The Real Secrets of Magic

A couple months ago a message board had a question about magical secrets, and whether or not real secrets still existed. They do, but not in the way they were intending the question. They exist in an experiential and contextual fashion rather than things that can be written down and read in books.

There is one important element of experiential secrets that tends not to get talked about. Even people who discuss the nature of initiatics or of the power of experiential mysteries don't talk about a particular sort of secret experience.

In life we all do countless things, and have countless experiences, each with their own consequences both small and profound. People at times talk about the secret life of magicians and initiates, in the sense of exploring deeper planes of reality and hidden things other people don't consider or don't see. With this secret life we experience knowledge, responsibilities and consequences outside of the range of experience of the average person. The propensity to experience wonders, and things of immense consequence both good and bad easily leads to experiences we can't tell anyone about. Things which might be immense, which might really affect us, but which we must deal with alone.

The true secrets of magic are in the the immense power magic holds, and the things it allows magicians to do, that we don't ever tell anyone, and the ways in which these experiences and these secrets shape us.

When I was in college, I took a class called Philosophy of Parapsychology. In it, one of the frequent topics addressed was “fear of psy” it was the idea that people with psychic or paranormal abilities may not be able to repeat them because once they exhibit a power or manifestation that is clear and potent enough to assure them of the reality of the ability the question of responsibility and consequence arises. Once you know you can move something small with your thoughts, or can hear what someone else thinks, you have to ask could you hurt someone with that power? Or if you know something you shouldn't be able to know, and you don't act on that knowledge, are you responsible if someone gets hurt? The idea in Parapsychology seems to be that this concern over responsibility for consequences is crippling to the average person. Most people don't want that level of power.

The same thing comes up in magic. You'd think people seeking out the power of magic instead of just stumbling on it would have addressed that concern prior to beginning. But there is a big difference between the idea of power, that in your heart you probably don't yet believe in, and being faced with the realization that you can really do some amazing stuff. Faced with it, not through some intellectual ascent, but because you experiment, you try things, you plumb the depths and bring back some proof of power. Something you can't un-see, something you can't unknow. It's there. Power is real. It's in your hands. Can you handle it?

A lot of people can't. So a lot of people get involved with magic for reasons related to image, or to a feeling it gives them, or for psychological or emotional empowerment, or to have a community. Many of them believe they are magicians wholeheartedly, but they give lip service to the reality of magic, or they redefine magic into something more comfortable, more convenient, more whitewashed, more powerless. Some of them don't even give lip service to the reality of magic, some of them downplay it, or avoid the topic, comfortable with the use of ritual drama simply used to fulfill emotional or psychological needs.

The truth remains, that magic is real, and has the ability to exert real world power. There is a difference between accepting that from people telling you, and from knowing it because you've seen its power to destroy or create on massive levels. A small spell to help ease financial problems, or to get over the flu faster might not be deeply convincing or might be easy to write off. You tell yourself you did it, you feel good, but in your mind you think even though it makes sense that the magic worked, how can you really know? You know by moving forward, experimenting, pushing deeper, until you have unquestionable results which change your view of yourself, your capabilities, of magic and of the world.

But when this happens...

What if it's something awful? What if it's something you can't tell anyone about because of what it is?

A lot of the time, those things which most easily shake our reality, and which shape our view are the things which we wouldn't want others to know. Those deeply personal secrets of how we fucked up, and something went wrong. Or of how we made a choice, a choice which maybe we regret, or which maybe we're a hundred percent ok with, but other people wouldn't be. We hold onto those secrets, and they build how we see the world and how we understand magic. More so, they reshape ourselves. We hold with us all the great things we've done, all the ways we've helped people, and we hold with us the ways we've hurt people, intentionally, unintentionally, as collateral, sometimes on the road to doing great and wonderful things.

We question who we are, what we did, and what it means for our lives and the lives of others. We question who we can tell, who we can't, who would believe us. This part of the inner experience of the magician, this is part of what's important, but we don't get books, or clubs to hold our hands through it. We have our inner guidance, maybe our close friends, but that's about it.

Some of us run into something bad, and it shakes us and we have to turn from it. Some of us try to turn from it but the reality of magic is so a part of our consciousness that we never really make the turn. Some of us come to a point where we are able to accept whatever happens, process it, and move forward, because, not being magic isn't an option.

So in the end, some of the secrets of magic, the real secrets, are those moments, those experiences, which teach us individually as magicians that magic is in fact real, powerful, and undoubtedly present within our lives. As long as real magicians are doing real magic, there will always be secrets left in the world of magic.

Not Flashy but Holy

So, my previous post talked about Solstice and Equinox rituals, the important of a magical religious structure and how that might fit the grimoire tradition or other magical traditions. There are a ton of options for observing these occurrences, this idea is just one of many possibilities. You can view that here: http://blog.ararita418.com/2016/07/grimoires-and-cycle-of-year-pt-1.html

So...Grimoiric Solstice and Equinox rituals.

The basic idea is observing the movement of the Sun into the Sign that indicates the beginning of the new season. The frame work I used came from the Heptameron. So, the preliminary stuff happens, the angel who rules the hour is called upon, the angel ruling the day, the elemental powers of the season, the powers associated with the sign ruling the season, the angel of the sun, and the angels of the season. Along with the angels we call upon the powers of the earth, air, sea, inferno, and the season itself. An offering is made. Chill time with the spirits is had. Wine is blessed and consumed. All in all about eight angels, two kinds of elementals, and other spiritual forms of parts of nature are all conjured together.

It might seem like it would be busy. People talk about not calling a spirit and being like “ok you stand over there, while I call some others” but this doesn't run like that. There is a definite element of awareness of the Heavenly Majesty throughout and so the coalescence of the spirits really creates a feeling of divine harmony. The spirits are called in a way that is organized based on the state of nature we are reifying into a spiritual presence. So for them there is a natural fit into the harmony we experience.

The first thing which was evident was how smooth and harmonious the invocations felt. Maybe it was because of other work recently, or maybe it was because the spirits wanted to be called this way, whatever the cause, there was a striking feeling of true adoration that overtook me. A lot of times when I conjure it's much more a feeling of drawing power and pulling together authority. Before I started I thought about how the framework I had didn't have as much of that. I kind of wondered “how do I get to groove with God so the spirits will talk with me?” During the invocations I felt an abiding sense of love and engagement where there was no feeling of going through the motions, or rationalizing the Christian components. There was just desire and adoration. It was elevating. It made me realize that as much as I've answered in the past about the ability to adopt a worldview that allows you to accept Christian imagery while using it in conjuration, whereas this was simply the ability to love and embrace the reality of the imagery.

As I went it occurred to me that I was about to conjure a lot of spirits but wasn't going to stop and talk with any or commune with any. Individually. What ended up happening was that as I called upon natural forces, fire, the moon, water, the sign of cancer, the sun, I felt immersed in each. I could feel the joy, and adoration which inspired the Salamanders and Undines as they experienced their love for their creator. I felt bathed in moon light as I prepared to conjure Gavriel to empower the sign of Cancer, the overarching wheel of stars encasing an earth made of harmonized fire and water as I conjured the angels of Cancer, and the glowing light of the sun as Raphael harmonized it. Oriens when called took a particularly elevated place and when asked to bring the the beneficial forces into the world and he reached over and brought the beauty and harmony of the celestial imagery into the material world.

Sitting to commune with the spirits as they received their suffumigation felt like sitting in the heavenly throne room. The candles before me took on a regal beauty and there was a sense of powerful light everywhere. I put on my ring and felt a sense of completion, and a spiritual glow about it as the angels imbued it with the harmony.

The ritual concluded with requesting their blessings on myself and all those around me and drinking a cup which had been blessed by the spirits. It felt good being immersed in the light. It felt peaceful, and happy, bidding farewell to the spirits, feeling them move out into the world to carry that light and unity with them.

So yeah. Not flashy, but Holy. Nothing major, nothing new, but something good. Sometimes that's really all we need from those moments of religion within magic. When we do magic, it should make something happen in the world, theurgy and mysticism should make us better – closer to God or to what we were intended to be, religion should settle and balance us within those forces of the world which we engage in magic. It just needs to be a moment where we get closer to and connect more deeply with the powers that inspire us, and that move the world with us. We shouldn't lose sight on the practicality of magic, but that practicality shouldn't make us overlook those less flashy moments of connection.

That said...part of the idea...was harmonizing the forces of creation at work in the season. So practically speaking it should also help everything flow better.

Hangovers: An Ethical Model

Everyone is hung over. Work party was pretty intense yesterday. But despite headaches and stomach aches and dizziness and exhaustion everyone is here, ready to work. So that's good. While people jokingly asked me if they could call out, no one did, they all recognized that if you go out and party on a weeknight, as we'll be doing on Thursdays now, that you knuckle up and drag your hungover ass into work with the poise and fortitude to get the job done.

That's an issue in our society. We want rights, but people don't want responsibilities. We want freedom, but we don't always want to accept that wielding the two edged sword has consequences. Some times we run into the converse, where people recognize the responsibility of freedom  but don't want the responsibility so they surrender their freedom in various ways.

Liber Tzaddi verse 9 says "All that ye do is right if so be that ye enjoy it"

A pretty permissive morality there. If it feels good, do it. That, however, is not generally the idea of Thelema, or magic in general. On a basic level it is distinguishing the divine initiatory force from the divine law givers of other religions. Push a little deeper, take your thumb and stroke back the outer petals, and you'll note that the larger context is about enjoyment, or the idea of love and joy and pleasure as a means of elevation and transcendence.

So if this is not a statement of ethics, and it does not fit the moral complexion of Thelema or magic,what does, and what's it have to do with hangovers?

Well, the Book Of the Law says that your only right is to do your will. If you just do that no one has the right to say "Hey Dude, quit it" with any real force of authority. Your will is of course a vector, based on nature and the purposes implied by that nature in relation to its context. So it's not simply whatever whim feels good. The Book of The Law also dismisses the waffling equivocation of debating an action by saying "Success is thy proof" suggesting that we judge our actions by their results.

I think if we begin to take these ideas together we come close to a general guideline for the magician. When I was young I watched an interview with a Zen monk. He explained that in his tradition Karma is explained as the eternal energy that exists as a result of our actions. Everything we do continues into eternity through the impacts our actions have on what follows them. With that in mind we can consider his further explanation that right action is based on whether or not the results are good and successful. Actions which are right have amenable results, actions which are wrong either fail or have negative results.

So let's circle back to the various pieces we've touched on. We have enjoyment, will, success, and consequence. These can all tie together fairly well.

In most mystical systems those actions suited to our will are also those actions and lifestyle choices with which we will have the most success. If we are succeeding the consequences should be amenable, and we will therefore enjoy ourselves, right? Maybe, hopefully, simplicity is nice. Tis a gift to be simple.

Let's go back to enjoy as one of our root concepts. Enjoy, while almost always having a connotation of pleasure can to some degree be used to mean something experienced or endured. It can also refer to really dwelling in a sensation to try and explore its best parts. When taken this way enjoy plays pretty deeply into will. Not only does enjoyment imply transcendence through ekstasis but also the exploration of will. If we enjoy our actions and their enduring consequences in that we commit to experiencing them and drawing from them the fullness of sensation (experience) we deepen the exploration of our nature, direction, and context. Consequence becomes important not simply as an expression of how are actions are enduring expressions of ourselves but in that we must experience our interrelation with our environment and therefore know ourselves and our context.

Consequence and success take a clearer relation to the question of moral implication. The relationship to enjoyment is largely one of our own personal development, but we do reside in a context which is at least in part social. Our actions impact others and theirs impact us. Thus that symbiosis of self and context becomes more dynamic due to the ever shifting juxtapositions of our actions with those of others.

Morality typically creates rules which force us to behave amenably and in a socially constructed fashion, but these rules are sometimes arbitrary and even in cases where they make sense, they are not always universally applicable. All in all they are meant to govern the lowest common denominator.

Sometimes we have metaphysical sticks and carrots like Heaven and Hell or the NeoWiccan Threefold law. Other times we get more high minded and talk about virtue. We don't often talk about success and consequence as models of right and wrong in the west, except in an ends/means kind of way, which is a little different though similar.

If successful actions with amenable consequences are right, how do we fit that both to our model of experience and our social model? Amenable consequences are more likely to please those around you and create a more enjoyable world for yourself, both by the direct result being pleasing and by the indirect result, or the actions of others, having a higher probability for being socially adaptive or pleasing. This is the same basic impetus behind our socially driven moral legalism, but we can still engage in actions which are right because they are successful and result in a positive consequence even if they do not fit a proscribed moral code. At times an action may be right in that it is successful and it may be positive in that it has a positive individual consequence but a negative social context or a negative individual context but positive social context initially, but the indirect consequences may be positive and therefore worth the initial discomfort.

Our Hangover example, going out and enjoying life with friends has positive personal and social impacts both immediately and over time. Having a hangover is a negative consequence. Continuing into work has positive consequences, and if the hangover can be overcome through personal fortitude or other reasonable means the negative consequence is mitigated, and perhaps even is experienced such as to express something to make the individual more adaptive in the future.

Conventional wisdom would say going out and getting drunk on a weeknight is bad, but there is no absolute moral bench mark, nor an absolute social imperative, nor shared cultural norm to support this and our success/consequence/enjoyment model proves it a right action.

So let's look back at enjoyment. Mystical fervor is similar to the experience of elation. Therefore the application of visceral joy and pleasure can be useful in mysticism. If life is always in the crapper it's harder to focus on the mystical and it's harder to experience elation let alone commit to experiencing it in its fullest (enjoying it). When we engage in prudent actions, or those which bring greater enjoyment to life and improve social position and socially adaptive behavior it becomes easier to enjoy life. Therefore our criteria of actions based in will, and actions which are enjoyed become easier.

Now this is not to say you should pander to social whims or change yourself to fit in. But it does highlight that a true magician owns his experience. He lives within his decisions and experiences the on set of their eternity. You must not only avoid pandering but you must practice judgment. It is left to you to make your decisions and to deal with the consequences. You need to know yourself and know therefore what consequences will be OK with you and which ones will develop you better, and you must know your world to anticipate how it will respond to your actions.

A large part of the apparently prophetic wisdom of many of our archetypal wizard characters from story and myth is really just the application of this kind of thinking. Understanding yourself, your world, your actions, your fellow man's actions all of these factors go into a magician's analysis. 

So yeah, my team was pretty banged up at work today, but not one issue arose. Let's make our magic just as able to roll with the punches.

Introductions are the typical place to start, right?

I've never been much for this whole blogging idea. I believe three separate people have at various times set up live journals to encourage me to blog and I always intentionally forgotten the passwords.

Lately, I have been re-igniting elements of my life. For personal reasons some of my magical and spiritual practice adjusted to focus on priestly work and efforts to do meaningful mundane work. I found though that over time ignoring elements of what you're called to do does not truly make them go away, it just creates decay and dissonance in your life, very similarly to ignoring the call to move forward in terms of initiation at the appropriate time in many systems. I had essentially determined my course, laid out my map, and walked away from the road to set myself adrift.

Recently I have begun to return to that work. As a result of stepping away from my Angel's instructions and guidance, the return has been full of a lot of stress overcoming the detritus that spiritual inertia creates within the mundane life. That stress has been pretty cool, despite being annoying as balls. Each thing I conquer reminds me that I can make the decision to move ahead and then do so.

In terms of the more obviously magical part of magic it has been pretty cool doing more ritual magic and feeling that I must do the things I've determined to do as opposed to feeling "ugh, magic, why should I be bothered to do that?" In my exploration of the doldrums I did a lot of reflexive and simple magic, mostly the kind I learned as a child, and a lot of enchantment to get small things I wanted, but by in large I shirked off most real magic. This kind of sucks though because in a period of life like that when something comes up where you convince yourself that more significant magic is worth the bother then you can't really do it if you've rejected your connection to real magic, or those parts of magic which connect you to your power and authority to do magic in a significant manner. Being back in touch with that part of myself, and that part of life and divinity is certainly nifty. Being able to pop out some ritual work and accomplish major life issue solutions with ease again is also pretty useful, and MAYBE...a little more exciting than using magic just to charm someone across the room.

So with my continued return to myself, I've also begun writing more, and thinking about teaching more. Both of those are things that reduced a lot as I reduced. A lot of people have complained to me about me not doing those things anymore without knowing that I was just not as magically delicious as I once had been. In fact my dear friend Rufus Opus was one of the only people to know the extent of my extended vacation from things magical. He is probably also part of the reason I'm actually blogging. Rufus has kind of been my indirect link to what's shaking in the world of magic. One thing I've noticed through that is that the world is now full of blogs. But not the self absorbed emo things I remember from circa 2005, now blogs seem to be a place where a lot of magicians write cool stuff and get it out to people who are interested in cool stuff.

They've replaced the message boards and yahoo groups that I lived on as a kid. So part of rejoining the land of the living seems to be blogging so I'm going to give it a shot.

Initially I was going to keep this brief and impersonal and just talk about stuff I do and why I'm worth reading, but, I come off like a prick most of the time as it is, so I figured instead of a boring stodgy "this is why I'm cool post" I can save being a prick for later, and for now be open and personable.

So, hopefully I'll stick with blogging, and hopefully you'll like what I have to say...and hopefully future posts will be less self absorbed and emo.