Various Paths of Witchcraft – Ceremonial Magick

Ceremonial Magick Definition
Ceremonial Magick: Ceremonial Magick is one of the most complicated systems of spiritual attainment in the world. It is a mixture of Jewish, Christian, and ancient Egyptian philosophy mixed with ancient Indian and Chaldean ideas spiced with a hint of earlier Paganism. This is mixed with the ceremonial aspects of Catholicism and Masonry. It usually heavily involves the study of the Kabbalah, the mysticism of the world put into Jewish and Judeo-Christian terms.

source: Truth About Psychic Powers, Donald Michael Kraig

Ceremonial Magick:
The object of ceremonial magick is to stimulate the senses, to power-up the emotions, and to firmly conceptualize the purpose of the operation—which is to create a transcending experience to unite Personality with the Divine Self. To this end, rituals, symbols, clothing, colors, incenses, sound, dramatic invocations and sacraments are selected in accordance with established “correspondences” of one thing to another to transport the magician towards a mystical reality.

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Ceremonial Magick

Ceremonial magic is generally defined as magic in which the practitioner uses specific rituals and invocations to call upon the spirit world. Also called high magic, ceremonial magic uses as its base a blend of older occult teachings–Thelema, Enochian magic, Kabbalah, and other various occult philosophies are typically incorporated.

Ceremonial vs. Natural Magic

Ceremonial magic differs from natural magic, or low magic.

Natural magic is the practice of magic in accordance with the natural world–herbalism, etc.–while ceremonial magic involves the invoking and control of spirits and other entities. Although there is much more to it than this–ceremonial magic in and of itself being fairly complex–these are the main surface differences. Ultimately, the main purpose of performing high magic is to bring the practitioner closer to the Divine itself, whether that is in the form of a deity or another spiritual being.

Origins of Ceremonial Magic

In the late sixteenth century, a translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum described “ceremoniall magicke” as containing two parts, “Geocie and Theurgie,” or goetia and theurgy. Although this was the first documented use of the term ceremonial magic, the practices involved had been around for at least a century or two, as the rituals have been noted in the grimoires of early Renaissance and medieval-era magical practitioners.

Over the years, numerous European occultists studied and practiced many of the rituals and ceremonies still in use today. Francis Barrett was an Englishman, born in the late eighteenth century, who studied metaphysics, the Kabbalah, natural occult philosophy and alchemy. Long intrigued by the writings of Agrippa, and by other esoteric texts, Barrett wrote a work entitled The Magus, heavily influenced by Agrippa’s works, and purporting to be a magical textbook focusing on herbalism, the use of numerology, the four classical elements and other correspondences.

The French occultist Alphonse Louis Constant, better known by his pseudonym Éliphas Lévi, lived in the 1800s, and was part of a number of radical socialist groups. An avid Bonapartist, Lévi developed an interest in the Kabbalah, and subsequently magic, as part of a group of radicals who believed that magic and the occult were essentially a more advanced form of socialism. He was fairly prolific and wrote a number of works on what we today call ceremonial magic, as well as books on spiritualism (The Science of Spirits) and the secrets of the occult (The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled).

Like Barrett and Agrippa, Lévi’s flavor of ceremonial magic was heavily rooted in Judeo-Christian mysticism.

Ceremonial Magic Today

During the Victorian era, spiritualist and occult groups flourished, and perhaps none is as well known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This secret society embraced ceremonial magical practices, although it eventually imploded when members couldn’t seem to agree on the actual religious beliefs of the group. Like their predecessors, many Golden Dawn members were Christians, but there was an influx of Pagan beliefs brought in that eventually led to the fragmenting of the Order.

Many of today’s ceremonial magic practitioners trace their roots to the teachings of the Golden Dawn. Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) is an international organization which was originally modeled on Freemasonry. During the 1900s, under the leadership of occultist Aleister Crowley, O.T.O. began to include elements of Thelema as well. Following Crowley’s death, the organization has seen a number of changes in leadership. Like many ceremonial magic groups, membership includes a series of initiations and rituals.

Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.) is a Los Angeles-based ceremonial magic tradition that carries influence from both the Golden Dawn and the Freemasons. In addition to group ritual work, B.O.T.A. offers correspondence classes on Kabbalah, astrology, divination, and many other aspects of occult studies.

Although information on ceremonial magic often seems to be limited, this is due in part to the need for secrecy within the community. Author Dion Fortune once said of the teachings of ceremonial magic, “Secrecy concerning practical formulae of ceremonial magic is also advisable, for if they are used indiscriminately, the virtue goes out of them.”

Today, there is a great deal of publicly available information on the practice and beliefs of high magic, or ceremonial magic. However, it is said that the information out there is incomplete and that it is only through training and work that a practitioner can unlock all of the secrets of ceremonial magic.

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Ceremonial Magic

Ceremonial magic or ritual magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic in some cases, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by ceremony and a myriad of necessary accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an extension of ritual magic, and in most cases synonymous with it. Popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, it draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, and the magic of various grimoires.

Renaissance magic
The term originates in 16th-century Renaissance magic, referring to practices described in various Medieval and Renaissance grimoires and in collections such as that of Johannes Hartlieb. Georg Pictor uses the term synonymously with goetia.
James Sanford in his 1569 translation of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s 1526 De incertitudine et vanitate scientiarum has “The partes of ceremoniall Magicke be Geocie, and Theurgie”. For Agrippa, ceremonial magic was in opposition to natural magic. While he had his misgivings about natural magic, which included astrology, alchemy, and also what we would today consider fields of natural science, such as botany, he was nevertheless prepared to accept it as “the highest peak of natural philosophy”. Ceremonial magic, on the other hand, which included all sorts of communication with spirits, including necromancy and witchcraft, he denounced in its entirety as impious disobedience towards God.

Revival
Starting with the Romantic movement, in the 19th century, a number of people and groups have effected a revival of ceremonial magic.

Francis Barrett
Among the various sources for ceremonial magic, Francis Barrett’s The Magus embodies deep knowledge of alchemy, astrology, and the Kabbalah, and has been cited by the Golden Dawn, and is seen by some[according to whom?] as a primary source. But according to Aleister Crowley, perhaps the most influential ceremonial magician of the Modern era, much of it was cribbed from Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

Eliphas Levi
Eliphas Lévi conceived the notion of writing a treatise on magic with his friend Bulwer-Lytton. This appeared in 1855 under the title Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, and was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual.

In 1861, he published a sequel, La Clef des Grands Mystères (The Key to the Great Mysteries). Further magical works by Lévi include Fables et Symboles (Stories and Images), 1862, and La Science des Esprits (The Science of Spirits), 1865. In 1868, he wrote Le Grand Arcane, ou l’Occultisme Dévoilé (The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled); this, however, was only published posthumously in 1898.

Lévi’s version of magic became a great success, especially after his death. That Spiritualism was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1850s contributed to his success. His magical teachings were free from obvious fanaticisms, even if they remained rather murky; he had nothing to sell, and did not pretend to be the initiate of some ancient or fictitious secret society. He incorporated the Tarot cards into his magical system, and as a result the Tarot has been an important part of the paraphernalia of Western magicians. He had a deep impact on the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later Aleister Crowley, and it was largely through this impact that Lévi is remembered as one of the key founders of the twentieth century revival of magic.

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (or, more commonly, the Golden Dawn) was a magical order of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, practicing a form of theurgy and spiritual development. It was probably the single greatest influence on twentieth century Western occultism. Some aspects of magic and ritual that became core elements of many other traditions, including Wicca, Thelema and other forms of magical spirituality popular today, are partly drawn from the Golden Dawn tradition.

Aleister Crowley
English author and occultist Aleister Crowley often introduced new terminology for spiritual and magical practices and theory. For example, he termed theurgy “high magick” and thaumaturgy “low magick”. In The Book of the Law and The Vision and the Voice, the Aramaic magical formula Abracadabra was changed to Abrahadabra, which he called the new formula of the Aeon of Horus. He also famously spelled magic in the archaic manner, as magick, to differentiate “the true science of the Magi from all its counterfeits.”

Magical tools
The practice of ceremonial magic often requires tools made or consecrated specifically for this use, which are required for a particular ritual or series of rituals. They may be a symbolic representation of psychological elements of the magician or of metaphysical concepts.

In Magick (Book 4), Part II (Magick), Aleister Crowley lists the tools required as a circle drawn on the ground and inscribed with the names of god, an altar, a wand, cup, sword, and pentacle, to represent his true will, his understanding, his reason, and the lower parts of his being respectively. On the altar, too, is a phial of oil to represent his aspiration, and for consecrating items to his intent. The magician is surrounded by a scourge, dagger, and chain intended to keep his intent pure. An oil lamp, book of conjurations and bell are required, as is the wearing of a crown, robe, and lamen. The crown affirms his divinity, the robe symbolizes silence, and the lamen declare his work. The book of conjurations is his magical record, his karma. In the East is the magick fire in which all burns up at last.

Grimoires
A grimoire /ɡrɪmˈwɑːr/ is a record of magic. Books of this genre, are records of magical experiments and philosophical musings, giving instructions for invoking angels or demons, performing divination and gaining magical powers, and have circulated throughout Europe since the Middle Ages.

It is common belief that magicians were frequently prosecuted by the Christian church, so their journals were kept hidden to prevent the owner from being burned. But it is also a well-known fact that church and the rabbi keep records of demonic activity and exorcism too in their own magical records which were used for similar record keeping. Some claim that the new age occultism is a sham and borrowed heavily from these old record books by the religious. Such books contain astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms, spells, and exorcism, on mixing medicines, summoning elemental entities, and making talismans. Magical books in almost any context, especially books of magical spells, are also called grimoires.

Enochian magic
Enochian magic is a system of ceremonial magic centered on the evocation and commanding of various spirits that was the magical exploration made by an English occultist Dr. John Dee. It is based on the 16th-century writings of Dr John Dee and Edward Kelley, who claimed that their information was delivered to them directly by various angels. Dee’s journals contained the Enochian script, and the table of correspondences that goes with it. It claims to embrace secrets contained within the apocryphal Book of Enoch. It is a widely held belief that these revelations were personal and specific to Dee’s life and reality and borrowed on imagination heavily.

Organizations
Among the many organizations which practice forms of ceremonial magic aside from the Golden Dawn are the A∴A∴, Ordo Templi Orientis, and the Builders of the Adytum.

References:
The Llewellyn Encyclopedia
Patti Wigington, ThoughtCo.com
Wikipedia