tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post2726135358038389668..comments2024-02-20T09:54:37.105-06:00Comments on Talking About Ritual Magick: An Analysis of the Golden Dawn System of MagickFrater.Barrabbashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-454797886599105432009-09-10T04:04:29.549-05:002009-09-10T04:04:29.549-05:00Hi,
thanks for this analysis, which is very good ...Hi,<br /><br />thanks for this analysis, which is very good when considering most of the published material. I do however wish to point out a few things:<br /><br />The Regardie compilations came from a very late era from an Order that had lost touch with the creative work of the original Inner Order, and are in essence but the scrapings of the magical and spiritual wisdom of the RR et AC.<br /><br />Mr Griffin's work is really, as most Senior Adepti apart from those in his Order would agree, little more than an elboration on the material. Adepti Minore in traditional Orders are required to perform a similar elaboration (and more) and know it all by heart.<br /><br />The traditional hexagram form is preferred by most Colleges of the RR et AC, since the steady and repeated hexagrams are required to fully invoke the Solar essence, the Sun being the central planet and the Assiatic representation of the central Sphere of Tiphareth. A single Hexangle simply does not work as well. Also, the "hexangle" is a form used in RR et AC Enochian Magic where it is not planetary at all but represents the elements, Spirit, Sol and Luna. We cannot therefore use it in Planetary workings without damaging the integrity of the system. The decision by Crowley and others who slavishly follow him to adopt this method shows he and they do not have access to the full tradition.<br /><br />The view of the GD as a useful starting point only makes sense when the GD is taken out of context of the living tradition that it is. There is far more within the RR et AC than is published, which is very unfortunate, but there you go. Some folk such as Pat Zalewski and Nick Farrell are correcting this as best they can, but much still remains to come out.<br /><br />thanksPeregrinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09508191641503321789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-39150231489922817632009-08-17T11:26:48.958-05:002009-08-17T11:26:48.958-05:00Maybe I'm reading "paranormal" in a ...Maybe I'm reading "paranormal" in a different way than you're intending here. If you're talking about subjective mystical phenomena associated with meditation and so forth I agree that some degree of realization is necessary in order to experience them. However, what about something like a poltergeist? Do you believe that people who experience hauntings are more realized in a spiritual sense than the population as a whole? It doesn't take any special realization to see a glass fly off a shelf, but at the same time those phenomena often tend to center on specific people.<br /><br />There are a few good parapsychologists working in the field, but you are correct that there are also a lot of flakes who are looking to justify their beliefs with some sort of evidence rather than looking at the data from a neutral perspective. Much of the problem with the field is repeatability - we can't measure consciousness in any meaningful way and that's one of the key variables when working with magick and/or psychic abilities. Some of the research on hauntings has produced interesting evidence, but again you have repeatability issues because you can't really get ghosts to produce phenomena on cue. <br /><br />As far as psychotherapy and magick goes, I find it quite amusing that there is actually less scientific evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of psychoanalysis than there is demonstrating the existence of ghosts and psychic powers. Karl Popper pointed this out at one point and the flames he got back were quite vicious. The only form of psychotherapy that has been demonstrated as effective by controlled experimentation is cognitive-behavioral therapy. To be fair to Regardie, though, I don't think Reichian analysis is practiced widely enough to have been included in those particular studies.Scott Stenwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389664381513219613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-55853385923828702122009-08-16T10:20:11.496-05:002009-08-16T10:20:11.496-05:00Anyone who has endeavored to learn magic has spent...Anyone who has endeavored to learn magic has spent time learning to meditate and has assumed some of the disciplines associated with Yoga. Once this new degree of sensitivity has been gained as well as spiritual sophistication, then one can experience and deal with the paranormal, which is typically out of the reach of the average person. If you've had the experience of training someone from the very beginning in the art of magic, these individuals retain a high degree of skepticism of what they are experienced until a certain point of realization is achieved. <br /><br />Also, a good psychical researcher shouldn't be biased one way or the other while conducting research, and to this day, a lot of paranormal phenomena remains outside the boundary of accepted scientific research. Parapsychology doesn't have a very good track record nor much of a reputation amongst the members of the harder sciences, probably because psi researchers believe that paranormal or psychic phenomona is real, and base their assumptions on that belief rather than objectively examine the evidence.<br /><br />Since the system of Golden Dawn magic that I have investigated has it's origins with Israel Regardie, those practicing this system believe that psychiatric counseling is important and even a requirement for balanced and objective development. Of course, one would have to find a psychologist or a psychiatrist who was sympathetic to occultism and the practice of magic.Frater.Barrabbashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11689013897789072360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6817682567561164198.post-45395741840937845532009-08-16T02:39:03.637-05:002009-08-16T02:39:03.637-05:00We have the ability to engage in critical thought,...<i>We have the ability to engage in critical thought, and this becomes something of an obstacle to experiencing paranormal phenomena. One either has to develop greater sophistication and sensitivity or become regressive and psychotic in order to experience spiritual phenomena.</i>.<br /><br />This may be true for someone who never has had a paranormal experience, but once you've seen genuine paranormal phenomena I don't know that it remains so. For example, I wouldn't necessarily say that paranormal investigators are more "sophisticated" in any sort of spiritual sense - many, especially those who use instruments rather than psychic abilities, operate according to the modern empirical paradigm and are basically regular folks who have just experienced weird stuff and know what they saw.<br /><br />It is true that this can be a bit of a "chicken and egg" problem for beginning magicians - you'll know your spells work when you see them work but until you have that experience it can be hard to prevent lingering doubts from limiting your effectiveness - but I don't think its something that experienced magicians generally need to worry about. I mean, we've all seen our spells work, right?<br /><br /><i>Golden Dawn magicians practice ritual magic to accomplish specific material and spiritual goals, and he or she also undergoes an intense period of psychological or psychiatric counseling as well - to ensure that objectivity and rational perspectives on life and spirituality are strictly maintained</i>.<br /><br />Is psychotherapy really a standard practice that most Golden Dawn lineages have adopted? I know that Regardie recommended it, but I wasn't sure how many groups had made it a required part of the curriculum.Scott Stenwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12389664381513219613noreply@blogger.com