Macranthropy and Theurgic Ascension

I have already discussed in detail the nature of substrate monism in a previous two-part article, but I wanted to show how monism can be used to fortify the magical process of theurgy. Since I defined macranthropy as an important step in the formulation of a monistic perspective, I have also found it very important in explaining how a modern pagan engaging with a plurality of gods and goddesses can evolve their beliefs into a form of pagan monism. So, it would seem that macranthropy is the missing key to the process of theurgic ascension and the adoption of an occult philosophy.

Let me take the definition that I proposed for macranthropy found in the my previous articles and copy it here so that we have a working definition from which to proceed.

“That process of coalescing a pantheon of deities into a single met-deity is called “macranthropy,” from macranthropus or “cosmic person.”

Macranthropy, or the creation of a meta-deity from a pantheon of many deities, allows for the paradox of both focusing on a single unified deity as well as focusing on the individual deities within the pantheon. ”

So it would seem that macranthropy is a mechanism where a henotheistic practice would be expanded to the point where that deity would assume a kind of super-deity or cosmic being perspective. How that would work in a theurgy of ascension through magical progression is actually quite simple and natural. In fact, macranthropy helps fill in an important gap in the overall process. Let’s go over what this structure would look like with macranthropy acting as an important bridge.

In the form of theurgy that I work, there are actually two targets. The first target is the personification of my own self as a deity, or what I call the God/dess Within. It is analogous to the Higher Self or Atman, and the objective is to gain as much of a conscious connection with that entity as possible. To facilitate that end I have chosen a specific godhead to act as an attribute of that being-ness, and I believe that it is a very important task to engage with that deity within a form of intensive spiritual alignment. In this fashion I have determined the microcosmic focus for the work as a powerful extension that reaches into the core of my higher self.

The second target is the corresponding macrocosmic godhead, and for this I would choose a deity that would be compatible with the specific godhead associated with my higher self. By compatible, I mean that it should be from the same cultural pantheon and represent an analogous quality. Since I happen to be a heterosexual male, then the godhead of my higher self is masculine and the corresponding macrocosmic godhead is female. (For those who have a different sexual orientation, these choices would be different, of course.) In my mind there is a powerful polarity between these two beings that will facilitate their joining into a unified expression of the One. Therefore, carefully choosing these two deities is a very important part of the work. The deity representing one’s higher self would be an analogue of one’s self, and the deity representing the macrocosmic godhead should be compatible with that deity of one’s higher self.

Once these two deities are chosen, then it is up to the theurgist to build up a powerful representation of them in his or her mind. It isn’t enough to just select these deities, one must also become powerfully intimate and completely knowledgeable of them as well. The mechanism for establishing an intimate contact with these two deities is through the process of spiritual alignment, but there are some differences in the methodology and degree in how one proceeds with each of them. The godhead representing one’s higher self is the first target to whom the magician must develop a powerful relationship, so all of the steps of alignment are fully incorporated, and this is performed for as long a period as necessary so that the higher self becomes fully realized in the guise of the chosen godhead.

For instance, if the godhead representing the higher self was Osiris of the Egyptian pantheon of deities, then the corresponding godhead representing the macrocosmic godhead would have to be Isis. To pick any other deity as the overall target would be silly, for instance, Sekhmet, Hecate or Ishtar. It is important that the deities chosen for this work makes overall objective sense, and that there is enough historical material to fill out the practices of spiritual alignment for both deities. 

Alignment is defined as devotion, invocation, assumption, sacrifice and communion. Devotion consists of regular and periodic services to the godhead, such as offerings, paeans, hymns, praise and cultic services. I define cultic services as any task associated with keeping up the personal shrine of the deity including the overall temple environment. Invocation is the regular and periodic summoning of the deity, sacrifice is the giving of permanent and special offerings, communion is the sharing and ingesting of sacraments, and godhead assumption is where the seeker as cult priest assumes the mantle of the qualities and persona of the deity. I have covered these items in previous posts, and you can find them here, here and here. A complete examination of these required practices and their development is an important step in this process of theurgic ascension, and this is done for both deities.

Once a full and complete alignment is established with the godhead representing the higher self, then this connection can be augmented through the use of the ritual of the invocation of the Bornless (Headless) One. Other ordeals can also be performed, such as the Lunar Abramelin Ordeal or the Talismanic Portae Lucis Ordeal, or a combination of them. It is important to note that the foundation for theurgic ascension is to acquire a near-conscious connection with the higher self. Once this connection has been powerfully established, then the magician may perform the following process of theurgic ascension.

I have defined theurgic ascension to consist of the following five steps, and these five steps are focused on the target deity representing the macrocosmic expression of the godhead. The magician must, in addition, ensure that he or she also has that potent connection to the higher self, and the tasks of alignment are required for that deity as well as the target deity - both must be served ardently and passionately. It might even be necessary for all other activities to cease at that time so that the focus on the godhead of the higher self and the godhead of the macrocosm might be completely undisturbed and as perfect as possible. The lunar cycle is the gauge and measurement for the cycles of devotion, invocation, assumption, sacrifice and communion, but each person will have their own preferences as to when the greater ordeal is to be performed. The following five steps are sharply focused on the target macrocosmic deity.

1. Focus on the specific deity - adopt a form of henotheism and establish a full spiritual alignment for it. This would include devotion, invocation, sacrifice, communion and offerings, but not yet assumption (for obvious reasons). Each service is performed while under the guise of the godhead of the higher self, thus giving it far more potency.

2. Explore the polarity and potential union with the target deity - the macrocosmic deity becomes the personal lover of the self in the guise of the godhead of the higher self. This polarity must be experienced as the passion for union, and it must be inflated incrementally until it is almost unendurable.

3. Use macranthropy to expand the nature of the macrocosmic deity until is becomes the ultimate, absolute and only deity. All other deities in the chosen pantheon are just part of the overall body of the macrocosmic deity. This is performed through the devices of exhortations, meditations and visualizations. One could even conceivably perform Qabalistic pathworkings and attribute everything experienced as attributes and elements of the body of that cosmic godhead. While this is occurring, the very foundation of the godhead higher self will undergo a process of expansion as well, since it has established a powerful and passionate link to that macrocosmic godhead, thus becoming the perfect representation of the microcosm.

4. Facilitate ecstatic union (magical hieros gamos) - once the stage is set where the targeted godhead and the godhead of the higher self have achieved the highest degree of polarity and total realization of the microcosm and macrocosm, then (and only then) the magician performs the assumption of the targeted macrocosmic godhead. This is done periodically and repeatedly until the union of the microcosmic godhead and the macrocosmic godhead are fully objectified and all differences are slowly dissolved until they begin to disappear altogether. Other mechanisms that would establish a corresponding physical ecstasy could also be employed in this step, thereby making the power and efficacy of this process even more potent. (It is assumed, however, that just performing the macrocosmic godhead assumption after such an arduous process would be all that is needed for a corresponding spiritual and physical ecstasy, but other mechanisms, such as the careful and minute use of sacramental drugs, sex magic, breathing exercises and visualizations could also be employed.)

5. Full Assumption of the Cosmic Godhead - once step four is fully realized, then the magician can perform the invocation of the Bornless (Headless) One as the godhead of the higher self invoking the Cosmic Deity in a full and objective magical realization of this tangible expression of the One within and throughout the consciousness of the magician. In order to maintain this high state of being, the magician should continue to perform the full spiritual alignment rites of both the godhead of the higher self as well as the macrocosmic godhead.

Once such a powerful state of being, awake within the being of the One, has been achieved, there is the corresponding consideration of what the magician will do after acquiring enlightenment. Is it the end of the whole process? According to what I know about the magical initiation cycle, achieving enlightenment is only half of the process. The magician who is dissolved and one with the Absolute Spirit or Unity of Being has many possible paths and directions to proceed. Certainly, once this massive elevation has been fully realized, there is the corresponding requirement to do the will of One within the domain of the Many, and this would entail being a physical mediator for the descent of Spirit into the physical world and its ultimate ascent and recovery.

The enlightened magician would play a very important part in the process of world enlightenment, or the enlightenment of all of the human race. That would require him or her to be a bridge between the One and the Many, and function as one of the archetypes of the Few, to redeem and anneal the duality caused by the effects of the individual mind and the petty ego, one person at a time. This is an eminent task, but one that cannot be limited to just one enlightened individual. It will take a veritable army of enlightened individuals over a period of many millennia to accomplish this task. Even so, the task is accomplished individually, both in terms of achieving enlightenment as well as spreading it to others. Perhaps I have assisted in this task simply by writing up this article, and who knows what it will do to those who read it and undertake the great work that it reveals.  

So, that’s my take on a full and complete method of theurgic ascension. This process could be performed by a single individual, or by a couple, who would perform it separately as well as jointly. It also helps to have someone to objectify the experience, so doing it with a working partner is probably the best approach. This ordeal is certainly not for the half-hearted and requires a considerable amount of time, resources and an exclusive focus. Most magicians would find these requirements prohibitive since they would have to earn a living and do other things besides consistently and continuously working all of these various rites.

In order for these workings to be the most effective, a magician would also have to do a lot of research so that the lunar and solar calendar of events would be thoroughly known, and then incorporated into the daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal practices. I have no illusions as to the difficulty of this ordeal, but I am quite certain that it would work. When a magician would fully complete such an ordeal, then he or she would have achieved a full and complete conscious union with the One, and that will, I believe, fully establish a state of near perfect enlightenment.

Achieving such a lofty state of consciousness has its own rewards, of course, but it is, I believe, one of the ways in which the Great Work could be accomplished through the methodology of ritual magick. Hopefully, I will be able to some day have the opportunity to perform this ordeal and discover all of the intricacies involved in its resolution and realization. I look forward to that time, since it will likely be when I have retired from my daily regimen of work and material responsibilities so that I could have the time and resources to perform it. Until that time, at least I now have a mechanism to consider and to build up within my magical lore.

Macranthropy was the missing key to this overall process, and reading Thomas McEviley’s book helped me to realize all the parts that I needed in order to contemplate a magical solution to the problem of enlightenment and theurgic ascension.

Frater Barrabbas   

Toward Self-Mastery - Future Path of Witchcraft

Recently, I wrote an article entitled “Of Shadows and Darkness - Future Path of Witchcraft” and it got quite a bit of attention. In case you missed the article, you can find it here. Despite the length and detail of that article, I was just warming up to my subject. This is because the next part of this article has to discuss where this path leads and what are its goals and purpose. So, in this article I will attempt to briefly talk about the revelation of this path, what it means, why it is important, and where it ultimately will lead those who follow it.


To begin this article, let us review what one of my readers said regarding what I had stated in my article. She goes by the moniker of “Anna Munda at Enchanted Body” and she asked what I consider to be the most crucial question of all, which I am quoting here.

“A question: what does all of this get a person, in the end? When you've consorted with all the goetic spirits and the dark, chthonic spirits of the Underworld, and mined those mysteries, and conjured all the conjurations ... where does it leave one? I'd say, material riches and [longevity], but I'm not seeing a lot of long-living, rich shamans or witches of any stripe. (In fact, often the opposite.) Worldly power? Illuminati rumors notwithstanding, worldly power deals seem driven more by the boardroom and the backroom than the underworld.

Peace of mind? Feeling at one with all creation? Certainty of one's place in the scheme of things? The ability to have deeper, sweeter and more meaningful relationships?

I mean, it all sounds very sexy, but what's the point?”

The another reader, whose moniker is “YowYow” posted another question, which I feel is equally valid. I will also quote it in full.

“Having read Marlowe's version of Dr. Fautus, what would having access to all this knowledge do for others? As you remember, all Dr. Fautus did with his knowledge and power was conjure grapes for a princess.

At the same time, do I want to interfere with the world? As I travel my little path, I often wonder if I should butt in. I see the necessity of the slowness of change in society. The in-fighting and compromises made on a short-term and long-term basis enables a stronger foundation to be built through the development of alliances rather than tyranny.

And what of my attitude. I'm more of a dilettante rather than devotee. I've spent many decades at this stage. But the unicorns and wizards costumes have become trite and childish. Where were I fit in this new cosmic world?”

My friend Jack Von Faust responded to these questions in his own way, and you can look over the article and the comments and read them all if you wish. I want to focus on a few things that can quickly answer these questions and allow my readers to more concisely understand what I was getting at when I wrote that article.

First of all, the supposition that I stated in my article is that all true transformative initiations occur in the underworld. That means that any spiritual change or evolution that an individual might achieve is done so through a dark process of doubt, fear, dissolution and then, reconstitution and psychic rebirth. For the mystic, this is the dark night of the soul, and for the magician, it is the challenge of dealing and integrating with the dark image of the self. Without this process of total and complete transformation, there can be no deep kinds of changes needed to truly grow in a spiritual manner. Without transformation, then only translation occurs, which is just a surface change. If we are not truly challenged to the core of our being, then we remain in a kind of stasis where mediocrity prevails.

Secondly, there is always the feature of self-discovery that occurs during transformation, and that can assist us in knowing the God/dess Within, also known as the Higher Self or the Atman. The reason why such a discovery is important is because it reveals the path of ascension. This is because the underworld contains and also hides the gateway to ascension, and specifically, the portal whereby we might realize ourselves as gods. Yet without the powerful challenge of having to periodically re-invent ourselves, such a gateway will remain unknown and unknowable. It would seem that we cannot obtain ascension towards union with the One without first undergoing a profound series of internal transformations. I might also add that the place of transformation is the underworld - our collective psychic place of death and darkness, but also light and rebirth.

Thirdly, while the potential for material gain resides in the underworld, so does the potential for any kind of achievement whatsoever. In the material world proper we are faced with an immediate inertia, and then due to entropy, all things succumb to dissolution, death, and a return to their basic elements. Great civilizations fall into decay, buildings and statues crumble into dust, and inexorable powers of the wind, rain and sunlight, erase all traces that anything ever existed. What does remain, however, are the fragments of that psychic life process and the core spirit that sheathed them. Yet only that core spirit actually lasts forever, since it is immortal and immutable - that is where we should focus our efforts.

The cycles of fortune occur regardless of what we do or how we act in our short lives, and afterwards, our achievements fade away. We might be able to bend the probabilities of our lives to affect a slightly different outcome, but that is the best that can be done on the material plane. Those who are dedicated to gaining the greater share of the world’s material fortune have little time for anything else in their lives, and certainly, a serious undertaking such as sorcery would not likely be one of them. Those who take up the challenge of pagan magic and sorcery must precariously balance between these two worlds, with an emphasis on the domain of spirit to ensure a more profitable outcome in the arena of magick. Such individuals will half-heartedly seek out their material fortunes, while eagerly pursuing their magical muses into the nether realms of magic and mystery. Therefore, those who are proficient in magic are likely to be only moderately successful in the material world.

Even as the underworld contains the potential for any possible change, those who are able to travel into that world seldom take the path to acquire great wealth and power. This is because to change themselves into a wealthy and powerful man or woman would also have the effect of short-circuiting the entire process of the path of sorcery, and nullify one’s ability to gain entrance into the domain of the underworld. These two pursuits are diametrically opposed because one focuses on the inward and unseen world, and the other is focused exclusively on the material world. In my life experience so far I haven’t met anyone who is both a highly successful businessman who has built up a wealthy estate with his or her own hands and who is also a great magician.

How this typically works out in life is that someone who is born into wealth (and who doesn’t have any desire to acquire more) applies themselves to the exclusive study of the occult and magick. Some would classify this as a decadent path of slow dissolution itself. I have met and known individuals who fit this model, and Aleister Crowley, as a supreme example, comes to mind, as well as others. Still, it would seem that being an empire builder and a competent magician might actually be mutually exclusive. Thus the riches and wealth to be found in the underworld only allows the successful sorcerer to live a materially modest and comfortable middle-class existence, often with little influence or social power.

What then is the whole purpose for engaging in the forces and spiritual entities that reside in the underworld if it is not to materially enrich oneself? The purpose is to gain a special kind of spiritual knowledge, called “gnosis,” and this knowledge helps the magician to discover the path of ascension, and therein, to ultimately become a god. This is not a material process. It is a mental and spiritual process whose outward manifestation is enlightenment and at-one-ment with the Absolute Spirit. Enlightenment and union with the One is the ultimate purpose of both magick and mysticism; but they each take a completely different path to achieve that end. What I am saying is that without the powerful transformations that occur exclusively in the dark domain of the underworld, both the mystic and magician will fail to achieve this goal.

The state of enlightenment does one thing besides giving those who achieve it an inner core of imperturbability, insight into the problems of life, compassion for all, joy, bliss and an overall powerfully attuned psychic sensibility. It allows one the ability to understand the meaning of their life. It gives purpose, direction and certainty to the process that one is following. It also gives one knowledge of what comes after that final transition of death, since to be enlightened means that one is connected to that imperishable spiritual source residing in the core of one’s being. We all live and die regardless of our allotment of material wealth and power in this world or our achievements, but to have that kind of knowledge and awareness eliminates the fear of death and also the fear of not knowing what comes after when our life is finally extinguished. This is, in word, a form of psychic and spiritual immortality that one can acquire and realize in this life, living in the ever changing material world. I can’t think of a more powerful and eminent place to reside than to live in this state, and it is therefore, my ultimate objective.

Therefore, I say to Anna and YowYow, to gain a form of psychic and spiritual immortality and to be conscious of it is a profound and great achievement. I don’t believe that such a state is guaranteed to everyone simply because they are born with a mind, body and a spirit. To engage that spiritual essence that resides within us is a very difficult and nearly impossible feat, but to achieve that state is to pass through death and into a greater conscious life alive within the spirit that is a seamless facet of the One. It is, in a word, to complete the archetypal process of involution and evolution, and that is the nature of the Great Work, in my opinion. For those who believe in reincarnation, it is where the constant cycle of rebirth is nullified, and where the self and the spirit finally become one with the One.

After reading this article, my readers will no doubt understand that this is very much a monistic perspective of magic, paganism and witchcraft, and that some (if not many) will not share my perspective. I will attempt to write about how a monistic perspective is not only essential, but it is a natural evolution of the belief in a pantheon and a plethora of Gods and Goddesses. Still, I will write about this and other topics in future articles that will appear in this blog.

Frater Barrabbas

Whence Cometh Spring?

April has come and there are only a few indications that anything much has changed from winter to a verdant spring. It is a cold and lifeless spring so far, which is probably just as confusing for the returning geese as it is for the humans and creatures that have endured the long winter. While the snow is slowly receding, the lakes and ponds are still iced up, and only the brilliant sunshine seems to indicate that the season has indeed changed. We got an early spring last year and this year we get to experience a very slow transition, which will likely extend winter like conditions into May. This is not unusual for this part of the country, but it is somewhat depressing. The receding snow only reveals a brown and lifeless undercoat with no indication of any kind of new life. Also, the spring peepers are mostly silent, although I have heard, from time to time during the sunny afternoons, some singular croaking somewhere in the fields.

(Of course, as I was writing this article, Mother Nature dropped a couple of inches of wet sloppy snow on the land, and it looks again like a winter-scape. Well, so much for spring! I guess we’ll have to wait a few weeks for warmer temperatures in order for all of the snow to completely disappear. It is depressing in a way and also a slight shock to one’s sensibilities. The supposed end of winter had many starting to come out of their months long hibernation, but now they have receded back into the winter-like torpor. Welcome to the tundra-like experience of the northern Midwest plains.) 

The long harsh winters make all of us here in Minnesota avid seekers of any sign of spring, sometimes even desperately. Some will even wear shorts when the temperature gets into the late 40's or early 50's. My career workload has finally dropped down to just maintenance, and I am now contemplating a period of self-study and training to assist me in making the transition from my current project to future projects once this one has lapsed. I have also put together my resume and sent it to the corporate leaders as requested so that they can find new prospects for me to be assigned, and I have also indicated that I am willing to relocated, provided that the relocation package is reasonable and helpful.

This means that my tenure in the tundra is nearing an end, since my company has now indicated that they are open to relocating key employees once again. This is how I managed to move every few years back in the 1990's and into the early 2000's. I have decided that I will pursue employment possibilities in other locations by undergoing yet another corporate move. I have endured six corporate relocations, but this time I am a home owner and not a renter. It will obviously be more complicated than previously. Since I have proven my value quite dramatically in the last several months to my corporate overlords, I am quite certain that I will be getting a new project to work on in the months ahead, and also, a relocation deal.

Over the course of the last few months I have still not engaged in any ordeals or extensive magical workings. It has been a period of reading, research, pondering over the meaning of this or that, and a lot of self-examination. Lately, this has become very productive indeed, since I seem to have stumbled upon a mother lode of insightful and thought provoking treasures.

Two lines of thought have guided my steps recently. These thoughts have produced two different directions for research, and they have both now converged together. The first thought was that if the Chaldean Oracles would represent an actual sacred book, at least for the late Classical period of Neoplatonism, then having the original Greek language version would be very helpful. I wanted to find this text because it would fit in with my thoughts about building up a completely Greek version of the Qabalah. To build a Qabalah, one needs to have sacred writings in the basic language proposed - in this case, Greek. So, I began to search for a book that contained the original Greek language version of the Chaldean Oracles. It turns out that there was only one book that fit this requirement and it was long out of print.

My other line of thought was that somehow Neoplatonism could be completed by adding some strains of Indian Philosophy to it. I have long felt that there was something very important missing from Neoplatonic philosophy, and that “something” can be identified by a simple concept. As a practicing ritual magician and witch, I have long known of the fact that there is within me (and every other human being) a Deity, which I have called the God/dess Within. This concept is analogous to the Indian concept of the Atman. However, according to Advaita Vendanta, there is no difference between the Absolute Godhead and the Individual Godhead, where it is said that Brahman and Atman are one (and indivisible). (I have discussed this idea previously in an article, and you can find it here.)

What that means is that we all have within us a direct path to the realization of our own Godhead as revealed in the One. Assumption of the Godhead is one mechanism to developing this realization, but what it means is that there is no complete separation and distinction between the Absolute Godhead and the Godhead within each and every human being. This is quite a profound realization and, I might add, it doesn’t appear in the various Neoplatonic writings where the distinction between humanity and the Godhead is quite rigorously enforced. This is why Neoplatonism talks about the theurgy of  “ascension” as a method of returning to the One. However, it would seem that returning to the One is actually not possible for anyone but a very small minority. In Indian Philosophy the concept of “returning” doesn’t exist. It is more of an internal revelation (a transformation and a spiritual evolution); it is, in a sense, discovering what was a fact inside of oneself from the very beginning. I believe that this distinction between Indian and Neoplatonic philosophy is also to be found in the practice and experience of modern witchcraft and paganism, or at least where Godhead assumption (as the Draw) is central. 

So over the course of the last few weeks I have been very busy reading and studying the books "Chaldean Oracles" by Ruth Majercik and the anthology "Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy" edited by the late Paulos Mar Gregorios, which I might declare is very heady stuff. Yet the combination of these two perspectives is helping me to make a breakthrough of sorts.

I believe that Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy are both monist systems developed within a pagan religious environment. However, Indian Philosophy has had a much longer and continuous evolving life-span. In fact, I suspect that Indian philosophy made breakthroughs that Neoplatonism might have made as well if only it had continued in the same spirit and direction over the course of centuries instead of being uprooted from Athens and Alexandrian and then slowly waning in the remote fastness of Harran.

Another distinction is that Indian Philosophy is, for the most part, a living religious and philosophical tradition, where the praxis that represents its foundation is still being worked today. This is so unlike Neoplatonism, which has had to be reinvented based on a lot of fragmentary lore. I believe that it might be possible that certain schools of Indian Philosophy, such as the Indian Tantras, could be used to help complete and evolve Neoplatonic philosophy to a more complete and mature form, and perhaps even help to formulate a comprehensive praxis. That is my belief and the intention behind my work, however, we will see how it works out in the months ahead.

One thing that is tragic about the Chaldean Oracles as they exist today (and it’s something that I hadn’t fully realized) is that this work exists only in fragments. The complete text has never been found. What we have are the quotations that other late classical authors have written about it and these quotations were preserved to the present times. However, at least now I have those remaining fragments in their original Koine Greek. Ms. Majercik's book has been out of print for years and is only available as a scanned copy that can be downloaded from the internet. I realize that downloading a copy (as I have done) is to facilitate a process that I can’t fully condone, but the only copies that are available are being sold for over two thousand dollars. I could also maybe get a copy through inter-library loan and then wait for weeks if it does show up, but this was the quickest way to get a copy. I am hoping that someday the author or publisher will deem to reprint a new version and make it available to everyone who wants a copy.

Yet I am once again quite taken with this mysterious work. If ever there was a book of sacred writings for Hermetic Pagans, it was the Chaldean Oracles. This book was produced through a form of magical skrying, where the senior Julian acted as the magician, and his son, the skrier. As quoted from Ms. Majercik’s introduction, “The Chaldean Oracles are a collection of abstruse, hexameter verses purported to have been ‘handed down by the gods’ (theoparadota) to a certain Julian the Chaldean and/or his son, Julian the Theurgist, who flourished during the late second century C. E.” She goes on to say that the oracle verses were derived from the theurgic techniques of calling and receiving. It is, therefore, quite singularly amazing that these verses derived from theurgic rituals were regarded as authoritative from Porphyry to Damascius (3rd to 4th centuries). Even so, what has come down to us today are just some of the verses, or at least the most important or profound of these. We also don’t really know the sequence that these fragments originally occurred in the original work, and it can only be hoped that some future discovery will locate a complete copy of this work.

Still, what fragments we possess have always astounded and perplexed me, but Ms. Majercik's commentaries are the most illuminating that I have ever read. The Gnostic sect, the Sethians, particularly were engaged with this work and its inspirations can be found throughout those Naghamadi texts that have survived. We can see the effects of this work in the magical texts of the Greek Magical Papyri, too.

With these books in hand, I feel like I have some pretty profound answers to some questions that I have been asking for quite a long time. I will write all of these musings up in my blog in the very near future.

Frater Barrabbas

Mysticism and Magick

There has been another discussion about the distinction between magick and mysticism, and I wanted to weigh in on the subject just so my readers don’t make the mistake of thinking that magick should be completely distinct from mysticism, or that the greatest magick doesn’t have a bit of mysticism included in it. I think that David Griffin has eloquently responded to what he perceives is problematic in a recent blog article posted by Donald Michael Kraig and if you are curious about the discussion, you can find it here. Anyway, onward with the presentation of my point of view on this subject.

First of all, the spiritual disciplines of ritual or ceremonial magick and mysticism are completely different and nearly contrary to each other. Mysticism requires an ego-less factor of devotion and surrender to the Deity in order to foster spiritual union. The whole purpose of mysticism, whether Eastern or Western, is to completely empty the self of all personal engagement with the world and the self. What remains is a void that is to be filled with the spiritual being and essence of the Deity once a certain combination of selflessness and a passionate desire for union with God has been achieved. A crisis can and often occurs when this revelation doesn’t emerge soon enough, leaving the depleted self to feel empty, loathsome and worthless while it is painfully waiting for the promised spiritual redemption - it’s called the Dark Night of the Soul. (Magicians usually don’t experience the Dark Night of the Soul. They have plenty of other types of spiritual crises to deal with. I’ll talk about those in a future article.)

Mysticism might seem to be passive, but it’s actually quite active if we are to consider spiritual desire and an aching, hungering passion for union to be powerful drivers of the personality. A mystic is often not sequestered from the material world, but he or she has indeed renounced it in favor of the spiritual world. In many cases this spiritual path achieves union with the Deity at the cost of the self and the world at large, since there is little desire nor any need to re-engage with the world once the mystic has achieved his or her goal. In some cases, though, the spiritual impetus of the Deity itself will push the mystic to reach out and teach others what he or she has achieved. However, selfless service to the greater good and an ego-less state is required for this work to be properly engaged within the material world. Even so, a spiritual vocation in the outer world is always looked upon with suspicion by an avowed mystic, since it is all too easy to relapse to the previous unsanctified state.

Magick is completely the opposite of mysticism. Instead of eliminating the ego, the task of magicians is to identify and merge their essence wholly and completely within the heart and core of the Deity; to amplify their identities until there is no difference between Godhead and the human psyche. A magician has the audacity and temerity to directly approach the Deity on an equal footing and to aggressively seek union with it. Such a direct approach has a very high price, too, I might add. While the mystic is typically tolerated by mainstream religions, the magician is considered an apostate and avowed blasphemer. He or she is seldom tolerated, and is often aggressively prosecuted, since the fully developed path of the magician would completely abrogate all of the tenets or practices of organized religion. I might also add that if the magician fails in his endeavor, then often a kind of terrible ego inflation and temporary madness can ensue.

Instead of renouncing the material world, the magician exults in a mastery and complete emersion within that domain. Magicians approach the world with unbridled optimism and an anticipatory joy, since they believe fully in themselves and their abilities to engage with the world. The material world is the magician’s resource of a myriad of possibilities - it is the solution and not the problem. I have often remarked that Thelemites make really good magicians because they understand the necessity of being bold and dynamic in their magick, due in no small part to their allegiance to the Godhead Horus and the Aeon of Horus. Magicians, like any good pagan, also see the world as being in a sacralized state of grace, and that material work is also the work of the Deity.

So, it would seem that magick and mysticism, treated as distinct spiritual paths, are quite startlingly opposed to each other. However, there is a difference between mysticism as a spiritual path and certain mystical elements. Of course, this must be in regards to the powers and reality of the Deity who must be the magician’s primary source of inspiration and power in the material world, whether that fact is realized or not.

Pure magick without any mystical elements whatsoever is lot like thaumaturgy or hoodoo magic. It is a methodology consisting of exercising a specific formula to acquire a given end, without much or any recourse to the Deity or the world of Spirit. This kind of magic is completely divorced from spirituality or the concerns and considerations of the Godhead, and so it is also completely portable from person to person without any consideration to their particular religious beliefs. Thaumaturgy is loosely defined as the magic of performing specific operations with selected material items to gain some kind of magical effect that is almost always focused on matters in the material world. Although this kind of magic is quite powerful if used by someone who potently believes in its efficacy, it doesn’t typically change, or for that matter, challenge the practitioner. This kind of magic, in my opinion, is as far from any type of psychic or spiritual transformation that one could possibly perform, so it is lacking an important quality that I feel is essential to the art of magick. That quality consists, of course, of mystical elements.

If I were to compare the magick that I work with pure thamaturgy then I would have to say that the most glaring difference is that I work with and through the Deity. While that personal Cult of Deity that I work with in my magick is actually my higher self elevated to the level of a Godhead, it still represents a powerful religious activity that completely opens me up to the World of Spirit. When I work magick, I am undergoing, however brief, a transition between my human nature and the nature of the Godhead that I am also assuming.

Since all of the magick that I work is through that developed and assumed attribute of Deity, then I am also open to all of the transformative possibilities that such a connection has the power to produce. I combine psychic and spiritual transformations with specific magical operations that I call ordeals. This is a type of magical theurgy, so it is not at all like the magic that is performed just to gain some material end. The ultimate goal of theurgy is to become one with the Deity, and in this case, that Godhead is nothing less than the Unity of All Being, or the One. Its trigger point is my higher self, also known as the God/dess Within, and through this artifice, I seek to become one with the ultimate Godhead. Everything that I do from a magical standpoint is focused on that greater goal, even when I perform such a humble task as writing an article for my blog, which is yet another form of magick.

So what are the mystical elements in the magick that I perform? That’s a good question, but it is simply given that my magick requires a complete and comprehensive spiritual alignment in order to be effective and capable of transporting me (or anyone else) ultimately into perfect union with my Deity. Keep in mind that while my goal might be union with the Deity, it is done on my terms and through my own individual process. I am the one approaching the Deity, and instead of destroying my ego I am working through a godhead assumption to make it one and the same with that Godhead. Instead of renouncing the world, I see it as being more sacralized and imbued with spirit every step that I take, until someday the two worlds will merge into one world. Additionally, I suspect that this union of magick and religion is due to the fact that I am a witch and a practitioner of ritual magick. My expectations were long ago grounded in a blended mixture of religious liturgy and high magick, and this is how I function today in the world.

Spiritual alignment consists of just four important practices, and one could easily see them as religious based and perhaps even a bit mystical. However, they are done in the service of a spiritual discipline oriented to ritual magick, and that makes all the difference. These practices are devotion, invocation, communion and assumption. I will briefly describe each of these practices, but avid readers of my blog will have encountered these definitions previously.

We need to keep in mind that I am referring to the specific Deities associated with the magician’s personal religious cult, and chief amongst those Godhead forms is the crystalized imago of the godhead reflection of the spiritual self, higher self, Atman, or God/dess Within. When I focus on the pantheon of my personal cult, I do so as chief celebrant, congregation and deified intermediary, or demi-god. All actions of spiritual alignment done through this pantheon are neither narcissistic nor are they egotistical. The self that is being glorified has nothing to do with what I call the “petty” ego, or the lower self. That self which I glorify is my higher self, and according to Eastern philosophy, there is no real difference between my true self as Godhead and the ultimate Godhead - they are one and the same! (The problem is learning to master that lesson in the real world and not become something of a raving lunatic.)

Devotion: These are the primary liturgical practices that include offerings, sacrifices and spiritual service done in the name of the Deity. Offerings include votive offerings, along with prayers and intentions to connect and to dwell in the spiritual essence of that Godhead. Sacrifices are gifts given directly to the Deity, or things that are given up for that Deity. Offerings and sacrifices can be in the form of flowers, incense, food and drink. Fasting is also a form of sacrifice, and so is the isolation of goods and implements to be used solely for the services to that Godhead. Spiritual service is fundamentally what is given first to the shrine of the Deity in the form of upkeep and work, and secondly, as service to the community. These services are done without compensation, so they could also be seen as a form of sacrifice.

Invocation: This is where the chief celebrant summons the spiritual essence of the Godhead into some kind of material manifestation, however subtle. Invocations can be commands, but they are more often enticements, flattery and adoration (like the talk of a lover to his or her beloved). Invocations are therefore often hymns, paeans, orisons as well as summoning with words of power and glorification. This is usually directed to a statue lovingly placed on a shrine or even to a person masquerading as the Deity. Such a focus of invocation and devotion is to a magical being called an Eidolon, and it is often a very magickal occurrence.   

Communion: This where material objects are imbued with a spiritual essence, making them into sacraments. Generating sacraments can only be done through the mediation of the Godhead, so that spiritual presence must first be tangibly materialized before the process of sacramentation can be performed. It is also assumed that the sacraments represents something material associated with the body of that Godhead. Although salt and water, wine and cakes are the typical medium for sacraments, representing the tears/sweat, blood and flesh of the Deity, other materials can be made into sacraments as well. These would include oils, balms, perfumes, lotions, and even certain types of food. All of these are considered to be products of the Body of the Godhead or at least the abundant products of that Deity’s grace. Sacraments can be used to charge other items, such as magical tools, vestments, sigils, talismans, or even the body of the magician itself through a sacramental bath and anointing. Rituals of communion are often variations on the magical Mass rite 

Assumption: The greatest test of any spiritual alignment is the sacral rite of Godhead assumption. This rite can assume many different forms, but the end result is where the celebrant assumes the identity and character of the target Godhead through the use of an intense trance technique, identification process and the magical techniques of opening the gateway of the soul. What actually occurs is that the Yechidah emerges into consciousness in the guise of the spiritual essence of the target Godhead. In this manner the magician’s higher self as God/dess Within becomes fully embodied within the conscious being of the magician, however briefly and to whatever depth. Other assumption rites would include the Bornless One invocation, the Rite of the Beautification, and the Abramelin Ordeal (either solar or lunar based). All of these rites are of a strategic magical character and could hardly ever be a part of a monotheistic religious rite or a mystical religious rite, since they would be considered spiritually arrogant, idolatrous or highly blasphemous in nature. (Hindu and Western Paganism, of course, would be exempt from this consideration.)

So, these are the four practices of alignment which I use in my theurgistic form of ritual magick. While some of them might be considered rather pious and mystical in nature, but taken as a whole and within the context of the higher self as the primary Godhead and the obvious artifice of ritual magick, they are decidedly antithetical to religious orthodoxy and contrary to a mystical spiritual discipline. Still, such practices, although highly magical, also incorporate mystical elements, therefore, I can say without any guilt or contradiction that I am a magician practicing a form of ritual magick that blends religious liturgy with the techniques of high magick. Yet and even so, I am not a mystic!

Frater Barrabbas 

Symbols - Markers of the Spirit World

One of the most crucial elements to any kind of successful occult speculation is to understand the nature of occult symbology. Because most forms of occultism combine study with experiential based research and experimentation, an occultist quickly realizes that symbols aren't just window dressing or “eye candy.” While reading and studying expositions of various systems of symbology, the occultist must also pivot and take those same symbols and experience them as a form of reality within the inner planes of the mind and the spirit. This is done through the techniques of meditation, contemplation, and of course, ritual magick.

Perhaps the greatest insight that I have ever had was the axiom that true magic was found in that powerful and magical place between the mind and spirit where “Thought becomes form and form becomes thought.” What drives this process of spiritual and mental transmutation are occult and religious symbols. They are the veritable language that bridges the worlds of flesh, mind and spirit.

What I have stated before in previous articles about the Qabalah (and I make quite clear in my new book “Magical Qabalah for Beginners”) is that in order for that system to be truly realized, the occultist must make the many symbols, concepts and analogies become real and alive in his or her mind. This is also true of any other system, or occult meta-system or magical system: It must become a living system or it has no meaning or significance whatsoever. This is accomplished by performing very deep and periodic contemplation sessions on significant and key symbols of one’s specific occult tradition or adopted system. It would appear that performing this work on a regular basis will trigger all kinds of related phenomena, and ultimately make that system become a living tradition within the mind and spirit of the operator.

Why is this kind of contemplation so critically important, and what actually happens when one focuses on key or strategic occult symbols within one’s tradition? How does one transform a documented system into one that truly lives within the mind and soul? These are really important questions, and answering them will demonstrate how beginning students can advance themselves into a true adherent of an occult tradition. It is a methodology that is generally taught to students who seek training and initiation in a traditional occult organization, but for those who lack that kind of sodality, it can also be gained through hard work and a disciplined regimen of meditation and contemplation. However, an added dimension can be obtained through mental immersion and ritual work.

The first question that we need to answer is to explain exactly what a symbol is (as opposed to a sign) and how it acts as a sign post indicating the brief intrusion of a certain kind of hidden topology which would be called the linguistic “deep structure” residing wholly in the domain of spirit.  As the ocean’s waves sometimes subtly show by their behavior the contours of the ocean floor, so, too, do symbols show the outward and paradoxical nature of the structure of the spiritual reality. We cannot accurately describe with words or mentally contrived models the nature of the spiritual world since these are devices of the mind, which is greatly subordinate to the domain of spirit. We can only perceive that place of spirit through techniques and methods that overcome the natural obstacles and biases of the mind. These techniques are meditation, contemplation and ritual (or a combination of them), but the apperception of spirit can only occur when the rational mind is temporarily put aside or somehow shunted, allowing for the full realization of spirit by what Ken Wilbur has called the Eye of Spirit alone.

As I have stated rather succinctly in the second chapter of my newest book, “Magical Qabalah for Beginners,” unlocking the secret of strategic occult symbols is the key to unlocking any occult system or tradition. I use the Qabalah as the focus for what I have written, but it could be applied to any occult system.

“A key concept here, and one that is probably the most important point of all, is that the Qabalah is not just a bunch of lists or an interesting looking glyph. The Qabalah encapsulates symbols, and these symbols are either religious or occultic in nature, or both. Symbols should not be confused with signs, which is a common mistake that we all make. Signs are representative; they are, in fact, simple place holders, like a stop sign or a railroad crossing sign. Symbols are dynamic living processes or functions, like the Wiccan Pentacle, the Christian Calvary Cross or the Jewish Hexagram called the Magen (Shield of) David.

Symbols are conscious markers for deep level psychic processes that are transcendental and transpersonal, and I might add, usually mysterious to most people. Focusing on symbols can give one access to deeper layers of meaning and collective significance. Sources of symbols are numinous, archaic and inexplicable. With these concepts in mind, we can say something about the collective symbolism of the Qabalah, which contains the symbology of all the religions of the world. The religious symbology of the Qabalah is a living, breathing aggregation of functions, almost like a living body itself.

To access the Qabalah, we need only to access the various symbols of the Qabalah, and we do that through the techniques of meditation, contemplation, path working and various forms of theurgy. This methodology of accessing the symbols of the Qabalah is called the practical Qabalah, and it makes the symbology come alive in our minds. Also, if we accept that the symbolism of the Qabalah is alive, then even organizing these symbols into groups or structures, like the Tree of Life, will have an unintended and powerful affect.”

If we could then imagine symbols as being a kind of signpost with a very long wooden post that reaches all the way to the very world of spirit from our mundane world, then we could understand that accessing them within the mind and through ritual will allow us to contact that other world. What this means is that these occult symbols are indeed very important, and that focusing on them is a critical part of the work of an occultist. Determining the array of symbols within a specific target tradition and then accessing them through meditation, contemplation and ritual will open up portals between worlds and suffuse the mind and body of the operator with the numinous powers and intelligences of the spirit world. This is the methodology that one would employ in order to make the symbology of an occult system alive and fully activated.

Additionally, the very names and attributes of Deities and Spirits are also hooks or indicators of potent spiritual processes active in both the mundane and spiritual worlds. Contacting these being through religious paeans, offerings, oblations and exhortations, or more general forms of focusing, summoning and generalized or specific invocations is a crucial part of this process of enlivening a spiritual tradition. It is highly important for an occultist to establish and develop an intimate relationship with those spiritual entities that are associated with a given tradition. Failure to develop a deep and powerful relationship with such spiritual beings would be considered a profound act of disrespect and cause the whole process of awakening a tradition to fail. This is also where I incorporate the practice of spiritual alignment, including the ritual of Godhead assumption. I believe that this is a key practice to activating a spiritual system.  

Occult symbols consist of religious symbology as well as other elements that aid in the definition of spiritual concepts that are beyond the ability of the mind to conceptualize. These are the various attributes that the occultist focuses upon and systematically activates so as to completely awaken and enliven his or her targeted tradition. These symbols can consist of (but are not limited by) the following list.

• Geometric religious symbols - such as the point, circle, equal lateral triangle, cross, pentagram, crescent moon, star, hexagram, ankh, septagram, vesica pisces, triskellion, stang (pole with horns), tetractys, Tree of Life, Sanscrit word for Aum, etc.

• Human body parts (given special significance) - eyes, hands, genitals, heart, mouth, solar plexus, tears, blood, etc.

• Essential religious nomenclature - such as the names of Gods, Goddesses, Demigods, Avatars, Angels, Daimons, ancestors, various earth-spirits, etc. These beings are usually associated with various attributes and qualities, and these, as well as their names, are used to contact them.

• Mundane human artifacts such as a key, mirror, musical instrument, cup or chalice, plate, spoon, string of beads, ring, specialized jewelry, article of clothing, mundane tool, etc.

• Common physical objects that are invested with significance, such as fire, certain trees, flowers, animals (totemic), various geographic features, rivers, lakes, hills, mountains, the sun, moon, eclipses, stars, clouds, night sky, rainbow, sun rays, storm clouds, lightening, etc. This list can also be augmented by human fashioned edifices, such as monuments, temples, churches, mosques, synagogues, funerary sites, terra-formed sacred sites, etc.

• Regimen of typical occult symbols - colors, incense, perfumes, gemstones, herbs, geometric signs and constructs (talismans, characters and sigils), metals, minerals, magical weapons or tools, sacred alphabets or ciphers, specialized glyphs, etc.

• Philosophical concepts (representing higher conscious functions) - love, union, compassion, blessing, sacredness, holiness, enlightenment, illumination, ecstasy, redemption, rebirth, etc. This includes all myths and analogies associated with a religious tradition. 

There are many more qualities and specialized attributes to consider, and I have listed here only the more important ones. An occultist should engage in an in-exhaustive search for all of the most important and strategic ones associated with his or her targeted tradition.  

One of the most important tasks that occultists undertake is to determine the nature and qualities of all of the important symbols associated with their tradition and to assemble and array them into various comparative lists, using some kind of unifying meta-system to achieve this end. In my specific situation, I use the Qabalah to organize the symbols that are important in my occult tradition. Also, by focusing on these symbols using the techniques of meditation, contemplation and ritual, a meta-system of some kind can be revealed if one is lacking. Revelations of such meta-system structures, usually in the form of a glyph of some kind, is often proof that the occultist is successfully enlivening his or her occult system.

The ultimate goal for an occultist is to make his or her spiritual tradition, including all of its symbology and its unifying meta-system, a living, functioning and fully activated being. I call this being the Greater Dweller Within, and it more often is either slumbering or dreaming in the typical person rather than being fully awake. (So, perhaps the most important concept here is that the Sleeper Must Awaken, to steal a concept from the Dune series.)

This overall occult task, once achieved, awakens one’s higher spiritual self and allows for an eventual but immanent union to occur between the conscious mind and the super-conscious spirit or higher self. The impact of awakening and enlivening a spiritual tradition is likely one of the key elements of achieving what magicians and occultists call the Great Work.

Frater Barrabbas

My Magical Objectives

Since I have already covered why I work magic, even going back to the earliest days of my youthful practice, I should discuss what objectives I have adopted when I work magic. What am I trying to do, and what, therefore, do I get out of magic? These are the questions that I would like to answer.

Obviously, I must be getting something out of the many years of magical experimentation that I have performed, or otherwise I would have found a different hobby or preoccupation many years ago. I work magical ritual workings and something happens, which leads me to experiment even further. For me, magick is not a pastime or a mere hobby, it is a way of life. As a practitioner of ritual magick, much of who I am and how I think and behave has been powerfully shaped by over three decades of constant and continuous effort. I may have other interests and activities, but I am always engaged on some level with my occult studies and practices.

So that being said, what are my objectives in regards to my magical work? Similar to my motivations and justifications for working magick, which have changed over the years, my objectives have changed as well. I can say for a fact that when I first began to really become effective at ritual magick, I applied what I knew to changing my material state. I never believed that magick alone would change my life, but instead, I always made certain that magick was always accompanied with lots of mundane steps.

If I could say anything about that early period, it was that being self aware of my inner psyche and my outer circumstances in life was always just as important as making certain that I followed my ritual workings with strategic efforts in the material world. I discovered this link early in my work, since without it, what I did would often fail. Some of the things that I most desperately sought through magick were either occurring all around me (and I was blind to them) or were completely blocked by my own internal issues. If I was not acting through a sense of personal clarity and a full awareness concerning my internal issues, no amount of magical workings would ever result in success. So it would seem, that for me, knowing my own internal issues and understanding my motivations was an important ingredient for magical success. I discovered that only intensive sessions of divination and the application of forms of transformative magic could satisfy this basic need for clarity and self-insight.

Early in my life, my objectives were simply what most people seek through extraordinary means. Money, love and personal power were the first things that I sought, and later on, I began to seek other things as my material needs became fulfilled. After many years of practice, I found that spiritual and psychic growth, gnosis and wisdom became my prized objectives. As time went on, I also began to think more in terms of building a satisfying career than successfully acquiring the monetary quick fix. I thereby shifted my magical perspective to long term achievements and goals, and these were met by a certain amount of success.

As I have stated previously, in terms of money and career, I have been quite fortunate. My choices and my ability to be flexible enough to reinvent myself every five years has helped me to avoid career path dead-ends and punitive layoffs. I have been lucky enough to earn a sizable income, but it was a long and arduous process and there was no quick path to riches. However, I tackled that personal ordeal of mastering my career path with a great deal of relish and happiness. My attitude mostly remained positive, yet grounded in reality, still, it was open to possibilities and always flexible. So in the area of money and career I was successful, since each stage of that path was anticipated, focused upon and strengthened with my own personal magick.

I can also say that working hundreds of hours of ritual over the decades has also caused me to psychically grow as well. Considering the nature of much of my magical work, especially later, it was more like a powerful form of internal analysis and psychological transformation. One of my friends once compared this kind of magick with undergoing thousands of hours of psychological counseling or psychoanalysis in a much condensed time period. What this did to me was essentially change the man that I am today. I not only had to face my many issues, flaws and inconsistencies, but the magick amplified them to the point where I couldn’t avoid them even if I had wanted to.

Magick presented me with my image reflected most darkly, and I saw my own personal internal devil staring back. Yet instead of rejecting or recoiling from that image, I had to learn integrate it into myself. Despite my self-loathing, I had to understand fully who and what I am, and to embrace and love that fractured and imperfect being because it was an integral part of me. I can say that self-love, and not narcism, is the key to resolving internal psychic issues and integrating the self into a being of unity and wholeness. I have at various moments achieved this near perfect state, but I have never been able to maintain it for more than just a few hours of bliss. Maybe someday I will figure out how that might be accomplished permanently.

However, in the area of love and relationships, I was an abject failure for many years. This was one of those internal issues that bedeviled and also blinded me. The core issue that bedeviled me was the unrequited love for a woman who would never return that love. I sought to resolve this problem by working a number of various kinds of love spells. These were not performed on any individual as much as they were performed on myself and my circumstance, but they didn’t appear to gain for me the kind of relationship that I was seeking.

When I have examined my magical diaries from that period, I realized that the magic had actually been working quite well. I was presented with a lot of different opportunities for realizing love. Yet I was unable to capitalize on any of them simply because I was not aware of what was going on, both internally and externally. I was blind and also captivated by my own internalized feminine idol, so much so that I was unable to really connect with a real woman in a mature relationship. It wasn’t until I was able to identify those issues and resolve them that I was able to have a normal and fulfilling relationship. This process took over thirty years to complete, but at least I was finally able to move forward. I have brought this up to demonstrate that even magic can’t resolve one’s internal issues unless they become fully realized first. The aphorism of “Know Thyself” is critically important in the successful workings of ritual magick.

Now in the autumn years of my life I have managed to completely fulfill myself of all of the basic material aspirations, or at least to the point of living a comfortable life. Really, that is all I have desired to accomplish on the material plane, but that is not the limit of my ambitions. While I might not be interested in focusing most of my efforts in becoming rich, I do have the powerful desire to become wise and fully knowledgeable of all of the occult truths. My magical focus has also shifted in this direction, and much of what I work as a discipline of ritual magick is confined to the areas of what I call theurgic ordeals. This is because I believe that powerful transformative ordeals are what can lead one to the ultimate levels of spiritual and magickal achievement, which is perfect enlightenment and union with the One.

Frater Barrabbas

Various Assorted Thoughts and Considerations About Ritual Magick - Part 1

This is part one of a two part series consisting of various assorted thoughts about recent blogsphere topics.
 

It’s nearing the end of the month, and there are a number of small topics and comments that I would like to present to my reading public. I have truly enjoyed all of the comments and responses that I got for my article on non-duality, and I have a few comments of my own to add and also clarify what I said previously. Additionally, I have recently got a copy of Mr. E. A. Koetting’s more recent book “Ipsissimus” where he discusses the concepts and ideas of enlightenment ala the Left Hand Path. As I read deeper into his material, I will, at some point, deliver an opinion on his work. Despite the fact that I don’t actually consider myself an adherent of the LHP philosophy, I am also not disposed completely to the Right Hand Path either. I would also like to put forward my opinions about the issues of the reality of spirits, the verification of evocation, and literary piracy v.s. online freedom (the SOPA/PIPA controversy). There are a lot topics here to briefly discuss, and they are mostly unrelated, hence the title “Various Assorted.”


Multiple Paths to Enlightenment

In October of last year, I posted an article entitled “Path to Enlightenment Through Magick,” where I explained my perspective on achieving enlightenment through the artifice of performing theurgistic magickal rituals, which I call ordeals. You can find that article here, in case you want to review it. I have forged a path, although it is not thoroughly tested (I am not yet “enlightened”), which would take me to a place that is decidedly between the objectives of the Right Hand Path and the Left Hand Path, making me a proponent of neither. I should quote this passage, taken from another blog article here, which pretty much sums up how I seek to achieve my objective by following neither ethical orientation.

“This is particularly true because I consider myself neither a follower of the left hand or the right hand path, being a denizen of that shadowy grey area that is more a practical reality than an alliance to some path or persuasion. I aspire in my magickal workings to integrate the HGA or Bornless One into my own self, and thus elevate myself to the level of a godhead, however thinly or briefly. This is certainly a lefthand path perspective. However, I also give veneration, offerings and worship to my ancestors and my gods, thus making me a follower of the right hand path.”

First off, I would like to state that following a particular dualistic path (RHP or LHP) is probably overly simplistic. Practical approaches to the practice of ritual magick and its ultimate goal of union with the One would require any magician to forge a path that is unique and specific to his or her life path, keeping in mind the inherited legacy and the various virtues and flaws that each individual possesses. What this means is that a theoretical discussion based on ideals typically breaks down to practical necessity, and that there are as many different paths to that ultimate goal of spiritual unity as there are individuals who might seek it. Unlike mysticism, or mystical traditions and paths, the path of the traditional magician likely doesn’t exist. There are certainly traditions that form the foundation of any practitioner in regards to their inherent practice, but ultimately, every magician worth his or her salt will leave that tradition behind in order to create something specific and unique to themselves. So while there are specific and set mystical traditions, there appear to be no set magickal traditions in regards to higher level pathways and practices. This also means that the division of RHP and LHP becomes meaningless after a certain point in a magician’s development.

As I have stated in my recent article on monism, it is through our own internal godhead that we are able to perceive the active role of Spirit in the world, and it is when we become truly aware of our own godhead, and fully activate it, that we gain an intimate connection to that overarching Deity which acts as the ultimate source of all things. (We will talk a bit more about this issue later in this article.) Therefore, as far as functioning as a ritual magician and performing theurgistic ordeals, the primary purpose and task is to awaken the godhead within one. Once that awakening and merging of consciousness occurs, then we can proceed with the combined mystical and magickal tasks of completing that union with the One.

I think that the division of paths, and the ideation of RHP or LHP are useful discussion tools when one is below the level of achieving full union with the inner godhead. At that point and beyond, such distinctions are probably useless.

(A tip of the hat to my reader and commentator, Nik64, who gave me the inspiration and idea to write up this point.)


Further Thoughts About Non-duality, Magick, and the Qabbalah

One of my readers (Josh) had some real issues with what I had recently written about non-dual perspectives (i.e., monism) in regards to magick and a pagan based religious idealism, stating that monism was somehow restricted to a single viewpoint and that it excludes all other perspectives, which he called “pluralism.” I don’t really know where he got this idea from, since I couldn’t find in my article where I stated that my perspective and view was singularly correct, and that all others were somehow false. Here’s a small segment of what Josh said in the comments section of my article.

“The problem with monism (one view and one view only) is that those coming from a monistic viewpoint always try to demonize other views as dualism or dualistic, even when there is a multiplicity (more than two) views.”

I really think that Josh was thinking about his objections to “monotheism” rather than “monism,” and they are actually quite different. Stating that a certain deity is the one and only godhead (and all others are false) can create a closed system that eliminates the consideration of other factors, or other godheads and their spiritual creeds. Monotheism can produce exclusionary spiritual systems that negate pluralism. Adopting a mystical perspective seems to eliminate the possibility of believing in the exclusive truth of one’s religion, and it also separates or makes a distinction between individuals who espouse a faith based perspective or experience Spirit directly from those who are merely believers. Through the artifice of stating that both the internal and individual godhead and the ultimate unified source are co-equal and the same is to enshrine both a unitary perspective as well as a pluralistic perspective. Many variations of monotheism as they are practiced in the West exclude the possibility that the individual is also a distinct godhead in their own right, since such a perspective (“All art God) would violate the integrity of a strict monotheistic creed. Throughout the ages, there have been more than a few mystics who have been murdered or taken to task by narrow minded sectarians of their own creed, and that would include Jesus of Nazareth himself.

Lao Tzu says it quite well when he writes in the very first chapter of the Tao Te Ching:

“Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. Ever desiring, one can see the manifestation. These two spring from a common source, but differ in name.”

According to Lao Tzu, the mystery or paradox is the One that is actually None, and the pluralistic perspective sees the Spirit alive and thriving in all things. I believe that the same ability to embrace the One and the Many exists in all forms of mysticism, and is important in regards to ritual magick, too. So I don’t think that there is an absolutist perspective in monism, but there certainly can be an absolutist perspective in monotheism and extreme sectarianism.

I also stated that my personal perspective was based on the pagan theology that I originally accepted as a part of being a practicing witch. As a traditional Alexandrian witch, I believed in the existence of a Goddess and a God, and that when joined together, they became a kind of union that has no name or characteristic. Traditional witchcraft (ala BTW) embraces a kind of “dual-theology,” and that only some of its adherents (such as myself) will hold that there is something that transcends them both. Not everyone in my tradition believes that the Goddess and the God are forever joined into a fusion that is greater than the sum of their parts. Yet once I grew beyond the boundaries that were defined by Alexandrian witchcraft, I also discovered the reality and necessity of individual and distinct pagan Deities, since there seemed to be many qualities to the overall aspect of deity in my experience, and these many qualities could be easily realized through a form of pagan polytheism.

What I found after many years of practicing witchcraft and paganism is that the concept of a dual-theology is just one way to perceive the concept of polytheism. There is also a true polytheism that sees many different gods and goddesses as distinct personalities, and there is the concept that all of these deities coalesce into a single unity, which I call the One. All of these perspectives are true and correct, but also limited and only conditionally true. Deity is, by nature, paradoxical, so any one single definition, model, description or perspective limits something that is unlimited, indefinite and infinite. Therefore, I would think that by making this statement I am embracing both a monism and a pluralism simultaneously. How I can do that (and get away with it) is to state that what is being described can’t be described. As Lao Tzu says in the first chapter:

“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The named is the mother of ten thousand things.” 

Curiously, this whole issue of monism, monotheism, plurality, polytheism and the individuation of the Godhead has been getting a fair amount of buzz in various blogs, most specifically in the collected web journals that make up Patheos. Gus diZerega, who is the author of “Pagans and Christians,” brought up some very interesting points about how monotheism has some problems when characterizing their Godhead as being completely separate and distinct from everything, as a Deity that is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, while still being capable of being loving, directly experienced and intimate. These opposing perspectives are merely labeled as part of the paradox of a deity that is both immanent and transcendent, but there are some real problems to this perspective that labeling it all as a paradox does nothing to resolve. You can find his article here.

Anyway, I think that I have more succinctly stated my beliefs and perspectives on this topic, and so I can rest my case and move on to other topics. The only reason why I have been working on this topic and its related perspectives in regards to the practice or ritual magick is that when I have experienced the highest states of consciousness that I am able, the resultant state is unity. At that veritable peak of my magickal experiences, I am able to sense how everything is connected together, and that within that union I have found the ecstatic bliss of the One. I believe that it’s pretty hard to dismiss what I have experienced, and correspondingly, it’s pretty hard to adequately explain it using words or mental models.


Finally, I would like to announce that I will be attending a weekend intensive at the local Twin Cities store, the Eye of Horus, with John Michael Greer. He will be conducting a three day series of classes on pagan ceremonial magick. I will be very interested in learning to hear what John thinks about this topic, since he has recourse to much of this material written in its source languages, a skill to which I am quite deficient. These classes will be taking place on Friday, January 27, through Sunday, January 29. I will write up a critique of this class and let you know what I think of it. I am certain that it will be interesting and rewarding. I have been corresponding with John for a few months now, and I have found his letters to be refreshing, interesting, compelling and sometimes, quite humorous. He is another one of those remarkable men and women, and I encourage everyone to seek out these kinds of people and learn everything that can be learned from them. It is an excellent methodology for self-enrichment, and ultimately, if you have rubbed elbows with enough remarkable men and women, you may become one yourself. 

(To be continued..)

Frater Barrabbas

Art of Armadel, Theurgic Ascension and Sethian Gnosticism

We have already obliquely defined the art of Armadel as the art of disposition, and that such an art was dedicated to the acquiring and obtaining knowledge, wisdom, deep mystical insights and illumination - a kind of gnostic wisdom. We have also been able to determine how the magician would approach the grimoire and unlock its various sigil characters in order to obtain that knowledge. However, the biggest stumbling block to organizing the Grimoire of Armadel into a fully operational work is to organize, decipher and make sense out of the strange sub-chapters where the sigil characters are exhibited. In other words, we need to make thematic sense out of the two books, which are entitled as Book I, “Theosophy of Our Fathers”, and Book II, “Sacro-Mystic Theology of Our Fathers.” As they presently stand, there seems to be no pattern or structure to these two books.

A cursory glance at the sub-chapter headers for each of these books seems to only demonstrate a profound disorganized confusion and a seemingly obsessive focus on highly obscure biblical themes. What could possibly be gained from unlocking the sigil characters of Zaphkiel to have that spirit reveal the secrets of the lives of angels before the fall? One could acquire more insight by reading and studying Milton’s “Paradise Lost” than performing this operation. Even more absurd is the sigil character for Thaveal who reveals supposedly what transpired at the circumcision of Jesus at Nazareth. How do these operations aid the magician to obtain the coveted blessed state of illumination? This question goes unanswered, but it would seem that each of the sub-chapters would represent some kind of step or stage in the process of acquiring a god-like acquisition of the Spirit World and all that it contains.

As I have said previously, it is likely that the chaotic thematic nature of the books and sub-chapters would have to be exchanged for something that does make sense. I even proposed making use of certain Sethian Gnostic works that are near and dear to my heart, but before that can be done, I will need to determine the structure and operational use of these two books - to plumb their nature and function. Perhaps the only way to accomplish that task to is first step back from these two books and look at them in a more oblique manner.

Book I contains twenty-two sub-chapters, which shouldn’t be too surprising, considering that the grimoire has an obvious Qabbalistic bias. Book II contains sixteen sub-chapters, so it would represent a more earth-based mixture of good and evil, light and darkness, since the number sixteen is analogous to the Divine Tetrad emanating into physical manifestation.

The first book could be compared to the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life as well as the Ten Sephiroth, which would accord some of the archangelic spirits a dual representation. The key to Book I is the occurrence of nine Hebrew letters thinly disguised as angelic spirits. One could assume that all of the sub-chapters in Book I are associated, either directly or indirectly, with the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life. When Qabbalists encounter the pathways in some work, they realize that this indicates some kind of implied spiritual ascension. To walk the pathways is synonymous with ascending the planes through transformative initiation, ultimately achieving full union with the Absolute Spirit - the One. So the thematic function of Book I is to provide a catalyst for union with the Deity, which is a form of theurgistic ascension.

If we carefully look over the twenty-two sub-chapters, we can see that there are eleven archangels, nine Hebrew letters and one Olympian spirit. Samael is listed twice, and the attributes of Haniel and Anael both refer to the Sephirah Netzach. The sub-chapter “Concerning Pythene - Abuses of Necromancy,” which is attributed to Samael, and the sub-chapter “Concerning the Nature of the Genii,” which is attributed to Anael, could both be swapped for two sub-chapters in the second book so that each of the attributes of the first book would be unique, refering to qualities that are not influenced by demonic spirits. For this reason, I would pull the sub-chapter “Concerning the Life of the Angels Before the Fall,” which is attributed to Zaphkiel, and the sub-chapter “Concerning the Creation of Angels,” which is attributed to Och, from the second book and put them into the first book, thus allowing all of the attributes to be unique. So we now have twenty-two unique attributes containing the first nine pathways, followed by eleven Sephiroth (Samael is now accorded to Daath) and two planetary Olympian spirits, which are Mars and the Sun.

With the all of the attributes determined, the twenty-two sub-chapters of the first book can be directly associated with the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life, where the paths begin at the lowest level and ascend to the highest level. Since the first nine paths at the highest order are already determined, it’s only necessary to find attributes for the remaining thirteen paths. This was accomplished, but the results were less than satisfactory, since the top three Sephiroth were already fully allocated to the top nine pathways; less troublesome were the two planets, Mars and the Sun. However, the list of archangels, angels and planetary spirits can now be grouped in a logical order, beginning with the bottom most path (Thav) and ascending to the top (Aleph). I have determined the following list of spirits, but I would assume that others might come up with a slightly different list. (The two paths with an asterisk were taken from Book II.)

1. Caphael (Thav)
2. Michael (Shin)
*3. Och - Sun (Resh)
*4. Zaphkiel (Qoph)
5. Gabriel (Tzaddi)
6. Phaleg - Mars (Peh)
7. Samael (A’in)
8. Raphael (Samek)
9. Haniel (Nun)
10. Camael (Mim)
11. Uriel (Lamed)
12. Zadkiel (Kaph)
13. Thavael (Yod)
14. Tetehatia (Tet)
15. Hathatia (Chet)
16. Zainael (Zain)
17. Vau-Ael (Vav)
18. Hetael (Heh)
19. Dalate (Daleth)
20. Gimela (Gimmel)
21. Bethel (Beith)
22. Alepta (Aleph)

The second book contains sixteen sub-chapters, and looking over the spurious topics, it would seem that there are eight sub-chapters associated with diabolic themes, three associated with the Deity, three associated with humanity, and two miscellaneous topics (paths of wisdom and knowledge of good angels). As I have already said, sixteen sub-chapters are synonymous to the sixteen elementals. If we are able to attribute positive and negative qualities to these elementals, we would come up with eight negative and eight positive ones. This is done by making a relative determination that Fire and Air are positive, and Water and Earth are negative. That means that combining the elements using only positive to positive and negative to negative attributed elements will produce four combinations that are positive, and four that are negative. When combining a positive element with a negative element, if the top element is positive, then the resulting elemental will be positive; conversely, if the top element is negative, then the resulting elemental will be negative. Using this simple rule, four positive and four negative elementals will be produced - giving a total of eight positive and negative elementals. The following list should make my proposed structure quite clear.

1. Fire of Fire (pos.) - Cassiel (God universally One)
2. Air of Air (pos.) - Michael (God as Trinity)
*3. Water of Water (neg.) - Samael (Concerning Pythene)
4. Earth of Earth (neg.) - Lucifer, Belzebut, Astarot (Angelic Rebellion and Expulsion)
5. Fire of Air (pos.) - Gabriel (God as Preserver, Destroyer, Creator)
6. Air of Fire (pos.) - Spirits/Angels of Power, Joy and Love (Three Paths of Wisdom)
7. Water of Earth (neg.) - Hemostopile/Mephistopheles (Invisible Devils)
8. Earth of Water (neg.) - Brufor (Binding Devils)
9. Fire of Water (pos.) - Zadkiel, Sachiel (Knowing Good Angels)
10. Fire of Earth (pos.) - Phul, Gabriel (Life of Man)
11. Air of Water (pos.) - Ophiel (Regeneration of Adam)
12. Air of Earth (pos.) - Aratron (Destiny of Man)
13. Water of Fire (neg.) - Bethor (Devils and their lives)
14. Water of Air (neg.) - Asmode, Leviatan (Binding Devils)
*15. Earth of Fire (neg.) - Anael (Nature of the Genii)
16. Earth of Air (neg.) - Laune (Knowledge of Devils and Banishing them)

Notice that numbers three and fifteen were pulled from the first book.

I have now given a structure and an organization to the two books where little or none had existed previously. The names of the two books could also be considered spurious, so in my opinion, better names for them would look something like this:

Book I - Ascension of the Initiate Into the Heart of God,

Book II - Descent of Spirit into Light and Darkness - the Heart of Mankind.

These two names would be much more functionally useful, so I will use them instead of what was used in the original grimoire. Therefore, it would appear that the two books now have a completed theme and structure, which consists of a theurgistic ascension and then a descent, ostensibly, to redeem and regenerate the material world with the product of that ascension. This brings us to our next consideration, and that is elaborating on the specific themes for all of the sub-chapters, since what is listed and elucidated in the original grimoire seems quite superficial and even extraneous. I am proposing, of course, to institute a completely different theme altogether; yet one that will further and deepen the thematic structures already solidly determined.


Neoplatonism, Sethian Gnosticism and Cultic Ascension

Spiritual ascension, as determined by the practice of theurgy or religious rites, has many mythic and metaphysical exponents in the Western Mystery tradition, beginning with late classical times and continuing through the modern age. This is not a new spiritual perspective, by no means, and we can therefore pick and choose from any number of pagan, Christian, gnostic, Masonic, Rosicrucian, alchemical, occultic or even neopagan perspectives. However, the structures of the two books have determined at least that the basic foundation will be qualified by the Qabbalah, regardless of the system used. What may not be completely realized is that this underlying theme will allow us to choose something that hearkens back to the Neoplatonic roots that they all share. Still, if I am going to build a specific theme from a known tradition, I should state my reasons for doing so, and also apply that tradition to the existing underlying structure. That, of course, is my next objective. (I will keep in mind that everyone else is free to pick and choose their own source tradition to work with this grimoire.)

For the past several years I have been reading and studying the written works of an obscure Gnostic group called by scholars, Sethians or Barbeloites. They are called this because they believed that they represented a secret line from the third son of Adam, who was known as Seth. Whereas all of the people who considered themselves Jews could mythically claim to descend from this remote biblical ancestor, the Sethians believed that they represented an exclusive or rare lineage. Sethians also appeared to believe in a spiritual being whom they called Barbello, a feminine Spirit or Goddess like entity who, along with the ineffable and unnameable One, generated the host of entities who were collectively called the Pleroma (fullness). If you could imagine a Qabbalistic system consisting of the Sephiroth Kether through Hod, excluding Yesod and Malkuth, then that would be a good approximation of the Pleroma.

Was this lineage that the Sethians wrote about a secret blood line? No one appears to know - the last Sethians probably disappeared before the fall of Rome. Yet looking over their texts, they seemed to promote a secret teaching and represent an esoteric lineage of individuals, who happened to chose a specific biblical patriarch to mythically represent their cult, rather than a rare blood line. The Sethian cult probably emerged out of Alexandria, and it may have initially contained a splinter group of esoteric Jews, however their religious beliefs were based much more on a deep antinomian interpretation of Jewish religious beliefs and traditions, making them more like a counter movement. They seemed to have engaged in some form of baptism or ritual immersion, although whether that rite involved any kind of water is unknown - it may have been more like a cultic initiation. They also appear to have practiced forms of Neoplatonic theurgy and extensively used the philosophical constructs of emanationism, the three Hypostases, cultic ascension and salvation through spiritual wisdom (gnosis). The Sethians would have found the modern Qabbalah to be a system very close to their own doctrines and beliefs, since both drew heavily from the same Neoplatonic sources. Therefore, their writings should be capable of being interpreted and understood from a Qabbalistic perspective, which would server a dual purpose of determining the sub-chapters of the grimoire and defining the specific gnostic scriptures.

Perhaps in many ways, the Sethians seemed to mix, in a heterogeneous manner, pagan philosophy, gnostic and Jewish beliefs and practices. They were also reputed to engage in some kind of practical sex magick and erotic sacramentation, at least according to their Christian polemicists. I have found these ancient practitioners and their beliefs to be surprisingly very similar to my own, even though the context of my practices are rooted in a post-modern setting, and the Sethians existed in antiquity. I am a polytheist pagan, but also a monist (in the Neoplatonic definition of that term), who practices ritual magick and theurgy. Qabbalah and Angelogy are very much a part of my occult work, so what I do has elements of Jewish Neoplatonism blended into it.

Reading over the surviving books from the Nag Hamadi collection has shown me that the Sethians and their spiritual perspectives are very similar to my own. Therefore, I believe that two of their texts, the “Apocryphon of John” and the “Trimorphic Protenoia” would be quite suitable to act as the thematic basis for the two books in the Grimoire Armadel. I also believe that certain sections and text can be also taken from the “Three Stele of Seth” and the “Secret Gospel of the Egyptians.” The latter two documents are actually rituals; the Stele documents were used in a fragmented cultic ascension rite, and the Gospel of the Egyptians was a baptism/initiation rite.

I will select specific textual parts from these documents and use them to give a gnostic-pagan Qabbalistic theme to the Grimoire of Armadel. However, before I do that, I will need to carefully analyze, examine these four books, beginning with a general overview as well as highlighting those sections that are very pertinent to the work of the grimoire. We are looking for twenty-two sub-chapters that will be used to build a form of theurgistic ascension, and also sixteen sub-chapters that represent the descent into matter and the provenance of daimonic intermediaries of the Godhead. With these points in mind, and the internal qualifications of the twenty-two paths and the sixteen elementals, we have our work cut out for us. 

Frater Barrabbas