Not Rituals & Ceremonies

By Thomas Vaughn

How can one be religious yet not believe in gods? Isn’t belief in a god one of the necessary precursors to religion and religious worship? Can one practice rituals, ceremonies and magic without belief in such things as angels and demons? Is magic real? What is the difference between the power of the gods and the power of magic? The intent of this book was not originally to pose such questions or to answer them, however in the writing of this book the answers to those questions and many more ended up coming forth. Religion and magic have the same origin and the same purpose. They were created by humanity to explain the world and to give us an avenue by which we can affect change in our world. They are both there to give us some kind of sense of control over forces we cannot fully understand. Through religion, the religious implore the gods for help and guidance and direct the gods to act on their behalf thus affecting change in the world around them. Where does this power of the gods come from? It comes from deep within the person who implores the god for help. It starts deep inside as a need or a plea. The person shapes it in the form of a prayer and focuses their energy intensely on the outcome. They then emanate this energy in a wave or stream through a direct connection to their god. Mentally and spiritually they envision their god affecting the change they have requested in the world around them. Does it matter if the god exists or not? No, it does not matter. It works regardless of actuality of it because the person makes it work through sheer belief. The religious call this prayer. We call this magic. But it is truly the power of the manifestation of changes in reality through conscious will. Myth: Through magic, we implore unseen forces for help and guidance. Truth: Through ourselves, by tapping the wellspring of energy that is our spirit-consciousness, we affect change in the world around us for help and guidance. Because the method by which we do this cannot yet be fully explained scientifically we remain at liberty to call it “magic.” We engage in either or both to affect our futures.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781716218149

Book preview

Not

Rituals

&

Ceremonies

Not

Rituals

&

Ceremonies

Designed and written

by

Thomas Vaughn

for the

The Church of Not

Copyright ©2020 by Thomas Vaughn, All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-716-21814-9

Visit the website at

www.churchofnot.org

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, send email to [e-mail]

Cover art, illustrations and book design

by Thomas Vaughn

NR&C 2020_0908_1248_eVersion

Contents

Contents

Introduction

What is Magic?

Black Magic

Gray Magic

White Magic

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn

Other Magical Societies and Not

Not

Life

Authorism

Rites, Rituals or Ceremonies?

Ceremony

Ritual

Rite

Why bother with Ceremonies?

Supplies

Ceremonial clothing

Ceremonial jewelry

Talisman

Heralds for the compass rose

Not Stones

Not Runes

Wing or sword

Incense, oil or cool mist diffuser

Wand or staff

Candle

Cup

Water

Pentacle, stone or salt

Tarot Cards

Athame

Blade or knife

Sage

The Book of Shadows

Ceremonial Altar and Sacred Space

Your Sacred Space

Sanctifying Your Space

Your Altar

The Linear Approach

The Quadrangular (Compass Rose) Approach

Ceremony Types

Structure of a Day

Birth/Renewal [Waking up]

Childhood [Morning and breakfast]

Teen years [Midmorning]

Adulthood [High noon, lunchtime]

Midlife [Afternoon and evening, dinnertime]

Old age [Night]

Transformation [Sleeping and dreaming]

Ritual Shells

Alchemy 2.0

The Signs of Not and Life

The Use of the Not Stones

Not Runic Alphabet

Tracing the Runes

Manifesting your Reality

Wish for Positivity

Ritual Commonalities

How to make the signs and sigils

The Sign of Not

The Sign of Life

The Tilted Hourglass

The Sigil of Authorism

Sihm-Aht

The Sigil of Sihm-Aht

The Sign of Sihm-Aht

Ceremonial Rites

The Rite of Gratia Diei et Noctis (alignment)

The Rite of Vita (Life and life)

The Rite of Necessitudo (relationships)

The Rite of Codice Personalum (personal code)

The Rite of Civitas (community)

The Rite of Acies (sharpness)

The Rite of Tranquillitas Animae (Calm Spirit)

The Rite of Ardentis Animae (Blazing Spirit)

The Rite of Inconcussa Fundamenta (unshakeable foundation)

The Rite of Praesidium (Rite of Protection)

The Rites of Not

The Rites of Life

The Rites of Authorism

Honoring the North (earth)

Honoring the West (water)

Honoring the South (fire)

Honoring the East (air)

Church Ceremonies – Ecclesia Ceremonia

Ritual of Authorization

Ceremony of Induction

Ceremony of The Making

The Not Ceremonial Calendar

Feriae Excelsis

Mense Feriae

Non Feriae

Ceremonia Fastis Non

New Year’s Day

Ianuarius Ferias

Anniversary Ecclesia Condita

Februarius Ferias

Vernal Equinox

Martius Ferias

Aprilis Ferias

Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht (Proper) – to be practiced the night of April 30th.

Walpurgisnacht (May Day) – to be practiced the day of May 1st.

Maius Ferias

Iunius Ferias

Summer Solstice

Iulius Ferias

Augustus Ferias

September Ferias

Autumnal Equinox

Octobris Ferias

Samhain (Halloween)

November Ferias

December Ferias

Winter Solstice

Personal Ceremonies – Personalis Ceremonia

Ritual of Sanctification

Ritual of Manifestation

The Ritual of Waking

The Meridiem Ceremony

Noctis Transformatio

Worldy Ceremonies – Ceremonia Auxilium Mundi

Ritual of Emanation

Ceremony of Healing

Ritual of Protection / Shielding Ritual

Ritual of Alignment

Genus Ceremonious (aka. The Ritual Template)

A Day in the Life

Glossary

Notes

Cheat Sheet

About the Author

Introduction

How can one be religious yet not believe in the gods? Isn’t belief in a god one of the necessary precursors to religion and religious worship? Can one practice rituals, ceremonies and magic without belief in such things? Is magic real? What is the difference between the power of the gods and magic?

The intent of this book was not originally to pose such questions or to answer them, however in the writing of this book the answers to those questions and many more ended up coming forth.

As such, instead of this book being simply a compendium of rituals and ceremonies (which was the original intent) it has become a necessary scripture for Authorism and makes a worthy addition to The Book of Not.

While this book contains rituals and ceremonies used by Authorism and the Church of Not, as mentioned, it also contains some precepts of Authorism that were not recorded in The Book of Not.

This book is available to the general public however the audience for this book is more specifically the Authorist or the member of the public who is interested in some of the deeper aspects of Authorism or the Church of Not.

The fact that this book exists is introduced in The Book of Not, however it is not necessary that the reader have first read The Book of Not.

With that said, there is no care taken in this work to explain items here that are already explained in The Book of Not. Therefore, while first reading The Book of Not is not a prerequisite, it is highly recommended.

What is Magic?

The evil wizard raises his wand and blasts a blinding, red, lightning looking arc of raw energy at the good wizard and the good wizard raises his staff and counters this attack with a blinding, green, lightning looking arc of raw energy. The two zigzagging streams of raw energy meet in the middle and create a massive explosion of energy that knocks over the nearby bystanders.

Is this the kind of magic you are looking for? We are sorry to inform you that you will not find that kind of magic. You will not find it anywhere. Magic is real but it does not look like that. If you find someone who tells you that that kind of magic does exist, we would implore them to demonstrate that magic for the world to see. For as long as it is kept in secret and never demonstrated to anyone, like the gods that created the planet or the blue puppy at the center of the galaxy that is the source of all joy, it may as well not exist.

Understanding magic is just about as easy as understanding religion. This actually stands to reason since for the most part they both came from the same place and are both used to accomplish the same ends.

Why would we compare magic to religion?

Let us look at two major components of each: origin and purpose.

Please forgive us as we summarize twenty-thousand years of human evolution in a few short paragraphs. We can summarize the origin of religion by saying that a time came in the ancient evolution of humanity where humans began asking questions that their science could not answer. (This was not difficult as we did not yet have science). What is the sun? What is the moon? Why can’t I touch the moon, even from the tallest tree? Why does it rain? Why do animals have fur? Where did all this come from? What is the purpose of life? And so forth…

In order to answer some of these questions, it was natural to make some assumptions. Since we make our huts and other things out of mud and sticks, then surely someone long ago must have created us from mud and sticks. That creator must be more powerful than us and have a greater understanding of everything than we do. Thus was born the first god. Barring other facts, the logic in this supposition is quite sound so there really is no way to argue against this proposition that gods exist and gods created all of this.

Adding a new dimension, weather and other natural disasters terrorize the people and the people wish for some kind of explanation and a modicum of control. What could cause such devastation as a flood or a hurricane? Only a god. It was probably a god that caused the hurricane or flooding and therefore it only makes sense that another god must be able to stop the flooding and redirect the hurricane. Or we just need to appease the god that is causing these disasters. Appeasing the gods was thus the progenitor of the first religions.

How do the gods affect change in the world? They must use powers that we do not possess. They must use powers we do not understand. Those powers, we called magic. Thus, magic was born into the world.

In this way, both religion and magic were used to explain things we did not understand. Wait. Little has changed. Let us restate that: to this day, both religion and magic are used to explain things we do not understand.

Religion and magic have the same origin and the same purpose. They were created by humanity to explain the world and to give us an avenue by which we can affect change in the world.

They are both there to give us some kind of sense of control over forces we cannot fully understand. Through religion we implore the gods for help and guidance and we direct the gods to act on our behalf thus affecting change in the world around us.

Where does this power of the gods come from? It comes from deep within the person who implores the god for help. It starts deep inside as a need or a plea. The person shapes it in the form of a prayer and focuses their energy intensely on the outcome. They then emanate this energy in a wave or stream through a direct connection to their god. Mentally and spiritually they envision their god affecting the change they have requested in the world around them.

The religious call this prayer. We call this magic. Does it matter that the religious person uses an imagined god to relay their power into the world around them? Not at all. We applaud anyone you can affect change in their world through the power of belief whether that belief be in magic, Zeus, Allah, Kali or Mazda.

Myth: Through magic, we implore unseen forces for help and guidance.

Truth: Through ourselves – by emanating power from within – we affect change in the world around us for help and guidance. Because the method by which we do this cannot yet be fully explained scientifically it receives the label magic.

We engage in either or both to affect our futures.

Truly, neither one are necessary. The actual manifestation of thought into reality is taking place at a deeper level. It is the power of manifestation from pure spirit consciousness directly into reality. We can easily call this magic because neither science nor religion can yet explain it.

When you manifest your own reality directly into the world you do so through self-authorization. If you use a god or magic, the Authorist believes this is accomplished through Authorization Loopback.

Let us look at the Ritual of Healing as an example. (This ritual is explained in detail later in this book). In the Ritual of Healing, the practitioner wishes to manifest healing energy into a person they love who is very far away. This can be done merely by thinking it.

However, a visual aid may be helpful. By envisioning a direct line of energy leaving the practitioner and entering the loved one, the healing energy may be more easily broadcast.

This is still an example of self-authorization.

The practitioner, however, may not be ready for this kind of power. If not, the practitioner may wish to invoke a god or use ritual magic.

The same manifestation of power into the world may be accomplished through the use of gods, magic or religion.

In the image below the practitioner invokes the god, Zeus, to send healing energy into their loved one. The practitioner is the one generating the power. The god acts as an imagined relay.

Authorization Loopback

Science has answered many of our questions but there are still many questions unanswered and some new ones which have been created by science as a result of answering some of the old ones. The more we learn about the macroverse, our present surroundings and quantum mechanics, the more questions we seem to be asking.

Humanity is still trying to answer the questions and humanity is still trying to exert some modicum of control over our environment. We are still trying to take an active role in the course of our lives.

Religion or magic can help us with this goal. If you believe in a god and your god sanctions the use of magic or if you do not believe in a god but would like to sanction the use of magic for yourself, the rituals and ceremonies described herein will help you direct the outcomes you seek in the life you want to make for yourself.

Magic works from the inside out. Magic, just like authorization for being, comes from within you. Always, it must start from within and flow outward.

This is not so hard to imagine when you consider that everything you know about the world is only a visual copy of actual reality that is being recreated in your mind.

You see a bird fly from the bush to the tree. The bush, the bird and the tree exist outside of you. They seem to be separate from you. But you do not really know that.

Why? Because the bush, the bird and the tree that you saw only became real to you when your mind recreated the ideas of them. Your mind imagined these things when it processed sensory data, but even this processing all took place within your mind.

In other words, your senses captured bush, bird, tree and passed them to your mind. Your mind then recreated what the senses passed to it so you could react to The bird flies from the bush to the tree. No matter how hard you try you cannot get passed the reality that the bird flying from the bush into the tree took place in your mind. Did this event also take place outside of your mind? Maybe. But the point we want to make here is that the final rendition of this event was akin to a movie playing in your mind for the benefit of the spirit consciousness.

The bush, bird and tree in your mind is the one that is real to you. And it is all in your mind. This is the basis for mind over matter. This is the basis for how we manifest our own realities. This is the basis for religion and magic and why they actually work.

Everything you know is a reflection of the real thing that exists only in your mind. And whether you fully understand this yet or not, you have control over what takes place inside your mind. Who controls your mind? Your spirit consciousness. So when you want to perform magic, you must start inside your mind or spirit consciousness and work outward from there.

Once you have made the changes you want internally, you can then focus on emanating that change outward over and over and over in waves of energy, out into the universe and you will see that this change begins to take effect externally.

For example: "I want a