Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

 As noted on the blog last Wednesday, instead of an "ask me anything" post this week on ecosophia.net, I'll be hosting a "Magic Monday" today. What does that mean? It means "ask me anything about occultism, and I'll post an answer here." Since this Monday is a busy day for a lot of people, being sacred to two popular religions -- Christianity on the one hand, and Consumerism on the other -- if comments trickle in on Tuesday et al., I'm not going to be a stickler for the point. 

That said, have at it! 

***PLEASE NOTE: as of midnight, 26 December 2017, this Magic Monday has packed its tents and gone away. If you have questions you haven't posted yet, please save them for the next Magic Monday on January 1!.***

Comments

intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG

You’ve mentioned in a few places how different magic systems make use of different energy centres/symbolism/techniques/etc because they have different goals. Could you describe the overall intentions which shape such factors in systems you are familiar with?

Also, on the Well of Galabes, I think there is mention about a future post on the drawbacks of the Golden Dawn, which I would be curious to hear more about if an additional question isn’t too greedy.

Merry Magic Monday!
Bewilderness

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

That's a huge issue! Very broadly speaking, the midline of the human body is like the string of a musical instrument -- say, a violin, because it doesn't have any frets built in. Wherever you put your finger on a string, you define a note, and the different scales you can play require different placements of your finger. In the same way, the human energy body resonates with different levels of existence at different points along its midline, and wherever you concentrate, you bring out that resonance.

So if all you want is the particular set of resonances that make you a good martial artist, you concentrate strictly on the point along the midline that's about two finger widths below the navel -- thats the hara or dantien, the energy point used in most East Asian martial arts. If all you want is a certain mode of intuitive clairvoyance, you concentrate on the point between the eyebrows, and so on. If you want a more balanced set of results, you work with a series of points.

Symbols and techniques are the same way. What do you want to achieve? If you want visionary experiences, there's one set of practices; if you want the capacity to move and shape subtle energies, there's another; if you want the kind of transformative experience generally known as "enlightenment," there's another, and so on. All roads emphatically do not lead to the same place, and if you're in New York and want to get to Boston, you don't take the highway headed south.

As for the Golden Dawn, that's actually fairly simple. The rituals of initiation are keyed to the Spheres of the Tree of Life, and that results in a very predictable kind of blowback if you take an initiation for a Sphere you haven't already integrated. The usual problem comes with the Adeptus Minor ritual, since very few people have integrated the Tiphareth level of consciousness; when they take the initiation, unless they can successfully coordinate the influx of energy with their existing state of consciousness -- which does happen, fortunately, but not as often as one would like -- the initiate manifests the Qliphothic side of Tiphareth instead, and becomes an arrogant jerk convinced of his own omniscience.

That's why there are so many people like that in the Golden Dawn scene; it's an unfortunate side effect of the structure of the grades. That's also why Dion Fortune and so many other offshoots of the Golden Dawn tradition scrapped the existing grade structure and replaced it, usually with a system of three degrees not linked to the Tree of Life; you get the same positive effects without the blowback.

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

How do druidry and the Golden Dawn compare in terms of the goals of the training?

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

Depends on the variety of Druidry we're talking about -- it's a very diverse spiritual movement. Which version of Druidry did you have in mind?

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Primarily, Druidry as in the Druid Magic Handbook and, secondarily, OBOD.

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

I'm not familiar with the current OBOD system; in the old correspondence course, it aimed at a general awakening of the subtle body, the sort of thing that makes a good preparation for any kind of general spiritual practice. (There were higher aspects of the work as well, but those aren't public.) AODA's system, which is the basis for the material in The Druid Magic Handbook, is rather more specific: it works with three energy centers, head, heart, and womb, and thus aims primarily at the integration of spiritual, mental, and emotional life in the individual, and secondarily at developing certain specific capacities for perceiving and shaping the life force, which are needed for the modes of Druid work discussed in the book. (I'll save my comments on the Golden Dawn for the comment below.)

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Are things like invisibility and animal transformation also possible within AODA's system, or are those not amongst the developed capacities?

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

They're not among the capacities the AODA system develops.

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Not originally my question, but I'd like to ask; between the Golden Dawn and the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn?

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

Same intention, different symbolism. The Golden Dawn tradition in general aims primarily at integrating the lower and higher selves, and secondarily at empowering the initiate to do work on the whole range of inner planes.

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Continuing from the string simile, what levels of existence and capacities resonate with the five energy centres activated during a Middle Pillar/Central Ray exercise, and what effects does the invocation of the Celtic gods have beyond those achieved by visualising the spheres of light in each place?

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[ecosophia]

The Malkuth/Naf center connects the energy body to the telluric current, the subtle energy of the Earth; the Yesod/Ner center awakens the same primary energy currents of the body worked by kundalini yoga, but in a less risky way; the Tiphareth/Muner center activates the creative imagination and the higher aspects of the Personality; the Daath/Iau center, on one plane, activates the magical dimensions of the voice, and on a higher plane facilitates the connection betweeh the Personality and the Individuality; and the Kether/Celi center is the link to the wholly transcendent aspects of the self and facilitates mystical experience. You can find out a good deal more about all of this in Dion Fortune's book The Circuit of Force.

Vibrating divine names or words of power in the centers is crucial to their full awakening. Partly that's because focusing sound on these centers has a potent effect on the etheric aspects of the body; partly it's because the gods and goddesses are real beings who can assist in the work if invoked respectfully!

Re: intentions of different magic systems

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks JMG. That was great.