mystical hexagram

Mark Stavish Reviews The Mystical Hexagram

Mr. Mark Stavish, who leads the Institute for Hermetic Studies and is a widely known and published esoteric author himself, kindly wrote a review of The Mystical Hexagram and posted it on Amazon.com yesterday. I reproduce below. He gave the book 5-stars.

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Over a year ago Dr. Vasey was kind enough to send me a copy of his book The Mystical Hexagram. In a slim volume of under 100 pages, Dr. Vasey and his co-author Sue Vincent have managed to pack a great deal of information on the importance of what must be the most common of esoteric symbols – the interlaced triangles or hexagram. However, while some references are cited, the book, or monograph really, is a summary of Dr. Vasey’s considerable reflections and meditation on this important symbol. A symbols Dr. Franz Hartmann in his work, Magic White and Black, saw in the hexagram, “This is one of the most important magical signs, and practically applied invests man with magic power…Knowing that sign practically means to realize the nature of God…to be God and to know…”.

What makes The Mystical Hexagram of value to the reader is not simply Dr. Vasey’s commentary, but in addition a set of simple and progressive exercises that one can perform to deeper their personal connection and understanding of this symbol that has for many become a representation of the Great Work itself. It is also a template for guide for students as well, in that it is a working example of how to undertake this kind of reflective work for oneself – work essential to progressing on the Path of Return. In this way, The Mystical Hexagram is not only to be read, but studied and even imitated so that its deeper lessens can become one’s own.

For myself I was particularly pleased to read many comments similar to my own, from an article written nearly twenty years ago on the same subject entitled, “Notes on the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram”. The book’s endorsement by no less a luminary than Dr. Vasey’s teacher Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, Director of Studies for the Servants of the Light school of esotericism, and author of numerous works on Western esoteric practices is also reason alone to read it. (I had the good fortune to interview Ashcroft-Nowicki many years ago, and that interview along with my article on the the hexagram can be read at: http://www.hermeticinstitute.org.) In publishing their private reflections in The Mystical Hexagram the authors have provided a wonderful and much needed tool for students of esoteric symbolism and ritual magic. Take advantage of this wonderful guide and let it help you as you walk the Path of Return.

The original review may be found here. My thanks to Mr. Stavish for his very kind review.

Meanwhile, Corpus Stavish is a place where you can read a lot of his writings including his thoughts on the Hexagram

Your Life is One Big Lie

One of the central themes of all my writings – even the My Haunted Life series – is the nature of reality and the role that we may play in dictating that. Over the last twenty or so years (if not my entire life really), I have read, meditated on, studied and discussed this topic and the process I have come to several conclusions. One of these is that I now believe that much of our world is an illusion.

It’s easy to draw analogies with movies like the Matrix here and I and others often do but what I mean is a lot of what we think we know isn’t real. It isn’t truth nor fact. I once said (and thought it was rather cute) –

“The more I think on it the more I realize that certainty is an illusion. History was written by the winner, the news is provided with a spin and other people are opaque. We know nothing for certain. It used to be that the internet might provide information,but it too is now nothing but opinion and scare mongering. Nothing can be relied upon. We have to look inside ourselves for anything of value – anything that can be relied upon – but it too is colored by our ego and personalities.

So in the end, if the past is a colored view and the future a fancy, what do we have left?

Simply to live in the moment…..” (The Mystical Hexagram (Vasey & Vincent, 2012)).

Life is an enigma and I may never actually understand the answers but I do know this. Everything that we take to be true is probably not. Let me give a few examples;

1. History – history is written by the winner and it reflects a perception or view of what happened. There are alternative histories for everything and the sad thing is, they are all colored by the same issue.

2. Education – Education is partly about providing certain tools – reading, writing, critical thinking, analysis – but only in limited degree. The rest of education is essentially to ‘brainwash’ you with cultural normalities, cultural convention and to ensure you don’t actually challenge the system. Most people accept what they are told as the gospel truth and never for a minute stop to think critically or analytically about things. In this way, the illusion is maintained.

3. Religion – While all religions are probably based on wisdom and spiritual truth, they are all and without exception, subverted to match someone’s political or cultural agenda. They become the basis by which people can be manipulated and controlled.

4. On a more mundane level, the music or entertainment industry can be used to prove its all illusion too. Many singers can’t sing (they use computer software now to ensure perfect pitch), many musicians can’t actually play, many live performances are lip synched. It’s all a lie (It didn’t used to be). Actors and actresses public personas are creations and false often nothing like the reality. Show business is really all a show – an illusion – just like everything else in your life.

5. You are bombarded day in and day out with messages – some subliminal and others in your face – buy this, eat this its good for you, holiday here and so on. The marketing machine uses our ability to imagine and visualize – a rudimentary skill though it is in the  majority of us) and uses OUR magic making ability and equipment to have us make THEIR reality. Our magic has been hijacked!

I could go on and on but I won’t. Don’t ask me who the THEY might be. I have no idea and I am not a conspiracy theorist – that’s just another fantastical dead end. That there is a THEY – whether THEY actually know it or not, I am sure.

I also have concluded this. Given everything turns out to be illusion and that I cannot trust anything, then I must turn to the only thing I can rely on – me. Unfortunately, I have to first clear the Me of all the nonsense I have been conditioned with and am bombarded with daily. As Mark Stavish terms it – I must know my own mind. This is far from easy and may not be attainable at all but I can make progress towards it and, in doing so, I can take control of my life and my reality. I can be a true mage and imagine my thoughts into reality. Of course, I also live in other people’s realities too and I must learn how to interact with their parallel universes too.

You know, if the outer world we call life is an illusion while the inner world is real then surely, the Kingdom of heaven truly is within us and faith – well, it can move mountains.

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All Sixes and Sevens

Six strings
Strumming along
Six stars
In this song
Six days to work hard
And one to rest
Six metals to reduce
To the best
A sixth sense
Or six of the best
Perfection
Add one for
Completion
Six points to make
Six cakes to bake
Six maids a dancing
Around a point
Six gates to open
Six planets around
A golden Sun
This song is nearly done
Seventh heaven
Seven seals
Seven balanced
Gently heals
Six
Seven
On our way
To that place heaven

The Seemingly Forgotten Book

Of all the books I have written, The Mystical Hexagram stands out for me. The hexagram was a bloody obsession to me for about 7-years (7! ha!). I needed some help to get the book over the finish line too and the emergency services arrived to breathe life into a sagging manuscript in the form of Sue Vincent. I even put a poem or two in it.

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Of Saturn and Lead I speak
The basest metal of all
Heaviness, darkness
Hidden from the light
My soul sees the night

A burden I cannot carry
Instincts abandoned return
Spiraling downward
Galena’s sulfur suffocates
All that Saturn advocates

Saturnalia is explained
Deep need for some relief
Base needs expunged
A temporary respite
Daytime during night

Daath sees from on high
These things I must leave behind
My throat begs to speak
Words chosen with care
My soul now laid bare

As Emperor I see
Father to my imaginings
Mother to my world
Saturn’s child consumed
Now- my life resumes

The publisher we chose is a small and SOL oriented publisher called Datura Press but the book is also available in Kindle format as well.

Perhaps The Mystical Hexagram is destined to be an obscure little book that once in a while someone reads. Of those that read it, fewer will understand it but I do hope that those that do have their eyes opened to what I experienced in the depths of this symbol…… I remain convinced that the secret of secrets is in there somewhere.

In an attempt to publicize the book, I also produced a short book video…

Ambition

One of my ambitions is to sell a few books. OK, I have sold a few books already but not enough to match the ambition. No, I mean a few thousand of one book.

The Last Observer, my first novel, probably is the leading candidate for that ambition at least until I can finish the one I am working on at the moment and get it out. The Last Observer has gotten a lot of good reviews but it hasn’t taken off like I had hoped. Check it out… it is a short read and a fast-paced adventure that along the way, will give you a lot to think about on the nature of reality. Join Stanley as he gets sucked into a world of black and white magic. It is a battle for reality. Here is how one recent reader described it..”Interesting perspective regarding how our infinite minds may shape our collective reality. Many books tackle this hypothesis, but this action thriller makes for fun reading as you gather fascinating concepts along the way. The story line and presentation of historical ideas is quite similar to a Dan Brown novel, in an abbreviated version.”

Inner Journeys was my first book. It too has had excellent reviews and it is probably best described as part autobiography and part spiritual journey.  A recent reader posted “This book is part memoir and part teaching, focusing on Dr. Vasey’s own inner journey. As a young boy, he had many psychic experiences that enveloped him in fear. But, years later, he embraced the exploration of the many aspects of his soul, working with the guidance of a mystery school. If you are interested in spiritual alchemy, collective consciousness, journeying – or whatever term you use for this type of spiritual exploration – you will learn much from this book.” Published by Thoth, its now also available in eBook format.

The next book I wrote I simply could not finish. I had the core of it and it was a sort of continuation of Inner Journeys but dealt with some material I had gained on the hexagram as a symbol. Luckily, Sue Vincent agreed to help put the finishing touches to it which included the introduction and much of the appendices as well as diagrams and editing. The result was The Mystical Hexagram published by Datura Press and also available in ebook form. Here is what a recent reader had to say about it..“I have been so lucky (although nothing is luck, really) to have made the acquaintance of Sue Vincent, the coauthor of the Mystical Hexagram, through the world of blogging. Not only is she a lovely, genuine soul, she harbors a wealth of knowledge. She and Dr. Vasey have combined their talents in this small, yet densely packed book on the hexagram. Although I will, no doubt, be unraveling its many mysteries for some time, this book has helped shed light on a symbol that has, over the last few years, been a key player in leading me to mysteries of the Universe and my own Truth. For all seekers of truth, put this on your reading list!“

Of course, I have also published three books of poetry. These I do not expect to be best sellers but you never know… They are Weird Tales, Astral Messages and Poems for the Little Room.

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Why not give one of my books a try and if you like it, please write a review and share your opinions with people. I think the only way I will manage my ambition is through word of mouth and the support of my friends and family. Share this post or pop over to my books’ Facebook page and like it…..

Thanks,

2014 – It’s a ‘7’ Year

If you add together the numbers in 2014 they will sum to seven. Seven is a highly significant number and one that gets a lot of attention in our book The Mystical hexagram. It is the number of spiritual perfection.

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Think about the number seven a bit….

– There are seven days in a week
– There are seven original planets and seven metals
– Seven seals and seven trumpets in Revelation
– We have a ‘seven year itch’
– the Torah begins with a verse containing 7 words and 28 letters (divisible by 7)
– Kabbalah teaches that 7 represents wholeness and completion
– A hexagram has 6 points (there are six directions too) and a central point of balance making seven
– Seven veils of Isis
– Seven fates
– Seven wonders of the ancient world
– Seven dwarfs in Snow White
– Seven senses
– Seven key chakras

I could go on almost ad infinitum….

Seven is completion and perfection. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the seventh. The seventh day of the week is the Sabbath – a day of rest. The seventh sense is equilibrium or balance. The seventh point in the hexagram is also equilibrium – it is the point of total balance.

2014 may be a significant year. A year of completion, perfection and balance….

Let’s see.

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New Age Socialism

What exactly is it about following a spiritual path that suddenly brings out the nutty side of people? Do people suddenly leave their brain in a jar by the door? Why do new age people think they need to be nut job environmentalists and socialists? Do they think that to be spiritual requires this? If so then they should reconsider.

More or less the first thing we all learn studying magic is about duality and polarity. We learn that everything is polar and that what we need to do is try to balance everything out – reconcile the opposites. It’s not easy to do I will admit but we learn that one polarity is just as bad as the other in terms of what it is not. The Tree of life demonstrates this aptly with its two outer pillars and the middle pillar with Tiphareth more or less the balance point of both horizontal and vertical polarity. We discuss this in much more detail in The Mystical Hexagram by the way.

Knowing and understanding this then it should be understood that leaning so far left you almost completed the circle and became a fascist isn’t exactly what is required of us is it? Nor is being such an environmentalist or pro- animal rights person that you would rather human kind in general poisoned itself and died out as a species.

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Frankly, I’m a bit sick of it myself and I reserve the right to hold my own balanced opinions and strike out at idiocy, lies and propaganda where ever I see it.

Amen.

Sword of Destiny

There is a day every author enjoys more then others and that day is when you finally hold in your hands the product of your long and loving labour…. the book! Yesterday was the day this happened for my friend and co-author of The Mystical Hexagram – Sue Vincent. I know that Sue had worked long and hard on her novel – Sword of Destiny – and the result is now available to share with everyone. Sue asked me to read and review the novel a few months ago and I was honored to do so.

In Sword of Destiny, Sue has written a beautifully magical story set in her beloved Yorkshire. Each of the main characters in her story experiences personal growth through a sharing a thrilling and magical adventure. It’s a heartwarming tale that is full of unexpected twists and turns. Sue writes with a real grasp of the human side of people which is expressed lovingly in the personalities of her heroes and the recognizable characters that they interact with. The power and essence of her story is found in the admixture of her undoubted love of Yorkshire, her ability to see the warm and the good in all folk, and her knowledge of the magical forces one can find at work in such places and between such folk. An inspired piece of writing that keeps your attention until the very last page.

Sword of Destiny is available in Kindle and Paperback form from Amazon and should be on every magician’s wishlist. I wish Sue every success with this book. As she says in her own words “the proof copy of Sword of Destiny makes me smile.” All authors love the feeling of that finished product in their hands but they all like even better the idea of their book being in someone else’s hands – the readers.

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“…and the swords must be found and held by their bearers lest the darkness find a way into the heart of man. Ask the waters to grant guidance and tell the ancient Keeper of Light that it is time to join battle for the next age.”

Rhea Marchant heads north to the wild and beautiful landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales where she is plunged into an adventure that will span the worlds. The earth beneath her feet reveals its hidden life as she and her companions are guided by the ancient Keeper of Light in search of artefacts of arcane power. With the aid of the Old Ones and the merry immortal Heilyn, the company seek the elemental weapons that will help restore hope to an unbalanced world at the dawn of a new era.

Set in the ancient beauty of the Yorkshire Dales, Sword of Destiny weaves the tale of a small band of friends brought together as a new age of Man unfolds. Through their personal quests, through friendship, love and laughter, they learn to see the world with a clearer vision as they battle creatures of ancient myth and legend, under the aegis of the Keeper.

What you waiting for? Grab yourself a copy now!

Looking for a Break is Tough Work

Writing – it’s a tough business. For small time authors such as myself, we rely on the ‘friends and family’ concept since we lack what is called a ‘platform’. Let me translate what I just said….Small time writers rely on their friends and family to purchase their books as they don’t have a brand name like say JK Rowling that will guarantee thousands of anonymous buyers for their writing product. Hopefully, friends and family will not just BUY the book but also support it by writing short reviews on Amazon or Goodreads and mentioning it to their friends. The hope is that either, one of these friends of friends and family is extremely influential and can influence the broader public to buy the book (a stroke of good luck) or, more likely, small concentric circles of friends of friends continually buy the book through time.

For the last 4+ months I have been promoting The Last Observer now published by Roundfire Books. I, like all other authors no doubt, think that this book is pretty good and deserves broader appeal. The problem is I have no platform. I can reach out to about 500 friends and family via Facebook and Linked In and hope that if 10% of them buy it, I will sell 50 copies. Maybe 10% of those will result in another sale in their group of friends making a total of 55 copies. Hardly makes for a best seller.

So how to reach a broader market? Well, the publisher is supposed to help with that and to be fair, they have, but my book isn’t likely to be a best seller statistically and so they hedge their bets and budgets and will only do a little. They will do a little more if the books sells say 500 copies. But that is it folks.

So what is required is to find a broader market and develop a platform. To do this, I heave reached out to bloggers with some success and had a hand full of posts and reviews of the book as reward for my efforts. I have also reached out to reviewers and built competitions for give aways on Goodreads and Facebook.

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I need some luck too.

But most of all, I need my friends and family to pull through for me….. please, buy the book and post a review. Tell your friends. I would be much obliged.

Because you see here is the funny thing. I know a few celebrities. I have reached out to these people too. After all, if a celeb liked the book, tweeted about it etc. that would make a big difference don’t you think? I do. But, I have been disappointed and disillusioned here. It seems that celebs have made it and they don’t have time to help. They are too busy building on their success. I hate to say this but I have found it to be true. The more successful someone becomes the less willing they appear to be to help others perhaps, they are too busy being successful.

If I ever build a platform, I swear I will use it to also help my friends and family.

Obsession with a Symbol

The hexagram. It’s a beautiful symbol of balance used extensively around the world and in everyday life. The hexagram might be said to represent the ALL THAT IS and because of its internal symmetry, it represents the ALL THAT IS in perfect harmonious balance – pure perfection. It is a symbol of perfection but it suggests too that perfection or harmony is something very delicate, immensely fragile, and it is easily lost. It is something that must be purposely sought for.

It is the symbol of the Sun and, it is the symbol of the Son holding Tiphareth at its very center. It has a golden heart. The hexagram signifies the Great Work of Alchemy. It signifies the emanated and the source. It is the ALL and its creation or reality. As the symbol of the Sun it emphasizes this idea that all originated from the Sun or central point and all will eventually come back to the central Sun. The Hexagram represents the polar opposites that we must reconcile back to the single point. It is the six days of work using polarity and the seventh day of rest in which those polarities are reconciled.

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The Hexagram can be used to reconcile many occult systems and in doing so it is a key to showing that each system is designed consistently and with a similar purpose. They each show us how to achieve the Great Work of alchemy. The Hexagram shows in multiple different ways that we were created to create. It also shows us that in our current state we are unable to create perfection as we should because we are unbalanced and out of harmony.

A study of the hexagram brings many thoughts and contemplations. I spent several years obsessing on this symbol and then, together with SC Vincent, wrote The Mystical Hexagram: The Seven Inner Stars of Power from which the above italicized quotes are taken. The book is available from Darura Press, Amazon and from me. You may also like the promotional video posted below….