Fire

In a world that’s gone hellishly mad we’ve always taken comfort in the fact that the faith of our fathers is the one thing that remains solid and unchanging. It occurs to very few of us that perhaps for the last 2,500 years the faith of our fathers has been one of the main reasons why our world has gone hellishly mad.

            - Lon Milo DuQuette

I knew about Aleister Crowley at age eleven. My brother’s Ozzy Ozbourne records saw to that. I am guessing many of you spent your youth in libraries, just like me. Believe it or not, all the way back then, my tiny, red brick, Midwestern public library in the suburbs of Chicago contained a copy of Magick in Theory and Practice. I never got to check it out because some high school kids had stolen it right before I could lay my hands on it. They did, however, let me read a few pages. I probably understood as much as they did.

So I went to pick over what remained of the section, impressive in retrospect for an institution of its size. I remember copying an Enochian talisman out of a book, the title I forget. Most of that came to a stop when I selected a book out of the section much more accessible to an imaginative Catholic boy – The Demonologist. How could I go wrong?

I did. Full title--The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren. In it, two devote Catholic do-gooders do battle with the forces of darkness. They describe going into demon infested houses (including the infamous Amityville horror) and kicking but on the forces of Satan. It went to great lengths to describe the hellish tortures I should be expecting both on Earth and in the afterlife should I play around with “evil magic.” It scared the shit out of me, and set me back spiritually into the realm of fear and ignorance for another decade. I’m not saying they didn’t encounter spirits or they set out to dupe the public. I don’t know, wasn’t there. I do take exception at their, my side vs. their side, mentality.

To tell the truth, the fear instilled in that book followed me through my pagan years. Yeah, I may have a different side, but I still believed contacting those evil critters would lead to no good. It took another twenty years to reach where I am now. Only recently have I reached the conclusion that just about everything taught to me in my youth, especially the shit I’m supposed to be afraid of, is a lie. With that gem of wisdom under my belt, I now finally feel ready to get to know my demons. After all, if they’re against all the shit that I’m against, I might find some new friends. Or, if not directly an ally, they may help me understand what I need to get rid of.

Lately, I started working on my first summoning. I won’t put the details here. In short, I lean towards the chaos tradition, and although I look towards the Goetia for inspiration, my methods are my own. I have noticed a lack of material on the subject, so if you would like more details feel free to contact me.

The most important thing I’ve learned in this short period is that sometimes you need a demon to fight a demon. In medieval times, religious scholars speculated that thousands of tiny demons surround us all the time. They tempt us, try to corrupt us, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. While searching for the right demon to contact, I suddenly became aware of the ones already surrounding me. I knew I didn’t need more of those assholes. Or did I?

I know now the demons that plague me do so because they sense something in me they can exploit. What I needed was a better demon, one that could feed from these negative traits and give them back to me in positive ways. Despite my best efforts, I have selves that refuse to part from me. Aspects of my personality that come back again and again at the wrong moments. It may be easier to reconcile with some of them rather than exorcise them.

Some of you reading this may still be afraid. You think I’m playing with fire. I could use a lot more old sayings to back up my case, but none would change your mind. I can only say that by overcoming this fear I made some great breakthroughs.  Do you want fear to prevent you from making yours? Yes, I’ll make mistakes, but I’ve made plenty of those before.

If any of you do decide to meet some demons, please ask them if they know Astrumada.

Knowledge

A true magician always knows the exact meaning of every word and action of a ritual. – Donald Michael Kraig

I’m thinking about my classes and how I will start off. I hit upon the idea that I should just go up, no talk no introduction, and perform an LBRP(1). Give people something to catch their attention. I’ve got a big sword (hehe) that I use and it should be mildly impressive. Then I start thinking how the purists will react. My LBRP is not standard.

I’m not talking I put a little extra inflection here or change a step or two. It’s recognizable, but wholly different in some places from the GD/Crowley version. No, I’m not really afraid that I will alienate the magick harpies of Indianapolis. If they can’t handle the fact someone does something differently they’re not going to get anything out of my class anyway. I do believe, however, I should be prepared to explain myself.

I believe I fly in the middle of a spectrum. I refuse to follow something outright without justification. I see way too many magicians taking at face value the rituals given to them. Even worse, they don’t know what the rituals mean when they perform them. I’m reminded of one of my favorite lines from the movie Gandhi.

When I was a boy I used to sing a song in that temple: "A true disciple knows another's woes as his own. He bows to all and despises none . . . Earthly possessions hold him not." Like all boys I said the words, not thinking of what they meant or how they might be influencing me.

Of all people a magician should understand the things we do, the words we say, especially those we repeat on a constant basis, effect us deeply. They stick in our subconscious and change who we are and who we can be. Some people would say that’s the whole point of ritual. So when I see someone perform a working totally oblivious of the symbolism involved I wonder why they work magick in the first place.

On the flip side, many magical practices remain unchanged for decades, some would say centuries, because they work. Magi throughout the ages have performed them over and over with results. Once again, a magician of all people should understand that something used repeatedly over time implants itself in the collective unconscious, the very fabric of the universe. Tapping into this holds power. That’s why I recognized the need and usefulness of a banishing ritual.

When I first knew I wanted to perform the LBRP, I first did my research. It surprised me how many sources didn’t even bother to translate the meaning of the words. My biggest stumbling point came during the vibrations of the names of God. I don’t have a problem recognizing the concept of God as a universal force, not the Judeo-Christian old man on the mountain who will spank you if you get out of line. I’ve got no problem with the tetragrammaton(2). In fact, I find it a rather elegant expression. I do however, have a problem with Adonai.

Adonai translates to Lord, or even Lord of Lords, or Master. The whole reason I kicked my Christianity to the curb was because I refused to conceptualize divinity as some medieval potentate. I know about a hundred Thelamites are jumping up and down now saying, “But it has other meanings. It’s all how you interrupt it.” Maybe. But you’re a fool if you believe that it was not written with the intention of bowing and scraping to a Lord. Sorry, I refuse to call upon any deity as master.

Speaking of deities, I’ve got nothing against angels, I use one as my guardian, but I changed the rest. I feel much more secure being looked after by pagan deities than by the host.

So find out what you’re doing. Hit the books, or the net. If part of a ritual doesn’t hold true for you, have a good reason why, and change it. Know your magick.

   

(1)    Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. If you don’t know what that is, you should come to my class.

(2)    The Hebrew use of the four letters YHWH to represent the name of God.

Teach

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.

-       Sun Tzu

I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

In a fit of optimistic rebellion I decided to say fuck you to the corporate masters and find more ways of making my living than working for them. After a searching inventory of my skills and knowledge, magick came to the forefront. I don’t consider myself an expert. I know more than some but less than a lot of people I know. But I do have a perspective. With this in mind I headed down to my local occult store, Inner Path, and offered to fill a hole in their workshop curriculum. They had plenty of people teaching psychic development, massage, goddess(1) classes, but no one teaching magick. I didn’t know if this stemmed from a lack of interest or a lack of teachers. I’ve always been the guy to hang it out and see who nibbles, so I volunteered my services.

Then I waited, several weeks. I thought for sure they wanted nothing to do with me, afraid I’d scare off the folks doing angel readings. Surprise. This week they called me. They were excited. They wanted me to start right away. Shit.

So now I needed to actually figure out what to teach. And, what the fuck am I teaching anyway? I decided on ceremonial magick as the best description of what I do. It sounds better than Sun Tzu magick. No, I don’t make war with my magick(2), I do follow the philosophies in the Art of War. Sun Tzu said, “Can you imagine what I can do if I do all I can?” My perspective can be described as--bringing as much knowledge, and thus power, to magick as possible given the current state of being. This means using all the magical tools at your disposal(3) and constantly developing your ability to draw upon gnosis(4).

I guess that’s what I’ll do. Give them tools. So look here in the future for the notes from my workshop classes and see if they might be something that helps you.

(1)    How the hell do you teach “goddess”?

(2)    Not often, but I am participating in the current magical attack on News Corp. We’re hoping to push them over the edge.

(3)    That also implies using only the most effective ones.

(4)    As per the Peter J. Carroll definition, building altered states of consciousness.

Tool(s)

Picture from Pagan Murmur

Contemporary adepts should be able to explain themselves and their methods and ideas without charlatanry or mystification. Magic does not work by magic, if you see what I mean; it requires hard work and dedication and a lot of practice. I believe that releasing effective magical ideas will actually lead to less of the sort of satanic nonsense that leads some idiots to try sacrificing the neighbor’s cat.

      -  Peter J. Carroll, interview in Abracademia

      

      I once had someone tell me that their boyfriend’s old gypsy grandmother(1) taught him that he could just whistle a special tune and produce any magical effect he wanted. When pressed she admitted that he had been practicing this technique since birth and that’s why it was so effective. To me it still smells like a steaming pile. It reminds me too much of Bewitched where Samantha just twitches her nose and makes anything happen, or of the book by Francis Breakspear – If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Be Doing It! You cannot trivialize testing your will against reality. 

      A lot of people criticize ceremonial magick for all its myriad trappings and artifacts. They say it’s just not necessary. They say you can do magick on a whim and prayer. I’m not saying they can’t. I’m saying, why would you? In a practice where the potential rewards are so great why half-ass it? Why wouldn’t you bring everything you could to bear? That’s why I spend so much time on choosing symbols. 

      I’m going to part from the master(2) here on two points. One, I’m not convinced that concentrating on a symbol and then forgetting it is the best way to plant a symbol in the collective unconscious. Maybe this works for some people. I offer as my case in point dreams. I believe, as many do, that dreams show us the contents of our unconscious minds. How many times have you fallen asleep in front of a TV only to have the plot of the show bleed through into your dreams? If you spend a large amount of your time concentrating on an event, do you not sometimes dream of it at night? This seems to go contrary to the fire-and-forget school of magick.

      Also, I am not convinced by chaotes who claim to use sigils for everything(2). Yes, I do believe that self-created symbols have power, but not necessarily more than using something established. Sure, the symbol is very personal, but how can you say the symbol you created five minutes ago holds more weight than a symbol you’ve been exposed to since your youth?

      The only argument that holds water for me against ceremonial tools is that it does advocate a certain amount of materialism. You run the risk of continually acquiring new tools under the presumption that the more you have the better chances for success. Following some established rules helps prevent this from happening. Magical tools should be crafted by the magus themselves, barring this, something given as a gift. A magus should consider outright purchase of a magical tool as a last resort(4). Even then, putting extra effort into cleansing and bonding the tool is in order.

      In the end, don’t be reluctant (or too lazy) to bring everything you can into a ritual, provided you personalize it as much as possible.

(1) You know a story is B.S. when an old gypsy appears.

(2) Peter J. Carroll

(3) To be fair, if his blog is any indication, Mr. Carroll participates in some rather elaborate ceremonial magick. I don’t think he would advocate sigils for everything.

(4) I admit I recently purchased a bronze ankh for use in ritual. As this point in the game I’m not ready for metallurgy. Maybe someday. I’m letting it lie buried for a moon cycle to cleanse it.