Western Esoteric Studies

Project Wake up the Valley:

Overview
This is an ambitious program of theurgic workings whose purpose is to locate and
enhance the network of sacred (i.e. theurgically potent) sites in Hayfork valley, so
that this network can become a source of healing and revitalization for both the
valley and its inhabitants.

The Plan
The plan of action for this program is:
1. Locate existing sites
2. Contact the daemones inherent in these sites, and for each, determine the
method of invocation needed to establish a relationship between human and
daemon. Based on a generic assessment of native traditions, offerings of corn
meal and tobacco have been suggested as appropriate when approaching these
spirits.
3. Over time, build the strength of this network of sites, and establish linking lines
between the sites, whether explicitly in the physical environment or implicitly
in a conceptual map. Incorporate the creation of astral guardians, if need be.
4. Learn how to tap the network and relate to it as a whole, so that theurgic
interactions may benefit both daemones and the place/people of the valley.

Site Location
For site location, we may draw upon the knowledge of several people who have
volunteered to be a part of this project:
1. Audrey and Ryan
2. Gia
Additionally, we may use divinatory techniques such as map dowsing or dowsing
in person to locate sites. Map dowsing will help find the general area, and we can
then narrow down the site by following our intuition and using dowsing rods to
help guide it.

Contact the Daemon

Having located a site, the next step is to learn how to invoke the spirit of the place.
This may be done using the following progressive strategy, wherein each step is
predicated upon the failure or merely partial success of the prior step:
1. Sit and engage the intuition to seek guidance, with steady intent to contact the
daemon.
2. Use Hermetic techniques to create a ritual of approach.
3. Perform a vigil, throwing oneself on the mercy of the daemon.

Build the Network

The goal having been achieved of learning the method of invocation, we would
then establish a schedule, appropriate to the place and guided by its daemon, so
that repeated invocations will strengthen the numinous qualities perceptible in that
place.

Phase 1: Big Rock at Dancing Goat Ranch

(text of email sent to others)

On Sunday, May 29th, I'm going to go up to a big rock situated on the back half of our
property here and explore this approach to waking up the valley that we've been talking
about. I've got a bag of organic tobacco, we have some corn that I will grind for meal, and
I've got smoke-making stuff (smudging, etc). Anyone who wants to accompany me up there
is welcome to do so!

Here's what I want to do:

1. BEFORE climbing up, prepare ourselves with cleansing and, if our minds are cluttered,
with a banishing ritual
2. go up to the rock, and raise energy
a. we can do this with the energy circulation, AND/OR we can do a dance/chant thing,
trying not to look too much like a bunch of white people acting like Injuns ;) Really don't
want the spirits to just laugh and walk away.
 3. we make an offering of tobacco and corn to the four directions, and I'll have an
appropriate invocation to "All the Gods" and to the "Spirits of this Time and Place"
4. we take comfortable seats, and I'll go on a vision journey. I'll narrate, and all I ask is that
everyone listen and follow the imagery. No need for out-of-body, just an act of imagination
and intent. Once I've finished, we clear our minds.
5. we all listen. That is, we can listen inwardly, we can watch for omens in the world
around us, we can jot down ideas that come to us. What we're listening for is something
that the Spirits want us to do for them, specifically, at that place, when we invoke them. We
might:
a. receive one or more strange Names of power
b. get ideas for simple things to do that the Spirits like, such as clean up the rock a bit
(sweep detritus), or maybe bring detritus to it as an offering, who knows? Or some other
ideas regarding offering and actions.
c. see images of the Spirits
d. see omens that we need to interpret later
6. afterward, we thank the Spirits and come back to the house and compare notes

Let me know what you think of this approach. It *should* be kept as simple as possible. I
strongly believe that some form of invocation followed by vision quest is the standard
pattern, but neither needs to be particularly elaborate. The Spirits will tell us what THEY
want us to do in the future to establish and strengthen our relationship with that power spot.
Over time, it will become a shrine to the Spirits and part of the network of power places
that we can wake up in a similar way.

Based on what we learn here, I'd like to go to the power spot that Audrey and Ryan
discovered next, and if this method works here, do it there too, with perhaps one of them
leading the visionary journey if they are interested in doing so. Then, Tanya knows of a
power spot on her property that she has volunteered to lead us to and guide us on the
journey to waken it. There are lots of other power spots all over this valley.

Audrey/Ryan: let Fox know that he is very welcome to join us, too.
Tanya: Shad is also welcome to join us, of course! Here and anywhere else, if he's so
inclined.
Rachel: You too :)

Report on Phase I

We went to the spot on May 29th at 11 AM. The previous day, I had planned on
invoking Hekate formally, with a Watchtower ceremony, or perhaps a Gateway
ritual. Instead, while making lunch, I called Her name, and She came. It felt like a
heavy weight of some sort, in my mind, with a sense of being on a threshold of
reality, though that's a poor approximation of the actual sensations. Anyway, She
told me, when I asked, that I need to make haste with the project, and to do it the
way I was planning. However, I could simplify somewhat: tell everyone to imagine
what it would feel like to be a hill spirit, confined in time and space but free in
thought and feelings.
At the gate to the back half of the property, we went into a huddle, linked breaths,
and raised power. We walked to the spot, absorbing the ambiance of the place, and
when we arrived, we sat on the rock. I led an offering of wine, corn and tobacco,
and Judy provided a quartz crystal to be placed by Audrey in the center of the
manzanita growing at the top of the rock. Then I led a visionary working, going
into the hill through a doorway in the rock. We all had a vision or experience, but
Tanya's was most vivid. She saw the daemon as a monstrous earth being, who yet
seemed gentle. She hugged him, and he gave her a rough seed. She swallowed it,
and a tree grew up through her. She came up into the upper air and broadcast a
blessing to the Valley.

Afterward, I received his name: Ya Sa Fe

We closed and played a game of frisbee for about an hour.