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As I've posted in the past, the proper use of "magick" as a specific term for the spirtual arts makes Google searches a whole lot easier. When I'm interested in searching for information on ritual techniques I'm really not interested in getting back pages describing the cups and balls trick or how to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Similarly, if I'm looking for good card tricks I would rather not be pulling back pages on reading Tarot. Using "magic" for stage magic and "magick" for ceremonial and ritual techniques really works - or at least it would if people would follow the convention.
This brings me to a recent article referencing "magick" that completely misuses the term. This weekend in Tacoma, Washington a self-described "magickian" named Gf Kanick put on a performance. From the article:
Kanick spells magick with a "k" to distinguish his art. Magick with a "k" is a linguistic signal pioneered by Victorian bad boy, mountain climber and legendary mystic Aleister Crowley, who used the word magick, with a "K," to distinguish his explorations of consciousness and other psychonautic systems from the stage work of everyday magicians. Kanick, like Crowley, is no everyday magician, and says his goal is to take people out of their comfort zones to a place where magick is more than an act.
I'm sure Kanick is quite good at what he does, but if he's comparing himself to Crowley on the grounds that he does innovative illusions all I can really do here is call bullshit. Aleister Crowley spent his entire life developing an innovative spiritual system for personal development and beyond. Anybody who would compare that level of work to putting together a compelling stage performance doesn't really know anything about Crowley and shouldn't be appropriating his terminology incorrectly.
Let's face it. This:
A master of many arts, Kanick's talents will be offered as part of Hypothesis, a synthesis of illusion, comedy, sideshow feats, juggling and vaudeville variety.
Has absolutely nothing to do with ritual or ceremonial magick, or with Crowley's work, and it is exactly the "counterfeit" from which the science of the Magi needs to be distinguished.
For what it's worth, though, I'm happy to see that the article describes Crowley as a "legendary mystic" rather than as a baby-sacrificing Satanist. Maybe after more than fifty years some of the media nonsense surrounding his life is starting to die down.
VH Frater SR, HOGD(R) Scandinavia Imperator
by Guest Blogger, Tomas Stacewicz, VH Frater SR, 6=5
I am VH Frater S.'.R.'., Tomas Stacewicz, Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn(R) in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. Many of you know me already or have read my GYLLENE GRYNINGEN blog.
"I DO NOT USUALLY SPEAK OUT ON THIS BLOG, BUT I AM DEEPLY CONCERNED BY THE DIRECTION THAT THE GOLDEN DAWN COMMUNITY APPEARS PRESENTLY TO BE MOVING IN."It's a great shame that our community is being dragged back to a state that preceded our Golden Dawn Harmony initiative in spring 2009, where instead of reasonable arguments based on fact and backed up with evidence, ugly rumours and outright lies are once again being used by a leader of a Golden Dawn organization.
For the last few weeks Robert Zink, the Chief of the "Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn", has on his "Golden Dawn Blog" been spreading false allegations and accusations against the H.O.G.D./A+O, which I feel must be addressed as it involves my native country and personal domestic affairs. I only reluctantly have decided to address this latest debate which is quickly being dragged back into the sort of feud that has nearly destroyed the reputation of the entire Golden Dawn tradition over the past two decades, being one who tries to shun this truly ugly aspect of the modern Golden Dawn community and culture.
Most of the contents of the latest blogs by Mr. Zink aren't even worthy of any serious attention at all, as most readers are able to see through the stereotypic rhetoric of propaganda which infest them. Our order has already refuted the myriad "flame war" talking points Mr. Zink in recent weeks appears to be attempting to resurrect together with the flame war itself. The interested reader need only read our on order's website our TRADEMARK and LINEAGE PAGES (including regarding DESMOND BOURKE), the factual biography (instead of propaganda) of MR. DAVID GRIFFIN (our International Imperator), or the ACTUAL COURT DOCUMENTS that are a matter of public record.
But there is, however, one important point that I feel compelled to address here as it concerns the Order in Sweden and its history. Being a Swede, and the Imperator of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn(R) in Scandinavia, as well as the author of a mainly Swedish Golden Dawn blog (even if events and debates outside of my country often compel me to write in English), I must address the issue of certain Swedish affairs being aired in that blog by Mr. Zink. Robert Zink writes thus:"TOMMY WESTLUND. LEFT HIS [DAVID GRIFFIN'S] ORDER AND TOOK THE ENTIRE SWEDISH TEMPLE WITH HIM AFTER ALLEGEDLY DISCOVERING GRIFFIN WAS DOING RITES WITH THE NAZI FLAG DRAPED OVER THE ALTAR."BEING A MEMBER OF THE SWEDISH JURISDICTION OF THE H.O.G.D./A+O, AND ALSO AN INITIATE OF THE SAME TEMPLE AS THAT OF TOMMY WESTLUND, FOR AS ALMOST AS LONG AS THE LATTER, I BELIEVE THAT I PROBABLY AM THE PERSON MOST QUALIFIED TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE.
"I WILL NOT EVEN DIGNIFY WITH A RESPONSE THE FALSE AND HATEFUL NAZI RUMORS THAT MR. ZINK HAS BEEN INVENTING AND SPREADING FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES NOW AS AMMUNITION FOR GOLDEN DAWN FLAME WAR. "Let me instead bring some real facts into this discussion.
Regarding Tommy Westlund, Tommy was a personal friend of mine and I still regard him to be a dear Frater. He now heads his own order, the Sodalitas Rosae Crucis (S.R+C), which has taken the Golden Dawn tradition and other Rosicrucian currents into a unique direction, that however doesn't reflect the vision of the H.O.G.D./A+O, even if we both pursue the Ars Royale, this being the actual reason for us going separate ways. There is no feud at all in Sweden between the H.O.G.D./A+O and S.R+C, or any other Order for that matter. The true state of matters in Sweden is that there is no need for any Golden Dawn Harmony initiative here, as there is no disharmony in Sweden or Scandinavia to address in the first place.
This newly alleged reason for Tommy's departure from our Order, clearly invented by Robert Zink for his "Golden Dawn Flame War" certainly isn't any protocol of Temple procedures that I have ever seen or heard about in my 15 years of active Temple work in several Swedish and European Temples. In reality, Tommy Westlund left the H.O.G.D./A+O because he wanted to found his own Order, according to his own personal preferences and research.
Tommy Westlund certainly did not take the "entire Swedish temple with him", that being the Temple in Stockholm. Besides, referring to the "entire Swedish temple" falsely gives the impression that there only existed one Temple in Sweden at that time and thus that it no longer exists any Order in Sweden. This is outright propaganda-style disinformation. In fact there existed several Temples of our order in Sweden at the time of Tommy Westlund's departure, one of which one has been under my personal supervision and leadership since early 1997. None of these Temples "followed" Tommy Westlund when he left to found his new organization. In fact, only a couple of individuals followed Tommy into his new project. The Stockholm Temple to which Tommy belonged remained intact and proceeded with its operation as usual.
Let there also be no doubt that the H.O.G.D./A+O continues to have a real presence in Sweden today and that it's College of Adepti oversees students from entire Scandinavia. After Mr. Griffin decided to leave Sweden permanently to pursue his study and training with his Alchemical Masters, he left the charge of the Scandinavian Jurisdiction over to me as Scandinavian Imperator.
Furthermore, I am sure that Tommy and his Order are doing a splendid work in furthering the spiritual process of their initiates, and I truly acknowledge him for that. Therefore, it feels disheartening to see Mr. Zink trying to drag the name of Tommy Westlund and that of my native country into this latest "flame war" barrage against the H.O.G.D./A+O. Therefore I urge Mr. Zink to stay away from dragging Sweden and Swedish initiates into these types of dirty games and underhanded tactics in the future. We don't want to have any part of it.
I do not believe that the hard working Fratres and Sorores of the EOGD are happy that our community is being dragged back into feuding and flame war either. I can assure you that your brothers and sisters in the HOGD/AO do not want this any more than you do. Let us all speak out for peace now before it is too late. Our orders not have to agree about everything. We do not even have to always like what one another does. Let us indeed keep our discussions and debates civil, however. Even if we need to point out something ugly in ourselves to one another, let us do even this in a fraternal manner. And above all, let us present reasoned arguments backed up by factual evidence, not just destructive talking points and flame war propaganda.
Let there be no doubt that the H.O.G.D./A+O still remains firmly committed to the Golden Dawn Harmony initiative, we launched two years ago. We repeat our offer to remove on a reciprocal basis all objectionable materials from our respective fora, websites, and blogs. However, this initiative has fallen on deaf ears up until now and reading the latest blog by Mr. Zink, I fail to see that there actually is any real, common interest in maintaining harmony in the Golden Dawn community on his part."I CALL THEREFORE ON OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE EOGD TO LET MR. ZINK KNOW THAT YOU TOO HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF FLAME WAR LONG AGO."Mr. Zink may think that by trying to drag us all back into flame war, he is only hurting Mr. Griffin or only the members of the HOGD/AO, but he is actually hurting all of you in the EOGD as well as our entire beloved Golden Dawn tradition.
Let us not only end this flame war before it gets started. Let us finally roll up our sleeves together and clean up the really old garbage and attacks off or our websites as well. Let this not be the beginning of a new flame war. Let this instead be the beginning of true fraternity between our two orders.
Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua,
VH Frater S.'.R.'.Imperator for Scandinavia
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn(R)
WARNING: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!
YOU WILL BE ASKED TO USE MUCH MORE OF YOUR WILL IN THIS SPELL THAN A WHITE OR GRAY MAGICK SPELL. IN THOSE SPELLS THE SPELLCASTER PUTS FORTH MOST OF THE ENERGY. IN BLACK MAGICK YOU WILL BE SUPPLYING THE ENERGY. BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT AND THAT HALF-WAY THROUGH, YOU DON'T SECOND-GUESS YOURSELF AND LEAVE A BLACK MAGICK SPELL ADRIFT. I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR HOW YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS SPELL. I CANNOT HELP YOU IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG. I CANNOT CHANGE THE RESULTS ONCE THE SPELL HAS TAKEN HOLD. IF YOUR REASONS ARE GENUINE FOR THIS KIND OF MAGICK, THEN THINGS WILL PROBABLY WORK OUT JUST FINE. AS WITH ANY NON-WHITE MAGICK, THERE IS ALWAYS A RISK. PLEASE ONLY CONSIDER BLACK MAGICK AS AN ABSOLUTE LAST RESORT. BLACK MAGICK SPELLS TAKE ANYWHERE FROM 1-120 DAYS TO MANIFEST RESULTS.
THIS SPELL IS FOR LOVE AND PASSION BUT BECAUSE IT IS A DARK SPELL, BLACK MAGICK AND USING THE FORCES AVAILABLE ON THIS DARK NIGHT OF MAGICK YOU MUST BE VERY CLEAR IN YOUR INTENTION. THIS SPELL WILL CUT THROUGH THE MOST DIFFICULT ISSUES YOU ARE HAVING LIKE A HOT KNIFE THROUGH BUTTER! WHATEVER YOUR ISSUES ARE, THIS SPELL CAN TRANSFORM YOUR DESIRES INTO AN IDEAL LOVE SITUATION. IT IS NOT A MIRACLE BUT CLOSE!
USE THIS SPELL TO BUILD PASSION IN A RELATIONSHIP WHERE IT IS LACKING, USE IT TO BRING A STRAY LOVE BACK TO YOU WITH PASSION IN MIND, USE THIS SPELL TO IGNITE A SPARK IN UNREQUITED LOVE, USE THIS SPELL TO HELP LOVE GROW AND KICK IT INTO HIGH GEAR IF IT IS MOVING TOO SLOW.
You must be aware that your intention can only be of the most positive true pure nature. If it is other than this I do not recommend this spell for you.
250.00
Suggested ebooks:
Michael Johnstone - The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Spells
Kathryn Paulsen - Witches Potions And Spells
Pamela Ball - The Ultimate Book Of Spells
I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks to all of you who have purchased my book. The book has been tremendously well received and I've had nothing but positive feedback. When I looked on amazon.com today there was only 1 copy left in stock with a re-order on the way. It left me a bit gobsmacked. I cannot actually articulate how excited I am to know that people are out there reading my book. It really does mean the world to me. So to all of you, Thanks!
The fact that this book seems to really be taking off means that it's quite likely that New Page will pick up my next book as well. I've just started work on my second book and it's going to be a guide to advanced defensive magick. The idea will be for the advanced guide to sort of pick up where Defense Against the Dark left off, giving more advanced techniques, tools, and rituals. My question to you is: what do you want to see from such a guide? What are the scenarios you want to be able to face? What things have you heard of that you want to know more about? I'd love to see some comments about this, but you can also email me at emily @ e-carlin.com
Suggested ebooks:
Anton Josef Kirchweger - The Golden Chain Of Homer
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Hound
[excerpted from http://www.cris.com/~Amon1/satanism/watcher1.txt ]
ALEISTER CROWLEY : SATANIST
by 'Thelemite'
HYMN TO LUCIFER
Ware, nor of good nor ill, what aim hath act?
Without its climax, death, what saviour hath
Life? an impeccable machine, exact
He paces an inane and pointless path
To glut brute appetites, his sole content
How tedious were he fit to comprehend
Himself! More, this our noble element
Of fire in nature, love in spirit, unkenned
Life hath no spring, no axle, and no end.
His body a blood-ruby radiant
With noble passion, sun-souled Lucifer
Swept through the dawn colossal, swift aslant
On Eden's imbecile perimeter.
He blessed nonentity with every curse
And spiced with sorrow the dull soul of sense,
Breathed life into the sterile universe,
With Love and Knowledge drove out innocence
The Key of Joy is disobedience.
According to Israel Regardie,
"anyone who says Crowley was a Satanist and a
devil-worshipper should have his head examined."
Crowley's own references to Satan are stated by Regardie as
being due to his desire to shock, be defiant, sarcastic or witty.
(Regardie, The Eye in the Triangle).
Let us therefore consider the writings of Crowley himself to see
whether the 'Satanism' of this remarkable personality can be so readily dismissed.
Crowley's literary executor and biographer, John Symonds, writes:
"Crowley's philosophy takes a bit from here and a bit
from there... but... he was more a Satanist than
anything else. 'I serve my great Master Satan', he
wrote in one of his franker confessions, 'and that
august Council composed of Beelzebub, Lucifuge,
Asmodeus, Belphegor, Baal, Adrammelech, Lilith and
Nahema.'"
(John Symonds, The Great Beast).
RESTORING DEVIL WORSHIP
In his major work Magick in Theory & Practice, Crowley describes
the manner in which Satan fits into his intricate cosmology: the Aeon of Horus, which he believed he was destined and chosen to proclaim to mankind, includes the formula FIAOF of which the 'O' component is
"The exalted 'Devil' (also the other secret Eye {phallic
worship}) by the formula of the initiates of Horus...
This 'Devil' is called Satan or Shaitan, and regarded
with horror by people who are ignorant of his formula...
"... We have therefore no scruple in restoring the
'devil worship' of such ideas...
"Thus the 'Devil' is Capricornus, the Goat who leaps upon
the loftiest mountains, the Godhead which, became manifest
in man, makes him Aegipan, the All."
DEFINING THE DEVIL
Crowley's conception of the 'Devil' is not too far removed from
that of contemporary Satanists. Crowley states that "The Devil does not exist", but then goes on to explain that "The 'Devil' is, historically, the God of any people that one personally dislikes. This has led to so much confusion of though that the Beast 666 [Crowley] has preferred to let names stand as they are, and to proclaim simply that Aiwaz -
solar-phallic-hermetic - 'Lucifer' - is his own Holy Guardian Angel
{Higher Self} and 'the Devil' Satan or Hadit of our particular unit of the Starry Universe. This Serpent, Satan is not the enemy of man, but he who made gods of our race, knowing Good and Evil..."
In his ritual for the Attainment of Knowledge and Conversation
of his Holy Guardian Angel, Crowley identifies himself as the servant of Satan, "the Devil, out Lord..."... "whose number of magick is 666, the seal of his servant the Beast"
(Crowley).
The occult author Kenneth Grant, a former student of Crowley's
and head of an English OTO lodge, comments that "this whole ritual is an invocation of Shaitan (Satan) or Set", Crowley's aim being union
"with his Angel, Shaitan-Aiwaz."
Satan is, in Crowley's cosmology, "the Sun-Father, the vibration
of Life that Flames with this cosmic Energy", the solar-Phallic Current.
In a ritual "to invoke the Energies of the Aeon of Horus, the
ritual of the Mark of the Beast", the powers of ShT are called forth, ShT being Set/Satan/Shaitan, on which, writes Grant, "are concentrated the magical energies of the New Aeon."
CULT OF SHAITAN
Grant, in contradiction to Regardie, writes that Crowley's
Thelemic philosophy (a synthesis of Nietzscheanism, Eastern and Western mysticism, gnosticism and mythology expressed in his own powerful
poetical style) is Satanic or Shaitanic.
Grant writes that Shaitan was the Chaldean form of the Egyptian Set.
"The cult of Shaitan was established in Sumer by the prophet
Yezid... Crowley... revived the cult of Shaitan or Set."
(Grant, Outside The Circles of Time).
It was Shaitan whom Crowley equated with Aiwaz, his own
unconscious (Holy Guardian Angel); it was Baphomet, the idol of the Templars which Crowley adopted as one of his titles, which he equates with the 'Devil' (Crowley, 777 & Other Qabalistic Writings) and who but an inspired Satanist could write these powerful lines (?):
"With my Hawk's head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he
hangs upon the cross.
"I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed and blind him.
"With my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and
the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.
"Bahlasti! Ompehda! I spit on your crapulous creeds.
"Let Mary inviolate be torn upon wheels: for her sake
let all chaste women be utterly despised among you!"
(Liber AL).
excerpted from "The Watcher", Jan/Feb/Mar 1990 e.v., Issue No. 1.
originally edited by:
Graeme Wilson
129 Scott Street
Waverley
Dunedin
South Island
New Zealand
Suggested ebooks:
Kenneth Grant - Aleister Crowley And The Hidden God
Michael Osiris Snuffin - Aleister Crowley And The Legend Of Pasiphae
"The first version of this article was published on 6/19/2006 on the previous version of this blog. "
A hundred years ago most men belonged to fraternal orders of one sort or another, many of which had initiatory rites largely copied from those of Freemasonry. These days many books on magick and witchcraft support the concept of "self-initiation" and the popularity of secret and semi-secret fraternal orders has waned. Does that mean that formal initiation has become a quaint anachronism, or is it still an effective spiritual technology?
What the concept of self-initiation gets right is that regardless of the rituals and ceremonies you go through and the degree titles you hold, you have to do the corresponding spiritual work yourself. There is no real way around this basic truth. Spiritual realization is experiential - it cannot be taught or even directly explained. Because of this a degree title does not guarantee spiritual wisdom or power. In many organizations, advancement to higher degrees is contingent upon service to the organization rather than actual spiritual attainment, and the fact that someone is a hard worker in the mundane realm says nothing about their capacity for magick or mysticism, or the quality of their realization.
Nonetheless, formal initiation is a powerful method for imprinting the mind with concepts and ideas that will facilitate the spiritual evolution of a dedicated spiritual practitioner who takes those lessons to heart. The secrecy that surrounds initiatory traditions is related to a powerful psychological techique - the mind becomes more sensitive and attuned to information when it is placed in a situation of uncertainty, so an initiatory ritual will create a much more powerful imprint if the candidate does not know what is going to happen. Enough has been published that it is possible with some diligence to locate the degree work of most initiatory orders, but if you ever plan on taking the degrees all you are doing is cheating yourself.
I am convinced that this is the sole practical reason for secrecy surrounding initiation rituals. For much of human history it was believed that secret knowledge was somehow more powerful, but I suspect this belief was due to a misunderstanding of the mechanics of mind. When a candidate knows what is going to happen it is not that current of magical energy is weaker but that the mind expects the form of the ritual and is less moved by it. As a result, the magical effect of the initiation is reduced and a reasonable person might conclude that the power of the rite somehow grows if few know its details. What really happened is that the mind anticipated the actions of the rite, conceptualized them, and processed them ahead of time so no effective imprint was formed.
So does this imprint hypothesis mean that initiations are merely psychological? In a sense the answer is yes, but there is no "merely" about it. All magical rituals raise energy if performed by skilled practitioners. The difference with an initiation is that the psychological imprint allows the psyche of the candidate to be more open to that energy than they might otherwise be, and gives that energy a framework in which to work toward creating change in the candidate's life.
One of the wonders that the Internet has brought us is the concept of "astral initiations" that is, a group of magical practitioners will ask candidates to send them photographs or some other sort of magical link and then perform the initiation rite on the magical link, presumably to transmit a current of energy to the candidate corresponding to the energy summoned by the initiation rite. While the people doing this work may be sincere, I have trouble believing that it is all that effective. Without the imprint, the initiation will not work nearly as well. A magical force may be set in motion, but the effect will be reduced if it has to travel over a magical link and there will be no imprint created since the candidate has not gone through the physical experience of the initiation.
A couple of people have reported to me that they took astral initiations and felt some sort of tangible energy effect, and I believe them - I just think that the effect is unlikely to be any greater than that of performing a self-initiation rite and perhaps that would have been a better route to take. For one thing, it's free. Second of all, I think that any magician will learn a lot more writing and conducting his or her own initiation ritual than he or she will possibly pick up going through any sort of "astral ritual" conducted by others, regardless of how talented those others might be. Better still, though, would be to find a friend who is also a talented magician who can write a ritual that will be completely unfamiliar to the candidate so that an imprint will be properly formed.
Because this can be a difficult situation to set up, existing fraternal bodies still have an important role in initiation. In general, the rituals they perform were originally developed by talented ritualists and improved over the years based on changes that were found to work better for initiating candidates. Such improvements are based on empirical observation that a single individual could never undertake on short notice, and as a result the rituals themselves are cleaner and generally work better. While groups like Ordo Templi Orientis are more explicitly magical, the Masonic fraternity also puts on good initiation rites that have been tested for centuries on millions of candidates, a very impressive track record. Also, Masonic initiations are not only available to men - American Co-Masonry (http://www.co-masonry.org/) offers initiation to both men and women and has lodges in many areas of the country.
If Masonry is any indication, today more and more people are becoming interested in initiation and fraternal orders and seeing the value in joining such organizations. After losing members for a long time, it seems like Masonic lodges are finally starting to find more qualified individuals seeking initiation. The Internet helps make these groups easier to find, and it is clear that this is where many of the inquiries are now originating. My Masonic lodge has a very nice website at http://braden.org/ that has a lot of information, and I am also an initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis (http://oto-usa.org/) and a member of the local OTO lodge (http://www.leapinglaughter.org/) here in Minneapolis. Feel free to check out the links for more information.
Suggested ebooks:
Aleister Crowley - Magick
Aleister Crowley - Magick Without Tears
