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Greetings, and welcome again to the "Mage's Guide". In case you
missed the last installment, I will briefly explain the theme of
this series. Every beginner in the field of the occult is faced
with certain universal problems. These problems are the direct
result of the culture and environment of our time- that being
namely the "Information Age". The seeker most often has little
experience in navigating the sea of information available to him.
The Internet is brand new to the majority of the population, the
bookstores are overrun with titles from different authors with
different viewpoints, and the metaphysical communities are
populated with people of varying degrees of experience and
honesty.
This work, then, is meant to be a guide for the seeker in such
troubled waters. It will cover various aspects of the Path to
Adepthood, and suggest the best ways of going about the process.
It will define and explain many of the most confusing terms and
situations one might run into along the way- and which might trap
one into failure at the Magickal Arts. This is most specifically
aimed at those who wish to know magick- as a science, art form,
and practice. Your religion, or lack there-of, will be left
strictly up to you. It does not matter if you are Wiccan or
Christian, or if you are a Qabalist or Thelemite, or even if you
are Atheist or Agnostic. What concerns us here today is the
practice of magick, and how to go about it.
In the last installment, we discussed the Virtue of Silence in
finding one's path in the Occult Traditions. We covered everything
from Internet contacts to face to face meetings with potential
teachers and peers. Most importantly, some guidelines were offered
to help ensure your personal safety- as should always be
considered when attempting to contact new people. In the future,
we will cover such things as Initiation, magickal study, and the
secrets behind ultimate success in the art of practical magick.
Today, however, we are going to cover one of the most
controversial, and frankly misunderstood, concepts in today's
occult communities: Tradition and Focus.
Part Two: The Modern Eclectic Trend (Or, The
Virtue of Will)
One of the first "pop-trends" the new student will encounter upon
the magickal path is that of eclecticism. The handy New Concise
Webster's Dictionary gives us the basic definition of the word:
Eclectic (ek lek' tik), adj. Selecting; choosing from different
sources, as eclectic teachings.
This is the antithesis of "purism", where one focuses on a single
body of teaching or philosophy. It is also often stated to be the
antithesis of "fundamentalism", and this term is the very crux of
our discussion here.
A great number of people who come to Neo-Paganism or the practices
of magick have come from unpleasant Christian backgrounds. One of
the highest marks against Christianity from their standpoint is
the fact of it's "One True Wayism"- or the idea that only the
Christian doctrine is "right", while everyone else is horribly
"wrong". However, there is more at stake here than simple elitism.
In the past, the Church (especially in it's medieval Roman
Catholic form) has been known for strong-arm actions against those
who do not agree with their moral or political ideals. Sadly,
members of the right-wing or "Fundamentalist" sects are still
pushing the philosophies behind these actions today. This problem
extends it's roots right down to the basic family unit- where
parents are often known for pushing their personal beliefs upon
their children regardless of the child's feelings. Asking the
wrong questions or "doing the wrong thing" where spirituality is
concerned can often lead to punishment or humiliation for the
child by his (or her) own friends and family.
The current rise in the popularity of alternative religions and
practices is directly linked to an aversion to such
fundamentalism. It is not very often that a modern seeker of the
occult will tolerate being told that they "must" operate in any
way they do not personally choose. Having suffered as children due
to this concept, they are no longer willing to allow its presence
in their lives. A student is taught very early that he must find
his own path, to do only what feels right for himself, and to
accept no one beyond himself as a "final authority" on his own
spiritual growth.
The Advantages of Eclecticism
It is a simple fact that there is no "One True Way" where it comes
to spirituality. From ancient tribal shamanism to modern western
occultism, each system has it's own validity in it's own time and
place. All of them- even Judeo-Christianity- are basically similar
at their core. In fact, I have actually come to expect a certain
amount of eclecticism from those mages whom I meet that are well
known for their knowledge and experience. I believe that no true
scholar or mage would be willing to leave a source of information
unexamined or unacknowledged. I myself was taught to learn and
live magick by one golden rule:
What
Works, Only What Works, And Nothing But What Works
This is an aspect of what I call "nuts and bolts magick"; i.e. a
focus upon the "how tos" behind practical real-world magick. The
most perfect example I could hope to offer of this principal is
the Art of Healing. Where the techniques come from, why they came
to be, or the philosophies behind them simply do not figure into
this art as heavily as observable results. They are, of course,
important in their own way. However, they are strictly secondary
when compared to practical instruction; the "nuts and bolts" of
the matter, as it were.
I have found a love for working in this manner myself. I practice
many different systems from Wicca to the Golden Dawn, from healing
to spirit work, from vision questing to meditation. All of these
come together in my personal practice, to produce the day-to-day
results that I enjoy from the art of magick. I simply could not
imagine myself being limited to one philosophy or a single system-
especially if I somehow managed to believe that my singular system
was the only correct one. Such a belief on my part would indicate
that I hadn't come very far at all- for I would have failed to
recognize the similar core that lay beneath the surfaces of my
system and those of all others.
It is more than likely that you will come to work this way
yourself. As you gain experience with one set of symbols, you will
come to find uses for other sets as well as other techniques. You
will want to avoid- at all costs- the trap of personal limitation
on any level. Above all, be of a practical mind. After you have
delved into the philosophies behind any given system, ask yourself
honestly whether or not the system is physically doing as
promised.
The Problem of Eclecticism
Even though an open minded approach to magick is a must, there are
always the ever-present traps to avoid. While eclecticism can be a
virtue, I wish to offer that- in popular usage- it has also become
a double-edged sword. This philosophy has shifted from being the
natural practice of one with experience, into the ground-zero
method of teaching new students. The student is not simply taught
to think for himself, but is often taught to actively avoid any
kind of purism. If purism is suggested in a public forum, it is
immediately discredited as One True Wayism and tossed out of the
proverbial window. Usually, the person who dared to suggest such a
thing is tossed out along with it.
However, the fact is that purism and One True Wayism are not the
same thing at all. This is a common, and costly, mistake made by
many seekers in the modern occult and neopagan communities. You
may have personally experienced this clincher on your own. You
have perhaps been reading, surfing the net, and corresponding with
various people on the subject of magick. If so, you have learned
that they all have their own personal opinions, and that nearly
all of them disagree on more than one point. When one asks for
advice on how to wade through all of this source material, one is
more often than not instructed to draw from all of it, and to
simply do "what feels right". I have yet to meet a single beginner
who found this advice truly useful in learning "nuts and bolts
magick".
While it is desirable for a mage to draw from all available
sources as he perfects his art, it is also necessary for him to
first gain a solid foundation upon which to build. It is simply
vital to learn the art and science of magick before one attempts
to consider techniques and symbolisms from differing (and often
contradictory) sources. The only way to accomplish this task is to
dedicate to a single path or system and work it from the ground
upward, all the way, without mixing in unrelated material. In
short:
Purism
This differs from fundamentalism in that it accepts the fact that
all systems are valid. A purist will recognize that he could have
chosen any one of many given systems to reach his end goal. A
purist is as unlimited in scope as anyone else, and can even
practice many different systems at once. However, he feels no need
to force-fit all of these different systems into one mold. Each
can be practiced completely on it's own, with no bearing on the
other branches of study and practice the purist may enjoy. Purism
simply means that he doesn't mix them together.
This is a major faltering point for many people- as they attempt
to reconcile every bit of information they learn into one
comprehensive system. For instance, the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn- in its prayers and invocations- calls regularly upon
the "Lord of the Universe". On the other hand, the religion of
Wicca calls upon the Lord and Lady together. Normally a student
would research these systems and assume them incompatable. They
are not. I regularly practice both systems willout the slightest
conflict. I do not attempt to encorperate Wiccan concepts into the
Golden Dawn, nor Golden Dawn concepts into Wicca. The idea of a
"Golden Dawn Wicca" does not interest me in the least. Each is a
different philosophy and a different system; both of them work
well, and niether one interferes with the other.
This can open a lot of previously closed doors for the student.
Why be warned away from dedication to a specific path? Do not
believe that you will be trapped there forever! If a given path is
not your home, you will grow apart from it over time and can leave
it without loss or hard feelings. The further you reach toward
your goal, the further you will be drawn toward the path that
calls to you the strongest. Put simply: you will land there
eventually. In the meantime, however, you will have learned
invaluable lessons about the basics of magick and how to make it
work. That basic knowledge will never be useless. Most
importantly, you will have gotten a start!
On the other hand, being eclectic without knowing those basics
first can damage your efforts in the long run. Each system you
encounter is part of a Magickal Current upon the astral; a Current
which flows in it's own direction, at it's own speed, and from
it's own time and culture. The Current that runs from ancient
Egypt is not the same as that which runs from Ireland or Scotland.
The Current that flows from the medieval grimoires such as the
"Key of Solomon" is not the same as that which flows from the
Golden Dawn. They certainly have similarities, and in many cases
even historical connections. Yet they are each born from the midst
of a specific time, place, and people.
The mystery behind symbology is intent. What a symbol means in
it's proper context is what is important for it's use. This
context is what makes importing foreign symbols and techniques
into unrelated systems undesirable for a student. As an example,
we will take the infamous inverted pentagram. In the current of
Wicca, the inverted pentagram is a holy symbol. It represents one
who has attained the Second Degree, and it symbolizes Spirit
manifest in matter. In the Golden Dawn, however, it is said to
symbolize evil and unbalanced nature- Spirit ruled by matter. Only
a One True Wayist would suggest that only one of these two are
correct. A purist would suggest that both are correct from their
own standpoints. When performing Golden Dawn work, he would not
make use of the inverted pentagram. When performing Wiccan
ceremonies, the same pentagram would be welcome. There is no need
for a mental conflict over the matter on the part of the mage.
The same can be said for every symbol, technique, and
correspondence used within any single system. They all come
together to make a unified whole, and each one depends on all
others for it's context and meaning. Learning this overall context
takes a lot of time, study, and practice. Further, it takes a
complete working of the system from it's starting point to it's
advanced stages before a mage can rightfully claim to understand
it. More often, this takes a lifetime of dedication.
At this time I feel it is important to remind you of the previous
lesson on Silence- You may wish to avoid any attempt to preach,
teach, or otherwise act authoritative about a system that you are
not personally advanced within. It takes time and study to learn
what the symbology and techniques of a system mean, and how they
are to be used properly. One should never attempt to change a
magickal system until one understands it in full. Of course, the
only way to understand it in full is to work it in full, as a
purist. You must study it, practice it, and put it to daily use.
In short, you must live it if you are to judge it's effectiveness.
And you can not accomplish this unless you refuse to bring in
further data (i.e.- aspects of other systems) to confuse the
issue. This is basic scientific process.
That bit of knowledge alone should save you many hard to answer
questions. It is as simple as looking into all of the available
systems, and finding the one which appeals to you the most. This
can be done without worry of making a "wrong choice" or being
stuck with your decision forever. It can also be done without
feeling guilty about leaving out the practice of other systems, or
fear that they are "wrong" simply because you are not using them.
Simply take your chosen system as a whole and dedicate to putting
it to the test. Follow every instruction, leave nothing out, and
then you will be in the perfect position to judge the system one
way or another. All other Paths will remain open and available,
and you have an entire lifetime to gravitate toward the one you
will call your own.
The result of this will be a wonderful thing called "focus". Focus
will allow you to push past nearly all of the usual barriers to
occult knowledge- ultimately giving you a foothold on the subject
nearly as firm as one who seeks out a Temple, Order, or Coven. It
will allow you to work toward an expertise of at least one Path,
from which you can evaluate and test any other from an educated
and experienced position. Finally, the best part is that there are
no limits to what systems you might explore in the future. Rather
than knowing just a little about each of them in a short time, you
will spend a slightly longer time getting to know each of them
fully. Remember that "wizard" means "wise one", and this is
exactly how you can go about gaining that title properly.
You might even be surprised at how little time you might have to
spend in a given system. One can join a Golden Dawn Temple and
work through it's Grade material in as little as two years. I have
one colleague who joined a Catholic Church to experience their
methods, and spent about the same period of time there. Yet
another spent two years practicing the African system of Palo, and
is even now journeying through the Golden Dawn. This same person
is also a Gardnerian Wiccan and is further studying the Angelic
(Enochian) system of magick. Yet all of the above are purists in
they way they treat each Path and Current.
This doesn't mean that one will be a master of a system he is only
experimenting with. However, one who works in this way will always
find that one Path which appeals to him most. More often than not,
he will take a little from each to produce the eclectic personal
system so common among the experienced.
If this appeals to you, then you may wish to continue with me into
the next installment of this series. Having granted some focus to
your path, we will next be discussing the often controversial (and
most often misunderstood) concept of Initiation. We will discuss
what it is, how it works, and what it means to you personally. So
far, these essays have easily been related to the famed Virtues of
the Sphinx: To Know, To Will, To Dare, and To Keep Silent. The
last essay concerned Silence, while this one might be said to
relate to Will. To continue the trend, we will relate the
following essay to Daring. It will soon become apparent to you how
firmly this virtue is related to the concept of magickal
Initiation.
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