Truth, Honesty and Self Proclaimed (so called) Adepts

As anyone can see that reads my blog, I believe magic to be a spiritually sacred practice where the magician seeks interaction and relationships with the many varied forces of the material and spiritual worlds to make material life easier, and develop themselves spiritually. After all, as it says in the opening page of the Lemmegeton Clavicula Salomonis, taken from the preface of the Harley 6483 manuscript : Magick is the highest and most absolute divinest knowledge of Natural Philosophy. Because of the sacredness that is attributed to the magical arts, I also believe that it is extremely disrespectful for any magician to devalue this sacredness with dishonesty and lies.

One only has to look on the web to see that this is rife in the occult world, especially so on forums where one will come across the over inflated egos of the self proclaimed experts and adepts. Unfortunately this is to be expected in any community where knowledge and power are key ingredients. It is ironic that this is especially so in the magical world where the lower ego is supposed to be kept in check and dealt with in order to allow the higher spiritual will to flourish. But what I think is very sad to see is when people's lower ego takes control over the things they say, which end up spurting out nothing but their own false and twisted ideas about other magician's practices for no reason that I can see, but their own immature and negative attitudes. This really does annoy me, and especially so when I see my name mentioned along with other magician's names (who I have the utmost respect for) insinuating that we are full of bull shit because we do things differently.

I believe that truth and honesty are an integral part of the magician's art, but if they are not high on the magician's list of priorities, then it should come as no surprise when things don't always go according to plan, and the information sought from the spirits often turns out to be unreliable at best. Because, if the magician can't be honest with him or herself and others, then why should the forces they seek to contact be honest and truthful with them!

This is only something that the individual can learn for themselves because, you or someone else can tell them until you go blue in the face, but they will not want to listen because they are too blinded by their own self importance, and their ignorant opinions.

I left the pagan scene because of this, and even had a debate with a “so called (self proclaimed) master of the occult” because this person claimed they new all there was to know about magic and the occult. This obviously set my alarm bells ringing, so off I went down the solitary path which, has been much more magically rewarding.

So a word of advice to anyone setting out on the magical path, is to exercise a bit of common sense when seeking guidance from others, because, quite often those who accuse others of negative things, are normally guilty of such things themselves.

Putting the Mysticism back into Magic

Nowadays when people talk about their magical workings and the goals which they work magic for, they seem to mainly involve satisfying material desires, such as wealth, money, love, health, business and sometimes even popularity. While the satisfaction of material desires takes precedence, the mystical aspects quite often get neglected. I think this is quite unfortunate because I believe magic to be a very sacred practice, with mysticism being as much a part of magic as are the spirits that the magician works with.

Mysticism helps establish a solid foundation from where a magician can stand to work his or her magic for spiritual and material purposes. Through doing so it aids in the unification of the higher and lower natures, and results in the birth of a new form of spiritual consciousness. Just like the semi divine heroes found in mythology, as they are the product of the union between spirit and matter which, is often portrayed as a god and a mortal woman. Once this spiritual state of being comes forth, it then starts to unfold itself as we learn to exercise its powers within our lives.

How do we put the mysticism back into magic? For myself it came from learning to understand allegory and the magical language of symbolism. Which, I found to be hidden in the sacred words and images of the grimoires themselves. Unfortunately, this way of seeing is often misunderstood by those who misrepresent allegory and symbolism with so called secret codes and blinds. This skewed view probably stems from the misappropriation of certain old sources, like that found in the Greek Magical Papyri PGM X11. 401-44. In this text there is an example given of a secret code of names used for herbs and other such things to act as a blind for the uninitiated. But, this is not what I mean by allegory and symbolism. Instead, allegory uses nature's alphabet of symbols to teach spiritual truths through the process of analogy. Because, through using analogy it shows the parallels that exists between the subjective world, and the objective world. And, in this way the phenomena that is seen to happen in the exterior world is interpreted as a reflection of the inner world of spirit. “That which is above is like that which is below.” Nature is the analogue of spirit, so in the words of Wordsworth. "Let nature be your teacher"

It is from nature's symbols which are used to depict allegory, that we get our associated lists of magical correspondences. These items are then used in magic because of the inherent spiritual meaning that is connected to them. For example; lets take the instruction which is found in the Key of Solomon for using bats blood. The bat is part of the Chiroptera family, which means -"hand wing." The hand is a symbol of creative power because, it is our hands that we use to create physical things with. The wing indicates the ability to fly in the air, which is normally associated to birds therefore, it is a symbol that represents the activity of spirit. Considering bats are nocturnal creatures, they represent the creative power of spirit operating in matter. This is because the imagery of the “night” is a symbol for matter. Plus, bats are also fond of hanging upside down, pointing directly towards earth - the world of matter.

But, there is more; in the “key of Solomon” Chapter X1V it gives the instruction to draw the blood of a bat from its right wing. Why not its left wing? The answer more than likely is to be found in the meaning of the symbolism associated to the hands. The right hand is for giving, representing the active outgoing energy of creativity. While the left hand is for receiving, representing the passive incoming energy of creativity. This is exemplified in the paintings of ancient Egyptian art where the gods are sometimes shown with either two left hands, or two right hands. This depicts the role they are playing as passive or active. And therefore, the use of bats blood from the creature's right wing, would seem to suggest that it represents the active power of spirit operating in matter.

By incorporating mysticism into magic it will help in forming a substantial understanding of the processes used. Or as Mr Lisiewski calls it, “subjective synthesis.” It is then that magic will become a much more wholesome practice, enabling us as magicians to provide for ourselves materially, and develop spiritually. As Joseph Lisiewski also says in his book, “Howlings from the Pit;” Mysticism completes Magic.