commence the creative work of the Tekton.

This particular coin, conjoined with its painted housing, is neither a Memento Mori nor Carpe Diem. Rather, its function is to serve as a magical link to the ever-present Interzone between self & Self whereby is realized the Gnosis of the “Word made Flesh.” As such, it now serves as the Corrosion Corp as a Temple Talisman.”

“self & Self” (8″ by 10″ painting in acrylic on canvas)

Working in the Factor-Y

” ‘All phenomena invariably possess the Ten Factors’ is another way of saying that life as it changes moment by moment never loses the Ten Factors. No one can say ‘I have no nyoze-so (appearance).’ Everyone has a face and figure. He also has nyoze-sho (mind or nature). He cannot exist like a stone. Actually, even a stone has its nyoze-sho. The same is true for nyoze-tai (entity).”

-Daisaku Ikeda “Selected Lectures on the Gosho Vol. 1”

The opening words of this quote are from Miao-Lo. Ikeda’s comment is simply wonderful. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, it’s all really quite simple. The “Ten Factors” are ways in which Life functions in the Universe. All life may be found to express the Ten Factors. Because of this, we (as humans) share these same functions with all other forms of life. We may not be aware of this and our focus might be on how we differ from this or that. And, of course, we will observe such distinctions. But if we wish to work as Shamans in the Universe, it is critical that we understand Miao-Lo’s statement. Our next (and more practical) step will be discovering the Access Points into “Factor Functions” within the Life of any given object we are approaching.

In Marie Corelli’s book The Soul of Lilith, the protagonist, El-Rami, converses with a monk from his Mystery School. The two are engaged in an intense dialogue over the nature of El-Rami’s investigations into the Mysteries of the Universe. An insect enters into the room, disturbing the debate, and the monk speaks:

“This creature flew in as I opened the window…what quaint and charming stories of Flower-land it could tell us if we but understood its language! Of the poppy-palaces and rose-leaf saloons colored through by the kindly sun, of the loves of the lady-birds and the political controversies of the bees! How dare we make a boast of wisdom! This tiny denizen of air baffles us; it knows more than we do.”

El-Rami, however, is eager to impress upon the monk his knowledge of “The Inhabitants of Sirius-Their Laws, Customs and Progress.” All of this obtained second-hand through his medium, the girl Lilith whose body is kept “alive” by means of El-Rami’s “science,” whereby her imprisoned Soul may wander in Realms otherwise inaccessible to him.

The monk is able to immediately access what El-Rami seeks. El-Rami asks him how he cannot be floored by his extraterrestrial reports. The monks replies:

“Of course I am interested. It is impossible not to be interested in everything, even in the development of a grub.”

As the conversation goes on, the Monk postulates the eventual discovery of “The Clue” to Everything.

El-Rami reacts with some vehemence.

“If we are bound to know…then every living creature is bound to know, since every living creature suffers cruelly, in wretched ignorance of the cause of its suffering. To every atom, no matter how infinitely minute, must be given this ‘explanation,’ to dogs and birds as well as men, nay even to flowers must be declared the meaning of the mystery.”

The monk replies simply:

“Unless the flowers know already…which is quite possible.”

The flowers, like the “stone” referred to by Daisaku Ikeda, possess all ten factors. Because this is so, it is possible to commune with ANYTHING if we can discover (or build) a lattice between its factors and ours. It is essential to develop skill in this Lattice-Work as Beings may speak very different languages. To a degree, we might consider Lattice-Work as the establishment of an Esoteric Translation Station.

At SpaceHoodoo HQ, we have a variety of altar spaces. These are also active laboratories where Communion via Lattices takes place. It is truly exciting when such work gives way to new directions on The Path. Most recently, we received communication from a particular Living Stone which revealed Itself as a “Master” in its field. It indicated the manner in which the Numisgnostic Work is to open up into the Mineral Kingdom.

Numisgnosis is an Idiosyncratic Field, to say the least. As we progress with the book SING THIS CORROSION, we also reflect on the fact that this is a text without a genre, a book whose topic has no audience. But it is, never the less, a way of describing a Mandala Access Point (or M.A.P.). Once one has entered the Mandala, everything breaks open. If you can commune with a PENNY, you can commune with ANYTHING. You’ll have learned, directly and through experience, the Physics of Communion.

The Scales fall from the Eyes and the World, as King Crimson says, is your Oyster Soup Kitchen Floor Wax Museum.

Ore at the Core

“For those to whom a stone reveals itself as sacred, its immediate reality is transmuted into supernatural reality. In other words, for those who have a religious experience all nature is capable of revealing itself as cosmic sacrality.” 
~ Mircea Eliade

These wonderful words from Eliade could be restated with “Penny” taking the place of “Stone.”

Of course, “Penny” could be replaced with “Nickel,” “Quarter,” “Driftwood” or any other object we happen upon during this terrestrial voyage. This is a key point in our commentaries on Numisgnostic Endeavor. While the Corrosion Corp has been focused on the humble American cent, the underlying principles of this Arte will be found applicable to ANY object in Nature. In fact, as it extends its reach, Numisgnosis indicates work beyond the limitations of “objects.” Relationships between experience points will serve the same purpose as the Talismanic Coin.

But we start simply, spring-boarding off Abe Lincoln’s right cheekbone.

The value system of the Numisgnostic is not the same as the Numismatic.

The Numismatic understands the value and rareity of a coin based upon standards set within the field. The Numisgnositic understands that every single coin is a “rare.”

Knowing this, certain qualities are targeted during a coin search. These become amplified during “Art Flipping.” This is where the work of the artist expresses what Eliade calls the “supernatural reality.”

The whole of Nature, which is to say Experiential Reality, is seen as Alive-and we are brought back to Blake’s famous words: “Everything that Lives is Holy.”

Our most recent coinflip, crafted from this vantage point, contains a Canadian Coin bound to a small piece of Peacock Ore, broken off from one of the Living Stones at SpaceHoodoo HQ. The fusion of these two objects in Spacetime forms a “SpaceBuddhaa Mandala” and is dedicated to Kokuju, the Space Dweller Buddha of the Lotus Sutra.

Everything Takes Forever

Things can take so much longer than we’d think at the get-go…

We began taking pre-orders on the (seemingly imminent) METAMORPHIC TAROT OF THE SPIRITS over a year ago. It is only this past WEEK that the finished deck and book are (at last!) being sent out.

Similarly, we wrote the book ORBIT some time before offering The Metamorphic Tarot. It is has only just recently seen print and is available for Order now.

By the time such Labors manifest, we find we are already deep into the Next Phase of The Work.

What Work?

THE GREAT WORK.

The same deal those Alchemists of Old were after.

The leaves of the calendar fall and we keep grinding at the Eternal Wheel.

Until we become The Wheel…the Wheel we ever Were and Are (see Crowley’s “Pilgrim Talk” from The Book of Lies).

Conversation at Space Hoodoo HQ this evening veers into the Game of Life…

New Thought Pioneer Neville Goddard reverse engineers our existential crisis. We are God…God incarnate to experience and redeem this Human Life. Not playing, not pretending or wearing a mask. God actually and really becoming the Human Being, really and truly dying in the Flesh. Playing, as Goddard says, every single role in The Play.

And God is no less God for it.

“Reader Meet Author”-from The Spacebuddhaa Angelic Contact Tarot

Knowing that the End Game is waking to this fact, emerging from The Play, we can assess just where we’re at in the Script.

There is a natural and needed Next Step to be made-and we, as individuals, are the ones to perform the task. Our strength, vision and resolve may draw from the Knowing (or Gnosis) of our True Being.

Michael Bertiaux states our situation in the most plain and hopeful fashion in his “Vudu Cartography” when he says that in our Vudu we are right where we need to be-or not too far from it. Our concern is simply the task at hand. The challenge is to see it clearly.

In various Occult Schools we are introduced to tables of Initiation. Take Crowley’s A.A., for example. It’s not unique in this regard but serves our purpose.

At the bottom, there’s the Neophyte and at the top, there’s the big bad Magi-and, above that, the Ipsissimus, Beyond Will or Condition, with a variety of Grades-and Magical Tasks-between.

At the beginning of the Quest, our eyes are blinded with Stars. We have big ideas of attaining to some “Higher Grade.” We work hard to get there, thinking “Neophyte” is a clumsy start to the “Mastery” we may achieve.

Chogyam Trungpa, between bottles, was able to give a lovely little Key in this matter. He simply observed that what could be Attained or Gained could be Lost or taken away. But our Real Nature remains what it is (“Deem not of change”). It’s not contingent upon our efforts and remains Adamantine all the Way.

“Ride a Camel through the Eye of a Needle…or, at least, smoke one.”

Hence, Kenneth Grant wrote of “Non-Mobile Becoming” in his Wisdom of S’lba.

If we can but GLIMPSE this, we hold the Philosopher’s Stone.

How to USE it?

Apply it in its own Light to the situation at hand.

We go to the Next Step as God writes, acts in and directs “The Play,” “We” being no less than Blake’s “Jesus…The Human Imagination.” This is the Word of God, the Power of God and the Glory of God…which are all ONE with God.

But if God is no less God in this scenario, we are no less HUMAN as participants.

Yeats saw the crisis quite clearly when he wrote:

“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

It’s true-and it’s so STUPID.

Do you really think the idiots who run (and ruin) the planet with their arrogance and greed are better than yourself? Or any OTHER than yourself?

Do we actually check out at the supermarket, look to the rag-rack and think US Magazine is anything other than Mind Control, Inc fighting to keep our own Divinity held at bay?

Reminding you that Sock Swine are Important People, one checkout at a time.

I can recall waste of life cocktail parties where someone asked the micro-tribe: “Have you ever met someone FAMOUS?”

Recollections sputter over mixed drinks and the speakers all fade into the background.

It’s akin to asking if you’ve ever met ANYONE!

The Key is waking up in the Game, lucid dreaming in the Flesh, remembering that there is an Operator behind the Virtual Reality. This Operator is none other than Ourself in Eternity.

The smallest dose of this Knowledge can empower a radical readjustment of one’s terrestrial lifespan.

Our next project will not be offered via any sort of pre-order. This is the SPACE BUDDHAA ANGELIC CONTACT TAROT. When we announce it, it will be ready for immediate shipment. Between Now and Then is the Pilgrimage.

ORBIT: An Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Bardo-Gaming on the Propserity Path is available from Gateways Books and Amazon.com.

The Metamorphic Tarot is available from Spacebuddhaa.com

“We who dwell on Earth can do nothing of ourselves, everything is conducted by Spirits” -William Blake from Jerusalem

METAMORPH!

“We might approach the Tarot…with a pressing concern. It could a “mundane” worry. And this is quite allright. Michael Bertiaux’s HOARD OF GOLD lessons, for example, remind us that when we are occupied with such mundane worries, our energy and attention flows in that direction. We are thus disadvantaged with regards to our deeper purpose, to become a True Resident of the Spirit World we are now only contacting.

“It would be a crippling approach, however, if we were to postpone Initiation until we had handled our earthly struggles. Vudu has never divorced itself from the flesh and blood world we inhabit. There is no need to divide the so called “Profane” from the Sublime and Spiritual. If we enter each Query with a view toward our unfolding Spiritual Vision, we can “hijack” the situation and feed its energy into our own Soul-Growth.”

-from the Metamorphic Tarot of the Spirits 

UPDATE on THE METAMORPHIC TAROT:

This Tarot has been a long time coming. Especially for those who pre-ordered in 2015. It originated as the “Lucky Hoodoo Tarot” in Wisconsin, 2014. The sketches and half done paintings were transported to British Columbia where work on them continued. At one point, the images were soaked in the waters of Kootenay Bay and cut into with blades to add texture. The Hoodoo Pilot Bardo Tarot and Bardo Bear Storytime Tarot were generated but the Metamorphic Tarot remained unfinished. It returned to Wisconsin in a snowstorm, endured a Season of Sweat and is now FINISHED.

The deck and accompanying book with tipped on color plate will be sent out to those who have ordered it by the end of the week. The deepest appreciation is sent to those who have patiently waited for their cards to arrive.

The METAMORPHIC TAROT gave birth to the Space Buddhaa Angelic Contact Tarot which is in process. This deck will have no pre-order and will only be offered after completion.

We hope those who receive the METAMORPHIC TAROT enjoy it and find in its gallery of images a Doorway into the Vuduverse.

 

How Little?

 

I happened upon this fun little cartoon while scrolling through my Facebook feed. It’s a cute one liner-but it immediately had me thinking that the whole thing would be just as clever in reverse, the “ordered mind” approaching the summit of enlightenment…and finding it to be the scrambled cube, so-called “Chaos,” every part in disarray. Could it be any less perfect than all pieces put back into their “place?” Both arrangements speak to the same system.

They ARE the same system.

Beyond the Cube we find the Eye and Hand.

Beyond these…the Heart.

From this vantage point, things may seem a little different.

How little?

Enough.

 

ALL IN ONE-ONE IN ALL

E Pluribus Unum

“Out of the Many…the ONE”

These words are molded onto the backside of our Lincoln Cent.

They are also words which express the Mystical Vision of American Poet, Walt Whitman.

Walt, a Man of Wit

Whitman, as is well known, held President Lincoln in the highest regard.

Now, scholarship is known for its capacity to eat through the white wash of grammar school mythologies, ripping through redactive reads on the all too human nature of all too human humans. Lincoln is no exception and this venerated President has been “revealed” by modern historians as another repugnant politician. The man who is famed for the Emancipation Proclamation is now also known for his connections to the hangings of the Santee Sioux in Minnesota.

How, then, shall we see him?

Our answer is quite simple.

Through the eyes of Walt Whitman.

Whitman was much more than a poet of nature and sensuality to be defined by the words “Body Electric,” remembered by a beard spraying outward like some white waterfall (although the beard is, admittedly, an impressive one).

His Canadian Disciple, Richard Maurice Bucke, saw him as the Embodiment of Cosmic Consciousness. Don’t those two words sound so “New Agey?” They may appear less so if we can imagine Bucke using the term in the late 1800’s.

In my view, Bucke was a predecessor to Joseph Campbell with his book titled…”Cosmic Consciousness.” Anyone who reads this volume will find his commentary and conclusions limited. But if that same reader considers that this was written ere the 1900’s had dawned, they may well be astounded at the paintstaking and passionate effort of this man to invesitgate the nature of the Enlightenment Experience. He was anticipatory of Crowley’s “Scientific Illuminism” and his study was as personal as it was an attempt at Objective Investigation.

Bucke treats of everyone from Plotinus to St. Paul. He tabulates and analyzes, squints and scrutinizes. You can feel his hunger for the “Core” of some vast awakening power in the human experience.

He ultimately comes to the conclusion that Walt Whitman leads the pack through history and is the most perfect example of “Faculty X” realized.

My own introduction to Bucke was not through his Magnum Opus but rather a curious collection of letters written to his family and friends (collected in the volume “Medical Mystic” by Artem Lozynsky). These missives swayed this writer enough to procure “Leaves of Grass,” treating it as a Bible. For a brief moment, I posted flyers at local libraries in an effort to start a Whitman based journal that would never be.

The point is: Bucke aptly assessed Whitman’s Vision as one expressing “E Pluribus Unum.” He also saw that this same Vision is no different from the One in the Many.

R.M. Bucke-Alienologist of the Bodhicitta and Walt Whitman look-alike

Years later, another Canadian, one Charles Stansfeld Jones, would identify with this same complex through his personal Magical Motto in Crowley’s A.A., “Unus in Omnibus, “One in All.” These initials “V.I.O.” would be extended into a mystical palindrome: “V.I.O.O.I.V.”

Yes, he walked around naked in Vancouver and got thrown in jail. He was also able to see, in every coin, a direct message from GOD, speaking to the Heart of the Soul   

With regards to any historical personage, we are bound to find our body of knowledge impacted by new discoveries we’d fain fit into the present picture yet cannot. Even the sum of gathered facts to date must be apprehended by our imagination, slanted into our value systems, cast against our understanding of the world.
We are, in essence, ever in peril of losing our vision.

This may be why the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, reacted vehemently against the idea of the “Historical Jesus.” Kierkegaard said that the closer we got to this Historical “Reality,” the further we departed from the immanent presence of the Living Christ.

They called him “The Melancholy Dane” but Soren K was smiling when he wrote of the Teleological Suspension of the Numismatic

HOW can we know this “immanent presence?”

In Kierkegaard’s view (which I agree with), it can’t be by weighing it against the “Historical Record.” After all (to quote Voltaire) “History is a pack of tricks played by the dead upon the living.” If we’re seeking Christ, we don’t really want to fall for a “pack of tricks,” do we? And for Bucke, Whitman WAS Christ.

For Whitman, Lincoln was the embodiment of Demoncracy, the “V.I.O.O.I.V.”

It should go without saying that, for Whitman, Democracy was not about politics. The word represented a Mystical Vision. And this Vision is one toward which Numisgnosis tends.

Lincoln, on your Contact Coin, is LINK IN, President (Precedent) of the Work. You don’t need to spy a “Double Ear” to HEAR or a “Double Die” to open the Third Eye.

It’s been said that in Thelema there are Two Trials, that of the Angel and that of the Abyss. Both are handled in your loose change if done so with the Hand of Glory.

What the Contact Coin does to your digits

All of this is so simple and humble and easy. Whitman, in his later life, was known to eschew any tedious talk around religion and philosophy, preferring to speak of fishing, the weather or some such commonplace conversation. Bucke craved the “deep interview” but tip toed around them while being touched by the Light he felt in the Presence of the Master.

Well, they’re all dead now. Walt, Richard, Soren, Little Eddie (that would be Mr. Crowley to you). You can’t get ’em on the line unless you want to Ouija and that’s a crap shoot (have wet wipes ready).

But you CAN get a coin into your hand and you CAN “Link In.”

And you CAN behold the Vision of E Pluribus Unum.

Numisgnostic Coinologic Convergence Field-screenshot from NUMIS, a Corrosion Corp virtual reality video game in development for the use of Field Agents upping the ante in their esoteric explorations along the Venusian Ray

BREAK A BUCK & TRY YOUR LUCK

After one has found their Numisgnostic Contact Coin (also known as the “Portal Penny”) and begun acquiring some of the basic supplies needed for continued work (see our previous entry in this series), there is the issue of how to acquire further coins.

It’s true that Pennies will continually present themselves along the Path. They’ll be spied in both strange and commonplace spaces, handed out from cash registers with a fistfull of change and even gifted to you as others begin to learn of your new found “hobby.” To be continually active in a variety of Numisgnostic Operations, however, you’ll definitely want to increase the regular flow of coinage in your sphere of Work. Banks aren’t terribly surprised when coin-collecting customers “purchase” bulk rolls of any denomination and avid searchers will frequently walk in and out the doors with quite a bundle.

In my own experience, however, I began examining coins without the money to purchase-or time to sort through and exchange-a full “bank box.” If one is approaching this work with the primary goal of discovering some beyond rare mint-error (and retiring after the auction), it only makes sense to increase the “chance of winning” with this approach. In Numisgnosis, however, the searching is primarily concerned with Psychometric Finds and my own limits, with both funds and time, led to a more quick and concentrated approach, utilizing single rolls of Pennies. I would acquire these, not from banks, but cashiers (guaranteed to be a bit more baffled by the roll request than your local banker).

Basically, if you have 50 cents, you can ask to swap it for a roll of Pennies almost anywhere. The gas station, grocery store, wherever. I’ve been told “no” but this is part of the voyage. Move on and hit up the next likely locale. If you’ve got a dollar, it will score you TWO rolls (100 coins) and, in context of Magickal and Psychometric Investigation, this is quite the pile!

Some will want to set up several “bins” at Home Base where acquired coins can be seperated. One bin can be for those swapped and another for those returned with change. A box can be set up for those found on the street and another for those gifted from others (and don’t be shy about asking friends and family to hang onto their pennies for you…most people won’t find the monetary value of a few cents of any concern but they WILL enjoy making someone else’s day with a little gift).

Some Corp Members will keep an elaborate and detailed record to observe trends in the flow. This is, admittedly, tedious but worthwhile. By noting WHAT you acquire and through WHICH Channels, you begin to get a picture of the Invisible Forces working through your activity in Numisgnosis. For example, out of 10 rolls you’ve swapped out around town, you might notice that 1981 D cents dominate the total haul. You might only have found a single 1963 from a thousand.
One one hand, this situation may reflect the simple odds of finding any given coin in circulation. On the other, the Numisgnostic, working actively with the Contact Coin as a Beacon into the Magickal Universe, will find that certain coins will truly be attracted to him (or her)! They will travel long distances over periods of time to arrive in the Temple.
There is an interplay between Chance and Intention here-and this interplay is similar to how we find ourselves in this Spacetime Environment as Entities with Power to Effect Change and Decision Making Capacity interacting with a seemingly Objective World in which events occur outside of our Willing.

From this vantage point, our continuing work in this field may be likened to certain games which evoke Chance, Choice and Magick (again in the Crowleyan sense, Old Crow having stated that “Every Intentional Act is a Magickal Act”).

We’ll address some of these games down the line. They include Magic The Gathering which (along with many others like it) may be used as a Vehicle for Spiritual Growth. The point is: Numisgnosis, as we’ve discussed it thus far, will be profitably treated as such a Gamespace IF we regard Gaming as a Spiritual (and, perhaps more appropriately, SHAMANIC) Endeavor.

For the moment, don’t let a lack of funds foil the fun or stay the Way. Swap a buck and try your luck. Not unlike booster packs purchased for Magic, each roll of Lincolns is guaranteed to contain at least ONE “Rare.” If you don’t see it, sort ’em until you DO.

We’ll eventually get to the Mission where you swap two bits for a roll and find EVERY SINGLE COIN to be a SUPER CHARGED WINNER.

But that Mission has nothing to do with Luck of the Draw…it’s balls out Shamanix.