[Note: The following is something I wrote for a discussion list for Don Webb's Mysteries of the Temple of Set. The piece being discussed is in the first Note in the second section of the book. If you are interested in taking part in this group, or a simlar one in NYC please contact me at blacksun9 at gmail dot come]
The Four Worlds it is.
This section suggests that the first goal should be maintanence of the body.
The condition of the body can be looked at on a spectrum of Illness to Fitness, with general wellness making the middle point between the two. It would seem to be that the first goal would be moving from Illness to Wellness and form there start looking at whether pursuing Fitness beyond that works within the larger goals of LIfework.
How do we practically start this sort of Work?
For me, the obvious starting point would be a decent physical as well as collecting a family history related to health.
So, time for us to all give the Dr. a call and see how we're doing.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
On Xeper
Change in and of itself are not Xeper.
Xeper is not a touchy-feely New Age Slogan.
Xeper is not an excuse to justify all actions as magical or Initiatory.
Xeper is not a means to prevent others from taking a critical look at the value of people's statements.
Xeper is specifically the capacity to genuinely make the statement "I have come into Being."
Xeper is a transformation in Being to a condition of deeper complexity and capacity for action within the Kosmos.
Xeper is something that happens on the grand scale.
Xeper is not a touchy-feely New Age Slogan.
Xeper is not an excuse to justify all actions as magical or Initiatory.
Xeper is not a means to prevent others from taking a critical look at the value of people's statements.
Xeper is specifically the capacity to genuinely make the statement "I have come into Being."
Xeper is a transformation in Being to a condition of deeper complexity and capacity for action within the Kosmos.
Xeper is something that happens on the grand scale.
Checking Results
Here are a few quick questions to help measure of whether or not you are gaining favorable results from youpr magic:
Where do you live? What is your job?
Who is/are your life partner(s)?
Do you presently have any addictions or compulsive behaviors?
How is your health and general well-being?
Do these things represent what you really desire, what you need and want for your life or are they compromises to avoid hard work?
If they are your desires, what are you planning as your next act of expanding your horizons?
Where do you live? What is your job?
Who is/are your life partner(s)?
Do you presently have any addictions or compulsive behaviors?
How is your health and general well-being?
Do these things represent what you really desire, what you need and want for your life or are they compromises to avoid hard work?
If they are your desires, what are you planning as your next act of expanding your horizons?
On Liberation
Liberation is not something which comes by simply giving up control. Doing such is simply a slide backwards into the kind of preconscious, prerational material sold by the riverside in the New Age and Self-improvement industries.
The Hard Path to Liberation is one which requires a good deal of discipline, self-aware self-control and a full understanding of your Self-Complex on all levels. Liberation cannot be gained over the course of a simple weekend retreat, a single Working or a particularly ripping bout of flatulence. It is found in the long term work of Mastery. The full formula can be seen as "Discipline - Enlightenment - Liberation."
This is not to say that there is no potential value in consciously descending into the pre-rational. Properly guided such descents can provide one with an encounter with the interior Lead from which the Gold of the Self can be transmuted. This kind of intentional descent is not the same as falsely elevating the prerational, French Kissing the Shadows in Plato's Cave and calling them Divine, or wallowing in your own feces and calling it Transcendence. Rather it is the Key to a kind of Left-hand Path Shamanism or the practice of Seidr and is alluded to in the Mystery of Thurisaz as the Sleep Thorn.
The Hard Path to Liberation is one which requires a good deal of discipline, self-aware self-control and a full understanding of your Self-Complex on all levels. Liberation cannot be gained over the course of a simple weekend retreat, a single Working or a particularly ripping bout of flatulence. It is found in the long term work of Mastery. The full formula can be seen as "Discipline - Enlightenment - Liberation."
This is not to say that there is no potential value in consciously descending into the pre-rational. Properly guided such descents can provide one with an encounter with the interior Lead from which the Gold of the Self can be transmuted. This kind of intentional descent is not the same as falsely elevating the prerational, French Kissing the Shadows in Plato's Cave and calling them Divine, or wallowing in your own feces and calling it Transcendence. Rather it is the Key to a kind of Left-hand Path Shamanism or the practice of Seidr and is alluded to in the Mystery of Thurisaz as the Sleep Thorn.
On The Carnal Self
The perhaps most overlooked aspect of the Self-complex by magicians is that of physical health and wellbeing.
It is all to easy to forget about the needs of the body while one pursues the refinement of the Self, but to do such is ultimately hampering. A fit, healthy body provides both a more refined vehicle for the Self in the World and also makes transcending the needs of the body easier when one's Work demands it.
If you have any chronic health conditions make their control and maintenance your highest priority. If you are relatively health consider beginning a program of physical refinement. The body is not simply the envelope of your consciousness while you are alive it is your primary magical tool in the World.
Treat your Carnal Self as well or better then you would any of the items in your ritual chamber and you will be greatly rewarded for the effort.
It is all to easy to forget about the needs of the body while one pursues the refinement of the Self, but to do such is ultimately hampering. A fit, healthy body provides both a more refined vehicle for the Self in the World and also makes transcending the needs of the body easier when one's Work demands it.
If you have any chronic health conditions make their control and maintenance your highest priority. If you are relatively health consider beginning a program of physical refinement. The body is not simply the envelope of your consciousness while you are alive it is your primary magical tool in the World.
Treat your Carnal Self as well or better then you would any of the items in your ritual chamber and you will be greatly rewarded for the effort.
Scientific Illuminism
When Aleister Crowley founded The Equinox he took as its motto "The Methods of Science, the Aim of Religion." This was to be the banner under which Scientific Illuminism was to be explored.
The rigorous methodology of the Hard Sciences, based upon observation and repetition, were to be used in the exploration and refinement of the Self. The methodology for engaging in this practice would be expounded in the primary practical works for Crowley' s A.'.A.'. These methods combined a foundation built upon Eastern Yogic methods for the control of consciousness with the ritual methods of Western Ceremonial Magic all of which executed and recorded under conditions suggested by contemporary scientific method.
It is at the beginning of the foundational document for Scientific Illuminism, Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae we find the following notice:
One of Crowley's major contemporary popularizers, Robert Anton Wilson, outlined certain additional requirements for engaging in the practice of Scientific Illuminism in his Cosmic Trigger vol 1. These are: "a) being in excellent health b)being competent in at least one athletic skill c) being able to conduct experiments accurately in at least one science d) having a general knowledge of several sciences e) being able to pass an examination in formal logic being able to pass an examination in the history of philosophy including Idealism, Materialism, Rationalism, Spiritualism, Comparative Theology, etc. "RAW also notes that "[without this] kind of general knowledge and the self-confidence and independence of thought produced by such study, magick investigations will merely blow your mind.(p. 72)"
So what interest might this be for the Setian? After all the basic methodology that Crowley outlines in his training Libri is that of Greater White Magic. Wouldn't investigating these methods prove fruitless? What is there of value here one all the Crowleyana is shaken off? And why bother with physical fitness or athletics at all?
What Crowley's system of Scientific Illuminism teaches is not simply self-delusion but rather learning to pull the wool over your own eyes and as such learning about the nature of the mind and its contents. As Black Magicians this might seem like a fruitless endeavor, but unless one has engaged in such intentional manipulation of perception and learned how it is done one will never know how much of your own "hard won Initiatory experience" is not simply a product of using black wool, especially in cases of Deity Mysticism and "contact with Set." These methods also teach one a certain amount of healthy skepticism about one’s own magical experiences and helps to provide a more conscious understanding of events in the Ritual Chamber.
At its essence Scientific Illuminism is the combination of three things: Rational Training, Meditative Practice and Ritual Magic. This combination is perhaps one of the most effective methods for fully realizing your potential as a magician, and one that fits nicely with the Setian emphasis upon Socratic Reduction and Self-Realization. Arenas within the Temple, at both the Element and Order level, can provide those interested with opportunities to explore each of these facets of Scientific Illuminism.
Of all of them perhaps the most important is that of Rational Training. Rationality has long been falsely seen as anathema to magic. What it is anathema to is not magic but rather pre-rationalism masquerading as significance. Thankfully this is being remedied by the ongoing Work of the Order of Leviathan and the Order of Xnum, especially via their combined effort in the Setian Academy. Such Work strikes a deathblow at the meandering delusional specter of occultism surer then the strangulation of the last Astrologer with the guts of the last Spiritual Master ever will.
The rigorous methodology of the Hard Sciences, based upon observation and repetition, were to be used in the exploration and refinement of the Self. The methodology for engaging in this practice would be expounded in the primary practical works for Crowley' s A.'.A.'. These methods combined a foundation built upon Eastern Yogic methods for the control of consciousness with the ritual methods of Western Ceremonial Magic all of which executed and recorded under conditions suggested by contemporary scientific method.
It is at the beginning of the foundational document for Scientific Illuminism, Liber O vel Manus et Sagittae we find the following notice:
In this book it is spoken of the Sephiroth and the Paths; of Spirits and
Conjurations; of Gods, Spheres, Planes, and many other things which may or may
not exist.
It is immaterial whether these exist or not. By doing certain things
certain results will follow; students are most earnestly warned against
attributing objective reality or philosophic validity to any of them. The
advantages to be gained from them are chiefly these:
("a") A widening of the horizon of the mind.
("b") An improvement of the control of the mind.
The student, if he attains any success in the following practices, will
find himself confronted by things (ideas or beings) too glorious or too dreadful
to be described. It is essential that he remain the master of all that he
beholds, hears or conceives; otherwise he will be the slave of illusion, and the
prey of madness.
One of Crowley's major contemporary popularizers, Robert Anton Wilson, outlined certain additional requirements for engaging in the practice of Scientific Illuminism in his Cosmic Trigger vol 1. These are: "a) being in excellent health b)being competent in at least one athletic skill c) being able to conduct experiments accurately in at least one science d) having a general knowledge of several sciences e) being able to pass an examination in formal logic being able to pass an examination in the history of philosophy including Idealism, Materialism, Rationalism, Spiritualism, Comparative Theology, etc. "RAW also notes that "[without this] kind of general knowledge and the self-confidence and independence of thought produced by such study, magick investigations will merely blow your mind.(p. 72)"
So what interest might this be for the Setian? After all the basic methodology that Crowley outlines in his training Libri is that of Greater White Magic. Wouldn't investigating these methods prove fruitless? What is there of value here one all the Crowleyana is shaken off? And why bother with physical fitness or athletics at all?
What Crowley's system of Scientific Illuminism teaches is not simply self-delusion but rather learning to pull the wool over your own eyes and as such learning about the nature of the mind and its contents. As Black Magicians this might seem like a fruitless endeavor, but unless one has engaged in such intentional manipulation of perception and learned how it is done one will never know how much of your own "hard won Initiatory experience" is not simply a product of using black wool, especially in cases of Deity Mysticism and "contact with Set." These methods also teach one a certain amount of healthy skepticism about one’s own magical experiences and helps to provide a more conscious understanding of events in the Ritual Chamber.
At its essence Scientific Illuminism is the combination of three things: Rational Training, Meditative Practice and Ritual Magic. This combination is perhaps one of the most effective methods for fully realizing your potential as a magician, and one that fits nicely with the Setian emphasis upon Socratic Reduction and Self-Realization. Arenas within the Temple, at both the Element and Order level, can provide those interested with opportunities to explore each of these facets of Scientific Illuminism.
Of all of them perhaps the most important is that of Rational Training. Rationality has long been falsely seen as anathema to magic. What it is anathema to is not magic but rather pre-rationalism masquerading as significance. Thankfully this is being remedied by the ongoing Work of the Order of Leviathan and the Order of Xnum, especially via their combined effort in the Setian Academy. Such Work strikes a deathblow at the meandering delusional specter of occultism surer then the strangulation of the last Astrologer with the guts of the last Spiritual Master ever will.
Black Magic: Lesser, Medial and Greater
Periodically the issue of what is the most appropriate form of magic to use in a given situation comes up. This is a difficult question as often Lesser, Medial and Greater Black Magic can be equally appropriate to resolve a given situation but will bring about the resolution in vastly different ways. Here is a look at what I mean.
__________________________________
Situation: You are in need of more money
Lesser Black Magic: You take a quick look at your situation, realize that part of the reason you get passed over for promotions at work is because you're appearance can be somewhat shabby and frankly you don't really care about the job. You take a look at the classified section of the newspaper and find some jobs you think might be interested. Before the interviews you give yourself a bit of a make over, buy some new cloths and use those NLP rapport building skills you learned at that Pylon Workshop a few years ago. You end up landing a job at about 10% more money then you were making before and the work is a bit more interesting. By all accounts you haven't really changed much as a result.
Medial Black Magic: You take a look at your situation with an eye towards probabilities. You have some investments that aren't really earning much income but you heard it through the grape vine that they have a new product about to be launched that will either make of break the company. You decide to do a small Medial Black Magic working the night before the product unveiling for its success. The next day the product is shown, ends up being a big hit and your stock price soars. Since you weren't that heavily invested in the company you cash out with a small profit and go on with your life the richer for it.
Greater Black Magic: You look at your situation and realize that you have terribly ideas about what Wealth and Money actually are and how best to use them when opportunity is upon you. You spend a few weeks exploring these ideas, reading on the topic of Wealth psychology, money management and investing and investigating your own ideas about what attracts you to Wealth and Money (say the ability to get things done more quickly and having access to a wider range of experiences) and what about their achievement disturbs you (that the people using your investments may have the ethical sense of a rabid hyena and that your Punk Rock friends will stop inviting you over to their flophouse parties when they find out). When you feel as if your consciousness has become full of the topic you perform an act of Greater Black Magic with all the trimmings and decide to use Mesoamerican trappings as you find this a most stimulating tradition. Afterwards you have a series of dreams that clearly seem to be trying to communicate something to you (Airplanes? Ruins? Some super attractive person you've never met?) but you are not really sure what. When you wake up, nothing is changed immediately but you write down those dreams.
You go about your day and by coincidence find a local paper on the seat next to you that has an article on a start up company that is looking to engage in Ethical Import/Export and distribution work in Guatemala. Their home office in your area.
You take the magazine with you into work and decide to look up more about the company and discover they have jobs posted, including one that would involve travel to Guatemala to engage in business negotiations and hunt out new potential products in the more obscure villages. You decide to give them a call and schedule an interview, using all the LBM tricks you know when it happens and thus get the job but it pays a bit less then your old job. As a benefit however they offer you an early window on their eventual IPO and you decide to do some preliminary investment even though it is risky to dump cash into unknown start ups.
While on your first trip for the job you discover that there is enough free time to explore the old Maya Ruins and find a local guide who shows you things tourists never see. While at one of these sites you end up meeting a Mesoamerican researcher with whom you share a tremendous amount of sexual chemistry and you mutual decide to act on it. One night they tell you about their interest in trying to preserve these old sites, how it wouldn't take much cash to do it due to the tremendous exchange rate between Guatemala and your home country and how their dream is to form a non-profit to help raise funds and oversee the work.
A few years later you and the researcher have formed a serious relationship, the company has been a success and is about to go public. Since you were there for almost day one you hold a sizable stake and end up making a small fortune freeing you from having to work for anyone else if your smart with it. You and your partner decide that now is the time to start that non-profit and you use the connections you made both at home and in Guatemala to raise funds and find people qualified to oversee things on the ground. It is hard work but you find yourself deeply dedicated to doing it. You find a lot of eager young faces who want to help and discover that in addition to their regular work you have opportunities to impart some of your Initiatory Understanding to them, usually in covert ways, and start suggesting books and practices which had been important to your own transformation. You even manage to find a gig for your old Punk Rock friends who did look at you a bit suspicious for having sold out to the Man years ago but who kept inviting you to their parties anyway. ____________________________________________________________
Not all experiences are going to be this dramatic, but hopefully some people will get some ideas.
__________________________________
Situation: You are in need of more money
Lesser Black Magic: You take a quick look at your situation, realize that part of the reason you get passed over for promotions at work is because you're appearance can be somewhat shabby and frankly you don't really care about the job. You take a look at the classified section of the newspaper and find some jobs you think might be interested. Before the interviews you give yourself a bit of a make over, buy some new cloths and use those NLP rapport building skills you learned at that Pylon Workshop a few years ago. You end up landing a job at about 10% more money then you were making before and the work is a bit more interesting. By all accounts you haven't really changed much as a result.
Medial Black Magic: You take a look at your situation with an eye towards probabilities. You have some investments that aren't really earning much income but you heard it through the grape vine that they have a new product about to be launched that will either make of break the company. You decide to do a small Medial Black Magic working the night before the product unveiling for its success. The next day the product is shown, ends up being a big hit and your stock price soars. Since you weren't that heavily invested in the company you cash out with a small profit and go on with your life the richer for it.
Greater Black Magic: You look at your situation and realize that you have terribly ideas about what Wealth and Money actually are and how best to use them when opportunity is upon you. You spend a few weeks exploring these ideas, reading on the topic of Wealth psychology, money management and investing and investigating your own ideas about what attracts you to Wealth and Money (say the ability to get things done more quickly and having access to a wider range of experiences) and what about their achievement disturbs you (that the people using your investments may have the ethical sense of a rabid hyena and that your Punk Rock friends will stop inviting you over to their flophouse parties when they find out). When you feel as if your consciousness has become full of the topic you perform an act of Greater Black Magic with all the trimmings and decide to use Mesoamerican trappings as you find this a most stimulating tradition. Afterwards you have a series of dreams that clearly seem to be trying to communicate something to you (Airplanes? Ruins? Some super attractive person you've never met?) but you are not really sure what. When you wake up, nothing is changed immediately but you write down those dreams.
You go about your day and by coincidence find a local paper on the seat next to you that has an article on a start up company that is looking to engage in Ethical Import/Export and distribution work in Guatemala. Their home office in your area.
You take the magazine with you into work and decide to look up more about the company and discover they have jobs posted, including one that would involve travel to Guatemala to engage in business negotiations and hunt out new potential products in the more obscure villages. You decide to give them a call and schedule an interview, using all the LBM tricks you know when it happens and thus get the job but it pays a bit less then your old job. As a benefit however they offer you an early window on their eventual IPO and you decide to do some preliminary investment even though it is risky to dump cash into unknown start ups.
While on your first trip for the job you discover that there is enough free time to explore the old Maya Ruins and find a local guide who shows you things tourists never see. While at one of these sites you end up meeting a Mesoamerican researcher with whom you share a tremendous amount of sexual chemistry and you mutual decide to act on it. One night they tell you about their interest in trying to preserve these old sites, how it wouldn't take much cash to do it due to the tremendous exchange rate between Guatemala and your home country and how their dream is to form a non-profit to help raise funds and oversee the work.
A few years later you and the researcher have formed a serious relationship, the company has been a success and is about to go public. Since you were there for almost day one you hold a sizable stake and end up making a small fortune freeing you from having to work for anyone else if your smart with it. You and your partner decide that now is the time to start that non-profit and you use the connections you made both at home and in Guatemala to raise funds and find people qualified to oversee things on the ground. It is hard work but you find yourself deeply dedicated to doing it. You find a lot of eager young faces who want to help and discover that in addition to their regular work you have opportunities to impart some of your Initiatory Understanding to them, usually in covert ways, and start suggesting books and practices which had been important to your own transformation. You even manage to find a gig for your old Punk Rock friends who did look at you a bit suspicious for having sold out to the Man years ago but who kept inviting you to their parties anyway. ____________________________________________________________
Not all experiences are going to be this dramatic, but hopefully some people will get some ideas.
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