Happy Birthday to the late, great Elliott Smith. He would have been 38 years old today. His music is like no other. Transformative, healing, powerful and most of all, brutally honest.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Elliott at Spaceland several years ago. He was sweet, self-effacing and warmly genuine. Completely guileless. After listening to his acoustic set, I picked up a napkin he left on the stage which was scrawled with fresh lyrics he’d just written. Something about pirates. Anyway, his music got me through some tough times.

Yesterday, Mr. B and I wound up turning a friend onto Elliott’s music, and I realized later on, that it was actually Elliott’s birthday.

In my head, I heard Elliott’s voice speaking to me. He said that his favorite birthday present was knowing that people were still moved enough to share his music with their friends.

For those of you who haven’t heard Elliott’s music, here are a few of my favorite songs of his: Christian Brothers, Everything Reminds Me of Her, Speed Trials, Everything Means Nothing to Me, Waltz Number 1 and 2. There are too many to list here. Everything he wrote just brims over with a heartfelt authenticity that just breaks the human heart.

Please visit the Official Elliott Smith Fan Site, and also make sure to check out Elliott’s many Youtube videos. You will discover a treasure in the music and lyrics of this truly great artist. You are loved and missed Elliott. I’ll be lighting a candle for him later tonight at the Elliott Wall on Sunset. Blessings and Light my friend.

For those of you who would like to see Elliott Smith’s Astrological Birth Chart, visit my Magickal Forum.

Today is the anniversary of the 480th Birthday of the well-known, original Enochian Magician, Sir John Dee (the original Agent 007).

Sir John Dee was born on July 13th, 1527 and died in 1609. He was primarily known during his life as an expert mathematician and geographer; however, he was also a scholar of the Occult, and an alchemist as well as the Court Astrologer to no less than Queen Elizabeth I.

The Virgin Queen most likely owes a great deal to Dee for helping her make important decisions that ultimately cemented her unique place in history as the greatest, most powerful queen since the Egyptian Hatshepsut.

To modern occultists, Dee’s primary legacy is his system of Enochian Magick, which he transcribed by using a Trance Medium (Edward Kelley) as a communicator between man and the Angels.

Here are a few links for those of you who might enjoy reading more about this scholar of the divine.

As Dee might have said himself, “Ol Sonuf Vaorsagi!” Happy birthday Sir!

Sir John Dee

Liber Chanokh (Crowley’s Treatise on Enochian Magick)

Voxx Tribute Page to Sir John Dee

Just wanted to commemorate the birthday of the late Princess Diana. The world lost a great light when she left our planet. I wish her spirit peace and light eternal.

Happy Birthday Diana, the People’s Princess. I am honored to share the same day of your birth.

For those of you who are interested in the Astrology chart of Princess Diana, I will be posting it soon in the Astrology Section of my magickal forum.

A Personal Story: Six months after the death of the Princess, I wound up being flown to London to perform a Babalon Working with a magickal friend (all-expenses paid, who could resist?) As a result, I was able to take the opportunity to personally place a bouquet of one dozen yellow roses at the entrance of Highgate. I felt that I was meant to go there and pay hommage to Diana, one of my most favorite people on the planet.

I wish I could have gone to the concert given in Diana’s honour. I encourage all my readers to say a special prayer for the peace of her spirit. She truly was the apotheosis of the Goddess Diana, as far as I’m concerned.

* * * *
The Hounds of Diana

Stealthing through the wood
Bolting faster than a ray of Luna light
Casting off illusion’s brood
of silky white

Diana
quick, you dart
with bowstring tight
shot thru, the blackened heart of night

How fleeting fly your feet
bounding by on air
Wild scent of virgin heat
Your haunted lair

Transgressed by crystalled Acteons
Take care
When the Huntress turns to hunted
Feign, beware

Your stag and hound are circling, unseen
Soon spotted, drag your broken body from the scene

There are those who claim your cease
Whatever can they mean?
You are merely hidden
in the never-ending green

You live and hide behind the Moon
Your symphony
in a horned-owl’s tune
O, winged Priestess of Prophecy — Diana

(© 2007, Voxx Voltair)

Before it’s too late … I wanted to wish a Happy Astral Birthday to William Butler Yeats, the great mystical poet.

There are a great number of people who are unaware that Yeats was not only a long-time member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, but he was also the Head of the Order for a time.

For a time, during my teenage years, I was a huge fan of Yeats — even before I knew he was a ritual Magician. Of course, those familiar with the life of Aleister Crowley no doubt are aware that Yeats and Crowley were not on the best of terms. Crowley joined the same G.’.D.’. Lodge as Yeats in 1898, much to the chagrin of many of the members of the Isis-Urania Temple in London.

All mysticism aside, Yeats was a gifted and very spiritually-oriented poet, who at one time was the Poet Laureate of Ireland, won the Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature in 1923. Yeats is known as the greatest Irish lyric poet of all time, and is regarded by many as the greatest poet of the 20th Century (although my personal vote goes to the late, great Ted Hughes, former husband of the ever more late Sylvia Plath, but i digress).

There are quite a few books written about the magickal poetry and symbolism of Yeats, which are worth checking out (I’ll have to go through my library and post some of the better titles).

On this day, I urge all my magickal friends to take a moment to read through some of the poems left behind by the hermetic Mage. I’m sure you will find much to enjoy in the inspired words and visions he so carefully left behind. Happy birthday Mr. Yeats.

“[In the train of Poseidon] the winds and tempest are silent and with tranquil song proceed the Tritones who bear his armour and the rock-like Cete (Sea-Monsters) and the Tyrrhenian herds [seals], and gambol around and blow him, saluting their king.” — Statius, Achilleid 1.55

According to news reports, a 50-ton Bowhead whale was caught and killed last month; however, what makes this story so unusual is the fact that the creature has been estimated to have been between 115 to 130 years old!

It’s bad enough to have lost such a magnificent whale, but to make matters worse it seems the only thing reporters are focusing on is the fact that the whale was discovered with a fragment of a weapon in its neck — one that was manufactured circa 1890!

The 50-ton whale was captured off the Alaskan coast, had apparently been hit with a bomb lance between its neck and shoulder blade, a fragment which was lodged there for over 100 years. It had survived for over a century with the 3-1/2 inch arrow-shaped object buried under its blubber, only to succumb during a similar, final attack last month.

According to John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, no other finding of such an object has ever been as precise in helping discover the actual age of such a whale. Ordinarily, the calculation of a whale’s age is difficult to gauge by studying the level of amino acids in the whale’s eye lenses. Not only that, but it is an extremely rare event to discover a whale which is more than a century old. Still, there have been incidents of capturing whales that have been near 200 years of age.

The Bowhead that was recently killed has been estimated to have been born in approximately 1877, around the time Thomas Edison was busy inventing the phonograph.

Alaska Whaling Laws: The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission allows the harvesting of up to 255 whales by 10 Alaskan villages for the next five years, so the killing of the whale is considered legal; however, it’s important to note that the Bowhead Whale itself is considered an endangered species, and I feel should have been spared this unnecessary death.

Especially haunting to me is the fact that this whale managed to exist for all this time, no doubt being careful to avoid humans. Still, in the end this ancient creature lost its life, and takes with it a small piece of history.

As a follower of the ancient ways of Nature, I respect all creatures, and although I am a Pagan, I don’t consider myself to be a “tree-hugging hippie”. Still, in this case the age of this whale, as well as the fact that it was on the endangered species list just really saddens me — even though the killing was technically legal, and will go towards feeding the Alaskan Indians.

I suppose the only thing I can do is what I’m doing right now — bringing awareness to another facet of the story, one that is not receiving the attention I feel it deserves. All i can do now is say a blessing for a majestic being that has been sacrificed to feed the needs of Man and his unceasing appetite.

Whales and Mythology: According to ancient Greek Mythology, the Goddess Amphitrite was the ruler of the Keta (aka Cetaceans), which were considered sea monsters.

Additional Links Regarding Whales & Mythology:

Whales in Ancient Greek Mythology

The Goddess Amphitrite

Greek Mythology Gallery

About Bowhead Whales: Wikipedia, Enchanted Learning, ACSON Online

19th Century Whale Captured (News Reports): CNN, Journal Now, The Edmonton Sun.