Runeheim – Mysteries

Arcane Mysteries

When the wizard invokes the power of one of these Mysteries, thou bringest forth thine own law.  Where Anacrusis was once thy jailor, thou seek to make it thy servant.  Yet believeth not thyself the master, yet, for thou hath’t careful and clever worketh ere thee.

In each of the mysteries thou wilt encounter phases three, which thou must proceed through withal great care.  To progress, thou must channel three motes of thy magical energies, of some magnitude or other, and though must doeth this three times to maketh a profitable result.  As thou proceedeth apace through the dangers of the Mystery, thou wilt be confronted withal various phenomena.  These challenges wilt test thy craft, and if thou art wanting, thy own power may destroy thee.  Still, ‘t is worth thy risk, if ‘t be true thee hath’t the ambition and wilt to useth what thee taketh as thy own from yond trove. 

Know you the implements of thy craft, thou artisan:  

An thou hast discovered a cuckoo in the midst of a brood, ably plying its parasitical craft, or hast found thyself a wolf nesting amongst the human croft to taketh as they wilt, then verily thou hast unearthed a gem in the rough which obligates the master to instruct the pupil. Let them become master over these forces and these worlds, or let the awesome burden therein remove thy obstacle.  Guide and say unto thy student – 

O, thou who would master the power of the Earth itself and feast thyself upon its bounties. Thou who wouldst stand astride the pillarous branches of the tree and call thyself its greatest fruit. Harken unto this guidance, and prepare to presenteth the proof to make true thy boast.

First thy wouldbe Principal must art dominant above others. This law cannot art overthrown. An yet thou stand ‘neath flame or thunder, then prove thy true will to the World yet before thou seekest to prove it to thyself.

When thou knowest thou art ready, recite thine Incantation to begin.  It may takest thee a time to settle thyself into thy power, so repeatest thine Incantation until thou findest thy strength or loseth thy weakness.  Then, beware what transpireth o’er next and be not afeared.   Should thous’t feel thy being come crushed to dust, thou must encase thyself in thine own strength and reckon thyself the Jewel.  Should thy feel the dread stillness claim thee, invoke thy potential for dynamismic vigor with thy own Wheel.  Ne’er succumb thyself to this dread force, else it will ever be thy jailor in a pit so deep as to be without fathom.  Thou must establish now or nevermore thy supremacy over this Earthly might.  Ne’er forget thyself and that thou art mightier still, and so shall it be.  Gather up the power and take it with thee, for thou wilt need it for what cometh upon thee next.

Yet know indeed that might is insufficient!  Thou must also traverse this power while wrestling it to bay or thou has accomplished mere survival, and any beast of the field can boast as much as thee.  As thou journeyest through the power, thou may run afoul or a’fair of its dangers.   If thou findest that thou have slipt from thy earthly plane, falling through the world like dove clipped in flight, it is for thee to Seal the world against thy fall and set aright thy plane.  Likewise thou may be burdened by weak tension, unable to proceed or to verily be swallowed whole by thy own weakness.  Fortify thyself and Knot thy frame of reference against the dust of thy defeat.

Once thou have comes’t to the place of thy power, thou might find that thou art far too mighty, having delved too greedily already.  Thy greed does thee credit, but even in thy might, respect the vastness of what thou holdest.  Thou must use Control to moderate thy step, lest thee be crushed under thy own weight.  Likewise thou may have come too light, thy dread of thine own strength preventing thee from taking what is thine.  If thou begin to lose thyself that place, structure thy mind as the Crown Tree, and root thyself in thy strength.  

Taketh this power for thine own, and thou shalt return with thy burden upon thee and thy power ensured. 

An thou hast did discover one whose wilt tramples ov’r others, or whose mind surges on as an oven which demands fuel high-lone of the corse, for the good of thyself and for thy wouldbe pupil, thou shouldst’st enkindle the flame within their spirit.  Such a soul may burn ever brighter than e’en thou, or burn incandescent until ‘t engluts its own self as fuel.  Only the diligence and passion yond thou can confer wilt decideth thus.  Guide and sayeth to thy student –

O, thou who is’t would master the primal flame and stride amongst gods of yond primeval power, harken to this warning as thou seek to alight the flame of ambition withal thy own soul as kindling.  Let the flame burn thee all the brighter, or the flame put thy foolish ambition to rest.

First, the Princi`ple of Flame wilt burn brighter than others.  Did let its beacon art did light and burn aroint the wind and sand and water ere thou proceed.  This law cannot art broken or thy efforts wilt cometh to naught.

When thou knowest thou art prepared, commence thine Incantation.  Strike this spark as often as thou needst until thy kindling uptakes it to fire.  Did let thy breath be the breath of the flame until the fire begins to spread.   As thy spirit immolates, be courageous for what shalt come.  First the flame shall seek to destroy thee, for to consume what might be its fuel is its very nature.  Should the flame o’er take thee and begin to burn within thy blood before thou canst master it, remember that Suppression can becalm thy avaricious fire.  All the more, ‘t may beest thy spirit is impervious to the flame, and this as much a danger, for thou wilt feed the flame or ‘t shalt flee thee.  Maketh thy durable spirit like the Crown Tree, lest the rage of the spurned flame thrash thee about until ‘t leaves thee both beggared and blasted.
 
Once thy flame is cupped in hand, burning thy soul without consuming it, thou wilt carryeth ‘t withal thee in decree to gaineth ‘t for thy own.  To journey withal the fire of change is to be changed by it, as the wood becomes the ash, and thou might become confused by what thou seeth.  Should thou findest thou needest focus to know that which is forward, recall yond thy Sight can guide thee.  Likewise the flame may find thy meager fuel insufficient, or mayhaps thy flame is more voracious than most.  If thou needest, find thy speed and thy focus, and hie thyself through darkness liketh the arrow flung by the Archer, and reacheth thy destination intact.
 
 As the flame begets itself ever ranker, thee wilt prepare to imbibe ‘t ere ‘t either gutters or engluts itself upon thee.  The soul maketh fine kindling for the flame, and as such thy passions are its highest in estimable supper.  But knoweth that the flame can harden as well as consume!  If’t be true thou are to walketh through this fire and survive as thou art, harden thyself liketh a Jewel, O nascent wizard.  If’t be true thy flame favors the corpus o’er the soul, then thou art favored in this test, for thou needest but to Control thy flame as thou would control thy corpus, and this task shall beest enow.
 
Taketh then the flame as thy own flame, let it burn thy soul as oil and wick without consuming it.  Stoke thy soul to stoke thy fire, however thou wilt.

It may art, wizard, yond in thy travels and thy quest, thou findeth one that sparks a remembrance of thy own youthful days.  A scintillation of connection endues to thy mind thine own misspent potential.  Peradventure thee may realize that yonder prodigy couldst be just the piece thou needeth to put to song those schemes that still do lie beyond thy reach.  Waste not, then, wizard.  As was done to thee, so on to this.  Fork thine own path into this one and charge them withal thy own energy and purpose.  Make use of their wit and their life for as long as thine own wind drives their sails. Guide thy student, and sayest this –

O, thou who would be mine beloved protegé and mine trusted friend.  Thou who would ride amongst thunder and thought, thou who would act from beyond, thou who would draw forth the invisible knife and cut thine own invisible string.  I give thee this chance to taketh control of thine own fate, breath thy first breath of freedom, or slumber on, obscure.

First, ensure that thy Principle of Air reigns high and supreme in this place, unfettered by influence or confluence with earth or flame or wave.  This restriction must be upheld, or the effort shall be without gain.

Harken to me, thou aspirant. Still thy thoughts. Still thy passions. Discern that which is truly thine own soul, and separate it from the thoughts and passions of others that would intrude upon thee. When thou has glimpsed thy center, begin thy Incantation. Still thy thoughts. Still thy passions. Repeat thy Incantation until thou has found thyself amongst the fog of thy fickle soul. Harken to me, for what shall afront thee is cause for thy passions to stir once more. Still thy passions as they rouse. If thy feeble soul casts about as a kite, how canst thou say that thy soul is thine own? As thou grapple with this, thou may find that thy center begins to collapse, thy eidolon revealed fraud by thy own inspection of it. Aspirant, thy fraudulent nature is true, but whither it remains thus is in thy own power entire. It is thy decision to exert Control, and this alone, that makes fraud selfsame fraudulent. But, lo, for others their soul is veritable indeed, and thine peril be the worse for it. Thy spirit cannot be glimpsed at all, for it is too vast, and yea, beware this most of all, for thy inability to perceive it portends thy inability to contain it. If thy soul begins to tatter away, it is of utmost urgency that thou Seal it at once. Thy Seal can be thy anchor upon thy self.

Once thou hast at last found thy self, it is for thee to transform it into that which thou must become.  This time also is fraught, for it is rare indeed for that half of thyself which perceives to itself be perceived.  All souls yearn to be known and to know, and if thou art unprepared for what thou findest, thou may become fascinated overmuch with thine own reflection redoubled.   Thou must observe this interior truth without being drawn into its waiting curtains.  Make of thy inner eye an arrow which drives ever forward and more deeply, which needs make thee both the arrow and the Archer what looses it.   Beware also that thou settest thine inner sight too low, for many a fragile soul becomes overawed at their own ability to shape such change, and as they shout with the same voice as the God, do feel themselves in thy Heaven own.  If thou beist such a fool, know even that thy paradise is yet grander than this trifle, and make of thy soul as the Broken Heart to restore thy proper temper for the labor ahead more true.

 Here thou must find finally what thou sought to attain.  Thou hast apprehended thy own self, thou hast given shape to the shapeless, yet thou still lack that most axial of consummations.  Thou must become take thy self and make it lost.  Thou must become nothing at all.  Find thee a pit within, and cast thyself into it.  Find thee the bottom where there is none.  Fall and fall forever, and as thy soul cries out in panic, Suppress it, for only thou art real, not it.  If thou find thyself being built in this place, with layer laid upon layer, thou must reproof this with utter force.   Thou must put storm to such order, upend it, extirpate all that you find.  Spin thy soul upon the Wheel of the hurricane until no piece may be joined to another.   

When all of thy self is extinct, thou shall find thy self in true. 

To be Added

The Circle of Sulfur is created for practice of the Art in which the energies thou conjure couldst harm thyself or thy surroundings.  This Circle has the advantage that workings done within are identity locked to the space within it, by creating a pseudo-identical frame that uses fixed points of the Circle instead of fixed points in realspace.  

To initiate the Circle, draw this figure.  Take care that ]thy Circle has a diameter of at least 15 feet, such that there be three strides between thy Axial Poles and the Nexus.   

Thy interior Mystery shall make upon thee its own demands to prepare for its rigors.  Once thy work is done, activate the Circle Sulfuric with three fluxes of thy preferred Principle from outside of the Enclosure Ring.  Activating from the inside will not avail.

When the Circle Sulfuric is activated, no energies may permeate inward or outward from within the Enclosure Ring, ergo spells cast from without to within have no effect, and the same is true when cast from within to without.  Likewise, the results of thy interior Mystery cannot affect the greater world others so long as the Circle holds.  

Passing the Enclosure Ring is disruptive to the spirit, however, and any what do so suffer Anacrusis each time they pass through the boundary.  Take precaution as necessary to avoid this, and furthermore, when thy work within is finished, annul the Circle by channeling three fluxes into the Enclosure Ring from the interior of the Circle.

I:   Nexus
II:  Enclosure Ring
III, IV, V: Axial Poles
VI: Mercurial Vertex
VII: Sulfuric Vertex
VIII: Saline Vertex
IX, X, XI: Inradial Anchors

The Elemental Principle is the axial binding and boundary of that which is.  There is naught in the World which does not fall within one of its several purviews and this associative law also means that there is naught in the World which does not then contain thy Principle.  For any thing which hath been expressed, it is then also true that that thing can be expressed more poignantly.  Even that which be the World entire can be thus made more through thy act of expression, if only thy art suffice.  

Alas, when thy canvas is the World entire, even the art of those of penultimate greatness is made quaint.  For we meager, to make the World thy heiress and inheritor of thy art, thou must school thy ambition to Purpose but one step at a time.  Instead limit thy gaze to but one topos that best represents thy aim.  As well, whilst thy gaze be made spare, consider if thy art may be satisfied in salience rather than profundity.  Is it not so that thy aim bears some specific character and Purpose?  Is it not so that art may be expressed best in the richest hue of the Principle which justifies thy aim?  

 

Consider then this method by which salience can be expressly validated.  Make but a single Principle Dominant, and the further working of the Mysteries in the timber of thy Principle shall be attainable.  

 

First, ascertain the ascendent sidereal Sign, for which Sign is ascendent shall prescribe thy actions.  Only one who hath mastered the Domain which corresponds to the ascendent Sign can make conjoin the celestial and terrestrial in the Principle.

 

Next thou must locate the topos most suitable.  It shall be the place nearest thy most important monuments and landmarks, those which define activity and dominate the thoughts and lives of those who dwell nearby, but shall also be a place left spare and open for the needs of those who shall yet come, for this is just so in accordance with the nature of topoi, as our efforts shall also validate and reenforce.  Make you there a Circle Mercurial, for thou art about the business of the change of identity.  Thy Circle must be charged precisely and only at the sixth day’s zenith.  

 

Upon activating the Sign, thou must ensure the Circle Mercurial remains pure of but one single Principle and thou shouldst bring forth only but one single Principle.  Should a wizard besides thyself come forth and approach the Circle, thy Principle shall become turbid and become unsuitable to continue.  If this happens, perhaps if some churlish rival seeks to have their own way with thy topoi, amelioration is both possible and appropriate.  Two rivals step forth into the Circle Mercurial, and but one wizard asserts their dominance over the other.  

 

Assert thy art until thy rival is Suppressed, and use whatever spells thou wishest to do so – but beware – if either thee or thy rival spills blood within the Circle, the Principle cannot be clarified and the Mystery shall be spoilt.  Strike not thy foe directly, and likewise do not cause them to Bleed.  All other arts are open to thee save these.  Suppression of thy rival shall validate thy Principle anew, but each and every agent of opposition, should they present themselves before the Circle Mercurial, must be dealt with thus.  

Once each and every bearer of other Principles be rousted off, or ne’er had come at all, and the Circle remained mellifluous and singular of Principle for five minutes subsequent, complete thy effort thusly: 

Thou, who have mastered thy Domain as befits thy ascendent star, perform the Sign for the Principle which thou wouldst see dominate.  Commune with the ascendency of the star,  utter forth thy Incantation, then suppress all other discordant tones and clouding tinctures .  Call thy Incantation, then capture the ascendent nature celestial.  Perform again thy Sign and also thine Incantation, bind thy yoked power into the nature terrestrial.  Perform thy Domain’s Sigil, and thy Incantation once more.  Revel then in thy completed glory,made total and victorious.  Call thy Domain’s Evocation aloud and feel thy connection to the ascendent, and take upon thee an Empowered stature and nature!  

 

Thy Principle shall remain Dominant for a great while, until the stars continue to turn forth and new fates erode thy graven act. For the span of five stars ascendent do we count, and lo, Dominance may be deepened ‘pon subsequent ascendancies.  For each star, imprint thy mark, and greater and greater Mysteries may be performed in the service to thy art.