Necessity of Compassion and Empathy in Magic

Typically, magic is about getting something by using oblique or probability bending methodologies. This is particularly true when the object or target of one’s magic is something that is material. Magic has most often concerned itself with achieving some objective or getting something that would be otherwise unobtainable. It could be something that is highly improbable or even impossible, or something that might be obtainable if one’s fortunes were to be weighted slightly in one’s favor. Doing magic for unobtainable or improbable achievements seeks to create what is known as a “black swan event,” where the objective that seems nearly impossible happens in an almost miraculous manner. Since this kind of magic will more often meet with failure than success, what is more commonly sought after is something that is likely to occur.

Magic seeks, therefore, to make something happen, usually for personal and material profit, so it is a particularly self absorbed activity even when it is practiced for someone else’s gain instead of one’s own. Practicing magic for someone else is either a bought and paid for transaction, or one that is done for various personal reasons. The outcome is the same whether that magic is worked for one’s self or another. The action of this kind of magic engages the self and especially the ego, just as it does when we ambitiously seek to advance our material conditions or the conditions of those who are close to us using mundane actions and tools.

None of this is either new nor surprising since it has been a part of magic since the beginning of human culture. Where it becomes a problem is when it is paired with extreme selfishness and a callous disregard for basic human values. Because of the influences of the Christian church, and that western religious culture has always placed a high regard for charity and compassion, magic seemed to be balanced by the need to care for and help others and to do good to one’s fellow human beings, at least those of the same culture and religious persuasion. (The “other” has always been the subject of extreme prejudice and the target for negative magic, but we will cover that in another article.) Even so-called “black magic” was used to achieve justice and material equality in a world where social and financial power assured one of not only active participation in the decisions and rules effecting everyone, but of a kind of protection and insulation from the masses who lacked that power. Even so, black magic was considered an extreme action unsanctioned by the church and the culture at large, whereas white magic was either condoned or at least tolerated. Not too much has changed over the centuries, except for the influence of the Church and the requirement for some kind of charity and compassion. Perhaps the climax of these values are to be found in Christian democratic socialism that has built the social safety nets of the developed nations of the world, and that are now imperiled by the selfish actions of some groups.

The backlash against this institutionalized socialism is the creation of a class of individuals who have taken these institutions for granted and have promoted a kind of a selfish and self-absorbed lust to acquire all of the benefits that these societies have given to everyone but take on none of the responsibilities or civic duties (paying taxes, engaging in the political process and civic discourse) that make such a social contract workable. I am talking, of course, about ideas such as Libertarianism as espoused by Rand and her followers, and taken up by various fascist and proto-fascist movements disguised as a newly emerging popular ultranationalism in Europe and the U.S.

How these two movements have apparently merged is something of a modern mystery, but it would represent the need to tear down the existing socialistic democracies and replace them with one party authoritarian states. This has been made possible by a kind of potent lack of social compassion and empathy that has become manifest amongst the populations of the developed world, pushed as a newly minted perspective in our social media worlds. It has produced a social callousness and a selfish defense of the status quo, where that status quo is promoting an accelerating material and social inequality. It is a time where groups who have achieved much of what the modern world has produced have sought to keep that achievement to themselves and damn the consequences. I find this mind set oddly flourishing amongst people of my generation (the Boomers) and perhaps also amongst those Xer’s who have made it into the upper echelons of the middle class. The millennial generation seems to be more idealistic and inclusive, and I am grateful for that state and I hope it continues. Where my parents generation fought against the fascists of the west and east, my generation seems to be seeking to embrace this mind-set, even though it runs counter to everything that they have been given and benefitted from in a society and a government that has greatly assisted them in some fashion their entire lives.

I won’t delve into the selfish, arrogant stupidity that seems to motivate people into embracing fascism or proto-fascism out of a delusional fear that change in our world will somehow screw them any more than it already has. The pain of change in the last 30 years has been mostly forced on us through the passage of various conservative policies that have benefited the wealthy elite and damaged the middle class. What will change (hopefully) is that a certain group of people (white, protestant, male) will no longer be able to depend on maintaining their privilege. Instead, it will be society that treats everyone as equals, based, one would assume, on the principles of our cultural institutions and our constitution. That is a just and equitable solution to mitigate a drastically emerging social and material inequality, and help people deal with the profound changes that AI and automation will have on our world, not to mention the drastic changes needed to mitigate climate change.

We truly need in these times a powerful government to meet and resolve these challenges, and that government needs to represent and seek to aid equally all of its citizens, and in addition, the populations of the world. The world needs a strong western developed world to help it deal with its problems as well, since failing to do so will ensure our eventual extinction as a species. There is no place in our nation or the world for the kind of selfishness provided by ultra-nationalistic and totalitarian governments. What we really need is a world government working together with the various nations to deal with global issues.

Opposing any kind of collective or global cooperation is a resurgence of nationalism, which is merely a cover for extreme selfishness and self-preservation of the status quo. This kind of callous “me-first-ism and the hell with everyone else” mind-set has also, to some extent, infected the practice of magic in the west. We live in a culture where compassion for anyone outside of one’s political tribe or clique is practically non-existent. Therefore, magic is practiced as one more mechanism to gain that coveted place of isolated material and social comfort where the disenfranchised masses can be safely ignored. It is a way to fantasize about gaining unearned wealth and power when it is mostly probable that one will achieve what is more likely based on one’s already established station in life. Practical magic is the supposed great material equalizer, or so it is advertised, but it is getting harder to make miracles happen in the material world using magic, and probably a lot more profitable to just cheat and cut corners. While the window of opportunity is closing for most people, it also occurring in a stealthy manner while the masses fight each other for the leftover scraps after the rich and powerful have feasted.

While it is possible to fall from the economic station of one’s birth, it is getting less likely to step far above that same station. Social and material mobility has slowed down, and the number of newly made high-tech millionaires has likely already peaked, particularly if the power-elite are successful in creating a servant class out of the middle class. You can’t exclusively benefit from your own inventions unless you have the economic freedom to be outside of the corporate sponsored sphere of patronage and ownership, or somehow gain a large share of the profits of such endeavors.  I suspect that the current interest in magic might in part be due to the lack of opportunities for social and material mobility. However, magic cannot be expected to make dramatic changes in one’s life station if the possibilities for such expansion are closed.

Yet in this world of cut-throat competition, where the wily find ways to cheat, scheme and manipulate events, and the ethical just get screwed by those who are rapaciously ambitious; it would seem that compassion and empathy are weaknesses that need to be either suppressed or eliminated. Caring for the poor, the disenfranchised, the victim, or the “other” is just not tenable. Having feelings or caring about those who you are not close to is to be defined (by the successful others) as a sucker - a fool who unwittingly desires to be played, used and discarded just like all the rest of the masses out there in the world. Some modern politicians like to make these easily identifiable “others” as the enemy, when they are really just the sad victims of calamity and evil circumstances. Yet that is a distraction to the real screwing that is going on right in front of us every day. Yes - we are being screwed whether we know it or not.

When idiots rant about the racial superiority of the white European world, or the need to preserve “White Christian” values in our culture, that people of color get too many unearned benefits, or refugees who come to our country fleeing horrifying social conditions and threats against their lives are somehow suspected terrorists or undesirables stealing jobs from privileged citizens, they are listened to and commented upon by the media as if they were somehow speaking wisely. They are not called by many of these same media pundits as racists, misogynists, fascists, or religious bigots; but they should be called out as such and rejected by one and all. (Even better, their words shouldn’t be quoted at all.) What this shows is that we no longer seem to feel badly about what is happening to other people who are not directly connected to us - that misplaced “other-ness” that makes them an existential evil. There is a lack of compassion operating in our culture, and an inability to empathize with others who are suffering, particularly if they are part of the population that occupy that inhumane definition of people as the “other.”

What drives this lack of compassion is aversion and the passions of focused hatred that seems to be bottomless and lacking any kind of moral compass or boundaries. Yet impassioned hatred cannot be represented as any kind of strength, superiority or power. It is, in fact, the grossest kind of weakness and pathetic human need for the preservation of one’s own tribe as the expense of everyone and everything else in the world. It is a delusional lust for power driven by fear and ignorance, and these forces in human nature are completely the opposite of anything having to do with real magic, or any kind of spirituality.

When a magician thinks of doing ill in the world by using magic to benefit himself or his tribe at the expense of other people then it weakens and profoundly diminishes whatever good he might believe he is doing. In fact, it weakens magic as a form of occult practice. This rule cuts into the idea of using magic against others for individual or tribal gain, whatever the justification. If you are going to curse your enemies, steal from them or cross them in some manner, even if it is for good reasons, it ends up pushing the overall tone of magic down and creates a spiraling downdraft counter force. A lifetime of negative magic not only weakens and diminishes the individual performing it, but it also has a negative impact on the social domain of magic as a whole. The cartoon-like character of the “black” magician who is completely corrupt, depraved and empty of any human-like qualities or virtues does have an element of truth within it, and it typically leads to a terrible but justifiable self-destruction.

It would seem then that if aversion represents a great weakness in our world, then love could be considered its opposite, thereby being the greatest strength. Instead of being based on aversion, delusion and ignorance it is based on compassion, understanding and clarity of vision. It takes courage to love others, particularly those who are not part of one’s family or tribe. It takes an open mind that is not stained by prejudice to feel empathy for others, and allow one’s self to expand to include everyone and everything in the embrace of knowing and understanding. To follow such a path is difficult and it would seem that the greatest challenge facing any individual or group of humans is to be able to pass the threshold of selfishness, even for a moment, to realize the suffering and pain of others who have no connection to one’s self.

Yet the overall rewards for such a crossing over are great, since it not only ennobles the individual and takes them to a higher plane of being, but it makes the world, at least in a small way, a better place. When love becomes the backbone of magical workings then the magician who practices it becomes evolved in a manner that is empowering and expanding. It leads to a kind of personal and collective ascension, and this would seem to be the goal of all world religions. It reduces the suffering of the world and helps to foster the characteristics that ultimately lead to a form of individual and collective enlightenment, which should be the ultimate goal of magic and the mystical elements of every religion. The key words to love being the core of magic is empathy, acceptance, mindfulness (openness and acceptance), clarity of vision and above all, compassion.    

My message is to say that compassion is a truly great power, and that if we have lost or misplaced that quality then it shows how lacking our culture (or magical practice) has become. I don’t think it is completely lost so much as it is omitted or suppressed as a so-called practical approach to living in our post-modern world. However lost or misplaced in our society at present, when it is omitted in magic, it makes the operations of said magic weak, ego-bound, diminished in scope and lacking in vision. 

Performing magic to project ill into the world, however justified, darkens the world; but projecting good into the world through magic diminishes suffering and lightens the world. How do we determine such a supposedly subjective and relative value such as good or ill in our magic? We determine this by measuring what we do and how we work for ourselves and our clan against the needs of the many and the “other.” Is our magic selfish or selfless; does it promote the greater good or does it promote the individual or the tribe at the expense of everyone else. 

A compassionate magic believes that there is enough material and spiritual wealth in the world to benefit everyone; that we can have our fulfillment and find our place in the world without having to rob others of their fulfillment. An averse magic believes that there are extreme limitations to the world - both materially and spiritually. That one must cheat, steal, plunder and dominate in order to acquire one’s fulfillment in the world and to maintain that dominance at all costs.

Finally, the question that all magicians must ask themselves is whether they believe in a compassionate or an averse kind of magic. Over time, you will know the magician from what he or she becomes as they live in the world day by day, and what kind of magic they believe in and practice.

Frater Barrabbas      

Magical Self-Defense and Thwarting Attacks

Recently, there has been some discussion on Face Book about a reported magical war that has pitted a loose confederation of Witches and Pagans who have directed their magical powers to magically marginalize Donald Trump and the Trump administration against members of a Golden Dawn faction. I am referring to the infamous binding ritual that was and still is supposedly being performed during the dark of the moon by Witches with a particular liberal bent, and aggressively opposing them is a certain Golden Dawn chief and his wife and their supporters, whose names are better left unsaid. I had decided not to offer my opinion about this so-called magical war because it seemed to me to be ridiculous and nonsensical at the outset. I have my reasons for considering what has transpired to be dubious and not particularly worthy of comment. That is because, as an experienced Witch and ritual magician, I understand how a binding ritual is supposed to work and to what uses it can be successfully applied, and where it would be practically useless. I also have my theories about the efficacy of working magic to impact a celebrity or a person in a position of national prominence. A national figure-head, like a president, is probably beyond the means for most magical practitioners who would like to bend or influence his or her decisions, manipulate, or even cause him or her to experience misfortune or worse, without some kind of direct access to that individual.

This is not to say that such magic is impossible or that magical attacks do not happen, but in my experience they occur rarely for some not-so obvious reasons, namely the efficacy and competence of magical practitioners who are mostly from the privileged economic classes, such as the white middle class in the U.S. It would seem that not living in disadvantaged poverty removes some of the cutting edge of ruthless passion needed for aggressive magic that fighting for survival would give a person who lives day to day in the urban blight of a third-world life-style. I myself have been magically attacked just twice in my long history, but in both cases these actions were performed by people that I knew and who had intimate contact with me. I will briefly discuss later in this article what I personally experienced when I was attacked so my readers will have something to compare against when attempting to determine if they or individuals they know have been or are under magical attack.

In all of the decades that I have practiced magic I have never experienced the kind of polarized world of black magicians fighting against white magicians for the ultimate cosmic supremacy of the world, or good vs. evil as depicted in stories, comic books and the tall tales of some magicians. As far as I am able to deduce, the world just doesn’t work that way. We don’t live in a Manichean world dominated by the constant struggle of good against evil, or light against darkness. As a Witch, I see the powers of light and darkness always mingling and interchanging, and that they represent a kind of natural cycle that is much more like the seasons experienced in the temperate latitudes of our planet. Life and death are part of the naturally occurring cycle of manifestation that determines the nature of corporeal existence, and with it are the constant changing seasons, the natural flow of day and night, and the many variations in these cycles that happen quite naturally.

Nature has no moral high-ground, and the laws and religious doctrines of human ingenuity are based wholly on the culturally determined beliefs and opinions of people that change over time, and that are different, depending on one’s location in the world. If anything, the natural interplay of light of darkness makes for a world that is impermanent, at times ephemeral and always locked in the constant forward movement of time itself. It is also important to understand that all of the national players in the world of geopolitics are beset with flaws as well as virtues, and they have as much darkness about their world persona as light. There is no solely good actors fighting against completely bad actors. It’s more like variations of bad actors - some better and some worse. The US is just as much a negative force in the world as it is a supposed force for good, and in some cases, it’s a kind of mindless force of destruction and calumny. 

When it comes to human-based social morality, the world of mankind is decidedly gray. There are many layers of complexity when attempting to determine moral truths, and what seems to be valued as something good could actually be harmful in the long term, and of course the inverse can also be true. A case in point is where religious based law (seemingly good) is used to govern a group of modern people regardless of their actual beliefs (an enforced theocracy - very bad).

Equally sticky is where economic justifications are used to reinforce the terrible inequalities between economic classes, such as when the propaganda for a meritocracy is used to hide the inherent inequalities of class and privilege (basic libertarianism). Another case is where radical changes are required for the world economic model that is dependent upon fossil fuels which are not sustainable in the long term, but denied any veracity by those currently in power. Here, the short-term gain is considered “good” for resisting such change as opposed to the long term consequences, such as the immanent decline of available fossil fuel sources and the climate changing pollution that they cause. Preparing and making changes today for the future often has an immediate price tag that might seem to be harsh and difficult (bad) , but in the long term, will be more than compensated for in the future (good).

It is sufficient to say that we live in world of opposing views and even sometimes, polarized politics; but still, there are provable facts which cannot be denied except by willful deceit, blind ignorance and the greed of short term gain. This kind of complicated and troubling morality particularly besets those who practice magic, whether in engaging in unethical practices, or believing that one is a victim of someone else’s unethical practices.

Anyway, one of the things that I wanted to discuss with my readers is that a practical Witch has a certain variable body of lore in which to perform various types of magical operations. A binding rite is one of the more malefic kinds of magic that a Witch might deploy. I call it malefic because it causes the target to experience a kind of paralysis of action, and it can be specific to a situation or type of action or it can be generalized. In Hoodoo, this kind of magic would be classified as a “crossing” and is usually quite common, although it is more often a kind of self-crossing where the individual is engaging in self-defeating actions or pursuits. It is not a harmless kind of defensive magic, since it represents an aggressive action against an individual or group.

If someone who is under the power of this kind of spell, through their own stubbornness or passion, attempts to push through the magical obstruction or somehow overpower it then that person can experience real physical pain or even death. Imagine someone tugging against their bindings if they were tied up instead of just relaxing (or flexing) until they could be loosened. They might accidently choke themselves to death. There are ways to get through or around a binding as well, but the best way is to initially relax and not attempt to force a release. Then when the binding loosens somewhat, as it will, an uncrossing rite can be quickly and efficiently performed. Like most magical work, it is not fool-proof and subject to the variations of the circumstances and individuals involved. One important consideration is that the Witch who is performing a binding must have something specific at hand that can be used as a direct link. A binding rite is an intimate kind of spell, which means that it must be employed on someone with whom the spell caster or his or her client has some kind of close social connection.

All forms of curses, love spells and any other kind of manipulative person-to-person magic has to be performed against targets that are intimate in order for the spell to have any chance of succeeding. There are also consequences, since such an intimate spell connects the issuer to the target, however briefly, and also there is a need for mundane actions or steps to increase the probabilities for success. Spells like these require a powerful link, since they are operating through the Thaumaturgic rules or laws of magic, such as the Law of Association (which contains the Law of Contact and the Law of Similarities). That magical link can assume many different forms, but the best kind would be what I call a material or gross link, such as hair follicles, nail parings, blood, or some other similar object extracted from the target individual. It could also be something once worn (and not washed) or a stolen prized possession. Still, any kind of intimate object or mental association that can tie or connect the subject with the object can function as a formal link. There is also a need for an emotional passion, similar to personal hatred or a strong desire to inflict or victimize someone - that is the magical power associated with this kind of working. The mundane actions that would accompany this working would consist of a form of contact, a means of providing a kind of subtle emotional blackmail, enabling the victim to helplessly realize their plight.

As a rule, then, these kinds of spells are best employed by someone who is close to the target, and the closer that relationship is, the more focused and successful the spell will be. The farther away and less intimate the subject is to the object, the less likely that the results will be successful, particularly since there will be little or any mundane steps employed to help the spell. That means that a binding rite is a very poor choice to influence or manipulate someone who is a complete stranger. For that kind of magic it is better to employ the assistance of a spirit that can be used to perform a malefic act and function as an intermediary. Obviously angels couldn’t be readily used, but certain classes of demigods, neutral spirits or demons could be so employed. Still, the simple lack of any kind of mundane steps to help the spirit evocation produce the expected results would be problematical. In other words, I believe that such a magical operation would be something of a long-shot to produce any useful results.

Another factor that would be operating is that a public figure has an egregore in addition to his or her actual intimate personality. If someone were to attempt to work magic on a public figure without some kind of intimate connection then they would be focusing on an egregore that is actually shared by many people in the public domain, and it wouldn’t likely have much of an effect on the person behind that persona. This is the primary reason why long-distance magical spells that are directed at a celebrity or a politician have little or no effect. A magician has to find a way to penetrate the egregore in order to reach the person behind it. It is a difficult proposition when using the correct magical tools and an impossible one when attempting to use a spell that is associated with an intimate magical link, such as a binding.

The Witches who consorted to work a binding spell against President Trump showed at the very least a complete lack of knowledge and understanding about how such a magical operation would work. Of course, if the binding spell was guaranteed to fail, as I believe it would be, any counter magic using the same technique reversed would be just as ripe for failure. What I saw in this action and counter action were two groups of people who were more likely to get some risible publicity from the general public (except maybe from Christian Fundamentalists) than they would have any kind of impact on Trump or his administration. It was, overall, a publicity stunt simply because you never broadcast your intentions about a potential magical working if you intend it to work, and both parties engaged in this kind of grandstanding. So, I saw this war of words and intentions and just ignored it as actually meaningless and poor press for both parties. It did show me that both groups failed to understand the basics about magic, such as what I have outlined above. Yet that didn’t stop them one bit, and the antics that are now being played out with ever greater stakes and imaginings are even more ridiculous. Magic doesn’t work that way, so if you really want to know anything about magic, you can be assured that neither party knows what they are talking about.

Consider for a moment, if you will, that Donald J. Trump has been a public figure and a celebrity for decades. He has done enough in his lifetime to various individuals and groups to earn him a great deal of justifiable hatred and animosity. He is, in a word, a monstrosity of a human being with little or no redeeming values. He is also loved and cherished amongst a certain crowd of individuals, although whether through ignorance, naivety or spiteful affirmation is not actually relevant. The fact that there are people who love and believe in the Donald will in fact make it nearly impossible to penetrate his public egregore in order to perform some kind of magical operation against him and the members of his administration.

Perhaps when his popularity tanks and thereby weakens his egregore, it might be possible to target the man behind the persona, but with someone as narcissistic as Trump, I think that it would be a waste of time and effort. For the Donald, any attention, whether negative or positive, is energy that feeds his beast. The most painful thing for him would be getting ignored or shown to be wholly irrelevant. While he is the POTUS, he will be getting an enormous amount of attention, both positive and negative. Where Trump is vulnerable is with those who have an intimate connection with him. His close advisors and members of his administration work under a tacit agreement of loyalty and fealty, not to mention a non-disclosure agreement. His friends are few indeed, and they must continually show a kind of steadfast loyalty that only kings, emperors or madmen would require in order for such friendships to continue.

It is for this reason that I feel that magic directed against Donald Trump just feeds the beast and doesn’t really make any difference. Donald Trump has lived a charmed life so far, since every action that might have sunk him or his businesses has instead found him with new avenues to exploit and new resources to use in his many business and political ventures. If Trump were anyone else, without such monetary power, celebrity and such an overarching business persona, he would have been brought to ground a long time ago. Instead, he has the knack for pulling off amazing scams and landing gently on his feet no matter how dire things seem to be. This is still true today, since how he has behaved as a president would caused anyone else to be quickly impeached. I could say that Trump already lives a charmed life, but I would never say that it will continue like this for the foreseeable future.  I believe that things are already changing, but they have more to do with Trump doing stupid things and trying to get away with greater outrages while pretending to function as the POTUS. Eventually, things have to give, and Trump’s charmed life will ultimately fail to protect him from the consequences of his own actions. In the end, it will be Trump who will damage and destroy himself because he pushed even his own good fortune far beyond the threshold of what is tolerated and acceptable even by those who fervently support him.

If Donald Trump falls, it will be his own fault and not attributed to the actions of some magician who tried to bring him down. His fall will be the epic lore of the Hero Myth tragedy, where the hero is ultimately brought down by his own hubris. We can only hope that in time our democratic traditions, checks and balances, and the rule of law will prevent Trump from destroying our representative democracy, and I feel a certain confidence that these forces along with the energized political opposition will bring down Trump and his presidency.

If anyone wants to work magic against the Trump regime they could do no better than registering to vote, joining the political opposition, getting politically engaged, running for office and becoming an active member of the resistance. What better magic is there than uniting with like minds and taking on the establishment that has become corrupted and moribund. This is a case where people-power takes back the country so that it is a nation run by the people and for the people, and not one that favors just the 1%. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one, so this is a political and even a magical rule that will seal the fate of all would-be tyrants and wealthy power-brokers. That is, at least, my fervent hope and how I am guiding my own path in these dark and troubling times.

Where does that leave the magical war that is going on during the New Moon phases between those who seek to thwart Trump and his administration and those who seek to thwart those who are seeking to thwart Trump? They are engaged in a bit of notoriety and minor celebrity, and not much else. Even the claims by that Golden Dawn chief and his wife of having near death experiences due to evil black magic, i.e., the destruction of a fancy sports car and the death of a pet must be seen as a kind of Kabuki theater that has little or no magical substance behind it. It is easy to blame accidents, neglect and personal foolishness on the malefic actions of some nebulous foe of evil Witches and Satanists practicing black magic and sending out lightening bolts at the duly elected President.

The purported harm supposedly occurred when these two individuals decided to channel all of that black magical power through themselves and harmlessly into the earth. The only problem with this idea is that first, a binding rite doesn’t send out any kind of bolt (it emanates, like all intimate magical spells) and the fact that the magic likely went nowhere, there wasn’t anything really to defect or absorb. In their sacrificial act, they might have taken upon themselves all of the negative ill-will that everyone who dislikes the Donald is sending to his egregore. However, I actually doubt that they even managed to do that, since it would have been more like a chaotic cacophony of various emotional energies and thoughts without any real directive or cohesion. If anything, such a connection would have been merely one of countless millions, and it would have been confusing and perhaps even overwhelming, but not dramatically so. Yet they reported an immediate deflection of negative forces that nearly killed them. How very melodramatic, and also for me and many others, unbelievable. 

For their presumed sacrifices, I suspect that they might think that they should get some kind of award or medal from Trump, except that few are paying any attention. I have shown that it is very doubtful that a magical battle was the cause of these dramatic occurrences, so what did happen was the product of a very untethered imagination, that and maybe rampant paranoia and some truly irrational thinking. As a story, it mythologizes the processes and the persons, so it is obviously a form of extreme hyperbole or self-delusion.

The real question is how can you know when you are indeed being magically attacked? What is the difference between experiencing a real magical assault or one that is imagined for various reasons? There are some things that can be done to help make this determination, and this is where having a good peer group and a rational mind that can examine phenomena with the help of critical thinking are priceless gifts.

The two times that I personally experienced a magical attack were not at first easily identifiable as an attack. It was only obvious to me after some rational consideration, and also eliminating all other possibilities. In both cases the people who magically assaulted me did not tell me they were going to attack. How I determined that this was happening was that I experienced emotions, thoughts and inclinations that were not my own. I felt a tremendous guilt for things I hadn’t even done, and a form of self-loathing unlike my typical buoyant and forgiving manner. I had bad dreams, morbid thoughts, unreasonable fears that would suddenly strike and then disappear, and more importantly, I found myself dwelling on the person who had attacked me.

This process wasn’t sudden, it was a lot like getting a cold or the flu. It started out making me feel that something was not right and the feelings of something bad continued to grow over time. The real determiner is that all of this phenomena was alien to my being - it was another mind, emotions and even a will seeking to subdue and overcome me. Divination rites revealed a general state of complete confusion and indecisiveness that was overpowering me. Discussions with others revealed that I seemed to be emanating something that was palpably negative and self-destructive.

Another clue is that when I engaged with my spiritual discipline, performing liturgical rites, all of these effects completely disappeared for a short while. As you can imagine, undergoing a spiritual regimen (fasting, meditation in sacred space, performing liturgical rites) for a set period of time could readily defeat this external phenomenon altogether. In fact, that is exactly how I short-circuited and eliminated what was externally trying to invade my being and overcome my will. It was similar to an exorcism, except that I was functioning as both the exorcist and the subject of the exorcism.

Magical effects, as far as I understand them, don’t produce pyrotechnical phenomenon, so what is realistically experienced is more subtle, unexpected and stealthy. Being magically attacked is a lot like getting ill and slowly unraveling instead of being instantly blasted by a lightening bolt. People who tell me stories involving their dramatic experiences with ‘awesome’ magical pyrotechnics are usually engaging in excessive exaggeration or the ‘telling of tall tales’ rather than telling the truth. Those who claim to have engaged in mythic epic battles with the powers of darkness wielded by evil black magicians are either writing a fictional work or just plain lying. It doesn’t matter if the lie is due to self-delusion or it is a deliberate falsehood to glorify oneself, it still is a troubling personal defect that is a warning to oneself and others.

This rule of thumb can also apply to someone who complains about being magically attacked by someone or some group. As an author I get occasional emails from individuals requesting my help because they are being magically attacked. They usually describe an implausible or unbelievable series of occurrences and blame someone or some group for all of the bad things that are happening to them. I find myself feeling sympathy for them, but it seems obvious when I examine what they are claiming that they are actually suffering from some kind of mental illness or experiencing an internal psychic trauma. Their stories are full of bizarre imaginings and fanciful considerations, and of course, it all happened so suddenly.

Often these individuals live far away from me, and I feel that there is nothing that I could do to help them other than to tell to seek out professional help. I am not in the business of working magic for paying clients, and I think that I would dislike taking advantage of someone who is broken and experiencing psychological trauma. My heart breaks to read their emails, but I try to keep a level head and advise them to get professional help from someone near by.  I have no desire to add to their confusion or pain, and I hope that my lack of engagement doesn’t make me look cold or cruel, but that is the reality that I have to face. A good magician always knows his or her limitations, and I am not a licensed therapist. Someone who hasn’t learned that lesson yet or refuses to know their own boundaries are setting themselves up for a world of hurt.

Frater Barrabbas

Magical Reality vs. Legendary Magic

Doctor Strange - Legendary Sorcerer Supreme

I haven’t been posting very many articles as of late due to the demands and busyness of my mundane work schedule. So, during this holiday interlude, I have decided to write up a series of short articles that represent what has been on my mind lately. Hopefully, I can fill the void in my blog with several new articles in the coming days. That is my object, so hopefully I can meet it to some degree.

According to political pundits we have entered the post fact age, which means that any opinion, belief or thought, no matter how foolish or unschooled, is to be considered valid, even when proven to be false. Certainly this has driven the political winds in our country since the election and its poisonous impact on the body politic, but when it comes to discussing magic and the occult, I am hoping that the post fact age doesn’t intrude on the dialogs of those who are actual practitioners. Besides, in the history of magic and even today, we have always been struggling against what the popular imagination believes is magic and what practitioners know from experience.

The recent popularity of Harry Potter, the SciFi channel’s series “The Magicians” and the recent Marvel movie “Dr. Strange” hasn’t helped to keep the topic of magic in the popular imagination closer to the practical reality. Magicians in the media are either shown to be incredible miracle workers who are able to harness astonishing powers or they are fraudulent purveyors of deception and illusion. I am certain that the continual media trope of the magician wielding supernatural forces is quite an annoyance to the scientific community at large who believe that such fantasies should have been long discarded by rational and critical thinking adults. Of course, these are the same people who would also like to see religion discarded as well.

Real magicians, witches and occultists who are practicing magic hardly need the untutored public to promote and embrace such beliefs about magic, and often a new student of magic has to learn where reality starts and fantasy ends. What often draws individuals and groups into a study of magic is the promotion of amazing capabilities and astonishing possibilities. Of course, the reality is subtle, deep, and completely undramatic. The Hollywood produced special effects never match the actual experiences and phenomena of magic, and perhaps this acts as a filter to deflect those who are deluded and refuse to see the world in a critical, logical and rational manner. While it is true that the imagination is a very important component of any magical practice, and that romantic notions are the drivers of magical processes, it is important for any magician worth his or her salt to maintain a balance between the worlds of fact and fantasy. The real issue that one realizes after practicing magic for a while is that the legends about magic and the actual practice of magic are always quite distinct.

Legendary magic has always been a part of the literary and narrative elements of human culture. Whether that magic so described is the technology of the future, belonging to advanced alien races, or that it is steeped in a supernatural domain of spirits and deities is actually immaterial. These are the stories, folk tales and fictional heritage of our culture and our times, and while the qualitative nature of these stories change, the actual themes and underlying structures seem to repeated and revisited over and over. The basis of legendary magic is that it is within the ability of human beings to harness some kind of mechanism that allows individuals to employ seemingly miraculous powers. In the previous age, a person would acquire these powers through the agency and coercion of supernatural entities, such as various kinds of spirits - angels, demons, saints, or hero demigods. It was believed then that human beings had no such powers on their own, but needed the assistance of supernatural entities in order to achieve material transformations of a supernatural type. Later on, in the 19th century, a new theme was developed that proposed that ordinary human beings had previously unknown powers vested in them that could be tapped with a special kind of knowledge or training. Either of these approaches to legendary magic saw that phenomenon as the ability to miraculously manipulate and transform matter at will, or to completely defy all natural laws.

Legendary magic basically broke all of the boundaries that human kind had been struggling against since the beginning of human awareness and consciousness. This kind of magic gave one the ability to fly, teleport, create anything material from nothing, to influence the weather, to change peoples beliefs and feelings without them knowing, to project power in the form of fire, thunderbolts, terrible storms, or even cause the sun and the moon to stop or move in reverse. Legendary magic made the wielder into a material personification of God with all of the powers of omniscience, omnipotence and ubiquity. Whether this was due to harnessing spirits or through the discovery of unknown innate powers only represented the time in which such tales were produced. Unknown human powers discovered and unleashed is a more recent trope, while the abrogation of the powers of spirits and deities is the trope of previous ages. Either narrative represents a problem and a challenge to the actual practice of magic, since expectations about the results of such activities are likely to be far too high and unrealistic.

Confusing legendary with real magic is something of a cultural phenomenon these days that would seem to be getting worse as we proceed into a future fraught with challenges and insecurities. Of course, there are certain shiftless hucksters (whose names I won’t mention) who are advertising their magical courses and techniques claiming miraculous powers and guaranteed magical results. What many magicians fail to talk about much is that failures and folly in the pursuit of magical knowledge are just as important as the successes. No one can either guarantee that their magical lore will work flawlessly for everyone or that there is a painless and easy way to be like a living God. In fact, real magic has always had boundaries and limitations since the beginning of time. Those physical and psychological laws didn’t just materialize with the advent of modern science, in fact it was science that observed and incorporated them into a mathematically proven set of theories. When someone proposes that their magic can completely suspend or abrogate the laws of nature, you should see their claims in the light of hyperbole or outright deceit. The old saying still applies to real magic, “If it’s too good to be true, then it obviously isn’t.” Still, the hucksters continue to make their outrageous claims, and gullible people continue to seek them out and get fleeced.

So what is real magic as opposed to legendary magic? Real magic is subtle, undramatic, highly internalized (subjective), and often mysterious in its various manifestations. It can be unpredictable, but when it does work as the magician has planned, the results are more a bending or connecting of probabilities than the manifestation of impossibilities. Amazing things can happen, but they never translate into making the magician a living deity. Fortune, tragedy, folly and wisdom are the products of the human experience, and magic can influence these possibilities into likely probabilities, but there are limitations and boundaries that cannot be crossed except through the artifice of visions, dreams and active fantasy. These, too, have a part to play in magic, but like everything else, they must be kept in balance so that the magician never loses his or her ability to see the world as it is rather than how one imagines it to be. Legendary magic has no place in the actual practice of real magic.

These are the rules of magic that I have learned the hard way, through continual toil, successes and failures, bright moments of ecstatic realization and accomplishment, and also depressing moments of sadness and loss. It would seem that a life dedicated to the practice of magic doesn’t preclude one from experiencing the whole spectrum of life that all other humans experience as well. Trying to change one’s life and material circumstance has inherent limitations and boundaries whether magic is deployed or not. It is human nature to look for an edge or even an easier way to accomplish some goal, but in the scheme of things, magic can only make actual probabilities occur with any reliability. If a miracle has a certain probability to occur, then magic or some other psychological mechanism can perhaps bend reality so that it does occur. It might also be possible for an outright miracle to happen, such as working magic and then winning the PowerBall Lottery, but working or focusing magic on such a possibility is more likely a wasted effort. It would be more prudent and wiser to discover a more likely path, such as a career that you could learn to love, and then work magic to help you successfully access that path.

If magic has limitations on what it can produce in the material world then what is its worth? A combination of magic, personal insight, social connections and a regimen of mundane skills and actions could give a person the appearance of living a charmed life. Even so, every human being is subject to same laws of entropy, which means that they are prone to misfortune as well as fortune, and that institutions, organizations, and also people, age and decline over time. There is no escape from death, even magicians die. The world is constantly changing, and whatever we can do to quickly adapt to those changes will indeed help make our lives more productive and rewarding. These insights are just common sense, but they are often ignored by many people, much to their future folly and misfortune.

Where a magical system that is solely applied to the material world can have limitations, a magic that is focused on knowledge, insight and wisdom has far less limitations. This is the distinction between forms of magic that follow the Thaumaturgical mechanisms and techniques and those that follow the Theurgic processes. Theurgy is the system of magic that seeks ultimately to reveal and employ the higher self in order to achieve union with the One. Realizing the truth about the self, spirit, deity and that which unites them into a singularity, are the various focusing lore associated with Theurgy. While the material situation does have some bearing on this type of magic, it concerns itself with establishing a stable life situation to eliminate distractions for the real work of obtaining full union. Theurgy only obliquely concerns itself with one’s material circumstances with the caveat that the process of spiritual and psychological evolution that it promotes will cause the manifestation of positive affirming life situations. This is particularly true as the theurgist achieves a greater awareness of that ubiquitous union both within and without him or herself.

Thaumaturgy, particularly in its modern definition, is the method through which a magician learns to adapt, cope and to some extent, master his or her material world. Complete mastery is impossible, but temporary mastery can and does occur. That achievement, based on some years of magical experience, becomes the foundation for the next step, which is Theurgy. The basic and expected evolution of magic is where the focus changes from seeking to achieve mastery of the material world to achieving mastery over one’s self-based spiritual conduit through the higher self as deity to the ultimate union of all being. While mastery of the material world is always represented by a continual work in progress, mastery of the self and one's personal illumination is something that can be achieved in a person’s lifetime. It is, as far as I am concerned, the sum and total of the great work, and in this one particular instance, legendary magic and real magic coincide.

Frater Barrabbas 

Magic 101 Revisited Again

My previous article stirred up some interesting comments and produced some really engaging points of view. I am, of course, referring to the article “Beware Tilting Against Windmills” where I discuss how performing a binding ritual against a major world organization is probably the wrong kind of magic to use in such an endeavor. A binding ritual is an intimate type of magical working, and performing magic on a global level is much too broad for an intimate rite to have much effect. I also questioned whether one could establish an effective or reliable magical link to such a large and nebulous group of people. I never said it was impossible, but that it would be difficult to define a credible target when the group in question consists of an aggregate of individuals loosely organized under an idealized state apparatus. It would be better to identify specific key individuals, but still, a binding spell would require something intimate to make the connection to any targeted individuals. (Possessing Al-Baghdadi’s head scarf would probably be a good object upon which to base an intimate link.)

Additionally, these individuals are extreme religious fanatics who believe that they are functioning as the instrument of God as they perform various acts of barbarism and militarized terrorism. How any magician could think that their magic could intervene and topple such an organization is the height of hubris and specious thinking. Religious extremists would be protected by their zealous faith from any negative thought-forms or magical attacks, and thankfully, bullets and bombs do have an immediate impact. However, even a counter military force cannot eliminate the ideals upon which they are grounded. This is an implacable war of ideas, and as such, it can only be won when the hearts and minds of enough of the populace on both sides who support it are transformed.(Think Lebanon in the 1980's.)

Some of the comments that I received indicated that perhaps other forms of magic might be more credible; such as astrological based magic, directing one of the invoked Cherubim or Seraphim to intervene, summoning and directing one of the Enochian Governors of that locale to execute a curse or some other kind of working that would allow a remote target to be accessed without an intimate magical link. Another person seemed to think that I had suggested that such magic was technically impossible, and of course, that is not the case. I have previously stated that performing a combined binding and mirror spell would probably produce no discernible results. It could also produce a personal backlash. Another individual stated that based on the premises of Chaos magic that performing any kind of rite and then taking credit for any positive result was an appropriate response because it would affirm the magic and empower those who performed it. I found this kind of reasoning to be questionable, but only in the context of this magic. I think that when the scale of a working is global one must establish and state specific objectives for a specific period of time and then determine afterwards if it indeed actually obtained the results. Because of the numerous parties engaged in this conflict in both Syria and Iraq it is impossible to isolate anything that could be objectively given as proof showing that the magic was successful, especially when the objective is so general and not grounded in time.

Here’s an example of this kind of specious reasoning. Let’s say I perform a magical working in the next month or two, and my objective is to ensure that Hillary Clinton is elected president next November. I don’t do anything else to make certain that my magical objective is successful. I just perform the magic and then quietly wait for the outcome. If Hillary Clinton wins the election then I can claim that it was my magic that gave her the victory. Had I not worked my magic, she would have lost the election, so I am the defacto “king maker” who has changed the history of the U.S. and the world. Of course this is quite silly, and it would be difficult to prove that I was wrong in making such a claim, but it would also be equally difficult (if not impossible) for me to prove that my claim was true. From a scientific standpoint, I would be required to objectively prove that my claim was true, and failing that, my claim would be considered inconclusive at best, or nominally false. A real test would be if I worked my magic and then predicted that Hillary Clinton would win by 10% of the vote, and additionally, 80% of the down-ballot Democratic tickets would also win. If these conditions were met, my claim would be certainly more credible; but even then, I would have to objectively define the mechanism that linked my magical action to the expected results. There could also be other explanations for making such a successful claim, such as clairvoyance or possible insider information.

Don’t misread what I am saying. I do believe that magic can influence outcomes on a global level, but there is a mechanism for how such a thing could be done - it is not the same as working magic on yourself. I have always advised my students, and I have taken this advice into my own magical work, that material change of any kind always requires mundane steps to be simultaneously executed. If you need to find a job, you don’t work magic to find one and then sit on your ass waiting for it to materialize. You perform your magic and you also look for work, with the caveat that the magic will help bend the laws of probability so that you will be successful.

However, making something happen for yourself or a client, and making something happen in your community or even on a global level requires a very different approach. It still requires mundane steps, but they are orchestrated so that many hands join together for a worthy cause. The greater the scale of the magical objective then the greater the population of those assisting in making it happen. Witches and pagans who are connected with the ecological or progressive political movements (in the East and West coast areas) have demonstrated that combining magic with public activism is an excellent way of making things happen in both local and national levels. Let me give you a hypothetical example.

Suppose there is wilderness area not far from where you live that has been a source of pleasure and wonderful recreation for you and your friends for many years. Let’s say that a large multi-national logging and mining company has managed to secure the rights to logging and also fracking that area for natural gas. It is not a national or state park, but it has been public land for a long time. This corporation, along with state and local politicians, have cut a deal, and the press has reported that the company will extract these resources supposedly without causing much harm to the natural pristine area. This sounds a bit too good to be true, so a bit of research reveals that this company has a history of destroying the land that it logs and mines and has never had to clean up the environment after they were done. They have paid fines and quietly dealt with public claims, but they also have a number of politicians in their pockets to mitigate the consequences. This has allowed them to lucratively engage in their business without much in the way of consequences.

Of course, you are opposed to this company mining and logging in an area that you have personally enjoyed for years, and you decide to do something about it. You also happen to be quite good at magic and you are a practicing pagan. You decide to work magic against this corporation to stop it from proceeding with its proposed mining and logging project. If you perform a binding spell on the company’s logo (and do nothing else), do you think that anything will change? However, there is a way to tackle this objective using both magic and public activism. This is the basic magic 101 way to get something done on the material plane - do the magic and also the mundane steps.

The first thing that you do is to arouse your friends and neighbors to oppose this project. Maybe you write some letters to the newspaper, post some articles on social media, form some public protest events, hand out fliers decrying what the company intends to do to a pristine wilderness that everyone in the area has hunted, fished, camped, swam in the creeks, picnicked, and enjoyed for generations. You advertise and organize meetings and basically spread the word, getting the whole area talking about it. You also publicly disclose what the company has done in the past when they have operated in an area, and you might even post pictures that show how callous and corrupt this company really is. You have started a movement, and once started, it takes off and has a mind of its own. You continue to work magic, but you don’t just target the company. Instead you target key individuals in that company and the corrupt politicians who have supported them for campaign contributions and other perks. You could even host protest events at the residences of these targeted individuals immediately following such a magical targeting. You can also stage events at local and state offices, engaging in peaceful civil disobedience.

Of course the corporation won’t take this kind of assault lying down. They will look for dirt to publish about you and the members of your movement to try and discredit the whole thing. Their PR team will go into overdrive to try and change the direction of the public discussion and destroy the movement. Newspapers, the internet and TV will blare their message to everyone. They will also organize their own counter public campaign and create a fake grass-roots movement of their own. There might even be some investigations into the movement, false allegations made, lawsuits declared, and maybe even some underhanded blackmail or thuggery. It will be quite a nasty and vicious local war, but it will completely change everything from the way it was when everyone was quietly minding their own business. Whether you win or lose, the changes have been made and it is likely that the community will have a whole new perspective. Anyway, that is one way of taking on an organization and successfully defeating it (or not) using a combination of magic and public activism. Which technique, in your opinion, has a chance of success? Doing a binding spell or simultaneously executing a magical and public campaign?

As you can see, using the right kind of magic to effectively achieve an objective is a fundamental part of magic 101. You develop a tool box of different kinds of magic, and you determine, from a practical perspective, the correct magic to apply to a given issue or situation. That toolbox is developed over time, so an inexperienced magician will tend to use the same tool in all situations, and the resultant failures will teach him or her to expand and develop other techniques to deal with differences in focus, scale and scope. This logic applies to not only dealing with a corporation in a local community, but also effectively making changes on a global level.

If it is your objective to engage with the world and help to bring about peace to the middle east in whatever way you can then there are some obvious things that you could do. Since there is already a lot of warring factions engaging in battles and killing people, adding more negative energy, even in a partisan manner, would only make things worse if it did anything at all. Obviously, seeking peace is much more constructive, but a lot more difficult. Remember, this is a war of ideas, so promoting peace must start at a fundamental level.

The most obvious thing that one could do is to help the refugees. The second most obvious thing to do would be to support a cease fire and work within the UN to help make that happen. Another thing one could do is to promote a peaceful exposition of Islam that is completely counter to what IS-Daesh is promoting. In other words, help and assist the Muslims around the world to show that their religion is one of peace and religious tolerance. Try to eliminate public discrimination, misunderstanding and hatred towards Muslims in your local area as well as on the national level. Promote interfaith organizations that seek to help the public view Islam and other religions in a positive manner, and also show that religious extremism is a problem that affects all religions practiced in the world. While engaging in these activities, you could also work magic, alone and in groups, to help promote this idea worldwide.

Certainly, there is a constructive way of dealing with the problems of religious extremism that exists locally as well as globally. I would recommend that anyone who is serious about changing the way the world exists today by using magic would see that as an opportunity and a goal. Love is a greater power than hate, but often hatred seems to have the upper hand. It is far more difficult to look for positive and constructive ways to fix a problem that is threatening to engulf the world in an ideological war, but it is probably the only way that such problems can be permanently resolved.

To make large scale changes in the local and global arena, I recall an excellent slogan that I think works from a political activist perspective and a magical one, too. “Think globally, but act locally.”

Frater Barrabbas

Thoughts on Wealth and Magical Power

Spring has finally come to the Great White North, and the leaves are starting to bud. It is looking a lot nicer since the browns and greys of winter after the snow-melt and rains have become green with the promise of warmer weather and a verdant rebirth. Still, there are cool days and a quite a lot of rain, but at least it’s rain and not snow. Despite the fact that the warmer days of summer are approaching us again, I find myself overloaded with work, so I can only gaze at the wondrous changes through my window.

Presently, I have begun the arduous task of transitioning from my old job and role to one that is new. I need to focus on mastering new skills, dusting off knowledge and techniques long stale and getting up to speed with a completely different technology. These are delightful things for me to do because I always love new challenges and learning to master new technologies. I am grateful that my company is giving me this opportunity to re-tool, but I can hardly blame them. Finding people with my business knowledge is quite difficult, since what I do isn’t just limited to knowing how to use fancy technological applications. The fact that I also know how to write is also somewhat unique to an IT professional, so I can see the practical reasons why my employers want to give me the opportunity to retool. It’s far cheaper and faster to allow me to extend my abilities than it is to hire someone with all of the abilities that they require.

Thus, my work related on-the-job training and the massive workload will keep me busy for quite some time. This is why I haven’t been writing articles for my blog lately and why I am not likely to write much in the future either. I am just too busy making certain that I can continue to function as I have done previously in my career, and so manage to continue getting a good paycheck to put a roof over my head and food on the table. I am not wealthy but I am also not poor. I have been quite fortunate and I am grateful for what I have been able to accomplish in my life so far.

I know all too well that things can and do change, and the fickle finger of fate can just as easily afflict one with misfortune as it can seemingly award one with good fortune. I would like to believe that my magical abilities have helped to shape my fortune over the extent of my lifetime, but it could have also been my ability to periodically reinvent myself and to be fairly practical minded when it came to money and career choices. I like to think of myself as a man of magical power and arcane ability, since I am a witch and a ritual magician. Yet when it comes to talking about magical power and how that mysterious quality can impact one’s temporal and material reality, then things can become murky or even a bit confused. Allow me to explain what I mean by this statement.

There are essentially two basic kinds of magical workings that most ritual and ceremonial magicians might perform, and these consist of the works of thaumaturgy and theurgy. Thaumaturgy can be defined as essentially making things happen in the material world based on a combination of magical and mundane steps. Thaumaturgy is therefore mainly concerned with producing material effects regardless of the medium (such as energy, spirits, psychology, etc.). Typically, a thaumaturgical operation will be able to “bend” probability so that something that has a distinct possibility of occurring can be “willed” into becoming manifest. Theurgy, on the other hand, is concerned with spiritual insights, wisdom, occult knowledge and conscious illumination. Therefore, when magicians talk about influencing events through the application of magical rituals, they are usually talking about thaumaturgy. When they talk about transformations and transcendence, they are talking about theurgy.

In my book “Disciples Guide to Ritual Magick” I have discussed the nature and quality of the concept of magical power. I have maintained that it is a subjective phenomenon that has more to do with the experience of magic and its apparent meaningfulness. A powerful magical ritual is one that has profound meaning and significance for the magician. Magical power is therefore a metaphor for the emotional experiences of meaningfulness, profound significance, and insightful synergy that accompanies a successful working.

Of course, a working that fails to produce the desired effects could also appear similarly ground-breaking, but magicians typically remember their successes and try to mitigate or even forget their failures. I often refer to a magician recounting his or her exploits and successful magical workings as “tales of power.” They have a tendency of magnifying over the years and with the many renditions. (I suppose that the failed workings and misadventures would be called the “tales of folly.”)

A powerful magician is one who can not only get the desired results that he or she is striving to achieve, but does so in an obvious and profound manner. This is to say that really good magic always produces far more than just the desired outcome. It teaches, instructs, guides and ultimately leads one to a greater level of being than what might have been otherwise. What I am implying here is that thaumaturgy can and does lead the magician to theurgy, although not always and certainly not immediately.

Even so, magical power should never be confused with real power in the material world. While it is possible that the archetypal magician should be materially successful, perhaps even wealthy and widely influential, this seldom ever occurs. Why is this so? Why are magicians to be found in mostly the middle or lower classes and not amongst the wealthy elite? Shouldn’t magical power be synonymous with material power?

Anton Lavey once drily stated that real occult masters and men of magical power should reside in a station of life commensurate with their magical prowess, that is amongst the elite, and if they didn’t, then they were just a bunch of deluded frauds. I read this bit of hyperbole in Anton’s monthly periodical “The Cloven Hoof” and I can see that some folks have taken it to heart over the years. This belies the fact that Anton himself passed away leaving a very modest and meager estate behind him. He was also something of a steadfast atheist and didn't believe in any "occult powers."

Needless to say, I have often sensed a bit of snobbery and a sneering quality of prejudice from the quips and comments made by middle class white male magicians who like to look down their noses at those who are materially below them, including those men or women of color who are not part of the supposed elite of middle class magicians. Of course, whatever material stability one has these days has been bought dearly for the price of actual material freedom, since the typical working stiff can’t afford not to have a job and a career in order to survive. There are some lucky few who make a living offering their occult services for a fee, but the rest of us have to work a mundane job in order to make a living, and that takes us away from what we would rather be doing with our time. However, those magicians who are doing well money-wise have managed to leverage their middle class roots and privileges into a stable material existence, but this could change at any time. Misfortune occurs every day and happens to everyone at some point, but those who are rich and powerful are less impacted by it.

Additionally, look at the general population of the U.S. and see who is most engaged with the practice of magic. The number of middle class magicians and their potential middle class clients is quite small compared to the rest of the population of middle class folk. This is not so in the lower classes, particular the ethnic minorities and non-white people living in urban areas. There are far more magicians operating in these communities and people who will engage them for a modest fee than in any other community or class. When you think about it, doesn’t that really make sense?

When upper class people seek retribution for a wrong that they experienced at the hands of someone else do they go see a magician or a root conjuror? No, they go see their lawyers and sue the crap out of their would-be perpetrators, or they pull some influential strings and cause all sorts of woe to those sorry bastards who have wronged them. They don’t need any magic because their money and influence is all the “magic” that they ever need, and it usually protects and empowers them quite well. They can afford to be rich assholes when we would never consider behaving in that way. The rest of us poor schmucks have to make do with intimidation, physical threats and perhaps even violence, and if that can’t be done, then we either have to lump it or perhaps engage in some magic either on our own or by hiring a magician, witch or root conjuror.

 

For this reason, the very powerful, well connected and wealthy elite have viewed the practice of magic, particularly thaumaturgy, as disdainfully irrelevant. To them the religious status quo has always been an integral part of their outer social image. They might be interested in oddities or attracted to novelties, but in most cases, when they indulge in such matters they are just considered harmless wealthy eccentrics. They actually don’t deviate too much from social norms because it’s bad for business. So for this reason magic has always been and always will be the proclivity of poor and powerless people because they don’t have the means of throwing their weight around, whether by material power or by the threat of violence. They are, in a word, the little people that the rich and powerful treat with indifference or scorn. I count myself as part of that faction of “little people” regardless of my paycheck, since misfortune could easily take away everything that I have materially achieved in my lifetime. There is little difference between the urban poor and myself, at least when compared to the mega-rich, so I should always consider my material interests when voting. You can bet that I don't vote for Republicans or Libertarians.

Do my words bother you? Do you feel the need to dispute what I am saying because you think magicians should be powerful in all areas of their lives? Well, then, here’s a little test. Compare your vaunted material power and swagger to that of the Koch brothers and see how it stands up. I am certain that you will handily lose that comparison. They are spending hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to buy the supposed democracy that we live in, and they are gradually succeeding. For instance, instead of talking about what we need to do about climate change and how we should mitigate its dire effects, we are instead talking about whether or not it is real. The scientific consensus is that climate change is practically a fact, agreed to by over 97% of scientists. The global ice caps are melting at an unprecedented pace and it is obviously due to the high levels of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. How did so much carbon-dioxide get into the atmosphere? Simple, from the massive burning of fossil fuels. Heavy mechanized farming has also greatly contributed to the green-house gas effect. Still, we have the majority of conservative politicians and media pundits denying that climate change is even happening, and all too many people are foolishly agreeing with them.

This is only one of several conservative themes that are completely absurd yet nevertheless are being seriously played out in our country, pitting lies and hyperbole against scientific fact. Modest gun control as a form of second amendment abrogation is one, Obamacare as a national disaster is another and voter fraud is still another. Not to mention the supposed fake scandals that are being acted out by the Republicans in Washington against an administration that is boringly bereft of scandal. Why is this happening? Does the fact that the Koch brothers own a major share of the fossil fuel industry have any bearing on why the conversation about climate change is stale-mated by those who outright deny its reality? As Bob Dylan sang: “Money doesn’t talk, it swears.”

Progressive policies tend to assist the many for the sake of taxing the wealthy few, and so they are a method smoothing over social and economic inequalities. They don’t in any way discourage anyone from becoming wealthy, and in fact, they greatly assist in social and economic mobility. However, such policies have been demonized by those who wish to enlarge and expand economic inequality. Want to guess who is pushing such ideas into the political consensus? The Koch brothers and their mega-rich allies!

To humorously misquote Ronald Reagan, let me boldly tell my fellow Americans, “Rich people aren’t the solution to our problems, they are the problem!”

We magicians and witches are natural subversives working against the established order. Whatever you have is just waiting to be taken away by the .1%, so struggling against the system, whether clandestinely or openly, is the only way for us to survive. Thinking that we have powers to directly influence the world that we live in is a time honored illusion indulged in by middle class magicians. We can, in the end, only influence ourselves, and even then we are not immune to misfortune. So, don’t be fooled into thinking that you are safe from economic calamity, because you aren’t.

Even great magicians have their ordeals, difficulties and times of hardship. Misfortune has always been the true test of one’s character, personal strength and personal empowerment. Therefore, it is better to admire the magician who comes from a poor family and succeeds than to admire some arm-chair magician who has never had to struggle and fight for what he has.

Frater Barrabbas

Dilemma of Practical Magic

Even though I have been out of contact for the last month, I have still been privy to what other writers are saying on their blogs about magic. Recently, there has been a heated discussion about the morality of performing practical magic, or that somehow magic is debased when it used for the purpose of personal material gain. Another concept that has been discussed is whether or not magic, particularly practical magic, has some kind of cost associated with its use. I have already written a rather lengthy article on the subject of practical magic, but I have never had to discuss the morality of working this kind of magic in the past. I find the whole subject to be surprising, since I have always assumed that magic was to be used first and foremost for the betterment of the individual practitioner, and that included various types of magic associated with material acquisition.

Since I am a witch and a pagan, I confess that I have no scruples about using magic to aid my own personal and material process. The ultimate goal to which I employ my knowledge of magic is not to be rich and powerful, but to be ultimately enlightened. However, I have achieved through the artifice of my magic and my wits a comfortable life situation. I have acquired a certain amount of material benefits, the respect of my colleagues and a successful career in IT. I am not rich but I am not poor, either. I don’t have to worry about paying the mortgage or putting food on the table.

Could all that change due to some catastrophic illness or disaster? Of course, my current condition could change overnight, but so far I have managed to keep the wolves at bay and I have some excellent prospects to be able to continue in that manner for the foreseeable future. So, I can think about such things as achieving enlightenment or at-one-ment with the Deity, and even spend some time supporting my community and giving my time to others for free. If I were struggling to survive, I doubt greatly that my thoughts and actions would be so idyllic, and this, of course, is the real issue.

Material success and a certain degree of personal satisfaction leads one naturally away from more desperate and acquisitive pursuits for survival. The hungry animal is much more active and aggressive in its search for food than an animal that has a guaranteed source of nourishment. This is also true amongst humans - those who have achieved a level of material success aren’t seeking out nickle and dime solutions. This same logic can be used in regards to magicians. A magician who has a successful material existence is going to be more interested in higher forms of his or her art than having to work money attraction spells.

This bit of common sense was well articulated by Abraham Maslow in his five levels of the Hierarchy of Human Needs. The basic needs, such as physiological needs for survival and the need for safety (continuance) are usually where most of the material based magic is deployed. Once those levels are mastered, then the next level is friendship and intimacy. Beyond those basic levels are esteem, and then self-actualization. All of these levels can and do incorporate different kinds of magic, and all of them are necessary and valid from the standpoint of the individual who is undergoing them. However, the peak is self-realization, and this is the level where the need for material success and personal worth are replaced with the achievement of wisdom, enlightenment and union with the One. Still, until someone has mastered the previous four levels, then self-actualization will neither be relevant nor practical.

It is for this reason that I refuse to judge anyone who works magic for material gain, since it represents to me that they are just proceeding through a process of development that is really no different than the one I employed years ago when I was still struggling to achieve some kind of material and emotional stability. Even if someone never gets beyond the level of working magic for their survival, or if they employ their arts and abilities to the public for a fee, I would never judge them or somehow consider them less a magician than I. Experience has taught me that even working supposed low magic for a long period of time will expose the individual to various soul-based aspects and attributes that will transform and spiritualize him or her. Just doing magic over a lifetime will make one wise and spiritual insightful, even if that magic never achieved any level beyond simple Hoodoo spell-work.

High Magick is often referred to as Theurgia, which is Greek for “God’s Work.” Yet in order to undertake this kind of magic, one needs to have satisfied the four levels of Maslow’s pyramid of human needs. Some might be called to this specific work, and yet others will have more than their share of work just surviving and managing to live as full a life as they can. From the standpoint of the level of Deity, all magic is representative of the intrusion of that Godhead into the world. That means that all magicians are equal mediators of that process of spiritual emanation, despite their differences in material and social achievement. Because of this overall perspective, all magic is therefore sacred and serves a greater purpose. Who are we to judge other magicians?

Now I would like to address the belief that magic has a cost. It would seem that when people make this statement (which has its origins on the TV show “Once Upon a Time”) they mean that working magic or being on the receiving end of it requires some kind of sacrifice. In other words, you have to give up something in order to gain something - a sort of no-win scenario. Perhaps the silliest point to that fantasy TV show is that the evil queen is able to do all sorts of magical mayhem to all of the other characters in the cast and nothing ever happens to her. Where is the cost that she must pay for using magic? Is that somehow implying that when evil people work black magic that the cost is somehow a zero-sum game?

I can understand this clever ploy in terms of a plot device in a TV show script because it adds some spice to the fantasy magic that is deployed (and some polish to the Rumpelstiltskin mythos), but from the standpoint of actual magical workings, this concept makes very little sense. Magic, like any other action, does have consequences. Yet even doing nothing has consequences! Does magic typically have bad or undesirable consequences? Well, that depends on what is being done through the artifice of magic and the competence of the magician. Of course, that logic can be applied to any action or refusal to act in any given situation. If I refuse to pay my taxes or just forget about filing them, I am sure that some kind of negative consequence will manifest for me at some point via the IRS. Yet this is not a magical operation - it’s just taking some of kind action.

However, magic can and does produce unexpected consequences and sometimes these can be wondrous or quite unpleasant, depending on the context of the magic. Catastrophic good fortune is very rare but not impossible; so is catastrophic misfortune. Often accidents can happen to just about anyone, but very seldom is any kind of magic attached to them. A simple insight to all of this is that all actions have consequences, including magic. That is probably all that anyone can say about magical effects.

In all of the years that I have been practicing ritual magick I have never experienced anything like a “cost” associated with either using or benefitting from magic. As an occultist, pagan and witch, I have noticed a social cost if I am not quiet about my beliefs and practices, but that represents the errant prejudice in others that I have experienced from time to time. All I have to do to ensure that my neighbors and acquaintances don’t give me any grief for what I believe and practice is to just be quiet about them. So, the consequences for being public about my beliefs or being indiscrete has consequences. It says nothing about my magic or that I am somehow handicapped because I am a magician.

Anyway, I think that I have spent enough time on these two issues, and I think that you can see that the heated discussion, from the standpoint of a witch and ritual magician, is just a lot of hot air, or perhaps as fantastic as straw being spun into gold.

Frater Barrabbas