I've been thinking on your essay a few weeks back commenting on alchemy as presented by Levi in chapter 19 of Doctrine and Ritual; particularly focused on flows in two directions and the Doctrine of Hermes in which the visible and invisible are in proportion. This called to mind something that I've noticed happen in two pursuits of mine - soccer and guitar playing. After some significant time doing both in adolescence, I got older and they turned into sporadic hobbies, but I continued having breakthroughs in both as long as I just practiced a bit and kept them in mind. In each there came a point where other people (often younger) noted my skill and asked how to get better, it seemed funny at the time because I certainly didn't feel skilled enough. In both cases what I settled on was that along the way I gained the ability to simultaneously play and observe myself playing. Even though I didn't know many songs nor had crazy solo skills, I could listen to my guitar and adapt the dynamics of playing to my intent, I could move the ball and adapt my body to the situation. The ability to intend and perceive in equal measure with both responsive to the other waxes and wanes, but it's changed both pursuits for me. (I believe this is likely tied to the modern psychological study of flow states.) A key to this is focus on the task, as with each pursuit there was also a period of time where the actions could be done without much thought, but the reapplication of focus once past that point eventually unlocked this new state. This also seems to be related to the three rays. When learning something new, there is the Light of wonder and exploration, practicing is the action/reaction state of powerful flux, eventually there is an action-focused perception-reaction state which paradoxically ends up being a place of focused yet still flowing harmony.
This got me thinking that spiritual work and magic are akin to sports as much as anything and helped me understand your emphasis on practice. I believe that there is a cultural habit (or even an egregore) around spirituality currently that others it, and I've often fallen into mentalizing the work and thinking there's something I will read and understand, or that I will happen upon an outside force, and it will change everything. I can see where our stories have reinforced that with the prevalence of Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey influencing me to study up and wait for gandalf/obi-wan. Those magic moments have occasionally happened, and I can see where it is beneficial to openly seek and welcome those moments; annnnd I'm coming to understand that the practices become portals of openness that allow those experiences and the practices themselves can become part of an alchemical awakening (almost any practice I suppose if done long enough with intent, perception, and focus.) I can see that discursive meditation is almost a direct practicing of perceiving and intending at the thought level building the "flow state" capability within me like finger picking guitar chords built it outside me; and that the sole act of years of a daily SOP has begun shifting my ability to perceive shifts in subtle planes and energies thereby changing my performance of the SOP. Anyway, this has been gently and quietly blowing my mind. I appreciate your work and how many tools and works you've made available.
1. Does the above resonate with your experience? I find it humorous to think of you as a Michael Jordan of magic, churning out playbooks and coaching guides each year, rather than a sagely academic guiding others through stuffy stacks of ... though perhaps that image is closer to the truth.
Two additional questions:
2a. In my understanding, the SOP is specific in what it invokes and banishes, whereas the Lesser Pentagram rituals are less specific. This, along with my experiences, suggests to me that the SOP primarily works on the individual with attendant effects on the space, and the Pentagram rituals work primarily on the space, with effects on the individual who is in casting within that space. Does that conflict with your understanding?
2b. Hypothetically, could the invoking and banishing phases in the Celtic Golden Dawn Ovate temple could be in separate locations or times. For example there if there is a space that I want more energy to flow through as I do mundane work, but also want cleansed at the end of the day; could a temple be opened in the morning and the primary magical work completed, but then close out the temple but delay the banishing for a few hours?
3. Your Polarity Magic book mentions that a practice comes partly from a Universal Gnostic Church communion ritual. I've read the Gnostic Celtic Church communion, but I've been searching and I haven't found the UGC ceremony anywhere in the documents and articles you've published. Am I missing something? Or, is that a piece that is revealed at a later stage, or self-created?
Thank you as always for this space and your counsel.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2025-01-13 03:44 pm (UTC)I've been thinking on your essay a few weeks back commenting on alchemy as presented by Levi in chapter 19 of Doctrine and Ritual; particularly focused on flows in two directions and the Doctrine of Hermes in which the visible and invisible are in proportion. This called to mind something that I've noticed happen in two pursuits of mine - soccer and guitar playing. After some significant time doing both in adolescence, I got older and they turned into sporadic hobbies, but I continued having breakthroughs in both as long as I just practiced a bit and kept them in mind. In each there came a point where other people (often younger) noted my skill and asked how to get better, it seemed funny at the time because I certainly didn't feel skilled enough. In both cases what I settled on was that along the way I gained the ability to simultaneously play and observe myself playing. Even though I didn't know many songs nor had crazy solo skills, I could listen to my guitar and adapt the dynamics of playing to my intent, I could move the ball and adapt my body to the situation. The ability to intend and perceive in equal measure with both responsive to the other waxes and wanes, but it's changed both pursuits for me. (I believe this is likely tied to the modern psychological study of flow states.) A key to this is focus on the task, as with each pursuit there was also a period of time where the actions could be done without much thought, but the reapplication of focus once past that point eventually unlocked this new state. This also seems to be related to the three rays. When learning something new, there is the Light of wonder and exploration, practicing is the action/reaction state of powerful flux, eventually there is an action-focused perception-reaction state which paradoxically ends up being a place of focused yet still flowing harmony.
This got me thinking that spiritual work and magic are akin to sports as much as anything and helped me understand your emphasis on practice. I believe that there is a cultural habit (or even an egregore) around spirituality currently that others it, and I've often fallen into mentalizing the work and thinking there's something I will read and understand, or that I will happen upon an outside force, and it will change everything. I can see where our stories have reinforced that with the prevalence of Joseph Campbell's Hero Journey influencing me to study up and wait for gandalf/obi-wan. Those magic moments have occasionally happened, and I can see where it is beneficial to openly seek and welcome those moments; annnnd I'm coming to understand that the practices become portals of openness that allow those experiences and the practices themselves can become part of an alchemical awakening (almost any practice I suppose if done long enough with intent, perception, and focus.) I can see that discursive meditation is almost a direct practicing of perceiving and intending at the thought level building the "flow state" capability within me like finger picking guitar chords built it outside me; and that the sole act of years of a daily SOP has begun shifting my ability to perceive shifts in subtle planes and energies thereby changing my performance of the SOP. Anyway, this has been gently and quietly blowing my mind. I appreciate your work and how many tools and works you've made available.
1. Does the above resonate with your experience? I find it humorous to think of you as a Michael Jordan of magic, churning out playbooks and coaching guides each year, rather than a sagely academic guiding others through stuffy stacks of ... though perhaps that image is closer to the truth.
Two additional questions:
2a. In my understanding, the SOP is specific in what it invokes and banishes, whereas the Lesser Pentagram rituals are less specific. This, along with my experiences, suggests to me that the SOP primarily works on the individual with attendant effects on the space, and the Pentagram rituals work primarily on the space, with effects on the individual who is in casting within that space. Does that conflict with your understanding?
2b. Hypothetically, could the invoking and banishing phases in the Celtic Golden Dawn Ovate temple could be in separate locations or times. For example there if there is a space that I want more energy to flow through as I do mundane work, but also want cleansed at the end of the day; could a temple be opened in the morning and the primary magical work completed, but then close out the temple but delay the banishing for a few hours?
3. Your Polarity Magic book mentions that a practice comes partly from a Universal Gnostic Church communion ritual. I've read the Gnostic Celtic Church communion, but I've been searching and I haven't found the UGC ceremony anywhere in the documents and articles you've published. Am I missing something? Or, is that a piece that is revealed at a later stage, or self-created?
Thank you as always for this space and your counsel.