=== Earth 1 Anam ran to collect dirt from the Druid stone circle at the south end of town,

his favorite landmark in the village. He had always felt an attraction to the stone structures and ancient glyphs since his first days in Goatswood. He thought he had experience dj vu when he had run into two more stone circles nearby. He raced back to the Folly, and sat down in the garden to meditate yoga for several minutes. After some healthy stretching, he took the sacred soil borrowed from the hallowed ground of the Druids, and set it next to the candle holder on the small table in the center. This would represent the Earth aspect of his first magick session. He raised his trident, modeled after the "trishul" of the goddess' image downstairs in the Folly, invoking his first angelic incantation. "Oh Shakti Ma!," he cried. Guide us to the noble path and protect us from the North! O Mother Goddess! Deliver us from our own vices and protect us from the West, Oh Shakti Ma! Let us be your devotees and protect us from the South, Oh Shakti Ma! Nurse us with your wisdom and protect us from the East. He hoped the supplication would enhance the spell, and continued,"I am your humble servant, Nestor, Jai Baghwan Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu!" As he called out his rudimentary spell, a haphazard collection of divine names from his native India. He had also announced his magical name, "Nestor", after a gnostic sect that died out in the fifth century; a rival to Manicheanism. His magick phrase originally invoked only the god Vishnu, but he saw no harm in invoking all three deities of the Hindu pantheon. "Surely," he thought, "it would be laden with meaning to the supernatural, to use a phrase invoked by hundreds of millions of Hindus all over the world." To his chagrin, however, nothing happened. Zilch. He didn't expect the sky to open, or pour thunder and lightning on the whole village, but to his disappointment nothing remotely supernatural had happened, not even in his own head. Confused and dejected, he decided to go back and see if any mistakes had been made in the process.

=== Interlude While at the Folly, trying to figure out what happened with his first magick attempt, he ran across a curious encyclopedia page which he felt was a message from the supernatural realm. He was researching the trident, and a specific deity was said to be in charge of this instrument. The article in the encyclopedia read, "On the popular level, Vajrapani, hold of the thunderbolt scepter represents the power of all the Buddhas. For the yogi, Vajrapani is a means of accomplishing fierce determinationand symbolizes unrelenting effectiveness in the conquest of negativity." The pillar with this inscription dated back to the 12th century, and the young sisya wished he could visit this Shaolin temple and view the stele pictured one day. He fell asleep while reading, dreaming of being back in the East. --After looking over his magickal diary for any missteps in his first attempt at sorcery, he noticed several mistakes he made, starting with his name. The Nestorians were a fine cult, but were not from India and were not a dharmic religion (at least not on the surface, anyway). He had would have to choose another title, and he was leaning strongly towards Krishnamurti, "Krishna" after his favorite god, and "murti" meaning "idol", but more appropriately, "form". The blue god Krishna was admired as the epitome of virtue. Even if he would never see god or a goddess in human flesh, he felt, he would be content to worship the form of Krishna, which was why Krishnamurti was so appropriate for him. When he asked his spiritual advisor, Lady Wormwood, if Krishnamurti was an appropriate name to use, she approved, in a passing encounter in front of the Abbot's House, in a sign that he took as the Abbott himself approving of this title. He wondered what else went wrong, now that he had a better name than "Nestor". He showed the trident to a friend outside the village, who sarcastically remarked, "You look like you're turning into a mermaid." Instead, he had acquired as his talisman a necklace from India called a mangal sutra, which Hindu women wore after they were married. Anam wanted to wear it to show he was married to Lord Krishna, and the life of a sisya as an Orientalist in Goatswood.

(He was inspired by a tale of a woman in India who attempted to a join a mystic order which worshiped Sri Krishna. The priest protested, saying only men were allowed into their cult. She remarked, "All of you are women before Sri Krishna," upon which she was permitted to join. Anam would hope to incorporate his queer nature and forces of the third gender to illustrate his spiritual status of being a bride to Sri Krishna.) His chant of "Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva" was shortened to "Shiva", being quicker on the tongue, and hopefully closer to the ancient Hindu goddesses that the Oriental Tantric Order tapped into. -- He had yet to glimpse the Yoni Tattva, the holy book of the Tantric Order, but began anew his attempt at a successful Earth spell, and hoping to correct his errors this time.

=== Earth 2 He went down to the inner sanctum of the Folly which Lady Wormwood had shown him the night of his initiation as a sisya. He grabbed a handful of ash from the burning wood on the metal tray in front of the giant goddess, bowing before her and giving thanks to the Mother archetype she represented. Surely, the magick from her holy altar would rub off into his Earth spell. Anam, now having adopted the robes of Krishnamurti, walked into the garden outside the Folly again, and began his ritual, new and improved. "Windershins and keeping the object to your left," he reminded himself, as he poured the pile of ashes on the table in the center. The ashes represented Earth which would provide the protective diamond around him. He concentrated intently on the mangal sutra necklace and ring on his hand. He blew the energy of his breath through the ring to announce: "Goddesses of the earth, guardians of the North, come forth and protect my circle..." The spell already exhausted him, although three more cardinal points had yet to be drawn. He bellowed, to all the realms listening: "Goddesses of the water, guardians of the West, come forth and protect my circle." The occident having been invoked by his amateur spells, he summoned the other pole to his protection: "Goddesses of fire, guardians of the South, come forth and protect my circle." The next came the source of Illumination, and direction of the rising sun: "Goddessess of the air, guardians of the East, come forth and protect my circle." He had now made a full circle and invoked his new magick phrase: "Om Namah Shiva."

Krishna, Kali, Shiva; he was really invoking several epics in the Hindu tradition. "Perhaps Lady Wormwood will give me a suitable magick phrase or syllable when we meet again," he thought, hoping he had come up with something suitable for now. He repeated his magick expression, letting the magick energy complete the rotation around him, and then return North, West, South, and East. "Kali Ma, goddess, protect me, Om Namah Shiva," he uttered, as he collapsed in the puddle of energy, and fell asleep for several hours, unaware that his protective diamond had worked and cast a spiritual shield for him to safely practice any magic. He woke up and resolved to learn more, and practice for the next session.

=== Water 1 A few days after his first protective circle, he sought to advance to the rank of Level 2 initiate, which required a water spell and divination. He had run into a bramble of poison ivy while venturing along the edges of town, and his arms and leg were covered with a scorching rash which bothered him for days. He sought out the advice of a local herbalist, Lauren, who did her work at the cottage by the railway station, which smelled of potent herbs for yards around. She had an odd idea of currency in exchange for her herbs and knowledge how to use them, asking for clipped fingernails or animal parts. Since Anam was not willing to harm animals, or endanger whomever's toenails they'd be using should they find their way into a malicious spell, he had only succeeded in extracting from the herbalist a single suggestion for Level 2 divination: use herbs, or blood also works. So the initiate magickian set out to sit by the river which flowed through the village, and deigned to enter the water after making sure no carnivorous fish was near by. Dr. "Jax" McMasters had warned him a giant fish would gobble him whole if he didn't use the bridge to cross the river at all times. Entering the stream, he washed his hands and face and feet, and sat cross-legged. He breathed deeply by the bank of the river, the moist air filling his lungs and the sound of running water flooding his ears. By the bright supermoon of that night, he recited a poem thrice: All hail new moon, all hail to thee, I prithee good moon, reveal to me, This night who shall my true love be... He gasped, as he had never recited a new moon spell before, and this one he tore out of a book he had found in the Folly library, titled "Exploring Spellcraft by Gering Dunwich," (on an interesting shelf titled "Scribd"). He brought a blue seashell, and a blue rubied idol from South India, from the state of Kerala, and was glad to be sitting in sight of the Folly which was in the West of the village. The conch shell was a gift to him from a lady in the French/Netherlands border while he made his way from India to England. It was said to be once owned by a zephyrus, an underwater creature with the body of a seahorse and a human face, "a Roman god of the West wind"

(ibid, "Exploring Spellcraft"). And the blue idol was said to be from an ancient temple. He announced his presence to any spirits listening: Gods of the North, guide me to your Path, Gods of the West, show me your Illuminated knowledge, Gods of the South, guide be through death and back, Gods of the East, give us our daily blood, sweat, and porridge. With the last line, he sliced a razor through his thumb and released a profuse outpouring of blood, dribbling into the bowl of wheat, herbs, and holy water from the river by the Folly. The protective circle encompassed his aura in the pale moonlight, something he didn't ordinarily feel (his aura, that is). But at this moment, when magnified or united with a magic circle around him, he definitely felt its presence in mystic union. He took the crushed herbs and grains, now a moist mass of organic matter drenched in blood, and applied it to the rash which bothered him earlier, and he felt the magic tingling restoring qi/energy to the skin on his hands and leg which had touched the ivy. When the magic circle dimmed, he found his hand healed completely, as the herbs and bloodletting had done the trick.

=== Water 2 On another night, closer to the new moon, Anam sat cross-legged again by the water in front of the Folly. He was more comfortable in his role as Krishnamurti now, the sisya of the Orientalists. He meditated on the conch shell and the final nights of the feminine/yin energy before the new moon (and masculine) period set in. Hindus marked these biweekly cycles as Amavas and Purnima, masculine and feminine, respectively. He declared to the transcendent beings present: Goddess of the North, quicken my spiritual birth, Goddess of the West, make me bless'd, Goddess of the South, make me grow'th, Goddess of the East, thank you for your daily feasts, As the halo'd circle glowed around him, he got up and removed his clothes, except for his cotton briefs, and immersed himself in the river. The cold waters filled his eyes and ears. As he walked out again, he experienced the urge to shake off his fur (like a dog), and felt spiritually renewed. The hot summer night dried him, although the humid air left him slightly damp. It was written in the "Exploring Spellcraft" book he had come across earlier that water was related to "strength, clairvoyance, restoring emotional balance, and meditation", which is exactly what our young magick practitioner experienced. As he lay on the ground, he passed into a deep sleep, ascending the ladders of spiritual growth, the first realm was filled with vultures and a pitch-dark abyss, what other mystics called Chapel Perilous, or the "Long Night of the Soul". The next imaginal realm he visited was of ancient Athens, where he overheard his hero Socrates having a dialogue about the character and moral standing required to gain entry into the next life. He dreamed further that he'd had his heart removed by two goddess, sent by the Mother Goddess in the Folly's inner sanctum -- and his still-beating organ was washed in the Water of Life and purified of all earthly desire. His spiritual eye awakened and he felt he understood everything for a moment, that everything was Perfect the way it was.

=== Air 1 On a clear Wednesday night, with not a cloud in the sky, Anam put on his yellow cotton tunic from India to begin his first exercise with Air magick, associated with intellectual activities like writing and communication (Dunwich, p. 19). Numerology and astrology were also important, although he had only a vague understanding of those occult sciences. He ran again to the river in front of the Folly, and found a small patch of ground to settle, and began to light copious amounts of incense, both sticks of sandalwood and a charcoal burner with granulated pebbles of frankincense. As the scent wafted in the wind, he meditated on the serene nature of life, and the various hauntings and adventures in Goatswood. He brought a small metal water container, the kind from his native India, and scooped up some of the river's water into it, and then proceeded down the stairway of the Folly to the inner sanctum. Careful not to disturb the idol's adornments, he then brought milk and poured it off the shiva-linga in the center of the room, chanting "Om Namah Shiva" and praising Shakti, his divine consort. He gazed at the beautiful room around him, and became briefly lost in thought. As he finished his supply of water and milk to cleanse the deities with, and returned upstairs, after an obligatory bow to the goddess. He sat down by the river again, washing his hands and face, allowing the air to dry him off. He invoked his protective circle, with the variant of his spell, this time naming exclusively goddesses. Divine Durga of the North, show me my fate, Divine Kali of the West, make me fully realized, Divine Shakti of the South, make me powerful, Divine Mother Goddess of the East, make mine a courageous state! As the magick circle surrounded him, he was overcome by the peace and awe of the Air magick, and meditated further about his life. He resolved to no longer do drugs or even drink, things which he did not do with regularity, but he had realized he used them as a crutch, unfortunately, in stressful situations. The working classes and true Masters (at least, all the gurus he had read of) did not resort to stimulants or depressants when their moods were down, they did the task without any objection. He needed to stop using substances to alter his mind, however enjoyable it was.

All the Masters, he told himself, had realized themselves and overcome their obstacles without any artificial help. The triumph of the will was never accomplished with alcohol in the system, although it did help with the mindless nature of routine work sometimes. He dreaded such truths, but they were coming to him rapidly on such an airy night. Anam, or Krishnamurti rather, looked up surprised to find it had already turned into night, as he had started his worship in mid-afternoon. The difficulty of the task had not gone past him. While denying he was addicted, in reality, he had kept an opium packet and flask of grain alcohol on his person at all times, and abused them several times a day. With much hesitation, and forcing himself against his will, he emptied the pouch of narcotics and booze from his tote bag, into the river where either the fish would consume them, or Nature would somehow recycle them. He, almost crying as he dumped the drugs, prayed for the Mother Goddess to protect him, and for all the forces of Nature to show him that reality was more important than any drug. As he inhaled the relaxing fumes of incense, he resolved to find in himself all the things he liked about how he felt on various substances: the relaxed steadiness of his demeanor, the quick ability to respond, and come up with a clever reply, the instinctive honesty, abundant creativity, spontaneous strength, and energetic determination. The wise woman of his village back home always told him he had these things in him, and now he could truly find out. He would need all the angels of heaven to assist him, and all the minions who served the goddess who resided in the Folly. He passed out and awoke the next morning, rejuvenated and refreshed, and resolved to integrate what he had concluded the day before.

=== Fire 1 On a bright sunny Tuesday, a day ruled by the god Mars who represented the element of Fire, Krishnamurti sought out to practice his first bit of Fire magick. He wore his Orientalist cloak, the red robes flowing past his shins. He sought protection from the Mother Goddess in his spiritual journey, as many dark-sided spirits dwelled in the shadows of night in the village. He headed down the stairs to the sanctum, and bowed on his knees to the idol before he entered the sacred chamber. He lit a generous amount of incense, and inhaled the fragrance into his lungs. It filled the room with pungent frankincense and myrrh, ancient offerings used in Rome, Babylon and India. He incanted, sitting between the idol and the Egyptian obelisk: Oh Kali Ma and her minions in the North, place your divine hand above my head, Oh Kali Ma and her minions in the West, save your wrath and give your intercession instead, Oh Kali Ma and her minions to the South, make me your enlightened vessel, Oh Kali Ma and her minions to the East, make your devotee most special. Despite the weak rhyme and meter, the intensity of Krishnamurti's faith ushered in the protective circle around him, and he davened a prayer for spiritual clarity, physical strength, material protection, and fortitude and patience. He added more incense to burning altar in front of the idols. While the smoke would have disturbed a novice's lungs, it suited him fine. He shaved his head with a straight edge blade, and his beard which had become quite untidy. Gathering the clumps of hair, he tossed them in into the fire before the goddess, representing the purification of his lower self and base instincts. He concentrated intently on removing Anger, Greed, and Gluttony from his vices (although he intentionally did not include "Lust" on such a list.) As he felt the impurities of his physical being burned away, light illumined the room, and everything around him. He passed out, from the smoke or intensity of his experience, and woke up to the candles, fire, and fuel all exhausted. He changed into his regular clothes to see what was going on in the village, and cleaned the sanctum before leaving, restoring it to its original and tidy state.

=== Fire 2 As the advancing sisya became settled in the village and befriended many interesting residents, he had not seen Lady Wormwood or the Major in many days (aside from a brief encounter at town events). In the meantime, he had taken up poaching in the forest to practice his ability to maintain silence, a meditative quality required when stalking an animal for food. After killing a small deer which had the misfortune of encountering him, Krishnamurti decided he felt guilty for taking the creature's life, and decided to offer it as a sacrifice instead. It would also make excellent practice to build a bonfire, and try his hand at fire magick again. On a Thursday evening, around sunset, with the planet Jupiter visible as a star in the sky, Krishnamurti ascended the small hill around the corner from the Folly, and dragged firewood to the site until it was after dusk. Using a flint, and thanking the goddess of fire, Agni, he sparked a small flame which quickly grew with his breath. It became a roaring fire which would have gone out of control were it not on top of a hill. The young doe was only a year old, and the sorcerer-in-training had readied the carcass by removing its hide and soft organs. He recited a spell, for the pleasure of the goddess: Great goddess of fire, and her minions to the North, May the enemies of the goddess be vanquished at her feet! Great goddess of fire, and her minions to the West, I dedicate to her my every word and deed, Great goddess of fire, and her minions to the South, Plant in me your divine seed, Great goddess of fire, and her minions to the East, I offer you this sacrifice of a young steed! Upon which, he hurled the limp carcass onto the raging flames, which laughed as they licked around the fresh meat. Krishnamurti felt the protective circle rise around him, and felt pleased that he had reached this stage of magic with due practice and patience. He was not yet able to control the Elements or conjure supernatural beings, but studying magick in this village turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. He had no idea what to expect at the adept or Magus levels in the future, or if he would ever get there; but he felt at peace and had never

felt more bliss or enlightenment than with the fine teachers and towndwellers of Goatswood.