The Psychology of Magick

My approach to magick begins with a view of the human condition that derives not from Freud, but from the Fourth Way teacher, G.I. Gurdjieff.

Gurdjieff's cosmological system is extremely complex. He acquired this knowledge from ancient sources as a result of contacts he made during his travels, in countries such as Egypt and Tibet. Of course he was questing many decades ago when the Tibetan mysteries were still relatively undisturbed. The crimes of communist China had not at that time produced the tragedy we see today in that legendary land.

http:/www.gurdjieff-legacy.org/70links/gurdjieff.htm

In Gurdjieff's view people are asleep. You could liken our so-called "waking state" to a type of functional hypnotic trance. We tend to operate on automatic, and react, rather than act. We are passive/receptive machines and life tends to happen, by way of a sequence of reactions to stimuli, fear, hunger and so on. We con ourselves into believing that we are in charge and acting consciously, whereas we are really responding to a complex web of energy - mental, emotional, sexual, instinctual.

Our condition is complicated by the fact that we possess no central "I". We imagine we do, but in reality we have multiple "I's" that surface over the course of a day.

Most people will disagree with this assertion, and the reason they disagree is because they are "asleep" and not conscious of the subtle changes in their inner state. In order to become aware of our internal condition, Gurdjieff recommended a technique known as "self-observation". This is a technique that involves clinical observation of our inner state, so that we can begin to become aware of the way in which our machine actually functions, and in the process become conscious of the myriad ways in which we deceive ourselves.

Anyone approaching magick in a divided and disordered condition, won't be able to stay the course. Moreover, if they do manage to make something happen by dint of a special effort of concentration, the results could well backfire.

The well known exponent of the Golden Dawn system, Israel Regardie, actively encouraged probationers to consider taking psychotherapy as a way of clarifying their inner state prior to getting more deeply involved with ritual, and I think that is sound advice.

http://www.golden-dawn.com/temple/index.jsp?s=articles&p=initiation

There is a popular misconception that for magick to work, a practitioner simply has to recite certain spells, burn appropriate incense and make the required ritual gestures. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are three internal conditions that have to be established first.

The first of these is the ability to sit still and focus. In other words you have to able to concentrate. Raja yoga offers a variety of techniques for bringing the mind under control, and such exercises are vitally important. If a person is constantly distracted and unable to focus their mind in a conscious fashion, magick is out of the question. So an effort has to be made to acquire this basic skill.

The second condition involves the ability to work with "active imagination". This is a technique that involves a deliberate attempt to visualize an object or scene on the inner screen of the mind. If you focus your attention on an orange or apple, then close your eyes and try to visualize it, you will see how difficult it is. With practice it becomes easier, and in time the technque of active imagination will form a central part of ritual work.

The third condition is will. When most people use the term "willpower", they are usually thinking of a special effort. Magickal will isn't like that. When the central "I" is in place, the operator will have a heightened sense of self and purpose. This focused, self-recollection gathers all of the energies together and applies them to the magickal work on hand. So the will in this case, is a by-product of integration, not the type of self-conscious willpower we might bring to running up a hill.

The preparatory work in putting these conditions in place is extremely important. Even though I have been using ritual for some time, I still go back to basic exercises, almost like going through a familiar drill.

The other misconception about magick relates to the role of angels and demons so-called. Christians for example have a very literal understanding of these terms, but this is really a fictional version. What we are talking about in essence is energy, and energy can be personified in a form. Magick is an alchemy of energy, in that a skilled practioner knows how to invoke specific types of energy appropriate to a given ritual. He is in control of this process, so we are not talking about entities that take on a life of their own - at least not in situations that have the necessary skill and controls in place.

Magickal effectiveness depends on establishing the above conditions in conjunction with acquiring the knowledge needed to produce results in accordance with will. This takes time and shouldn't be rushed. There are many texts online that offer advice on the best ways to develop these skills.

My Personal View of Aleister Crowley

When someone takes “Great Beast 666” as a moniker, it’s guaranteed to get a reaction, especially in the repressive climate of post-Victorian England. As anyone with even a passing acquaintance with mass media knows, nothing galvanizes the attention of the tabloid jackals more than a whiff of notoriety, and Crowley went out of his way to create fodder for the Fleet Street attack-pack of the day.

The average person with a dull and fairly uneventful life, is fascinated by tales of excess. It’s the same instinct that draws people to car crashes. They are fixated by damage. I guarantee you, that many of your so-called friends will find you infinitely more fascinating if rumor and innuendo turn you into a public spectacle. Of course they may not return your calls, but that’s another matter. People revel in scandal, damage and rumor, even as they deny that they are influenced by it.

So not unnaturally, judgments about Aleister Crowley that are centered on his personality traits, excesses and political “betrayals” are taken by his detractors to be the measure of the man. Such people tend to be satisfied with verdicts based on the most obvious lapses from status quo behavior. James Joyce was also their target. He was lambasted as a drunk, purveyor of the obscene, whore monger and traitor-to-Ireland by the righteous, even as he penned the greatest novel in modern English literature - Ulysses.

People who venerate Crowley and view him as a demi-god hold just as an unbalanced view of the man as the detractors who call him the devil incarnate. Both of these points-of-view overlook the truth in their rush to extremes.

In the past when I was affiliated with groups that were influenced by Crowley's ideas, I found that the people who identified most closely with The Beast, tended to be the most unbalanced. Some had an unresolved father complex, and viewed Al as the spiritual father they never had. Others felt inadequate on some level and derived a symbiotic feeling of empowerment from identifying with The Beast. When identification with Crowley becomes a crutch, it amounts to little more than a cult of personality and is entirely unhelpful within the context of constructive magickal work.

Even though I hold Crowley in high esteem and value his unique contribution to modern magick, I also take a realistic view when it comes to an appraisal of the man himself.

He was born in post-Victorian England; the son of Plymouth Brethren parents who practiced a narrow, fundamentalist form of Christianity with emphasis on fire and brimstone. At boarding school he was the target of bullies and became dangerously ill as a consequence of extreme abuse. At Cambridge, he did his own thing and developed a strong interest in metaphysics and mountaineering. The latter turned the bullied child into a tough and resourceful daredevil who scaled some of the highest peaks in the world, in the process setting records and making a name for himself.

When he joined the Golden Dawn, his magical training began in earnest. Even in company with the like-minded he succeeded in creating waves. He viewed most of the probationers of the G:D as average mediocrities and supplemented his work in the Order with magical experimentation of his own. He was an original in the purest sense of the term. It was the same instinct that compelled him to press into areas where others hesitated to go. The peaks of mountains were but metaphors for the realms of knowledge he would conquer by dint of extraordinary pluck and brilliance.

Joyce managed to write the greatest novel of modern literature while drinking himself penniless and cheating on his wife with whores. Likewise Crowley, despite his many shortcomings, succeeded in raising the banner of Thelema and creating a body of work that arguably helped to initiate the modern occult revival, while engaging in conduct that shocked polite society.

We all have flaws and imperfections, it's just that some people are better at hiding them than others. I was interested to read an Indian guru who asserted that even the experience of Samadhi cannot remove our inner neurosis. Heightened states of consciousness may on the contrary even magnify negative traits, rather than diminish them.

Aleister Crowley was at root a man who was wounded by his upbringing and by the cruelty he experienced at a young age. That he had the guts to fight against the negative forces arraigned against him is testament to his character. If in the course of this fight to discover his star and his destiny, he engaged in behavior judged "unacceptable" by the hypocrites who make up the bulk of society, so be it. Their judgment cannot take away one iota from his real achievements.

In the case of legendary figures such as Crowley and Joyce, it’s interesting to note that their names are remembered despite the worst efforts of detractors ... whose names ironically, are remembered by nobody.

To the brave go the spoils.

Homage to Our Lady of the Stars

Come forth, o children, under the stars

and take your fill of love!
I am above you and in you.
My ecstasy is in yours.
My joy is to see your joy.
Above, the gemmed azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit;
She bends in ecstasy to kiss
The secret ardours of Hadit.
The winged globe,the starry blue,
Are mine, O Ankh-af-na-khonsu!

[12-14] Magick Without Tears/Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley gallery

I've been threatening for a while to post a selection of my Crowley pics. I know there are a few people who have been looking for images.

The mother of the beast - Emily Bertha Bishop

Al's father Edward

Al chart : Sun/Libra - Moon/Pisces - Leo rising

Al as magician

Al looking GQ

Al in masonic gear

Al as young dreamer

Al hatted and horned

Al as family man

Al on Sgt Pepper album/back left

Al checking the engine

Al in the "armor" of the English expat

Al in Tibetan gear

Al in great beast 666 mode

Sir Aleister of the Fauns

Al heading to court to kick ass

Al sheiking it

Al with phallic signature

Al with Lady Frieda Harris

Al in magickal retirement

In praise of Pan

Hymn to Pan

by Aleister Crowley



Thrill with the lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me,
Come with Apollo in bridal dress
(Shepherdess and pythoness)
Come with Artemis, silken shod,
And wash thy white thigh, beautifal God,
In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount,
The dimpled dawn of the amber fount!
Dip the purple of passionate prayer
In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare,
The soul that startles in eyes of blue
To watch thy wantonness weeping through
The tangled grove, the gnarled bole
Of the living tree that is spirit and soul
And body and brain - come over the sea,
(Io Pan! Io Pan!)
Devil or God, to me, to me,
My man! My man!
Come with trumpets sounding shrill
Over the hill!
Come with drums low muttering
From the spring!
Come with flute and come with pipe!
Am I not ripe?
I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp -
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Thrust the sword through the galling fetter,
All-devourer, all begetter;
Give me the sign of the Open Eye,
And the token erect of thorny thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The Gods withdraw;
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan!
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, maenad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!

Of Thelema

I received a message off this link from a person with a background in Taoism who is interested in information on Thelema and Aleister Crowley. Rather than attempt an explanation here I'd like to direct readers to the "knowledge based link list" in the sidebar where there are extensive resource materials related to Thelema.

I first got interested in Thelemic teachings when I was in my late teens. At a later date I discovered that I had a few things in common with Aleister Crowley. I have a Christian “latency” in my make-up as a result of my upbringing, as did Crowley. This latency relates to childhood experiences in which Plymouth Brethren doctrines relating to sin and damnation played a large in early psychological and emotional conditioning. Like Crowley, I secretly rebelled against the stultifying and life-denying doctrine of the Plymouth brothers, and during Sunday school classes began to find Jehovah's adversaries, both human and spiritual, much more intriguing than the Patriarch-in-the-sky, or "Old Nobodaddy" as William Blake dubbed him.

Despite my early rebellion, the fear and guilt instilled in the psyche at a young age is challenging to shake. Though I embrace Thelemic teachings and have worked also with other methods, I have been unable to entirely exorcise all traces left on me by this early exposure to evangelical propaganda. The guilt complex and the blood of the lamb went hand-in-hand; the conviction of being "sinful" and a pilgrim in a vale of tears once fixed in the emerging consciousness of the child, evokes a peculiar sense of alienation almost by default. The young Aleister felt alienated in this way (particularly during the boarding school years), and I am not wholly convinced that his courageous rebellion and the astounding path he opened through his magickal endevors, entirely eradicated the early psycho-emotional damage created by exposure to fundamentalist Christianity.

I became aware of Aleister Crowley in my late teens when a friend gave me a copy of the The Great Beast. Over time I became aware that I had a number of things in common with Crowley. Like Crowley, I was born in early October; we are both Librans with Leo ascendents and Moon in water. He was raised in a small evangelical sect called the Plymouth Brethren, as I was. He was sent to UK boarding schools at a young age, as was I (at age seven). His father, although a wealthy merchant, took to wondering the highways and byways preaching the gospel of Jesus. My father was an evangelical missionary in West Africa and my uncle a preacher. The latter went down to the Republic of Ireland to “save” Papists, and held impromptu open-air revival meetings. He was often beaten up and chased.

I have to say that when I had these connections pointed out to me I was less than impressed. Crowley isn’t a man who is easily understood or loved, and at first I viewed him with a good deal of suspicion. It has taken time and effort to penetrate his ideas, and to fully appreciate the extraordinary power of his revelation.

As for politics, Crowley was an arch-conservative. This often comes as a surprise to those on the left who view him as a counter-culture hero (as indeed he was and is). However he was never a "man-of-the-people" in the socialist sense, and had a strong penchant for grand titles and influential connections. When he did dabble in politics, his affiliations were seen as bizarre and even traiterous. For example during World War 1, during a soujourn in the USA, he wrote German propaganda for a pro-fascist publication named The Fatherland. On his return to England there were cries for his head. His motivations for this activity were complex and counter-espionage has been cited by way of explanation, but nonetheless he was viewed in certain official quarters in the UK as a traiter of the worst kind.

Crowley was also suspected of covert nazi sympathies in WW2. These suspicions derived mainly from mistaken views about the nature of Crowley's connections with occult groups in Germany. Such suspicions were hardly surprising - it should be remembered that many in aristocratic and even royal circles in the UK, were sympathetic to the Germans during WW2. News of the systemic attempt to wipe out European Jewry didn't surface with any credibility until after the war and the opening of the camps. Facts with respect to the conduct of the SS when dealing with civilian dissidents and captured enemy fighters, weren't fully established until witnesses came forward and evidence was produced.

People with occult sympathies tend to make poor politicians in my experience. Politics after all requires a basic grasp of pragmatic realities and a partisan approach. This is a box that complex, philosophical types tend to rail against, and certainly Crowley exhibited all of that in his eccentric outings on behalf of this or that political cause. For example his pro-Irish Republican sympathies arose more from an identification with the celtic mythos and his alienation from the British establishment, than it did from any genuine sense of solidarity with Irish Republicanism per se. He viewed politics through the prism of his own particular mythos, and very few understood where he was coming from - especially with regard to his fascist affiliations in the States.

In order to understand Aleister Crowley it is essential to get beyond the anecdotal reports. He was targeted by the yellow press of the day and many outlandish stories were fabricated about his activities. He was a complex individual and his motivations weren't always self-evident to those with a more down-to-earth view of life. He was certainly dramatic and given to grand gestures. This personality trait is precisely what grabbed attention in a post-Victorian society that was rigid and highly conformist.

Al and yours truly in Plymouth Brethren hell (that stick was a "sword" I used for battling a hated neighborhood kid).

Nuit in You

Nuit in You

Strange how you light up in love
as emotion breaks down your defenses.
Strange how you fade to black,
then re-emerge like a diver surfacing,
your eyes drugged with love,
shining like autumnal stars.

You rise in the vampire shadow
Without a trace of fear,
and in your savage love is both
the trance of death and resurrection,
as you kill without a weapon -
my black Kali, my star spangled Nuit,

Strange how the universe expands
in the ecstasy of death.
Strange how reawakening in your arms
erases the pain of remembrance.
Strange how the shattered self
reassembles
in the cradle of your arms.

Poetry by Therion (c)

William Blake Gallery

A selection of pieces by the English gnostic artist, William Blake ...

Blake#1

Blake#2

Blake#3

Blake#4

Blake#5

Blake#6

Blake#7

Blake#8

Of War and Omens

Liber AL vel Legis aka Book of the Law, is the central text of Thelema. It was received by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt, in the year 1904.

The messenger who revealed this Word was Aiwas; the one who Crowley identified as his guardian angel. However Aiwas introduced other godforms as speakers in the course of the Cairo revelation - those being Nuit, Hadit and Ra-Hoor-Khuit. Nuit is the goddess of the night sky or as Crowley named her “Lady of the Starry Heaven”. Hadit is best understood as the complement of Nuit, the point at the center of Nuit’s vast expanse. Everything that exists in the manifested universe comes from the “marriage” of Nuit and Hadit. The third speaker in Liber al vel Legis is identified as Ra-Hoor-Khuit, the crowned and conquering child.

In the third verse of His chapter, Ra-Hoor-Khuit identifies himself as the God of War. It should be remembered that Ra-Hoor-Khuit is also the indwelling power in the life of the initiate, and thus serves as a very specific spiritual force in the realization of Thelemic will. For this reason many assume his warlike self-description refers to “inner battles” of a spiritual nature. This is true, but the larger global struggle can’t be overlooked without risk of the Word of Thelema becoming reclusive and inward looking.

Let me state that there is much disagreement among pagans, followers of Thelema and others when it comes to the subject of war. Some view the Iraq war in typical leftist terms; a conspiracy launched by big oil and other right wing interests. This view places the war into the usual predictable political narrative. Others, including myself, see it differently. We view it as a crucially important engagement; another step in the ongoing crisis that will eventually lead to a collapse of the power of the three dominant Abrahamic religions .

When the build-up to this war began, I decided along with others of like mind, to back the American invasion. As you know there are many of the pagan persuasion currently serving in the US military. I used the language of the Xtian crusaders for a time and identified with their hubris in order to hasten the engagement. Astrological and other signs encouraged us to believe that this American advance into Iraq was critical in order to set the scene for events that will occur in the Middle East during this incoming decade; events that are pivotal to the emergence of the new cycle.

After Fallujah (according to certain key signs), we passed a tipping point, and the dye was cast as far as future events are concerned. As the knavery, double dealing and treachery of the Bush administration became more apparent, even "mercernaries" fighting under the flag began to balk. Many marines and other service people of pagan background, had increasing difficulty staying the course when the extent of the criminal mishandling of the campaign became evident. Nonetheless the Iraq campaign, and the fronts that opened in Lebanon recently, are signs of what is to come. The rows of dominoes have begun to collapse as the stage is set for a war that will make all of these fights seem like minor skirmishes. There will be temporary "peace treaties" and interim arrangements in the years to come, but this will not prevent the eventual slide into the abyss. Other great powers will be drawn in when that time comes, notably Russia.

Over the centuries the Christian church has been a tool in the expansionist designs of monarchs. It has initiated inquisitions, crusades and witch hunts with the aim of rooting out heretics - but in so doing has broken every tenet advocated by Jesus Christ who taught love and compassion, even to the point of turning the other cheek. They employed torture even genocide to ensure that the cross ruled victorious. This isn’t a religion, it is a power cult. Of course I defend the right of Christians to carry the cross of Christendom, in fact I actively encourage it, because the emergence of the new cycle is predicated on destruction.

In more recent years we have seen the explosion of a depth bomb within the catholic church. Children have been routinely abused by pedophile priests for decades, perhaps centuries. This crime has been buried and denied by church authorities for a very long time. How can a church representing the gospel of Jesus be in the business of creating a safe haven for abusers? How can these arch hypocrites masquerading in his name, sustain a culture of denial, and only step up to the plate when they are forced to do so by public outcry and rule of law?

There are also encouraging developments in some Christian denominations. We are seeing the inclusion of more women and gays in the clergy, and a move away from the traditional tenets toward a more inclusive and nature based focus. The theological dogma is less evident in such churches, and there seems to be a questing for a new synthesis.

I appeal to those of Thelema and also others of like mind, to discern the underlying truth of this struggle in the Middle East. Liber AL vel Legis and powerful astrological indicators point to the destruction to come. This apocalypse is not simply a consequence of emerging military/political realities, but is connected to a higher design; a design related to planetary forces.

Despite horrendous destruction, the future apocalypse will drive the human spirit forward into a new cycle of evolution, transcending the oppressive power of monotheism with its guilt complex and unbridled hypocrisy. We are witnessing the death throes of these patriarchal religions. Of course, it is naive to assume that they will simply disappear. They will linger on, but with their power and influence critically compromised.

Love is the law, love under will - AL I:57

Tree of Life

Some magical art works ...

The Minds

Temple

Mushroom Night

Leila Waddell

Isis Stars

Full Moon

Dawn on Sunday

Austin Osman Spare