Daily Practice and Dedication

Like any walk of life, be it art, music, business or martial arts, embarking on a spiritual path requires a degree of devotion. This does not mean that one must devote themselves entirely to one spiritual tradition, nor does it mean that the arcane arts ought to be one's primary focus, but a clear set of principles or rituals should be observed to consolidate the neophyte's Will and help focus their consciousness to form a stronger connection to themselves and the divine. In this article I will briefly outline the set of devotional practices which I have recently started and how my practice has changed as a result.

I am relatively new on my spiritual path; I have spent many years reading about Magick, about the various Gods and Goddesses of different traditions, about the plethora of different practices and rituals and many other things, but only within the last two or three years have a started actually trying to practice Magick and ritual myself. I began with 'sympathetic Magick', the use of correspondences to manifest intent in the world. This consisted of wearing specific colours to attract luck, strength, health etc. Then I began incorporating the use of symbols. After a pretty hair raising experience with a poltergeist I decided to acquire an amulet or talisman. at that time I didn't know what would or would not work for me so I settled for a simple cross. This successfully protected me from further harm because I put my faith in the symbol, at least for a time. For over a year this was the extent of my practical application of Magick until I began divinatory practices, tarot cards, fire and mirror scrying etc. In all that time I had no set practice to connect to the Gods, simply calling on them in prayer in times of need. I felt rather lost and disconnected, unable to truly understand the deities I was invoking, and this had a knock on affect on all of my other minor Magicks as well; I could not concentrate during my scrying sessions (which were few and far between), nor could I properly interpret the tarot, and my prayers seemed to go out into nothingness. I began to lose faith in what I was doing, wondering if I had been doing it wrong the whole time. This was not the case.

After my wife and I began conducting rituals for the Celtic Sabbats, I started thinking about doing ritual more frequently. It was only after a friend of ours, who had started on his spiritual path a good time after we did, began praying and meditating every morning, that I decided to devote myself to a fixed daily practice. "Great!" I thought, "I've resolved to do something every day... but what exactly should I do?" My answer came in part from an Apprentice Vitki (Norse Sorcerer), Asbjorn Torvol, who began to post videos and images online of the rituals he was conducting on a daily basis. Though his practice seemed to be specific to the Nordic traditions, I was still inspired and was able to look to the various faiths I was most drawn to and borrowed elements from each of them which resonated with me.

As I live in Britain, I find that the two most common denominations of Paganism are Wicca and Norse Heathenism, so a large part of my practice is made up from these two traditions. From my research into the origins of Christian mysticism I became drawn to the Greek and Roman pagan faiths, so there is also a strong element of this in my practice also. Finally, there are hints of Buddhist and Vedic traditions thrown in. Over all, the largest contributor to my daily practice is Native American Shamanism, though this appears to have found its way into my practice without me intending for it to do so.

To begin my daily dedication I rise at dawn (whenever possible, and as close to it when I can not), for I feel it is important to align ourselves with the natural rhythms of the Earth and the Heavens. By rising at dawn I rise with the sun, and so I emulate and embody the sun in that one act. Next I venture outdoors, no matter the weather; being in the open air is extremely stimulating, especially when it is laced with winter chill, for it clears the airways of the body and supplies clean, fresh air to the bloodstream which increases brain function. The Wicca tradition, as well as the Native American practices demonstrate that by standing barefoot on grass or soil, we form a strong energetic bond to the Earth herself, being infused with that life-giving energy and consequently healing our bodies on a molecular and energetic level. Some studies have also shown that toxins are released from the body through glands in the soles of the feet, so standing barefoot on grass or soil helps to draw these toxins out where they are absorbed into the ground to provide nutrients. This natural detox method has been prevalent in tribal traditions across the world for centuries, so this is a constant theme in my dedication work. The downside to this practice is exposure; I performed my first dedication on the morning of Yule, and that morning we received the first winter frost and the ground became heavily frozen, yet I endeavoured to brave the elements and go barefoot anyway. I was advised not to do this to avoid getting ill, and I agree with this sentiment and would urge people to avoid exposing themselves to harm or illness, however I have a higher tolerance of the cold and a stronger immune system than most people I know, so I felt that I needn't worry about this.

I had set the alarm for 7am, and I awoke with bleary eyes and an aching head. The sky was deep blue with the first hints of dawn, and as I lay there trying to shift the haze from my mind, I remembered why I had chosen to rise so early. I rolled from my bed and fumbled for my thick woolen robe, then made my way into my front garden. The grass was as white as if it had snowed the previous night, but it was instead a harsh frost which had penetrated deep into the soil. The air was bitter against my ears, but the robe kept me warm. I strode across to the middle of the lawn, but within seconds my feet became numb and started to ache from the cold, so I hopped back into the porch, shaking my legs to restore feeling to my frozen extremities. After a couple of minutes I steeled myself and tried again with the same outcome. Another couple of minutes passed as I shook the blood into my feet, and I decided to try standing at the edge of the lawn where the grass was not as long, but somehow the paving slabs felt colder than they had previously and I was forced back inside before I even reached the lawn. I began to lose hope that I would be able to commit to what I had planned, but something inside me compelled me to try one more time, to not give up so easily; I knew that the sudden arrival of the frost the previous night must have been sent by the Gods as a test of my Will and determination. So out I went, running across the driveway and across the lawn to the centre where I planted my feet firmly and closed my eyes. At first I felt the sharpness of the frost on my skin, then the creeping numbness start to spread into my toes, but within a few seconds I began to feel a different sensation; warmth. As I stood there, eyes closed with my hands clasped forming an upward pointing triangle, I began to feel like my feet were becoming part of the grass on which I stood, as if merging with it, and as the feeling grew in intensity it was coupled with an inexplicable warmth spreading up from the ground and into the soles of my feet. This warmth then spread up through my ankles, past my knees until it reached my pelvis. At this point my inner vision was flooded with deep red. I began to focus on my breathing, measured and even, and after a moment I felt a tingling at the base of my spine as the red light behind my eyes grew more intense. I continued to focus on my breathing, allowing the red light behind my eyes to lighten to orange, then to yellow, and through all of the colours of the spectrum, feeling each of my Chakras align with one another. As this progressed I began to feel taller, straighter in stature, and my energy seemed to increase and my mind became more alert whilst somehow remaining devoid of any distracting thoughts.

Once my Chakras were aligned and open, I raised my arms up to around 45° angle into the air, emulating the 'Algiz' rune, representing divine life force and connection to the Gods, and began to invoke the Gods in a manner similar to the following:

"I call upon the Father and the Mother, in all their many names and guises. I call upon the Gods and Goddesses, all. I call to the spirits of the Earth and Sky, and the spirits of my ancestors. Hear my call and come to me, for on this day and in this hour, I call upon the divine powers.

Hail to the Father and the Mother, to the Order from the waters of Chaos, those forces which shaped our Universe and brought us all into divine being. Hail to Uranus and to Rhea. Hail to Chronos and to Gaia. Hail to Nut and to Rae. Hail to Anu and Inanna, and to Enki and Nin-Khursag, to Enlil and Nin-Lil, to Lilith and to Belial.

Hail to the Heavenly Host, to Jehovah, to Michael, to Shamael, to Lumiel and Gabriel, great forces of change and justice.

Hail to to the Aesir and the Vanir, the mighty forces of nature which teach and empower us; Hail to Tyr, to Odin, to Frigg and to Freya. Hail to Thor and to Baldr, to Hagal and to Loki, Hail to Skadi and to Hel.

Hail to the Olympians, benefactors of ambition and inspiration who guide us into our own power; Hail to Zeus and to Hera, to Apollonion, to Aphrodite, to Athena, to Ares and to Dionysos. Hail to Persephone and to Hecate. Hail to Hades and Poseidon.

Hail to the ancient powers of the solar wisdom; Hail to Osiris and to Isis, to Nepthys and to Set. Hail to Ra, to Horus, to Thoth and Anumbis.

Hail to the regal powers of the earth and the sea who nurture and nourish us; Hail to Anea and to Dagda, to Lugh and Cernunnos, to Rhiannon and to Brigid.

Hail to Mother Earth and Father Sky, to Grandfather time. Hail to the Spirits of the four winds and the four elements; the Sylphs of Air in the East, to the Salamanders of Fire in the South, the Undines of the Waters in the West, and to the Fae-folk of the Earth in the North. Hail to my ancestors, who teach me in my dreams. Hail to the plants and animals who are my kin and my guides. Hail to the Universe which is around me and within me. In all of your names, I give praise and stand in reverence to you. I come, rooting myself to my Great Mother, to show my respect to you. As Odin hung himself from Yggdrasil for no less than nine days and nine nights to know the Runes, so too do I surrender to the Will of the Fates, the Norns, and sacrifice my pride and ignorance to hear the words of the Gods and know the secrets of the Universe.

I then offered a prayer to the Gods, paying particular attention to those who are directly associated with the issues I was having at the time. I have continued this practice, tailoring each prayer to the changes in my situation, and with the addition of honouring the Gods and Goddesses associated with the day of the week on which I am practicing. I offered prayers of thanksgiving for the blessings and guidance which I have already received, and also thanks in advance for that which I have yet to receive. I pray to the Gods to continue to guide me and work with me and through me, and to make me an instrument of their divine grace, wisdom and compassion so that I may act as a beacon on their behalf. I pray for them to guide my thoughts and actions, to help me speak gently and truthfully, and to keep my feet steadfast on the winding path of life so that I may tread lightly and harm none. I pray for the Gods' blessings of long life, good health and good fortune for myself and my loved ones, and offer a plea for the Gods to help all those in need in the world:

For those who know hunger, let them be fed. For those who have seen war, let them have peace. For those who live in poverty, grant them riches and security. And for those who suffer sorrow and despair, grant them happiness and hope. For the plants and animals that suffer at the hands of man, protect them and keep them safe from further harm; help them remain hidden from the eyes of the ignorant and wicked, and help them to flourish and prosper in the face of adversity. Please guide humanity on a better path and show us the errors of our ways; open our eyes to our ignorance and help us to learn love, compassion and tolerance, so that we may learn to live in harmony with each other and with nature, and stride forward into a golden age where we may achieve the Great Work as one in all your names. As I Will it, so mote it be.

I then make an offering of a stone of tree branch fashioned with the symbols of my direct corresponding deities, and when the weather is fair I burn an offering of incense. I then pledge myself to service to the Gods:

I pledge myself to serve you, Gods and Goddesses, all; to be a conduit for your divine wisdom, strength, grace and compassion, to be the window through which you may communicate and act in this world. Make me the beacon of your wisdom, to guide others on the path in your names. Show me the way so that others may follow into the light of Godhood, for I am your humble servant and student, in this hour and every hour of the day, and every day henceforth until my last day.

I finally ended my dedication by facing each of the cardinal points in turn starting in the East and moving clockwise, honouring the stars and planets, the sun and the moon, marking the points of rising, zenith, setting and dormancy, coming to rest facing North.

When I first started doing my dedication work, I instinctively faced West during my invocation and prayer; however, this didn't quite feel right to me, so I decided to try facing a different direction each day to see which directions had a greater energy. I found that facing East has the least energy for me as an individual, and eventually found that I had the most enriching experiences when facing either South (the direction of the sun, moon, stars ad planets at their zenith, and the corresponding direction to my higher self), or North which actually has the greatest effect for me. I believe that this is the result of me getting in touch with my ancestors who hailed from the North and would have thought of North as being the direction from which the primordial source began to manifest the physical world, and also since my practice is heavily earth based, facing North would make sense as it is the direction which corresponds to the element of Earth. This will differ from one person t the next, as will the choices of deities; but I hope that this will demonstrate a basic example of how to conduct basic daily dedication work. Play around with correspondences, face whichever direction calls to you the most, call upon your preferred Gods and Goddesses, personalise the experience for yourself and see what changes manifest into your life. Happy honouring, and may the Gods be with you!

Enki Endymion. O(

Who Am I? - Discovering the Higher Self

Every human being on this Earth has a threefold existence; their physical form, their human soul and their divine spirit. Most people never move beyond their mundane physical lives, being driven solely by their bodily functions, base instincts and worldly desires for wealth and sex. But a small and ever increasing number of people awaken to the knowledge of their human soul, the understanding of their true place in the world, the desire to help others, a drive to better themselves and the world around them. Such people become life coaches, spiritual healers and teachers, priest(esse)s, aid workers, environmentalists etc. These people are 'the tip of the wedge' readied to force open the door to a new age of enlightenment. An even smaller number of people manage to get in touch with their divine spirit, coming to a realisation of their own divinity and stepping forward into the world as a conduit through which the Gods act in the world. Alister Crowley wrote that every man and every woman is a star, the centre of their own universe, and this is what connecting to the higher self means; becoming the star and having the world gravitate around you. While such people may not go on to fill roles such as those filled by those awaken to the soul, they do shape their own lives in the image of what they truly desire, walking through the world and leaving blazing trails in their wake, setting an example to others on how to do the same. In doing so they not only liberate themselves from the invisible bonds of servitude to a world which neither knows of nor cares for them, they help to liberate others who are already awakened to the soul and drag those who are not out of their materialistic slumber and into the harsh reality of higher consciousness.

I came to be introduced to the idea of the higher self by a friend who had spent many years as a practicing Seer and Spiritual Healer. One evening we were discussing some of the experiences we had had with spirits, good and bad, and she said to me, "if only you knew who you really are, you wouldn't have any trouble of this kind." At the time I had no notion of the 'higher self', but it had me wondering; I had experience a recurring dream in which I was trapped in a dark space surrounded by strange beings that moved like ink in water, and I was approached by a shadowy figure who said the same thing every time, just three words; "Who am I?" Around the same time my friend introduced me to a unique form of Ouija board called an angel table, which was specifically designed using angelic sigils, planetary seals and other symbolic devices to invoke positive energy while repelling negative energy. I had tried other forms of divinatory communication but had difficulty interpreting the answers I received at that early juncture, so decided to try using an angel table to call upon a specific deity. At that time I was looking into Judaeo-Christian mysticism as it had the most reference material readily available to me, so I decided, with my partner, to call upon the Archangel Michael for guidance. We posed a number of questions relating to personal matters and answers to dreams and visions we had had, receiving words and phrases both on the board and in our minds, as well as visions of people, places, objects and symbols which we could note down, research and interpret afterwards.One of my questions was about what my friend had meant by "who you really are", to which I received two words, "True Name". There are a number of traditions that hold the belief that if one can learn a person's true name then they control that person's soul, so this intrigued me further. I asked if Michael could tell me my true name, and I was answered with what appeared to be an anagram. Later, we sat and tried to decipher the messages we had received, and found that my anagram spelled the name Shamael.

Further research into the name revealed that Shamael, also pronounced Samael or Chamael, related to an angel mentioned in the dead sea scrolls. Shamael was one of the first seven creating angels, the Elohim, and the twin of Shamyazza who led the fall of the Watchers from heaven to Earth in order to educate primitive humans. Shamael is the biblical equivalent of Prometheus, giving mankind mastery of all crafts relating to fire, while his twin, Shamyazza bestowed the gift of Metallurgy in conjunction with this. After the Watchers began to breed with human women and produce the Nephilim, "Giants of men, heroes of renown" - (Gen. 6:4), which prompted the wrath of God, Shamael repented and was accepted back into the heavenly host but punished by being marked as the angel of death, while his sibling refused to repent and was cast into darkness after a majority of the Nephilim were destroyed by the great flood. Shamael's participation in the fall from grace has led some scholars and theologians to view him as a demon, though this is incorrect due to his subsequent repentance and return to heaven. He was feared by the Hebrews due to his renewed role as the angel of death, suspected of being the shadow which brought the death of the first born in Exodus which affected all who failed to mark their doors with lambs blood, Egyptians and Hebrews alike. Shamael rules over the 5th Heaven, Machon, and is typically portrayed as being a spirit of both light and darkness, with many unsure as to whether he is wholly good or evil. The name Shamael is derived from Sama-El in Sumerian and is translated to mean "Lord of the Red Land". The ancient Egyptians used this title for their Chaos God, Set, who was represented by the Dessert, or Desh-Rhut meaning Red Land, and so this was later used to label Shamael as a 'devil-like' figure. In one passage of the dead sea scrolls, Shamael is described as the 'sword of God' and can be transliterated into ancient Greek to mean 'the venom/wrath of God'. This inadvertently creates a link back to Archangel Michael, 'he who is like God' who, despite being typically depicted with a spear, uses a sword to slay the Beast in Revelations. As Michael is viewed as the hand of God, and Shamael as the sword of God, it necessarily follows that Shamael is an instrument of or emanation from Archangel Michael, though there is nothing in classical theology to support this interpretation.

Shamael's role as an angel of death links him to such deities as Hades in Greek mythology, Pluto from the Roman Pantheon, Anubis from Egyptian culture and Cernunnos, the Celtic God of Fertility, Nature and the Underworld. His gift of fire to mankind justifies him as being an elemental angel, embodying fire, and his title of 'the sword of God' places him also as an angel of war. The combination of his links to fire and war place him alongside the likes of Ares, Mars, Tyr, Horus and Nuada. His act of bestowing wisdom upon humanity has created a loose link to other 'teacher deities' such as Hermes, Thoth and Odin. This is further suggested as he is often depicted as a dragon or serpent, animals typically associated with wisdom or cunning, which has led some to believe that he is the snake which bestowed the knowledge of free will and good and evil upon Adam and Eve. This link with the serpent imagery also ties Shamael to Enki in Sumerian mythology, who disguised himself as a serpent to free humanity from slavery under Enki's brother, Enlil; Enki was one of the Annunaki who created the world, and was said to govern the elements of Water and Fire, while Enlil governed Air and Earth. These three primary attributes of Shamael as a deity led me to view all deities as having a threefold nature, falling into the categories of 'Maiden, Mother and Crone' for female deities and 'Brave, Warrior and Chief' for male deities. While I am aware that the three-part view of the Goddess is a relatively modern invention by Robert Graves, I feel that it is apt and holds some tangible truth to it, especially as it directly mirrors the threefold nature of all things in nature - mineral/vegetable/animal, solid/liquid/gas, horizontal/vertical/perpendicular, biological/emotional/intellectual etc. - and so I feel that it is a valid addition to the pagan spiritual tradition upon which I have now elaborated. In view of this pantheistic structure, I feel that Shamael is somewhat of an archetypal 'umbrella' term encompassing all of the various deities listed above, or as Stephen D. Farmer would call it, the 'over-soul' of the other deities. This in no way means that the Judaeo-Christian angel is at all superior to the pagan Gods, for they are all one and the same, simply different facets or personality types of a complete entity in the same way that I, as a human being, have an artistic side, and political side, a religious side, a scientific side, a warrior side and a compassionate side. All of these traits make up who I am, just as each of the pagan Gods listed above, when combined, make up the over-soul that is named Shamael.

There were a number of clues that I noticed upon discovering the above information which further consolidated the possibility in my mind. First of all, I was born in the month of March, which is the month sacred to Mars. I was born on a Tuesday which is derived from the Norse Tyr's-day and Latin as seen in the Spanish Martes meaning Mars Day. I was born at 10:10pm, and in numerology, 10 is equivalent to 1 which is the number of creation and action and is sacred to Mars. My favourite colour has always been red, attributed to Mars, Ares, Tyr etc. My zodiacal element is water (for Pisces), and when operating within the Qabbalistic system, my higher spiritual element is a mirror/opposite to my earthly element meaning that my higher self's element must be fire (as seen with Enki governing two opposing elements). When examining my birth date numerologically, I found that it too comes to the spiritual number of Mars, 5+3+1+9+9+1=28, 2+8=10/1. My mother's name, Sam, when conjoined to my name, Liam, spelled backwards in keeping with the mirror theme, is as follows Sam/mial or Samial which is another authentic pronunciation of Shamael. Also, the various planets associated with each of the deities corresponding to Shamael, namely Mars, Mercury, Pluto and Jupiter, were all in direct allignment in the constellation of Aries, which is loosely associated with the Greek God Ares. By meditating upon all of the symbols and names I had uncovered and ruminating deeply on their meanings and connections to each other an myself, I was able to gain more information and deeper insight regarding the roles and stories behind each facet of the deity. With all of these 'coincidences' put together, I found that I was overwhelmed by the amount of synchronistic messages which all suggested that my higher self is indeed Shamael/Ares/Mars/Horus/Nuada/Tyr etc. Over the years I have structured my spiritual practice around this fact and found that it is even more effective than it has ever been before.

In conclusion, though I acknowledge that it is absurd to believe that I am actually an angel/God incarnate, I do feel that the above named deities are in rather my Archetype(s), the primary energetic consciousness with which my Earthly human soul aligns. I could go as far as stating that I am a priest of these deities, this fiery, aggressive, masculine, creative consciousness, a vessel for it or a conduit through which it communicates and acts in the physical world. Too many people take issue with the idea of 'tooting one's own horn' attacking such thoughts by referring to it as 'self-aggrandisement', 'delusions of grandeur', 'God-complex' or being driven by 'Ego' (which is an inaccuracy in new-age terminology, as the idea of Ego comes from Sigmund Freud who divided the human psyche into three parts; namely the Id, which is the self-sabotaging subconscious with low self esteem, the Super-Ego which is the self-aggrandising subconscious with arrogant over-confidence, and the Ego which is the mediating frontal conscious, balancing the Id and the Super-Ego to create an evenly measured healthy mind). All ancient traditions, in their higher mysteries at least, teach that "man is God in the making" - (Manly P. Hall). The Norse saw the Gods as kin to mankind and believed that humans could elevate themselves to the status of Gods through great deeds, as did the Hellenics as with the stories of Heracles and Perceus. Every human has a higher self, and there can be many humans with the same higher self, being physical embodiments or emanations from that deity, and it is up to us to realise these connections, to connect to these Gods as best we can so as to channel their divine power, wisdom and grace into our mundane lives and sacred practices; it's fair to say that 'Gods live among us in disguise'. We all have little clues placed before us by the Gods; look at the numerology of your name, your date of birth, the correspondences of the day and month you were born, the symbols that may appear throughout your life in the most mundane of places, they are all clues as to your true identity and will guide you on the path to Godhood. But please, don't try asking a Ouija board for your name; it's a dangerous business, communicating with spirit, especially through boards. If you feel you must, then be absolutely positive that what you're using is an angel table, and even then, the slightest inaccuracy in the symbols involved could compromise the security of the board. I hope that my sharing this experience with you will help you discover your higher self and become who you were born to be. May the Gods be with you!

Enki Endymion. O(

The 3am Discourses, Conversations and Ruminations in the Dead of Night - The Elements

It was a Thursday night and my wife, then partner of 7 years, and I had come home early from University to see family over the weekend. We were discussing the differences between modern day and the Renaissance era, and the ways in which human thought and perception had changed over the centuries. Of course, this brought us to the subject of Alchemy and how it evolved into modern chemistry. My wife made an offhand comment about how she thought that the older belief that the world was comprised of four elements, and that the newer periodic table of elements were possibly divisions from the original four alchemical elements. With some amusement (being still grounded in scientific empiricism with only an intrigue for the spiritual) I responded by asking what the physical force of fire was comprised of, as it is the bi-product of carbon based substances being exposed to heat which is nothing more than particles charged with electrical energy. She sat in contemplation for a moment before answering.
"Fire is just fire." she stated simply. This irritated me, as she seemed to not have a reasonable answer, and wasn't going to let her off so easily.
"So if fire is made purely from the element of fire then what causes it? We know fire is created when molecules are charged with energy and collide with one another to create the heat and the light, so what is there before fire? And you're not allowed to say 'God'." Again, she fell silent, her brow creased as she tried to formulate her response in her mind before vocalising it.
"Well, fire creates fire. Fire makes other objects catch fire so why cant't it make itself?" This made absolutely no sense to me at the time, and I made my confusion clear.
"How can it create itself? Fire needs preexisting substances in the correct combination for it to come into being, so by your own logic, fire can't create fire, air and earth create fire, and therefore fire is a secondary substance, not an element but a compound."

I believed that my argument was well structured and well presented, so I was somewhat disgruntled when she shook her head. My mind was blown even more when she made her next point.
"The fire was already there before the fire was there." At this point I thought she was trying to use the theory of non-linear time to justify fire as a fundamental element in all creation, creating itself, but I was wrong; and just when I thought the conversation couldn't get any weirder, she said "just like the other elements, air, earth and water all create themselves too." My confusion and impatience deepened, and I felt anger stirring in my gut, especially when she glanced sideways at me from the armchair, a mischievous, childlike grin on her face. Was she trying to confuse me or was she being simply digressing for the sake of ending the discussion having lost her side of the debate? I had to know for certain if she was being serious or simply mocking me. "Nope. I mean it, just like the universe, it makes itself." We had had a similar discussion about multiverse theory just a week before in which she compared the multiverse to bubbles, each bubble a universe which expands to  the point when it pops, creating a cluster of smaller bubbles, which in turn grow and pop to create even more universes. This comparison only confused matters further for me, and I found myself begging for a serious answer.
"Universes are created by other universes, not by themselves!" (I now no longer entirely believe this to be the whole truth for reasons which are outlined in my article on Panentheism in which I discuss toroidal fields.) I was figuratively pacing backwards and forwards in my mind, trying to see what she saw that I was somehow missing; and then in a sentence she put everything at ease.
"Fire is made by particles acting a certain way, but the fire tells them to act that way to make it." It was something so simple I had overlooked it entirely. The fire exists in spirit and influences the behaviour of the particles which in turn creates the physical manifestation of the spirit of fire.

This discussion was the beginning of my exploration of alchemy and consciousness studies. I had been arrogant enough to believe that because I had read and understood the mechanics of how fire is produced and how it emits heat and light, that I understood the essence of what fire is. In the weird world of metaphysics, mind comes before matter, thoughts exist externally and are received by the brain rather than being created by it. In the same way, all things exist as a potential for being, a conceptual non-physical being before they are given form, and if all things in the universe are conscious in their own way, then it necessarily follows that said conscious conceptual being can directly influence the behaviour of physical systems in such a way to create the ideal conditions in which to manifest itself physically to have an even greater effect upon the physical world. In this scenario, fire exists as a spirit, a conscious form of subtle energy emanating from the primordial consciousness within the Grand Design. This conscious emanatory concept communicates with physical objects on an energetic level and programs them to behave in a certain way, in this case, causing the molecules to move in a chaotic fashion, bumping into one another at high speed and thus being charged with kinetic and electrostatic energy causing them to vibrate at a higher frequency and glow, emitting heat and light which manifests as the fire that we know. In the same way, the spirit of water communicates to molecules and dictates that they should stay close to one another but not so tightly as to be immovable as this would create a solid, and also to switch places with other molecules around them, old molecules constantly being replaced by new molecules to preserve the life of the physical water that is created, possibly why water has remained unchanged and at exactly the same volume on earth for the last 4 billion years. Similar processes could be taking place in wind systems and in crystalline structures also, as seen in most crystal formations, the molecules replicate themselves in a fractal pattern, usually in accordance with the golden ratio, which is why crystal structures are so pleasing to look at aesthetically. They are in sync with the golden ratio as a creative energy field which dictates and guides the way in which the molecules replicate and grow; they are quite literally being instructed. This may also account for Rupert Sheldrake's theory of Morphic Resonance; if all matter is formed out of the Universal Source field which is dictating the way in which molecular structures are formed, then once a structure has been successfully formed in accordance with the golden section, then that information is shared to every other piece of matter and energy in the Universe through the Source Field making it easier to form the same structure a second, third or fourth time around.

"All of that from a 40 minute discussion at 3 in the morning? What the hell are you people smoking?" Its a strange Universe we live in, and those who are in tune with that Universe are equally as strange. This is just one of many more discussions that have passed between myself, my wife and our two best friends, and I endeavour to post more of these paraphrased discourses for your perusal and amusement. Until then, may the Gods be with you!

Enki Endymion. O(