At the beginning of 2017, the Bull of Ombos met at the Blanton Museum to explore a small exhibit of Andy Warhol art, film, and archived materials, following up with a lively discussion of renown, fame, and how we can Work to create our own legacies. I was particularly struck by the discovery of Warhol’s time capsules, which were new to me.
Warhol packed away around 300,000 pieces of personal ephemera into over 600 boxes, which have recently been opened and catalogued by the Andy Warhol Museum.
Image via NPR.
Image via BBC.
I started to think about the small items of magical significance that pass through each of our lives over time. All the notes, stones, cards, and found objects that take on so much potency because they were with us at an important time and place, and how these items become imbued with such mystery and power.
There are some of these items I’ve been holding on to for years, and countless others lost to time. So when I couldn’t stop thinking about those time capsules, I went out and bought a simple black craft box, and started a 2017 time capsule for the Bull of Ombos Pylon.
Throughout the year, I added any magical items that felt significant to me, and reminded the members of the Pylon to hold on to any things they might want to add. At our final meeting of 2017, the box was placed on the altar during our Working, and each person in attendance placed something inside.
As magicians, we can choose to manage our own legacies by paying mindful attention to what it is we create and put out into the objective universe. Playing an active role in building your Name is unquestionably an important form of self-creation, giving us the opportunity to choose which of our works and deeds will represent us when we cannot represent ourselves.
This may take the form of art, writing, music, or one’s initiatory teaching, all of which are distinctly personal creations, imbued with the Essence of the magician, with the potential to help that magician transcend the limitations of time and space.
But our magical objects need not be 1,000 page grimoires or an epic concept album. Even small collections like our Pylon time capsule, sealed and preserved, will carry the Name and magic of the Bull of Ombos into the future. The capsule holds some of the magic we created in 2017, small items empowered with big memories, waiting to be discovered again.
XeperAustin 