Janice

app developer, Victorian home curator, vintage sewing enthusiast, lamp maker. new york city / montreal.

[Janice @jncetaylor]

The Throne of the Sanctuary. // The Sumerian New Year is based on the first new moon after the Spring Equinox, which is usually very close to the Persian New Year. The name of the first month is called Bara zaggar, translated as the Throne of the Sanctuary. Bara translates a…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

March 22, the Day of Set's Rebellion Against Osiris. // The Cairo Calendar describes how Wedjat, the Eye of Horus, transformed from peaceful to raging, with good or bad influences on life. The entry for each day is prefaced by three hieroglyphics that indicate either good or…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

I lived through martial law in a third world country before coming here. I remember being a child and my father telling us that he had stockpiled guns along the walls and floor of our house. He told us not to leave the house for any reason, to stay away from windows and door…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

The Black Plague was once the most feared disease in the world. It was capable of wiping out hundreds of millions of people in seemingly unstoppable global pandemics, afflicting its victims with swollen lymph nodes, blackened skin, and other gruesome symptoms. The physicians…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

The arrival of an angel is always preceded by a warning, “Fear not.” Fear is as good a current of initiation as any. // Moments of quiet terror are starting to leak into my day to day world, slow and steady the way water wears down a rock. It’s always when I’m doing the same…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

The Dread Aura. // The word dread often has negative connotations, but there are dual meanings to the word dread. Dread can mean something that causes fear or awe. The myths of Gilgamesh talk about something known as a dread aura. Your dread aura implements your Will upon th…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

"In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth and the Paths; of Spirits and Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and many other things which may or may not exist. It is immaterial whether these exist or not. By doing certain things certain results will follow; students are …

[Janice @jncetaylor]

“And know that from the beginning of his Creation, the serpent served as an important and necessary purpose for the harmony of creation, as long as he remained in his place. Originally, the serpent stood outside the walls of the sacred precincts. He did not have the right to…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Sigil of Venus. Copper, etching, patina. // Medieval alchemists not only established our four classical elements, but they paired the seven known metals with the seven known heavenly bodies. Copper was associated with Venus, the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

I’ve lived in large cities most of my life. Some say the bloodline of ceremonial magick lies in major cities, and perhaps that’s true, but there’s a unique kind of initiation found in lonely, isolated, desolate places. // Someone mentioned to me once how surprising it was th…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Star of Shamash. // Silver, aquamarine, patina. One of a kind. // The aquamarine adds a ghostly, watery quality, adding a subterranean cast to the traditional Star of Shamash. https://t.co/qTud3tlKvB Star of Shamash. // Silver, aquamarine, patina. One of a kind. // The aquamari…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Energy can be thought of as attention. Each person allocates their limited attention either by focusing it intensely like a beam of energy or diffusing it in random, meaningless activities. The shape and content of life depends on how attention has been used. Entirely differ…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

The human moral experience can be complicated, difficult, painful, and treacherous. From an evolutionary perspective, this is partly because our minds evolved to be highly sensitive to betrayal in small-scale contexts. As Julius Caesar found out the hard way, betrayal can be…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Contrary to the myths mankind has developed to reassure itself, the world was not created to answer our needs. Frustration is deeply woven into the fabric of our existence. Whenever our needs are temporarily met, we immediately start wishing for more, a phenomenon described …

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Everything we experience — joy or pain, interest or boredom — can be be represented by the mind as information. The optimal state of inner experience is once where there is order in consciousness. This happens when energy, or attention, is invested in realistic goals and whe…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

"Who are you then?" "I am part of that power which eternally wills evil and eternally works good.” — Faust, Part 1 // The occultist Dion Fortune talks about two kinds of evil, Positive Evil, and Negative Evil. Negative Evil is the polarizing aspect of Good. Positive Evil is …

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Yantra used for invoking Manjughosha, a deity of speech and learning. // Manjughosha wields a flaming sword in his right hand, representing wisdom which cuts through delusion. Traditionally made with a combination of five metals, this version is cast in bronze. …

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Top nine of 2019. // “In the god business, it’s not the death that matters. It’s the opportunity for resurrection.” —American Gods // Nine. Three amplified through itself. The Nine Worlds, the nine nights that Odin hung on the tree, as a sacrifice of himself to himself, comp…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

“Am I the sea, or a creature of the deep, that you set a guard over me?" —Jb. 7:12 // The serpent Leviathan is briefly mentioned in the Bible. Her name means "to twine, to join", with a literal meaning of "wreathed, twisted in folds." According to a midrash, the leviathan wa…

[Janice @jncetaylor]

Proof of concept. Scrap silver, patina, 1.75mm cz. // The archangel Michael predates Judeo-Christianity, and his name can be traced back to around 1600 BCE, over a thousand years before he was ever mentioned in Judaism. He came to the Hebrews via the Babylonian Exile, throug…