Seeking A Mentor Options

I was wondering if anyone here teaches the system to individual students, I am new to this system but have felt a strong interest or pull if you will to get involved in it, my main problem is that I don't have any of the books and at present cannot afford to buy them, and I have read that the pdf versions have mispronunciations? In any event I would ordinarily not persue something under these circumstances but I am feeling a strong attraction to the system that I cannot explain, as I have never worked with it at all.

I have spent time with some other systems such as Initiation into Hermetics and Donald Michael Kraigs Modern Magick, and while they did give me some good theoretical insight into the world of magick, I just never felt a connection, my work under those systems just felt lifeless and clinical at times, so here I am, seeking a teacher and I will await any replies to this topic, I would also like to know why I feel such a pull toward the system practically out of nowhere if anyone can offer an explanation.

Wow. Good job helping him out guys. With all the information you just rattled off, I might just get myself a Necronomicon too. (Anyone seen the Evil Dead movies? LOL)

Maybe we should start a Necronomicon club, and decide to open this or that gate week by week and report our experiences. Might cause the end of the world, but it would be fun while it lasted...

I was also wondering what kind of bowl you guys use for the burning of offerings, do you use a clay bowl? And when you are instructed to burn bread or nettle you just use a match or lighter? Also when it comes to the offering of fresh bread do you guys just use regular loaf bread that you buy from the store or do you actually make it fresh? Sorry about all of the questions I am sure you all have answered them before many times.

Oh and I checked panpipes.com and yes they do have nettle very cheap prices, thank you for the site monkman it seems to have just about everything one would need and at great prices.

Awesome, yeah, panpipes is great in the incense/herbs/oils department.

I don't think you need to have any specific type of material for an offering bowl, though clay is inexpensive and easy to come by on ebay...factors which also probably made it a popular choice of material in ancient Sumeria. Some magical tools do use specific materials that line up with elemental or other attributions; I doubt this has anything to do with it in this case, but if you're worried clay is cheap.

Use a match or a lighter, unless one or the other bothers you too much. I started doing magick with matches because it felt more "old fashioned" and therefore authentic or something, but switched to using a lighter when I ran out of matches. There is no difference, fire is fire.

Hmmm...well...I wouldn't use a loaf of Wonder bread as an offering. Many stores have a "fresh baked" section where they sell loaves of bread for a few bucks that they baked that morning, so I would try that. Learning to bake bread is very easy though if you want to go that route. What probably matters most is that one is using a nice loaf of bread.

I would suggest sticking to whatever the book calls for. That way if things don't go the way they are supposed to, you can know that it wasn't because you didn't have the correct tools. And in some books, the various tools are specific and intended for some kind of protection. Metals and various plants, etc., have been long associated with particular uses, and substituting other materials may either produce no effects, or may altar the outcome of the ceremonies in ways you don't want.

Start altering the ceremonies after you have enough experience and knowledge with them as they are, and have had the opportunity to start inquiring of the entities involved personally how much leeway there is - and then keep in mind that they might prefer you be less protected or otherwise in charge.

A copper dagger, a copper crown, an earthen vessel (clay or stone), fresh bread (it takes very little ingredients to make bread, and it is not difficult, and you can make a small amount just for this purpose for less than a dollar per loaf), and a little bit of space is not a lot to ask. Until you get up to the need for gold and silver, most everything in the system is easily acquired. Look for sheets of copper for the dagger and the crown. You can by a rectangular sheet of 'craft' copper thick enough to use as a dagger for $20 or so online (plus a $5 metal file and a $20 set of metal sheers that you can use for other projects), and the same place will sell thinner sheets for less money that can be used to create the crown (which you can secure into a circular shape with an awl driven through in the back in three or four holes that you can use the same metal file from the dagger project to file down).

If you want to explore the system, then take the time to get the appropriate materials. If it takes a little longer to do it right, it will be worth it if you get what you want out of it.

peace

In fact I am attempting to get everything as precise as I can, however I have read some posts from various users here that suggest certain substitutions are not harmful, I cannot imagine that if I am being urged to involve myself in the system, that I would be begrudged for not having every single thing down to the most exacting detail. For example I got the idea of using a paper mache mask as the crown, from reading one of Ashnooks posts, and I understand that he is something of an authority on the system.

If what I have is not suitable and does not yield good results I will simply set the system aside until such a time that I can afford to be that precise in my workings.

I would suggest sticking to whatever the book calls for. That way if things don't go the way they are supposed to, you can know that it wasn't because you didn't have the correct tools. And in some books, the various tools are specific and intended for some kind of protection. Metals and various plants, etc., have been long associated with particular uses, and substituting other materials may either produce no effects, or may altar the outcome of the ceremonies in ways you don't want.

Start altering the ceremonies after you have enough experience and knowledge with them as they are, and have had the opportunity to start inquiring of the entities involved personally how much leeway there is - and then keep in mind that they might prefer you be less protected or otherwise in charge.

A copper dagger, a copper crown, an earthen vessel (clay or stone), fresh bread (it takes very little ingredients to make bread, and it is not difficult, and you can make a small amount just for this purpose for less than a dollar per loaf), and a little bit of space is not a lot to ask. Until you get up to the need for gold and silver, most everything in the system is easily acquired. Look for sheets of copper for the dagger and the crown. You can by a rectangular sheet of 'craft' copper thick enough to use as a dagger for $20 or so online (plus a $5 metal file and a $20 set of metal sheers that you can use for other projects), and the same place will sell thinner sheets for less money that can be used to create the crown (which you can secure into a circular shape with an awl driven through in the back in three or four holes that you can use the same metal file from the dagger project to file down).

If you want to explore the system, then take the time to get the appropriate materials. If it takes a little longer to do it right, it will be worth it if you get what you want out of it.

peace

In fact I am attempting to get everything as precise as I can, however I have read some posts from various users here that suggest certain substitutions are not harmful, I cannot imagine that if I am being urged to involve myself in the system, that I would be begrudged for not having every single thing down to the most exacting detail. For example I got the idea of using a paper mache mask as the crown, from reading one of Ashnooks posts, and I understand that he is something of an authority on the system.

If what I have is not suitable and does not yield good results I will simply set the system aside until such a time that I can afford to be that precise in my workings.

A balance needs to be struck between practicing magick according to the text and working within the boundaries of one's limitations in the modern world. Some items, like the book itself obviously, can't be done without. In other cases, it is acceptable to substitute (or even omit) the tools used in ritual.

Probably the best general rule on this is to understand the purpose of the various tools, gestures, and accessories going into a ritual; as long as the rituals remain intact, with all objects maintaining their purpose, there shouldn't be a problem.

I think the BIGGER issue here is whether or not we become too anxious that "something will go wrong" or that "we won't be doing it right" if the ritual isn't copied from the manual to a T. I would also be wrong to say that one shouldn't be careful about following the instructions, but I don't think a goal of "perfect emulation" is sufficient to ensure that the ceremonies will function as they were intended. Understanding the ritual itself is key first and foremost.