a small group of magicians from a variety of backgrounds who meet, teach, practice and study matters of occult interest and of the Western magickal tradition generally. It would be improper to call ourselves an order as such, at least in the same sense of other established orders such as the O.T.O., the Golden Dawn, the A.'.A.'.,et al. We are best to be understood as students of the Mysteries who have the manifold belief that this particular branch of human endeavor really needs to be published for all to see, and with the gracious efforts of our Public Networking provider, we are able to do so.
Within these pages you will find the usual, obligatory links to other sites, but our primary purpose is to publish information about our researches, to archive papers written by our members, and to detail operations associated with our pet project--The Glyph.
The core group of folks so involved (sometimes called "the Glyph Magicians") began meeting early in 1997 to erect the device they call The Glyph and to tend to it's charging, operation and observation over a period of not less than five years. A number of other individuals have become involved and we do continue to solicit enquiry from serious individuals.
A note here: As some of us are embroiled in fairly sensitive professions, we have adopted nom de plume for purposes of privacy. We say this lest one think we are engaging in the sort of High Magick posturing that has been too common in the past.
Our project was simple in construction, even if grand in scope. The document below was issued to serve as an FAQ of sorts:
The Glyph was the brainchild of the O. U. O., product of Fraters A. A., Pheonix & Po and of Soror E, (pictured above)and is the continuing special charge of the Companions of the Glyph. It came about as an experiment
designed to test a device of which frater A. had heard. Frater A. describes this device as:
"An energic collector built into the landscape of a place by selective plantings and street- planning. A group of Grey magicians operating between the wars, and associated with Margaret Mead (the anthropologist) contstructed a grid by planning developement in a particulat city's neighborhood such that psychic energy was collected therefrom and funneled along a vertex into a particular country-club where they, as the club's founders, once gathered. All were very wealthy and influential and most were dead when even I heard of this. Much of it was built around a 60-degree triangle, the span of which encompassed all of the inner city. I was told that this device focused and moved energy down a certain path into this country club while another device regulated the flow by siphoning off excess to be shunted down some sort of 'energy vortex'. I AM aware that this is beginning to sound lame... Nonetheless, I was also told that this shunt was dangerous to the EXTREME with words like 'soul-snatching' being used in earnest!
"Even so, my survey of the place over time revealed interesting data which might go a ways towards corroborating the outrageous claims made by my informant. One thing I noticed was that most joggers in this park ran about it counterclockwise and some, when interviewed, indicated that they felt that jogging this way was less effort than going the other way, even tho' most were aware that this doesn't make alot of sense... At any given time, one can expect to see up to 100 people running around the perimeter of the park, about 70% of them anti-clockwise.
"In the Early morning, the fog swirls slowly counterclockwise at a height of about two feet over this whole park, quite likely moved by a fairly mundane wind trapped by the tall buildings that border. I've also noticed that there's a strong pull at the level of the knee, as tho' one were standing in a swift current about that deep. Additionally, a number of ghostly encounters are reported in the park and around it, many on the lines that make up the so-called collector.
"I noticed that the trees, at least in the supposed path of the collector, were slightly distorted, their great long rows looking as tho' their trunks were sucked into the path of alleged force. A survey of forty middle-aged trees showed thirty with a characteristic bend in the trunk toward the alleged channel of force. Ten years later, tho, this feature was not as pronounced and photo documentation shows it. In the original survey, I tried to find the 'collector' or 'tap' and immediately 'dowsed' myself to the right area, as I later learned. Here there was a mound of compost and leaves, long piled in a spot given partly over to some scrubby bushes. Detecting an almost human presence, I noted that there were 2 Locust trees planted North and South of the mound, their entire trunks bending 30 degrees from vertical, both suggesting that they'd endured perpetual high winds, each from the opposite direction. It was very eerie... A photograph taken of the area revealed sparkly anomalies in the film.
"My informant was a fairly level-headed student of magickal arts, but even so, I can't really claim a lot of evidence for his remarks, exciting tho' they may be. The idea haunted me long enough to try to build something on this scale (or perhaps larger)..." Just as a point of curiosity, I snapped a few pictures of a house that sits directly across from the entrance to the alleged grid. It's a lovely old, red brick thing with black trim, a stylish gargoyle and a curious design set into the brickwork of the fireplace. They're worth the slight detour.
The members of O. U. O. built such a device. They built it in the manner of two 60-degree triangles, offset as in the Mogen David. One point is anchored upon an historically significant and central butte that rises from the center of town. 60 degrees away, we find another point at a neighboring ridge and the next at the intersection of two streets. The offset points lie in a suburban neighborhood, near a bike trail and historic canal and behind the local football stadium. We were rather amazed to see that when we laid this equilateral triangle out upon sattelite-photo maps hat principle gov't buildings lay handily along the along the vertices.
At Dawn on Father's Day of 1997, we circumabulated this figure, placing certain brass stakes at the points of the hexagram and also at the center. Orisons were made and saluations to the Sun in Tipharerth were uttered.
Our aim is to build a device on this fairly grand scale, to charge it up and to see if it's workings were detectable by various methods... The device was activated three days after they took the great cross down from the place that is sacred to Mercury.
These words were placed upon 6X6 handbills and stapled to telephone poles all about town each in the line of the axis, rather like a public notice...
Q: To what end did you want to draw down the planetary energies? Was this some kind of general blessing for this part of town?
A: The last statement guides us formost. We've seen our odd-but-loveable city undergoing a certain cultural entropy and sought to, at the very least, attempt to balance the forces here on a large scale to see if it would have any notable effect, feeling that no significant harm is likely to arise.
Q: Do you plan to use these energies in later workings?
A: It was assumed that the Glyph would provide both concentrations of specific planetary energies and these energies might be used in, say, empowering a talisman. Talismanic magick has always interested Frater A., partly because it is so easy to quantify/qualify the results of such magicks in a fairly-scientific statistical manner: either a thing happens within a specified period or it doesn't. Being an eyewitness to a number of talismanic "successes" and very few "failures" made a believer out of him years ago. The thought that these focuses might facilitate visioning"in the Spheres" has also been discussed.
Q: As I understood your ritual precis, you drew all your triangles in the same direction. Do you think Tyson's dictum against doing such has any merit?
A: We are intrigued by this thought of tracing the triangles in different & balancing directions. We adhered pretty much to the G.D. system because it was the only one we had to hand that made enough sense, what with designing heptarchic magick using a hexagonal figure. I've noticed that G.D. and derivative traditions seem to like to "wind up" a ritual (or force) using circumambulation while Aurum Solis (the framework within which we choose to operate) rites stress the balancing of such things. I suspect we thought of kicking the glyph into a sort of motion by invoking the presences/powers of the planets as thoroughly as we could. It makes a great deal of sense to us to conduct circumambulations in the manner Mr. Tyson's method suggests and we will incorporate this in the future.
Q: As best I could understand, you were trying to evoke the power of the Sun with your hexagram. Does it make sense to do so by invoking the powers of all the planets?
A: We are invoking the *qualities* of the power of the Sun, e.g.: harmony, balance. The study of the geopraphy of the land suggested to us a 60-degree figure and we were stuck with either a 3-sided figure (and probably Saturnian energies) or a Hexagram (and attendant Solar forces). An Enneagram was dismissed out-of-hand as none of us felt qualified in the least to deal with such a figure and the constellation of ideas that might append therefrom. We see the entire figure of the Sun and his family of planets as creating a balanced figure in and of itself, which happens to be divisible into 7 discrete entities, each with their own unique utility. Considered Qabalistically, we are dealing with the Will, Tipareth and one's Knowledge and Conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel, so I expect those sorts of energies to be magnified in some way, perhaps even if only on a small scale. I guess I mean to say that the Glyph is envisioned as taking in local, non-organized energy, then imparting a pattern to it. This energy is concentrated in various places but also spreads a harmonious influence within it's bounds, radiating out into the adjoining countryside as far as whatever encountered friction allows. At least, that's our visualization so associated.
Q: Was your ritual design too grand in scope?
A: Can't say yet. We plan to give it five+ years of effort to see if attracts interest outside of our small group. By a simple formula not unknown to dynamic sciences: if you're not going to have as much energy, you're going to need more time. We believe we can make a measurable difference (the Glyph being detectable to dowsing/magnetics/etc.) with 6-7 regular participants working for 4-5 years. But, at least one of us is the sort of person (had they enough personal influence on our local scene) who would schedule a road race to be run upon the Glyph's very course while the "elect" held rites of alchymical transubstantiation at some key location/s. Forgive our waxing poetic--we think we'll wait and see how large an area upon which it can actually have a notable effect. It is, after all, an experiment.
Q: Would it have made more sense to draw down the powers of the planets one at a time over a much longer period? Did you take care to balance the planetary energies, or if that was even a valid consideration?
A: Frater A. felt that this would produce a potential abundance of one sort of energy or another over too-long a time. All planets were used in the original invocations, each merely "hi-lighted" at a different time.
Q: It looks as if you started with Saturn and worked your way inward through the planets. Why start with Saturn?
A: When the sun comes over the eastern horizon, it's rays first reach the place consecrated to Saturn, therefore Saturn had to be first, just as the Sun had to hold the middle position. We personally fiddled with a variety of possible allocations of planets to geographical places before settling on the current arrangement. We all aggreed that the attributions to each location were strong: Mars is adjacent to a sports stadium, Jupiter is in a University neighborhood, Venus is in a lush, green place where deer frequently laze in front yards. The manner in which the places suggest their resonant energies was hard to ignore, and, seeing that they lay in the order suggested by the G.D. in their hexagram ritual, that rather gave it a stamp of approval. Saturn, you'll note, has an association with the idea of "a gate", and we thought this also appropriate for the Easternmost point.
Q: I also wondered if you had considered using a unicursal hexagram. I ask only because that glyph gives you a clear way to move back into the center. I wonder if this might be helpful as a practical matter during the performance of the ritual.
A. Briefly. Frater A. sat down and attempted to trace the unicursal hexagram in a variety of ways and couldn't come up with a satisfactory arrangement, no matter what he tried. Some describe the force of this hexagram as "weak" and we imagine this is due to the alleged fact that such a figure cannot be constructed precisely, using any real mathematical proofs. A hexagram *cannot* be unicursal, and relies upon the clever alteration of the width of the drawn line to accomodate the idea. The introduction of Crowley's *Magick* says as much. Significantly, drawing this figure creates anything but a sense of balance and more a sense of taking two steps backwards followed by three little one forward. The territory is covered but more in the manner of an ambling drunkard than in a straight-forward formula of balance and equity.
Q: It struck me that your magick has a geomantic component to it. You can draw down the energy and establish the astral temples, but it seems to me that these temples must be grounded and founded on the earth for their greatest effectiveness. Stamping on the earth, calling the spirits of the earth for your aid seems like a good idea.
A: The Glyph, as Solar-centric as it might be, is still a part of the Earth and its design does in fact arise from natural features of the area. It should also be made clear that there is a growing collection of artifacts at each of these points to so anchor it.
Q: I was also glad to see you perform part of the ritual with a willow wand. Perhaps that wand was a gift from the tree? Did you get any impression as to how local spirits/devas/dryads reacted to your ritual?
A: Yes, YES! We *broke* the damn' tree! It was an ACCIDENT, okay? But seriously--you're right. We merely preserved a portion of the tree for later/permanent use in the rites that might follow. Laws of Association and Contagion, you see. Similarly, a small collection of items have grown up to service the Glyph, both from within the confines of the Glyph itself and those brought in from outside as well.
Q: Your observation about the government buildings on the hexagram was quite striking.
A: Yes, we thought so. Of course, the only buildings noted are those that are wont to show up on a map torn from a telephone book. We have not researched this yet as thoroughly as we would like. We expect to undertake that during Tempus Eversionis '97-'98, when the Glyph will not be actively charged.
Q: Could it be that you were building upon the energy matrix that was already present?
It was our assumption that some sort of energic flow is present in any case, likely modified by arrangements of geophysical features in the area. We wished to discover this arrangement and expand upon it, refining it, if possible.
Q: Did you do any dowsing or any other kind of preliminary observations that could help verify this hypothesis?
A: Not as yet. That is part of our plan for evaluation.
Q: What would constitute a success in the context of this ritual? For example, success can either be achieving whatever goal is held in the conscious mind, or good but unintented consequences that seem meaningfully related to the work.
A: We would consider success to be along those same lines, generally. In particular, this is a success if it a) is detectable by magickal or scientific means, b) shows any sign of attracting people to it's maintenance, c) can be shown to positively effect the charging of talismans, d) can be shown to positively affect experiments in scrying, pathworking or similar workings. This is where we are headed, but it is very early in the game, we feel, so this is far from an exhaustive list.
Q: Have you noticed anything that points towards the achievement of your goals or any unintended consequences, good, bad, or indifferent?
A: It's too early to tell, but most of us think thatthese exercises have stirred something odd, put a sharper focus or perhaps a finer polish on the rest of our magickal work. We can state that works of planetary magick functioning within the glyph, or in a magickal link associated with The Glyph, seem to be enhanced. Magnetometric readings are in the works at this time (Jun2001).
Biographical sketches of the Glyph Magicians:
Frater Auxilior Arti (was Fr. Adsum Iterum)
Soror E. (no pic)
Near an intersection upon The Glyph.
This page is part of The Companions of the Glyph Website.
