Magic: It's more than just finding parking spaces This article reflects some of my ongoing changes in my philosophy about occult culture and the relevance of magic within it and life in general.
The Latest Issue of Rending the Veil is up
The Latest issue of Rending the Veil is up! It features articles by Patrick Dunn, Cat Vincent, Lupa, myself, and others.
I direct readers of this blog to my article: The Evolution of Magic, which has an important announcement at the end of it. Also my new column: Occult Author Spotlight debuts with a look at Pascal Beverly Randolph. The other articles are also really good. I found Dunn's article on creating an imaginary friend particularly intriguing.
So check out the Samhain issue of Rending the Veil and see what's being done by some of the cutting edge occultists.
In Loco Dei: Pathology in Western Magic
By Vince Stevens In dealing with Modern Western Magic, I and those I work with often find consistent patterns of pathology in Western Magical culture:
- Tendencies to arrogance and self-obsession among magicians.
- An inordinate focus on rebellion, rebelliousness, and distance from the dominant - or any culture.
- An unusual distance from people, processes, nature, and the world at large - a distinct sense of separation. Magic is push-button, and people, cultures, nature, and even magic are seen as something mechanical, easily boiled down to a fw traits.
These pathologies often trouble I and those I work with in magic. As magical pratcitioners, as much as we enjoy the activity, the pathologies in Western Magical culture prevent barriers. Simply, when one joins a group, a list, go to an event, you worry you're going to run into what are lovingly called "the nuts" (and less lovingly called many other things.
I find no reason to think these pathologies are universal to magical and mystical practitioners. A quick examination of practitioners of magical arts and their legends in different cultures reveals a variety of different kinds of personalities, virtues, vices, and practices. One can find alchohol-fueled shamans, serene Buddist monks with occult abilities, compassionate Taoist sage-Immortals, and more. There is no reason to assume the pathologies of Western Magic are universal to magical practitioners, or even have any particular utility.
Looking at these pathologies, I felt they would be best addressed. So in my small effort to make a contribution to understanding these issues, I decided to ask - just where did these pathologies come from? Perhaps by understanding these issues, I could do some good.
So, I started at the top.
ARROGANCE: The Christian God.
Christianity was the dominant religion of the West for centuries, and is an odd religion in many ways. It proposes an omnipotent and omniscient deity of ultimate power that still possesses identifiable human traits of anger, love, and so forth. Its central deity, despite his great power, allows evil and suffering to exist due to a rebellious minion, later explained as an issue of free will - which one would figure that an omnipotent being could deal with such an issue. Attempts had to be made to reconcile a rather cruel tribal (Old Testament) deity with a later loving deity, leaving one with a loving being manipulating a messed up world and eventually condoning eternal torment for people for what would be frankly trivial actions.
The Christian God was also a distant being. His creation was a possession of his own, as were the sentients within it. He would regularly send disasters, plagues, and so forth upon people and countries, theological weapons of mass destruction. He had no connection to his creation except as something separate.
However, despite his confusing nature, the Christian God was considered the leader in all things, and thus in many ways, could be taken as a role model. His commandments were to be obeyed (even if they seemed to benefit those relaying said commandments). His world was law, and his confusing traits were to be explained as mysteries or by theological acrobatics.
Magical practices of these times were thus limited by the strange issues of this deity: early Western-Christian magic seems to have split between "Natural Science" magic that worked with perceived neutral or divine forces, and a kind of religious magic where one used (or misused) the name of the Christian God, rituals, and so forth to achieve certain ends. One worked within creation - or stepped into the rather large shoes of the Deity to call angels, coerce demons, and so forth. There were exceptions (such as the mystical meditations of Honorius and of course the Cabalists.), but such two-sided magic seemed to predominate.
One never left the sphere of control of the Omnipowerful Christian God, but one could act like him. And in this, I think the seeds of the pathologies of Western Magic were planted (as well as frankly pure social problems). The first role model was an incomprehensible, erratic tyrant.
Of course, tyrants produce rebels . . .
REBELLION: Shout at the Devil Explaining the problems of the world in light of the hodge-podge of the Christian God proved rather difficult for people - a perfectly powerful, perfectly loving being was dealing with a supposedly imperfect creation. Fortunately, theology provided a way with Satan, who can be thought of in many ways, but I think of him as a religious plot device. A McGuffin with horns.
Satan is a figure somewhat less confusing than the Christian god, if only because he's somewhat simpler: a rebellious servant who decided to do his own thing and was, essentially, a professional pain-in-the neck. You could always blame Satan.
Accusations of Satan Worship were common in Europe for hundreds of years - different sects of Christianity naturally assumed other sects were in league with the devil. Satan was everywhere you weren't, and the explanation for all bad things.
Satan had two influences on Western Magic in my opinion: 1) First, Satan's influence on popular culture at the time led to plenty of stories of Satanism - and of course Satanic magic. Faust may have been popular, but similar tales of deals with the devil popped up all over. The idea of the magician as in league with dark, rebellious forces easily worked its way into popular consciousness, and affected people's expectations of magic. Would-be magicians, frauds, novelists, and honest seekers were easily influenced - or were glad to influence others - with false grimoires and strange experiments. 2) Satan led to endless speculation, and of course, writing. He was explored in Paradise lost. He was written about. He became a convenient dumping ground for people's fears. Of course, as the human mind can't resist exploring, he was at times visualized as a hero, or turned into a counterforce to an evil false God with a nice injection of pseudo-Gnostic thought. Perhaps the ultimate triumph of the idea of Satan were people who decided to actually go worship him, as others had been accused of doing.
However, Satan really wasn't much of a role model, except perhaps for the bacchanalian rebellion he provided against straight-laced society. He was childishly (and suicidally) rebellious, destructive and lashing out against creation, and in general, a jerk. He was a mirror-image to the Christian God, and he lived up to it, adding only one new trait: rebellion.
Thus the Western Magician was caught between an arrogant and bizarre god, and a romanticized but destructive rebel. Magic itself was part of a system that usually involved coercion of beings (and a helping of whatever old pre-Christian rituals could be adapted).
DISTANCE: Blinded by Science As Western Society moved into its scientific age, a more enlightened time, the scientist took his well-deserved place in culture. New discoveries, rational exploration, and intelligent thought became important to culture. It's no small feat to say science is something we owe much to in Western society.
However, science still grew up in the culture of the West, and it inherited some of the pathologies. Science could justify tribalistic identity with "scientifically justified" racism. Science was seen as liberating us from creation and controlling it - much as the deity had.
Science in Western society, for all its gains, postulated humans distant from creation, controlling it, dominating it. Despite evolution's reminder of our origins, people were still distant and controlling - just as the Christian God had been. I will be fully straightforward in my biases - I think a lot of modern Western science hasn't yet transcended its cultural biases.
Unfortunately those biases came from the Western Christian concepts - and people were still following in the footsteps of the Christian God (and in a few cases, Satan's cloven hoofprints).
Science was in a way a boon to Western Magic - bringing in psychology, scientific metaphor, and cultural study. I'd say in fact Western Magic greatly benefited from science.
However the distance rarely seemed to go away. I've seen magic boiled down to pure, materialist psychology, fears of "scientificizing" or "psychologicizing" magic, and so on. Magic, I think, has often suffered self-esteem issues in the West, and thus compensates not by doing its own thing, but by trying to be more like science. There's a point when if you start being something else, you stop being what you are.
THE SUMMARY Western Magic, though making many leaps in the last decades (or century), still has its pathologies as mentioned in the introduction: Arrogance, Rebellion, and Distance. The role models of Western culture (acknowledged and not), leave us with these traits.
However acknowledging the past lets us cope with it - and magic is after all transformational. By acknowleding that Western Magic hasn't always had the best role models (and survived despite that), we can go about developing the future.
Bits and Pieces
I finished reading Language, Thought and Reality by Benjamin Lee Whorf and waltzed right into Defining Reality by Edward Schiappa. Whorf's work was interesting and makes me wonder how much Burroughs might have read or if Burroughs came to similar conclusions about language independently. Defining Reality, by Schiappa, is a favorite book of mine and is a logical extension of Whorf's work and argument that language shapes our conceptions of reality. A definition describes agency, and can be an attempt to control the conceptualization of reality. *********
I've been thinking lately that the more a person exposes him/her self to a particular meme, the more desensitizied s/he becomes to that particular meme. Initially the meme is quite pervasive and powerful, but later it becomes boring, something all too often encountered. You begin to realize that you've been there again and again and again. What makes a meme live? The value and meaning associated with it, but desensitization can take the meaning out of a meme, make it part of the background. Eventually it fades away, the lustre lost in the glow of new memes or simply the lack of meaning a person finds in all those crazy memes. At some point a meme without meaning is a person without water. Dehydrated and dying. Memes only have value when they are provided meaning...even if that meaning is as simple as fulfilling a desire such as hunger or sex.
Magician's Reflection and The Pop Culture Grimoire is here!
I'm pleased to say that we now have copies of the Magician's Reflection by Bill Whitcomb and the Pop Culture Grimoire anthology, edited by Me available. If you've pre-ordered, we'll have copies out to you by Monday at the latest. Needless to say I'm very happy these books are out.
Radio show update and the next issue of silverstar is out!
Tonight I will be doing a show on the power of language from 9pm pst to 10pm PST. Listeners can call in at 646-652-2830. Also next week's show will be on the Competition Blues and ways to deal with competition as well as how to make your competition work for you. The latest issue of Silverstar magazine is now available. Features some excellent articles as well as some book reviews, including Multi-Media Magic by me!
Book Reviews and a meditation on Emptiness
Book Reviews: Grammar for the Soul by Lawrence Weinstein While not a typical book that one might associate with spiritual techniques, this book proved rather intriguing because the author examines how punctuation, tenses, clauses, passivity, etc is used in language to communicate and also empower an individual. As someone who consistently is interested in exploring the connection between language and spiritual techniques, I also found this book useful for considering how I could not only improve my writing, but also improve the efficacy of my magical workings when it came to using language.
Each chapter is only a few pages long, but the author manages to include a lot of information as well as samples for how grammar can be used to empower and communicate, as well as create personal change. The author's narrative is friendly and approachable. I didn't feel lost in a sea of grammar rules. If anything, I felt that I could easily navigate grammar's laws and use them to my benefit, both for my writing and my sense of self.
If I have one quibble with this book, it's that the author didn't include exercises for the reader. While the examples he used were illustrative of how to improve one's writing skills as well as how to use writing to effect personal change, the lack of exercises can keep the reader from realizing the book's full potential, unless they are already active writers. That said, I'd give this book a 4.5 out of 5.
Book Review: The Mind and the Brain by Jeffery Schwartz and Sharon Begley
This book was probably the most fascinating book I read about neuroscience and that's saying something since I find all of them fascinating. In this book the author explains neuroplasticity and how it continues to work in the brains of an adult as well as a child. The author also reviews many of the neuroscience experiments and projects done by various people as well as how those projects have confirmed the efficacy of mindful practices in controlling our habits and thoughts.
What I found really fascinating was how the author's work with OCD patients help them overcome that affliction by learning how to rewire the thought patterns. Equally interesting is the focus on how we can deliberately change our brains not only to heal, but also to continue sharpening our skills. For people interested in the intersection of neuroscience and magic, this book is a must read. 5 out 5
*******
A Meditation on Emptiness
Last night, while at the Deacon X fetish event, I again felt myself feeling empty...I think it was a continuing realization that with everything going on there, I had a sense of loneliness, a sense of not feeling satisfied...a realization, again, that this emptiness is not something that can be cured by the presence of anyone person...that it is something that can be ignored or sometimes not felt, but it is still a fundamental part of life. I felt a moment of anger and frustration...part of me wanted to walk out and just keep walking...but instead of doing that I sat down, and start a Taoist breathing meditation, opening myself up to that feeling of emptiness, accepting it. As I breathed I circulated my energy into that feeling of emptiness and felt my emotions swirl into the energy until I felt very calm. And I felt the emptiness reach out and start teaching me something I could do with the circulating energy to not only calm myself, but direct the emptiness I felt. I directed it into my hands, which I would later put to good use at said event ;)
Still what I came away with is that emptiness can be worked with...not just felt but worked with, which will make the oncoming elemental year very interesting indeed.
Some thoughts on Linguistics and Magic, An interview with Sequential Tart, and Radio Show Reminder
Whew! That is one long title, isn't it? Interview With Sequential Tart
I was interviewed recently by Sequential Tart about Magic and the Self. I discuss some of my previously published works, but also some of my on-going work in identity and magic.
Some thoughts on Linguistics and Magic
I recently picked up Magic, Power, Language, Symbol by Patrick Dunn. I haven't cracked it open yet, but I'm looking forward to reading it, because one of my many interests in magical practice is the combination of it with Linguistics, as I've amply demonstrated in Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy, and Multi-Media Magic. It should come as no surprise to readers that my next book project will likely include something on language and identity in relationship to magic. The reason I'm not reading Dunn's book quite yet is that I'm currently reading a little book called Grammar for the Soul by Lawrence Weinstein. I'm already impressed by this book and the author has inspired me to read up on Benjamin Whorf's contributions to Linguistics. In this book, the author looks at how punctuation can be used to evoke emotional states of empowerment and personal change. A colon, for instance, can be used to get noticed by people. And you know...he's right so far. As I've read this book, I've found myself nodding in agreement and underlining passages...and thinking...I've seen this focus on punctuation in multimodality before, but never phrased in such an elegant way. What pleases me the most about this book is that the author looks at how the placement of words, phrases, and punctuation can make all the difference in the mood evoked by that word and punctation usage...it's not NLP, but it is a study of the power of the word.
I think linguistics is one of those disciplines that magicians should start studying on day one of their magical practice. Because so much magical practice revolves around the almighty word, it makes sense that we should focus on the discipline that already studies how the word is used. One of my favorite authors, William S. Burroughs experimented frequently with the power of the word and how it could be used to shape reality. My own experiments with words have always proven to be fruitful: I even evoked my wife into my life using a collage and have occasionally evoked other people as well. Now that's magic at work!
I've always felt that writing is one of the most powerful mediums of magic. It conveys more than information. It conveys emotion, virtual environments, memes, concepts, viruses and so much more...and it's something we can experiment with fairly easily once you know the rules.
Radio Show Reminder
My next show will be today, September 9th at 8Pm Pacific standard time.
Subject : Change your Re-Action to Action!
Summary: Sometimes, whether we intend to nor not, we sabotage ourselves with our reactions. A reaction is a pattern of belief or emotion that causes us to act in a particular way. In this show, I will show how you can change your limiting beliefs and reactions into actions that help you manifest your imagination into reality.
Listeners can call into the show at: (646) 652-2830
Pre-orders for Magician's Reflection by Bill Whitcomb now being taken
We're continuing to be very busy at Immanion Press/Megalithica Books We are quite pleased to announce that we are now taking preorders for the new, revised and updated edition of The Magician's Reflection by Bill Whitcomb! This sequel to his popular The Magician's Companion has been out of print for several years; however, it's due for release in late September (and should arrive just in time for esoZone, where the author will be a featured guest). In addition to revisions and updates, Bill has added some extra material that's never been published before. Not only is The Magician's Reflection an excellent source for symbols in magic, but it gives in-depth information on archetypes, as well as serving as a thorough, practical guide to creating your own symbol set. Click here to reserve a signed copy of this indispensable resource today! EDIT: Technoccult just put up an interview with Bill Whitcomb about psychotronics.
Right Where You are Sitting Now podcast interview with me
On Saturday I got interviewed by Ken and Paul of the Right Where you are Sitting Now podcast. We talked about definitions of magic, my books, and some social cultural aspects of the occult culture. Go here to listen to the show.
Upcoming Releases from Immanion Press
We here at Immanion Press/Megalithica Books have a couple of surprises! In addition to the imminent arrival of DIY Totemism: Your Personal Guide to Animal Totems, we managed to release two other books this month! Ecstatic Ritual by Brandy Williams is a classic text on practical sex magic that's back in print after nearly two decades. This revised new edition has expanded material, as well as an annotated bibliography and other features. Lupa and I had enjoyed the book as readers several years back, and now we're pleased to be a part of making it available again!
Additionally, a last-minute decision led to the release of the new edition of my Pop Culture Magick. Updated with more recent examples of pop culture, and re-edited to smooth out the writing, the content is still the same innovative ideas about integrating video games, RPGs and other geekery with magical practice. We do have a very small number of the first edition left that we're clearancing out at a discount, too, and you can find information on it at the page above.
I like to tell stories
I was hiking the mirror lake trail by Mt. Hood today. It's a beautiful trail, with decent exercise potential, and when you get to the top, you get to see this lake, nestled between mountains. It's quite a site. As I and my wife hiked around the lake, we came across a yellow oblong shaped plant and my wife wondered what it was or what it would like once it blossomed. I told her I knew all about it (I didn't though). As we hiked a little further, we saw a version of the oblong yellow plant open with lots of little bulbous protuberances. I told her if we got too close it'd shoot spikes as us to paralyze so it could then suck our vital life forces out of us. She laughed, fairly amused, because we both knew that this wasn't really true. I like to tell stories though. I like to imagine what something could be, even if it really isn't what I imagined it to be. Stories are magical, to me. Sometimes they end up manifesting real events and sometimes they depict alternate realities, and even when they don't do any of that they entertain, inform, horrify, and communicate, all of which can be quite magical. One of my favorite authors, William S. Burroughs, used cutup to not only tell stories, but splice them and recombine, developing bizarre strains of word virii, by which he'd infect and liberate those who read.
I like stories, because stories present something different, and yet like many magic ritual, they have a formula by which the story creates an environment, tells and shows what is happening within it, and then comes to a conclusion. A good story, makes you feel like you are part of that reality, even if in fact, you aren't. The formula for a story can be useful for creating pathworking meditations (Nick Farrell's Magical Pathworking book demonstrates this rather well), as well as providing a structure you can use to create rituals.
I tell stories, because there are so many stories to be told. It's a kind of magic, and sometimes those stories come true .
Midsummer issue of Rending the Veil is out
The midsummer issue of Rending the Veil is now available. Features articles, by myself, Lupa, Gerald Del Campo, Donald Tyson, Patrick Dunn, and many more.
A slight change in title
You might notice that the title of this blog is now: The Experiments of Magicians While I plan to continue posting here, I thought it might be neat to get a few other people to post about their own experiments with magic, as well as the culture of the occult.
I've invited Vince Stevens, a contributor to Manifesting Prosperity, and Innowen, another experimental magician to post about some of their ongoing works. Vince's first post, on Role Models in the Occult, was posted earlier tonight. I may be adding a couple more people as time goes on, so be on the lookout for posts about experiments that other magicians are engaged in!
Some occult authors to look into
In my last post about Julius Evola's works, one of my commenters asked if I'd include a list of lesser known occult authors that people might consider looking into. So here's a small (and not complete) list of occult authors that I personally think people should read. Note that I'm not including Crowley's work or any work derived from Crowley, as obviously they are already very well known. I want to focus on the authors people may not know about.
So the list:
Franz Bardon. He only wrote three books on magic (not counting the fictional book Frabato the magician): Initiation into Hermetics, Evocation, and The Key to the True Quaballah. I've only read the first two at this point, but I'd suggest both as excellent books that detail how hermetics work without the usual flowery language or focus on obsfucation.
Julius Evola. He wrote a number of books, some of which were political commentaries, and some of which were occult works. His political commentaries would be far right/fascist works, which I'm sure would upset some of the more activism/leftist oriented occultists I know, but might be a good read precisely because they represent a different perspective than is usually found in occult activism. The books on magic Tantra: the Yoga of Power and Introduction to Magic are useful books to read. He does an excellent job of presenting an accurate perspective of Tantra and what I've read so far in Introduction to Magic is also an excellent work. He's written other books on the occult, some of which are in print, some of which are not. I haven't read them as yet, but most of them either focus on sex magic or hermeticism, and I'm sure are worth getting. They are on my amazon wishlist.
William G. Gray is another writer who presents some excellent works on both quabalah and ceremonial Magic. One of my favorite books is Modern Ritual Methods, but Inner Traditions of Magic is also good as is his books focused on quabalah: Ladders of Light, The Talking Tree, and Quabalistic Concepts. Recently some of his books have gone back into print, so now would be a good time to pick them up.
On a side note, Gray and Evola's works are some of the few occult works I'd consider spending money at this point, in part because what they write about are advanced concepts, and also because of the thoroughness of what they write about.
Kaostar by Francis Breakspear looks to be an intriguing work...and I'd also recommend the Art of Memetics by Edward Wilson and Wes Unruh for contemporary perspectives on magic.
To get an alternate take on demonology, check out books on Demonolatry by S. Connolly and J. Thorp They provide an alternate take which is useful to read, and will provide some intriguing perspectives in that area.
Jan Fries is an intriguing author who offers up different perspectives on chaos magic, seith workings, runic workings and even a perspective on celtic. I've read several of his works and found them to be insightful.
Dale Pendell offers a trilogy called pharmakon...not overtly occult, it still is some useful works to read.
There's more authors I could refer to...many, many different authors on a variety of topics ranging from Far Eastern energy work and mysticism to alchemy, but what I mentioned here is a good start to expanding the foundation of knowledge a person has as well as getting different perspectives on occult practices.