High Magick Demystified

Author: Panisch Lockelear

The first thing many Neo-pagans think of when the words High Magick are conjured up is a painstaking order of rules and rotes that are strictly adhered to or a plan of Magick that far out-reaches the realm of Kitchen Witchery and solitary Folk Magick and spells we all dispense on a daily basis. As I have followed my path into the Magickal arts, I have learned that high Magick does not have to be something only sought after by the wicked smart or those who have years and years of sacred study of the Hermetic order under their belts. High Magick is for everyone. All who seek to apply themselves, that is.

The first thing to understand is a few important rules. The first is that you are seeking to allow Magick to conform to your own will. In 1850, Eliphas Levi stressed the importance of the practitioner’s will. Your will is very important. Aleister Crowley said that every intentional act is a Magickal act. A concept that may be lost on some of us today, but one that rings true when dealing with High Magick.

The second rule is that High Magick is formal. By formal, I mean casting circles, Calling quarters, evocations and invocations (found in a lot of Ceremonial Magick) .

The third rule is that unlike mundane Folk Magick that seeks to protect, bless, curse or obtain possessions, High Magick is done to achieve a mystical religious happening or experience. An experience such that the practitioner is united with divinity, or Deity.

Lastly, we must know that pioneer psychologists Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud’s studies and the theories of their students confirmed that our subconscious minds do influence the outcome of events in the physical world. This is something that occultists and practitioners of the Magickal Arts have known from ages past.

So, going into your High Magick study, keep this firmly in mind:

* Seek to have Magick conform to your will and that every intentional act is a Magickal act.
* High Magick is formal in nature.
* High Magick achieves a mystical religious experience uniting us with the Divine.
* Our subconscious mind influences the outcome of physical world.

It has long been held that while in the midst of preparing to venture into the High Magickal realm, the practitioner needs very specific tools and supplies. It has long been held that in the day of Crowley, when the High Magickal working called for specific crystals, tools, parts of wild animals, or herbs harvested at a specific lunar phase, these items must not be substituted or strayed from.

I have come to understand that these specialized supplies are very important to be kept intact as they are, only if you really believe them to be. As with most Magickal rotes, spells, and workings these things are mind triggers. They aid us in defining our will and they can also act to concentrate our will, to be sent into the cosmos to tip the scales to our workings. However, most neo-pagans live in rural areas where these things are almost impossible to come by.

It is important to know, here, that I shall not take a side on the stance of the traditionalist or to the notion that these supplies can be changed to suit the practitioner. In my thinking it only matters if you believe it does. Mind triggers are funny that way. For the sake of this article and de-mystifying High Magick, I choose to lean on the thought that the exact duplication of the supplies is not essential and that if the supplies you substitute are justified in your own mind as an equal mind trigger, the substitution will suffice. Magick comes from within, ever mindful of how it comes from within.

Now, moving on, to a path. This is where I lose most traditionalists, but here goes anyway. You may choose to follow a specific High Magickal path, the Jewish Kabala, Alchemy, Hermetic Arts or the Enochian Magick among others. However to do so will commit you to years and years of study and practice.

I tend to believe that Magick must evolve. The old rotes and ways are to be respected and revered. However, exploration of new ways and keeping with our social and psychological evolution throughout the centuries carries weight. Imagine us today trying to put a man on the moon with the technology and thinking of the 1800’s. Although this thinking is logical and valuable, it allows for only so much success.

High Magick in today’s terms is less about ancient rotes, spells, and invocations, and more about specifics. In ancient times, Ceremonial Magick was only for the rich who could afford the supplies and had the time and space for the elaborate altars, crystals, distillation equipment for alchemy, and expensive metals and herbs. Some elaborate things still can be used and can be useful however, to achieve High Magick you only need to apply the rules above, but do so with specifics. In other words plan the spell or working while in a specific lunar phase, at a specific lunar hour.

Plan the workings around a specific astrological event that is powerfully lending to the specifics of that working. Curb and choose all your mind triggers to the workings in a very deliberate manner. Colors, Magickal properties, planetary phases, and planetary hours should all play an intricate part in planning and performing your High Magickal Working. This is all there is to it.

Of course calling and using Divine archetypes that best suit your Magickal workings is also essential. Keep fully in mind that this working is a uniting mystical experience with The Divine.

I think it important in our walk as wise ones, that we challenge ourselves. Old traditional thinking and fail-safes, meant to dissuade us from the higher Magickal arts is nothing more than a stumbling block in our own personal Magickal paths. This is not something we should allow to sway us away from learning higher arts. Of course, the application of wisdom with knowledge and study is essential. However, study alone, without practice, is stagnating and of little use.

Imagine where we would be if such Elders as Gerald Gardner simply was content with the “study” of Magick and witchcraft. It was he who said, “Let’s do this and practice this.” That set him apart from those around him in the 1950’s. We must evolve as a people of the Magickal Arts. We must keep journals of our findings and success and our failure as well.

It is the bold who gain audience of the Gods.

High Magic, Low Magic: Designations Help Define Our Styles

Author: Treasach

I personally find designations handy. They express no limit, only a specialization. It certainly helps you anticipate how easily you can work with another and how your styles and knowledge will mesh. I know, for example, that I don’t usually get on well with high magicians, or Iron John style wizards. That’s darn handy to know when someone tells me that he is a necromancer and a cabbalist.

As I label myself a ReClaimist, matriarchal, bardic green witch, most of you will have an idea of what I am currently working on, where my knowledge areas lie, what my focus is, and how I express my spirituality. That doesn’t mean I’ll stay like that forever, or that I’m not interested in other forms of worship, but it certainly makes it easier for us to find others of the same style. Rather like nametags at a convention.

I not only see no harm in it, I encourage folks to find a useful label for their personal style practice. Makes them feel more validated, too, especially when they are first starting out.

High magic is usually the term for what the wizards do. It’s rather like a Catholic mass, with all the ritual words in a sacred language, pomp and finery, ordained divine conduits, and strict adherence to detail. The power in high magic comes from without… the great universal energy that is harnessed by the correct performance of the ritual itself, with some measure from the performer (s) , but not much. They are mostly lending energy for the conduction of the spell to take place, which is why there is such an emphasis on hierarchy in high magic. It is vital that the ceremony be followed exactly with the correct people taking care of their assigned functions. The more powerful as spell, the less room for error.

The big draw for this kind of magic is that it offers a great deal of power in a relatively short period of time, but with a corresponding danger level as you ascend. The goal is to eventually control and submit the entire Universe. Nearly all wizards are male, white, and have terrible ego issues. They are usually still at the age where they feel invulnerable, since it’s required that you eventually wrestle with demons, for example, and incur the wrath of extra dimensional entities by enslaving them or their friends. It is often spelt with a ‘k’ to delineate it from low magic. Wizards find that sort of window dressing appealing.

Low magic is usually what witches do. Its goal is to make you one with the Universe, and therefore blissful, content, wise, with all your needs provided for. To unleash and accept your Goddess within, which is the same as the Goddess without, by giving full release to your Goddess self. This means that much attention is paid to your own instinct and the answers that are right for you, as your Goddess cannot ever be wrong, you just have to get better at hearing her. So our spells are more like mediation, sometimes with helpful symbols or foci like incense, statues, herbs, and other paraphernalia.

Most experienced witches don’t bother with it, however, unless they are trying to working on something much harder than usual. To effect change in the Universe, we try to use the Butterfly effect, to tug on the string of the Great Weave that will most affect the change we want. In trying to find the string, we learn how the Universe works and so increase our wisdom. And the Universe is vast, so She often can’t get to something as quick as She’d like.

It is therefore our job as Her representatives to draw her attention to inequities by blessing those who need it, to injustices by cursing those who deserve it, and other maintenance of the Continuum, thereby increasing our understanding and interaction with it.

Wicca is like high magic for witches. It calls upon the spirits and entities in a very ritualized format with specific assignments to the members, but primarily uses the inner energies of the group or individual to do the prescribed task. There is therefore no backlash if done incorrectly. But they do seem very fond of their accoutrements…

Most women choose the style of Low magic because it is more like their usual style of being: persuading and joining, rather than controlling. The sex of the practitioner doesn’t enter into it, other than gender training in their culture helping them have certain inclinations… That explains the overwhelming majority of practitioners in the Middle Ages being clergy. They often went into the priesthood for reasons OTHER than piety, like power and wealth, they were learned, and they had access to all sorts of magical formula, arcane materials, etc. So High magic, or ceremonial magic, was almost entirely Christian and clerical in the Middle Ages.

It is indeed all the same power. However, I can cure myself, clean my house, or get rid of my weeds and insects in my garden through chemicals created in a lab, or I can use chemicals in herbs and natural liquids. Some are just as dangerous to the environment, and myself but most aren’t.

Chemicals, like magic, are all made of the same components essentially but how they inter-react and perform is completely variable depending on how they were generated and used. They can be naturally gentle and persuading, or they can be artificially harsh, brutal, and destructive.

I’m sure most of you have heard of the phrase “As above, so below”. Only one interpretation is rendered as “As in Heaven, so it happens down here.” Another, more widely used and helpful meaning is “Change or events Outside affect the Internal, and vise versa.” ‘High’ in the case of magic means ‘external’, ‘low’ means ‘internal’. ONLY when hierarchy becomes so predominate in this culture, and High implies more powerful, and consequently more male, does High and Low magic take on some connotations that some people today take umbrage with. It’s not a personal insult to our style.

Now. When was the last time any of you enslaved a demon, deity, or angel to unwillingly do your bidding? How about binding your local ghosts, fairies, and spirits as your personal gophers? I don’t remember when it was that I forced the dead to come back in an unquiet rest to speak about the secrets of the Universe… High magic involves the use of formula and ritual to achieve just such dog collars on the Powers of the Universe. It isn’t the end in and of itself. The spell is usually to DO something, but it is the elemental being that figures out how to achieve the goal.

This kind of style offers much to recommend it to those that want a lot of power fast. Sure, High magicians have to keep their will focused on the spell for it to work, but only for the ritual itself. For the results of the spell to be efficacious, it doesn’t have to be PERSONAL, internal power that is bringing it about. That’s what the Harnesses of the Universe are for, like Jewish magic squares, Keys of Solomon, which can energize, activate, and execute many different kinds of spells simply by being performed correctly. However, the perils increase correspondingly.

I’ve seen a young wizard tell me that Hunters from the sprit world are stalking him, and we did a little complex ritual around a lamppost to confuse them so they can’t follow. I mean, I never saw them, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t there, so I won’t doubt his word. Much. But I’ll tell you. I’ve never done anything in my magic work to invoke their wrath in the first place.

I am not comparing levels of power here. A very experienced or instinctive witch who is close to the Warp and Weft of the Universe can indeed stop a storm with a thought. Unfortunately, that takes a great deal of Enlightenment to reach that point, so most of us don’t get there in a hurry, if ever. Now, it takes a wizard of far less experience, personal power, and self-mastery to achieve the same ends by going through the rigmarole to capture the power of the Storm God and just fire away or let Him do the work. It’s not easy, but it’s a hellova lot easier than becoming one with the Forces of a Hurricane and personally knowing on an unconscious level what strings to pull.

With these kind of benefits attached to High magic, including the hierarchy, the feeling of mastery and the practice of invincibility, it’s no wonder that most wizards are men. But there is no such thing as a free lunch. Most powers that are so bound in High magic are not only interested in becoming Unbound as soon as possible, they would also like to wreak revenge on the mortals who dared to commit such an atrocity.

Which is why my little wizard friend was almost PROUD at the Things following him. The quality of a wizard is told by the quality of his enemies, after all… I don’t know of many women who have the same disregard for personal safety as many men do, either, btw…

Now, the next time any of you try to harness the Angel of Life and Death to cure yourself of cancer by invoking the Necronomacon and creating a doorway to Hell in your closet, rather than simply lighting a candle and envisioning the cancer going away, then you can tell me that High magic and Low magic are the same.

You must admit, the first one, if done correctly, has a much greater probability of curing you quickly and permanently, but so much can go wrong. The latter requires a deeply Enlightened, experienced, or otherwise powerful witch, and you might not be able to find one before you croak, but at least you don’t have to worry about your relatives falling through to the Second Circle when they put their coats away at your wake.

Good Advice

Sometimes humor is not direct. Here is a list of serious, non-humorous advice. The humor comes if you don’t follow it, with yourself as the butt of the joke.

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1. Before turning to prayer or magick, use the strengths and abilities within yourself. It’s simpler that way.
2. Ask for what you want. Say how you are feeling. The results are very often postive.
3. Always know the deities you are working with.  Don’t ask Eris or Odin for peace.  Get a good mythology reference and use it.
4. Don’t invoke two or more dieties from different pantheons, especially not when they have different ideas on how to answer your prayer. Remember, Pax doesn’t wish to meet or work with Morrigan.
5. Be nice to your spirit guides. They will help you if they are pleased with you, hinder you when not.
6. Never leave anything up to the whims of the gods.  Take the time and effort to be very precise in what you ask for.
7. Say nice things about your foes in public.
8. Simple is better.
9. Believe in magick.  It really does work.
10. Everything that happens is an answered prayer.  Nothing is random.
11. Don’t give the gods undeserved credit or blame.
12. Wash your feet before and after you go barefoot.
13. When asking for strength, do it standing up, not sitting or lying down.
14. Always tell the truth, even when it is not pleasant.
15. When you deliver unwelcome news, do not expect to be welcomed or appreciated.
16. Read the latest books on spiritual matters.  Some may be nonsense, but it always helps to know the current New Age buzzwords.
17. Running on Pagan Standard Time is an insult to those who depend on you.
18. Draw pictures rather then write words.  There is a reason that ancient people used pictures.
19. Proofread.  This is especially important in Spellcraft.
20. Always be prepared to provide constructive criticism, but don’t offer it unless asked.
21. If you gossip about someone, assume they will find out.
22. Never confuse e-mail with reality.
23. Find another coven and make friends with its members.
24. When you leave a group, don’t take parting shots — even if justified.
25. If you tell a sexist or racist joke, expect to be criticized.
26. Don’t read from a book aloud to anyone unless they ask.
27. If you are a leader, groom at least one successor.
28. Never go anywhere without something to write on and a pen.
29. Do the hard stuff first.
30. Build and maintain an address list.  Make sure you have a mundane name, postal address, phone number and e-mail address for each person.
31. Saying “I told you so,” even if you were right, is never appreciated.
32. Back-up your computer’s disk often.
33. Do not expect sympathy when you have a hangover.
34. Don’t comment or point out someone else’s mistakes until you’ve corrected your own.
35. A hearty belly-laugh is excellent stress relief.

 

 

More great Pagan humor, visit Turok’s Cabana

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2016 June 8

The Horsehead Nebula in Infrared from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

 

Explanation: While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the above gorgeously detailed image was taken in 2013 in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the 23rd anniversary of Hubble’s launch. The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.

Moon in Cancer on evening of June 8

 

Tonight – June 8, 2016 – the waxing crescent moon beams in front of the constellation Cancer, the faintest constellation of the zodiac. We draw in the stick figure of Cancer for you on the star chart above. In the sky, you might not pick out any stars in the moon’s vicinity, unless your sky is very dark. But Cancer’s stars will be there, behind the moon’s glare, all the same.

Zodiacal constellations like Cancer distinguish themselves from other constellations in that the sun, moon and planets travel within their borders over the centuries and millennia.

The sun travels in front of the constellation Cancer from about July 21 to August 10 annually. That may seem to be at odds with the horoscope page in the newspaper, which probably gives the sun’s passage through Cancer for around June 21 to July 21.

Why the discrepancy? It’s because a zodiac sign is different from a zodiac constellation, though people often confuse the two.

Here’s the definition of a zodiac sign. By definition, the sun is always at the first point of the sign Cancer on the June solstice, irrespective of which group of stars backdrops the sun at this time. Look at the globe to note the Tropic of Cancer, which marks the northernmost extent of the sun’s travels on the June solstice.

The red line shows the Tropic of Cancer, where the noontime sun is at zenith (straight overhead) on the day of the June solstice.

Here’s the definition of a zodiac constellation. Any constellation can be thought of as a section of the starry sky, seen and wondered about for millennia by stargazers. In our time, constellations have official borders, which were agreed upon by the International Astronomical Union in the 1930s.

Over two thousand years ago, the sun actually shone in front of the constellation Cancer on the June solstice. Today, the June solstice sun shines in front of the constellation Taurus. Therefore, the first point of the sign Cancer presently resides in the constellation Taurus.

Because the Earth’s axis continually changes its tilt relative to the backdrop stars, the June solstice sun swings westward through all the constellations of the zodiac in a period of about 26,000 years. All the while, the June solstice sun always marks the first point of the sign Cancer.

 

Bottom line: If your sky is extremely dark, you might be able to see for yourself that the waxing crescent moon is in front of Cancer the Crab on June 8, 2016.

 

Author

PLANET TRACKER

Moon in Leo

Jun 7, 2016 to Jun 10, 2016

 

The lions are out today. Stand in the Sun and shake loose your mane. Leo is exuberant, courageous, playful and full of heart. It’s a Moontime that inspires heroic feats. What makes a hero? A crazy willingness to do what only you can do. I like how Bob Dylan sang it, “If I’d paid attention to what others were thinking, the heart in me would have died. But I was much too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity. Someone had to reach for the rising star, I guess it was up to me.” More often we’re like that proverbial cartoon figure, momentarily gliding on air, ten stories high, then plummeting the minute we realize what we’re doing-self-consciousness and pride spoil the show. Avoid those egos squaring off around you. Lose yourself in the spontaneity of the moment. Be innocent and happy as a child. Play will nourish your heart

 

Part of the Daily Insight Group

The Wisdom of Buddha

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Your Daily Influences
June 8th, 2016

 

 

The Empress Reversed
This card represents infertility, instability and the loss of material possessions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jera
Jera denotes positive, recurring cycles, fertility and a time to harvest rewards from your hard work.

 

 

 

 

The Menat
You will find focusing on this aspect difficult, because truths will be obscured by dreaminess and illusion. You will not accomplish much here in the next several weeks, and therefore should focus your attention elsewhere

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Daily Influences represent events and challenges the current day will present for you. They may represent opportunities you should be ready to seize. Or they may forewarn you of problems you may be able to avoid or lessen. Generally it is best to use them as tips to help you manage your day and nothing more.

 

 

 

Your Charm for Today

Today’s Meaning:
This aspect of your life will be strongly influenced by a person who is adaptable, versatile, communicative, witty, intellectual, eloquent, youthful and lively. This could be a sibling, a child or a very close friend.

General Description:
Third sign of the Zodiac, May 22nd to June 21st. Ruling planet Mercury; correct metal, Silver. Those born under the influence of Gemini were believed to be endowed with strong intellectual powers, high aspirations, to be shrewd, ingenious and vivacious, but restless and fond of change. The Gemini stones are Agates and Emeralds. Agate talismans were worn by the orientals for eloquence, and adverting ill health, also to bring fortune and good luck. The Greeks and Romans had great faith in AGate amulets, wearing them for health, wealth, and long life. Queen Elizabeth possessed a large engraved Agate, which was supposed to be endowed with magical powers.