MAGICK HIGH & LOW

Why High Magick?

Below we've listed a few questions about what high magick is, why it's important, and a short jaunt into it's history. 
Firstly, we should define "low magick". Low Magick is anything from folk magick to just your basic spell and ritual. I'm not saying basic because it's easy and no work involved. But it's certainly less involved than high magick. 
What's the difference you say? In low magick, you needn't feel you have to "stand here, hold this, say this, do this" in order for your spell to work. You just let it out and let Nature take it's course. You change the spells to suit your needs, preference or budget. High Magick, however, you don't really have a choice. The spells and incantations have been worded precisely so that the effect they're said to cause will result. If you try to change the words (which is sooo common in low magick) or change the items involved you won't get the same results. So if a ritual calls for thread woven by a maiden, while it may seem impossible to find (but isn't really).. then you'd better do your darndest to find it. High Magick is a lot like making a cake from the box. If you try and substitute powdered sugar for sugar, you're going to end up with a cake unlike anything else! Sure it's still a cake, but something's very different. 

Magick, High and Low by Merlyn

Introduction

This article examines some theories and history behind the magick practiced today by many Neo-Pagans. Aleister Crowley, a controversial but accomplished early 20th century magician, was the first modern person to add the “k” to magic to distinguish this occult practice from the visual deceptions of stage magic. He defined magick as making events
conform to your will. Back in the 1850s Eliphas Levi had first emphasized the importance of the magician’s will. Crowley also said that every intentional act is a magickal act. The term occult means hidden knowledge. Many magicians believe that their magickal spells and consecrated tools will lose their power if exposed to a profane public. For this reason no specific magickal secrets will be revealed in this article.

High magick in this article refers to the formal and often very elaborate forms of magick (casting circles, calling quarters, invocations and evocation, for example) found in the rituals of Western Ceremonial Magick.

High magick, or theurgy, in a different sense refers to magick used to achieve a mystical religious experience where the magician is united with divinity or the godhead. Low magic or thaumaturgy, in contrast, is the folk-magic practiced by common people and informally handed down by oral tradition. Spells for protection, blessings of people and possessions and the placing and removal of curses are its staples.

The use of the words “high” and “low” should not suggest a judgment that high magick is preferable or better than low magick. Both forms of magickal practice have co-existed and complemented each other for several millennia. High and low magicians have a common purpose when each asks the unseen powers of the universe to favorably influence the outcome of certain events. Magick is classified as white, black, or gray, yet it is an amoral practice, because the magician’s intent makes it good or evil.

Magick versus Science

The separation of the practice of magick from that of science did not occur until the 17th century when scientists began viewing the universe as a complicated machine, such as a clock, rather than as a living organism, as had earlier philosophers and scientists. Before this separation, both magick and science were considered equal components of a natural philosophy that explained the causes of observed phenomena.

Several early modern scientists combined a study of magick and science. For example, Francis Bacon, in addition to being a champion of modern scientific observation and experimentation, also seriously studied magic, astrology, and alchemy according to British occult author Gareth Knight. Isaac Newton, the greatest scientist of the late 17th century, was as preoccupied with alchemy and theology as he was with physics, mathematics, and astronomy. The quest for a greater knowledge of magick and alchemy led to the development of the scientific method including the objective observation and recording of experiments, which is the foundation of modern science.. Since the 17th century, the mechanical view of nature has dominated academic thinking and made it easy for serious scholars to dismiss magick as part of outdated “superstitious” religion or “failed” science.

Early modern anthropologists adopted the scientific view that magick did not work, although it was an interesting cultural practice worthy of study. In Primitive Culture (1871) Edward B. Tylor considered magic, science and religion as separate and competing ways of explaining how this world works. Both magic and science followed a set of universal impersonal rules that the magician or scientist could learn to use. Religion, however, explained the workings of the world through the frequent intervention of a god or gods.

In The Golden Bough (1890-1915), a popular series of books on folk customs and comparative religion, James Frazer applied Tylor’s ideas to his study of dozens of cultures. Frazer assumed that as different “primitive” ethnic groups evolved they would gradually move from magickal to religious explanations of natural phenomena. Eventually, when they had evolved enough, they would adopt a scientific view and reject both magick and religion as false as had Frazer and other late-Victorian intellectuals.

It remained for the pioneer psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Freud’s student and later rival, to provide an acceptable modern psychological explanation of how magick could work through the human subconscious mind. In particular, Jung’s psychological theories gave important roles to subconscious archetypal forces, the anima and animus in each of us, and our shadow or dark sides. His theories confirmed what occultists had already discovered through practice. Our subconscious minds do indeed influence the outcome of events in the physical world.

The occult novelist Dion Fortune studied both magick and applied psychology, and became a lay-therapist at the age of twenty three in 1913. She used psychological ideas about the subconscious in her books such as Psychic Defense where she described psychic attacks in psychological terms. Today it is common to hear magicians use psychological explanations when they try to convince skeptics that magick works.

Is Magick Just Good Psychology?

According to the psychological viewpoint of magick the focused will power of the magician is what makes magick work, because magickal powers exist entirely in his/her mind. The magickal tools, be they crystals, consecrated athames, or hair clippings from a the person the magician wishes to influence, are just psychological props that are of secondary importance..

An older viewpoint is that magickal powers reside in external worlds, both seen and unseen, and thus exist independently of our minds. Crowley’s definition of magick as making events conform with your will is consistent with the psychological view of magick. However, Crowley placed great emphasis on getting the exact ritual items. For example if a certain spell called for an egg from a black hen, an egg from a red hen would never do.

Traditional high and low magicians still literally believe in the special powers contained in “magickal” objects such as certain gems, gold and rare metals, elixirs, or the hypothetical philosopher’ s stone, to name a few. Obtaining the proper magickal supplies is part of the mental attunement for the carefully planned ritual. Magickal power is also traditionally believed to reside in peoples’ secret or magickal names and other “words of power.” For this reason these names and magickal incantations need to be kept secret to keep opponents from using them to place curses.

In today’s urban world where most Neo-Pagans live, it is difficult to get parts of wild animals (a weasel’s foot and a bat’s heart are examples from Pennsylvania Dutch magick) or herbs harvested at exactly the right lunar phase and time of day. Many Neo-Pagans also object strenuously to sacrificing any animal, no matter how important the proposed magick, so substitutes are necessary. To compensate for “missing” items, I believe people tend to use substitutes in their spells and rituals without giving much thought about their impact on the magick. Any old hen’s egg will do, won’t it? For Crowley and many other traditional magicians substitutes were never be acceptable.

I cannot provide a definitive answer as to whether magickal powers reside only in the mind or if they exist in the external world. Each person needs to reach his/her own conclusions based on their magickal experiences and subsequent beliefs.

Western Ceremonial Magick

Western Ceremonial Magick is primarily based on the surviving ancient Hermetic manuscripts that became available during the Renaissance. These writings were attributed to a revered ancient priest call Hermes or Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Greatest) who was believed to have lived in pre-Christian antiquity. Marsilio Ficino, a scholar employed by Prince Cosimo de Medici, began translating the Corpus Hermeticum from Greek to Latin in 1453. The educated elite understood Latin, but not Greek. The magical parts of this work Ficino called “natural” magic as opposed to “angelic or daimonic” magic according to Gareth Knight. Ficino wanted to protect himself from the Inquisition because the Catholic Church prohibited the conjuring of spirits. The planetary spheres and their influences on earth (e.g. astrology) were part of this natural magic.

The Jewish Qabala is the second major source of information on which ceremonial magick is based. From the 15th century onwards the Qabala was popular among mystical Christians. Its Tree of Life diagram provides symbols that form a “spiritual language” the Qabalist can use to communicate with the angels and different aspects God.

Alchemy was another ancient tradition incorporated in ceremonial magick. It may be looked on as a “primitive chemistry” used in futile attempts to synthesize gold from lead, or as a spiritual discipline designed to elevate the consciousness through specified techniques of prayer, meditation or magick. In short, alchemy involves the manipulation of the imaginative faculty Gareth Knight states.

Another component of traditional ceremonial magic came from the Medieval grimoires (magickal books based on conjuring up demons and spirits). Two important grimoires were The Key of Solomon the King, and The Goetia or The Lesser Key of Solomon the King. Solomon had a reputation for wisdom among both Christians and Jews. He was credited with writing the Biblical Book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature such as these grimoires, although his authorship of these later works is questionable.

In the late 16th century in Elizabethan England, Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly, Dee’s scryer, developed Enochian magick. The Enochian calls or keys were used to contact angels who communicated messages to Kelly via the Enochian language, which resembled no previously known language. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn would later use Enochian magick (see below).

The Western Ceremonial magician traditionally was a middle or upper class person with sufficient leisure time and financial resources to dedicate him- or herself to seriously studying the occult. A private space where the ceremonial magician could work undisturbed was a prerequisite. Books on magick were expensive and often hard to obtain, while fancy embroidered ceremonial robes were not cheap either. Other expensive magickal materials might include precious stones, rare metals or a laboratory equipped with distillation stills and furnaces for alchemy.

The Romantic Rebellion against the dominant thinking of the scientific Enlightenment began in the late 18th century. The Romantics favored the use of intuitive knowledge over reason and made decisions based on their emotions. They also studied and wrote about waning folk traditions including magick. The books of two occult authors Francis Barrett (The Magus, 1801) and Eliphas Levi (Dogma and Ritual of High Magic, 1856) greatly aided this magickal revival.

Magical fraternities, including some esoteric Masonic orders, reached a peak in the late 19th century. The most influential group was the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (Golden Dawn or OGD) whose rituals and derived rituals are still practiced today. Before its formation in 1888, no other occult organization had ever gathered so much information in one place. Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers wrote the Golden Dawn rituals based on his extensive understanding of Western magickal traditions. Golden Dawn provided training in practical magic and ritual initiations to over three hundred members in England and Scotland between 1888 and 1900.

Golden Dawn, however, was a semi-secret initiatory organization and its extensive magickal knowledge was not shared with a larger public. After Golden Dawn spilt in 1900 into at least three splinter groups including Alpha et Omega, and Stella Matutina, the separate organizations kept their secrets.

Two people, Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie, however, ignored their sworn oaths of secrecy and made OGD’s extensive collection of occult knowledge available to the public in the years between 1912 and 1940. Crowley first published parts of Golden Dawn rituals in his magazine, The Equinox, in 1912. In the late-1930s, Israel Regardie, Crowley’s former and by then estranged student, published the complete version of OGD rituals in four large volumes (The Golden Dawn). Regardie got his information through his membership in Stella Matutina rather than from Crowley.

Dion Fortune wrote non-fictional books on the occult and magical novels in the 1920s and 1930s. While she claimed that she did not reveal any oath-bound secrets (she was an initiate of Alpha et Omega), her writings about the occult traditions she knew were so clear and concise that she made them comprehensible to the uninitiated public. The Mystical Qabalah is usually rated as her best book on magick, while The Sea Priestess is considered her best novel.

In the late 1940s Gerald Gardner began writing about a religion he called Wicca. Its rituals, made public in the 1950s, have more of the flavor of Western Ceremonial Magick (casting circles, calling quarters and invocations, for example) than of the traditional folk-magick examined in the next section.

Folk Magick

The low or folk magician in England was commonly called a cunning man, wise woman, or sorcerer, but rarely a witch at least in public. Their psychic skills were believed to be inherited. Often the Cunningfolk were illiterate members of the lower classes who had to work as agricultural laborers or at other menial jobs. Their magick was done on the side, usually in exchange for money or goods.

Historian James Baker has summarized the beliefs and practices common to the historically documented ‘white witches,’ another name applied to the English Cunningfolk. He writes that there are hundreds of documented examples of active wise women and cunning men from the Middle Ages to the late-19th century. Their magic was practical and solitary rather than group oriented (for example, Cunningfolk never formed thirteen-member covens). Their magickal practices were more of a trade or calling rather than a religious faith. Folk magick was both traditional and flexible. Ideas borrowed over time from high magick included classical astrology and spells from the grimoires and writings of Renaissance magicians.

The deities or entities the Cunningfolk invoked included the Christian Trinity, the Christian saints, the planets (personified as individuals such as Mars, Mercury, Saturn, and Venus), the faeries, and assorted spirits and demons. Some people apprenticed with other Cunningfolk, while others were self taught.

Common magickal tools included scrying crystals; the Bible and grimoires; wax, cloth or clay poppets; charms written on Vellum, paper or metal; divining rods; witch bottles (used to hold urine, hair, or nail clippings); wands; swords and knives (never called athames). Their magickal recipes called for animal parts, the human parts mentioned above; and fragments of vegetables, cloth, glass, pottery, metal or minerals. When spells involved another individual not present, obtaining personal items from that person was believed to be necessary for success. Cunningfolk operating as white witches used their powers to defeat the spells and curses of “black witches,” who they assumed existed, as did the Inquisition.

The villagers and occasional local gentry visited and paid the Cunningfolk for healings, identification of thieves, successful treasure hunts, fortune telling, removing curses, and obtaining good-luck charms. Satisfied customers tended to the remember magickal successes conforming with their beliefs, rather than the failures.

In the United States, pockets of traditional folk magick still survive in the southern Appalachians, the Ozarks, and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, but these are dying out. In the Southwest, the Curanderos and Curanderas practice a magick incorporating elements from Spanish Catholicism, Mexican or Mestizo and Native American traditions.

Folk-magic is becoming popular among Neo-Pagans I believe in part because it has authentic historical roots. Its magickal spells rituals are often simple, easy to perform, and magickal tools (knives, pieces cloth, colored threads, etc.) can often be borrowed from the kitchen or sewing basket. The occult publisher Lleweyllen prints books on folk magick written by popular authors such as Edain McCoy (In a Graveyard at Midnight) and Silver RavenWolf (HexCraft). Examples of more scholarly works by academic publishers include Ozark Magic and Folklore by Vance Randolph (first published as Ozark Superstitions in 1947), and A Guide to Mexican Witchcraft (1992) by William and Claudia Madsen.

Does Magick Work?

Many Neo-Pagans believe in the reality of magic, but still try to work and live harmoniously in a modern world skeptical of magick. For this reason, they look for modern and somewhat scientific explanations of magick. Defining magick as a series of focused psychological exercises, designed to promote positive thinking and subsequent acting in accord to achieve realistic goals, is one such explanation. Its sounds better than saying that magick works because you use secret incantations to conjure up demons who you then force to do your bidding. This was a standard Medieval explanation.

For me using simple protection techniques such as those described in HexCraft by Silver RavenWolf has helped me increase my assertiveness in difficult situations at work or on travel. I now carry a small “divinity” stone in my pocket to absorb all negative influences. Is it magick when I call upon unseen powers to help me assume an assertive “god-aspect” and thus act invincible? Or is the visualization of myself as such a powerful individual just a result of my practicing certain psychological exercises (camouflaged as magickal spells) to build self-confidence? I believe that both explanations may be simultaneously correct. I also have used practical magick, ESP in this case, to find an obscure basket of kiwis on sale at a local grocery store after failing to find these hidden fruits by twice slowly and systematically moving up and down the produce isles.

Gareth Knight writes that “[t]he only guide to truth in all of this [magic], as in religious faith, lies in first-hand experience.” A balancing of personal belief with some healthy skepticism is probably the best approach for evaluating others’ claims of magickal successes that you have not personally witnessed.

 

LOW MAGICK

Excerpts from the Book of Shadows Dream JournalOften your dreams will give an indication of where you are in the course of the Work, and the Work will stimulate your dreaming. Keeping a dream journal will improve your memory of your dreams. You should keep a pen and your journal next to your sleeping area so you can write down the details of your dreams as soon as you awaken and before they slip away. The last dream you have is usually the most important. Write something every day, even if only to note that you don’t remember anything. ALWAYS write the full date. If you sleep somewhere other than your regular location, don’t forget to take your dream journal with you. By reading your journal at a later date and remembering your dreams, you are pushing your consciousness to return to its focus in the spiritual world. This may be the most important reason for keeping a dream journal.
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Nine Paths of Union1.Trance - a small movement of the consciousness which may result in projection of consciousness or psychic events
2.Witches’ Cradle - consciousness is turned within and becomes aware of spiritual energies not normally noticed
3.Fire - flame has a beneficial effect on the body, and when light from the flame is slowed down with your mind, it aids transformation of the physical body
4.Ritual - uses spiritual tides to accumulate power, and frees consciousness to focus on other realms
5.Music - chanting in rhyme, and the repetition of sounds opens doors to other worlds
6.Sex - an exchange of energies, it imitates the Great Work and accelerates the Work
7.Dance - the deprivation of oxygen causes the brain to use unused systems
8.Drugs - allow new or unusual patterns of thought, belief and feeling to emerge
9.Meditation - meditation is a method of directing your consciousness by crossing the bridge of inner silence
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Solar HolidaysSamhain (October 31) - the Veil between the worlds opens; step through
Candlemas ( January 31) - the Rite of Purification
Beltaine (April 30) - the Marriage of the Forces
Lammas (July 31) - harvest the Fruit of the Work
Winter Solstice (December 21) - the Sun at Midnight; shed old ways
Spring Equinox (March 21) - begin anew to develop your power
Summer Solstice (June 21) - sublimate the power
Fall Equinox (September 21) - manifestation of the Stars Full Moon Energies1. Sun (Aries) - renewed life
Moon (Libra) - precipitates decision
2. Sun (Taurus) - raising of desire
Moon (Scorpio) - increases the testing fires
3. Sun (Gemini) - weaving the web of partnership
Moon (Sagittarius) - marshals companions for the long journey
4.. Sun (Cancer) - invoking the power of the uninitiated
Moon (Capricorn) - obliges initiates’ response
5.. Sun (Leo) - integrated individuals
Moon (Aquarius) - integrate the world
6. Sun (Virgo) - nurturing the power within
Moon (Pisces) - guarantees eventual seership
7. Sun (Libra) - pausing to weigh, choose, decide
Moon (Aries) - benefits next beginning
8. Sun (Scorpio) - purificatory tests
Moon (Taurus) - illumination via speech
9. Sun (Sagittarius) - exerting toward goal after goal
Moon (Gemini) - stimulates companion’s evolution
10. Sun (Capricorn) - mountaintop experience of the few
Moon (Cancer) - gives direction to the uninitiated
11. Sun (Aquarius) - sense of universality
Moon (Leo) - expands selfhood into grouphood
12. Sun (Pisces) - total commitment to Spirit
Moon (Virgo) - fulfills service intent
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The Magick CircleThe Circle is the meeting place of the Spirit and the Children of the Spirit, and is located between the worlds of the visible and the invisible. The magick Circle binds and subdues the power of the higher realms, and contains the power raised within it. The power raised within the Circle has a life and form of its own, and when it is released from the circle it builds its form and manifests in the various realms according to its power and instructions. In essence, the Circle is a tool by the use of which the order of things can be changed, healing can be performed, and spiritual wholeness and growth may be brought about. Ever do we aspire to greater heights, but being earthbound still, we must invoke the Spirit from its realm that we may commune with it between the worlds.
Generally a nine foot circle is used, cast thrice about, but the Circle may be any size that is convenient to the working of Magick. The Circle is cast counterclockwise from the north (for Witches) or east (for Magicians), and at the end of ALL Work it is banished clockwise from the north or east, respectively. Candles are placed at the cardinal points for the Watchtowers. The four Watchtowers are symbolic of the four elements which combine to form the various realms. The elemental powers are summoned to the Circle to aid in protecting the Temple of the Spirit and in working Magick. This summoning is accomplished by drawing an invoking pentagram at each quarter with a magickal tool. The Watchtower Guardians are invoked before working Magick, and banished when all Magick has been worked and the Circle is closed. The Gateway is located in the true North. None may enter or leave the Circle save by the northern Gate, for this is the Way Between The Worlds. Those who are wise in
the Mystery of the Circle know that there are two Gates which must be passed through in order to truly enter the Circle. Thus, we must purify ourselves before entering the Circle. The Outer Gate may be dispensed with altogether.
The Circle may be cast and used by a single individual or by a group. Several participants lend extra energy to the Work, but their energies must be brought into harmony for the working. The Circle is normally cast according to solar and lunar holidays to tap the ’seasonal’ flux of energies, or as needed for a purpose.
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Magickal RulesSympathy - like produces like
Contagion - once together (connected), always together
Doctrine of Signatures - attributes without mirror attributes within
Maxim of Persistence - perfection is eternal
Rule of Three - thrice spoken, once fulfilled
Law of Ubiquity - flame permeates all
Law of Dichotomy - dominance or submission
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ElementalsThese are localized aspects of the four types of energy which flow through all realities we experience and give form to our manifested universes: solids, liquids, gases and radiant or plasmic energy (earth, water, air, fire):
Earth–Space- -Gnomes/Trolls- -Gob
Water–Time- -Nymphs/Undines- -Neckna
Air–Sound– Sylphs/Zephyrs- -Paralda
Fire–Light- -Salamanders- -Djinn Earth–Salts and Powders–Riches and Treasure–Happy spirits
Water–Washes and Solutions–Plants and Healing–Will aid gnomes for prosperity
Air–Oils and Incense–Knowledge & Inspiration- -Attracted by incantations
Fire–Fire and Incense–Freedom and Change–Least interested in humans
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The Cardinal FourThe explanation of the “cardinal” four or “turning” points of human experience, with their hierarchies of correspondence including the Watchtowers and elements, comes to us through Mathematics, the Divine Science (Science of the Divine). Our basic premise is that the structure and characteristic behavior of all of manifestation is explainable as an act of sex, which is magickally defined as the exchange of energy between male and female forces. The beginning of sex, and therefore of creation and destruction, can be said to have developed in the following order:
1. Differentiated Father-Mother, God-Goddess, Yin-Yang existing in one, with perfect balance of forces and no motion.
2. Separation of male and female forces; the beginning of duality, life (motion) and sex (exchange of energy).
3. The interaction of Father and Mother in division results in the creation of a Magickal Child, a Son-Daughter, male and female in one. It is necessary for one polarity of this Magickal Child to be active and the other dormant in order for the Son-Daughter to have life (motion).
4. This fourfold Trinity constitutes the Godhead, the primal Father-Mother and their agent of expression, the Son-Daughter (Logos and Eros, or Will and Love). Thus the triangle (male, female and their relationship) constitutes the basic structure of reality, but the Mystery of the four-sided triangle (as embodied in the Tetragrammaton, where two letters representing the Son-Daughter are the same except for gender) constitutes the Higher Knowledge of reality. The exchange of energy between these aspects of the Godhead give us the primary patterns or archetypes of manifestation. This trinity of forces can exchange energy in only four different combinations, thus: A,B,C = A-B, B-C, A-C, A-B-C.
5. Thus the fourfold structure of all energy patterns, including the four elements and Watchtowers and magickal seasons and tides of power. These four combinations plus each of the three aspects of the Godhead individually give us the archetypical sevenfold process. Thus the directions of the Circle are:
(1) the four cardinal points (Watchtowers)
(2) the three points of Spirit (the Abyss above, the Abyss below and the seed-center where all forces are balanced).
Elemental Attributions: Hermetic Axiom - “As above, so below, but after a different manner.”
Father - Fire / Mother - Water / Son - Air / Daughter - Earth
Above (archetypical level) - Fire/East — Air/South– Water/West — Earth/North
Below (realm of Becoming ruled by Son/Sun) - Air/East — Fire/South — Water/West — Earth/North
The four elements are used in the ancient philosophical manner, wherein they describe four archetypical modes in which energy expresses itself; more limited, but analogous modern scientific terms are earths/solids, water/liquids, air/gases and fire/radiant or plasmic energy.
The Lord of the Four Directions has been worshipped throughout history in what is sometimes called the Cult of John (cf - Jnana - Higher Knowledge - that which is gained through evolution of seed-consciousness into perfect mastery of itself and surrounding phenomena - in other words, the Magickal Adept. Tibetan - DYZAN, Chinese - D’Chan, Latin - Juno, Janus, Djana [Diana], Italian - Janara [witch], Basque - Dxana, Basa Jaun, Janicot, English - Little John, Spanish - Don Juan, etc. ) Elemental WorkingsThe four elements are represented and manipulated in the Circle by four magickal tools: Fire - Wand or Staff, Air - Knife or Sword, Water - Cup or Cauldron, Earth - Pantacle or Altar. Practioners of Magick use these tools to manipulate energy in many ways. To prepare yourself for these energy manipulations, here are four preliminary workings: Work of the Wand
Spiritual Will1. Perform Tree of Knowledge meditation
2. Centering
Close your eyes and look up through the top of your head to test your alignment. You should see so much light that you feel like you have to open your eyes to let it out. If you see little light, visualize yourself descending the spheres of the Tree from the top sphere to the bottom sphere three times and try again. Use this regularly until the light gets bright. Visualize your spiritual self above your head and bathed in white light. Then feel your astral/emotional body move into place beneath the spiritual body, filling happily with light because your emotions are relaxed and happy. The mental body moves into place beneath the astral, completing the circuit as white light flows through it into the physical. Maintaining a good alignment of the bodies will allow your spiritual will to guide you in your actions. Work of the Cup
Emotional Beliefs1. Perform Tree of Knowledge meditation
2. Altering the past
Lie down, relax and collect your consciousness as a bright point of light at your brow center. Visualize and will your consciousness to expand, first to room size, then the block, then ocean to ocean, finally off the earth to view it as a disc. Descend into past event and recall and relive the event up to the point you want to change, and will and visualize a new ending to the event. Then rise off of the earth again and descend back into your body in the present.. Repeat this as often as your feel it is necessary; a successful change of the past will result in an alteration of your feelings and beliefs in the present. Work of the Sword
Intellectual Concepts1. Perform Tree of Knowledge meditation
2. Karmic thoughtform
Hold your hands palms inward about three inches apart, hold your breath, and visualize and will energy to flow between your palms. Feel a ball of energy forming between your hands and feel it breathing. Send red light for vitality, blue light to burn up negative energy, and indigo light for psychic control. In your thoughtform build the image of a black sword, point down; this is the Runesword, which gets its energy from absorbing negative energies. Program the thoughtform with a chant to seek out and destroy any negative karmic energy binding you. Release it when it feels ready to go. Repeat nightly during the waning moon. Work of the Pantacle
Physical Mastery1. Perform Tree of Knowledge meditation
2. Point of power
Meditate on the present being your point of power, from which you can control your future. Hold your left nostril closed, breath into your right nostril and out of your mouth, while visualizing and feeling strength coming in. Hold your right nostril closed and breath in your left nostril, then hold your left nostril closed and breath out of your right nostril. Repeat several times while visualizing the image of your desire. Visualize solutions to your problems for five minutes a day, and replace any negative ideas of the future with the visualization of a positive solution. Work of the Spirit
The Fifth ElementThe Look of Strange Affinity - Study your face in a mirror and project a pentagram onto your image. The points should touch the cheeks, the temples and the forehead. Then look for a focal point on the face, which will be its asymmetrical center. This could be a mole or a point just above the eyebrows; every face has a different ‘point of departure’. Then find the point on the face diametrically opposite from the point of departure. Let your gaze move from one to another of the seven points, enveloping the face with your gaze without moving your eyes. The image will become passive and can be instructed to invoke the aid of your prime conscious self to aid your transformation.
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The AuraThe aura is a subtly self-luminous energy field that completely surrounds any physical object, but is much brighter and larger around living organisms. The aura’s functions are: protection, communication and connection. The inner layer extends from the skin outwards from 1/8 inch to about an inch and a half, and is white or pale blue. This duplicate of the physical body grows to maturity with the physical body and deteriorates with it after death. It is constantly being left on everything we touch and extended to everything and everyone we think about. The bonds which are formed thus hold us firmly in our consensus reality and must be overcome before transformation can occur. The second layer of your aura extends from the inner layer to three to eight inches all around the body, and is more misty in nature. This layer is rich in pastel colors. Any potential disorder will show up beforehand in the aura, and can be effectively dispelled with aura cleaning before
they show up in the physical body. Any muddiness or brownish cast to the aura is a sign of an impending trouble and should be eliminated. Holes in the aura mean you are wounded by negativity and must seek healing; no aura means you are preparing to die soon; and a rapidly whirling aura signifies a practioner of meditation. Negativity or low energy can rob us of effectiveness and leave us wide open to any vibrations that come our way, resulting in tension, depression, sudden pains, unpleasant odors, accidents or sickness. The primary source of this negativity is other people. You can raise your vibrations by listening to music you like, reading something that inspires you, asking for spiritual guidance, taking a shower or rinsing your hands in water, sleeping with your head to the north, or leaning against trees. Building the AuraThe key to control of the aura is rhythmic breathing. Inhale through the mouth to the count of eight, and expel through both nostrils for
eight; repeat several minutes at a time, and each day gradually increase the count. Then add the visualization of a sphere of white light with you in the center. As you master the visualization, increase the diameter of the sphere to a comfortable size. When you are ready, move the white light from the sphere over your head down your front and up your back, then reverse. These exercises should be done each morning. Normally, aura size is determined by vitality, brilliance by spirituality. Seeing the AuraLook at your reflection in a mirror, with a clear background and subdued light. Stare at a spot about six inches above your head and two feet behind you, while watching your head and shoulders with your peripheral vision. In a few minutes you should see at least a thin line of white or pale blue outlining your head. This is the inner layer of your aura. With a week’s practice of ten minutes twice a day, you should easily be seeing subtler layers of light extending from
one to several feet in a egg shape around your body. Regular practice will add color to your aura vision.. As your aura vision improves, you will notice the radiation from the shoulders linked with the heart, balanced by the siphoning effect of the sea of fire in the solar plexus, which reaches down into the base of the spine. Light gushes up from the crown of the head, to fall back again in a fountain of color; this becomes red-violet with spiritual enlightenment. Aura Color ChartRED: bright red = force and energy; dark red = domineering; light red = self-centered; scarlet = egotistical; pink = immaturity.
ORANGE:orange = thoughtfulness; golden orange = self-control; brownish orange = a lack of ambition.
YELLOW:golden yellow = good health, learning ability and a lack of worry.
GREEN:emerald green with a dash of blue = healing, helpful, and friendly; green with yellow = deceitful.
BLUE:blue = contemplation; pale blue = little depth and many personal problems; deep blue = one has found his work in life,sometimes moody and unusual.
INDIGO & VIOLET:indigo and violet = seekers of all types; purple = inclined to be overbearing.
WHITE:white is the perfect color, a harmonious blend of all the other colors. If you see it in another, follow it as if it were a star; it is. Basic Aura Work
Lesser Circulation of the LightVisualize a sphere of white light above your head while standing facing your direction (otherwise, north). Visualize and feel a stream of white light move downward through your crown to blossom as a sphere of white light, first at your throat, then your solar plexus, then at your genitals. Finally, visualize the stream of white light move downward to your feet and blossom as a sphere of white light beneath your feet.
Now draw the white light out of the sphere above your head and down your left side to merge with the sphere at your feet. Then visualize stream of white light moving up right side to the sphere above your head. Now reverse directions and see the white light moving down your right side, across the soles of your feet and up your left side. Now visualize the stream of white light moving out of sphere above your head and down your front to your feet. Then see the stream of white light moving up your back to merge with the sphere over your head; then reverse directions, and finally, do all directions at once.
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GemstonesGemstones act in unison with the life force of man, aiding the organism to sustain health, stimulating the perceptions and intuition. Gemstones should be chosen according to the colors of the aura, the stones working best when they are in accord with the colors. Gems that have been worn by others should be cleansed in running water before use. They should be worn about the neck for the individual’s relationships with self and spiritual forces, and on the extremities for relationships with others; always they should be worn next to the skin.
AGATE(bands of colors) - attracts peace, victory in games, happiness & good luck
AMBER(a bridge of light between heaven and earth) - held in hands reduces fevers, most efficacious near throat, protects against evil eye, charged with electricity which attracts light particles
AMETHYST - attracts love and good luck and is a protector against sorcery, helps control an undisciplined temperament, on the brow it relieves a headache, opens the psychic centers (seeing the light)
AQUAMARINE - spiritual awakening, mental protection
AZURITE - induces influences from without that aid in contact with higher sources of activity, good for meditation
BERYL - for deep romance and love, brings hope and protects against the fascinations and spells of witchcraft (mysteries of the sea)
BLOODSTONE - brings friendship, calms people, soothes flaring tempers, protection against the evil eye and depression, checks hemorrhages, relieves pain, attunes to forces of healing and decision
CARBUNCLE - mental conditioning (to flash)
CHRYSOLITE(PERIDOT - precious) - attunes to healing, visions and psychic phenomena, set in gold it dispels terrors of the night
CINNABAR - risen kundalini, path of initiate
CORAL - protects against the evil eye and all spells, natural disasters & unfortunate occurrences, brings sensitivity to intuitive forces, associated with the planet Venus, one should never wear dirty or discolored coral
DIAMOND(Adamas Stone - all virtue) - attracts power, riches and friends, reconciles differences between, friends who have quarreled, symbolizes peace, fidelity and opulence, selfish in its very nature, it will bring either irritation or peace to the wearer, spiritual attunement, binds in wedlock
EMERALD - a stone of precognition, it nurtures love and beauty, turns negative spells back upon the sender, banishes fear, quickens intellect, cures laziness
FIRE OPAL - gem of the gods, a stone of hope and achievement, held on the brow it gives proper direction to the thoughts, held in left hand and gazed upon it favors desires, above all a stone of love (but if the lover is false its influence is reversed), purification of the Self
GARNET - attracts purity, sincerity and understanding, tends to be a bit stuffy and Victorian, loyalty
JADE - brings good luck, protection from disease and evil spirits, enhances occult powers, symbol of serenity and immortality, aids kidney functions
JASPER - protects from pain, guards independence brings good fortune and protection from the controlling influence of others, courage, healing
JET(black amber) - protects against thunderstorms and evil magic
LAPIS LAZULI - an attractor of powerful and highly evolved spirits, builds health and strength, assurance in self, mount between layers of glass to limit radiation
LAPIS LINGUA (Caeruleum, Tuaoi)(azurite in combination with malachite resulting in a transparent bluish-green stone)- held in hands a few minutes then set aside it enables you to hear the vibrations given off by Self, light appears within as a means of communication with spiritual forces and energy radiates from it as a beam for various activities, should be mounted in white gold or silver
MALACHITE - protection of transmission of energy in the physical body and of material benefits
MOONSTONE(travelers ‘ stone) - protects love and inspires the tender passions, a guardian and stimulator of the mind, aid to accomplishment of affections, held in mouth for visions, worn with a pearl or opal for maximum effectiveness, surface appearance changes with light and phases of the Moon
ONYX - guards independence, brings strange dreams, heals the eyes
OPAL - a mystical stone, calms anger, brings good luck and extra mental powers, brings bad luck to selfish people, opens Third Eye, water is bad for it
PEARL - indicates in its formation and beauty the hardships overcome by creative sources, healing and creative because of the very irritation that produced it, watery influence, keeping an even temperament, emblem of peace, purity and innocence
QUARTZ - purity, patience, perseverance, attraction of vital elemental influences, attunes to helpful higher forces, neutralizes negative energies, double terminated crystals aid in dreaming
RUBY - a stone of power, loyalty and courage, focus of occult energies, protects from trouble, aids in love and passion, stimulates spiritual regeneration
SAPPHIRE - a stone of occult power, radiates gentleness and peace, brings justice and truth to light, wisdom (to bend from a straight course)
SARDONYX - a protector against spells and incantations, sharpens wits, imparts warmth and precision, influences choices made by mental forces, combines powers of Sun and Moon
SARDESTONE (CARNELIAN) - protector of the dead
TOPAZ(stone of strength, the burning one) - a protector of warriors, it puts women to flight and vanquishes the spells of sorcerors, used for divining water and treasure, general strengthening of the physical body, helps receive astral vibes, soothes wild passions, strengthens intellect, should be set in gold, its powers increase with the Moon, exhibits strong electrical phenomena, occurs in granite
TURQUOISE - brings love and courage, protects against violence of thought or deed, reduces tensions, an eye stone, brings good luck
ZIRCON - attracts fame and fortune, protects against accidents, a wishing stone, prophecy
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MetalsGold (Sun) - attracts financial success, leadership, strength, regeneration
Silver (Moon) - dreams and intuitiveness, protects secrets, projecting energies, increase and decrease, psychic abilities
Aluminum (mercury) - attracts mental alertness, invention and the art of making money, aids in travel
Iron/Steel (Mars) - attack and defense, courage and aggressiveness, ionizes body to resist disease
Copper (Venus) - guards health (esp. against arthritis & rheumatism), protective against depression and negative energies, brings passion and intenseness, success in love,
Tin (Jupiter) - the metal of luck and good fortune, generosity and expansion, mercy
Lead (Saturn) - heavy and serious but mystical, the teacher and taskmaster, breaking spells, protection against flamboyant people, justice, stability, patience
Electrum (Earth)from ‘ulka’ (beaming sun) - the magickal metal, a natural alloy of gold and silver, an armlet promotes general well being,
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To Enter the UnderworldAfter mastering astral projection, you are ready to begin the process of attainment called Walking the Worlds. The first place to visit is the classic Underworld of shamans and the Realm of the Dead of the ancient Mysteries, called Hades or Hel. Typically, the astral tunnel which leads to the Underworld opens to a realm of red mist. Here one must pass the Guardian of the Dread Gate. This Guardian may take many forms; here, we will speak of Cerberus, the classical three-headed dog of the Greco-Roman Mysteries who guards the Gate against the unworthy. The successful outcome of this ritual requires that one first become ‘worthy’ to enter the Underworld while still living by sacrifice in the physical world to indicate one has overcome the hold of the world on oneself. In ancient times, this was often accomplished by giving one’s things to the poor to feed the hungry.. For your purposes, you must make a gesture in a similar vein. To pass the Guardian
Cerberus and enter the Underworld, one must win the ritual combat:

1. Approach Cerberus from the front with weapons down and halt when you can see its eyes. Now enter the first stage of the ritual by staring Cerberus down, until it looks away.

2. Now you must quickly leap upon the beast and expend all your strength to wrestle it to the ground and place your neck over the neck(s) of Cerberus; at this point, it will cease to struggle momentarily.

3. Complete the ritual by blowing your breath into its ears; Cerberus will now cease to struggle altogether and passively allow you to pass the Dread Door.