"For all these reasons, then, let us call upon the gods as our leaders, entrust both ourselves and our discourse to them, and follow wherever they may lead. We should not be deterred by the fact that this school has long been neglected; that it has been hidden beneath estranged teachings and certain secret symbols; that it has been overshadowed by many false and spurious writings; and that it has been obstructed by many other difficulties of the same kind. The will of the gods is enough for us, and with it one can endure difficulties even more perplexing than these."

- Iamblichus' On the Pythagorean Life, Book 1

I wanted to write these tidbits about my new name, since I know a couple people were curious.

On its origins, it came to me in a dream. Nothing grand or mysterious, I was literally just scrolling the Forums and answering a couple questions (...in a dream), and the username I had was Khemenu Nefermed.
I had thought of changing my name to something more personally meaningful before that, and the three fragments of this name are words I didn't, at least to my knowledge, know of before this dream.
So I meditated on the name, and felt a deep connection to it, elaborated a bit on it, and out came Khem Nefermed.

It has layers of meaning, some of which are too personal to share, but I will share the biggest part of it.

The name can roughly translate to "Khem, of beautiful speech."

Nefer-medu means beautiful-word, and it relates to my passion for writing and the oratory arts in general. It obviously also relates to Lord Thoth.

Khem itself I didn't translate above, because it has a triple meaning in terms of what it means to me.

Firstly, the biggest meaning is that it is short for Khemenu or Khemenew. This means "The Eight", "the Ogdoad", and it relates to the eight primordial deities of Egypt, worshipped in the city of the same name.
This city was later called Hermopolis Magna, or the Great City of Hermes, because it was the largest cult of Thoth.

Secondly, it relates to Kemet, Egypt itself. I have many pagan cultures I am fascinated with and attracted to, but Egypt has been with me my entire life, down to my early childhood.

Thirdly, it relates to Khem itself, which means "dark", in the sense of fertility. Months before this, I had a dream of a deity I could not make sense of, because it wasn't well known. It was Min, the Egyptian God of reproduction and fertility. This is a God I was close to in ways I didn't know until I researched it deeper. Khem as "fertile" (a reference to darker soil) is an epithet of many Gods, including Min.

Yes, the fact that Khem has three meanings is also an intentional nod to Hermes Trismegistus. The name is quite connected to Hermes/Thoth, and I hope to honor Him in the work I do.

The name can translate to, if we take all of these meanings, "Fruitful one of the Ogdoad, of good words, the Egyptian".

Ganesha as a symbol represents a somewhat brutal depiction of what it means to surpass one's current condition, and the potential to evolve into something new out of sheer will.

Humanity is blessed with reason and self-awareness, whether we want it sometimes or not. This is seen in how Ganesha has his human head cut off and replaced with an elephant head.
The elephant head represents the human brain, as TG Alexandros Iowno pointed out. We have the ability to enact change upon reality according to our will, if we are in alignment with the proper principles that can lead us there. Magick, an ethical living, material success, are all reflections of an inner change towards a more divine self, and we are able to make this change.

Let's take a moment to praise the VT-kitty.

Make note of the wisdom of Lalitā Sahasranāma, and realize that you are the offering, the one being offered to, and the one making the offering.
The only thing we can truly give the Gods is our own advancement and growth in their name. They are beyond all else.

Christianity partly gained influence because it is a slave's power fantasy, but also one that keeps him a slave.
"You're oh so persecuted by the evil rich and powerful people, but you'll never be like them! God himself had to come down to fix you because you can't do it."
This is nothing but slave morality, which is not only wrong for a society, but it is FICTIONAL.

Everything is done to the slave, the slave never does anything.
This puts the slave into a sad plight where he is thrown off course by fate at random, so, in theory, it should be a devastatingly nihilistic worldview.
And yet, it is actually pacifying to the slave, because this means the slave can't, and thus, won't, try and do anything to change his condition.
But regardless of his doing nothing, the Universe still loves him, just because. He still deserves eternal life and happiness eventually, because everyone does, because we said so. Add to that the idea that everyone is equal and the only thing that matters is faith in what your priest tells you, and you can brainwash nations into a Dark Age.

Zevism is here to show great things. To show the Gods, their glory and teachings, to show you yourself, your potential and where you come from.
But we also tell things that will initially shock a newcomer. Nobody is coming to save you. The rich man bossing over you is made up of the same materials as you, and has the same claim to the Universe as you. The debt is on you to change those positions, and maybe even act morally when you gain power. If you do not choose one day, internally, to have a better life, nature will let you get crushed, because that is what you chose.

"Zeus, first to beget, last-born of all too is Zeus.
Zeus is the head, Zeus the body, and from Zeus all things proceed.
Zeus is male, and yet Zeus is immortal maiden.
Zeus is the foundation of the earth, the stars and Heaven.
Zeus is the breath of all things.
Zeus is the force of sea.
Zeus is Sun and Moon.
Zeus is the king of all, He who was, he who is, he who shall be."

- Orphic Hymn to Zeus 15

I hope the occult symbolism of the Orphic rites is clearly visible.

New Revolt platform looks very good, tested it for a bit and it's an upgrade over Element.

Also much more convenient to join for people.

No excuses not to join now. Take advantage of the Temple and easier chatting.

Make an account here
Afterwards, use this invite

May High Priest Zevios Metathronos endlessly be blessed, as an amazing leader and guide to all Zevists.

High Council of Outreach, as well as the entirety of the VT, sends sincere thanks and regards to his never-ending work.

You who awoke the Dacian people and gave them renewal, Zalmoxis, be forever blessed.
In the hollow Mountain, whose blood gave birth to the black root of creation, you guarded the one-eyed Serpent.
You are Zeus, the highest God, and you have helped all nations thrive.

Odin is the creator of Humanity, All-Father of the Gentiles, giver of Magick, Rebirth incarnated, and master over the cycles of Existence.
Thor is the patriarch of the northern nations, the figure of Divine authority, the punisher of evil, the conqueror of natural forces, and the bringer of electrical force to cause both blessing and destruction.

These are faces of God, of Zeus.

There are many benefits to journaling.
But one thought I wanted to bring to mind is journaling as a matter of self worth. If you genuinely care about growing as a person and growing in your wise understanding of life, your thoughts will, at some point, become valuable.
At a certain level, not writing down your thoughts for further elaboration and reflection is simply disrespecting yourself, your mind, and the forces that have brought you the knowledge you have realized.
At some point, you must admit that you value yourself enough to know that your thoughts are worth more than a passing ephemeral glance. Or realize that you don't value yourself in this way, and assess why.

Let your awe of the Universe's perfect laws, vast nature, and just the right accommodations for you to exist and to know yourself, be what propels you towards understanding that there is a higher power, and towards knowing that higher power. This beauty that is existence is ultimately the greatest blessing that we have received from Zeus.

I was looking through my high school journals, and I found some philosophical texts. Here's one that I found most worth sharing, which I wrote at 16:

Sometimes, when I ponder life, I feel like life as it unfolds is just a "sensory distorted hallucination". I'm not truly experiencing reality, I'm experiencing my own thought patterns, emotions and knowledge, spread over a canvas. The canvas had a painting on it before, but I can't simply see the painting, I am blind until my own mind paints over that canvas and gives me something similar, but not quite what it truly is. This is probably how most people experience things as well, if not all people, but many do not consciously understand this distortion caused by one's perception of self, they simply think of it as reality being perceived and nothing else. As one learns, grows their mind and soul, one can more clearly control their emotions and thought habits, which changes the projection on the canvas. If truth is your goal that you are aligning towards, you will work to make the projected painting as close as possible to the original one.
- Commentary on Kant

This one I still pretty much consider true, and spirituality has grown my understanding of this conclusion. However, there are a lot that I disagree with nowadays, specifically a lot of commentary on Hegel or Kafka.

Always fun to see how my thinking and habits have grown. Journal, guys, it's useful.

MEDITATION PATH UPDATE - Wim Hof and Pranayama progress

I've hit a decent stride in my meditation routine. I essentially am running all of the essentials, have a better understanding of energy work, cleaning is going well, protection is consistent, Yoga is great (although I'm still working on doing more of it), I've finally introduced some Chakra empowerment/feeding through the Full Chakra Meditation (haven't spent enough time with it to bring a report on it, but I will soon), I've been able to enter trance during meditations without a huge amount of prep time, and I'm doing a couple workings at all times.
That's great for me, as I essentially don't need to actively worry about changing my routine for a while, as I'm doing all that is needed and making consistent improvements.

This allows me to spend some more time studying our work, pondering various things, journaling, planning, and setting goals.

One thing I did want to delve deeper into is pranayama, as I don't really do that much of it. Obviously, the Yogic Breath is part of my routine due to Foundation Meditation, and I'm also doing alternate nostril breaths whenever I feel the need to.
However, other than a little grounding from the ANB, and the Yogic Breath being a fundamental thing to practice for general meditation, I haven't really experienced direct benefits from pranayama, direct feelings that I can attribute to be beneficial, or experiences through which I can really understand the fact that it is essential.

I asked for some advice from my GD, and I was directed towards the Wim Hof method. Skeptical ass that I am, I do some research on whether this practice has any merit as far as ancient wisdom.
It sort of does. It's basically just a Bhastrika or a Fire breath (with a weaker exhale) followed by a Kumbhaka hold. 30 isn't some magic number mentioned within ancient texts, so I'm going based on feel instead.

The energy buzz was great, whereas with the regular Sun breath I don't seem to get similar effects. I also entered a light trance with it, which was surprising.

One of the reasons why I'm focusing on pranayama right now is to raise my general capacity for energy and condition myself for higher bioelectricity in a safe and steady way. So, this seems like a great exercise to introduce into my routine.

I'll come back with another post once I've had some time with it, to see how it improves over time and how my body reacts to higher levels of energy.

This is one of my personal prayers I've written and recite relatively often, in this case, to Zeus. I felt like sharing it here today. I have quite a few written prayers in my journals, that I recite when I feel is right, while also having daily prayers to Zeus and the Gods (and soon, will add one to my GD), where I more directly communicate, but I've found reciting pre-written prayers can have its benefits, both in communication and connection, and as an experience for me personally, my mental state and growth. What is key here is that I write these based on truthful feelings, and not as blind reverence. Everything here is based on what I truly feel, what I truly want, and what I am truly thankful for. I like to write these like poetry, where every single word is meaningful to me.

"Father Zevs, I am thankful for everything you have blessed me with, and continue to bless me with. I am thankful for everything you have taught me, and continue to teach me. I am thankful for every time you helped me when challenges were beyond me, and for knowing you will always help me when my power is insufficient. I am thankful for the path of Zevism, and the privilege it is to walk it.
I have seen the path of Godhead, the path of evolution. In a world of false spiritual paths, I am walking the real path. I have grown, through this life and all my lives, to see and to wish for higher callings, greater purposes. While the material still maintains me, spiritual growth is where my deepest purpose lies, what my deepest desire is.
I do not desire to be famous and adored, besides of helping people when I can. I do not desire to be extremely wealthy, besides of living a comfortable and pleasant life. I do not desire the greatest love life, besides of having my partner, who offers me comfort, connection, and moments of passion. I know and have lived to know that these have their role, but they will never be my greatest purpose.
I desire to be on the path, and to advance on the path, more greatly than anything else. I desire to advance in meditation, to have higher and higher energy, to see more and more of the truth beyond mayic existence, to have higher and higher power to shape the world around me into what it needs to be for growth, and I desire Godhead. Beyond chasing higher existence, I find all else to be illusion.
If it is in my path to be famous, I will make the most of it. If it is in my path to be very wealthy, I will make the most of it. If it is in my path to leave a grand legacy, I will make the most of it. If it is Dharma, if it is the way to my advancement, I will follow it. But none of these things can deter me from the path, and from my love for you and the Gods.
Help my needs be met, help my judgement be clear, help ease my meditative path, help me avoid disaster, and help me handle it all myself.
My home is with the Gods, with their path. In their embrace, in their family, in their teachings. It always has been, and I am grateful to have learned this early in this incarnation. I am grateful that the path of Zevism exists in this moment, and that I am back within your assembly. I am grateful for all the Zevists who advance along with me, for the Guardians who taught me and many others, and for the High Priests who spearhead it all. May this path keep existing, and may all who are able to understand and receive it, join it as initiates.
I thank you most of all, and first of all, Father Zevs, as you are the source of it all."

MEDITATION PATH UPDATE - Energy work is incredibly important

Understanding the three steps of magick is essential for advancing. However, this also comes in the form of a practical understanding, of getting better at focusing the mind so the energy can properly be programmed (holding visualizations, avoiding intrusive thoughts, etc.), as well as being able to feel energy, distinguish between energies, and so on.

What has absolutely skyrocketed my progress in terms of energy sensitivity is using the Foundation Meditation and circulating energy through my body while in trance. Trance work itself became better over time, and the deeper the trance, the better, and I also literally felt how I could raise more and more energy over time, and direct it into things like the Pineal, certain Chakras, or areas of the body for healing and recovery.

I've been able to feel the energy during cleaning for a few months at this point, but nowadays I'm also feeling it from protection, which is a milestone for me, as I've been told that Algiz is a more subtle, higher octave energy that is generally harder to be sensitive to.

Raising Surya before my daily affirmations has also helped, which is to imply that just practicing will improve things.

Sometimes, lately, I get itches over my entire body when raising energy, and they are slightly unique in that the surface area that is itching feels literally like bullet marks. A very small dot. I'm able to effectively ignore it, it subsides, and it doesn't hurt or deter me from meditating, so I am just pushing through.

I've also had small red spots on my skin after certain meditations, that can last up to a day, usually less, and don't hurt or itch. I was told by a Guardian that this is generally safe and common.

Overall? Good progress, I'm thankful and proud.
Excited to see what else I can achieve, since I'll be adding some direct work on empowering the Chakras (haven't touched this because I felt a need to focus on cleaning and fundamentals for a while, and I was also told this is a sensible idea), and that will likely bring some new things to surface.

Apparently I post a lot in the Forums, haha
Nice little achievement to celebrate, looking forward to more time in our great community.

MEDITATION PATH UPDATE - Pineal experience and my current meditation routine

Firstly, the pineal experience.
Every night, before I go to sleep, I've always struggled to "turn off my brain" and go into a relaxed state of near-sleep, always needing screens, entertainment, or some sort of distraction.
Lately, almost as if for no reason, I've just been doing some meditative exercises before sleep instead, and it has worked wonders. I say for no reason, because I didn't put in any direct effort towards changing this habit. Things just slowly went from using my laptop as I fall asleep, to using my phone, to enjoying the lack of light from having neither, to doing a bit of meditation. Actively meditating improves you as a person without you even noticing.

What I normally do before I fall asleep now, and have been for a week or so, is get into a trance by relaxing and just sitting there, and just accepting my hyper-active thoughts. As minutes pass, my thoughts get slower, to the point where I can just feel what I'm feeling without so much introspection or recalling memories, or whatever.
Then, after a certain point, I start to draw in and feel energy, similarly to the Foundation Meditation, and after that it's essentially up to how I feel as for what I do with that energy.

Sometimes, I do some gentle cleaning using only visualization, maybe in a specific Chakra(s) I feel I need extra work on. Doing it like this, with a strict focus on feeling the energy going into cleaning, does seem to improve my regular cleaning session with vibrations, because I know what feelings to mentally focus on.
Maybe, if I'm feeling sore after a workout, I direct it as healing energy, which I do by being aware of how that body part feels, focusing my mind on it, and visualizing light while knowing I'm healing and not cleaning. It does feel different, and it did help me with recovery the couple times I did it.
A couple times, I directed the energy into a certain Chakra for empowerment, just meditating on that Chakra and tuning into the associated feelings, which do become stronger as I both focus harder and send more energy.

What I did today, however, was interesting. I simply directed that energy into my pineal gland, with no expectation in mind (aka, no specific intent or cleaning or empowerment, letting that energy find its path of least resistance).
I focused on my 6th Chakra, then moved slightly around the brain to try to locate the pineal gland. It's a sort of click moment when you find it, if you are decent at feeling energies you'll know when you did.

After about 4-5 breaths of foundation, I essentially felt like I had to stop, because I was definitely feeling something, and I didn't want things to get too intense, since my pre-sleep meditation is supposed to just be relaxing and keep my mind busy on something as I doze off.
I felt a sort of mist covering all of my brain, and the visualization was vivid enough that I could see a small, sparkly white-gold area when looking up with my eyes closed.
I felt relaxed, and very aware of everything I was feeling.

I'll try it a couple more times this week, and perhaps add Pineal Meditation to my daytime routine.

MY CURRENT PROGRAM - after working on what to add and what to not add for a while.

In the morning, I do my Aura Cleaning with about 30 RAUM vibrations in the aura, and 1-2 in each Chakra.
Then, I do some Sun Salutations, because they seem to be great for energy and for feeling great in the morning.

A few hours later, I do some studying (both ToZ and some spiritual books I'm reading), some note taking, and afterwards I do some Chakra Spinning.
After the spinning and studying, comes my prayer session, which usually consists of me talking about my day, goals, or whatever else, with Father. Then, I grab a sheet of paper, and ask my GD (still don't know who it is, but that hasn't seemed to hinder me) for guidance in my spiritual plans, then take some notes on thoughts I get, ideas, things to pay attention to, etc.

Around sunset is when I do my Hatha Yoga session, and about an hour after I do my AoP, with 18 ALGIS and 18 SOWILO.

Before I sleep, comes the trance session I explained above. But before that, I raise energy with 10 SURYA and state some affirmations I tuned for me for mental programming, and I recite a special prayer to the Gods.

These are daily, but I do have some other things I do:

I work on my Astral senses with 16 INANNA about twice a week.
I empower my Solar Chakra for money with 50 AUM RA on Sundays, on the hour of the Sun.
I take a few minutes each day to tune into and focus on a different Chakra. Not necessarily for empowerment, as much as it is for awareness.
I do some Focus Meditation on various symbols 2-3 times a week, for about 10 minutes.

I've been on this routine for a couple weeks, and I've enjoyed it so far. It's energetically stimulating, it's relatively busy, it does push my limits sometimes, and I'm making improvements.
I'll probably stick with this exact routine for a couple months, then move into more empowerment, deeper cleaning and whatnot.

MEDITATION PATH UPDATE - Limitations and overcoming them, workings and backlash

I ran into some financial issues recently. Nothing insane, just mini-disasters that required some spending that I frankly didn't have the income to fix, by having some emergency cash.
I asked a Guardian how to deal with this problem, and got the advice to ask the Gods, and do a basic Runic working for money. This is the first time I did a working in order to genuinely enact change in my life, so this is likely beneficial info to some people here.

I initially did a Ritual to Lucifius, with the goal of asking for help in this process. There was a sum of money I had to gather, a few methods that could work, some brainfog on my end, some pessimism on my end because of the situation, and a little bit of hope.
After Ritual, I breathe in the energy of Lucifius, and enter into a communication session, with just me, the sigil and a piece of paper.

I was able to put together a small plan to get about 90% of the money I needed, with one of the methods to gain the money requiring pure luck as it was sales-based. I only had 90% of the money even if things worked properly.

The working was simple. 111 FEHU vibrations, some affirmations, some visualization. I've grown to be able to feel energy and other similar things, and this working showed me a lot of my power.
When vibrating, after a little while, I entered trance, everything was a little bit more colorful and quiet, and I felt the power of being able to laser focus on something, feel the energy all around me, and raise it using the mechanism that the rune offered. These words will likely only make sense if you've used energy for a working before, and it really is a beautiful click moment.
Then I did the affirmations, and then visualization. I saw myself succeeding, my mind was on the goal, and visualization was beautiful. I felt a powerful energy buzz while laying down and visualizing, and so many things clicked. The amount that thoughts control consciousness, the energy buzz itself, everything was blissful. Frankly, not much can be said here as far as words. If you do it, you will know what I felt.

I am doing a 40 day working, and I'm just done with being halfway.

I had 6 days to make the money, and I didn't make it via the selling related option. I got my money easily, partially with a paid favor to an old friend. I had full confidence that what I was doing was going to alter my path and lead me to a positive direction. I just knew.

In the end, when push came to shove, I paid everything I needed to pay, in a very surprising way.

I did feel pushback, I had no money and no food for a couple days, learned some tough lessons of money management, and knew deeply that the Gods were going to help me and I was going to achieve what I needed.

Now, writing this post, these events are about a week old. I got a few extra projects in my side gig that gave me some extra money, me and the missus have had some upgrades in terms of income, and I have cash to spare. I'll definitely set up an emergency fund, then do another working in some time after finishing this one. Hopefully we'll have some real disposable income to donate to the ToZ.

Frankly, I can't talk about this working as much as I want to. Things are often quite personal, and we each have our own path.

But I want to throw a suggestion onto the people reading this. TRUST THE GODS, AND TRUST YOUR OWN POWER.

Mentally, and intelectually, I'm quite an advanced individual. But I still have so much work cut out for me to truly become a full human. This working taught me quite a bit, and it taught me something very interesting that I must stress.
ENERGY IS BLISS. A fundamental understanding of the underlying principles of reality is bliss. Knowing your human spirit can achieve what it sets out to achieve is bliss.

Life is genuinely an amazing adventure, with its challenges and issues. If you anchor yourself in the Gods, you will go quite far. I'll definitely keep speaking about my experiences, and I hope my enthusiasm intoxicates others. If my writings are to do anything for you, they must make you a devout follower of the Gods and of this path. All else is just meaningless details, and the mysteries this path offers are amazing. I am ultimately a beginner. The things that can be achieved on this path are infinitely larger than what I can see, and thinking about that is pure delirium. You will climb, you will fall, and you will enjoy it, if you understand the purpose behind it.