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This is about Imagined ritual. Its given with permission from Enoch Tan.
Thelema is the will. Part of it is about doing the entire ritual in the mind instead of physically. It's like the analogy of the group who visualized throwing basketball into the hoop compared to the group which practiced physically. Both did their mental/physical training respectively for 30 days. In the end, there was only slight different between their results. But both groups had significant improvement compared to another group which did no practice at all.
Thelema means to do magick in a way that is purely mental. All of magick is about using the Will and the Imagination. Both are right brain faculties, compared to Reason and Logic of the Left brain.
The essence of magick is thelema. That does not mean one should not do ritual, because ritual can be used for the purpose of assisting thelema. Ritual done by itself has no meaning. All ritual is meant to serve thelema. After all, the definition of magick is the act of causing change in accordance with Will.
For Ritual and Psionics there is a little difference. To personally use "magick" is also to refer to any kind of phenomena you cause or affect using a much deeper part of yourself than some do for psionic work. For psionics, you use your pre-conscious and sub-conscious minds (or parts of the mind) with suggestion or action; for "magick," you use something deeper. Your soul as inner energy to power the calling of the active force and elemental energy, as the active force with a directive will by the soul.
Except to some they are the same energy, just that they are charged differently
and magic uses the soul. Where psionics use the sub-conscious. When you use magic ritual, you cause a negative drawing force and when you use psionics you can cause a push force that causes effects. So in essence, magic uses everything that psionics does and more.
Psionics is more pure mind force in technique. Although a more encompassing psionic theory also goes into a lot of magickal stuff.
Enoch Tan has the website of http://www.MindReality.
I recently read an article by Jason Miller who complained about other writers using the term "model" when talking about a type of magick that they work. You can see his article here. I would have to say that I agree completely with what Jason said, but whenever I have used the term "model" I have always made certain that my audience knew that I was talking about a theoretical construct. In short, a model, in regards to magickal practice, is just a heuristic device, which is a fancy way of saying that it is a learning tool. I have often said that no one works with just one of the several models of magick that I have proposed, and that in the real world, magicians work magick using several of them simultaneously. It's useful to talk about magickal models because it allows one to see a distinct quality of magick that may or may not be operating in what a person really does when they work magick.
The bottom line is to not confuse a theoretical discussion of a magickal model with the real thing, which is more complex and dynamic than what a single model would entail. Like all mental structures that are useful for classification, they have their uses and limitations. In the area of magick, one should never confuse a model, diagram or structure for what it is representing. We are dealing with phenomena that is difficult to classify, so if we simplify things to better understand it, then that doesn't mean that the simplified explanation or theory is the thing itself - it is a theory that is useful for understanding something, nothing more.
When I discuss the energy model, or the spirit model, the psychology model, the chaos model or the rhetorical model of magick, I am discussing theoretical approaches to understanding magick. No one uses just one model, and even if they did, there would be more to what they were doing than what is understood by the model. However, using models as a theoretical construct allows us to see the various aspects or techniques of a magickal system, which otherwise, would be opaque and incapable of analysis. The purpose of classifying something is to categorize it in a general manner so it can be compared to other analogous things.
I believe that I set the tone for this discussion early on in one of my articles, where I said:
"Like the analogy for food, there are also several different theories about magic, and all of them take a very specific model and methodology and apply it exclusively. So there is a theory of magic that is based on Spirit, another one based on Energy, and still another one based on Psychology. All of them are correct as far as they go, but all of them are limited to a single model and their associated assumptions. I would also consider them to be gross generalizations, but models are good learning devices, since they challenge and help us to accurately think about the way something really works."
And also, the statement:
"Witchcraft has the unusual advantage that liturgy and magical crafts blend together to form a single praxis. Devotional invocations to the gods can also be magical spells meant to cause changes in the material world. As we will see when examining the other theories, witchcraft is a hybrid, combining many theories into a blended and practical perspective."
So as you can see, I have been careful about talking about the various models of magick. I never state that a true system of magick conforms to just one model, and in fact almost all of them have at least three or more models active in them. Yet I will be certain to state this fact from time to time when I talk about models so no one gets any ideas that they are anything more than a learning device.
Frater Barrabbas
Suggested ebooks:
Solomonic Grimoires - The Emerald Tablets Of Hermes
Anonymous - The Laws For Witches
[excerpted from http://www.cris.com/~Amon1/satanism/watcher5.txt
(reformatted by tn)]
THE DARK GODS
by Christos Beest (Order of the Nine Angles)
"They lurk at the threshold of existence
Preening their wings and eyes and sounds
which they send forth to all who have
ears to hear and minds to know. And they
wait and reside in the space between
worlds, the space that is the corner of
the meeting of dimensions. They are the
destroyers... he bornless forever who
wait for our call. Soon they will come to
collect that blood which is required by
Them. To understand Them is to pass that
Abyss beyond which the man ceases to be."
The Message of the One of Thoth
Much has been uttered - 'in shrivelled hallways untidy with the
Blackest Inventions' - concerning the entities/energies known as the Dark Gods. Hitherto, all information regarding 'They who will have
Blood' has consisted of misrepresentations and absolute rubbish.
q.v. the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who intuitively grasped vague
hints of the genuine Dark Tradition, whilst presenting it within
the context of the 'opposites' (as with 'The Necronomicon' in its
many hoax forms). Those who wish to know the Dark Gods are required to pass the Abyss - the experience of going beyond 'opposites' - to understand what these energies are in essence (i.e. they just ARE)
and to remain sane and in one piece.
From an uninitiated viewpoint, the Dark Gods are indeed the most
hideous and terrifying manifestations of the acausal on this causal plane. Due to the Nazarene Tyranny establishing evolutionary regression, very few can comprehend even the most remote hint of Chaos (or The Dark Gods) in its primal state, i.e. they do not perceive the essence hidden by appearance; they are bound by 'moral projections'. ('He is the
damned, the baser for a moral corrupt'.)
While the Dark Gods may be perceived as 'convenient abstractions'
or Archetypal Energy, they may also be regarded as having an actual existence (and it is up to the individual to decide which of these, or neither, is the correct for him/herself). The Dark Tradition,
continued by small numbers of Adepts since the Hyperborean Aeon to the present day, contains many tales of the origins of the Dark Gods.
Whether one chooses to see these as myth or mythos, is, at the end of the day, a matter of personal taste according to which viewpoint is the most magickally useful.
Previously, weakening a Star Gate (or nexion, a physical link between the causal and acausal) and bringing the Dark Gods has involved
hideous rites of sacrifice and suffering, and in terms of results, vile uncertainty principles. Refined magickal techniques (such as the Rite of Nine Angles) have replaced many of these bloody shamblings (the Blood remains, mostly in menstrual form) and the Return of the Dark Gods is now an easier proposition, both in terms of what can be done ceremonially, hermetically and how mass Consciousness can be effected by Aeonic
techniques. However, certain cases involving those who, unprepared
and otherwise, have attempted to bring the Dark Gods, have resulted in madness and/or death. Such events are always followed by the shedding of blood on a larger scale - the Darkest of negations must have sustenance.
And is bloodshed necessary anymore?
Returning the Dark Gods will fulfill the Destiny (in its dying form) of this Aeon - the Western, still about 350 years left to run - by
establishing the next Aeon, which has no word since it is Chaos itself.
This Aeonic progression has been a gradual opening of various
acausal - or magickal - centres on this terrestrial plane. It is
important to remember that there never was a 'golden age' way back when from which the human race toppled and has been trying to grovel back to ever since, armed with hints of 'lost knowledge' constituting the
various 'mysteries' (not in the Greek sense of the word) we have today.
In one one sphere of evolution, we have reached an intuitive stage - the culmination so far of the Aeonic progression - where we can decide our own destiny. For this reason, it is generally agreed that the
terrestrial centres are now exhausted - the new Aeon may very well be
'Galactic' in form (either symbolically, i.e. representing the forward looking nature of civilisation, or literally, the consequence of
the same).
Establishing a forward looking civilisation reveals the nature and
purpose of Satanism. Those (for example) qabalistic magicians who
think they are contributing towards this progression should think again.
The Return of the Dark Gods will bring torment, gnashing Darkness
and Death to some, and bounty to others. As stated, we have reached a point in consciousness to recognise that the world is up for grabs.
The strong will survive and the weak will perish - an obvious statement, though difficult for those bound by Nazarene morality to accept.
To invert the Established is only a starting point, a means to an end.
For most, that stage beyond may be realised in time. But for now, it is enough just to start. As Derek Farr, bastion of the film noir, so eloquently said in his early film 'Lethargy':
"It seems there is no finer point
Than that which is lodged with the cranial index
of a dying priest."
T H E W A T C H E R
NEW ZEALAND VOICE OF THE LEFT HAND PATH
P. O. Box 38-262, Petone, Wellington
excerpted from "The Watcher", November 1990CE XXV AS, Issue No. 5
originally edited by:
Graeme Wilson
P.O. Box 38-262
Petone
Wellington
New Zealand
Suggested ebooks:
Lyman Frank Baum - The Sea Fairies
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Other Gods
Ona - The Dark Forces
Since last November my friend Frater Barrabbas has been following an ongoing debate in the Pagan community over how closely modern Paganism resembles its historical ancestors. In a more recent article he discusses his interpretation of the three philosophical perspectives that seem to be fueling the debate.
These three different philosophical perspectives are based on three different approaches to engaging with a tradition. I call these three perspectives "traditional lore, reconstructionist" and the middle ground of "objectified traditional lore," or "revisionism." If you ever wanted to be entertained, just get together three individuals who are die-hard adherents of these three different perspectives, introduce them to a strategic point of disagreement, and then let the fur fly.
According to Barrabbas' definitions, Traditionalists are defined as members of a particular initiatic system or lineage who adhere to to the teachings of that tradition regardless of outside evidence to the contrary. Reconstructivists seek to restore the practices of a particular group at a particular period in time according to academic writing and research about the tradition. Finally, Revisionists validate and augment their lore by researching academic and scientific information. Like this. By those definitions I'm clearly a Revisionist and proud of it. In fact, I have no idea why anyone would want to be a Traditionalist or Reconstructionist if they're at all interested in doing magick.
Purely Traditionalist systems suffer from the accumulation of dogma. Without any sort of peer review inaccurate information can wind up being disseminated. For example, the Golden Dawn origin story about Anna Sprengel and her body of European adepts made for a great plot element in my novel but most experts agree that it is probably not historically true. From the fragmentary technical documents that have been published on the Golden Dawn tradition sometime between Aleister Crowley's work with Macgregor Mathers ("Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae") and Israel Regardie's publication of the Stella Matutina documents ("The Golden Dawn") it looks like the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram was replaced by the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram, a change which is taught by most of the modern Golden Dawn orders but which according to my own empirical research on probability shifts massively weakens the system.
Reconstructionists sometimes make important new historical discoveries about their respective traditions that prove useful, but without revision any such system is always going to contain elements that were appropriate in a particular time and place but are no longer relevant to the modern world. For example, there a million books out there that purport to teach "Celtic" Paganism. Many experts believe that the discovery of bog men clearly demonstrates that the ancient Celts practiced human sacrifice. Should we? Obviously a modern person is going to respond in the negative to that one, but as soon as you start changing even extreme elements of the system to fit the modern world you effectively are a Revisionist anyway. I also think the idea that if a magical practice is old it automatically works well needs to be discarded once and for all. My electric refrigerator works a lot better than an icebox.
When Traditionalists and Reconstructions went to war over whether or not Ronald Hutton's ideas about the history of Neo-Paganism were correct my Revisionist response was pretty much a big yawn. Who cares? Seriously. Either the techniques work or they don't. Whether or not they're ancient or modern shouldn't make any difference, especially since the debate seemed to be between two sides that couldn't agree over what percentage of modern Pagan practices have ancient roots. The more important question is what percentage of modern Pagan techniques work and what percentage don't. If all the people kicking up a huge fuss about whether the correct percentage of ancient lore is 10% or 90% instead performed a series of experiments with various Pagan magical techniques and recorded their results something useful would be generated rather than an emotional but pointless debate.
Magick is a technology. That means if something works better it is better, plain and simple. Some of its effects can be subjective, but that only makes evaluation of those aspects difficult, not impossible. Psychologists research subjective mental phenomena all the time. And as far as practical techniques go, all you need to do is set up experiments to test the probability shifts those techniques produce. Ancient methods are still worth studying because the human mind has changed little over the last several millenia, but they should be researched, tested, and integrated into modern systems only if they are found to be effective. The "sifting" method that most proto-sciences use to accumulate knowledge can occasionally produce spectacular successes that the formal scientific method will miss, but at the same time it can produce some spectacular failures, superstitions that manage to live on as the tradition evolves despite their ineffectiveness.
What amazes me from following this whole debate is how ridiculous it is. If your spiritual system works for you and produces the results you want, why should you care if it's ancient or modern? If it doesn't work for you, why should you practice it? Thelema works for me and "The Book of the Law" was written in 1904. I've certainly never lost any sleep over its relatively recent origins. As a matter of fact, from the standpoint of study, being in possession of the original manuscript is quite useful, and if the book were thousands of years old it almost certainly would have been lost. Furthermore, Thelema's modern elements such as "the method of science, the aim of religion" are a big part of its appeal to me and had it originated even hundreds of years ago those elements would probably not be present.
UPDATE: The comment thread for this article has drifted over into discussing the issue of individuals in the Pagan community who do not practice magick but still want to be treated as authority figures. That conversation is continuing over at Rob's place.
This image has always fascinated me. It is of course the enititiy 'Lam' which wicked man extraordinaire Aleister Crowley claimed to have summoned in the early twentieth century. He had apparently contacted this entity through a series of magical rites entitled the Almantrah Working. One of the reasons that this image has fascinated me is the uncanny resemblance it bears to another fairly striking drawing of another Entity that was encountered by a man some 60 odd years after LAM.
This is the face of the female entity that Sci-fi writer/Alien Abductee Whitley Strieber claimed to have encountered in his best selling Communion. As has been pointed out by others long before me, you can't help but see a resemblance. Very strange indeed. But I guess thats the world of the Fortean for you. I will leave you with these photos to look over for now.
Further/Recommended reading to learn more:Aleister Crowley's Lam ">
ALEISTER CROWLEY AND THE LAM STATEMENT by Ian Blake
Suggested ebooks:
Anonymous - The Laws For Witches
Moses Maimonides - The Guide For The Perplexed
Some people are born warriors, be them physically, or mentally strong. Some rely on their leadership qualities and/or their power of persuasion. Others chose to be pacifists and go through life following that maxima how nice ( magick ) word opens the iron doors. No mental ( physical even less ) profile of human being is perfect, and will not guarantee victory over other, as such. Yet we are faced with so many enemies, drawn willingly or unwillingly into so many fights, verbal, physical, magickal etc. Where does it all ends, if it ends at all ? Both Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud ( with smaller differences ) claimed humans are by nature selfish and lead by self-preservation instinct before all. Freud called that "idd". Oddly enough, in the age when human mind is supposed to be evolved above profanity of animal behavior, we find ourselves growling on each other, threatening with "fangs" and claiming absolute possession over partners, or territory. The fact that our behavior is "wrapped in pink ribbon" does not make it any less animalistic. Because of all that, those of more kind nature, those lunatics, and teding towards servility might find themselves faced to roar of some large gnarly beasty human, and forced into "survival of the strongest" clich'e.
This is why ( where, when, read as You like lol ) magick designed to empower oneself, boost our courage, physical strength or stamina, defeat opponents, is needed and very much alive even nowadays. Liked it we or not, world is a jungle, and in jungle strength is an imperative. When faced to any type of battle/s, or frightening mission with uncertain outcome, Mars magick can come quite handy indeed. Drawings depicting hunt, dating to prehistoric times and stone age, are perhaps the very simple examples of sympathetic, warrior type magick. Before actually hunting down an animal, cave man would "conjure" the even on the walls using charcoal or whatever worked as fine drawing tool at that point. But instead of further pseudo-phylospohic rambling of mine, let's rather "get down on the business" as people from States would say
MAGICK OF EMPOWERMENT AND CORRESPONDENCES
Warrior magick, as I coved the name ( yeah, not that good at name coving :/ lol ) is not the same as battle, war magick or offensive magick. It's the magick of self empowerment and increasing our chances to win.
Corresponding element would be fire ( action, power among other attributes ), corresponding planet Mars, corresponding day Tueseday, noon as the time of day is most preferable for such operations, while colors include red and purple, and symbols anything from swords to pentacles of King Solomon.
The symbol from the above pictur e is brilliant for such Mars/empowerment type of magick and can be inscribed to candlesa and burnt
Additionally Saturn correspodneces can be used, particularly if we are to deal with offensive magick, or unjust and cruel opponent.
FIERY WARRIOR SPELL
This spell should be used when we want to attain fiery, and strong qualities, prior to some important battle, confrontation and alike. Should it be a debate or rhetorical type of "battle" rather try some Mercury spell. I wrote this spell, as typical fire spell, hence the effect is like the spell, powerful, abrupt and temporary
You will need
o The fourth pentacle of Mars drawn on piece of brown paper
o Some Borage
o Red Onion peals
o Ginger rhizome small piece
o Few cloves
o Pinch of black pepper
o Your own personal concern ( a single hair will do )
o Red candle with inscribed with appropriate symbol/s
o Fireproof dish, and some ignitable spirit ( cologne for example )
Best if all the herbs are very dry, and the best time to start the spell is Midday or in the hour of the Mars. Light the candle, and place the dish with charcoal ( larger censer could do ) in front of it. Now place the personal concern of Yours ( or party's You are performing spell for ) on a paper with Pentacle drawn on it, add herbs, as much as You see fit, and then wrap it all in small package ( a sachet maybe ), folding towards oneself f as You do. Pour the ignitable spirit into dish, and then set the sachet alight, release it into the dish, and say the words :
"This timid soul craves for courage and strength,
To carry the sword of any length
Spirits of Mars, aid and ignite this charm,
Inflame my/this spirit for one day time
Turn me/him/her/them into fiery knight
Until once again, morn defeats the night !"
Sprinkle some of the resulting liquid or ash, on the sole of Your shoes.
WARRIORS MOJO BAG
In New Orleans Voodoo Hoodoo, for empowering and giving power to fight off enemies, especially to meek and timid, Papa Gator gris gris, is suggested as suitable charm. I can only assume the ingredients of such gris gris, and I think it's safe to assume it contains alligator's teeth among other.
In terms of Hoodoo You can compose a brilliant mojo combining some ( or all ) of the following:
o Masterwort
o Master of the Woods
o Dev*l's shoestring
o High John TC root
o Sampson snake root
o Bay laurel leaf/s
In purple or red mojo bag. A small sword charm could be added as well. Feed with spirit ( whiskey ) that had Red hot chili peppers dipped in, or perhaps some suitable oil, such as "I can You can't", "High John TC oil", "Victory oil" etc.
If You'd like to make, more of a charm bag type of "mojo", combine any of the following into red pouch bag : High John TC root, Master of the woods, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Black pepper, Sampson snake Black cohosh, Thyme, Borage, Red Onion, Iron nail, Garnet, Ruby, Aventurine, Carneol, Sun stone, Mars symbols, Dragon blood resin, Sword charms etc., and of course carry on Your behalf, for steady and graduate effect.
WARRIORS OINTMENT
I wrote this formula based on Indian herbal lore, as if anyone knows their warrior magick, native American Indians do
o Ointment base ( shortening, Vaseline, equal mixture of oil and wax warmed in double boiler, scentless ointment or cr`eme etc )
o Dev*l shoestrings ( oil infusion or powdered roots )
o Bay Laurel
o Sampson snake root ( powdered, or even tincture should do in a pinch )
Combine to make ointment, used to give one better strength, stamina and empower muscles. Use on oneself, very good for sport competitions.
POTIONS AND MAGICKAL ELIXIRS OF BRAVERY AND STRENGTH
Be them ingestible or baths and sprinkles, potions for courage and strength, can be very dicverse. They can be used to, almost instantly energize, and for such You may combine equal parts of ginger rhizome infusion with orange juice and solar honey.
Or they can be used to give courage to meek, and ward off that paralyzing fear. Simple borage infused in red wine will do that. Or tea made of pinch of Black cohosh and some Thyme, and spring water.
Velerie Worth suggests combining apple cider with cloves, and cinnamon as a potion to make someone "strong as steal", enchanting the potion by means of a very cunning rhyme, in one of her brilliant books
Catch some of the waterfall ( or substitute with spring water ) and pour in a vessel that you will place it on "Helm of Awe" rune, exposed to rays of rising Sun. Just sprinkle Yourself, or/and drink small amount to be "invincible" in battle
A nice bath made with Master of the Woods, should enable one mastery over adverse conditions.
A simple "Four thieves vinegar" as salad dressing, when used with intention of course will empower and ward of malice at same time. Same can be achieved by disolving a spoon of it in a glass of water to drink.
NOTES : This article and spells and formulas given here, were written by myself, which means, if You'd like to use it elswhere, feel free, but add credit/s Shadow of Shadows magick place, or Shadow-333@hotmail.com or provide a link fof this post.
CREDITS : Valerie Worth's "Book of Words", for complete formula
Helm of Awe can be found in bindrunes section of www.sunnyway.com/runes
Hope You find this helpful, to go and kick some...well something lol :)
Many Blessings, Shadow :)
Suggested ebooks:
Anonymous - Thelema A New Spiritual Tradition For A New Age
Israel Regardie - The Art And Meaning Of Magic
