I was working on the final proofs and edits for my first volume of Liber Artis Archaeomancy and that allowed me to take a critical look at the rituals that are contained in that lengthy tome. Doing that exercise made me wonder if the complexity and density of the ritual workings was something that anyone else would either appreciate or even bother to master. I also realized that those who are advanced enough to understand what I was doing in these rituals probably have their own way to doing something similar, and it is likely simpler but also unique to themselves. Those who aren’t as advanced would find these rituals to be too complex to be useful. This made me realize that what I am writing is not for the general public or even the general occult or magical reading audience, and that these books that I am writing won’t ever be big sellers.
What I do know is that they are relevant to the times and to my level of spiritual and magical development, and that I took my Witchcraft magic to levels of high ritual magic that few would ever dream of taking them, which meant that few would actually be interested in traveling that path. I sent out copies of my work to various parties, all of them advanced magical practitioners, so I guess they might give me a real peer review, or not. I must be doing something right because I find myself at times doubting the value of what I am doing, and the kinds of lore that I am sharing with my small reading public may make them smaller still. I am asking myself the simple question, who actually not only reads what I write but then attempts to perform the rituals that I have written in my literary works?
My previous article about how I define magic got some interesting feedback, where one individual who is an author felt that my definition of magic was more mystical than magical, and seemed to miss the simple point that magic is performed to get practical and material results, period. Yet when I read my rituals and look over my diaries, I can seen that there is so much more happening in them than just functioning as a means to an end. What can I say, other than this is the context of my experience, and that as a Witch, I have always mixed magic and religion. So, the expected outcome should have mystical overtones. I think practicing theurgy, which also seems to mix religion and magic together, might also make the outcome of a series of magical workings achieve spiritual visions and religious insights. Still, some of my closest associates agree with my assessment that magic is not simply a material objective realized, but it also has powerful spiritual and religious ramifications. Others, however, completely disagree. I don’t believe that either perspective is incorrect.
The true measurement of any published system of magic is dependent on what other magicians and practitioners think about it and whether they are inspired to appropriate some or all of it. At this time, I don’t know what the verdict will be regarding my system of magic. Yet in the future, probably after I am dead and no longer part of this world, the proof, as to the usefulness and utility of what I have written and practiced, will be determined. If my books disappear without a trace a few decades after my death or even sooner, then I will have at least contributed to the overall lore and fulfilled my obligations as a magical devotee of the Great Goddess. There will be nothing more left of me and what I once proposed as a different kind of magical system.
My life story is that it was through the discovery and engagement with the Goddess of Witchcraft that I became a competent ritual magician, something I had aspired to in those early years but failed to realize. Without the guidance of my powerful spiritual ally, the Great Mother, I would not have been able to plumb the depths of ritual magic nor would I have been moved and inspired to do so. Back then, what books were available were pulp occult books and the republishing of some of the more worthless writings on the subject, like the Magus or Transcendental Magic. What I had was a boundless imagination and a familiar sense for what passed as occultism and magic. Witchcraft liturgy and magical practices were fully open to me, at least as far as they went, but always, I had the Goddess of Witchcraft in my corner. It was through her and the inspiration that she provided me, and the amazing connections of good fortune and serendipity that seemed to bless my seeker’s path for all things magical. I made do with few books in the beginning, but was also able to integrate traditional magical and religious lore, and discard unuseable my own lore when I came upon books that had really useful information in them. Over time, I used this knowledge to perfect what I was already developing over the decades, and I did not completely discard my system of magic, but used what lore I found helpful and brought it into my system of magic, so that as I evolved, that system evolved as well.
One event that had a singular impact on my system of magic was developing it to be used in the Order of the Gnostic Star, or the E.S.S.G., as we originally named it. My need to translate this personal lore into rituals that could be used by others made it more objective and recognizable to people outside of my personal sphere. I continued to use this same approach as I developed new lore, making it always a part of the recognizable practices of the Order.
Over the ensuing decades, I have shared these rites and ceremonies with associates in my Order and others, and they have found them cogent and useful. I have attempted to write them in an accessible manner. Yet I have no illusions that those who are experienced but who have not previously read over my rituals or those who are beginners will need to acquaint themselves in depth with the methodologies that I use in my ritual lore. I believe that the best way for this happen is for individuals or groups to take my rituals and attempt to perform them, observing the spiritual effects and the magical manifestations for themselves. Since I have used this system of magic now for over 50 years, I have worked on it and revised it many times, and the results captured in my books represents the final distillation of the magical system I started developing in the early 1970's.
Recently, I have become more acquainted with Frater Crow, who has interviewed me three times over the past few years. He is one person who has followed my writings for years, and has read nearly everything that I have written. He and his associates are going to take my most recent books and extract and perform the rituals written in them, making changes so that the workings reflect their own particular gnosis. Frater Crow has realized the value of what I have written, and he believes that the magical rites contained in my books will definitely fit into his system of magic. I only need to give him as much support as I can to help facilitate this objective validation of what I have developed and written about over the decades. I will be looking forward to the day when we can trade experiences from the common body or ritual lore. I haven’t had that kind of collegial collaboration in many years, certainly not since I moved from Minnesota. This will the best validation I could hope for, knowing that individual magicians will always take lore from various sources and use it to build their own personal magical system, so what will be developed and performed will not perfectly match what I have done, nor should it.
I have never bought into the idea that magic must strictly adhere to what was practiced in the previous age, particularly the period of late Medieval and Renaissance Europe, since the context of those times is impossible to reproduce. We don’t believe, act or think like the people in those times, and the models of our world couldn’t be more different. Seven hundred years is a long time and a lot of changes have occurred in that duration, and a lot has not been documented and is therefore lost to us today. Ritual technology is not timeless, even though the results that magic produces may seem to operate in a reality that has not changed in two thousand years or more.
Yet the means to gain that timeless state of mind has profoundly changed, and what was once taken for granted has been lost to the ages. Thus, it has always been the rule that the technology of ritual magic must be adapted to the time in which it is being practiced. There is no possibility of reconstructing the world where the old grimoires were relevant, so what remains to be done is to adapt that lore and bring it into a magical system that is relevant to our world today. How that can done is take the beliefs and lore that we have today about magic, its functionality, myths, metaphysics, philosophy, and the ritual structures used in religions that support the practice of magic (or those that don’t but still practiced forms of it, like Catholicism), and build your own personal system of magic.
Building a system of magic is actually a delightful and imaginative work that uses various rituals and lore from other traditions, a lot of creative insights and inspirations, and above all, experimentation to fashion a magical system that works. You learn magic by doing it, whether successful or unsuccessful, since it is always an evolving process. It also helps to be consistent, and to have a basic spiritual practice underlying this work.
Since we don’t live in an age where people experience their spiritual myths and religious beliefs in their daily life, such as seeing and experiencing angels and demons, witches, the evil eye, miracles, having visions and revelations, we, as post modern people, will need to develop our ability to meditate and assume various levels of trance states to penetrate the world of metaphysical and paranormal phenomenon. That must be the first step that a ritual magician in training would master, since without that capability, the ability to see, feel and hear the Spirit World would be practically impossible.
Unlike the people of the previous age, we are insulated from that preternatural world, because of science, technological advancements, rationality, socialized humanism, and secular democratic government. These are, of course, not problems since they have made life for the common people more livable and free, and allow for greater degree of self-determination, although within limits. Still, to work magic, we must break through this barrier, and to do that, we must master the art of meditation, yoga, pranayama and trance states. Having a modern spiritual perspective and practice, and engaging with Deities that are approachable and even capable of full sympathetic personification, will certainly give the magical system builder the foundation upon which to build their modern magical practices.
Modern ritual magicians are not people of the Book, per se, they are more like the people of the library, since it is through the appropriation and adaptation of the global practices of religion and magic over the ages that they possess the source lore to build their own magical system.
Frater Barrabbas
No comments:
Post a Comment