Ritual And The Modern Magician - Part Two

Ritual And The Modern Magician - Part Two - Continued from Part One

If I’m so quick to remove elements of tradition, it would be only fair for me to mention the required parts. These are the mechanical bases of success, and there is no taking them out if you plan on succeeding. The Western Tradition, as synthesized by Mathers and later popularized by Crowley and Regardie mixes up many elements of Renaissance magick into a cohesive system. This amalgam is not wholly natural or required. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that for beginners, trying to learn this much information at once will end up being too much too soon. So, I’d like to separate what I think is the essential from the unneeded.

Un-needed

1) Tarot
2) Enochian Magick
3) Knowledge and Conversation of the HGA - would be nice, but is not needed at this stage
4) Qabalah expertise - can be useful, but hardly necessary
5) Sigil construction - to get started you can copy existing ones
6) Gematria - nice, but not necessary at the start
7) Astrology - although its a related field, I’d mark it as optional
Geotic magick and Grimoires - outdated and potentially dangerous for most

Necessary

1) Ritual tools - at least a limited set
2) Yoga training - which can start simultaneously, but need not be the primary concern
3) Invocation and Banishing
4) Enough knowledge to test the Entities
5) Open mind
6) Dedication to recording results

This basic toolset can get you up and running fast, and everything you need to become a proper adherent to the Light can be purchased at WalMart! You should not have to spend a ton of money, or waste time, to begin a proper study. You can copy the sigils from “The Golden Dawn: Volume IV Book Series.” Check out the comical information contained on the page: “The Seal and Names of the Intelligences should be used on all talismans for good effect. Those of the Spirits of the Planeets serve for evil, and should therefore not be used in any operation of a beneficial kind.” (1) Hell, I’ll do you one better: unless you’re a truly evil bastard, you probably should only being doing “good” operations anyways.

The scant information in the Golden Dawn book is enough to get you started, but it’s buried smack dab in the middle of such a large bit of text that’s it tough to see the forest for the trees. But you can faitfully reproduce the Kameas and Sigils on something as simple as writing paper, and should have no real problem getting results.

Now, I understand the allure that so many of the so-called “classic texts” of the Western Magickal Tradition have to many people. But I urge you not to deify the works of other magicians. None of them are superior to you, especially in relation to solving your own problems, despite their ability to effectively craft prose. This goes for Alistair Crowley, as well. Sure, Crowley is a hero to most in the tradition, but he was imminently human, and either intentionally put blinds into much of his work, lied, or embelished when it came to much of his instruction. Even at this best, he’s often not clear in his communications.

Crowley, and other luminaries of the late 19th century and early 20th century revival were raised Christian, and had a fascination with many things of that ilk, especially the Catholic Mass. Much of their literature sought to emulate the style that was common among churchmen, and is probably a bit archaic to us in the 21st. Century. In other words, if you aren’t feeling it, don’t use it. It really is as simple as that. Take what you want from any other, but do not cowtow to their perceive authority. If you do, you might as well just go to church. Your job as a magician is to intrepret your own unique relationship with the Hidden Universe, not to practice rote memorizations of ancient and often garbled text.

So much of the work of Crowley is now part of the landscape, that to take all of it at face value is a grave mistake. Don’t forget, that whatever Alistair Crowley was, that which he always worked on being was a teacher of men. Many of his lessons are not straight-forward, so keep in mind the need for constant discernment. It’s also safe to say that his rituals, although usually beautiful, can be complex and were uniquely suited to his Thelemic conception of the Universe. If you don’t hold the same conception, the symbolism is meaningless, or at least devoid of the resonation you will need to successfully accomplish your work.

I will lay out a frank opinion, which undoubtedly won’t be popular with all. A lot of books on the occult are truly awful. As seekers of the Light, it’s not surprising how much we will spend on information. This fact is obviously well known to the niche publishers, and it’s not their job to check the validy of occult books. There job simply is to stock the shelves with what sells. For this reason, you’ll always see the grimoires in print, because they appeal to people’s sense of mystery, and certainly to the often hidden desire to grab the power of the Universe in your hands. I won’t go so far as to challenge anyone’s willingness to delved into all these subjects that are ancillary to the main field of Planetary Magick, but I do think it’s important to outline my conception. I’ll state it clearly.

The traditional magick system of the Septenary is as ancient as any, and is complete in every way. It’s been a literary device to group this sublime system into a genre with some of the clunkiest gunk ever conceived out of the minds of louts from woebegone eras. It is my sincere desire to clean up this mistake in this volume, to the best of my ability. My main concern is effective results in the area of personal development. I have no need to “look smart” doint it, especially if in doing so I’m not true to myself or the nature of the work. The Septenary system is easy. In fact, it’s so easy that just about any idiot can do it, as long as she is dedicated to the task of knowing herself and is willing to do the work. There are no other criteria that I feel is absolutely imperative to the work, and anywhere where I can remove a step that I know to be unnecessary. You, of course, are free to disagree, based on your own interpretations. Somewhere between my conception and yours will undoubtedly lie the truth, or as close to an approximation of the truth as we can get to in our limited physical state.

As stated earlier, I feel the main goal of this type of work is the Operator’s personal development, and the main pitfall is delusion. This can come in the form of grandiosity, or worse, with the development of malignant personality disorders. It’s very easy to look at the biographies of so many would be magicians and come up with an interesting conclusion; for people who specialized in getting rid of their egos, a lot of them sure ended up with huge ones! I’m sure this is one of the reasons that most magickal trainers have insisted on detailed records of all your rituals. If a personality order begins to appear, you have perhaps a means to trace the when and the where. With no written record you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with the answer on what caused your downfall.

But I’ll go one step further: there is no need for you to have a downfall of any sort, either on the spiritual or physical plane. Your life is what’s most important, and don’t ever forget that. There’s no special spiritual superiority in being broke or living a life of hardships. All people should be happy and do their personal best, and this is especially true of one so in tune with themself as the magician. To cater to fantasies about “long dark night of the souls” or the “ordeals” you need to go through to attain spiritual goals is its’ own form of sanctimony, which needs to be avoided at all costs. Never blame anyone for yourself, and never ascribe any particular “holiness” to your actions, or you run the risk of falling into the same traps that so many before you have failed to avoid.

This lengthy warning having been said, I’d still encourage you to read every bit of information you can get on this high magickal art, right down to the craziest grimoires, so that you are intellectually grounded in all of the concepts you’re interested in learning about. But stick to invoking the Good Intelligences first and foremost, and let them instruct you on any of the questions you have concerning the writings of others. You will probably be very surprised at most of the information you hear. When your magickal and personal development permit, you may still have an interest in summoning demons to do your bidding. The good news is, at this point, you’ll also have the requisite skills and the necessary moral grounding to accomplish your task. The funny thing is, you probably won’t care at this point. And that’s one of the true secrets to the Hidden Universe. Even if you have the “power” necessary to enrich your life in practical ways, the idea most likely won’t appeal to you.