Chief Guardian William Hunter Duncan composed the following poem illustrating and accompanying the work of the OSA.
The Octagon Society
Order of Spiritual Alchemy
A poem
by
Chief Guardian, William Hunter Duncan
© Copyright, William Hunter Duncan. All rights reserved.
Introduction
I. In the beginning was a song
Stars formed in a circular dance
Planets gathered around the Sun
A Milky Way spiral and trance
The Earth coalesced, cradle run
Balanced opalescent moon grant
Human emergence as saip’yon
Here you are (becom)ing a (wo) man
II. We sang before we said a word
We danced as soon as we could stand
Taste was/is our first aware lord
Consciousness awakening grand
Circle community like a cord
Generations sharing in kind
What are you doing in this world?
Will you leave it better than found?
III. Empires rise, decline and they die
Civilizations see the same
We humans suffer such ill ides
In the micro as in the main
As above so below like spies
Consciousness for many mired plain
Earth spirals ‘round a central fire
Air and water make four core frames
IV. You have been here before, you know
Everything dies and nothing dies
Life ends, yet eternal the soul
Expands, however much we cry
You are who you are, if not whole
Becoming is not to ask why
Accept things as they can be known
Know that I can only change mine
V. The Octagon Society?
A Spiritual Alchemist?
There is a lack of morality
This empire opposite of Christ
Ascending in barbarity
Insanity is the new just
Confusion become clarity
Lead into gold is the new trust
VI. Whatever harms have come to you
No matter who has done the harm
There is a way you can heal true
The world and the Divine are charmed
Balance reason and faith for truth
To look deep inside is very hard
Especially for those of youth
Self is the undiscovered land
VII. This is a most creative time
Reason and Faith the true Science
Practice charity, love, be kind
Encourage realization
Sing and dance and play to unwind
Find a courage in allegiance
Shared truths and beliefs will abide
Be the wisdom of the ancients
VIII. It is the end of an empire
Awake and aware ride the waves
Of tiered catabolic decline
The gross decadence of this Age
Collapsed, a funereal pyre
A new civilization forged
The Octagon Society
A new America, restored
Preliminary Training
These three preliminary Laws
Three emotions: guilt, shame and blame
Holding many as if with claws
Three Laws for opening up space
For looking plainly at our flaws
Open up to the power of place
Reason, passion, faith, love and awe
Prep for the laws primary, eight
The First Preliminary Law – The Law of Blame
I. The Octagon Society
Comes to terms with the Law of Blame
To cast blame is to not agree
Your spark of the creator’s flame
This life’s fire needs to be tended
The quintessences must be claimed
To blame blinds one in contending
This is your freedom so constrained
II. Who do you blame, who so wronged you?
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother?
A distant relative not true?
Someone you worked for, another?
There are many who blame the few
Wealthy, powerful, go further
The people we love can be cruel
Anyone can make life harder
III. Do you not have the life you want?
Who do you blame if you do not?
Blame will always tell you you can’t
He did this, she did that, I’m caught
Broken and lost, justice is taint
To care and to dream is so fraught
I can’t, there is too much so wrong.
You blame yourself most, it is taught
IV. There was not so much blame to hold
When we were tribal on the move
Individuality, soul
Subsumed in a collective truth
No survival without the cord
Connecting every soul from youth
Until the body is stopped cold.
Exile was a true check on crude
V. Blame expands like cities arise
Agriculture generates wealth
The more people the less are wise
What is mine is the new True Health
People begin to make disguise
Motivations take on a stealth
Faith in others is surely tried
Accountabilities’ death dealt
VI. We retreated into the self
Community foundations fall
Family breakdown widely dealt
Human relations become small
Cloying gild and silver fires smelt
An offering to gods of thrall
Sundry smothering selfish guilt
All connections become withdrawal
VII. Who among us cannot be blamed?
When every relation transect
Another commodity flame
Firing acquisitive tracks
Driving inevitable shame
So careless we become so fake
Distracted in our selfish gaze
What we cannot gain we will take
VIII. You must let go of blame to live
We cannot grow into the Self
Distracted, wasting, burning time
Our responsibility shelved
Pointing fingers, what is outside
Interior unexamined
Blame an excuse for you to hide
Your divine spark, your soul alloyed
The Second Preliminary Law – The Law of Shame
I. The Octagon Society
Comes to terms with the Law of Shame
To feel shame is to not believe
In your transcendent path and way
Light in this life, you could achieve
Mired in muck of another’s frame
This a failure to realize
A divine clarifying name
II. What is the source of your shame child?
Were you a child when it began?
Mother, Father, relative guile
Teachers, fellow students, aghast
A boss, everything a trial
A co-worker treats you like trash
A lover rarely makes you smile
Some dogma like self hate amassed
III. Your shame might be something you did
Something you said, something you made
A crown of thorns made as a kid
This bed of nails you cannot trade
What mock of wool to flame the skin
Drowned in alcohol, drugs to fade
Tell yourself how awful you’ve been
Bitter, small, weak, sick and jaded
IV. To carry shame more harm than deeds
Weighed down long after what was done
Self-inflicted as if some creed
Again, again the feeling comes
Some infernal tale like a seed
Growing into a vine that forms
A cage that does become a need
This false self, Identity worn
V. Life passes by not truly lived
Everything becomes colored by
The shame of that thing so aggrieved
As we wallow in the swine sty
That sick feeling again retrieved
Repeating in the by and by
Spiritual stagnance accede
The point of life lost, then we die
VI. First thing, avoid repeating this
This cycle of self hate and shame
What’s done is done, it can’t be missed
Behavior and desire tamed
That thing repeated ever dissed
Cut off the source of it and flame
The sweet freedom of esteem kissed
Bathe in clear waters and awake
VII. Make amends if that is the thing
What you did to another claim
Let them know you remember it.
If you cannot, repeat again
And again, to the abyss, fling
Your intent, will to make it plain
To the Divine; this is like spring
A new beginning, for this aim
VIII. Shame must be put to the fires
Release the self to live truly
To become awake and alive
Fill your God given promise full
See clearly the truth of your life
Cleanse yourself with waters of truth
Breathe free, open up, never tire
This wondrous existence, forsooth
The Third Preliminary Law – The Law of Guilt
I. The Octagon Society
Comes to terms with the Law of Guilt
Guilt similar to shame maligns
What I did a smothering quilt
A perpetual harm imbibed
I made a mistake and I still
I carry that as if assigned
I must own it and make it right
II. I make amends to own the deed
Yes, the one I harmed needs to know
They need the release and to see
That justice is mutual flow
Freeing both; if I cannot give
That, get creative, it must go.
With guilt I’ve done much harm to me
Restitution, a key to know
III. I accept that I am guilty
It’s not easy being human
If we harm others, lack fealty
We likely were taught, a doom loop
Behavior passed down easily
Still, I cannot blame, I must own
I’m the author of my story
Yes, I am my own king enthroned
IV. I forgive myself, what I did
I make amends and I am freed
Restitution, I deserve it
I have broken the chains of greed
Selfishness is made care and lit
inter-generational deeds
lifted, to forgive is the gist
Of a new freedoms will to be
V. To take responsibility
Making amends for what I’ve done
Is to embrace humility
A foundation of self-love won
Spiritual agility
A child of the Divine, of God
The birthright of ability
A greater faith, reason and love
VI. I know the Divine forgives me
If amends are not possible
Even if it is not received
The harmed is not agreeable
God knows what the heart has achieved
To forgive the self, true fabled
Embrace of true love of being
A seat at the cosmic table
VII. I know the Divine accepts me
Letting go of shame, blame and guilt
In the warm embrace of being
The universe responds and builds
On this, a new way of seeing
Whole vistas, Elysian guild
Sacred consciousness expanding
The bosom of Great Mother’s fields
VIII. I know that the Divine loves me
Warm countenance of Great Father
Bestowing on me a fine dream
Force of my effect on matter
Creative impact on the stream
Synchronicity a pattern
Of increasing magic between
My self, my soul, God gathering
The Primary Laws
Eight primary laws to assess
This spiritual alchemy
Turning lead into gold, no less
Your life become more like the dream
The life you want, do what it takes
It is yours if you are willing
And set intentions to set stakes
It is hard but it is worthy
The First Law – The Law of Acceptance
I. This is the first primary Law
To accept yourself and others
Despite that each of us is flawed
Everyone like kin or brother
A unique expression of God
Believe in yourself and transform
Let go, embrace love and true awe
To achieve the Philosoph’ Stone
II. Acceptance is not approval
But to acknowledge it exists
To see it as it is and was
I can change myself, do insist
Every other is what they are
Aware of it all, make a list
A sorting process, near or far
Growth cannot come with a clenched fist
III. How to accept that which is harm?
You cannot push yourself too much
But make haste, though it is jarring
There is no time to waste as such
Get out of the way of false charm
By recognizing it’s drear touch
Fully, freely without alarm
Let go, let it be so much dust
IV. Stop to consider the father
His heredity and his training
His father’s good/bad behavior
Imperious, checked out, missing
Sometimes like a great protector
Wise model of important things
Great chieftan, or a crass grifter
To endure, or a great blessing
V. Stop to consider a mother
Without woman there is no form
Warm, soft like a down comforter
and also like primal chaos
Death goddess, Kali destroyer
Also the embrace of pure love
Care, also a mess worrier
Who can hold to a claim too long
VI. Now make a list of everyone
Who occupies your dreams and thoughts
All of those who inflame you some
Especially those you have fought
No matter what they are, or gone
And even if you know them not
It may feel it cannot be done
To accept them cannot be taught
VII. Accept them as such as God does
They are all like any father
Mother, flawed as anyone was
And yes, just as you yourself are
The hardest to accept because
I, my biggest critic by far
The greatest judge effect and cause
The Divine – leave the door ajar
VIII. Freely, without reservation
Accept yourself and all others
This the first law of causation
To love the self and another
Negative evaluation
Persisting can only bitter
Become who you are micro sun
Much greater than you know you are
The Second Law – The Law of Happiness
I. Congratulations, you have crossed
The first (bronze) gateway of ancients
The threshold of acceptance passed
The self and others the agents
New possibilities and tasks
I my spiritual regent
So few are willing to oneness
Change, very hard but most cogent
II. This second Law of Happiness:
Not what happens but what we think
Especially childhood sadness
Memories that may cause to drink
Bitter draught of lack of redress
Into greater sadness we sink
But this is a choice to address
Happiness is a choice to link
III. A Constitutional pursuit
Guaranteed as American
Held up as some consumer truth
Can become some envious plan
To tear down a successful few
Happiness become a put-on
A not-civil war with no truce
But this is your birthright, human
IV. Happiness as consumer goods
The crass inquisitive impulse
Cannot be happiness, aloof
But mere want as need to look full
Having a lot of stuff as truth
Can over time only be dull
It takes nothing at all to choose
Happiness as default to fill
V. Sadness is the default for most
This turning from sad to happy
To make gold from the drang and dross
Is spiritual alchemy
Unhappiness is like a ghost
Haunting so that you cannot see
But that which is making you cold
When to kindle your fire is free
VI. There is what other people do
The world is a mess and a roil
Someone has you under a boot?
Everything is tangle and toil?
That someone harmed you is not moot
Until you sluff your mortal coil
You may be a mis’rable tool
But this destiny you can foil
VII. Feel sadness when appropriate
Unhappy when it’s required
Then separate yourself from it
Yet honor the emotions tried
Sit down, remember, make a list
Exhaustive, everything of ide
No matter how it makes you twist
Make a conscious choice to abide
VIII. Choose to do what you love to do
Cultivate that which makes you smile
More people will be drawn to you
You cannot stop what does defile
Do well not to even try to
Dwell instead on all that is fine
Discern what is worthy and choose
Happiness is a Law to mine
The Third Law – The Law of Joy
I. Congratulations, you did it!
Accepting yourself as you are
And others, despite what they did
The happiness you dream and dare
You have taken steps to be fit
Now see, most people live in fear
Anxiety like a constant mist
Joy is a choice opposite drear
II. Joy is the opposite of fear
Most are more fearful than joyful
Fear of dying, of shedding tears
Not food enough, pantry not full
Terrified that others might jeer
Lack of money and clothing pulls
My job and my house are too mere
I might become another’s mule
III. Your capacity for true joy
Is your will to let go of fear
This joy is not some silly toy
Some tawdry political sneer
But a state of being, in soul
Shining so bright even through tears
With spirit the strongest alloy
Good music, dancing, lots of mead
IV. (Too much alcohol will depress)
What of joy is this honest work?
Like happiness, you do assess
What cultivates, what is a lark
Do what you love, but first address
What are you afraid of, what lurks
What fears in what dark recesses?
Do root them out and make them stark
V. As with so much of this training
The Octagon Society
Make a list and yet do not think
I control, They do not own me
Feel the fear and take a deep drink
You must know it to become free
Delve down deep, hollow it out, sink
That wasteland of anxiety
VI. Look at that first fear on your list
Consciously decide to feel joy
The next time anxiety twists
Interrupt emotional ploys
That would otherwise lead to angst
A stand against what does annoy
Ground yourself, take on the ballast
This state of being your own true lord
VII. Regardless the situation
Every fear on your list aside
As happiness cultivation
To give it up to the Divine
An acceptance alteration
Do face every fear in real life
And in your imagination
Joy a delib’rate turn of time
VIII. Joy as effortless as a child’s
Awed at the wonder of this earth
If fear is garbage joy is gold
Learning this is like a rebirth
Sayeth the alchemist of old
You’ve just begun to know your worth
Joy is a foundation so bold
Embrace this fundamental truth
The Fourth Law – The Law of Peace
I. Joy, happiness and acceptance
This is the beginning of peace
“That passeth all understanding”
Next there is anger to appease.
Sad becomes happy, transmuting
Fear into joy,we then agree
Anger does becomes peace, we sing
The Octagon Society
II. Most people are angry a lot
Reactive, dwelling, not knowing
What is the root that makes them hot
Triggered, stirred, cast about, fuming
Whatever it was it’s not that
Furious, howling and raging
Throwing things, the cause of it
Is deep, some core experience.
III. What is at the core of anger?
This is a complex emotion
What you feel is not what matters
The root is likely in childhood
Often the father or mother
Or someone from the neighborhood
neglect, abuse, a betrayer?
Rejoice at least that you withstood
IV. Helpless, hopeless and unworthy?
That’s what makes you so very red
Not the dog, your kid, failed theory
Right now are you feeling some dread?
Ready to quit, I’m so weary
This life can be such a sick mess
I’m so tired of this fury
Can we please try peace as a test?
V. Find the root by making a list
Everything that makes you angry
You really do not need assist
You will work it out if you try
In as much detail, not remiss
Everyone and everything, and why?
Feel the anger, and then dismiss
Observe the list standing outside
VI. Setting aside you have control
No one can make you, you react
When you were young what were you told?
The first betrayal, lack of tact
That first time you felt so alone?
Focus on that root as a fact
Look at your list again, atone
Peace is yours if you will accept
VII. Observe, acknowledge, then move on
Feel the anger, then release it
Peace is the natural state of
Spirituality, of this
Happiness, acceptance and joy
Are transmuted from the base first
Emotions are another’s toys
So easy to distract you with
VIII. Spiritual peace that endures
Like joy a true state of being
Stuff of spiritual masters
Is no less yours if you will see
The hollow core of your anger
Natural but not for feeding
Equanimity, thereafter
Relax into the life you dream
The Fifth Law – The Law of Forgiveness
I. Congrats, This is the halfway point
This is the most difficult part
You will need happiness and joy
Acceptance and peace for this start
The idea leaves many devoid
To forgive those who did you harm?
Most would rather do them harm, hoy!
To forgive yourself? That is hard
II. This is the most difficult step
Forgiving yourself and others
Not easy to make the attempt
And yet no progress, these the terms
Forgiveness, not misplaced contempt
To forgive is not to affirm
To forgive is not to forget
To forgive is not to return
III. Who you forgive is not absolved
This is giving it up to God
This harm they did is not dissolved
This is to make your spine a rod
To give you a sense of resolve
Withhold this and you will stay lost
Embrace this and you will evolve
Rays of a spiritual Sol
IV. Father, Mother, Sister, Brother
Grandfather, Grandmother, Cousins
Uncles, Aunts, all your ancestors
Employer, co-workers, students
Partner, friend, wife, husband, lover
Enemies and antagonists
Look deep, inquire, remember
An everything to forgive list
V. Now, what do others need from you?
Now, a list to forgive yourself
To be honest is a virtue
Put these burdens as on a shelf
Pain is remembered as if true
To observe from a distance helps
Forgiveness is not a pass through
It can feel like a walk through hell
VI. There is the harm and the burden
Not the harm but the burden aches
Carrying this so long, so laden
One is deformed by such a weight
So deformed is to be jaded
So jaded a terrible state
So spiritually faded
Set it down, let it go, abrade
VII. One is easier to forgive
Another may be much harder
It is necessary to live
Truly, if a life long barter
It’s necessary to relive
Get a handle on to sunder
That you are no longer captive
To the base harm of another
VIII. But most I must forgive myself
For what I’ve done, or haven’t done
This bitter hand I have done dealt
For me to say or not be gone
This alchemy of gold to meld
This pain I have carried so long
Forgiveness is a tyrant felled
Forgiving the more I am strong
The Sixth Law – The Law of Strength
I. You have passed through the second gate
The silver gate of forgiving
This emotional transmutate
Fear to joy, anger becomes peace
Sadness becomes a happy way
This Spiritual Alchemy
This is our spiritual state
Drawn down deep into your body
II. Negative emotions reside
In that “old lizard brain” Thalmus
The Amygdala does comply
Soul only a positive thrust
Strength a cardinal virtue, this tide
Will overcoming nature’s bust
The spirit of self overrides
Body lifted, a spirit trust
III. Strength is the power to make change
In the self, our body, beliefs
Attitudes, emotions abate
Intentions, awareness redeemed
Attitude and focus attained
Our limitations as relief
Our limitations do sustain
Like some guide as set by a chief
IV. We can change, make the life we want
What change we are capable of
This capability a fount
Expanding the more strength does come
There is a change we simply can’t
No power to change anyone
Who does not want to change, do flaunt
This as you like, it’s a no go
V. You are far stronger than you know
More than any led you to see
There are hard limits to your growth
The secret of power, believe
Know the real limits of your worth
No limits is dissipating
Real limits allow to go forth
Fine tune your focus and succeed
VI. This process dropping spirit down
Into the body, the body
lifted into spirit, abound
Is an eight step process/study
Your rank self-centeredness brought low
Turned a centeredness more Godly
Step one, become more aware how
You think, feel. Step two, intentions
VII. Step three, attitudes. Four, focus
Five, listing your belief systems
Who and what you are, what to trust
What you want, to this addendum
Six, remaining sadness adjust
Seven, what fears to amalgam
Eight, remaining anger to sus
Make exhaustive lists, a full sum
VIII. We can assist the universe
To make change of some of the world
We can change ourselves to be sure
We cannot even those we love
Of self change, real chapter and verse
We’ve immense strength over/above
Whatever told, that we rehearsed
The life that you want can be yours
The Seventh Law – The Law of Teaching
I. As you are stronger than you thought
You are a teacher to others
Whether you are aware or not
Whether yes or no you offer
A model for others to spot.
Now you are awake to power
Emotional alchemy wrought
Do forgive and accept others
II. If we teach in every moment
As we interact with others
The trick, to be conscious of it
Aware models of behavior
We get to decide how we act
We get to decide who we are
We decide how we will say what
This is eye-opening power
III. So what to teach and how to teach?
Make a list of those who taught you
Positive and negative, breach
Father, Mother, enemies too
Skills and knowledge, behaviors based
From all these, three qualities sooth
Admired and reviled, of which
You built the self and your worldview
IV. From this list of what you were taught
List eight to twelve things you will teach
Behaviors and qualities, thought
The basis of what you believe
The best of you and what skill aught
As a foundation to conceive
This a student to teacher jaunt
Alchemy of spirit relief
V. This spiritual alchemy
Octagon Society way
Come to terms with reality
Draw down from heaven in assay
That we might inspire belief
This true path that others may take
Fulfill the genius they may be
As endowed, they might awaken
VI. First accepting life as it is
Next transmuting lead into gold
Negative feelings positive
To learn to forgive is so bold
Forgive as resentment desist
We are stronger than ever told
This not anything to resist
Born to make this a better world
VII. It is more than mere behavior
Knowledge over time can be lost
Roman peasants of empire
Had better quality cook pots
Than gentry of the dark era
Many skills over time forgot
Traditional knowledge terra
Can settle into dirt and rot
VIII. What do you feel called to study?
What do you feel you should hold to
To be a repository
Of what is good for everyone?
This is your charge, tell a story
Tell many tales of knowledge won
Be a teacher born to glory
Of the will of this earthly run
The Eighth Law – The Law of Unconditional Love
I. The final stage of your training
To feel unconditional love
Yourself, everyone, everything
Yes, as below and as above
The Creator does for all things
This essence of the treasure trove
Something like spiritual wings
The key to spiritual growth
II. But what is this madness you say?
How can I love my enemy?
How those who keep the good at bay
Or the one who has so harmed me?
You need not forget for a day
The harm and the pain that you feel
This does not countenance that way
No one can stop you from loving
III. Love like joy a way of being
Like accepting all as it is
Like the forgiveness we can bring
Like the happiness that does fit
Like the peace that is becoming
Like the strength that is our justice
A thing to be taught like singing
A love encompassing all this
IV. Despite your training this is hard
If you cannot forgive, accept
Any one or thing as a start
You’re not able to love adept.
Accept this, forgive yourself, part
The sea of tears and love thyself
With time love becomes like fine art
Loving all will be a great help
V. This as the Creator loves you
Unconditional love is just
It is for you to extend too
To all the living unto dust
List all you have, do not eschew
Extend to them what is a trust
Of God, this a more golden rule
For spiritual growth, a must
VI. This loving is the third gateway
First accepting, then forgiveness
This is the third secret abray
The golden key of the ancients
This spiritual path away
From the mire of abeyance
To enlighten, illuminate
The golden key of love awaits
VII. To love thyself is the hardest
As to accept and to forgive
Real love, not that of Narcissus
Infatuate, of his image
But of the core of being, lest
We of material abridge
A constant body restlessness
Settle into a divine state
VIII. For this is fundamental truth
“I love you without condition
As I love myself, I love you
As I so love your creation.”
Breathing into that you may too
Feel true the whole of existence
Rebirth as merry tarot fool
Dancing the edge of the abyss
Conclusion
I. One in ten who start will finish
That is, training, not the poem
You would have list after list, this
Verse is just like a coming home
Challenging and heavy at first
Becoming easier with time
You are welcome here, quench your thirst
Rest awhile and feel free to shine
II. The Octagon Society
This Order of Spiritual
Alchemy, this lead transforming
Into gold of new ritual
Sacrifice of negative ties
For joy, peace, wisdom, love and tools
For the life you’re imagining
Power of intention and will
III. Most imagine time in one life
Most are sad, fearful and angry.
There’s peace and joy knowing life’s rife
Continuum through time’s carry
To know your soul will never die
Unless one chooses to tarry;
Oh, the responsibility!
From life to life to life array!
IV. What then is the task in this life?
This is American English
This wisdom passed down many times
Through many, countless languages
May you teach kids in future lives
What you’ve read today and attest
May you find what you want, this life
May it be a gift to lives yet
V. America is in waiting
It was once a much diff’rent dream
Said to have a long destiny
Like some real bastion of freedom
But exacerbating shady
Flirting with collapse, epic doom
Whatever you do be steady
Let there be no fate to assume
VI. The Octagon Society
This Order of Spiritual
Alchemy, a keeper of seeds
Of wisdom, knowledge of the real
Esoteric truths as the deeds
To future societies fields
Hermetics and astrology
Tarot and the ritual shields
VII. Herbalism and gardening
Geomancy, the Cabala,
Traditional skills and building
The sword, bow, gun, lance, rod and mace
Electrical, ecology
Breeding, hybridizing flora
You get the need and the feeling
Remember what most throw away
VIII. You are the seed of future growth
The promise of needs yet to be
Rise to the challenge of this force
Your soul on this long tale journey
Echoing through this song of source
Eternal is a sailing sea
Of Time’s whirling scene, a long course
Navigate as a master be