Talking About Ritual Magick

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

Frater Rufus Opus recently wrote that demons are elementals, or that they have elemental qualities. This is in his article about demonic agendas, and you can find it here. While some might think that this is a neat and tidy way of defining the nature of these spirits, I have to disagree with what he has written. (I also hope that I have understood exactly what he has written, too.) It really has to do with the nature of Angels and Demons, and whether either can be considered as nothing more than simple, mindless intermediaries of the Godhead, or as the Greeks would call them, the Daimones.

I employ the term “mindless” because it is a defining adjective that I have used when talking about elementals. Even if one is using the supposed “Hermetic model” to define the natures of demons, my own personal experience (and that of many of my associates) has shown me that these supposed infernal spirits are quite intelligent. So, it would seem that either elementals are keenly intelligent (contrary to my experience) or demons are quite limited and dumb. That is, if there are any congruence between them at all. Allow me to explain my point.

Now just because some authors (or grimoires) have given an order to the Infernal Hierarchy that is elemental doesn’t equate those spirits identically with “elemental forces.” It is an ordering structure, and like all ordering structures (or maps, for that matter), the order is not to be confused with the identities that are being so ordered. These ordering structures are a kind of analogy, not an actual physically based taxonomic ranking. You could also organize the Goetic demons according to the astrological decans (which I have done), and probably would learn more about them (from an astrological perspective) than you would by assigning them an elemental hierarchy. Of course, this is just my opinion. Needless to say, however they are organized it doesn’t mean that the organizing structure is synonymous with that which is being organized. It is just a matrix or model structure that human minds use to understand the complexity of the spiritual world, which can’t really be intellectually grasped in the first place.

So, what are demonic spirits? For that matter, what are angelic spirits? Using the most simplistic perspective we should see them as embodying a force as well as a highly evolved intelligence. They are ultimately emissaries of the One that has no attributes or even a name, but more directly, the agents of various Godhead attributes, or what some would call the Gods. Like a living and activated symbol, they can be focused to a single point, multiple points simultaneously or effused into an overall general attribute of the Godhead. Actually, they exist as all three of these qualities simultaneously as well as other mysterious qualities, some of which might be altogether unknown to human nature. This is why a magician might summon one of them into appearance and then fully engage with that entity, even though what has been summoned is just an active link or a single (fractional) instantiation of the overall symbolic being. This whole matter is a profound paradox, as are all things that reside wholly within the world of spirit.

What I have stated above is true of both angels and demons; they are analogous beings to each other. The difference between them has to do with their specific loci, although that is not a particularly useful term when talking about the world of the spirit. We can project onto the world of the spirit the structures that we find in our own world, namely, the threefold domains of celestial spheres, the geographic structures of the earth, and the chthonic underworld. All of these domains are actually a kind of symbolic topology, which should be viewed as similes or analogies and not actual physical locations. The locus for angels are the celestial spheres, the locus for earth spirits (not to be confused with elementals, I might add) is the geographic domain of material place, and the locus of the demons is the chthonic underworld. Each of these loci have their own qualities, but neither should be given the value of good or evil (or any other limiting quality), since they are actually beyond both good and evil. All of these structures are just mental models to help us differentiate and distinguish what is, in reality, a formless unity known as the One.

Since many demonic names have within them the corrupted names of ancient pagan deities, then we can consider them to be demi-gods, and in some African Traditions, they are seen exactly in that light. Additionally, elemental spirits are below the influence of the planetary intelligences, while higher spirits, such as angels, demons, and sect-based intermediaries have the aspect of intelligence to crown their beings. I have joking referred to elementals as “dumb” or “mindless” because they operate below the level of intelligence and function as animated forces to be imprinted and directed by the magician and then allowed to operate on the simple goal to which they have been applied. They are incapable of thinking about that directive or mitigating it if something changes. They will therefore either hit their mark or miss it entirely. Elementals represent the emotional and passionate energies that all higher creatures are subjected to, but without any of the guiding forces of rational thought or intellect that can direct and control them. That controlling attribute is represented by the will and the assumed godhead of the magician.

(A useful analogy of the basic four-fold Elemental Spirits can be found in the court cards of the Tarot. There are 16 cards within the matrix of an element base being qualified by an element crown. However, there are other elemental systems, such as the 64 Hexagrams of the I-Ching, or what I call Elemental Gateways. If one were to apply the concept of broken and solid lines (like the I-Ching) to Geomancy, then 256 individual Octagrams would be produced. Anyway, you get the idea - elementals consist of the four elements and nothing else.)

This is the quixotic nature of the elemental spirits, and since I have worked extensively with them for so many years I believe that I can make some important judgements about them. They are quite useful and simple to generate. They can be assembled like building blocks, but the are not overly effective, particularly for long term workings. However, no angelic or demonic being that I have ever summoned has been quite as one-pointed and lacking in intelligence as an elemental. For this reason, I have to reject Frater R.O.’s theory that demons are elementals. If that were so, then the magician wouldn’t need to take such great care when establishing the binding agreement with demons.

However, I believe that such care should be taken no matter what spirit is being invoked. Still, this means that the magician is dealing with an entity that has quite an evolved intelligence and is able to not only reason as we do, but also deal with ambiguities quite effectively , often to our ultimate dismay. How we are able to summon such an entity has more to do with the fact that there is a Deity residing in our core, and that Godhead within us is analogous to the Absolute Deity. (Some would say that they are equivalent.) Since spirits are, by definition, emissaries of the One, they are also emissaries to each of us who has realized, however briefly, our inner Godhead. Yet to treat spiritual entities with a respectful attitude is nothing less than treating one’s own inner Godhead in a respectful manner, too.

Magicians should deal with chthonic spirits in a respectful and careful manner particularly since the underworld is the source of all material wealth and material potential. It contains the essence of transformative evolution as well as the mysteries of life and death, good health and material well-being. These qualities (provided by chthonic spirits) are even more important to life in the material world than what the celestial spirits might provide. Yet just as angels give a powerful perspective of the higher celestial domains and its visionary and prophetic potential, the demons wield the powers and wisdom of the underworld.

Magical workings that incorporate either angels or demons will produce a powerful spiritual transformation within the magician, and this should be a sign that all such spirits are an active embodiment of the One. They are agents of the challenging ordeals (demons) and ecstatic visionary insights (angels) of a magician’s progress from his or her individual nature to the ultimate reality of the final Godhead ascension. These spirits and this kind of magick is far beyond the workings of the elementals, so we can dispense with any claims that they are one and the same. I might be breaking with tradition in making these definitions and building this view of the spirit world, but it is based on many years of continued praxis and an even longer period of study.

Frater Barrabbas

Duality and dualism, as well as thinking and behaving in an opposing manner has pretty much saturated our culture and has become ironically something of a multi-faceted theme in our current world. This has become lionized by the statement “it’s Us against Them!” and it has given people a polarized and mythic prism in which to engage the world. We saw this in the second world war where the Axis powers were ultimately defeated by the glorious Allies, who soon afterwards had an inglorious falling out. Then the cold war with its theme of western capitalism fighting against eastern communistic aggression lasted for nearly 40 years. Now we have Christians against Muslim terrorists, liberals against conservatives, atheists against fundamentalist Christians, secularists against people of faith, Pro-Choice against Pro-Life, aggressive gays pushing their agenda for civil liberties against the strenuous objections of die-hard straights, blacks against whites against browns and everybody else, the list is nearly endless. Pick a side, and somebody will stake their life and its purpose on the opposing faction. It’s a carnival of human stupidity!

We can watch endless hours of so-called news TV and get sucked into this kind of political Kabuki theater, aligning ourselves with our favorite pundits and expressing outrage at the supposed insurgent antics of the opposition. In fact there doesn’t appear to be a loyal political opposition anymore, just the hated opponents. We now see those with opposing views as somehow imbued with “otherness” that seeks to contaminate us with their obvious and odious evil intentions. Our reflexive repulsion at the extreme qualities of this opposition is really nothing more than all of us seeing through the mirror very darkly, indeed.

We see ourselves allied with angels and fighting against the demonic hoards here in our own communities and homes. Such a pageantry is most distressful, but underlies something much more sinister and compelling. The public is being completely hoodwinked by the power elite who have disguised this mythic battle in terms that ignites people’s fears but not their minds. If we continue to idle away our time fighting these imaginary battles, then we will be easily led to our ultimate destiny, to be slaves of the corporatist machine. Instead of an epic battle between good and evil there is just a cold, ruthless grasping for power and a cynical tarring and pillorying of straw men and imaginary evil adversaries. These so-called enemies are actually figments of our imagination, but they serve to hide the business as usual activities of those in power.

Sometimes I find myself ignoring the news for days because I have found that the persistent noise and distraction is so pervasive as to be nearly unavoidable. I also try to ignore Face Book news stream postings for the same reason, since it pains me to observe so many obviously good people falling prey to malicious disinformation and maudlin mendacity. I have to sadly shake my head when I see how some people are so fixated on all kinds of idiotic conspiracies, but I also realize that critical thinking is often in short supply or non-existent. However, the way out of this terrible Manichean world catastrophe is to realize that there are never just two opposing opinions about any issue. To force yourself to think of a third, fourth or even more points of view to any given hot-ticket issue is to be liberated from this awful political and social dualism that plagues our post-modern world.

None of this is revelatory, as such polarizing sentiments and perspectives have been known to materialize at certain times in the past, and I might add, all too frequently. Yet to step outside of this pandemonium-like din even briefly is to find a kind of empty and peaceful solace, a place where one can think, rationalize and apply some critical thinking skills to the real issues of the day. Still, what this means is that we can all see the damage that duality is wrecking upon our media saturated world, and that duality by itself is the greatest vice and obstacle for all thinking and reasoning people. So, when I say that duality isn’t good for pagans and witches, I also mean that it isn’t particularly healthy for anyone. Taken to extremes, polarized thought can even temporarily cause a rational and sane person to become violent and dangerous, not to mention what it can do to a crowd of people. Before we slip over the edge from hotly opposing views to violent insurrection, let us pause, take a breath, relax, and let go of our ardent and cherished beliefs for just a moment.

Ah, that’s much better, isn’t it? You can feel the tension drain away, and the awful things that you were thinking are now quite plainly, awful. You can also see that such carrying on does nothing more than throw gasoline on a small fire, making it a much bigger fire. As you stand with a clear head and begin to philosophize, you will no doubt wonder how we got into this mess in the first place. I wonder that quite often myself. It makes me somewhat afraid for the future, and I am quite the optimist.

The source of all of this social polarization and sorting out is nothing more than a collection of media based corporations that are intent on selling themselves in the most sensational manner possible. It is, therefore, attributed to their greed that they amplify small inconsequential matters into huge crises, and this becomes the order of the day, every day of the week. Yet this is a theme that is all too familiar to anyone who has ever been forced to go to church and listen to some pastor rant and rave about the sinful world we live in. Having heard such sermons, we will undoubtedly know the source of this duality. It is a major and important part of Christianity, especially Protestant Evangelism. Nothing compells a sinner to be repentant and remorseful (and also cough up some money for the offering basket) than a good old fashioned verbal exhortation of hell-fire, wicked sinners, the blessed saved, and the end of days. But if you are a pagan or a witch and you are not a believer in this mythic tale, then certainly you should resist and even deny it as relevant.

If denying the whole mythic theme of guilt, redemption, eternal damnation, and the constant warfare of good and evil locked in mortal conflict is an important affirmation for pagans and witches, then the rest of the dualistic opposition that has so seduced our society should also be deemed irrelevant and emphatically dropped. There is no need to be sectarian about our pagan beliefs and practices, since that is a contradiction of what it is to be a pagan. To us, all Gods are valid and true, or they are all invalid, including our own. So, pagans and witches shouldn’t see the world as a constant war between good and evil. Instead, we should see the world as being a natural confluence of light and darkness, each blending into the other to create the harmony of day and night, and the perfection of the natural world. We accept Nature as it is, and we don’t try to color or taint it as something other than what it naturally is. Animals don’t need to know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, but we humans have had to adopt certain codes of conduct and behavior. Otherwise, as the most dangerous creature on the planet, we would destroy ourselves and all living things.

The natural way is what the Chinese call the Tao, the Way of Nature, which has no premeditation or contrived manner of being. It is the way of the uncarved block. Following such a path would cause us to judge things and events only when sufficient information has presented itself, otherwise we would remain neutral and uncommitted, silent but resolved. Thus, we would judge everything individually and would avoid heaping things into too generalized of a category. What this means is that we would no longer play into the games of polarizing beliefs and myths, but would instead try to independently judge a thing using our own reason and logic.

If someone were to say that gay men are an evil menace to our Christian values as a society, we would ask them to prove that all such men could be so generalized, and that our society is steadfastly secular (not Christian), and for good reason. If another person said that the secular society is engaging in a persecution of the Christian faith, we would respond that there is no proof. We still have churches where people are peacefully gathering on Sundays, there is still Easter and Christmas on our nation’s calendar, and people are behaving pretty much as they always have done. We would question these many false claims and find no evidence for them, and we would say that they cannot be facts - only hearsay urban myths.

If enough people did this, then the cable news channels would find themselves out of business. At least if pagans and witches took this kind of perspective to heart, then suddenly, we would no longer be one of the partisans in the ever-present social conflict. A real solution is to actively question everyone and everything, but quietly and internally, at first.

There was a cool saying that was passed around in the late 60's, almost to the point of it becoming a meaningless metaphor. It was supposedly first stated by Timothy Leary in 1967 (at the Human Be-in gathering), words of wisdom spoken by the Godfather of LSD and the High Priest of psychedelics. He said, “Turn on, tune in and drop out!” I would recommend that my fellow witches and pagans follow this advice. We should turn ourselves on to the many sacraments and joys of life, then tune in to nature and what is really going on in our world, and then we should drop out of the partisan rat-race that’s eating everyone else alive.

The actual quote was: “Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present — turn on, tune in, drop out”

Still, the most important thing to do is to remove yourself entirely from the polarizing media circus that is happening out there and focus on the simple and direct things that are really important. Whenever you come across a heated and polarized discussion, or two warring viewpoints at odds with each other, try to think of a third, fourth or even a fifth perspective. Bedevil your family, acquaintances and even strangers with these other perspectives whenever and wherever possible. Never lose your ability to remain a free thinker, capable of independent and deep critical insights, and empowered with the ability to know personal truth from social bullshit. And most importantly, never lose your sense of humor. Because in the end, all of this noise and cacophony is just the sound of change, and also the fear of change.

May you forever avoid the curse of duality!

Frater Barrabbas

Mastering the Art of Ritual Magick - the Logo for this work is an Octagram with a sun and moon occupying the circular center. What this symbolizes is the overall magical discipline of the Lunar and Solar cycles, both of which are represented by the number eight. There are eight solar celebrations and there are eight nodes in the lunation cycle. The sun and moon (and their respective cycles) conjoined like the Yin and Yang is the key to forging a true magical discipline.

Twenty years ago this year, I embarked upon my career as an occult writer. I don’t exactly know when I started my first book project (1991?), but it was already in high gear by 1993. What pushed me to begin this writing project was a complaint informally delivered to me by two neophytes in our already formed Order of the Gnostic Star. It was, to use a paraphrase, that the lore we were using was too complex and difficult for a moderately experienced beginner to learn. We had nothing in print that could help the beginner other than our method of direct hands-on teaching.

Since these two students did not have access to me or other members of the group because they lived in Dallas (and we were in Tallahassee and Kansas City), they requested that I write up a manual for knowledgeable students. This wouldn’t be a manual for complete beginners who knew nothing, it would be just a primer for individuals who wanted some help mastering the lore of the Order.

I happily complied with their request since it seemed like a good idea, and instead of just writing up a simple manual, I decided to write up a book containing a comprehensive system of ritual magick that would function as an introduction to the lore of the Order. It would also serve Witches and Pagans to make that most difficult first step in their magical career, and that would be creating their own comprehensive magical system. Since I had done this myself more than a few times, helping others to formulate and build their own magical system seemed like a good idea for a book project. There certainly weren’t any other books already published that would fulfill this need, so I began to organize and outline what such a book might contain.

Anyway, this is how the book project, which I called the “Pyramid of Powers,” had its start. It was a giddy dream and a driving passion that I had discovered in myself, which led me to pursue my literary dream of being a published occult author. The literary bug had bitten me and there was no turning back now. I also erroneously thought that publishing a book could earn me some real money, too. Later on I discovered that idea to be quite a laughable fantasy, but the desire to be an author was realistic enough. It is amusing to note that previously I had been such a hard core, autistically focused ritual magician, and that magick had been more important than anything else. Now, I had a desire to share my knowledge with others, even with individuals who had never met me. That was quite a peculiar transformation.

Little did I realize that this project would consume around five years of my life, and it would challenge me to learn how to write in a clear and definitive manner. I didn’t have those kinds of writing skills back then, and often the first book project that an erstwhile writer attempts to write ends up in the rubbish bin. After quite a number of editing cycles that included hiring an editor, I had taken this project as far as I could take it without engaging a publisher. All three volumes were fully written, and the manuscript as a whole was well organized and structured, at least in my opinion. Even so, it was poorly written and executed and there was little that I could do to change that. Even my hired editor found the job of editing the manuscript quite onerous if not outright frustrating. I had even hired one of my friends, who was a professional artist, to produce a number of the diagrams, which I thought looked quite good.

Despite all that, I was so eager to move the project forward because I really believed that I had a good literary idea and dreamed of successfully publishing this book. So I put together a submission package and mailed it out to a dozen different occult publishers back in 1997, and then waited for some positive news. Months went by, and during that time all I got was a sequence of polite rejections. Well, some of them weren’t so polite, but I took them with a certain humble mind-set, believing that some publisher would be interested in my book. After waiting nearly 18 months, all of the publishing companies had finally replied to me, each one using the stamped and self-enclosed envelope that I had included in the package, and every one of them had declined to publish my book. After that, I managed to print up some copies of the book myself, hiring the skills of the local copying store to produce three ring-bound volumes. These I distributed to some of the members of my Order and a few friends. I gave up on the idea of ever publishing my book, the Pyramid of Powers, and felt that the personalized copies had satisfied my original intent, sans all of the glory of being a published writer. (Sigh.)

Some years later, I decided to try to publish another book. This one, I decided, would not be quite so ambitious, so I put together a scaled down version of the Pyramid of Powers. I even cannibalized some parts of the old book project to fill out the new, and in much less time, I had a completed a decent sized manuscript. By this time, several years had elapsed and I was much better at writing then compared to what I had been in the mid 90's.

I had just completed purchasing and assembling the artwork from another friend who was an artist (for the cover and other some other excellent illustration work) and I had crafted a proposal letter when a friend of mine named Nicholas suggested that I send my proposal to his friend who was opening an occult section for Immanion Publishing called “Megalithica Press.” That friend of his was, of course, Taylor Elwood, and he very quickly signed me on to publish my newest manuscript, to which I gave the title “Disciple’s Guide to Ritual Magick.” After what seemed like just a few months of work, in May 2007, the book was released into print. I was now a pusblished author! Hazah! What a joy and a pleasure it was to finally experience seeing my words in print. (I have always been grateful for the opportunity that Taylor Elwood afforded me in getting my first book into print.)

However, my friend Nicholas, who had promoted the idea of getting my first book published by Megalithica, told me that I should also seek to publish the Pyramid of Powers. At first I was quite dubious, but then decided to give it shot. However, I had determined that the old title desperately needed to be changed. I also had to rewrite and fill in a number of chapters that I had gutted from the old manuscript in order to complete the new edition of this book. So I started to work on this project, and I got Taylor to approve the publishing of a three book set called “Mastering the Art of Ritual Magick.”

This project took quite a lot more time to complete, since I had to rewrite whole new sections in the book, and the older text required some extensive editing in order to make it have the same readable quality as my previous book. It took me nearly three years to get all three volumes into print and my girlfriend Grace spent quite a bit of time going over and editing that work. I must confess that whole sections were eliminated and others were completely rewritten. In the end, the quality of writing in that book didn’t match the level that DGRM had established for me, but at least I had achieved the dream of publishing my very first book project.

As I have said, many writers are often forced to discard their first attempt, and some even have to discard their second and third attempts, so I considered myself quite lucky. The three volumes were a good addition to any comprehensive occult library, but the overall process had lost some of the original passion and luster that it had back in the 90's. The three books sold some copies here and there over the last few years, but bought together, they were indeed a bit pricey. Sales began to dwindle and I wondered if they would ever be even slightly popular with occultists.

Then, as fate would have it, something odd happened to breathe new life into this work. For some reason, two of the three volumes of MARM became unsearchable when searching the author’s name. Nothing that the staff at Megalithica or Immanion did could rectify this problem, and they did try to fix it. It was just really weird. Then late last year, Taylor Elwood recommended that perhaps the solution would be to pull the three volumes together into one large “omnibus” edition. He asked me if this would be OK, and I heartily approved. So after a few months of steadfast work, which was mostly done by Taylor Elwood, Storm Constantine (the owner of Immanion), and Andy Bigwood (the cover artist), a new version of the book came out in early April, and I got my first copies later that month.

Needless to say, I was really pleased by the look and feel of this book, and the layout was done quite well and cleanly, too. The cover art has a new illustration that incorporates the three previous covers of the old three volume set into one unified and colorful concept. I also really loved the matt finish of the book cover, and that appears to be a nice texture quality that is found in other books recently published. As I held the new omnibus edition in my sweaty hands, I felt a strange sensation occurring within me.

This book was once rejected by publishers and existed only in Xerox copied editions with ring binders. Then it was produced as three separate book volumes, which seemed to confuse a few of my critics who hadn’t bothered to read all three of them before commenting. But the new omnibus edition, which combined the Foundation, Grimoire and Greater Key into one large three-part volume seemed to make the MARM series reborn into a newer and better format. I was witnessing my book idea in its third incarnation, and the final version, at over 500 pages, seems much more like the comprehensive work that I had planned it to be all those years ago. Now the passion from the original work has been restored, and I am once again quite excited by it.

Anyway, many thanks to Taylor Elwood, Storm Constantine and Andy Bigwood for their excellent and good work. You can purchase a copy of this book at Amazon dot com at the following link. If you have waited until now to purchase this work, I can at last truly recommend it as a literary dream come true. I am quite pleased with this newly revised book, and I believe that you will find it very useful and economical as well.

Frater Barrabbas

Last month I had heard that one of my acquaintances from long ago was murdered in his home in Columbia, MO. That individual was Brian Daniels, who I had met during my interlude in Kansas City, back in around 1985 to 1986. His half-sister introduced us and told me that we had a lot in common with each other. When I spent some time with Mr. Daniels, I found him to be quite harmlessly demented, perhaps even a borderline psychotic. Brian implored me to invoke Satan so that he could meet him, because he believed that the Devil was his real father. I also heard that Brian had performed his own kind of Satanic Mass, blessing the wine and hosts in the name of the Devil and inviting demons to enter into them, and then at the climax of the rite, greedily consuming them. His reasons for doing this is that he wanted to become completely possessed by the Devil.

I found Brian to be something of a nut-case and refused to have anything further to do with him. Even though he was quite delusional, I thought that he was also quite harmless. Brian never hurt anyone, nor was he was ever violent or even vocal about his apparent off-putting mental problems. However, I didn’t invite him to be a part of the then forming Order of the Gnostic Star, and I also declined to either initiate or even ordain him, as he had apparently hoped. In fact, I tried to convince him to get out of the occult altogether and get some help for his obvious mental instability. He found that to be quite funny and still had hopes that I would relent.

Brian passed out of my life once he determined that I wasn’t going to enable his delusions, and from what I understood, he moved on to other pursuits. Once in while, one of my acquaintances would tell me something that they had heard about Mr. Daniels. I had heard, for instance, that he had moved to Columbia to study at the university there, but never pursued a degree. For those who might not know this little fact, Columbia is the capitol of the state of Missouri. Another time, I had heard that he had been involved in a terrible apartment fire and that he had barely escaped with his life. There had been some issue with the smoke alarm detectors not having been properly installed and failing to go off, and that Brian had received a considerable sum of money as a form of compensation. Apparently, the fire had left him disfigured and crippled one of his arms and one of his legs, making him rather incapable of either getting or keeping a job. As a disabled person, he earned disability coverage for life as well as being the recipient of quite a windfall from the ensuing lawsuit.

From what I understood, Brian pursued his passion for magical artifacts. He ordered artistically produced magical tools from various local artisans, and he also collected and sold valuable artifacts on Ebay. From what I had heard, he had grown out of being a diabolical seeker to one that was firmly in the Thelemic camp. I don’t know if he ever joined the OTO or received any initiations in that or any other organization, but he did delight in projecting a kind of creepy, occult image of himself in a town that was probably quite conservative, despite the presence of the State Capitol and the University. If anyone had ever asked me what I thought about Brian Daniels, I would have said that he was a harmless crank. So, that’s the most of what I remember about him back in the days when I lived in Kansas City; and that is all that I remember hearing about him since those days from folks with whom I have met whenever traveling up that way.

Then I read in an April edition of the “Wild Hunt - Unleash the Hounds (Link Roundup)” a news item that Brian Daniels was found shot to death in his home in Columbia on April 10th. I was a bit shocked to read this news item, so I followed the links and verified that indeed, this was the Brian Daniels that I had known. You can find a newspaper article about the murder and its early investigation here. However, a few days later, Brian’s alleged lover, house-keeper and intimate friend (who even had the power of attorney) was accused of the murder. Two other suspects were also arrested for lying to investigators. You can read about the whole sordid affair here. Even despite the controversy associated with Brian Daniel’s life and his rather lurid public persona of being a Thelemite and a closet Satanist, the local newspaper wrote an op-ed on his life that was quite fair and open minded. That impressed me and it also gave me hope that maybe there is some degree of compassion in the world for those who are not normal, particularly in a part of the U.S., which is not known for its compassion to pagans, witches and occultists. Yes, they painted him as some kind of crackpot occultist, but at least the human behind the facade was also noted. I am sure that Brian Daniels would have relished the attention that he is posthumously getting, since it shows him to have finally achieved his desire of being one of those infamous forbidden left-hand path magicians and occultists. Yet part of me feels sad about the whole ugly affair.

However we judge Brian Daniels, he deserved to live out his full life without being murdered. It is an object lesson to all occultists that we need to ensure our own safety and well-being, despite the capriciousness of fate and that bad things do happen every day. It is also sad because even though Brian was one of those individuals who delighted in the “ooky-spooky” aspects of the occult, he was essentially harmless. Whether or not he was ever able to deal with his lifetime of mental problems and serious psychological defects will never be known. His story will remain basically untold, but one can assume that such troubles are never fully eliminated, and they may have contributed to the obvious poor choices that he made in regards to the affairs of the heart. Those poor choices prematurely ended his life; but I suspect that he was likely also lonely and without family support and care, and this can lead nearly anyone to make bad choices as far as friends and lovers are concerned. May whatever Deities were in alignment to Brian Daniels at the end assoil his troubled spirit and keep him in a place of peace forever.

All of this is, of course, quite sobering to me, and it shows that human nature is fragile, relationships and trust must be given to those who are truly worthy, and that life is precious. We must guard ourselves from the iniquities of those who would do us egregious harm, and seek the blessings of the Gods to ensure that this state is maintained.

Frater Barrabbas

Update: Jefferson City is the Capitol of Missouri, not Columbia. My mistake.

The month of May has come and gone already, and my quest to get more done in the areas of my life that have been lately severely lacking my attention has, more or less, failed. I am not giving up by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly was one of those months that came and went without giving me any sense of fulfillment. What started out undone at the beginning of the month ended that way, much to my frustration. What topped the month off for me was being dreadfully ill for two weeks, and I am in fact still recovering. It would seem that I will have to apply a renewed effort to once again get everything completed that I wanted to get completed several months ago. My job seems to be the only recipient of my successfully renewed efforts, and I have been able to complete a number of important and difficult tasks - but not so with anything having to do with my spiritual and occult studies. [As you have no doubt noticed, there were only two blog articles last month. That number is a new low for me, and I am quite saddened by it.]

A year ago I was putting into place the last pieces of my own version of the Portae Lucis working and getting ready for the climax of that process. This year not much is happening in my temple other than the obligatory offerings of incense and occasional meditations. I did reach out to my Higher Self when I was in the midst of my illness last week, and not only found a great deal of comfort from its presence but it also helped me to turn the tides and move toward recovery. I had to withstand three days of sleeplessness due to the intense nature of the coughing fits that I was experiencing. I had a very nasty bacterial bronchitis, perhaps the most severe that I have ever experienced, and it required the use of antibiotics to actually rid me of this invasive pest. My symptoms have dramatically changed for the better, but there is still a bit of a residual cough, so I am not completely well just yet.

One really good and important thing that I am doing is continuing to read and study the book “The Shape of Ancient Thought” written by Thomas McEvilley. In his book, Mr. McEvilley shows how the linkage of ideas between Greece and India via Persia, and earlier, Messopotamia, were the sources for what utlimately became the philosophical systems of monism. He has shown rather expertly that the sources for the Orphic mystery cult was in fact in India, and that the advent of philosophical monism in ancient Greece had its sources in the Indian Uppanishads of the same time.

I am not ready to get into the real details of these various analyses, but it would seem that neither Greece nor India were completely isolated from the rest of the ancient world, and that the diffusion of ideas was something that had happened for a quite a long time. Even ancient Egypt played an important role in the diffusion of ideas, especially during the late dynastic periods when Greeks (such as Heroditus) were visiting and gaining access to their massive collection of time honored knowledge. Anyway, all of this is helping me to plot a pathway for establishing a modern Neoplatonic perspective that is nourished by Indian Tantric philosophy, and so will hopefully avoid the pitfalls of dualism that seem so persistent in the ancient variations of that discipline.

Once I have completed fully reading that book, I will then turn to studying specific chapters and taking copious notes. It is my belief that I will be able to develop an occult philosophy that will be able to accommodate my modern pagan and magical perspectives. Anyway, at least in this area I am uncovering new prospects and insights that will shape my future spiritual and magical workings. Even so, I need to move forward with my magical workings, and I need to reconstitute my magical and spiritual discipline.

On another front, I will be engaging in a podcast interview with Eric Koetting (author of several books, including “Evoking Eternity” and “Ipsissimus”). He is interested in talking to me about my specific take on the invocation and evocation of spirits. I had a wonderful phone call discussion with him over a month ago, and it would appear that he and I agree that the most fruitful approach to working spirit based magic is to develop and build your own system, borrowing from traditional sources as well as crafting uniquely modern techniques. I am glad that Eric is not one of the followers of the strict adherence crowd in regards to the old grimoires. I also believe that this discussion will be quite interesting to anyone who has a stake in these kinds of higher forms of magic. While Eric hails from a very left-hand occult perspective, it is interesting to note that his evolution has brought him to a place analogous to my own. I have opted to take a middle ground between what would be considered the left-hand or right-hand path to enlightenment, but much of my magical work as well as my spiritual perspectives would find more acceptance amongst those of the left-hand path than those on the right.

My interview will be conducted on Thursday, June 13 at noon CDT, and the video/sound file capture will be deposited at a site owned and managed by Eric. I will certainly let you know how this interview turns out and where you will be able to find the web-based file. I have never done this kind of podcast interview before, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I might decide to do some of my own interviews in the future, since I do have an assembly of bright friends and associates, and our private conversations are usually quite lively and interesting.

So, now the big question is what should I do about this overall lack of focus? I really need to start dividing my time and learning to be much more efficient with my efforts. I have a massive list of articles to write for this blog, but I just haven’t had the time to write and post them up. I also have a pending list of magical workings to perform that also needs my attention. One nice thing about living in Minnesota is that the early summer months are reasonably cool and rainy, so there will be a window of opportunity for me to complete some of these workings in the near future. I will also have to begin working and preparing the outdoor grove if I have any desire or expectations of working either pagan liturgy or magic in that space.

Additionally, my girlfriend, Grace will be coming home from her clinical training ordeal at the end of June, so I will be reunited with her once again on a regular and daily basis. During this training regimen, she has been gone for four days out of the week working in a town that is over two hours away, and this started on New Year’s day. She will have completed her last semester of obligatory work and will get her much anticipated master’s degree. It has been a grueling period for both of us, and it has been ongoing since the autumn of 2010. I will be glad to get our lives put back together from all this ceaseless activity and non-stop work, and maybe we might even start having a social life again. Change is coming, and I all I need to do is to prepare for it. I also need to make certain that my time is more wisely spent and efficiently apportioned to all those things that I have been forced to ignore over the last several months.

My terrible illness has at least given me a new sense of urgency and priority. It has been like a cleansing or purifying process for me, and it has taught me that life is precious. So is my time spent on things other than work. I hope that this lesson remains firmly in my mind as I contemplate my next steps in my spiritual and magical workings. I am hoping to have a wonderful summer, full of magical experiences, pagan insights and delights in the rebirth of nature, and a more celebratory and carefree existence than I have had previously. I want to revel in the summer months so that I won’t be terribly missing them during the coming winter as I did previously. While there might be work related projects that I will have to focus on, I am resolved that my job will not so badly interfere with my ability to live and rejoice in the magic and mystery of my life.

Frater Barrabbas

Even though I have been out of contact for the last month, I have still been privy to what other writers are saying on their blogs about magic. Recently, there has been a heated discussion about the morality of performing practical magic, or that somehow magic is debased when it used for the purpose of personal material gain. Another concept that has been discussed is whether or not magic, particularly practical magic, has some kind of cost associated with its use. I have already written a rather lengthy article on the subject of practical magic, but I have never had to discuss the morality of working this kind of magic in the past. I find the whole subject to be surprising, since I have always assumed that magic was to be used first and foremost for the betterment of the individual practitioner, and that included various types of magic associated with material acquisition.

Since I am a witch and a pagan, I confess that I have no scruples about using magic to aid my own personal and material process. The ultimate goal to which I employ my knowledge of magic is not to be rich and powerful, but to be ultimately enlightened. However, I have achieved through the artifice of my magic and my wits a comfortable life situation. I have acquired a certain amount of material benefits, the respect of my colleagues and a successful career in IT. I am not rich but I am not poor, either. I don’t have to worry about paying the mortgage or putting food on the table.

Could all that change due to some catastrophic illness or disaster? Of course, my current condition could change overnight, but so far I have managed to keep the wolves at bay and I have some excellent prospects to be able to continue in that manner for the foreseeable future. So, I can think about such things as achieving enlightenment or at-one-ment with the Deity, and even spend some time supporting my community and giving my time to others for free. If I were struggling to survive, I doubt greatly that my thoughts and actions would be so idyllic, and this, of course, is the real issue.

Material success and a certain degree of personal satisfaction leads one naturally away from more desperate and acquisitive pursuits for survival. The hungry animal is much more active and aggressive in its search for food than an animal that has a guaranteed source of nourishment. This is also true amongst humans - those who have achieved a level of material success aren’t seeking out nickle and dime solutions. This same logic can be used in regards to magicians. A magician who has a successful material existence is going to be more interested in higher forms of his or her art than having to work money attraction spells.

This bit of common sense was well articulated by Abraham Maslow in his five levels of the Hierarchy of Human Needs. The basic needs, such as physiological needs for survival and the need for safety (continuance) are usually where most of the material based magic is deployed. Once those levels are mastered, then the next level is friendship and intimacy. Beyond those basic levels are esteem, and then self-actualization. All of these levels can and do incorporate different kinds of magic, and all of them are necessary and valid from the standpoint of the individual who is undergoing them. However, the peak is self-realization, and this is the level where the need for material success and personal worth are replaced with the achievement of wisdom, enlightenment and union with the One. Still, until someone has mastered the previous four levels, then self-actualization will neither be relevant nor practical.

It is for this reason that I refuse to judge anyone who works magic for material gain, since it represents to me that they are just proceeding through a process of development that is really no different than the one I employed years ago when I was still struggling to achieve some kind of material and emotional stability. Even if someone never gets beyond the level of working magic for their survival, or if they employ their arts and abilities to the public for a fee, I would never judge them or somehow consider them less a magician than I. Experience has taught me that even working supposed low magic for a long period of time will expose the individual to various soul-based aspects and attributes that will transform and spiritualize him or her. Just doing magic over a lifetime will make one wise and spiritual insightful, even if that magic never achieved any level beyond simple Hoodoo spell-work.

High Magick is often referred to as Theurgia, which is Greek for “God’s Work.” Yet in order to undertake this kind of magic, one needs to have satisfied the four levels of Maslow’s pyramid of human needs. Some might be called to this specific work, and yet others will have more than their share of work just surviving and managing to live as full a life as they can. From the standpoint of the level of Deity, all magic is representative of the intrusion of that Godhead into the world. That means that all magicians are equal mediators of that process of spiritual emanation, despite their differences in material and social achievement. Because of this overall perspective, all magic is therefore sacred and serves a greater purpose. Who are we to judge other magicians?

Now I would like to address the belief that magic has a cost. It would seem that when people make this statement (which has its origins on the TV show “Once Upon a Time”) they mean that working magic or being on the receiving end of it requires some kind of sacrifice. In other words, you have to give up something in order to gain something - a sort of no-win scenario. Perhaps the silliest point to that fantasy TV show is that the evil queen is able to do all sorts of magical mayhem to all of the other characters in the cast and nothing ever happens to her. Where is the cost that she must pay for using magic? Is that somehow implying that when evil people work black magic that the cost is somehow a zero-sum game?

I can understand this clever ploy in terms of a plot device in a TV show script because it adds some spice to the fantasy magic that is deployed (and some polish to the Rumpelstiltskin mythos), but from the standpoint of actual magical workings, this concept makes very little sense. Magic, like any other action, does have consequences. Yet even doing nothing has consequences! Does magic typically have bad or undesirable consequences? Well, that depends on what is being done through the artifice of magic and the competence of the magician. Of course, that logic can be applied to any action or refusal to act in any given situation. If I refuse to pay my taxes or just forget about filing them, I am sure that some kind of negative consequence will manifest for me at some point via the IRS. Yet this is not a magical operation - it’s just taking some of kind action.

However, magic can and does produce unexpected consequences and sometimes these can be wondrous or quite unpleasant, depending on the context of the magic. Catastrophic good fortune is very rare but not impossible; so is catastrophic misfortune. Often accidents can happen to just about anyone, but very seldom is any kind of magic attached to them. A simple insight to all of this is that all actions have consequences, including magic. That is probably all that anyone can say about magical effects.

In all of the years that I have been practicing ritual magick I have never experienced anything like a “cost” associated with either using or benefitting from magic. As an occultist, pagan and witch, I have noticed a social cost if I am not quiet about my beliefs and practices, but that represents the errant prejudice in others that I have experienced from time to time. All I have to do to ensure that my neighbors and acquaintances don’t give me any grief for what I believe and practice is to just be quiet about them. So, the consequences for being public about my beliefs or being indiscrete has consequences. It says nothing about my magic or that I am somehow handicapped because I am a magician.

Anyway, I think that I have spent enough time on these two issues, and I think that you can see that the heated discussion, from the standpoint of a witch and ritual magician, is just a lot of hot air, or perhaps as fantastic as straw being spun into gold.

Frater Barrabbas

Magicians often boast about their magical prowess, citing their accomplishments like some kind of credible list of awards or laudatory plaudits. Only other magicians can recognize those accomplishments as something to be held in awe or snickered at on the sly. Whether those accomplishments represent degrees achieved or won in some esoteric or magical order or that they represent some kind of personal achievement, like successfully invoking one’s Holy Guardian Angel, all of these accomplishments are subjective at best and potentially worthless regarding one’s actual spiritual level of being. There is something more to the effort of spiritual evolution than magical achievements or initiatory grades, but it is often overlooked in the hustle for apparent greatness.

As I have said previously, I have met individuals who have claimed lofty titles and presented burnished lists of achievements, only for them to be shown as being completely and utterly incompetent in all other areas of life. This is the difference between what Jason Miller has called stage or state and it represents the fact that all of us live at the lowest common denominator of our day-to-day spiritual foundation.

If we have achieved great things from a magical perspective, yet our material and/or social lives are needy and impoverished, then we have a long way to go before we will achieve any kind of enlightenment. Just because we spent six months living in our parent’s basement and in that hallowed domain performed the Abramelin working doesn’t mean that we are to be treated as some kind of walking Ipsissimus. Whatever we achieve in our magical workings certainly does have some impact on who we are and what our spiritual foundation is like. It is also possible that someone could undergo many powerful initiatory ordeals and still be quite inadequate as a fully developed human being; where the most needed and pressing issues kicking around in that one’s personality are ignored or just given lip-service.

Therefore, it should be obvious that there are two kinds of ordeals; one that is the greater ordeal (that everyone likes to talk about) and the lesser ordeal, which often gets ignored. The lesser ordeals represent the continuous process of self-examination, objective judgement, and putting into practice methods and techniques to bring the self to a higher level of being. The lesser ordeal represents the real work, set into motion by the visionary experiences of the greater ordeals. Without the lesser ordeals, the greater ordeals become, over time, meaningless and ineffective.

So, the real question is how to assemble and execute the various practices that make up the lesser ordeal. Maintaining a spiritual and magical discipline can certainly help, but it doesn’t really change an individual in a progressive manner. If anything, maintenance does nothing more than just maintain the status quo, and that is not progress. As far as I am aware there is little in the various lore of occult traditions that really focus on the elements of a lesser ordeal, but in the area of modern psychological self-improvement, there is quite an enormous amount of material. It would take many years to pore through it all and determine what methods and technique are effective, and which are just poorly contrived or even worthless.

Luckily for me, I belong to a large corporation that is effectively trying to change its culture to one that is progressive, optimistic, buoyant and humane. Usually, large corporations have rather cold and ruthless cultures that are good for performance and maybe innovation, but who are very substandard in the areas of compassion and relationships. Corporate leaders tend to cast very long and sometimes dark shadows of themselves to the various levels below them, and often the negative qualities so cast can become amplified and even stratified. A harsh and demanding boss will often get sycophantic underlings who will be adverse to taking any kind of chance on being wrong or found wanting. To keep their positions, they will blame those below them, and the contagion of unease and fear will cascade down from them to the lowest levels of the organization. In time, such a corporate organization will implode because it will be unable to either progress or move forward with even the most minor objectives.

However, there is a way to completely change the corporate culture, and a number of individuals who are involved in organizational development and culture change have become instrumental in changing the whole mind-set of a corporation, beginning with the top of the hierarchy and proceeding down to the middle management level and below. My company has not only brought in such a consulting firm, but it has assembled a corporate wide program to change the corporate culture, and it has infused the ideas promoted by this firm into the core of its beliefs and practices.

That consulting firm is the Senn Delaney Leadership Consulting Group, and you can find their books and other materials in Amazon dot com. Beginning this year I attended a two day session called the unfreezing and opening workshop session, and then attended a refresher course a couple of months later. Additionally, the company is having monthly Webex and phone conferences to go over each of the salient details of this push for culture change. My company is deadly serious about making this culture change a fully realized internal force, and they are even using it in how they grade individuals for the annual evaluation. While I might be dubious about any company that attempts to social engineer its employees, I have found that the Senn Delaney methodology is simple, positive, progressive, and it appears to work.

Now, you are probably thinking to yourself, how does any of this relate to the lesser ordeals that a ritual magician might assemble to ensure a continuity in regards to progressive change and continual personal evolution? It’s obvious that the Senn Delaney methodologies are tailored for corporate leaders and corporate culture. How does that rather practical application for establishing progressive social institutions relate to the individual struggling to evolve out of his or her various pathos? One thing that this regimen does focus on is the individual, whether that person is an executive leader or just a member of a team. Basically, this approach focuses on the attitudes, habits and expectations of the individual, and I couldn’t define an approach to personal change and evolution any sharper than that.

For a moment, think about all the activities that fill your life. As a ritual magician, you will doubtlessly engage in performing ritual workings and the greater ordeals. You will also periodically meditate, study, write papers, maybe teach students, and perform liturgical rites at various intervals. However, what about the rest of your life’s activities. If you are a working stiff like I am, then you also have a job and a career and its various responsibilities. You will also have a family, loved ones, friends and a whole social network that will engage you probably for much of your remaining free time. Additionally, you might watch TV, listen to music, play video games, and multitude of other activities.

All of these activities involve either yourself, or you and other people. The ones that involve other people are the most informative in regards to who you are and how you are perceived by others. This is especially true in regards to working a job. There, you are evaluated by your peers and your superiors on a regular basis, often with little mitigating graces that might soften such social exchanges as with your friends and family. In all of these personal social interactions, how you act and react to others will also represent how you are perceived and interpreted, and it will directly effect the results of your efforts. This sphere of influence is definitely one that you can alter and change by changing yourself. In fact, sometimes such a change (in a positive direction) can have a remarkably good effect.

The whole basis of the Senn Delaney methodology is that your thoughts, feelings and especially, your mood affects your behavior, and this has a powerful impact on results. Becoming aware of your moods and how they can either help or hinder your efforts is the first and most important step in self improvement. The next step after self-awareness is, of course, deliberately changing your moods. Senn Delaney has put out an easy to read poster that they call the Mood Elevator. The bottom half has levels (representing the floors of a building) showing a regressive decline in emotional qualities, beginning with frustration and bottoming out with depression. The middle point in the Mood Elevator is the emotion of curiosity, and above it are the much more positive emotions, such as understanding, appreciation, compassion, and at the top, gratefulness. The key concept here is that if you become aware of the fact that you are in one of the regressive levels of the Mood Elevator, all you have to do is to disengage from your feelings and bring yourself to being just merely curious. Being curious is the gateway to the higher and more progressive moods.

For instance, let’s say that you are dealing with someone who just doesn’t seem to understand your point of view and what you trying to say to them. Maybe this is a relationship squabble between you and your significant other about some emotionally charged issue. You are feeling quite frustrated by this exchange, maybe even irritated and anxious. If you can, just for a moment, disengage from the situation and examine yourself and your feelings, maybe take a break from arguing and do some simple breath-control techniques.

Then, when you are calmed somewhat, forget for a moment about your point of view and ask yourself, why is there this disagreement. Become curious - seek to really know the other side completely. If you do this, all of a sudden, the overall mood shifts, including the negative emotions of the other person in the heated discussion. By asking them questions with a true and open desire to just know the other person’s perspective (without any emotional intensity), suddenly the impasse is broken and emotions rise to a more progressive level. Could this happen? Is human nature such that we can be self-monitoring and correct our attitudes and moods midstream? I have done this myself, so I suspect that anyone, with a bit a practice, could do it.

Another little device in the Senn Delaney methodology is called the Accountability Ladder. We have all been in work situations where something bad happened and management wants to know why it happened, who did it, and how will it get fixed and then be made to never happen again. When a group is faced with such a situation, the very first thing that people will instinctively do is to deny responsibility and find someone else to blame. This is a ploy to protect oneself and maintain a certain amount of job security, and depending how the corporate culture is established, it can be merely a scalp hunting exercise. Someone is going to be punished (maybe fired), and everyone will do whatever they can to distance themselves. In such an environment, what probably won’t happen quickly is finding a solution to the problem, or even the establishment of a policy to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

A more progressive corporate culture doesn’t look for someone to blame and then punish, but to take responsibility and to find solutions and implement preventive policies. Denial (or excuses), blame and avoiding responsibility represent a state of powerlessness. When we react in this manner, whether in a work situation or in our home or social life, we are denying ourselves the ability to resolve our problems or make any kind of change. It is only when we acknowledge reality and own the problem that a solution will be possible. So long as we deny the existence of a problem, we will be powerless to do anything about it. Accountability is a very important way to ensure that are we always empowered, so as long as we at least acknowledge reality. It is the first step towards a finding a permanent solution.

One of the things that I had to learn early in my career was how to deal with situations where something bad happened through the negligence or mistakes made by a team member. Accidents do happen and mistakes are made, and that is the reality of all human endeavors. However, when confronting such an event, the worst manner of dealing with it is to assign blame to one individual, even if that individual did indeed cause the problem. The best approach is to deal with it as a team responsibility. If a member of the team makes a mistake, then it’s the responsibility of the whole team. Instead of saying “you did so and so” I was taught to say “we did so and so.” This was usually followed up with “we need to find a solution” instead of “you need to fix this problem.” What happened was an immediate change in the team’s emotional mood. Instead of blame and denial, everyone pitched in to find a solution. There wasn’t any need to rake the responsible person over the coals, since they had likely already done that to themselves. This bit of business wisdom can be applied to any social situation. Don’t assign blame, just take responsibility for resolving the issue. That is truly empowering, and isn’t that an important part of being a magician, too?

Perhaps one of the most important sayings that are part of the Senn Delaney teachings is that when dealing with individuals in a business scenario, we should always assume positive intent from the other person. That might sound like an invitation to be deceived or even swindled, but if someone is behaving in a dishonest manner, it will very soon come to light. This is actually more of an issue of one’s own integrity than trying to sniff out someone else’s motivation. If we assume positive intent from those that we are dealing with, then we will be acting in a high minded manner that will likely build trust and establish a greater degree of openness between all parties. It also assumes a certain level of respect and mutual trust with others, lending to the social/business exchange a kind of overall positive influence. This can also be used in our relationships, helping us to give a positive dimension to important social exchanges in our personal lives. It changes the way that we treat people and also, how we judge them, and will assuredly change the way people treat us.

Ironically, if we treat everyone as if they were a crook who is out to deceive or steal from us, then we will likely attract that very kind person that we are trying to detect and avoid. I have often found that those who have a distinct natural distrust of others are themselves untrustworthy. An overly jealous husband belies one who also cheats on his wife, and someone who is compulsively looking out of the corner of their eyes for any kind of betrayal is usually the one who does the betraying. As long as you are not having to deal with pirates, gangsters, conn artists or members of the criminal class, then you can safely assume positive intent without worrying about somehow being victimized.

Another important element in the Senn Delaney repertoire is encapsulated by the slogan “Be Here Now!” I am sure everyone has heard this before, and it is probably used all too often. However, what it means is that we should pay attention to important exchanges, especially the communication between human beings. We live in world that is saturated by media, and this has caused us all to become virtuosos at multitasking. We talk, text, look at our computer video screen and think about our plans for the day all at the same time. Still, no matter how gifted we are, something gets less of our attention when we multitask. This is particularly true in regards to human interaction.

When we are talking to someone who is not getting our complete attention because we are trying to do multiple things at the same time, then we might completely miss what has been said, or misinterpret it, or only hear fragments of it. When dealing with individuals in a work environment or even in our homes, we should stop doing anything else and pay attention to what the other person is saying. This is true even if it’s one our children who just wants some attention. “Be Here Now” is a command to pay full attention when engaging in human interaction, because otherwise, we will not get the full message, including body posture, facial expressions, eye contact, and the whole process of communication. It’s really good advice, and I am sure that all of us are guilty of paying only half a mind or less to someone who is talking to us, whether directly or by cell phone. Multitasking is a good skill to master, but it has its place and shouldn’t become an obsessive personal habit.

Some other good topics in the Senn Delaney regimen include being able to inventory and understand yourself and then by projection, you might be able to understand the perspectives of those who you interact with. This is done by identifying and understanding the basic four behavioral (business) styles, such as controlling, supporting, promoting and analyzing. Each has its own manner of interacting with others, and knowing your own style and the style of the person you are trying to communicate with can help make that communication more optimal. We should also be aware of the shadow that we unwittingly display to our peers and subordinates, knowing that how we act and behave can be interpreted in ways that would probably be surprising if not even a bit disturbing.

Another important concept is to be able to really prioritize those things that are truly important (the ubiquitous blue chip) and distinguishing them from those things that are not as important, regardless of what other people might think is important to them. Everything has to be balanced and prioritized because there is only so much time in a day to get things accomplished. Of course, this leads us to the goal of being able to determine what can be changed and what can’t be changed. Those things that are truly beyond our control are considered analogous to “gravity” - facts of nature that can’t be changed no matter what we do. Things that are under the “gravity” category should never take up much of our time or be the focus of our concerns. What we should be focusing on (and concerning ourselves with) are the things that we can change, most notably, ourselves.

What has startled me most about the Senn Delaney methodologies is that I have discovered that a number of them have been an innate part of being since childhood. I have always refrained from judging people and I have automatically assumed positive intent from others. My moods are never usually too far below the level of curious and I am usually buoyant and optimistic, perhaps to a fault. I can detach myself from emotional situations, and that should allow me to be able to change course in a volatile situation. Even so, by becoming fully aware of the methodologies of self knowledge and self transformation, I should be able to move myself even further along the overall process of spiritual and magical evolution, and this will be my basic plan of attack.

So, these are just a few of the many really excellent techniques that Senn Delaney uses to transform individuals and whole corporate cultures. What they consist of are methods of self-examination and self-correction on a day by day basis. By incorporating this kind of progressive methodology into the personal life of a ritual magician, it should be obvious that all of the greater ordeals and transformations will have a foundation that is also progressive and evolving. Eventually the differences between stage and state will be eliminated, since what will be achieved during high level magical transformations will be able to be immediately translated into the basic psychological stage of the magician who performs them. This should be the goal of any ritual magician who seeking to ultimately achieve the greater awakening of enlightenment. I can say that I am quite grateful that I discovered this system of lesser ordeals, and ironically, it was brought to my attention by the company that I happen to work for.

I can recommend three books from the Senn Delaney assortment of materials. If you are interested, you can purchase the “Human Operating System Owners Manual” or “Winning Teams and Winning Cultures” or “Up the Mood Elevator” - all of these books are pertinent and relevant to self-mastery and self-transformation, and these are very important tools for anyone who wishes to embark on the dual path of the greater and lesser ordeals. They are also quite inexpensive and easy to acquire. (Curiously, the Senn Delaney method doesn’t have any tools like meditation, nor does it have anything that would push what I would call the big transformative ordeals. However, we magicians now have both worlds pretty well established, much to our mutual benefit.)

Frater Barrabbas

One of my pet peeves is that I believe we are still sorting out what it is to be a pagan in the post-modern age, and yet there are people out there who insist on conserving their traditions above all else. While it’s good to keep documentation for historical purposes, performing the same sparse, boring liturgical lore year after year doesn’t automatically make one either a pagan or a witch. I believe there has to be some real thought and inspiration given to what it means to be a pagan, and this requires quite a bit of thinking outside of the box, as it were. (An even better term for this activity would be thinking outside of the “Book of Shadows.”)

Some of the things that Sam Webster has been writing about at the Patheos blog site are sensible, challenging and actually quite practical; but they also reveal a certain superficiality to the basic modern Pagan and Wiccan mind-set. The two specific articles that I am referring to are his articles on restoring idolatry and also restoring sacrifice. You can find them here and here. I think that he has made some really good points, so I would like to review and discuss some of those issues that he has presented in these articles.

One of the things that he has previously stressed is that modern Pagans need to develop a personal relationship with their deities so that their religious experience is based on their own personal experiences and perspectives and not that of the tradition or group. Another thing that he has talked about is the importance of sacrifice, and he is referring here to the actual ritual killing of animals. Mr. Webster has also proposed that would-be pagans should also engage in the practice of animating statues and treating them as key access points for communing with the Deities that they represent. I have some opinions about these ideas, so let us first build some context to understand the pagan religious beliefs of those who lived in antiquity.

If we review what ancient paganism was like in the European Mediterranean arena, at least according to Walter Berkert, then we can see that there were actually three domains through which the overall pagan religion was performed and celebrated. The first and highest level was the domain of the polis or the city-state, which was basically the state sponsored religious practices. This would also have included the mystery schools, even though they functioned outside of the bounds of the polis. The next level would have been the family tradition, headed up by the pater familias or head of household, and it would have included family based deities and practices associated with the household, including the lares and penates, threshold deities, hearth deities and a host of other entities. The lowest level was that of the individual, who could have their own private and personal relationship with a specific deity or deities as well as membership in one of the mystery colleges (as a participant). So, these are the three levels that broadly represented the sphere of pagan religious activity in antiquity.

Regarding animal sacrifice, this rite was typically performed at the level of the state religion of the polis, but it could also be found in the family tradition and the religious activities of the individual. Animal sacrifice at the state level consisted of large animals, such as cattle, oxen and the like. Family traditions typically would sacrifice smaller animals, such as goats and rams, and individuals might sacrifice doves or other smaller, less expensive animals. Mystery colleges sometimes employed large or small sacrifices, depending on the cult and level of social engagement. We will examine animal sacrifice and try to determine if modern paganism needs to adopt it or if other surrogates can be used instead.

As far as idolatry is concerned, ancient pagans incorporated statues and works of art to represent what I would call access points where groups and individuals could commune with and bask in the numinousness of their Deities. They didn’t believe that the statues or works of art were themselves the actual Deities, but that they represented a sacred place where the spirit of the Deity could reside. This form of idolatry was central to most of the state religious temples, mystery cults, homes and even individuals. Homes had their special shrines and niches where the Gods could be accessed, and individuals had their small portable figurines that they could place in a family shrine, in their sleeping quarters or to take with them on journeys. Even slaves had their representations of the Gods in their possession. Idolatry required rituals that could cause the Deity to inhabit the statue or figurine (some kind of blessing/charging), and then it would require periodic offerings and devotions in order to keep it fully vested with the spirit of the Deity. In the state polis religious cults, statues were fed, dressed, taken out in public and treated as living dignitaries; this also occurred within the mystery colleges as well.

When Christianity displaced paganism towards the end of the Roman empire, what it did was to replace the various state pagan cults with the practices and beliefs of the Christian church, and it also forced the mystery colleges to shut down. What it didn’t immediately displace was the family tradition or the religious beliefs and practices of the individual. That happened slowly, over a long period of time and it probably took centuries. If any pagan religious traditions remained, they would have been found in the practices and beliefs of the family. It would have been easy to disguise or loosely reinterpret pagan family traditions so that they would seem outwardly Christian. This is one possible way in which some practices and beliefs that were obviously pagan in origin might have survived the forced Christian mass conversion of an entire populace. Another possible survival would have been the various magical practices that individuals would have employed (or paid others to perform for them) to aid them in times of sickness, distress, injustice or untimely death.

In our modern world, we have attempted with some success to reconstitute the pagan religions of antiquity. However, what is missing in this attempt at reconstruction and recreation represents a greater deficit overall than one might actually think. Wiccan and Pagan groups have managed to reconstitute what would have been the family religious traditions of antiquity, with some allowed extensions because the members of these modern groups are not actually part of a family. So modern Pagan and Wiccan religious practices are a kind of fusion between an extended family tradition with some mystery school elements thrown in for good measure. However, what is missing, of course, is the state sanctioned religion and also, oddly, the religion of the individual. Idolatry and sacrifice have also been omitted, or at least performed in an inconsistent or substituted manner. These practices can be given new life if they are redefined and established within the practices that have already been developed for these various traditions. (Of course, I am omitting various types of modern reconstructed heathenism from these considerations.)

So, what we have in modern Wicca and Paganism is a kind of truncated hybrid religious system, or at least when it’s compared to the pagan religious practices of antiquity. While it is obvious that we are unlikely to ever see paganism becoming so populous and large that it can facilitate a kind of state sponsored pagan religion (nor would we want to invalidate our secular government institutions), we can at least bring the hybrid family tradition down to the individual level and thereby activate two of the three levels of paganism from antiquity. I also believe that it would be beneficial to reconstitute a modern version of the mystery colleges and open them to all religiously pagan individuals. Reconstituting the pagan religion for the family traditions, individuals and the mystery colleges would go a long way to rebuilding a comprehensive pagan religion in the modern world. So would incorporating some form of idolatry and sacrifice.

How do I define the pagan religion of the single individual? According to Berkert, individuals in antiquity often engaged in a personal approach to one specific deity for various practical or religiously inspired reasons. It was usually precipitated by a very specific need, such as health issues, the desire for justice, trying to deal with catastrophic changes or seeking some kind of physical validation of life. What it entailed was a process referred to generally as “henotheism,” or the devotion and focus on one specific deity within a pantheon of deities. Henotheism required specific and periodic personal devotions, sacrifices, offerings and spiritual service for the deity itself as well as its social institutions (temple precinct, priesthood, etc.). There might also be a mystery school associated with that deity, but usually, it was just a powerful inclusive relationship established between the individual worshiper and the deity.

As I have said previously, Sam Webster has said that Pagans and Wiccans need to establish a deep and powerful relationship with one or more Pagan Deities. I wholly agree with this sentiment, and I believe doing so will open the door to a kind of pagan spirituality that would not be found within the modern tradition or group. Therefore, I advocate a kind of individual henotheism, since that would be the easiest activity for an individual to perform. Because the intensity and breadth of each group is represented by the common denominator of the individual members, then if each individual develops a personal pagan religious spirituality, the overall group will become spiritually deeper and its rites will be more meaningful. Certainly, having a deeply spiritual perspective will help a group to evolve its liturgy and beliefs because the Pagan Deities will be truly alive within each individual member.

Here is how I would organize and assemble a periodic pagan practice for the individual or family group. There are five categories for these kinds of activities, and they consist of offerings, devotions, sacrifices, worship via idolatry and communion, and spiritual service to the community. These practices would be periodic and they should be established in some kind of calendric system associated with the cycles of the moon and the sun. There would be daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal activities that represent the ever turning and changing cycles, yet that place (in the center) where the Deities would preside would be unchanged and eternal. Let us briefly examine each of these five categories in greater detail so they might be better known.

First, it is assumed that the individual or the group has some kind of place or location in their living space to set aside for their pagan spiritual activities and to build some kind of shrine. It doesn’t have to be grandiose, and in fact it can be simple and tucked away in a part of the house where it will be accessible but not interfere with the normal flow of activities. The shrine should have some basic attributes, such as a flat table-top where candles, dishes, incense burners, flower vases, and if possible, a statue or some kind of figurine of that Deity can be placed. Whether the purpose is to focus on just one pagan Deity or to engage with a collection of Deities, it is up to the individual or group to fully research and learn everything that one could possibly know about each of those Deities or the one Deity that is to be the focus of the shrine. (We should also keep in mind that a shrine with more than one Deity would require that each be accorded their own separate individual liturgical workings.) The shrine is used to hold items that are symbolically associated with the Deity, and that would include the color of the cloth used to cover the table-top of the shrine. The shrine niche could even include posters of the Deity and any other appropriate artwork. A pillow or meditation matt would also be a useful for any of the ritual work to be done before the shrine.

Votive Offerings - these practices represent regular gifts to the Deity that signify that it is resident and active in the shrine. These offerings would include lit candles or oil lamps, incense, flowers, portions of food and drink. It could even include special gifts, such as items that symbolically represent the Deity. For instance, if the Deity was Aphrodite, then sea shells, pearls and other kinds of symbolic objects could be given as votive offerings to the Deity. Typically, votive offerings are repetitive and represent the periodic upkeep of the Deity as associated with its focus, which would be a statue or figurine.

Active Devotions - these practices are performed as types of adoration, glorification and the declaration of love and commitment to the Deity. Similarly to how you would romance a lover beyond your station, the practices of devotion represent the expression of love and worship that one feels for a specific Deity. Forms of devotion would include poetry, historically researched paeans (such as the Homeric Hymns to the Gods), declared glorifications, songs, music and even dance. Sleep incubation in order to communicate with the Deity while in a dream-state is another form of active devotion.

Sacrifices - these practices are special events and are typically performed during calendric seasonal celebrations or when a greater offering is needed than what is covered by votive offerings. While some have stated that Pagans and Witches need to master the art of actual animal sacrifice, I believe that there are plenty of modern surrogates for this practice. The reason why I believe surrogates will work is that the knowledge required to properly sacrifice an animal and the efficient butchering of that victim is generally beyond the ability of modern people. This is because few actually possess these skills, and it is important that the animal be dispatched in clean and efficient manner with little suffering or fear.

Pagans in antiquity went to great lengths to ensure that a sacrifice went smoothly and without difficulty, since if it was performed badly, if the animal panicked or something else went awry, then the auspices for that sacrifice would make it practically useless. Ancient pagans went so far as to drug the animals so that they wouldn’t experience much fear or pain when ritually killed. Once killed, the blood would need to be properly collected and used, and the carcass immediately butchered to apportion the share for the Deity as well as the worshipers. The portion for the Deity was burned up in a special fire (on a special altar) and the portion for the worshipers would have been cooked (barbequed but not burned). So, I think that for most practical situations an actual animal sacrifice is beyond the ability or scope of most (if not nearly all) modern pagans.

If an actual animal sacrifice is either unwanted or incapable of being properly performed then what are the appropriate substitutions? What I have found is that there are three earthly places where a sacrifice can be placed and so given over to the Gods. First of all, a sacrifice as I perform it is usually the collected victuals of a feast given in honor of the Gods. As the feast is arrayed, I usually collect a sample of all of the food and drink before anyone is served, thus, the Deity is served first before the worshipers. Prior to this apportioning, I have dug a small hole in the earth and started a small fire outdoors. I then take the victuals and place them in the fire (those that will properly burn, such as cooked meat), or in the earth (vegetables, salad, potatoes, rice, tubers, etc.), and the drink I pour into a nearby shallow lake. Additionally, one could dedicate a very special and precious belonging and give it to the Deity as a permanent gift by placing it on the shrine table-top. Other variations of this kind of special sacrificial offering can be delivered up, and I believe that it is quite acceptable and in accordance with modern Pagan and Wiccan practices.

Spiritual Service to the Community - these practices represent a sacrifice of time and resources in the name of the Deity that one is serving. This can be simply performed as a kind of volunteer work associated with other community volunteers. The fact that the Pagan or Witch is doing it as a service to their Deity doesn’t need to be shared with the other volunteers. Valid service can be given even if that volunteer effort is sponsored by some Christian organization. Other kinds of service could be as a Pagan minister or volunteering time and resources to the local pagan community. Regardless of the volunteer work that one employs, the stated purpose of it is to be a representative of the Deity in the community doing work that benefits those who are in need of assistance. Giving money is also another way, although not as direct and satisfying.

Pagan Idolatry - these rites are the specific liturgical ceremonies that one performs to draw down the numinous presence of the Deity into a statue or figurine, and therein, to have intimate contact and communion with it. Unless you have a proclivity for classical theurgy or are adept at modern forms of magick, then performing a specific rite to perpetually animate a statue is not something that you will be able to do. I have written up a modern approach to statue animation in an article that I posted a couple of years ago, and if you are interested, you can find it here.

However, for those who are less adept magically they can perform a periodic drawing down type of rite to imbue the statue or figurine with the essence of the Deity and this will likely suffice. All that you need to do is to write a custom drawing down ritual for your specific Deity and perform it once a month during an auspicious time, depending on the characteristics of that Godhead. You can also perform a Godhead Assumption of that Deity and perform that in addition to the Statue Drawing Rite. A special meal of cakes and wine, or bread and ale (or whatever might be appropriate for that Deity) is also typically presented to the Godhead as a special offering, and this food, once blessed and charged, is consumed by the worshipers after a certain portion is set aside for the Godhead.

The statue or figurine used in such work is referred to as an idol, but if a person becomes the focus of the Draw, then he or she is called the Idolon of the Godhead. Any person who is going to take on the temporary role of the Deity must be sequestered for a period of time and immerse themselves with the qualities and characteristics of the Godhead. They should also perform a long period of devotion so that when they perform the assumption, as little of their own personality will remain intact. Using an idol instead of an idolon ensures that the Draw will not be adversely impacted by the personality of the mediator. Still, an idolon can speak for the Deity, while the idol requires the recipient of such communication to be in an altered state of consciousness. Establishing a dialogue with the Deity is, I believe, the most important part of the practice of idolatry. Each Pagan or Witch should develop this kind of liturgical working to the point where they can periodically hear the voice of their Deity whispering in their minds words of wisdom and sagacity. Clearly, such a connection would not only inspire individuals but it might also give birth to new rituals and practices, since they would have as their guide the spoken words of the Deity itself.

So now that we have covered the five categories of a basic Pagan religious practice for the individual or the group, I believe that with a little bit of effort and practice pagan spirituality can have an important rebirth and reveal a greater spiritual depth to its adherents. I am not saying that no one is performing these kinds of liturgical operations, but perhaps not enough of us are doing them on a regular and consistent basis. If each of us had a special and potent connection to at least one Pagan Deity, then we would be able to advance our religious practices and beliefs without any worries or concerns about maintaining our doctrinal traditions. This is because our ultimate authority would be our own personal connection to our Deities. Over the course of decades and even centuries, our Pagan and Wiccan faith could then evolve into a much higher level of consciousness, and we could then see about coalescing these beliefs and practices into proper religious orthodoxies (if that would even be needed). Yet until that time in the distant future we need to discover how to behave religiously as Pagans and Wiccans in this modern world.

Frater Barrabbas

AZAZEL

This is part one of a series of articles that will demonstrate the results that I encountered many years ago when I sought to invoke and contact the spirits of the Nephilim, namely the four greater chiefs of that body. I use the term Nephilim to describe the fallen angels of the Sons of God who came down to earth to mate with the “daughters of men” as well as their offspring, who were considered giants (men or women of renown). From these spirits I received a body of lore and a perspective on Enochian magick that is completely unprecedented. I would like to share with my readers some of the lore that I received from these entities and to demonstrate that the Nephilim are indeed highly important to the Enochian system of magick. I will first begin with Azazel, whose actual name spelling (according to the Dead Sea scrolls) is Azael.

Enochian Ordeal Workings

These series of ritual workings will attempt to reveal the secrets of the source of the Enochian Current of Magick. Because present research has revealed the importance of the Beni Elohim (as the Nephilim), the rituals of this working have rejoined these entities with the Enochian system of Magick.

The Nephilim represent the source of the Enochian system, but the alignments that Dr. John Dee established in his skrying sessions are not ignored. Particularly, the five Archangelic Intelligences who will act as the wardens and sponsors of this occult knowledge are an important link as well as the Primary Enochian Agent, Naluage. Also included are the Spirits of Light, and the Tablet of Planetary Intelligences, of which the Mercurial Daughter of Light known as Madimi is of special consideration.

A final point of consideration concerns the lineage of the Enoch (or Chenoch) as an initiated body of adepts who have mastered the methodology of Inner Plane workings. The actual techniques that they used have been lost, so they exist only as fragments in the Western Mystery Tradition. It is the primary goal of this working to reestablish these techniques and to reorganize them into a complete system of modern theurgy.

Notes from the Invocation of Azazel

The Invocation of Azazel was performed using the same techniques as the Invocation of Shemiezez. (I will be covering that invocation in a future article.) The Gate of Revealing was the focus of the operation and the Invocation ritual was patterned from the Invocation of Chiramael (who is the archangel of the Order of the Gnostic Star).

The correspondences for the planetary characteristics of Azazel were discovered when the Enochian Mystery Vortex was initially performed, revealed as such by the hosts of the Nephilim. As in the Invocation of Shemiezez, the Invocation of Azazel was performed within the interior of the Enochian Mystery vortex.

In previous workings, it was revealed that Azazel was the Spiritual Warrior and Visionary of the Nephilim. However, it was also revealed that Azazel was the acting Priest and Devotee of the Great Goddess. So it seemed appropriate that Azazel should be consulted for questions concerning the methods of Sex Magick, Initiation of the Priestess of the Grail, the importance of the Grail as a symbol of the Feminine Spirit, and also the technique of assuming the clairvoyant trance through which the future destiny of an individual or a nation might be determined. These items were said to be the knowledge that Azazel possessed, representing the core of the Enochian Magickal lore.

The Invocation itself was not particularly remarkable, once again there wasn’t any visual imagery, but the personality of Azazel was quite tangible, and he nearly assumed a recognizable form. Whereas Shemiezez was very mysterious and subdued, Azazel was direct and eager to communicate. I could almost perceive a large well proportioned middle aged man with red hair and a full red beard, dressed in brilliant colored robes of purple and scarlet. I heard him bluster and even tell off-color jokes, none of which I remember, or if I did, wouldn’t want to repeat. However, he also showed a keen understanding of human nature and a deep compassion for the troubles of human existence. Azazel desired that all men and women seek and gain from life that which they most desired. He believed that no one should feel cheated by life, when life itself was so precious. A point that Azazel repeated several times is that people create their own destinies, whether or not they are consciously aware of it. He felt that all that was needed to find fulfillment in life was to become aware of this process of creating one’s own destiny and taking conscious control of it. This task, though, when completed could make a person into a kind of ascended master; such is the importance of mastering one's self so completely.

The Power of the Pleasure Trance

The most important information that Azazel related to me was something called the pleasure trance. The pleasure trance consists of a High Priest and High Priestess who assume the roles of the God and Goddess respectively, and who worship each other in a form of projected idolatry. This process forms the basis of the masculine and feminine Eidolons. An Eidolon is defined as a temporarily manifested incarnation of the Godhead. Prior to the assumption of the Deity, the Priest/ess performs whatever methods necessary to block the egoic identity and allow the Godform to manifest in an unbiased manner. This blocking of the ego is, according to Azazel, the basis for all Dionysian type magickal or mystical practices. What this means is that the basis of the Enochian system of magick is Dionysian. Ecstasy plays a key role in blocking of the ego.

[Polarity as expressed in this kind of working can be assumed to take other forms as well. For instance, if two men are performing this rite, then they would assume complimentary Godheads that would establish an analogous polarity between them similar to a heterosexual union. The same is also true in the case of two women performing this rite.]

The pleasure trance begins at this point of magickal worship and veneration of the Godhead where the couple proceed to sexually arouse and excite each other, each playing one of the sexual roles of the two deities with total objectivity. This moving and caressing, making slow passes over each other with the hands and the body is called the dance of life and death. Through it one feels the ebb and flow of the powers of procreation and ecstasy (Life and Death) and expresses them through the body. The pair of partners also consecrate each other with oil and do other things that enhance a sybaritic response, and these collectively bring on a powerful arousal. The Priestess then assumes the asana of the Sacred Altar, and they sexually join. This is done by first stimulating each others’ chakras, then physically joining while applying a bandha or lock upon their anal chakras. The power is drawn up from the base chakra through the genitals to the heart, where it is made vital and empathic. The Crown chakra is opened and the Throat chakra channels the power of the Absolute Spirit through spontaneous and poetic utterances. Then the two Hearts of Fire are joined to become an expression of the Union of the Absolute. The avatars of the God and Goddess are now drawn into union through the Unified Heart, where they fuse into at-one-ment. The resultant energy is intensified until orgasm results, at this point the gateway has been opened and the pleasure trance is established.

Once the Pleasure Trance is attained, the couple may perform one of two different operations, depending on whether the energy generated by orgasm is projected within or externally. If the energy is projected within one’s self, then a kind of vision trance results, allowing one to penetrate the threshold of the Inner Planes. If the energy is project outward, using a prana-yama technique of hyper ventilation, then it produces an external prophetic vision where the structure of a future space-time is revealed. The direction of the energy determines the type of manifestation, but the potency of the experience is always extremely intense. Although the God and Goddess represent different types of vital energy, when joined, these energies become unified, so the processes of Inner Planes Vision or Prophetic Vision are available.

The pleasure trance is used as a core practice within the two types of Archeomancy, these are the Archeomancy of the Four Qabbalistic Worlds and the Archeomancy of the Spiritual Qabbalah. When the pleasure trance is used in the practice of the Archeomancy of the Qabbalistic Worlds, then a kind of astral projection into the Inner Planes is produced. When the pleasure trance is used in the practice of Spiritual Archeomancy, then projected trance of prophetic vision reveals the mysterious influences of what is called the Body of God. This latter technique causes the power and grace of the Divine to impact and alter physical reality.

In addition to the above techniques, the spirit of Azazel imparted a considerable volume of information, much of which is still being realized. The Initiation Pattern of the Spiritual Warrior was revealed to me, and it awaits a future time when I will be write and document it. Also, the outlines for the Enochian Feminine mysteries were revealed and explained as well as the importance of the Priestess as the Matrix of the Avatars of the Mysteries. It was said that the symbol of the Avatar is the primary focus of the Enochian Mysteries, and that the Heart is the primary focus of the individual. The Avatar is the Heart of God, but the Grail Priestess is the creatrix of the Heart, therefore she is the origin of all Love and Unity as manifested within consciousness. The path of Ascendancy or Incarnation must therefore pass through the Gate of the Grail, the Creatrix of the Evolutionary Process, the Priestess who gives wisdom and power in her love and desire.

Yet the process by which a woman becomes a Grail Priestess is represented in three phases. The first phase is known as the Transference of the Grace, and consists of a powerful dedication or spiritual marriage where the candidate is purified, blessed by the Five Goddesses (or Gods), consecrated and then installed with a symbolic bond of union (usually a large gemstone ring that has been charged with a Talismantic Elemental). The second phase is called the Assumption, where the priestess invokes into manifestation the Five Goddesses, assuming the power and charisma of each one. The priestess then summons the Heart and the Womb Matrix of the Unified Feminine Spirit into her being and she produces the special sacrament, gives it to the God for a blessing, and partakes of it herself as the medium of transformation. The final phase is where the fully realized Grail Priestess performs the pleasure trance, thus giving and receiving of the transformation of the Unity of Being.

These items will all be documented in greater detail in the third book of the Sepher ha-Nephilim, which concerns itself with the Enochian Initiation Mysteries and Enochian Sex Magick.

Ritual Comments

The working was begun at 11:11 PM with the Consecration of the Circle during the Planetary hour of the Moon, thus locking it for the duration, on the Day of Venus, February 22nd, 1991. Luna was in the sign Gemini and one day following the First Quarter. There were no significant Astrological aspects. The working ended at 3:22 AM EST.

Frater Barrabbas

July has now arrived, and we have entered what is known up here as full summer. I am often amazed at how fast the earth recovers from its wintry sleep and manifests into a full blown green soaked fertile landscape. It was a mere ten days that our world went from the browns and greys of post winter into the verdant landscape that now confronts my eyes. The nearly instantaneous transformation is almost like magic. Nature has now become mild and verdant, and it is a time to rejoice and engage in summer type activities. How unfortunate that the very beginning of this time I was still afflicted by the after-effects of my serious bronchitis infection. I saw nature transform, but I was not able to engage in much outdoor activity. The garden was neglected and so was every other feature of our outdoor world attached to the land that I supposedly own and maintain.

After several weeks I can now say that my cough is nearly gone. I occasionally cough from time to time, but I am not afflicted by the breathlessness that impacted my ability to even have a lengthy conversation for the past month. I hope to make for lost time the days and weeks ahead, since the warm summer days are in short supply up here in the great Midwestern tundra.

Needless to say, despite my chronic cough, I was able to perform well enough to participate in a digitally captured interview with Eric Koetting. I have found him to be quite brilliant and creative within his own magical path and established tradition, which I might add, is quite different from my own, but with many points in common. Both Eric and myself are more or less self-made men in regards to our occult knowledge and evocation practices. I will speak more about this in a future article, since I am planning to review two of his books.

If you are interesting in viewing this interview, you will have to sign up for Koetting’s “Interviews with a Magus,” and it does cost $19.97 monthly, with the first month free. However, the collection of interviews that Mr. Koetting has assembled is quite impressive and I believe that the money being charged for this service is well worth it. I have listened to this interview and I have found it to be quite interesting and engaging, representing a distillation of what I have learned and experienced over the last 40 years. Eric is also quite erudite and insightful himself, and his additions and comments in the interview are also very revealing and interesting. So, if you are interested in this interview (and the others that are contained therein), you can find the portal for signing up here.

To quote Mr. Koetting from his advertising for the “Interviews with a Magus:”

“To help aspiring magicians get access to these advanced rituals, unprecedented success stories, and cutting edge theories, I decided to start up my ‘Interviews With A Magus’ interview series. It's my way to showcase and debut all these innovative and controversial breakthoughs, many of which directly challenge the status quo of the occult.”

Secret Chiefs and Occult Spies

There has been quite a blow up recently in the blogosphere between David Griffin and his organization, and that of his GD opponents, with Nick Farrell as the apparent spokesperson for that faction. Nick Farrell threw down the gauntlet by declaring that if the “Secret Chiefs” truly exist, that they present themselves to him personally and prove, once and for all, that they are the defacto third order of the Golden Dawn. I don’t know whether to laugh at the absurdity of Nick’s demands or to feel sorry for his utter lack of subtlety and tact. Remarkable men and women are rare and often obscure, but they don’t come when we demand their presence. If someone demanded my presence in an unwarranted manner, I can tell you quite concisely how I would respond. I’d tell them to "piss off," that is, if I even bothered to respond at all.

Conversely, David Griffin has shown (here) that Nick Farrell has been engaged in a secret mission to rewrite Golden Dawn history in the Wikkipedia article for the history of that order, based, of course, on his recent self-published pulp books about Mathers. I have reviewed his poorly written and researched tomes in this blog, but it doesn’t really surprise me that he is attempting to rewrite the publicly online history concerning the order. What does surprise me is his rather highhanded failed attempts to coerce the editors of Wikkipedia into following his propaganda. They have rescinded his edits, but he has continued to reapply them, sort of like the endless argument between indifferent children. (Ain’t so, ‘tis too.) He is also using a laughably silly logon called “Magus007" to pursue this revisionist activity, much to the chagrin of the editors who know that his sources are highly suspect.

So, Nick Farrell wants to slyly pretend that he is an occult version of the fictitious spy, 007, a.k.a., James Bond. He also wants the secret chiefs to reveal themselves to him according to his deadline and prove that their bonafide as the head of the GD and A+O is valid and authentic. I wonder what kind of fantasy world Mr. Farrell lives in? He seems more egotistical and fantasy based than what he has accused Mathers of being in his books. Maybe Nick Farrell is the real “King Over the Water” and that we can dismiss him and his silly capers as being nothing more than the hijinks of a fatuous and immature clown. Maybe someday he will either write something uniquely interesting in a book or reveal a good practical technique on his blog - I would welcome such activity. However, I leave his current ranting and bloviating to the judgment of his ultimate Golden Dawn peers and future posterity, since I believe that initiates in the decades ahead will either judge him to be the incompetent hatchet man for an odious cabal or they’ll not remember him at all.

One of the points that I have made in previous articles in this blog is that there have been, are and always will be remarkable men and women in the western occult tradition. Mostly these individuals are singular, insular and rare; and those who gain a certain notoriety are shown to be both remarkable and also, I might add, flawed. All human beings are flawed and imperfect, but then again to expect perfection from human nature is not only erroneous but it seems to defy the whole purpose of nature. Secret chiefs are not supermen, immortals, Arhats or avatars - they are human beings subject to the laws of nature like everyone else. They might have insights that allow them a greater degree of vitality, longevity or spiritual wisdom than the average person, or they might even be bereft of all benefits except their own unique virtues and abilities.

Nature is not perfect, ergo, human beings are not perfect. However, if a small group of unknown remarkable men came together to form a group, and their occult background was Masonic and Rosicrucian, and they kept that group going for a couple of centuries, adding new members and losing others to the scourge of time, would that not be a good representation of the vaunted third order? It would just be a group of remarkable men who had achieved self-mastery in their lifetime, and that would also mean that they, as individuals and a group, weren’t perfect. (This also means that they wouldn’t be immortal nor have Godlike powers.) What this signifies is that you can be a master and also be vulnerable to the same vices and frailties as all human beings.

Additionally, something that gets lost in these never ending arguments about secret chiefs is that it’s important to separate an individual’s spiritual and magical process from the actual social phenomenon of meeting a remarkable man or woman. Often, our spiritual and magical process psychically informs us when we are about to meet someone very important or discover a crucial piece of our individual puzzle. We can talk about dreams, astral presences, intuitions or profound omens; but these are always events experienced when immersed in our process.

When our spiritual and magical process merges with an actual physical meeting with someone quite remarkable, then the encounter is colored by a profound sense of a life-altering significance. We could easily conflate the omens and astral encounters with the real meeting because all of these events are experienced through our own personal spiritual and magical process. That is how I believe Mathers saw and experienced his encounters with the secret chiefs, and we today have to realize that all of this was perceived and experienced by him through the process of his long spiritual and magical journey. We can either accept it or deny it, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the most authentic things (as well as mysterious) that Mathers underwent in his occult career.

The irony is that in order to actively use the lore of the Golden Dawn and profess to be a magician operating under that tradition, one would expect that individual to also accept and believe that Mathers had some kind of profound occult contact which allowed him to develop this unique system of magick. Even if you dismiss the entire history of the GD order (and its leaders) and just practice the rituals (i.e., do the work), you are in effect validating those remarkable men and women who developed this lore, particularly Mathers. As far as I can see, there’s really no way around this conundrum if you consider yourself to be a magician of the Golden Dawn tradition. This is why I find it so strange that Mr. Farrell has spent so much of his time and resources trying to prove that Mathers was some kind of failed lunatic. I would equate this effort with someone attempting to pull up the rug that they are simultaneously standing upon; an act of sheer stupidity and self-inflicted injury.

Anyway, I am certain that this sad and idiotic travesty will continue to embroil the GD community for many years to come. It reminds me of something that I learned long ago when I was an adolescent boy. When you are growing up, there’s always some kid who has the best and most expensive toys. He’s that fair-haired kid that the teachers love and the other kids despise. You can either hate him for his good fortune or you can coddle up to him to see if you can get a chance to play with those exceptional toys. A third path is to just admire him for his good fortune and to note that despite being blessed with favor and fortune, he is also generous and kind to everyone, at least at first. Continued hostility can also shape and change a person, making them guarded and even a bit suspicious.

I think that David Griffin is that fair-haired boy of good fortune, and we can either love him or despise him for what he has achieved. I chose to reserve judgment until I had a chance to meet him, and after meeting him, I realized that he was a good egg. If only others would be so open minded and not condemn someone that they don’t even know. However, in the age of the internet, it’s just too easy to use the protected insulation of the remote blog article or email to castigate someone who you imagine that you hate, and all without much consequence. Additionally, it is hard to properly impart humor, sarcasm or lampooning into one’s writing and not have it taken wrongly by some readers.

This is why I react dispassionately to things that I read on the internet. I might criticize what someone has written or be aghast at how they are behaving, but I try not to engage in ad hominem attacks. It’s too easy to respond emotionally to what someone has written and much harder to respond dispassionately. This is why I feel that the impersonal quality of the internet is a poor place to judge what someone is really like. I might not agree with what someone has written, but I have to use caution in order to not personally criticize them for their seemingly bad behavior. What this means is that I could easily have a beer or a glass of wine with Nick Farrell in a public social setting without feeling the compunction of tossing my drink into his face. I might ask him why he acts like an arrogant boor on the internet, but I will at least give him the benefit of the doubt, at first. However, once I meet someone in the flesh, then I can adequately judge as to whether I personally like them or not. And, I might add, I have the right to my own opinions, just like everyone else.

Anyway, there seems to be a real cold war between the two factions of the Golden Dawn, and it is apparent that the side opposed to David Griffin is actively and stealthily attempting to steal away initiates and whole groups, not to mention convince everyone that they are the only legitimate branch of the GD. I find that kind of behavior despicable and it doesn’t make me feel inclined to either listen to their diatribes or engage in a dialog with them. In fact, they don’t even seem to be behaving like adepts at all. If only that faction would just leave the HOGD and the A+O organizations alone and allow them to prosper or fail by their own merits. I guess that would be asking for too much, which I find quite sad and tragic.

I think that only time will be show which faction represents the true and authentic version of the Golden Dawn. Will it be the one that emphasizes an exoteric and reconstructed version, or the one that is an active esoteric tradition with a legitimate connection to a third order and who is revealing ever new and startling occult practices and lore? Someday, that answer will be known, but I have my suspicions as to which one it will be.

Frater Barrabbas

Just recently a reader posted a comment to an article that I wrote some time ago about the Qliphoth, Kenneth Grant and other similar topics. You can find that article and its associated comments here. This reader, who goes under the title of “Magic In Music,” seems to have a real aversion to things having to do with Goetic spirits, Kenneth Grant, the Qliphoth, and anything involving the left hand path. He claims to be a Thelemite, but most Thelemites I know are actually quite sympathetic to the left hand path, if not in fact practitioners of this tradition.

Here’s what Magic In Music had to say about my article.

“It's fine to use Grant as a reference for all this stuff until you realise [sic] and understand that he was mad as a hatter. Why was he mad as a hatter? because he had fallen in the abyss and become prey to ‘CHORONZON’.

Why anyone wants to mess with this filth is beyond me. The qliphoth need to be addressed, certainly, but not raised up as ideals and gods. They are the false parts of self that a Thelemite works to liberate themselves from, not to worship.

Insanity and death follow the adept who toys with the qliphoth unprepared. Be warned!”

Now I can understand this perspective, since it was one that I also believed in a while back. I had some concerns with the publication of a useable version of the Grimoirium Verum and also found it troublesome because it required a blood link with a demonic ambassador. However, over time I found that some of my own practices were very much steeped in the left hand path and that I also, as witch, had connections with Deities that would be considered at the very least chthonic, and at worst, diabolical. I could hardly criticize what one group of Goetic magicians were doing when I was heavily involved with the fallen angels of the Nephilim. I had behaved as an unwitting hypocrite, even though my intentions were good. It took a close personal friend, who also happened to be an initiate of Palo Mayombe, to really set me straight.

Spirits are, after all, just spirits, and each is unique. Some spirits are volatile (hot) while others are quite stable and consistent (cool), and this variation can be found whether the spirit in question is a supposed angel or demon. Also, in the world of the Spirit, which is an extension of the domain of the One, all spirits are beyond the polarity of good and evil since they must, by definition, be ultimately aligned to the One. This is an important rule to consider whenever thinking about supposed evil demons and good angels. That perspective might be appropriate to a Christian mythic belief system, but it fails completely when one actually seeks to deal with spirits in an objective manner. What this does is put to the question the whole foundation of the tradition of grimoire magic. If you aren’t a Christian who believes in the spiritual polarity of good and evil, then the descriptions and qualities associated with lists of demons found in grimoires are completely useless.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things that confronts any occultist/magician is learning to de-Christianize the myths and beliefs that accompany the path of darkness and the underworld, and realize that it is just Christian based propaganda. It’s OK to believe in a polarized world of good and evil if you happen to be a Christian, but if you are a Pagan, Witch, or even a Thelemite, then such mythic world views present quite a problem to achieving anything like a balanced and objective view of the spiritual world. While this holds true for Goetic demons, it also holds true for the supposed Qliphoth. Once again it depends on your religious perspective. If you are a fundamentalist Christian who sees the world as battle ground between good and evil supernatural forces, then demons and the Qliphoth would be operationally defined as a source of evil in the world. This, of course, would also be true if the student were an orthodox Jew or a pious follower of Islam. Even so, it boggles my mind why any pious and orthodox adherent of a monotheistic faith would ever traffic with forces and sources of evil.

How something is evaluated depends on the perspective of the occultist or magician. Based on that assumption, here’s what I actually said in my blog about the Qliphoth. Notice that it is speculative, but also based on some practical experience.

“The Qliphoth could simply be the outer shell or husk of the corresponding Sephiroth, and in actuality, it would function more like a socket or the bottom foundation of a specific Sephirah. In other words, the Qliphoth are the backside or unconscious dimensions of the Sephirotic Tree of Life. I believe that Kenneth Grant was the first to propose this interpretation in print, even though Michael Bertiaux has insisted that he first proposed it as a part of the deep esoteric qabbalistic descriptions in his traditional lore (Monastery of the Seven Rays).”

So, it would seem that according to my perspective, the Qliphoth and the Sephiroth are indelibly fused together, with the Qliphoth functioning as the chthonic or backside of the Sephiroth. They can’t really be separated, but the Qliphoth can be experienced if the magician uses either the portal of Daath or the portal of Malkuth. These portals open the magician up to what could be called the psychic and spiritual underworld, a place where the mysteries are realized, all potentials are to be found and transformative trials to be undergone. It is the place where the dead reside as well as important ancestors (both genetic and spiritual) as well as the host of earth-based spirits, hidden treasures, daimons and many other amazing and mythological creatures. Witches and pagans should be comfortable with this domain since their magic circles open up into it, and all initiations supposedly take place within it. To regard this domain as a place of filth, evil, madness and danger should be seen as quite strange for any magician not affiliated with the most polarized spiritual viewpoint.

If Choronzon is a great devil, then like all devils, he (or she) resides in the underworld, dispensing trials of initiation as well as teaching us the greater lessons of life through pain and pleasure, just like all so-called infernal spirits. Also, if any magician endeavors to realize the highest levels of spiritual and magical achievement (which is the ascension to the realization of the God/dess Within), then he or she must pass through the Greater Abyss and its associated underworld. This is not a process that is instantaneous, instead it takes many years and forces the candidate to undergo the greater cyclic trials of light and darkness many times over. Some may succumb to delusion or despair, while others are empowered and attain full self-mastery. Still, the greater lesson is the integration of light and darkness into a wholeness, the One within each of us. To achieve self-mastery, we don’t either cut away parts of ourselves nor do we have to overcome those parts of us that are deemed bad. Instead, we embrace all aspects of ourselves to become whole and complete, and that is accomplished by the greater power of spiritual love, especially the love of and for our internal deities.

Now that we have discussed these not so simple occult based facts, can we really consider Kenneth Grant to be “mad as a hatter?” Is it true that anyone who traffics with Goetic demons, the underworld of the Greater Abyss or the Qliphoth will become insane or dead? A friend of mine once said that in order for occult or magical practices to make one mad, one would have to be either mad already or at least borderline crazy. Magic can produce illusions and delusions, but it takes a real physical change in one’s brain chemistry to suddenly go insane. It’s an easy thing to say, “Don’t mess around with evil spirits or you will go crazy,” but it hardly seems more than just a bit of Christian propaganda.

Was Kenneth Grant certifiably insane? I really and truly doubt it, and in fact I would consider this judgement to be completely erroneous. Perhaps even laughably silly. Whether you like Grant’s writings or hate them, he knew what he was doing and he wrote books to bring back a balance between the left hand and right hand occult paths. (For that fact alone we can forgive him of his excesses and exaggerations.) Both the left hand and the right hand paths are legitimate paths for self-realization, personal empowerment and ultimate union with the One. All magic is ultimately a sacred art form, regardless of whether the magician is working with powers and energy forms, simple formulas, angels, earth-based spirits, pagan deities, monotheistic godhead attributions, or Goetic demons. Even a negative magical intent doesn’t detract from the fact that all magic is sacred, regardless of its use. It is also true to say that all magic is inherently neutral, and that it is the actual intention and directive of the magician that lends it an ethical consideration.

Of course, don’t take my word for this open minded perspective. You can find the same opinion in the writings of Eric Koetting, an actual representative of the left hand path. Here is a short article that he wrote to fight back against what he considers the overarching and absolutist opinions of the Christian society that we live in. You can find it here.

Finally, in looking over Magic In Music’s blog it would seem that he has an issue with anything tainted by the left hand path. He tends to focus on modern music (such as the group Tool, who I consider to be quite an excellent occult rock band) and also some elements in culture. Yet he often talks about these topics with an obvious bias. I feel that this is kind of sad because he is otherwise very shrewd and well informed, but it unfortunately represents the common exoteric urban occult perspective that is overly simplistic and quite naive. My hope is that Magic In Music will be able to open his mind over time and see that the left hand occult path is legitimate and even progressive, just like the right hand path. We who either fully follow the left hand path or who are immersed into it because of our traditions are neither mad, endangered or dangerous to others. No one ever stays the same and opinions do change over time, and I am a good representation of how one can change over time. Maybe Magic In Music will see the error of his ways and modify them.

Frater Barrabbas

Once again the issue of astral initiations has become something of a heated discussion theme in the occult and magical blogosphere. I have already discussed this issue quite thoroughly in an article that I posted back in January of 2011. This is not a new discussion and for some reason it seems to gain new life in a cyclic manner, sort of like the plague. I have made my point that astral only initiations performed at long distance are pretty much ridiculous. My friend Scott had a funny story about using a “sock puppet” with the photograph of someone’s face pasted on it, and then putting that construct through a Golden Dawn initiation. Would the person whose photographed face was stuck to the sock be truly initiated?

There is also the problem of some disreputable person scheduling a long distance initiation (to be affected via the astral) for someone, having them pay money for this operation, and then doing nothing at the appointed time. Then, pretending that it had actually happened. You can find my previous article on this topic here, although it was in response to Robert Zink proclaiming his “astral only” methodology for Golden Dawn initiations.

Another issue that I discussed is self-initiation, to which I stated that it was not as effective as being taught and initiated by an individual or group. Self initiation brings to my mind some important questions. If someone is performing an initiation solely by their own hand then where does any kind of objective measurement occur? How is such a person challenged, and if they are not challenged, then is their initiation even valid? These are important questions. At some point even the most isolated or secluded student has to have some kind of outside and objective peer review, not to mention the importance of having his or her experiences and knowledge fully challenged.

In my opinion, there is nothing more sad, ludicrous or pathetic than discovering someone who has been exclusively self-taught and self-initiated for their entire magical and occult career. If you want a clear example of this kind of phenomenon, you need only google the name “Venus Satanas,” to find a perfect example of someone who has been called by her peers the “Forest Gump” of Theistic Satanists. Yes, it would seem that mixing alluring sexuality with simple-mindedness does help individuals to sell their ideas, however badly formed or ignorant they might be. I think that FOX news and Goetia Girls has shown this to be true. Also, it is quite novel, in my opinion, for a priestess to have her very own dancing pole mounted in the middle of her temple. I hadn’t equated pole dancing with sacred ritual dance, but then again, what do I know?

Still, an initiation is not the mechanism by which someone is conferred a specific level of spiritual and magical development. I have made this statement often enough that it should be considered one of the trade marks of my magical tradition. Often, initiations are just in-house accolades and peer group lintel rites that allow someone to have access to the specific ritual lore of that degree. Yet initiations by themselves do little to actually help someone to spiritually evolve or ascend. In order to truly grow and expand, one must do the work on a regular basis, and it is the work alone that causes transformation and spiritual ascension. The work might be aided by intercession of a teacher or mentor, but only if the initiate strives through consistent effort will anything dramatic actually occur. In this manner, initiates are responsible for their own magickal progress and the enrichment of their own spiritual process.

In the Order of the Gnostic Star, only the first two initiations are rites performed by more than just the candidate and the initiator. Yet even these two rites have an alternate form that is reduced down to just the initiator and the candidate undergoing the initiation. All grades of the Order are associated with extensive ordeals or batteries of workings that must be completed and validated before the initiation rite is to be performed. In a sense, the transformative initiation is often achieved by the work and then just objectively validated by the initiation rite. In the ESSG, there is an important emphasis placed on the student and mentor relationship, and this relationship represents the entire cycle of degrees, from first through ninth. Although the identity of the mentor might change during the life cycle of the student, the relationship is still integral to the structure of the Order.

So, one could say that the Order of the Gnostic Star has both a form of self-initiation as the initiatory ordeals, and a mentor to candidate initiation at each degree threshold. What this does is establish a kind of ladder that runs up the Tree of Life, where each degree has its set of ordeals and workings to be performed (however long it takes), and at the completion and realization of each set, there is an initiation rite and mystery that acts as the threshold to the next level of expertise and magical knowledge.

Elemental Degrees

In order to really and fully document and define the nature of the lower four degrees of the Order of the Gnostic Star, I have decided to pull some associated text from some Order documents that have never been published. I felt that if my readers understand the nature of the first four Elemental Degrees, a greater understanding would be established for realizing the degrees associated with adepthood.

****

One very important point is that a transformative initiation should not be a single event, never to be repeated. While there are some pagan and witchcraft traditions that espouse only one initiation, an occurrence of internal, cyclic transformations, expressed or realized through some kind of exterior ritual should be a natural part of anyone’s spiritual and magickal process. The exterior rite should not, in most cases, be one that is performed alone, but shared with others, who act as witnesses and perhaps even facilitators. They assist the candidate in objectifying the internal transformation.

This continuous and periodic transformation and it’s outer expression as an initiation rite characterizes an incremental expansion of consciousness and the evolution of spiritual awareness. For the progressive pagan, witch or occultist, spiritual evolution in this life is a very important virtue, denoting that one is on the “path” to ultimately achieving union with the Godhead. Not every pagan, witch or magickal practitioner has this as their goal, but for the progressive practitioner, growth and personal development is a critical part of one’s spiritual and magickal practice. It is also a natural by-product produced through the search for meaning, greater insight, and the exalted conscious realization of Spirit within the material world.

This is why many magickal lodges and other occult organizations have multiple degrees or grades, but the transformative process doesn’t adhere to fixed degree structures or orchestrated, time-in-grade measurements. Transformative initiations are, if anything, guided by the internal mechanism and the mysteries of the individual initiate, based as they are on his or her soul revelations. Some transformations are greater and far more profound than others, and they may occur at greater or lesser frequencies during the lifetime of the initiate. They can also happen during different time frames, some taking much longer to complete than others. What we can say about transformative initiations is that they are cyclic oscillations of an initiate’s internal spiritual process. That cycle can be compared to the mythic Cycle of the Hero or the twenty-two Trumps of the Tarot. An examination of the symbolic images of the Tarot Trumps, or the occurrence of one in a strategic Tarot reading, can indicate to the initiate their specific point in the ongoing and ever continuous initiation process.

As I have already indicated, cyclic transformations occur at various intervals, and have greater or lesser impact on the one experiencing them. The greater cycles can be symbolically compared to the ten Sephiroth on the Tree of Life (that is, if the Qabalah is an important tool), but other meta-patterns or symbolic structures can be used. Because, for me, the Tree of Life is a very useful tool, I also find it useful to determine the larger transformative patterns.

In the Order of the Gnostic Star, the Qabalah is used to build the required ordeals that an initiate must perform in order to attain to a specific degree, since by performing them, he or she triggers the associated transformation. Using the Tree of Life can also help us to define the differences between an initiate, an adept, and a high adept; a structure that is represented by the three triadic groupings of the nine Sephiroth. It’s assumed that Malkuth, the lowest of the ten Sephiroth, would represent the state of the non-initiate or the one who stands at the threshold of the process of spiritual transformation, but it is also the very first initiation ordeal that one undergoes.

What I am presenting here is something that is very simplified. One would have to incorporate the twenty-two paths as well as the ten sephiroth to produce a comprehensive examination. I will just use the sephiroth to aid this discussion, leaving the more complex analysis for one of my future books.

Initiates who are following a magickal path that uses the Tree of Life as a guide would begin their process at the point of the element of Earth. This is the place where the initiate crosses the first threshold, revealing the truth that the material world is imbued and suffused with Spirit. This often causes the initiate to see the world as a sacralized phenomenon of nature, where there is no division between matter and spirit because all is one and unified. One can take this experience as indicative of the veritable truth of pagan spiritual perspectives (such as Neoplatonism), but it can also cause one to realize that the product of creation is just as sacred and holy as that which created it (such as the writings of Emerson would indicate).

Once the initiate has passed this threshold of Earth as the manifestation of Spirit, then he or she begins a process of transformation that has many incremental steps, both great and small. Yet the first progression can be compared to a series of ordeals that emulate the internal qualities of the four Elements. These transformations are therefore referred to as the initiation of the Four Elements, and represent a larger and more complex cycle for the initiate who is seeking to master Spirit. Of course, the quest for mastering Spirit is the long sought after achievement that bestows adepthood upon the seeker.

Where Earth is the revelation of the material world imbued and made sacred with Spirit, the sequence of the next three elements represent a similar progression. Let me briefly note them here for you to examine and ponder. Keep in mind that an actual transformative initiation process might not undergo the next three elements in the order that I am presenting here. Some systems use the progression of Earth, Air, Water and Fire, others might use Earth, Water, Air and Fire, and still others might use Earth, Fire, Water and Air. The order is not important, what is important is that the initiate goes through all four Elements in some manner. In fact, it is usually the case that an initiate will track through all four of them multiple times until they are completely mastered.

Water (Yesod): This transformative degree is characterized by the imagination, the power of dreams, symbols and psychic occurrences. This is where magick seems to become a fully realized phenomenon, where spirits and powers are encountered and realized. Initiates who walk this path also acquire a spiritual sense of themselves, and they discover that they have helpers, guides and spiritual allies who seek to aid them in their spiritual and magickal quest. As you can imagine, divination is important in this sphere, as is the foundation of archetypal symbols that lie at the core of the spiritual domain.

Air (Hod): The next transformative degree is characterized by the occult intellect and the individual will, the ability to organize diverse spiritual and magickal phenomena using various occult systems, such as the Tarot, Qabbalah, Astrology, Alchemy, Psychology and occult metaphysics, and the desire to use them to will things into manifestation. Science is also used to understand the subtle occult processes that the initiate has personally experienced, and all disciplines and areas of knowledge are culled to assist the initiate in being able to intellectually apprehend the fullness of the spiritual and magickal world and then, to subjugate it.

Fire (Netzach): The final transformative degree of the four elements is characterized by spiritual love, selfless devotion, spiritual service, and the practices of spiritual alignment. This degree is where the initiate begins the transition of becoming a priest or priestess of Spirit, and it is also where the other three elements begin to blend into a seamless discipline of spiritual and magickal practices and insightful experiences. In some traditions this would be the first element degree experienced beyond Earth, particularly if spiritual love was the pre-eminent foundation that one had to establish before doing anything else (this would be true of the Abramelin ordeal as well as certain monastic Christian traditions and Sufiism).

This degree would also represent the beginning of the manifestation of the higher self, which becomes more materially apparent to the initiate through spiritual love. Initiates walking this path dedicate their lives to building a core of spiritual practices that erect powerful bridges between themselves and their chosen personal Godhead.

The first four degrees have associated magical lore and techniques that must be mastered (and proven to one’s peer group) before one is able to advance to the next degree. The first four degrees have the following magical ritual workings that are a part of the lore of the Order:

1. First Degree - Elemental Magic (using the Enochian Godname Pair and Calls)

2. Second Degree - Talismanic Elemental Magic (using the Enochian Seniors/Kings)

3. Third Degree - Theurgy - Magical Evocation (Archangel Angel/ Demigod Invocations)

4. Fourth Degree - Lesser Archeomancy. (Full Angelic Theurgy & Goetic Evocation)

As you can see, the stipulated ordeals more or less fit the mysteries of the Four Elemental degrees. The progression is to first master Elemental magick, then Planetary magick (in combination for the Talismantic Elementals), then Magical Evocation, and finally Lesser Archeomancy (archeomancy of the 40 Qabalistic domains) and the assumption of the practices of the magician-priest as sacral technician.

I have previously written some articles about the Qabalistic degree cycles as they pertain to the Order of the Gnostic Star, and you can find them here, here and here. Combining what I have written in this article with these other three articles should completely fill out how transformative initiations via degree-based ordeals are established in the Order. For now, I believe that I have exhausted all of arguments that I can make in regards to astral-only initiations and self-initiation. I am sure that you, my readers, get my point and know what I think of these matters.

Frater Barrabbas

Modern Witchcraft has been around for almost 70 years, and yet it is still in its infancy compared to other faiths and religious practices. For those of us who have been involved in witchcraft since the early days in the 50's, 60's and even the 70's, we have seen it evolve from a coven based religious magical movement to the edification of conservative imbedded traditions and lineages, mostly with a broad appeal to the tastes and sensibilities of middle class adherents. While witchcraft is still ambiguously associated with uncanny and fringe types of practices and beliefs tinged with a tenebrous taste of darkness, it has now become the tamed, toothless, friendly, happy and harmless pagan religion that is not so different than other religions (like Christianity).

Still, the ancient heritage of witchcraft, or at least cunning-craft and sorcery, is still something that is imbued with “other-ness” and dark mysteries. Modern witches might be able to distance themselves from the shaman-like witch of ancient folklore fame, but in doing so they will only castrate the very tradition that they are seeking to vitalize and conserve. Actually, instead of castrating witchcraft, they will create something new, and many have begun to call this new religion, bereft as it is of the potent dark magic and mysteries, Wicca. Others have called it derisively McWicca, but I believe that it is just the outer religious practices and beliefs without any of the deeper mysteries, magical practices or psycho-spiritual lintel crossings. It is, in fact, a form of religious Wicca without the witchcraft. Everyone has to start somewhere, and Wicca is as good a place to start as any, as long as one quickly progresses beyond it. Those who linger will never know the greater secrets and be forever mired in mediocrity.

What this means is that the pathway of witchcraft has already bifurcated into two basic groups; one that is open to new possibilities and is attracted to the dark history of witchcraft and pagan practices, and another that is seeking to create a modern pagan religion for the masses. I, for one, have accepted the former and eschewed the latter. Since I believe that most modern pagans in the West lack even a basic understanding of what it is to be a pagan, at least from the standpoint of antiquity, then I have no problem being part of the smaller population who is progressing to that place where the future beckons. That future doesn’t include any of the practices, fetishes or tropes of the BTW, and in fact it is beyond the comfortable domain of Gardnerian based modern witchcraft altogether. The real future of witchcraft (if it is to have a future) is to revitalize elements of the past and merge them with practical workings of today. The real future path, in my opinion, is to master archaic forms of sorcery and a kind of chthonic shamanism, and therein, to discover anew the dark mysteries pervading the ghost enshrouded domain of the earth.

As I have stated previously in other articles, the place where the mysteries occur in regards to modern earth-based mystery traditions is within the darkness of the underworld. You won’t find pretty unicorns, lovely, soft and cuddly images of nature’s critters, or pointy eared elves with lovelorn eyes and feminine features. Where there is light, it would seem, that is where we are most comfortable and complacent, of course. Instead, deep in the underworld you will find all of the things that exist under the physical top-soil, rocks, dirt, clay, water, worms, serpents, centipedes, beetles, various roots and tubers, dormant seed pods, and also the rotting and stinking carcasses of the dead; and a host of other horrors (such as forbidding underground caverns), all of which constantly show the mortal nature of everything that lives. There are also ancestral ghosts, buried treasures, precious things lost, the spirits of heros, the souls of the damned, demonic entities, and the Gods and Goddesses of the Underworld. There can also be found within it the powers of dreaded diseases and corporal corruption, and also the power to heal, renew and be reborn. All fertility and death are intermingled in this place, and everything that ever was or ever will be - the veritable well of all potential - has its residence in this place of darkness. Here is the place where transformative initiations really occur, and where the seeker discovers the true meaning of life - the key to all of his or her personal mysteries. The underworld is the domain where magical power has its collective source and the door to the spiritual world resides. One has to gain access to this world before any other world can be entered. This has been an age old truth going back to the earliest stirring of our shamanic past.

What, then, is to be salvaged from the state of modern witchcraft today? Certainly the entire contents of the vaunted Book of Shadows is to be put aside once it is fully mastered. Mastery of the actual existent lore is a task of short duration, taking only a few years to complete. Coven based initiations consisting of the ordeals of the first and second degree as well as the calendric cycle of eight sabbats and 13 esbats are to be left aside, along with the rigid perspective of the dual theology of Goddess and God. Depending on whether the rites are performed in a temple or out in a grove, the opening of the self to sacred space would vary, and in fact the calling of the quarters could be dispensed with or replaced with something that is more sensible. So, if we discard most of the contents of the Book of Shadows, then what is left? The answer is, of course, earth-based magic, techniques of ecstasy, chthonic spiritual alignments and sorcery. The goal is to become a shamanic and goetic based witch who has access to the underworld and all its great wealth, terror and fascination.

Ironically, I have found myself in agreement yet again with Jake Stratton Kent when he has said that modern witchcraft must become immersed in the practice of Goetic magick. Certainly, the goetic demons span the interstices of heaven, hell and earth, and represent the gateway and hidden potential of the godhead that resides wholly in the underworld. Therefore, goetic conjuring is the true sorcery, in my opinion, of archaic post-modern witchcraft, and it must be investigated and re-established as a core discipline in witchcraft. The images and artwork of Austin O. Spare have revealed the vision of this domain and has shown that this pathway is to be found in all cultures in the world, throughout the entire history of the human race. It is, in fact, our true legacy.

Additionally, modern witches need to develop deep and personal relationships with the chthonic root Goddesses and Gods in all of their variations. Hecate comes to mind, also Persephone, Hades, Dionysus, Orpheus, and the Sybil in her various guises and forms. Still, all of the Gods and Goddesses of pagan antiquity have a hidden chthonic face, or dark-side, and this represents the very core and origin of their being. Interestingly, the one thing that all of these entities have in common is the all-pervading underworld - the place of universal origin and final repose. Following the “ghost-roads” of our ancestors into this world, the post-modern witch can revitalize the practices of witchcraft, but at the great cost of social acceptance and a plurality of human support. This path is obscure, lonely, and known only by those rare individuals who have the courage to move far beyond their social comfort zone. These isolated individuals would be too far and too few to populate a coven, but they could come together for the rare Grand Sabbat, held in secret in the dark and obscure places of the earth.

When an initiated priest or priestess of modern witchcraft (Wicca) decides to seek out the greater truths and the mysteries that reside in the underworld, then he or she will begin the task of determining a kind of witchcraft that will have more in common with the ancient past than what is being passed off as Wicca today. So what might that path of post-modern witchcraft be like? What practices would it contain? Allow me to indulge in some speculation, based as it is on my own experiences.

The foundation of Wicca is either a self-initiation into the basic attributes of a modern pagan religion, or the initiation into a kind of pseudo family based coven within an overarching tradition. There are the various celebrations, periodic workings and a focus on nature as the ultimate ground of the spiritualized world. Human acts in accordance with nature become sacralized, such as establishing sacred space, nudity, dancing, assuming the masks of godhead, sacred sexuality, feasting and drinking, making offerings and sacrifices, worshiping the old gods and goddesses and intimately engaging with nature itself. A form of earth-based magic develops in this environment as well as a keen insight into the changing of the seasons, the cycle of flora and fauna, the phases of the moon, and the rising and falling of the stellar ecliptic. If one lives near the oceans or seas, then a sense of the changing tides also becomes part of that opening of one’s self to nature. We grow up in this family and learn all that there is to know, and then at some point, a few of us find ourselves drawn to something greater and also, darker.

Where true initiation actually begins is in the place of the mysteries, so all previous initiations, whether performed by others or by oneself, are abrogated by this new awareness. We begin this path stripped of all our previous knowledge and achievement, just as we are stripped of everything when we die - for such an initiation is also analogous to death. Our path leads us beyond the sunlit fields where nature is tamed and docile, and leads us into the darkening deeper paths that branch into the essential and integral core of the mystery of life and death.

I have previously defined the mysteries as the five different elements that impact a material and life-centered existence. There is, first of all, the diurnal cycle of night and day, sleep and wakefulness; this seamless polarity represents the essential mystery of terrestrial life. From the polarity of light and darkness comes the polarity of life and death, along with the changing of the seasons (if one lives in the further northern/southern latitudes). Additionally, there is the cycle of the Moon and the Sun, representing the further power and projection of the cycles of darkness and light. Then finally, there is the paradoxical nature of Deity itself and its all-consuming mystery, which is the deity that resides in each and every one of us.

These five mystery elements exist within a domain that consists of three worlds - the sky, the earth, and under the earth. Yet in the most archaic cycles of self-transformation (that can be found in shamanism), the first point of entry into the mysteries is the underworld - from there one might ascend to the heavens on the branches of the world tree. Still, all that is relevant to terrestrial life resides in the underworld, and only the sun, moon and the stars, as well as various indifferent celestial deities reside in the heavens. So, we begin our journey away from the sunny fields of our pagan childhood and seek the gateway or lintel threshold into the underworld, where we shall undergo the ancient initiation rite of dissolution and reconstitution. We will be remade by the underworld mysteries, and transformed into a being who walks both the daylight and nighttime pathways.

Once we become initiated into the domain of the underworld, then we achieve the methodology of gaining access to that place whenever required. Even so, the key to the underworld is ecstasy, the lock to that threshold is trance (or pharmacology), and chthonic nature itself is the doorway. Our book of shadows becomes filled with all the new unwritten things that we will be taught by the various tenebrous godheads of the underworld. We will talk to the ancestors and learn from them the dark ways of the world of the spirits of the dead. And, we will resurrect and revitalize those occult practices and methods of sorcery that are in alignment with our new powers of initiation and our deep spiritual perspective. Certainly, engaging with the root Gods and Goddesses will be a preeminent part of our practices, but so will the re-establishment of the goetic conjuring of demons who have now been re-established as important underworld demi-gods.

Of course, the tool-set of modern Wicca will be completely replaced with the tools of a shamanic witch and goetic conjurer. The dual theology that is so prevalent in Wicca will be replaced with a much wider variation and selection of root Gods and Goddesses, along with demi-gods, ancestor spirits, and a host of earth-based (and under-earth based) spirits. These deities and spirits will require a constant and periodic engagement. The post modern witch will easily pass from this world into the underworld, and she will bring back all of the associated treasures (and curses) from that place of darkness. The eightfold calendric sabbats will be replaced with natural and seasonal phase changes, and the lunar cycle will become the sacred lintel light that harkens the opening and closing of the underworld. Initiation will no longer be defined by two ordeals, but rather by a continuous state of inner revelation, and the seamless blending of magic and earth-based mystery within a single hybrid practice. A veritable technology of ecstasy will become the foundation of these works, since it will assist the witch in gaining access to the underworld, and also taking others to that place.

All of the pieces of this post-modern approach to witchcraft have now become revealed to me, piece by piece, over a very long period of time. I have been inspired by the many books that I have read, the posting of other occultists, and by my own inner revelations. Now that this new path is becoming ever clear to me, I realize the importance of the writings of antiquity as well as the orthopraxis of just doing the work. As if I didn’t already have so much to do, and I am now entering into the autumn years of my life. May I succeed in making this transition and fully engaging with this new vision, thereby making it a reality before my allotment of life reaches its end.

Frater Barrabbas

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

This is part three of a series of articles that will demonstrate the results that I encountered many years ago when I sought to invoke and contact the spirits of the Nephilim, namely the four greater chiefs of that body. I use the term Nephilim to describe the fallen angels of the Sons of God who came down to earth to mate with the “daughters of men” as well as their offspring, who were considered giants (men or women of renown). From these spirits I received a body of lore and a perspective on Enochian magick that is completely unprecedented. I would like to share with my readers some of the lore that I received from these entities and to demonstrate that the Nephilim are indeed highly important to the Enochian system of magick. I will follow up the first article with a second that will reveal the results of the invocation of Ramat’el.

If you are wondering what happened to the invocation of Shemiezez, which would have been the second invocation in this series, I have already posted the results of that working in a previous article. If you haven’t read it or need to refresh your memory, you can find it here.

Notes from the Invocation of Ramat’el

This invocation produced an enormous amount of data, some of it consisting of diagrams and pictures. It was performed on November 22, in the early morning hour of 12:45 AM EST during the planetary hour of Sol. There were no premonitions encountered during this rite, but there were feelings of peacefulness pervading throughout the temple. This working was very intense and experienced on a very deep level. Most of the information that was transmitted to me occurred in the days following the invocation, especially on the following Friday, November 27, just a day before the next invocation. The process of the invocation intruded on my waking thoughts and in my dreams from Sunday on through the week, culminating on Friday afternoon. (Friday was a holiday, since Thursday was the traditional day for Thanksgiving.)

Enochian Mystery Pattern and Other Lore

I heard voices talking to me, and I noted down everything that they said.

“The perenial philosophy is alive. The currents [of magick] are living currents. The [initiatory] lineages are actually egregoric entities in an occult neural network.”

“All systems are living systems [within consciousness], by definition. They are dynamic.”

I was then directed to take a deck of Tarot trumps and to shuffle it for a time, so as to completely radomize it. I then dealt out the cards in the order of the Cycle of Initiation, so that they were in four groups of 5 cards, 6 cards, 5 cards, and finally, 6 cards. This is the pattern that was revealed to me, and it said to be the Enochian Mystery Initiation Cycle.

Threshold Crossing - VII, XVII, X, XIX, XVIII

Ordeal - II, 0, XXI, XI, XIV, I

Vision - VIII, XV, III, VI, XII

Return - V, XIII, IV, XVI, XX, XI

[It will be necessary to perform a complete analysis of these trump card positions in order to determine the characteristics of the Enochian Initiation Cycle.]

Once the initiation cycle was noted down, the voices continued to instruct me.

“All occult correspondences represent the archetypal values of the Cyber-PSI Network. Although the correspondences must be experienced through ritual.

A master ritual that formulates the pattern of correspondences that are chosen is known as a Mystikon (for it’s divination potential). It is a magickal machine consisting of a dynamically activated occult [meta]-system. A living occult system that is synthetically created is a magickal machine. The forces that it generates are considered a form of cyber psionics, and the form of the network is called the cyber-psionic matrix.

There are natural correspondences, and these are archetypal and formless symbolic qualities that are qualified through the power of mental association (allegory). Not all combinations produce a living correspondence. Some are unworkable because they are incongruent and don’t represent a unified expression. However, when natural correspondences are qualified in a deliberate and creative manner, then they are considered synthetic. When they are made alive (awakened and realized), then they are synthetic and living systems, hence, cyberpsionicism. Thus all magick, great and small, produces the cyberpsionic effect, but when the correspondences are artfully arranged and expressed through ritual, the resulting process is a magick computer, which is a form of cyberpsionic intelligence that has been synthesized.”

[This section is obviously talking about the nature of magical machines and how they are assembled and used in ritual magick.]

Elements of the Basic Occult Systems (qualifiers and correspondences)

1. Four Elements and variations (based on multipliers of the base of four)
2. Seven Planets (based on multipliers of the base of seven)
3. Twelve Zodiacal Signs
4. Ten Sephiroth and Twenty-two Pathways
5. Trinity and Unity - 2 = 0 = 1 = 3 - Primary

From Chaos to Unity (indicated by a point) - archetypal symbolic world

[Primary Level]

Duality - circle to Trinity - triangle

Quaternary - tetrad (cross / square)

[Secondary Level]

10 Sephiroth - 4 Elements - 7 Planets - 12 Zodiac

[Tertiary Level]

40 Worlds (4 x 10) - 16 Elementals (4 x 4) - 28 Lunar Mansions (7 x 4) -
49 Bonarum (7 x 7) - 36 Decans (12 x 3) - 72 Quinians (12 x 6) -
22 Tarot Trumps (12 + 7 + 3)

These systems listed above are active in Astrology, Tarot, Qabalah, Geomancy, Alchemy, and Ritual Magick.

Undefined - Behind unity as the unmanifest is chaos, which is the recursive master pattern for all dynamic consciousness. This is symbolized by the serpent biting its own tail, and also the Möbius strip.

The zodiacal boundaries for the 36 decans are as follows:

0 - 9 degrees - Cardinal (initiating, creating)
10 - 19 degrees - Fixed (perseverance, conserving)
20 - 30 degrees - Mutable (dissolving, transforming)

A magical machine should consist of the following numeric systems - 4 - 7 - 10 - 12. These are the elements of the mystikon (the divinatory structures of the machine). They way this is to worked is through the use of many sided dice. The following is an example of the kinds of dice that would be used in a magical machine.

3 sets of 12 sided dice (zodiacal timing)

1 set of 20 sided dice (Qabalistic structures)
2 sets of 6 sided dice

2 sets of 4 sided dice (elemental energy)
2 sets of 8 sided dice

A pendulum would be used in conjunction with a special table (or trigon) where a table of correspondences would be painted on it. The table of correspondences would be depicted as a square table consisting of ten by ten cells (for Sephiroth attributes), surrounded by a ring divided into twenty-two sections (for the Pathways).

The four dimensions of the machine setting would consist of a throw of the many sided dice to determine the zodiacal timing, the Qabalistic structure and the energy. This combination would indicate the potential destiny and mark it for manifestation.

Ritual of the Mystikon Pattern (20 point system)

The ritual pattern for the mystikon consists of qualifications of the following elements:

12 point outer circle
7 point or septagram structure with a gateway (4 Angles or Watchtowers and Western Gateway) as inner structure. (Uses 7 invocations of the sephiroth seven rays)

Unified expression: Invocation and key ceremony
Base is 4-fold formula repeated in three other systems (using Temurah cyphers to derive them).

Total of 19 points in the layered periphery - the central point is the 20th point.

The ritual structure consists of a seven-sided pyramid sitting within a double dodecahedron or dodecagon. The center has a gateway and a point of union (for the entire ritual pattern). This is the ritual pattern and structure for the mystikon, which is served by the four systems of divination listed above.

[These rather obscure notes were later used to write up the Mystikon of Lilith ritual working. Another ritual was to be written up for Enoch, but that has not yet occurred.]

Ritual Comments

The invocation of Ramat’el was begun during the hour of Sol, when the Moon was in the Sign of Libra, two days before New Moon, on Sunday, November 22, 1992. The rite began at 12:45 AM EST, and was completed at 5:15 AM. The exteriorization occurred (via the solar gate) on Wednesday evening, on November 25.

Frater Barrabbas

This is part 1 of a two part series of articles on the nature of pagan monism, it's history and importance to modern paganism. Since I have written that I am a monist, I felt that it was important to define exactly what that was, and how I used it in my study and practice. Part 1 is an introduction to the concept of pagan monism, where I will attempt to lay down the basic elements of that system of philosophy in a manner that will make sense to the average Pagan and Wiccan.

I have been a pagan monist now for many years. Even so, I have always elected not to name or give attributes to that element of the One which I have tangibly experienced from time to time when I have worked my most intense magical rites or engaged in deep forms of meditation. It was only when I read the book “The Shape of Ancient Thought” by Thomas McEviley that I discovered the more intrinsic and varied aspects of that belief which I had adopted, and that the progression from polytheism to monism was a natural one and not an anomaly as some had led me to believe. This revelation helped me to advance my understanding of this phenomenon from that of a mythic perspective to one that unfolded into a kind of religious philosophy. Thus, with the aid of this book, I transformed myself from a religious faith-based adherent to an occult philosopher with a much wider view.

Monism is the belief that everything (as the Many) has its origin and source in the One, which can be called the Unity of All Being. I had conceived of that union as being mythologically represented by the sexual union of the Goddess and the God within my Wiccan duo-theological construct. That One was both the child (product) of their union as well as their origin and source. Despite being paradoxical, this explanation seemed natural to me and I have held it in my mind and heart for the many decades of my religious and magical practice. It has always been a mythological construct, and in order to make it more powerful and universal, I have found myself moving towards a philosophical perspective and away from the mythological.

Monism, however, is not to be confused with monotheism, which represents the belief in one deity as opposed to any other, and an elevation of that single deity into an omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent being, thereby acting independently and completely outside of all of creation. Monotheism is a very special case of monism, but it requires a completely closed system in order to withstand the rigors of logical analysis. Monotheistic religions are problematic since they must define all other experiences of deity outside their definition as either erroneous or diabolical, since they hold a monopoly on the one true definition and attributes of a singular and supreme being. Monism, on the other hand, is completely inclusive and can accommodate and even validate all variations of religious experience.

Monotheism devalues the material world, since that superlative being who created it is perfect and thereby totally transcends it. Nature is perceived as flawed and imperfect in contrast to the single deity, and all material beings are subject to death and decline, while the deity itself is immortal and ageless. Anything tainted by nature is considered to be rendered outside of the purview of the deity, and thereby the material world and living bodies are perceived as the source of corruption and evil. It is also a trap for the soul that resides in each and everyone of us. If nature is inherently evil and the deity is good, then there is a functional duality established between them, and it is most critically realized within the core of every human being; since the place where soul and body meet is a battle ground for good and evil. It is not unusual, therefore, that monotheism requires an adversary, a devil, or even a host of demons who are allowed to torment humanity as a form of tempering and a method of proving the integrity of each individual soul.

Monotheism also seems to devalue the individual by eliminating all consideration that there is an aspect of deity within each and every being, and this ultimately invites the duality of matter and spirit to emerge from within the core of humanity, since it easily explains the gulf between individual souls and the one (supposedly) true deity. That deity within human nature becomes nothing more than a soul, which can be elevated or consigned to destruction without any further consideration. The gulf between deity and humanity is absolute, and it can’t be bridged except by another deity (avatar) or by the perfection of faith and practice, and even then such a bridge is illusionary.

Despite perfect faith, pious good works or the elevation of an intermediary (Jesus), the monotheistic god is still absolute, and humans are minute, flawed and incapable of achieving union with their deity. Still, that absolute deity judges the individual soul and either rewards or punishes it. The soul is, of course, always in the state of being “other” to the deity, much as a master craftsman is to his created artifice. What this means is that we, the members of the human race, are forever doomed to wander the world bereft of the greater truth of spiritual union with that aloof and totally transcendent deity. Deity and humanity are, in a word, mutually exclusive.

A monist, in contrast to a monotheist, sees deity as a finite but important and valid manifestation. It is an essential spiritual emanation of the One, which is the only element that has any transcendental attributes. All Deities are real and all religions are valid to a point, but no single deity or creed has a monopoly on Spirit or the greater spiritual truth. The fact that monism (in some cases) also proposes that there is a corresponding attribute of deity within each human being, where everything is connected to that greater union through the intercession of the lesser union, and that there is no actual difference between the greater and lesser union (other than what we perceive as differences), represents a world that is devoid of duality. In short, everything is unified within the One, but that unity is greater than the sum of its parts. It also means that the union within us is accessible and can cause us to directly experience spiritual phenomena within its own domain. It also represents what Ken Wilber has called the “Eye of Spirit,” which is based on activating the God/dess Within and perceiving the world through it.

I believe that we perceive Spirit and Godhead through the sensibilities of our internal godhead, and without it, we would be spiritually blind. When someone talks about their religious experiences which occur between them and their Deity and thereby objectifies them, or that they feel an intimate impression of that Godhead in their personal lives, then what they are talking about are the effects of their own internal godhead whether or not they are able to perceive it as such.

If someone thinks that their God guides their steps or causes catastrophes (an act of God in the material world) to teach them some kind of moral truth, then they are projecting that internal deity out into the material world. Religious people have a sensorial connection to that internal deity and it acts as the very foundation for their faith. Conversely, atheists and agnostics are unable to sense or feel a connection to their internal deity, and so for them, that deity has no basis in reality. Monism seems to have the answers to these and many other questions, so we should begin to discuss the nature of monism in greater detail and so share and revel in this knowledge.

Monism has a long history, longer in fact than the proclivity for monotheism, even though its various tenets were not thoroughly worked out until just before the time of the birth of Christianity. We can find the belief and practice of a form of monism in all of the ancient cultures that were nominally pagan back to the bronze age, and how it emerged as a full-fledged system of religious philosophy is both interesting and fascinating.

The idea that all gods somehow blend into a single super deity, or that there is some kind of greater unifying aspect of being above and beyond the host of deities within the accepted pantheon has been a commonly perceived phenomenon for many centuries before either monism or monotheism occurred. Egyptians called this unity “Neteru,” which is the word for god but without any qualifiers. Other cultures selected their chief deity as an amalgam of the super-deity, such as Brahman in India, Marduk in Mesopotamia, Zeus in Greece, or Amen-Ra in Egypt. Perhaps this indicates nothing more than an ordering principle at work, but what it represented was the first mythological stirring of monism.

Whichever ancient culture we happen to focus on, there appears to be a process in motion where the many gods and goddesses of a national pantheon are blended into a single deity. As everything becomes defined as a part of this vast meta-deity, including all of the material world and everything in it, then everything becomes imbued with the spirit and essence of that meta-deity. Such an all-inclusive definition of deity produces a world that is defined by a kind of spiritual pantheism. What has driven this process is the political amalgamation that has brought diverse and unique cultures clashing together to create a meta-culture (empire) that allowed for common laws, extensive trade and communications, and also elevated the chief deity of that conquering culture into a trans-cultural meta-deity. That process of coalescing a pantheon of deities into a single meta-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. Unlike monotheism, a plurality of deities is allowed since they are seen as facets or attributes of the one meta-deity. The one meta-deity transcends all of the other deities in that pantheon, but it doesn’t negate or eliminate them. In fact, any of the deities in that pantheon could be used to establish a meta-deity. The starting point is, of course, a kind of henotheism, or where an individual focuses exclusively on just one deity within a pantheon for a specific purpose or achieving a goal. Macranthropy establishes a correspondence between the smaller or more numerous elements of a subset of the universe (microcosm) and the One, which is the transcendental point of union greater than all of the individual elements that it contains (macrocosm). All of the other anthropomorphic gods are seen as parts of a single anthropomorphic body of a meta-deity, thereby the shape of the universe itself is analogous to the human body.

As the idea of macranthropy evolves within a culture, then over time that transcendental meta-deity becomes divested of any attributes. It is no longer represented by any kind of exalted aspect of deity, and the notion of the macrocosmic union is rendered into a philosophical abstraction which is called the One, or the Good, or the Unity of Being. The meta-deity has been demythologized and now becomes a transcendent place holder instead of a super-godhead. Even though this process of abstraction has occurred, it has not subjugated or eliminated the notion that there are many diverse gods (or religions) that one might engage with or even worship as powerful and animated beings.

(As you can see, monotheism was never able to get beyond the more evolved notion that the Unity of Being has no attributes and therefore cannot function as a godhead. Monotheism, in my opinion, got stuck at the half-way point between a meta-deity and the philosophical notion of the One, which is much more subtle and complex. It was easier to just establish one’s concept of a single meta-deity as the singular universal godhead than attempting to demythologize that point of unity in order to realize its essential truth. Later on, a comprehensive theology had to be developed that explained and established the dogma of this singular godhead. That development was never able to completely dominate or eradicate all of the other religions in the world, so it remained an inconclusive sectarian perspective on the nature of spiritual truth.)

When the One becomes emptied of any attributes of a specific godhead or deity, then it becomes possible to realize it through the process of philosophy and contemplation - worship is no longer possible or desirable. Everything is left intact in such a cultural environment regarding the State and family based pagan religions, except now there is a known element that is truly transcendent. Further insights will lead certain select and inspired individuals to realize that the One is also resident within the center of each human being, and that there is no difference between the macrocosmic One and the microcosmic One - they are the same.

I am getting ahead of myself here in this narration on monism, so lets examine the history of how monism emerged from religion in ancient Greece so we can establish the foundation of this special religious philosophy, keeping in mind that what happened there also happened in India and earlier in other places as well (Egypt and Mesopotamia). I want to present a very brief and simple history of philosophy in Greece and also focus on the basic elements of the concept of the One, the Many, and how they are resolved and interrelated within the notion of the Few. This will bridge the teachings of the early pre-Socratic philosopher Thales all the way down through Plato. I will attempt to show how powerful and useful monism is to modern pagans, and how it can shape and strengthen the philosophical basis of modern paganism.

To Be Continued...

Frater Barrabbas

This is part 2 of a two part series of articles on the nature of pagan monism, it's history and importance to modern paganism. Since I have written that I am a monist, I felt that it was important to define exactly what that was, and how I used it in my study and practice. Part 2 contains an historical narrative that shows how monism developed and evolved over time. I will be focusing on that evolution within Greek philosophy, but such a transition also occurred elsewhere, most particularly in India, where monism was perfected and retained its non-dual nature.

A Very Brief Historical Exposition of Greek Philosophy

The first Greek philosopher to propose a form of philosophical monism was the Ionian Greek, Thales of Miletus (624 - 546 BCE). He proposed what was known as a form of material monism, where the unifying attribute was proposed to be the element of water. While this was a new concept amongst the Greeks, it was not new to other cultures, such as Mesopotamia or Egypt, and it is likely that Thales, who was well traveled, may have acquired his perspective through the diffusion of ideas from other geographic cultures. (Thomas McEviley, in his book, proposes that the diffusion of ideas between different geographic locations occurred as readily as the dispersion of trade goods, and very likely followed the same pathways.)

Thale’s proposition is considered a semi-abstraction by modern philosophers, representing a kind of substrate monism, which is the hypothesis that reality has a foundational unity underlying all material manifestation. Thales chose water as his primordial element, but others who came after him proposed other elements, such as air or fire. The idea inherent in this hypothesis was that the primordial element changed its form and appearance through various processes (evaporation, condensation, contraction, etc.) to emulate the variety of different physical forms and substances. This new perspective represented a post mythological concept, merging the elements of both natural science and philosophic abstraction. However, it also retained a certain mythological flexibility along with its more material based hypothesis. Even so, this hypothesis took the idea of the origin of the material universe out of the mythic narrative involving the personalities and actions of deities to an abstract terminology. It was, in a word, the birth of philosophy out of religious and mythological discourse.

So substrate monism evolved, eventually losing its material form until that unifying attribute became Being itself. This occurred because if a material basis was ascribed as the source, then the very nature of that element became negated. For instance, if everything was based on the element of water, then the qualities of water ceased to be relevant or meaningful. This was also true no matter what physical attribute was ascribed to the source, whether water, air, fire, or all four elements - fire, water, air and earth - such as what Empedocles proposed later on. It was only when the substrate monism became associated with an attribute that was beyond any specific named entity or quality was it able to become established beyond logical refutation. That final determiner became the very nature of being itself, which was proposed as the unity underlying all things. In India, the substrate monism was called “brahman,” (with a small “b”) which means being, and in Greek, it was called “apeiron” (indefinite).

The process of demythologizing the concept of the One was started by the pre-Socratic philosopher named Anaximander (610 - 546 BCE) who proposed that the principle element was indeterminate, or as he named it, apeiron. Anaximander proposed that the One was unlimited and unbounded, thereby releasing its association with any quantifiable element or specifically identifiable thing, thereby making it a conceptual abstraction. Yet it was Xenophanes (570 - 475 BCE) who pushed the conceptualization of the One to its ultimate and conclusive definition. First of all, Xenophanes criticized anthropomorphism as a cultural or ego based projection, proposing that the One must be formless and contain no knowable attributes. He was the founder of Eleatic monism, which postulated that the One is coexistent with the world of the Many, but only the One is real.

Thus Eleatic monism was a kind of philosophic pantheism. He also proposed that the One is both the universal subject and object (everything that you see is the One, and everything that sees is the One). However, if the One is real, then senses that perceive the Many are actually experiencing an illusion. Therefore, knowledge of the Many cannot occur without introducing this error. The One is, the Many merely seem to be. Additionally, the One has two modes, formed and formless, but only the formless is real. The formed is the mechanism whereby the Many are created, therefore ensuring the integrity of the One. This is a distinction between the absolute (as the One) and relative being (the Many). Xenophanes proposed a world where the gods and humans both lived in a finite and illusory world similarly diminished by the transcendental One, being therefore a kind of psychic projection of themselves.

Once the source and underlying unity was defined as being, then a division occurred between that source as One, and everything else, which was called the Many. In order to establish a non-dual perspective, which was the underlying purpose to these hypotheses, it was important to signify one or the other as the true reality (they couldn’t both be real), and that made the corresponding other as unreal or illusory. Therefore, in India, the material world (the Many) was called Maya (illusion) and in Greek, Doxa (seeming) or Ananke (necessity), and these became personified as a kind of philosophical goddess in both systems.

It was further determined that the One was perfect, formless (yet conceptually spherical), static and unchanging, since the material world of the Many was constantly changing and mutating, although in a periodic and cyclic manner. The One had to be differentiated from the Many, so they assumed opposite qualities. The true reality was the transcendent One, and the illusory world of constant change was the material based Many. It was a polarity between Being and Non-being, but it had the unfortunate impact of negating the whole of the material world. There was also the problem of reconciling creation, where the One became manifested as the Many. Since the One was considered static and unmovable, and the Many was in constant motion, it was paradoxical to consider that somehow something static would be able to instigate the motion of the material world - something had to drive that which was in motion. Early thinking had postulated that the One actually existed in two states to enable creation of the Many, but this was quickly supplanted by the addition of a new quality.

Beginning with Pythagoras, the problem of how the static and unchanging One was able to manifest into the many was resolved through the use of intermediaries, in this case, the base-ten numbers, the four elements, and then later the triangle as the first perfect form (such as the tetractys, which is a triangle incorporating the numbers one through ten). Although Pythagoras considered the number 1 to represent the monistic godhead, the rest of the numbers established a kind of foundational mathematics that facilitated the creation of forms. These intermediaries were referred to as the Few, and they adopted both the static and changeableness qualities of the One and the material world. They were the drivers of the constant change of the material world. Later on, Plato would propose that the Few was also populated with the world of ideas (what Jung would later call archetypes), building a philosophical system that explained how the Many were formed from the One through the intermediation of the Few.

This model could thus be explained in the following manner.

One (static, contraction, formless, unchanging, transcendent, true reality, being)

Few (static and changing, primordial forms, expansion, prime mover, ideas, proto-being)

Many (changing, cyclic, driven, diverse forms, immanent, illusion, non-being)

There is a problem with this philosophical construct, and that is the fact that the material world is judged as illusory and without being. Since human beings who inhabit the material world seem to have aspects that could be considered relative to both that world and the true reality, one would have to propose that each human being contains within them an aspect of that source of all being. This element can be either considered illusory and ignored (as in Buddhism) or completely incorporated within one’s practice, such as in the Indian Tantras. Pagan magic (theurgy) would also follow the path established by Indian Tantra (in my opinion), but there is still the problem of how to engage with the material world when it is considered to be an illusion.

Another alternative philosophical perspective that contradicted and disputed the claim that the material world was illusory was inaugurated by the philosophical writings of Democritus (460 - 370 BCE). He proposed the opposite notion, that the material world apprehended by the senses was the only true reality and that the monist substrate was occupied by matter in the form of atoms. These two hypotheses were constantly at war with each other, since they represented two diametrical positions. Plato ended up being the one who lionized the former, and Aristotle, the latter. This dichotomy continues to this day, with those who are aligned to an occult or religious perspective in the west that is based on Platonism, and those who are aligned with a scientific perspective that is based on Aristotle. We can see it in the opposition of the modern philosophy of Kant and Locke, and it continues to trouble, more or less, adherents of either persuasion.

However, as a modern pagan, I find myself unable to fully adopt the original concept where the material world is judged to be merely an illusion. I have found both joy and sorrow living in a body in the material world, but I feel that all aspects of this sensory experience represent a greater overall good. Perhaps I am an optimist because nothing really tragic or devastating has ever occurred to me in my life. I have managed to avoid war, destruction and catastrophe in my life so far, but even so, there seems to me to be a kind of fundamental reality and even a preciousness associated with life in the material world. This, despite the fact that death is an expected outcome of life, no matter what is done to forestall or mitigate it in some manner.

One pre-Socratic philosopher that I haven’t mentioned so far is Heraclitus of Ephesus (535 - 475 BCE). He was known as the “riddler” because his writings were considered to be so obscure. Professor McEviley has speculated that Heraclitus made his break-through philosophical proposals with the help of a translated copy of several of the Indian Upanishads. He took an interesting stand in regards to the paradox of the One and the Many, using a logic defying approach that unites all opposites, including the opposites of the One and the Many. He stated that there must be a balance between the One and the Many. In this fashion, we might approach the nature of the Many as saying that it is both an illusion as well as real, depending on our momentary point of view. It could also propose that the One is static and yet also capable of moving and changing, representing the fact that any hardened definition about something that is highly abstract (and absolute) cannot be fully completely validated.

I believe that there has to be some kind of variance in our philosophical perspectives and opinions instead of proposing absolutes, and that any hypothesis only approaches the greater truth to a certain extent. What this does is to make any and all systems of philosophy and religion to be uncertain and not knowable in the absolute sense; that the absolute reality is essentially unknowable and unknown. I suspect that this approach allows for a greater overall flexibility so that we, as modern occultists, can accept both our occult metaphysics and modern science simultaneously without any dichotomy or dissonance.

We can therefore rejoice in the majesty and beauty of the material world, marvel at the advances of modern science and see the manifestation of Spirit in the wonder of nature. We can also change this perspective and see what is behind the material reality that is the domain of Spirit, and we can also personally experience the union of all being that connects everything into a single essential experience of one-ness. All of these perspectives are valid in their turn, and none of them can either contradict or negate the others. If any of them can be experienced in some manner and rationally determined, then they are as real as the solid material reality in which we live.

Yet pervading the manifestation of these many diverse and different perspectives is the One, which can only be experienced within ourselves, and then in the most exalted states of consciousness. The Few, as the archetypes of the unifying consciousness of being as it exists in the domain of the Many, is also important, since it represents the instruments through which the One is able to impact and shape the material world. We can use these instruments to manipulate the material world or to achieve conscious union with the One.

Epilogue

I think that the origin of monism is a human response to the overwhelming great variety of material things found in the world. It is based on the same ordering principle or impulse that drove the derivation of early astronomy, geometry and basic music theory. It is the desire to find that one unifying principle behind the multiple derivations of the material world. It is based on the concept that if everything is distinct and unique, then the greater world is unknowable, and that anything can only be known singularly and distinctly. As Thomas McEviley has stated so eloquently:

“The preoccupation with the Problem of the One and the Many expressed a desire to know the universe in some larger sense than that, by finding principles which would render every situation knowable with or without direct experience of it. Superficial diversity was to be tamed and made knowable by apprehension of underlying unity.”

This need to know and understand the unknowable is what drives modern science and also occult and various spiritual speculations. To achieve this end, seekers search out common attributes that can be used to determine the underlying structures or unity that generates a greater knowledge out of the apparent diversity of various phenomena. This is why I believe that acquiring a monistic spiritual perspective is so important, natural and has profound consequences.

Frater Barrabbas

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

Nick Farrell recently threw down the gauntlet and challenged the supposed secret chiefs to communicate with him and prove, once and for all, their existence - or else, something, something. He then spent a month building up his expectations that a high adept must be something of a superman or quasi avatar, a half-human and half god-like being. He compared such a being with the Theosophical Mahatmas, which are very nearly godlike transcendent individuals. Most of us just expected the challenge to come and go without anything or anyone materializing. Certainly, if I were an enlightened being, why would I bother with someone as apparently flawed and arrogant as Mr. Farrell?

However, much to everyone’s surprise, someone did answer Nick’s call to meet with a representative of the secret chiefs. Even so, the meeting was with just another (well dressed) human being but with quite an amazing occult pedigree. That climactic ending to the month-long challenge was something of a shocker for me, but Nick’s response to this fascinating situation could be summed up with the words, “Meh, thanks, but no thanks.” He was sorely disappointed that the erstwhile master was a flesh and blood human being who seemed to be no more amazing or special than himself, or at least at first impression. Anyway, you can find Nick’s blog article here, and read it for yourself.

Here a few juicy tidbits from Mr. Farrell’s post.

“He was exactly what you would expect from a secret chief. Well, dressed, calm, urbane, and clearly well off. He managed to look younger than he was. He told me he was a Corsican of aristocratic pedigree.

We met in a coffee shop close to St Peter’s so that my wife, Paola, who works in the area, could act as a translator so that he would be more comfortable talking.

He was extremely interesting having been connected with lots of magical orders and alchemical groups that I had never heard of. In one breath he was in something called the Osiris Order, the next it was Grand Orient and Scottish Rite freemasonry and the Italian strain of Misraim and Myriam. There were lots of great French alchemists named, his greatest love appeared to be Alchemy and he threw a lot of alchemical words into the conversation which I totally failed to understand.”

All of this is quite interesting, in fact, and does seem to be very likely. Nick is describing someone who might very well be a high adept, or at least connected to high adepts. If I were attending this kind of meeting, I would be quite interested in knowing more. I would certainly be cautious but open, at any rate.

Since Mr. Farrell has not since written that his experience was just a hoax to titillate his allies and throw off his critics, I think that we can assume that he was sincere in what he reported. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, although there are many reasons to doubt his “truthiness” regarding secret chiefs. Nick wrote the whole thing off as an encounter with an occult trickster or confidence man. He was especially appalled when the man told him that membership to his organization and access to secret alchemical lore would cost him money. If what Nick wrote was accurate, then there seemed to be more behind the encounter than just an interview with some confidence man. I was intrigued by what Mr. Farrell experienced, but he was disappointed, and it would seem that he had no intention of advancing this curious occult contact any further.

Instead of being open minded and having an inquiring mind, Nick was, in fact, dismissive and even a bit put out. This individual was obviously not a “secret chief” of Nick’s specific line of the Golden Dawn and didn’t know the secret password and sign associated with his inner order, or for that matter, much about the Golden Dawn itself. He also didn’t appear in a blaze of majestic light accompanied by the sounds of heavenly trumpets, nor was he heralded by an angelic choir. It was actually a rather banal and humdrum experience in a commercial coffee shop. It was, in fact, a kind of meeting that people have every day of the week. Nick’s secret chief challenge appeared to be answered, but not by someone or something with the “right stuff.” Maybe Mr. Farrell was protecting himself from being swindled or made a fool of, or perhaps he was just too cynical or jaded to be able to discern a real encounter with someone who might have been remarkable.

One of the individuals who commented on that article seemed to have a lot more insight into some of the things that this individual talked about. In fact, it is likely that Alex Sumner may have revealed some very interesting clues about Italian and continental occultism in regards to this supposed secret chief - you can find his article here. We who lack an expertise to converse and read in foreign languages like Italian, French and German will not have access to the occult knowledge-base that is to be found on the European continent. We will be narrowly confined to what is available in the English speaking world, and it is likely there is rich source of magic and occultism in Europe, not to mention organizations and adepts, that lie behind the barrier of language. So, it would seem that Nick Farrell got his wish and his challenge was met with a counter challenge, but he wasn’t interested in investigating it further, and therefore, probably missed an opportunity to meet and connect with some remarkable men and women.

Previously, I have written about what I call (self-made) remarkable men and women within the occult world, and I believe that these are the true high adepts, or at least they are individuals who can inspire and point one to the next important stage of their path towards the Great Work. You can find that article here. I have also defined what it is to be an adept or a high adept, since these levels of spiritual and magical achievement are not beyond my ability to rationally discuss. Such exalted individuals are, in fact, human beings, just like us, flawed and imperfect, but with a greater knowledge and levels of experience than us. Certainly, these kinds of individuals and their obscure treasuries of lore are all around us, and from time to time, we might have a chance to stumble upon them. Or, if we persevere, we might become a remarkable man or woman ourselves, inspiring others with our work and knowledge. Such are the possibilities and potentials for growth and spiritual evolution that exist as opportunities arrayed before us, all we need to do is to engage them and determine their validity.

What I believe happened to Nick Farrell was that he met one of these incredible remarkable men, or at least, a representative of one of them. He had a true and rare encounter with someone who might have been an important link in his spiritual and magical process. This individual might also have been a complete fraud and a crook, but only a careful examination would have revealed that fact. To pass up a potential opportunity with one of these amazing individuals and their organization is, in my opinion, the height of folly. The door leading to great spiritual and magical opportunity opens but rarely in the life of an occultist, and when it does, it behooves one to investigate it fully so that he or she might validate the individuals and the group behind it.

Yet it would seem that Nick is stuck in his own small bubble of Golden Dawn reconstructed lore when there are possible living traditions within his grasp. He decries those who jump from magical organization to organization, not admitting that sometimes one has to look elsewhere in order to faithfully follow one’s spiritual and magical path. Nick’s supposed secret chief required some kind of money for the teachings that he had to share and impart, and this is not really too unusual. I have found that rubes and outsiders often devalue something that is given for free, and as far as promising wealth, well there are quite a number of interpretations of what that would be in terms of outcomes.

Nick said that this supposed secret chief didn’t ask him any questions or try to determine Nick’s level of knowledge. Perhaps his erstwhile master was testing Nick throughout this process and trying to determine how serious he was about mastering a whole new occult perspective and system of lore. It might also be true that he was also trying to fraudulently bilk money from Nick. However, since Mr. Farrell was unwilling to even attempt to validate this potential master and teacher, we will never know whether or not he was authentic.

This brings me to my point in writing up this article. If by some chance you might meet a remarkable man or woman, how can you tell if they are legitimate? How can you know an authentic master from one that is a fake? How do you comport yourself to ensure your own personal safety and the safety of your fortune from potentially fraudulent teachers? There are some basic common sense measures that one can take to validate a remarkable person and determine their authenticity without being dismissive, cynical, and obnoxious on one hand, or being a credulous fool and a complete sucker on the other hand. I have previously written an article about magical teachers and paying for occult knowledge. You can find it here.

One very important consideration is to enter into a trial period in order to determine if what is being presented by a teacher is legitimate or relevant. If it takes a large sum of money to even get into the door, then the supposed lore is probably suspect and the teacher is likely a fraud. An honest high adept would allow a potential student to test his or her lore, or at the very least to give something to the student so that he or she can form an opinion before committing to a large expenditure in terms of resources and time.

Remarkable men and women can be opinionated, irascible, and even at times, harsh, but they are, as a rule, fair and even handed. The knowledge that they possess is authentic, and it doesn’t take too much time or effort to prove that. My advice would be to behave respectfully and ask lots of questions. Allow the potential teacher to ask questions as well. It is important for mutual trust to be fully engaged before the period of training can begin, and once that trust is established, it should be a clue that the student believes in the validity of the teacher. However, it might take a while before that mutual trust is established, and that should be perfectly acceptable to all parties. The teacher, if he or she is legitimate, shouldn’t have to rush the student into making any kind of decision.

A true mentor is patient, understanding and sensitive to the needs of his or her charge. Anything that is rushed or purposely made obscure by the potential teacher should set off the student’s alarm bells. An important consideration is that teachers, like students, are just human beings with human failings. You should never expect your teacher to be perfect or even to practice what they teach at all times. However, there is no excuse for a teacher behaving in an exploitative manner, and all teacher-student relationships should be open ended. When a teacher becomes irrelevant, then the student should respectfully but firmly end the relationship. This is also true if the relationship becomes abusive to any degree.

I believe that if the student uses the above common sense approach to dealing with a remarkable man or woman who could potentially become a valuable teacher, then what they will receive will be quite amazing and remarkable. When we have a meeting with a remarkable man or woman, then we should seek to validate them and the lore that they desire to impart to us. Not taking advantage of such a situation, in my opinion, is not only foolish, but it is highly self-limiting.

Frater Barrabbas

Whence Cometh Spring?

Nature of Spirits - Angels and Demons

Trouble with Duality for Pagans and Witches

A Literary Dream Come True

Terrible Death of a Thelemite

Search for the Lost Month

Dilemma of Practical Magic

How To Spiritually Evolve

Learning Paganism in the Modern Age

Invocation of the Spirits of the Nephilim part 1

Summer Time and Various Thoughts

Madness of Kenneth Grant, Evils of Choronzon and the Filthy Qliphoth

Further Thoughts About Astral Initiations

Of Shadows and Darkness - Future Path of Witchcraft

Toward Self-Mastery - Future Path of Witchcraft

Invocation of the Spirits of the Nephilim part 3

From Polytheism to Monism - A Natural Progression - Part 1

From Polytheism to Monism - A Natural Progression - Part 2

Macranthropy and Theurgic Ascension

When Meeting A Remarkable Person