Anatomy and Organization of the Star Group

This is an article that ran in the online magazine, Rending the Veil, so I thought that my readers would like the raw article before the more intensive editing shaved it down a bit.

Ever since the advent of Masonry, individual occultists have sought to unify and organize themselves into a collective to facilitate group ceremony, study and collaboration often using the Masonic lodge as a model. A Masonic lodge has temporary leadership roles and Masonic brothers are considered to be equal no matter their social status, degree or role. Perhaps this is why many of the founding fathers of western democracies were members of some kind of Masonic group. Masonic lore seems to perpetuate the ideal that all men are created equal, despite the fact that initiates and cowans (outsiders) are treated differently. Yet a spirit of egalitarianism seems to pervade Masonic organizations even to this day. This is especially true in the more basic Blue Lodge, which promotes only three initiatory degrees and a rotating hierarchy.

Grand lodges and larger aggregated organizations seemed to forgo this spirit of equality and produced a hierarchy of individuals vested with various degrees of authority and power. The “Soc Rose” and the Golden Dawn were based on this later kind of organization, and other groups, such as the O.T.O. also sought to invest certain individuals with authority to ensure that the local bodies as well as the grand lodge had a certain number of trusted individuals to maintain continuity and stability. These larger groups may have been modeled on special groups formed within the Catholic church, such as the Jesuit order. The precursor to the Masonic lodge may have been the monastery, although without the permanent authority figure of the abbot.

Today, many occult groups have modeled their organization loosely on the model of the Masonic blue lodge or grand lodge, and others have found other kinds of hierarchical organizing structures as well. Some have deviated quite remarkably from the Masonic belief in the equality of all members. However, Masonic lodges have shown themselves to be capable of extreme longevity, withstanding changing times and still operating long after the death of the original founders. Fraternity and equality probably play an important part in their endurance. 

In the various religious groups of Wicca and Neopaganism, there is a trend where a grove or coven is headed by an autocratic leader or a small group of elites ruling a larger group of novices, often with no checks on their authority and little accountability. I have personally experienced the  kind of abuses that can occur within Wiccan covens, but the fault can be found wherever groups invest their leaders with near dictatorial powers. This is true whether or not these individuals have the qualities and experience to be good leaders. If leaders are gifted and good at leading, then a kind of benign aristocracy is formed, otherwise the worst kind of cult of personality and autocracy can develop. The fact that ritual magick and godhead assumptions can be practiced in such groups makes the effects of bad leadership even more damaging.

This is probably why many ritual magicians prefer to work alone and retain their autonomy despite the benefits of belonging to a group. Many magicians may have started out belonging to some group or organization, but they seldom stay for more than a few years. Being alone and completely isolated is not a good idea, either. Regardless of the religious or spiritual background of magicians, they tend to branch out, discovering that performing magick for its own sake is more rewarding than belonging to some cult or creed.

The purpose of working magick within a group is because all magicians need peer review, objectification and solidarity, which are critically important to one’s spiritual growth. There is nothing more stultifying and potentially dangerous than to practice complex and intense forms of ritual magick in complete isolation. While working magick alone is at times necessary, a magickal practitioner should have recourse to a peer group of other magicians to balance the intensely subjective nature of ritual work. Having a group of experienced and knowledgeable friends to judge one’s work is very important. In fact, it’s probably the only way that a ritual magician can maintain balance and objectivity. A peer group keeps individuals honest with themselves and helps them to understand their spiritual and magickal processes in an objective manner.

Since ritual magicians are not common, such a peer group will be small and intimate. It may not even be centrally located in one’s own community. Because of Facebook, Myspace, blogs, email and Yahoo! groups and chat rooms, the social network of a ritual magician may be entirely virtual. Yet it’s important for a practicing ritual magician to have friends and fellow magicians who live in the physical neighborhood so that he or she may periodically meet them and have intimate conversations about various personal, spiritual and magickal topics. I maintain that a virtual community, although helpful, can never replace real social contact between individuals. Much more is communicated through phone conversations and face to face to meetings than what could be written in blogs, chat rooms or email. These same close friends will share common ideas, swap books, look over rituals together, examine excerpts of each other’s magickal journal and perhaps even perform some rituals and ceremonies together. When a loose confederation of ritual magicians starts working magick together, then some kind of group organization will naturally develop.

Rituals magicians, like many occultists, aren’t known for their social skills, diplomacy or empathetic abilities. They are usually very self-absorbed in their own practices and perspectives and they generally despise authority figures within their own discipline. They don’t like being ordered around or told what to do. They are very independently minded and probably even a bit anarchistic, eschewing any kind of formal group dynamics. So this is my question and the central theme of this article. How do you get a group of ritual magicians to function as a creative, sharing, objectifying and harmonious organization? The answer to this question is to use what is known as a “Star Group” model.

What is a Star Group, one might ponder, and how does it differ from other kinds of groups? First, a Star Group is an autonomous egalitarian collective where each member is an equal and respected partner, functioning as an integral facet of the whole group. A Star Group is particularly sensitive to the phenomenon of the egregore, also known as the group-mind. The leadership roles in a Star Group are temporary and carry little or no real power or authority. The true authority is vested in the group itself and all decisions are determined by a process of consensus.

I define consensus as a mutual agreement that for any given decision, a majority of the members of the group are for it and no one is against it. An objection from any one of the members of the group will force that decision to be either shelved or altogether abandoned. This kind of rule by consensus ensures that a majority will not override the objections of even the humblest member. All individuals are heard and decisions have the backing of nearly everyone. The person who presents the idea or direction to the group has the responsibility to sell it to everyone so that no one finds fault or objects to it. Getting a small group of ritual magicians to agree nearly unanimously to a given plan of action is no small matter, but it can be done. In fact, it must be done so that everyone feels that they have been intimately involved in the decision making process. When the group makes such a decision by consensus, the outcome is guaranteed to be satisfactory to all of the members. Leaders are essentially facilitators with all of the responsibility and none of the authority. Thus no one person can abrogate the power of the group and the equality of everyone is fully protected.

I can almost sense the eye-rolling from my readers after proposing this kind of group. The first objection is that such an organization will not be able to accomplish anything substantive if there isn’t someone who makes the final decision and acts as an overseer. Hierarchical groups seem to be more efficient, goal directed and practical. Anything done by committee is guaranteed to be mediocre at best, and terribly disjointed and chaotic at the worst. It often ends up representing the untutored whims and creative hubris of the least capable in the group. I have seen rituals constructed by committees and I would agree that they are usually ineffective. Yet a Star Group is deliberately small. The execution of consensus agreements incorporate the best abilities of the most able members.

What does that mean? It means that a Star Group is not driven by ego gratification, since everyone is a respected and valued member. Each has a role and a part to play. In such a situation, the group will vest an individual with certain tasks that they are best equipped to accomplish, incorporating other members to aid and assist them as required. People work together and cooperate jointly to produce the best product that they can. A Star Group is an egalitarian team with objectives and goals, and they work together with the powerful commitment of having unanimously agreed to do a given task.

Suppose a Star Group decides to perform some elaborate theatrical rituals that require props and even some sets. One person who is a gifted artist may produce the sets, another who is a writer would write the script, another who is a musician would assemble the music, an electrician would provide the lighting, yet another might be a costume maker and would design and sew the costumes. One individual might be chosen to act as the director and to direct the others to take on various parts in the ceremonial play. None of these individuals would act alone, since all of their contributions would be screened and examined by the whole group. Everyone would contribute materials, time, labor and money. The net result would be the combined efforts of gifted individuals working together as a group. The quality of such an effort would be far greater than what one of the members could do alone.

Would there be disagreements and sometimes heated discussions? Certainly, since that would be part of the dynamic of such a group. However, the overall objectives and goals of the group would have been set up early in its formation, and the members would be motivated to work out their differences in a peaceful and cooperative manner to get the work done. It might take longer to complete a project, but the level of group satisfaction and the quality of the work would be very pleasing to everyone.

Contrast this same effort as applied to a hierarchical group. If the leader is smart and knows how to motivate people, sensing their needs, strengths and weaknesses, then the assignment of roles may show a high degree of wisdom. It may also show a high degree of favoritism and cronyism, since those who are favored by the leader would get the best roles in such an undertaking. It would be guaranteed to be done in a lot less time, but it probably would not be satisfying to the whole group unless the leader used good judgment to correctly and accurately call the shots and make the best decisions.

If the leader is an autocrat, then the outcome of any project may be just as disorganized, poorly contrived and executed as it would be had it been done by a committee. In such a situation, the hard labor would be delegated to the least favorable members and the best jobs reserved for the favorite members. A skilled seamstress may be completely overlooked because the leader’s girlfriend wants the job. Similarly, a gifted writer may be forced to do carpentry work because the leader either doesn’t know about her skill or purposefully ignores it to favor someone else. Often the leaders reserve the best parts for themselves. When the overall project fails to be fully satisfying, he blames the least favored members for failing to do their jobs. Other members who know what is really going on will resent the leader’s biased authority and either leave the group or eventually force a confrontation. A hierarchical group may have to contend with a leader’s ego inflation, unethical conduct, exploitation of other members, favoritism, despotism, incompetence and outrageous behavior.

Of course, not all hierarchical groups are dysfunctional and certainly large groups can’t function without a hierarchy. Large groups use bylaws and formal procedures to ensure that leaders are accountable, so despots or incompetents can be removed from their positions of authority. However, we are talking about small groups with less than twelve members. In such a group the temptation to acquire and hold power over others is just too great. Magicians don’t have much stomach or tolerance for such blatant examples of hubris and ego inflation, but with a Star Group, there is an alternative that is useful and capable of accomplishing goals and tasks with everyone fully engaged. This is much more satisfying than what might occur with permanent authority figures.

The qualities of a Star Group can be summarized by the following points:

• Egalitarianism - each member is treated equally, valued and respected,
• Consensus - each decision is made through the process of consensus,
• Leadership roles are temporary and frequently rotated,
• Sensitive to the formation of egregores,
• Authority and power is vested in the group, not any individual.

An example of the bylaws used to organize and run Star Groups in the magickal Order of the Gnostic Star can be found at the following web address.

Frater Barrabbas

Enochian Qabbalah - A New Perspective

Back in 1991, when I went through the ordeal of invoking all of the archangels and the spirits of the Nephilim to find new sources of information about the Enochian system magick, I was given some notes and insights into something that the spirits referred to as Enochian Qabbalah. Only recently have I had the ability to write up these workings in a manner that would allow them to made intelligible to others besides myself. I am now editing and writing up these notes and previously written journals to produce a book containing all of the information that I received. There is quite a bit of information that still needs to be worked out and organized, but the first part of the ordeal has been mostly written up, and is now being edited.

I thought that it would be interesting to share some of this information with my readers. Therefore, I am presenting the results of the invocation of Shemiezez (also known as Shemichaz) and what that spirit presented to me about the Enochian Qabbalah. This is taken from what is called in our Order, Sepher ha-Nephilim (Book of Nephilim).


Notes from the Invocation of Shemiezez

The Invocation of Shemiezez used the Invocation and Evocation techniques as established in the Gate of Revealing and the Treatise on Magickal Evocation. The model for the actual ritual of Invocation was adapted from the invocation of Chiramael. The formulas were built upon the same methodology and some of the components were kept the same. The most important of these were the Astrological correspondences as dictated by the host of the Nephilim within the Enochian Mystery Vortex. I also used this rite as the foundation for the invocation. Therefore, within the Domain of the Nephilim, the Invocation of Shemiezez was accomplished.

The most important part of the performance of the invocation was laying down the Initiation Pattern as indicated in the Gate of Revealing. The Initiation Pattern used in the standard 3rd Degree invocation rite was replaced by a completely new pattern, which represented the Enochian Initiation Cycle. From this pattern the entire Enochian Qabbalah was defined. This is because the Initiation Pattern also reveals the Enochian Tarot and the 22 Paths of the Enochian Tree of Life. What remained were the Enochian names for the 10 Sephiroth (and the 5 hidden Sephiroth of Spiritual Archeomancy) and their associated God-names. All this was subsequently revealed by Shemiezez.

The Invocation was performed in the midst of the Enochian Mystery Vortex, therefore the level of intensity far outstripped any previous invocation. Throughout the ritual and even after, there were no visions or visual stimuli. I received a very clear verbal communication that I was able to converse with through my mind. However, much of that communication was not vocalized in my head, it was instead absorbed through the experience and began to surface in subsequent days. I also experienced a period of blankness, where I remember nothing that happened, so I am unable to discern all that transpired in the working. It was, without a doubt, the most momentous occasion that I have ever experienced to date, and it has profoundly influenced me. However, Shemiezez did not completely reveal all of his mysteries to me, so I can only surmise that there was some reticence in his nature about being too revealing. In fact, there is an aura of mystery that seems to pervade the personality of this Great Magician of the Nephilim.


The Mysteries of Spiritual Archeomancy

The Enochian Qabbalah is about mystical topology, therefore it is the topology of the Tree of Life. An operational definition of a Sephirah is that it represents a nexus of pathways, it is a point where two or more paths cross. Therefore, by adding up all of these nexus points, there are a total of 15 Sephiroth within the Enochian Tree of Life. In addition to the 10 original Sephiroth and the hidden Sephirah of Da’ath, there are four more Sephiroth that have been identified. All the new Sephiroth are located above the seven lower planetary sephiroth except for one, which is between Tiphareth and Yesod. All of these additional Sephiroth, including Da’ath, represent points of transference between the Sephirotic and Qliphotic worlds.

Because there are additional Sephiroth, there are additional pathways. A pathway is defined as a vector that connects no more than two Sephiroth together. In this fashion there are a total of 32 pathways. It is no coincidence that the Qabbalah talks of 32 pathways, but describes them as consisting of 22 Letters and 10 Numbers. It will now be shown that there are actually 32 pathways. However one wishes to describe them, it cannot in any manner invalidate the fact that there are indeed 32 pathways, if one uses the above definition. This is because the normal set of 22 pathways includes the 32 pathways, since the new Sephiroth cause these pathways to be broken up.

Although the Enochian script that was produced by Dee has only twenty-one letters, it would seem to make for an awkward attempt to somehow force these letters to become equivalent to the Hebrew alphabet. However, when I was given a copy of the Alexandrian Book of Shadows to copy, as all initiated witches were expected to do, I found stuck right in the middle of the book was a list of Enochian letters with a note indicating that there were actually twenty-two letters, and that they corresponded directly with the Hebrew Alphabet. That was certainly an odd entry to be found in a Book of Shadows. Even more peculiar was the fact that the Enochian letter Veh, usually denoting either “C” or “K” was actually divided into two letters in this entry, thus making twenty-two letters. Of course, the Enochian names of the letters, their alphabetic equivalence is nothing at all like Hebrew, in fact in order to make the comparison one would have to create a table of equivalence and use it to decipher all of the spelling of Enochian words so that it conformed to a Hebew-like structure. However, since the Enochian Qabbalah appears to also have twenty-two letters, then this decipherment, if required, would have to be done at some point. 

The structure of the Tree of Life is determined by analyzing its linear structure or latices of line, where the pathways are examined but the Sephiroth are temporarily omitted. This method of analyzing the Tree of Life will reveal the truth about the number of paths as well as reveal something of its inner structure. The components of this skeleton Tree of Life (minus the Sephiroth) consists of the pathways (some of which are broken by intersecting paths and nexus points where the Sephiroth would reside) and the angular vectors determining the shapes of the 18 internal Dimensions. All of these Dimensions are triangles except for two that reside just above the Abyss, these happen to be trapezoid. All of these parts have a significance and important meaning in the Enochian Qabbalah. Even the vector angles have an important role, since there are exactly 56 of them - an auspicious number, as we shall see.

While it is known that there are at least 30 Aethyrs as reported by Dee, and many magicians have performed workings to contact these entities, usually in some kind of skrying session, attempts to determine the nature of these entities and to place them on the Tree of Life or in some kind of structure has failed. Even Dee’s attempts at this have failed. Perhaps the reason is that the total number of Aethyrs has been greater than what has been reported. This is what  Shemiezez had revealed to me. The vector angle on the latice of the Tree of Life is the entity known as the Aethyr, and there are 56 of them instead of 30. That would mean that there are 26 Aethyrs who reside above the Abyss and are presently unknown. The Aethyrs are therefore, divided into two groups, one residing as a lesser arcana and the newly revealed Aethyrs are of the greater arcana. The qualities of the Aethyrs are determined by analyzing the combined significance of the two Pathways and one Sephirah where each vector resides. So the qualities of the Aethyr are represented by merging the pathways and their associated Sephirah into a single concept that represents the force (motive) of the vector emanating from the Sephirah.

The final, and perhaps most important aspect of the Enochian Qabbalah consists of the 18 triangular spaces whose outlines are defined by the lattice structure of the Tree of Life. These shapes are called the domains or Dimensions of the manifested Qabbalah, and until recently they were both undefined and mysterious. The Dimension are, of course, defined by the combination of pathways, Sephiroth, and vectors (Aethyrs). Through the definition and merging of these components one may also unlock and magickally experience the mysterious substance of the Qabbalah. These Dimensions have been revealed as the most powerful and influential of all the Qabbalistic facets. They are the principal structures within Enochian Qabbalah and Enochian magick. These structures have never been operationally defined, but because the Enochian Qabbalah has now been revealed, it only remains for one to derive the rest of the components. However, I now believe that during the evening of the Invocation of Shemiezez, I have received the complete Enochian Qabbalah, and it only awaits the proper time to be fully revealed.

In addition to the above, I have also received the outlines and patterns for the technique of Spiritual Archeomancy, the method of Enochian Pathworking and the Ritual for Self Initiation for the Magickal Mysteries of the Chenokim. I will seek over the course of the next few years to write these rituals and document them. This lore will represent the Teachings of Shemiezez and be part of the Second Book in the Sepher ha-Nephilim (The Book of the Nephilim).


Ritual Comments

The Working was begun at 9:16 PM with the consecration of the circle during the planetary hour of the Sun, thus locking it for the duration, on the Day of Sol, the 17th of February, 1991. Luna was in the sign of Aries and one day following the New Moon, therefore the Moon was waxing. The only significant aspect was the sextile between the Moon and Mars (denoting the focusing of emotional energies, giving them greater force), which occurred during the Hour of Mars, just before the hour in which the rite was begun. The working ended at 12:34 AM EST.

Frater Barrabbas

More Models To Ponder - or Modelapalooza

Since there has been a plethora of articles on Models of Magick circulating the blogsphere, I thought that I would add a piece that was part of my article “Magick and the Eucharistic Mass”, which was published in the book “Talking About the Elephant.” My first exposure to the concept of magickal models was from a book written by probably one of the greatest minds in the area of the occult and magickal philosophy, who is named Forrest Landry. This book was privately published, it’s not available to purchase on Amazon so don’t bother looking. I have produced a distillation of his introduction because I find it so interesting and compelling. You can read it over and come up with your own opinion.

According to the writings of Forrest Landry, in his privately published book (“The Theory of Magick” by Forest Landry  – Introduction, p. viii – xiv), there are five different theories on magic. Each of these theories is correct as far as they go, but each is limited. A metaphysical theory of magic is the sixth theory, which Forrest outlines in his book. I will briefly define each theory here, by loosely quoting his introduction. The Social Theory of Magic (as proposed by Daniel Lawrence O’Keefe) would fit into the Psychological Theory, since it is primarily concerned with symbolic manipulation, language and social psychology.

Spirit Theory - Magic is mediated by Spirits. The Spirit theory of magic attempts to understand the experience of the magical, and explain the practice of magic in terms of elemental (nature) spirits, faeries, angels, demons, and/or deities, and the decisions made by these (and other) nonphysical agencies of consciousness. The Universe is a force of Spiritual consciousness - magic is seen as a means of uniting with the divine.

Psychological Theory - Magic is a psychological perception. The psychological theory of magic attempts to understand the experience of magic and explain the practice of magic in terms of psychological, perceptual, or sociological dynamics and processes. The idea that magic is a form of deception (illusion) or that it is used for psychosomatic healing are aspects of this view - an aspect of specifically human consciousness, history, and bodily perception - described as aspects of one’s personal subconscious or unconscious mind.

Rhetorical Theory - Magic is a currently unknown physical science. The rhetorical theory of magic attempts to understand the experience of the magical and explain the practice of magic in terms of natural processes as defined by currently known causal and physical laws. Its primary claim is that magic will eventually (at least in principle) be fully understood and described as science. As such, the rhetorical theory of magic considers that magic will eventually be fully amenable to scientific understanding, even if it currently is not. The magical experience is described as an event that is currently and temporarily inexplicable by known scientific methods - like the relationship between alchemy and chemistry.

Energy Theory - Magic is mediated by paranormal energies. The energy theory of magic attempts to understand the experiences of the magical and to describe the practice of magic in terms of various nonphysical and subtle energies. In this view, the universe is pervaded with one or more fields of subtle energy and this energy can have effects on consciousness and certain physical processes. It is considered that these energies can be manipulated via a number of techniques, including magic. As such, many theories of paranormal energies posit cause and effect relationships as a part of their basis. In this context, magic is seen as a means by which one can influence the material world by manipulating or changing the movements and interactions of these subtle energy fields.

Chaos Theory - Magic is mediated by shifting chaos dynamics. The chaos theory of magic attempts to understand the experiences of the magical and to describe the practice of magic in terms of random, chaotic, or fractal processes typically found in nature. The chaos theory of magic describes all aspects of magic and magical experiences in terms of these dynamics and the mathematical models that define them. The physical universe is stochastic, or random, in nature. While the random processes of nature sometimes combine to form the appearance of stable laws of causality, this is viewed as an exceptional or unusual circumstance. Reality is arbitrary and is defined only as a function of one’s own beliefs. There is a correspondence in chaos magic between the methods of magical action and the theories of Quantum Mechanics.

Many Chaos practitioners consider the Chaos theory to be a meta-theory, using whatever model works at the moment while not being attached to any specific method or model. In my opinion, this ideal has not really been effectively followed, and Chaos magick appears to have succumbed to becoming a theory or model itself. 

Metaphysical Theory - Magic is mediated by deep metaphysical laws and dynamics. The metaphysical theory of magic attempts to understand the experiences of the magical and to describe the practice of magic in terms of deeper general conceptions about the essential nature of consciousness, choice and creation. The metaphysical theory of magic describes the various aspects of magic, magical practice and magical experiences, in terms of a natural dynamics of consciousness and various combinations of metaphysical principles of ontology, ethics and aesthetics. In its complete form, these conceptions and dynamics are based upon an even deeper formal theory developed in terms of three absolute axioms and three domain fundamental modalities.

Metaphysics, which considers the nature of self, the nature of reality, and the interrelationship between them, describes the essence of magic in terms of forward resonance between a multiplicity of worlds experienced by the self. Within this view, the universe (as a world) is considered to have, as an intrinsic of all events, a community of creation. This in combination with the focused participation of consciousness provides the basis of practical magic in each world.

In this view, magic is real, has a definite and unique process and has knowable, defined, and well understood characteristics. Although magic is real, it is considered by its basic nature to be un-analyzable and indeterminate with respect to observable scientific, causal, or physical processes. In respects to other theories of magic, the metaphysical view clarifies and supports some ideas (as representative of deeper truths), and discards or replaces others.

So these are the models of magick as proposed by Forrest Landry, and to which I completely agree. In addition, one could consider an anthropological model, that would propose that magick is a primitive and superstitious version of science. My friend Nicholas told me that some Chaos magicians believe in a Cybernetic model. “The Cybernetic model is based on information and computer sciences, whereby an act of divination is similar to downloading information, while an act of practical magic is compared to inputting specific values into a computer process and collecting the results.” (Nicholas is a good friend of mine and he has a blog as well, which you can find here.)

Now that I have listed several different models, and all but the metaphysical model are incomplete (in my biased opinion), the question is - what is your favorite model? Can you think of one that hasn’t been covered here? And remember, they’re just models!

Frater Barrabbas

Trouble With Models

I recently read an article by Jason Miller who complained about other writers using the term “model” when talking about a type of magick that they work. You can see his article here. I would have to say that I agree completely with what Jason said, but whenever I have used the term “model” I have always made certain that my audience knew that I was talking about a theoretical construct. In short, a model, in regards to magickal practice, is just a heuristic device, which is a fancy way of saying that it is a learning tool. I have often said that no one works with just one of the several models of magick that I have proposed, and that in the real world, magicians work magick using several of them simultaneously. It’s useful to talk about magickal models because it allows one to see a distinct quality of magick that may or may not be operating in what a person really does when they work magick.

The bottom line is to not confuse a theoretical discussion of a magickal model with the real thing, which is more complex and dynamic than what a single model would entail. Like all mental structures that are useful for classification, they have their uses and limitations. In the area of magick, one should never confuse a model, diagram or structure for what it is representing. We are dealing with phenomena that is difficult to classify, so if we simplify things to better understand it, then that doesn’t mean that the simplified explanation or theory is the thing itself - it is a theory that is useful for understanding something, nothing more.

When I discuss the energy model, or the spirit model, the psychology model, the chaos model or the rhetorical model of magick, I am discussing theoretical approaches to understanding magick. No one uses just one model, and even if they did, there would be more to what they were doing than what is understood by the model. However, using models as a theoretical construct allows us to see the various aspects or techniques of a magickal system, which otherwise, would be opaque and incapable of analysis. The purpose of classifying something is to categorize it in a general manner so it can be compared to other analogous things.

I believe that I set the tone for this discussion early on in one of my articles, where I said:

“Like the analogy for food, there are also several different theories about magic, and all of them take a very specific model and methodology and apply it exclusively. So there is a theory of magic that is based on Spirit, another one based on Energy, and still another one based on Psychology. All of them are correct as far as they go, but all of them are limited to a single model and their associated assumptions. I would also consider them to be gross generalizations, but models are good learning devices, since they challenge and help us to accurately think about the way something really works.”

And also, the statement:

“Witchcraft has the unusual advantage that liturgy and magical crafts blend together to form a single praxis. Devotional invocations to the gods can also be magical spells meant to cause changes in the material world. As we will see when examining the other theories, witchcraft is a hybrid, combining many theories into a blended and practical perspective.”

So as you can see, I have been careful about talking about the various models of magick. I never state that a true system of magick conforms to just one model, and in fact almost all of them have at least three or more models active in them. Yet I will be certain to state this fact from time to time when I talk about models so no one gets any ideas that they are anything more than a learning device.

Frater Barrabbas

Why I Don’t Give Away Rituals For My Annotated Workings

Not too long ago someone sent me an email asking for me to provide them with the rituals that I used to perform the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal. I had previously stated in one of my articles that I would conditionally provide the rituals to anyone who was interested in seeing them.

Here is the relevant quote from my article.

“Contacting me through that website will help one to gain access to the ritual lore of the Order. However, I would recommend that curious individuals first examine the By-Laws, which can be downloaded from that site.”

What I meant by conditionally is that if someone were truly interested, they would seek to become members of the Order of the Gnostic Star, and through it’s progressive sets of ordeals, a magician would over time be awarded the advanced lore for their use. Of course seeking to become a member of the Order has a catch to it. The interested party needs to form a functional temple of at least five total individuals and practice for a year before petitioning the elders for the basic lore, consisting of the workings from first through fourth degree. Since the more advanced rites represent ritual workings that are a part of lore of the inner order, it would take a competent occultist and magician a few years to master the lore of the outer order before being capable of receiving the lore from the inner order. All of this is clearly stated in the by-laws for the Order, which you can find here.

Therefore, you might be able to say that the rituals aren’t really available for anyone who wants them because there is a protocol that must be followed. The progression of personal ordeals was established by several fairly advanced occultists, although most of the work was accomplished by me over a period of a couple of decades. The question is - am I being disingenuous in expecting others to follow these protocols in order to receive the benefits of years of work, research and trials, without having to pay anything for them? I think that the answer is that they belong to the Order and I am one of the few arbiters of that lore, so if I feel that one must at least engage in the Order in order to receive them, then that is how it must be done.

I can hear the groans from many individuals already. I am expecting applicants to actually perform several years of practice and study so that they can ultimately share in the lore that I and a few others have developed. Who am I to make such rules? Is it really worth it to be forced into an intense regimen in order to have access to the lore of my Order? To answer this question, I will have to at least share some information about the degree progression as it currently exists in the Order, thus listing the ordeals and their associated degrees. Looking over this information, one can get a pretty good idea of what’s involved in the degree system of the Order of the Gnostic Star.

Associated with each degree is a specific ordeal whose completion entitles the candidate to seek initiation into that degree. Therefore, the lore is introduced at the previous degree, and the completion of the associated ordeal entitles the candidate to be initiated into the next degree, where a new body of lore is tackled.

1. Neophyte degree - ordeal: Vision Quest and knowledge of the Order (by-laws).
2. Acolyte degree - ordeal: Lunar Mystery Elemental Ordeal (at least 4 Elemental workings)
3. Theurgicus degree - ordeal: Talismanic Lunar Mansions Ordeal (at least 4 Talismanic workings)
4. Deaconis degree - ordeal: Ordeal of Evocation and the Lesser Enochian Ordeal (at least 3 Invocations, including archangel of the Order)
5. Pontifex degree - ordeal: Advanced Enochian Ordeal and Ordeal of Lesser Archaeomancy (at least 2 Evocations - including Ruling Angel of Deacon and associated quinarian angels/demons)
6. Sanctus Rex/Regina degree - ordeal: Ordeal XV (Tetra-sacramentary) & Advanced Archaeomancy Ordeal (Qabbalistic Dimensions - at least 2) - including Simple Bornless One Invocation.
7. Hierophant degree - ordeal: Tessarenoi (Four Temples) - generation of all four trans-dimensional reliquaries.
8. Dominus degree - ordeal: Ordeal of the Stellar Gnostic Seven Rays - including the advanced Bornless One Invocation Rite and the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal.
9. Magus degree - ordeal: Ordeal of the Qliphoth (Abysmal workings and Gate Crossing), Invocation and mastery of Azrael, Supreme Archaeomancy Ordeal (Trapezoid Qabbalistic Dimensions), Bornless One Assumption ordeal.

As you can see, the list of ordeals is quite extensive. All of the above lore for each degree is complete except for the degree of Magus - only some of these workings are done. We are talking about hundreds of rituals, all of them more or less modular and capable of being reused to access multiple levels of the spiritual domain.

These ordeals can be broken into eight different systems of magick, listed below.

1. Elemental Lunar Magick - Elemental - Divine Tetrad - 16 Elemental Kingdoms
2. Talismanic Magick - Planetary - Talismans - 28 Lunar Mansions
3. Lesser Theurgy - Binary Planetary Talismans - 49 Bonarum - Heptarchia Mystica
4. Greater Theurgy - Zodiacal - Elemental - 36 Decans - 72 Quniarians - enclosed within 12 Holy Houses
5. Solar Underworld Ordeal - Tarot - Greater Arcana - 22 Gateways of the Cycle of Initiation
6. Enochian Visionary Ordeals - Tarot - Lesser Arcana - 56 Dominions of the Aethyrs
7. Archeomancy of the 40 Worlds - Qabbalah - Lesser Arcana - 40 Qabbalistic Worlds - 40 Qualified Powers - Great Nested Hierarchy
8. Spiritual Archeomancy - Qabbalah - Greater Arcana - 18 Qabbalistic Dimensions

If we group these systems into their basic categories of magickal systems, we can see eight distinct systems in the workings of the Order. A ninth category would consist of the higher workings associated with the master adept of the Dominus and Magus degrees, such as the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal. To give you an idea of how complex and involved these different systems are, I myself have only completed all of the levels through the seventh degree, a series of tasks that I have been working on since the early eighties. The rest of the lore I can apprehend and realize to the point of being able to write and design the ritual workings, but I have yet to undergo them.

So if all of this has taken me years to master and undergo, then think of how much time it would take someone who is completely new to this system. I think that my requirements are modest and sensible, since this over-all system of magick is neither simple nor easily accessed. The way to approach and master it requires one to progress through the ordeals, step by step, beginning with the first step. If the first step is easy, then it will be passed quickly. There is no time limit imposed on completing this system. The initiate of the Order takes as long as necessary to master each step, before starting with the next one.

I suppose that because of the magnitude of this system of magick and how extensive it is, many erstwhile candidates would be put off by the massive amount of work that mastering it would entail. However, there is no simple way to master the path of a ritual magician. It requires decades of consistent and engaging work. It represents the fact that such a regimen produces its effects over a lifetime of practice and experience - just like any other transcendental spiritual system.

Frater Barrabbas

Source of the Enochian System of Magick - According to Frater Barrabbas

I have an intriguing question for all magicians using the Enochian system of magick. What if instead of either using the plethora of books and materials on Enochian magick or consulting the various published and translated or annotated diaries, a magician decided instead to go to the actual spiritual source that supposedly produced this material and start anew, without any prior opinions or beliefs. Would a magician who took this path find out anything new or different from what is already known and in use?

I am not advocating throwing away any of the materials that exist, either in the form of the diaries of John Dee or the many books that have made use of this material and expanded on it. In other words, I am not proposing reinventing the wheel in regards to Enochian magick. What I am proposing is for magicians to contact the angels and spirits in a similar order that John Dee and Edward Kelly did nearly 430 years ago to see if there is any further lore to be had. This is exactly what I did back in 1991, and what I discovered was an entire system of magick and a specialized Qabbalah that had not been reported in Dee’s diaries. My reason for doing this is that I believed that there seemed to be a lot of missing data in the overall Enochian system, and I also believed that what I was looking for would not be found in the diaries. I assumed that it could only be discovered if one followed in the foot steps that Dee and Kelly had made centuries ago, revealing the source of that system of magick.

To my knowledge, no one has taken this perspective and attempted to replicate what Dee and Kelly did so very long ago. The obvious reason for this is that there already exists a very large body of data in the form of Dee’s diaries. Occultists have been pouring over these diaries now for over a century. Why would anyone want to re-do all of the painstaking skrying sessions that Dee and Kelly performed only to produce either what is already known or something that would be less interesting or engaging? Purists like to say that they have taken accepted methodologies, like the pronouncing of the Enochian language, and gone back to the diary sources instead of using Aleister Crowley’s or Israel Regardie’s techniques. Yet despite the fact that there is so much material, I stubbornly suspected there were things missing as well.

Why did I think that and what were my reasons for believing that to be the case? Perhaps it was an intuition, but certainly I decided long ago that the Enochian system of magick was a thing that was separate and beyond even the writings and speculations of John Dee or the emotionally volatile intuitions and insights of Edward Kelly. Dee was a 16th century man, and the Enochian system of magick seemed like something that was both timeless and beyond the boundaries of any kind of occult or spiritual speculation from that time. One glaring omission was the lack of any authoritative archangelic spiritual entities in the Enochian system. We are talking about Briatic level spirits and not various entities associated with the Elemental Squares or planets. Once Dee had progressed beyond the basic known archangels of Uriel, Raphael, Michael and Gabriel, no other analogous class of angelic spirits is to be found.

I am sure that some Enochian adept would handedly dispute this claim and perhaps even point out some spirits that I had missed in my studies, but still, I am presenting the reason why I thought that the Enochian system was incomplete. It also seemed to lack much in the way of ritual structures, initiatory transformations, etc. I found the alphabet of the Enochian language to be difficult to work with, since there were only 21 (and not 22) letters - so close yet so far from the Hebrew Qabbalah. So with this intuition and perhaps limited understanding, I proceeded with the project of invoking the spirits in the order that Dee seemed to access them, and see if there was any other material to be had from the spiritual source of the Enochian system of magick. Instead of using a shew stone and performing the skrying sessions that Dee and Kelly performed, I decided to use the ritual lore that I already had in which to facilitate the invocation of the archangelic spirits. Since I use a system of direct immersion, I was not only going to invoke these angelic spirits, but I was going to enter into their domain as well. I not only was able to contact and receive a great deal of additional information, but I also received a very curious bit of lore as well. That the archangels had sealed much of this information away because it had been the provenance of another class of spirits altogether. These spirits were called the Nephilim, and it appeared that they were the reputed authors of the entire Enochian system of magick. I found myself transported from looking at historical information to engaging in speculations and insights associated with legends, myths and even a bit of archaic theology.

Therefore, I proceeded to perform quite a number of invocations, starting with the four basic archangels and Ratziel, then the corresponding four angels of the Nephilim and going even beyond that boundary. I got to talk with these various entities at length and learned that John Dee and Edward Kelly had only received a small part of this lore. That even after years of working with these entities, I have extracted probably only another small (but significant) segment. Yet what I have discovered is that this system of magick is active and larger than what anyone had previously realized. Hopefully, others will read my words and perhaps even perform some of the rituals, seeking to expand the knowledge that currently exists so that someday the Enochian system of magick will be represented by a whole and complete system, divorced from the pious religious perspectives and narrow belief systems of the 16th century, and brought fully into the 21st century - renewed and redeemed.

This is the sequence and names of the spirits that I invoked using lore that had been developed within the Order that I worked (Order of the Gnostic Star). My assumption was that it was loosely modeled on the progression of steps that Dee and Kelly performed centuries ago with their skrying sessions.

Invoke the four Archangels - then Ratziel and finally Naluage - which led me to invoke the four chiefs of the Nephilim.

• Uriel
• Michael               
• Gabriel
• Raphael
• Ratziel - 28 Spirits of Light
• Naluage - Four Chiefs of the Nephilim

It is only now in the present time, when my ability to write and structure my thoughts has matured, that I have decided to begin publicizing this work, started almost twenty years ago. Some will dismiss it as either pure speculation or even worse, the imaginings of an undisciplined mind. Others will consider it totally out of synch with orthodox beliefs and practices that have already begun to harden and restrict speculation and artistic exploration. I am certain that those who consider themselves experts in the domain of Enochian magick will scoff at my ideas and claims since they deviate so profoundly from the base material of the diaries. However, it’s my belief that the diaries are limited, so if we consign ourselves to working only with them, we may misrepresent what is a living and dynamic system of magick. Times have changed and so has our understanding of magick and occultism. This alone might compel some to examine my work and perform the rituals for themselves to determine if I am correct or delusional.

So for this reason I have decided to share with my readers some of my more unusual theories about the Enochian system of Magick. I admit that there are a lot of magicians working this system or parts of it these days, and there are quite a large number of books expounding in exhaustive detail on this subject. The more faithful practitioners stay very close to the actual diaries produced over four centuries ago by Dr. John Dee, but a small minority, such as myself, engage in a certain amount of speculation. These diaries are the sole source of this system of magick, so all one has to do to get a real understanding about any part of the Enochian system of magick is to examine the relevant diary material. However, it seems little understood that the diaries were actually the raw repositories of Dr. Dee’s occult speculations and investigations. These diaries were used by Dee to produce a finished grimoire, now lost, that he claimed was angelically inspired and transmitted, and, I believe, was an analogous version of a noted 14th century grimoire, called the Sepher ha-Ratziel, or the Book of Ratziel. Although Dee thought that the Ethiopian Book of Enoch was that grimoire, it would have actually been the Book of Ratziel. Dee never acquired either the Ethiopian Book of Enoch or the Sepher ha-Ratziel, but he believed that a master grimoire existed, containing the language of God and his angels. Dee sought this language because he believed that it was a requirement if he were ever to be as honored in having intercourse with God as Enoch was reputed to have been. 

Why do I believe that the mythical grimoire that Dee sought was the Book of Ratziel? Because according to Jewish myths, God instructed the angel Ratziel (God’s Mystery) to produce a book of occult mysteries and give it to Adam. However, some of the other angels were jealous when they heard about this gift. So they stole the book and hid it away in the depths of the sea. Ratziel searched for a long time to reacquire this book, but when he finally found it, Adam had long since passed away. The latest patriarch was Enoch, so Ratziel gave the book to Enoch. This book then was handed down from one generation to another, perhaps lost and rediscovered many times, according to legends, until a Jewish scholar rediscovered and made it available to the learned few in early 14th century Germany. Whether the resultant Book of Ratziel was newly written from existing traditions, created from whole clothe, or indeed was an ancient recovered book is unknown; but an examination of it shows that it was contemporaneous with Hebrew grimoires from that time period. So it was either cobbled together from existing traditions or created as a whole new magickal tradition. The book is filled with many angelic spirits but no angelic language, since Jewish magicians would have believed that God and his angels spoke classical Hebrew. John Dee’s preoccupation with a legendary grimoire supposedly authored by Enoch gave his own work an authenticity and legitimacy in the eyes of himself and other learned savants with whom he deemed to share any of his secret works.

So Dee actually believed that he was rediscovering a lost system of magick that would allow him to gain direct communication with God. This system of magick was called Enochian because of Dee’s fascination with the patriarch Enoch and his wisdom. The angelic language that Dee and Kelly uncovered was later called Enochian, perhaps in honor of the patriarch that Dee so admired. However, connecting this system of magick with the patriarch Enoch has powerful and mythic consequences. To fully understand the supposed Enochian system of magick one would also have to know something about the patriarch Enoch, including what is found in the bible and in various apocryphal books.

This is where we get to some interesting speculation. If we examine the myths and legends about Enoch, especially the Book of Enoch and the Book of Noah (which only exists in fragments), we discover that Enoch knew and appeared to traffic with a group of fallen angels who had come to earth and chose mortal women as their wives. They must have also acquired corporeal bodies, since they began to produce children. The bible talks about these beings in chapter 6, verse 1 through 4, of the book of Genesis, and the books of Enoch and Noah expand on this association. One might conclude that Enoch’s wisdom was due in part to his association with the Nephilim, not to mention the fact that he supposedly received a book from the archangel Ratziel. I will examine these relationships in greater detail at a later date, but what we have here is an association of Enoch with the archangel Ratziel, and the angelic spirits become flesh called the Nephilim. It would seem then, that the Enochian system of magick would involve the archangel Ratziel as well as the 200 angelic spirits known as the Nephilim. It could be presumed from this association that much of what passes for the Enochian system of magick may have its roots in the forbidden teachings of the Nephilim.

Ever since I first encountered the Book of Enoch and the fragments of the Book of Noah, I have been quite intrigued by the idea that fallen angels, who assumed human form, took wives and sired children, became the first teachers of writing, metallurgy, astronomy, alchemy, esoteric philosophy, the arts of war, architecture, herbalism, and the various methodologies of magick. In short, they were reputed to be the patrons of civilization, yet for this they were condemned and ultimately overthrown. It beguiles the mind to think about these spirits and to desire to invoke and contact them. However, the four archangels listed above were responsible for sealing the knowledge of these spirits away from the earth and the temptations of mankind, and also imprisoning these entities in a place where they could not be reached.

I came to the conclusion that I should contact these archangels and get their permission to regain this knowledge, to gain access to these imprisoned beings so I could acquire and build on their knowledge, thus gaining a more pure and direct source for the Enochian system of magick. I believe that Dee and Kelly unknowingly crossed this threshold centuries ago, but all the while being ignorant of the source of the wisdom they were being taught. I believe that they unwittingly made contact with the Nephilim and channeled some of their knowledge, but much more remained untapped. This, of course, is just my opinion, but in actively pursuing this train of thought, I discovered new material for the Enochian system of magick, which I am only now able to put together into an intelligible system. This system of magick seems to be more like a Semitic form of Witchcraft than a ceremonial magickal system as derived in the 16th century, even with its elaborate tables, calls and lists of spirits.

All of these speculations and creative insights are just my thoughts and opinions. I am sure that many will disagree with them. However, I am revealing these ideas and sharing them for those few who might find this perspective of great worth and seek to emulate it, thus adding to the newly derived Enochian lore as I have done.

Frater Barrabbas

Lesser Wheel of Fortune & Practical Magick

This is an article that appeared in Rending the Veil - Yule Edition. I thought that it would be good to place the raw article here for my readers to examine, since it is a continuation of my exposition of practical magick.

We have covered the greater wheel of fortune and how it’s associated with the solar return and the point 180 degrees from the solar return, or halfway in the annual cycle. This greater wheel of fortune is very important to know if one is going to work magick to change one’s material situation.

There is also a lesser wheel of fortune that involves the moon and this lesser cycle is more characterized by the emotions than by material gain. It is an important truth that if the emotions are not aligned with one’s greater material purpose, then one’s endeavors will ultimately fail.

This lesser wheel of fortune has the same basic components as the greater wheel. The natal chart lunar position is extracted and the halfway point in this cycle is determined by plotting a position that is exactly 6 zodiacal signs ahead of the natal Moon position. For instance, my Natal Moon is in Gemini when the moon was gibbous (just before full), so the halfway point would be the Moon in Sagittarius when it is balsamic. So I can use either the lunation types of gibbous and balsamic to represent the natal return and halfway point or I can use the signs of the Moon in Gemini and Sagittarius. Either set of points have their validity.

Now for me the emotional wheel of fortune works like this. When the Moon is gibbous or in the sign of Gemini, I am typically feeling very emotionally centered, grounded and fulfilled. When the halfway point is achieved, then my emotional state is decidedly muted and turned inward. It’s a time when I am not as certain of myself and feel compelled to question my motives and the things that I usually take for granted. The natal lunar point is an emotional high point and the halfway point is one of instability, where the unconscious mind is more able to affect me and my emotional sense of self.

The key to this emotional wheel of fortune is that it’s better to perform magickal workings so that they achieve their climax up to but not far beyond the full moon. The waning moon represents particularly difficult times for me and it’s much better to use that time for reflection, divination and contemplation, allowing the unconscious mind to unload some of its internal pressures and negative or dark-self perceptions in a controlled environment. It’s also a good idea to synchronize the greater and lesser wheels of fortune so that magickal workings and mundane actions involving material advancement occur during the better half for both patterns. For me, that would be the second half of my solar year when the Moon is gibbous. I would also be advised by these cycles to avoid taking risks during that same time when the Moon is waning and nearing the new moon phase.

We can also analyze the transit aspects of the Natal Moon with the Transiting Moon and get a very clear idea of the kind of forces that are active. Like the Sun, we can examine the aspect where the Transit Moon is in conjunction with the Natal Moon and the aspect where the Transit Moon is in opposition to the Natal Moon.

Transit Moon conjunct Natal Moon: This is called the Lunar return and it occurs once every month. It represents the beginning of an emotional cycle. It’s a time of emotional sensitivity and emotional intensity. It has a magnetic effect, and tends to attract external events and people to its emanating field. Another way of examining the Lunar return is to determine the precise lunation type found in the Natal chart. This represents the lunation type that one was born under, so it becomes a powerful emotional base for the individual.

Transit Moon opposition to Natal Moon: This aspect represents deepening moods and powerful emotions. One becomes self-absorbed and loses objectivity, which tends to create emotional oppositions with others. It’s definitely not a time to be dealing with relationship issues, business partnerships or emotional issues involving family or friends. It is a good time to go deep into the self and retrieve insights and directives from the deeper self.

So you can see, there is a Greater Wheel of Fortune involving the solar return, and a Lesser Wheel of Fortune that involves the lunar return. Both cycles need to be carefully examined, and dates where both cycles are at their optimum can be chosen for the working of material based magick.

Frater Barrabbas


Bibliography

Hand, Robert (1976) Planets In Transit: Life Cycles for Living  Para Research Inc., Gloucester, MA