Tag: Enochian

MAGICK IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS

MAGICK IS A CONTINUOUS PROCESS

What we have been calling ‘magick’ is actually a

continuous process. Since your subconscious never rests,

your environment is continually being shifted into line with

your model. This is true whether you study magick or not.

For most people, these effects are usually very subtle, and

they are probably not aware of them. However, as you work

with the occult, the flow of psychic energy and your

awareness of it increases. Your true will is more likely

to be strongly expressed. Your luck may be affected (either

in a positive or a negative way). Remember, our lives tend

to follow what we want down deep. That is why a positive

outlook is so very beneficial to us

MAGICK WHITE AND BLACK

MAGICK WHITE AND BLACK

‘Personal magick’ is that magick used to affect the

self; often involving affirmation, self-suggestion, and

self-hypnosis. ‘Active magick’ is outer directed magick (as

in PK) used to affect someone or thing, or to bring about

an event. ‘Passive magick’ is to be affected (as in ESP)

by an outside non-physical cause. Everyone possesses some

magical (and psychic) potential. Some are especially

gifted. Usually people are better at one kind of magick

(ie. active or passive) than they are at the other kind;

only rarely does an individual excell at both. Traning

and practice will, of course, improve ability somewhat.

Although the forces of magick are neutral, various

systems may take on the qualities of good and evil. There

is so-called white magick or good magick, black magick or

evil magick, and gray magick between them. When many people

refer to white magick they mean magick for unselfish

purposes, also healing and mental influence with specific

permission. By black magick they refer to magick for

self-interest and healing *without* specific permission.

Using magick to forcefully control another’s will is, in a

sense, black magick too. There are also some people on the

occult fringe who claim to be, possibly even think they are,

‘Satanists’, devil worshipers, or black magicians. These

people are most likely charlatans, hoaxters, dablers, or

merely misinformed. They may be attracted by the ‘art’ of

black magick, or even by the ‘glamor’ of doing something

against the ‘rules’. But a real black magician is very

dangerous. Because he has dedicated his life to evil. We

usually think of ‘white magick’ as having *unselfish

intent*, and (in the extreme case) of ‘black magick’ as

being actual Satan worship, human or animal sacrifice,

dangerous unconventional magical practices, and other

bizarre stuff as makes a nightmare. It is all a matter of

degree. Most mild self-interest magick (one of the most

common kinds) would be called ‘gray’. Better terms may be

*constructive magick* as being beneficial; and *aversive

magick* as magick intended to work against the natural

order, and to tear down. There is also the *high magick* of

spiritual alchemy (ie. spiritual growth), also known as ‘the

Great Work’; and conversely there is ‘low magick’ which is

concerned with materiality.

Any magick act is likely to produce side effects

regardless of whether or not the desired result is achieved.

Such side effects are no problem for constructive magick,

since they are benificial as well. However, aversive magick

can produce aversive side effects which may even harm the

magician — aversive magick is dangerous!

WHY DO MAGICK?

WHY DO MAGICK?

Magick encompasses many things — science and art,

philosophy and metaphysics, psychology and comparative

religion. Magick is an adventure at the borderlands of the

unknown. It can fit the pieces of the puzzel of life into a

meaningful whole.

_Magick is fun_ and interesting. Use magick to help

raise consciousness without drugs. Gain new experiences.

Fantacy can come alive through magick. Psychic phenomena can

be controlled and be fun and helpful.

_Magick is beneficial_. It can help you to have

excellent health, and bring you good luck. With magick life

runs smoothly; life is good. Also use magick for personality

improvement, to control bad habits and to develop new

motivations.

_Magick is powerful_. Never underestimate the

tremendous power of magick. Use magick to alter events and to

achieve your goals. Exert an influence over people and

phenomena. But power for its own sake is self defeating. The

power which magick can give you should not be your primary

reason for studying it.

WHY MAGICK

WHY MAGICK

The ability to think seems to set us apart from

other creatures. And although we are concerned with

living in the physical world, we are mental beings. The

fact is we are thinking all the time. We plan, we brood,

we get depressed or elated — all of it is thought. But

the universe is mental too, and if we could control our

thinking we would see magnificent results in the everyday

world.

Many systems have been developed over the ages to

help us control our thoughts. A great amound of dogma too

has been kicked around in an attempt to make us into better

people. Magick (the occult kind, spelled with a ‘k’) is one

of the oldest and most general of these systems. Magick is

the study and application of psychic forces. It uses mental

training, concentration, and a system of symbols to program

the mind. The purpose of magick is to alter the self and the

environment according to the will.

Most of the magick we see today comes to us from

ancient Egypt and Chaldea. The Chinese, Hindus, and Tibetans

developed their own unique types of magick. Western magick

was locked up by the Egyptian priests for thousands of years

and then supressed by the rise of Christianity. It was not

until medieval Europe that magical knowledge was rediscovered

by the alchemists and Cabalists. Only during the past hundred

years or so has western culture been open minded enough to

permit widespread investigation of the subject. Only since

the start of the twentieth century has science shown much

interest in it al all.

OIL SCRYING

OIL SCRYING

The history of oil scrying can be traced back to the ancient Babylonians. Some of their magic books have survived down through the centuries with details of the methods they used.
One of their techniques was called the “Princess of the Thumb”. A scryer annointed the forehead and thumbnail of a subject. The shiny nail acted as a magic mirror in which the scryer saw spirits. Another version was called the “Princess of the Hand”. Oil was mixed with black soot to make a black paste that was then smeared upon the hand. The scryer then used the hand as a mirror to scry future events.
A third type of oil scrying was called the “Princess of the Cup”. Sesame seed oil was used to coate the inside of a cup that was rested on its side.
The cup was used as a concave magic mirror to capture and magnify the light of a candle that was fixed on its inner rim.
From the Babylonians oil scrying found its way to the Egyptians and Hebrews. The most detailed examples of oil scrying are written in the Greek Magical Papyri written in Egypt between 200 B.C. and A.D. 500.
Four kinds of water which is to be mixed with the oil is used for four types of divination.
If you call upon the services of the heavenly Gods then use rainwater. If you invoke the terrestrial Gods then use sea water. If you invoke the Gods Osiris or Serapis use riverwater. And if you call upon the souls of the dead then use spring water.

Scrying

Scrying

Scrying is the ancient act of divination for the purpose of clairvoyance. It is usually achieved by concentrating on or staring at an object having a shiny surface until a vision appears. Magicians and witches have practiced scrying throughout the ages. The typical stereotype of a person scrying is a Gypsy fortune teller looking into her crystal ball.

Scrying comes from the English word “descry” which means “to make out dimly” or “to reveal.” There have been and are many purposes for the activity; to see into the future, to find lost objects or persons, and track criminals, among others. In the Middle Ages a wise woman or a wise man, perhaps also called a witch, with a natural gift of second sight was called upon for scrying purposes.

Although the object used for scrying usually has a shiny surface, innumerable objects have been used for the practice over the centuries. The Egyptians used ink, blood and other dark liquids. The Romans used shiny objects and stones. Water has been used for gazing into. Mirrors are often used.

There is an example of the interior of a cauldron being painted black, then filled with water at night, a silver coin was dropped into the water so to reflect moonlight. Such means have been employed to see visions and read mystical signs.

Many witches scry in a magic circle to prevent outside influences from distorting their visions. Also, this is why most scrying is done at night in order to receive better psychic vibrations. As a general rule most diviners work at night in order to avoid the excessive psychic vibrations that are generated in the day due to the confusion of everyday living. The methods of scrying differ but after a period of concentration on the speculum visions, mental images, or impressions appear. Frequently the visions are symbolic and the scryer must be trained and skillful in interpreting their meanings.

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR SCRYING

TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR SCRYING

  • A short meditation session before you begin to scry often helps to get you into the mood and release some of your tension. You must be feeling as relaxed and receptive as possible. Make sure that you are sitting as comfortably as possible. It is quite frustrating to be on the verge of perceiving something when a leg or arm falling asleep breaks your concentration.
  • When you look into your scrying tool, try to look past the surface and into the center of it.Try to keep your eyes fixed on one spot, but don’t prevent yourself from blinking. Since you are in a dark room, the need to blink might lessen as your body relaxed, but don’t try to force yourself not to. That will only cause discomfort and distraction.
  • Limit your sessions to a set period of time. Don’t be discouraged if you can not remain focused during the entire session or if you feel the need to stop before the session is over. If you are not used to meditating, try to start out with a 15 minute session. You will be surprised to experience how long 15 minutes will see as you try to keep your mind from wandering. Ultimately, scrying sessions should last up to an hour in length. Don’t set a timer or try to keep track of time. This will create a distraction and you don’t want to be in the middle of a particularly vivid image when the timer goes off!
  • Keep in mind that though the words “vision” and “scry” almost always call to mind information that is perceived with the eyes, that this is not necessarily the case. While scrying, information can come to you via all five of the senses and also as intuitive flashes. When reviewing the information that you have perceived, take all you senses into account.
  • Start a scrying journal if you intend to scry on a regular basis. Date each entry, and make sure that it is close by during each scrying session. Note down all your perceptions after your session, sleep on them, and then work on interpreting them the next day. Though it is true that some visions come through so clearly that they need little interpretation, most of the time you need to meditate on your visions for a while to absorb their true meanings.
  • If you are familiar with another method of divination (Ruins, Tarot, Pendulum, etc.) you can use their help with interpreting the information you get from scrying. Simple one card/one ruin spreads are the best to give you an overview of your vision’s meaning. Or if you are familiar with a dream interpretation spread, you can use that to help you figure it out.
  • Often at the beginning of a scrying session, you will start to see clouds of colors in your scrying tool. Some scryers never get past this stage. If you find this to be the case, you can interpret the colors using traditional color symbolism.

Introduction To Scrying – PROBLEMS

Introduction To Scrying – PROBLEMS

The most common problem people encounter in this part of the work is maintaining a consistent shape for their body. They find that even after long practice their head and arms will remain reasonably well-defined, but the rest of their imaginary body has a tendency to blur into amorphousness. This is a reflection of the relative density of nerves in the physical body. Eighty percent of our sensory and kinesthetic nerves are in the head and hands; half of the remainder are in the upper chest, shoulders and arms. Our perception of the rest of the body is substantially more vague, and depends as much on sight as on direct sensory connections. When one tries to build an astral body, the mind tends give each part of it a size proportional to the relative nerve densities.

This is really not so bad. You don’t need legs in the magickal space, since you are moving yourself around by your volition rather than by pushing yourself with muscles. You _do_ need arms and hands to do the gestures of magickal rituals, and lips and jaws to speak the words. If you find that after some practice you can’t maintain a full body image, don’t worry about it; just get by with what you do have, and imagine the rest of your body concealed by a robe or other loose garment.

The second problem people have is that their physical body twitches or moves when they try to move their magickal body. They unconsciously tense up the physical body, trying to “lock” it so that it won’t follow along with the magickal body. This is a matter of lifelong habit, of associating the sensations of movement with the volitional act of moving your muscles. One has to disassociate the sensations from the volition, and another simple exercise will help.

In your magickal space, imagine you are standing with your arms held out in front of you, palms facing downwards. Now imagine that you are turning them so that the palms face upwards, but that you are turning them _entirely with your eyes_. That is, you see them turning over, and feel the sensations of the changed position, but you don’t involve the part of your mind that moves the muscles. You should _see_ your arms move without willing them to move. (In fact, you are directing your will through your visual centers instead of your muscles, but it should not seem like you are willing it, at first.)

The first few times you do this, your physical arms are almost certain to tense up into rigidity. When you notice this happening, stop and do the relaxation exercises until your body is loose again, and then go back to trying to move your magickal hands again.

Once you succeed in turning your astral hands over without tensing your physical hands, you should try moving the fingers individually. Curl each one over onto the palm, and straighten it out again. Again, do the relaxation exercise whenever your physical body tenses up. When you succeed in moving the individual fingers without tensing up, try various coordinated movements: clenching your fists, grasping objects, karate chops, Vulcan greeting-gestures, and so on.

The hands are the hardest part of the magickal body to separate from the physical, because a major portion of our nervous systems go into controlling their movement. Once you have managed to dissociate movement of your magickal and physical hands, the rest of your body will be very easy, and can be done with similar exercises, if necessary.

Introduction To Scrying – A Magickal Space for Enochian Scrying

Introduction To Scrying

A Magickal Space for Enochian Scrying

Since the Enochian powers are so sensitive to the visual symbols in a magickal space, the general-purpose magickal space developed in the preceding sections of this paper is likely to be inappropriate for Enochian work. The profusion of objects with which you have populated the landscape would all tend to anchor the forces in unexpected or undesired forms. A space with a more neutral visual appearance needs to be used.

A woman I once met made a habit of surveying people about the appearance of their magickal spaces. Amusingly, nearly all the Enochian magicians she knew (most of whom did not know the others) had chosen to build essentially identical spaces for their work. This space might thus be considered an archetypal Enochian workplace. It consists of a broad, gray plain, surrounded at the horizon by low hills; both plain and hills are illuminated in a flat, sourceless light of relatively low intensity. Overhead, there is a night-sky filled with stars. The plain is large enough that the magician always has a previously-unused area available in which to perform a new series of invocations.

The remaining few magicians in her survey had chosen to go even further in the direction of minimalism than this Michael Moorcock landscape. Their workspaces consisted solely of a clear space within a gray mist, with a featureless gray floor underneath, created ab initio for every invocation.

My feeling is that the plain has a slight advantage as a workspace. It allows for the establishment of long-term or permanent structures, useful for advanced works in which the invocations must be done in section, or for building a temple appropriate to a range of Enochian works.

Scrying Techniques for Enochian Magick

Both the “magick mirror” technique and its extension as a “gate” work as well with Enochian powers as they will with other, more conventional magickal powers. I would recommend that you create a new mirror in your Enochian workplace for every series of invocations that you do, and destroy it after completing the series. Since the Enochian powers tend to accumulate over time, this prevents residual forces from previous works from interfering with a new work.

However, as mentioned above, it is often necessary to provide a firm visual anchor for Enochian powers; you may find that the mirror technique is insufficiently exact, and only gives you confused or contradictory results. If that is the case, one of the following methods will be more effective.

The Golden Dawn devised a technique for using visualizations of truncated pyramids as the starting point for visions of individual squares from the Tablets. This practical method has been proven by use to be very effective, precisely because it provides a well-defined symbolic “anchor” for the Enochian powers. I recommend this technique for beginners, both for this reason and because it tends to focus the powers into their most “earthly”, most readily-comprehensible form.

The basic technique is to build a truncated pyramid in your magickal space. The flat top has an area one-ninth the area of its base. The relative sizes of the top and bottom means the sides are tilted inwards at an angle of forty-five degrees. The letter of the square is visualized on the flat top. The sides of the pyramid are colored and labeled with symbols and images according to a complex system of attributes.

(The G.D. system of attributes is described in detail in book 4 of Regardie’s The Golden Dawn; my own alternate system (which I believe to be a substantial improvement over the G.D. system) is described in the papers titled “Godzilla Meets E.T.”, which can be found at: http://www.hermetic.com/browe/index.html. The pyramid method works very well with either system.)

The pyramid is visualized as being large enough to stand on the top. Having vibrated the appropriate Calls for the name in which the square lies, the magician then stands on top of the pyramid in his astral body, and vibrates the hierarchy of names. As he vibrates each name, the magician imagines the power of that name gathering around the pyramid.

When the last name is vibrated, the magician imagines that each side of the pyramid is gathering in the attracted energy, each taking the type appropriate to its attributes and symbols. This energy is seen moving upwards, being focused as it goes by the narrowing of the sides. The flows of energy from the sides reach the top simultaneously, run into each other, and form a beam of light shining up and outwards into the astral worlds, forming a path to a region of magickal space governed by the square. The magician then follows this beam in his astral body until a landscape or other scene forms around him. This scene should symbolize various aspects of the square invoked. From that point, the techniques describe earlier can be used to explore the region.

I prefer a variation of this method, in which the magician stands inside the pyramid. When the energies traveling up the sides reach the top, they come together on the letter and then shine downwards into the pyramid, illuminating the interior. The angel governing the square is invoked to visible appearance within the pyramid and is tested there. After testing, the angel conducts the magician to various scenes that illustrate the square’s nature.

Since a session using this technique only explores the power of one letter of an angel’s name, you only get a partial view of the angel’s nature. To fully understand an angel, all the letters of its name should be explored in sequence.

When you wish to invoke all of an angel’s powers at once rather than a single letter, it is more convenient to make your anchoring image something like a magickal circle, or a talisman sufficiently large that you can stand on it. A example design for such a circle would have the divine names superior to the given angel written around the rim of the circle. The name of the angel being invoked would be written within the circle, oriented so that it appears upright when you are facing in the direction in which you want the angel to appear. If the angel is associated with a particular magickal formula (e.g., Kerubic angels and the INRI formula) symbols appropriate to that formula might also be drawn within the circle.

Note that the intent of this figure is much closer in function to a talisman than to the traditional idea of a magickal circle. It is not intended to block off its interior from the exterior areas; you should feel free to move in and out of it at will. Nor is it intended to “contain” the invoked force. Rather, the idea is that the charged figure will serve to attract the attention of the appropriate being — like putting a big illuminated sign saying “Land Here!” next to a runway — and will also serve to condition the surrounding magickal space so that it reflects the nature of the invoked powers.

Vibrate the appropriate Calls several times; then enter the magickal space and create the circle. Vibrate the divine and angelic names, and as you feel the invoked power arrive, direct it into the lines and letters in the circle so that they glow and re-radiate the power to the surrounding environment. Keep vibrating the names until the intensity of invoked power seems to level off, then vibrate only the name of the being you wish to contact, asking it to appear before you. Vibrate the angel’s name until it does appear; then apply the tests, and ask the angel what you will.

Calling the angel to the circle is my personal preference; I would rather have the guide take me to the place I want to go than go there first and find a guide afterwards. The reverse may be more comfortable for you. If that is the case, you can vary the above method by concentrating the invoked force in the circle instead of allowing it to radiate. Then imagine that the force is creating a “gate” to the power’s magickal space; imagine the center of the circle opening up as the magick mirror did in the earlier exercises, so that you can step directly through it into that space. Or you can imagine that the powers form a beam of light shooting up from the circle, which you can ride to the powers’ space.

Introduction To Scrying – Scrying with the Enochian Magick

Introduction To Scrying

 

Scrying with the Enochian Magick

There are several considerations for Enochian magick work that do not apply to scrying using other systems.

The first of these is the unquestionable power of the Calls and the divine and angelic names. As Crowley once said, other systems require effort; Enochian magick requires caution. While the power built up in any one session is almost never of an unmanageable level, some effects of the magick tend to accumulate across sessions; it is easy for an overeager beginner to get in deeper than he expects. Added to this, the powers invoked through the Calls seem to enter into the magician’s field of awareness along some spiritual dimension that is outside those we consider “normal”; it seems to operate through some sort of meta-space with qualities different from those that compose the magickal worlds to which we are accustomed.

The consequence of these factors is that any work with the magick places a certain amount of stress on the magician’s mind and body, and over-use can lead to various stress-related forms of illness. Anyone working regularly with the magick should keep an eye out for signs of this stress in himself. The typical symptoms are similar to those that come from abusing methedrine or “speed”: nervous exhaustion, severely lowered immune response, inability to concentrate, hypersensitivity, hyper-reactivity, reduced judgment, flights of ideas, and paranoia.

One time in my own career, the stress of overusing this magick combined with an equally stressful mundane occupation to give me the worst of both the physical and mental consequences. On the physical side, I contracted mononucleosis, effectively stopping all my magickal work for six months or so. On the mental side, the changed viewpoint and loss of judgment caused me to make seditious remarks to a class of Federal employees I was training, resulting in the loss of my livelihood.

So caution is well-justified. But with a few easy, obvious precautions, these problems can be avoided.

  • Avoid using the magick at times when other parts of your life are unusually stressful. Try to arrange your affairs so as to reduce the social and economic pressures to the minimum level compatible with your needs.
  • Get regular exercise; a healthy body handles stress better.
  • Don’t use recreational drugs while working with the magick. Aside from being illegal (jail is a poor place for magickal work), all of them add to the stress on your body. Most stimulants and sedatives also reduce your magickal sensitivity and ability to focus in your magickal space. Hallucinogens make you _too_ sensitive, and reduce your level of control.
  • Learn to pace yourself. When first starting out, allow a day or two between Enochian invocations to absorb the results and “cool off”. Later, when you get to the point where you need to accumulate power over several day’s worth of invocations, allow at least as many days off after the series as you spent in doing the work. Take longer vacations from the work every few months to keep yourself grounded.

The importance of pacing yourself cannot be overemphasized. When you begin getting significant results from your Enochian work, it is very tempting to keep going; the anticipation of even more amazing results drives you on. But the extra-dimensional or meta-dimensional character of these forces allows them to influence all levels of your being simultaneously, including many levels of which you are not consciously aware. The cumulative effects of this influence can cascade into a dangerous level of stress before you become aware of it. Regular intervals of rest and relaxation, and of immersion in the everyday world, are the only sure way to avoid the problems.

Another difficulty, which bears more directly on scrying, is that the Calls allow you to invoke a force without having any knowledge of its nature. In normal methods of invocation, one begins with a symbol or set of symbols, and seeks by their use to bring about the manifestation of the corresponding powers. The symbols you use define the power to be invoked. In contrast, the Calls produce a manifestation of power regardless of whether you comprehend their symbolic content.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that, from a perspective accustomed to the traditional magickal powers (i.e., the elements, planets, and zodiac) the nature of the invoked powers seems to change depending on the depth of one’s penetration into their realms. Or from another angle, the Calls and Names open up different realms, depending on the level of existence at which you are operating. On the most superficial level, they appear to be more or less “elemental” in nature, with an overlay related to the functions of the angels’ specific offices; but at “deeper” or “higher” levels, this elemental aspect fades, to be replaced by a succession of increasingly complex and inclusive expressions that may bear little or no relation to the most superficial appearance.

Unless the magician supplies an explicit set of symbols to which the invoked powers can be anchored, the powers will tend to remain in an indeterminate state; a sort of “fuzzy cloud” of energy which contains all the power’s potential expressions, but which manifests none of them explicitly. A visual symbol used as an anchor causes this indeterminacy to “collapse” into that aspect of the power which is most nearly similar to the symbol’s innate associations. The congruency between the symbol and the invoked power does not have to be very great. It is sufficient that some small aspect of the symbol’s associations be similar to the power’s; the major associations of the symbol can be entirely inappropriate, and this collapse will still occur.

So the symbol the scryer uses will determine, in part, the initial manifestation of an invoked Enochian power; the scryer’s expectations or preconceptions of the power’s nature will also be partially determining. This accounts for the documented fact that different magicians have produced widely varying — sometimes even contradictory — results using the system. However, it is my observation that with repeated invocations and scryings, the true nature of the invoked power will break through these initial, superficial expressions. The longer you work with a particular Enochian power, the more closely your results will accord with that nature, and the deeper you will penetrate into the realms to which the power connects.

Since penetration past the sometimes-deceiving surface manifestations takes time, orderly, methodical work habits are necessary to get the most value of your Enochian work. The fact that invocations have a cumulative effect can be used to advantage if you plan out your course ahead of time, and stick to it. The following suggestions will all enhance the effectiveness of your Enochian scryings:

  • For every angel or other power that you invoke, do several scrying sessions. Allow time for a connection to be built up between you and the angel, and for your mind to become accustomed to its power.
  • Work for an extended period solely with powers from a single Tablet. Or if you are working with the Aethyrs or the 91 Parts of the Earth, pick a set of contiguous Aethyrs or Parts and do them sequentially.
  • If you are invoking single squares of some angelic or divine name, plan to do all the squares of that name in sequence.
  • Plan out a series of invocations to investigate all the angels of a given rank within one of the Tablets, in some logical sequence. Complete the series before working with any other rank or Tablet. Alternately, plan out a series to investigate all the powers within a given Lesser Angle, in order of rank.