COURSE 1 - MAGICK - [FORMULA 0 = 2] by Soror N.O. (Helen Kirkby) SO WHAT IS MAGICK, WHAT IS EVERYTHING MADE OF, HOW CAN WE POSSIBLY CHANGE THINGS USING IT, ETC Magick is making stuff happen that you wouldn't think would work. Magick is all about maximizing Ways of Living. Magick is not anti-science, it is the application of the scientific method to the observable subjective (and more subtle) worlds AS WELL AS observing the objective world. Magick is not a dumbing down of science. Magickal thinking is, in fact, much more broad and more encompassing than scientific thinking. It includes, not excludes. Scientific thinking uses the scientific method to reduce phenomena into words we have no emotional connection to. Magical thinking enlarges those words, breathes back life and inspiration back into these ideas. It aims to exercise the narrative sense-making apparatus within us, the myth-makers, Hero's Journey, the wonder and creativity we see in children; all the while knowing the difference between what is real and what is not. *Real is what is real to you but it is also That which is real to EVERYONE. Not real is what is not real to you, and that's all you have to remember. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HOW CHANGE WORKS, ONE MUST UNDERSTAND HOW HUMANS WORK AND VICE VERSA Humans measure change using things like number, images, and language. How are you going to tell if your magick even worked? We label things: Here is an apple. We count things: if there were 5 apples and suddenly there were 4, it's fair to say something has changed We picture things: if what we remember something to look like no longer resembles that image, something has appeared to change Notice how all these are dependent upon memory, and the only way to train your memory (both your mind's memory and your body's memory) is respectively through conscious observance, HONESTY, and practice. Journaling, Magical records, Book of Mirrors. / Actually performing magick. *Recognizing what was a successful act of magick and what was not, being able to understand your own results, seeing how things turned out compared to how you wanted them to, etc., not only keeps you from delusions, all the pitfalls of the occult that they warn you of, mental instability, etc WARNING: if you lie about what you've accomplished you close yourself up to it actually happening / This is not the same as 'acting as if'. IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND HOW MAGICK WORKS, ONE MUST UNDERSTAND HOW CHANGE WORKS AND VICE VERSA THE FIRST TYPE OF CHANGE: rotational, physical (transmutation), predictable and involutionary change EXAMPLES: day/night, seasons, tides, agricultural cycles (Subtle examples): Making small adjustments in alignment with intution. Anytime you ask the question - what must I do for 'us'? The 'us' can mean you, your family, your community, your coven, your order, the world, etc. Focus on the origin of magic, religion, science, art -- Because humans working together = greater than humans working separately (there is a place for everyone, all ages, backgrounds, genders, state of health)] etc., THE SECOND TYPE OF CHANGE: transformation, chemical, unpredictable and evolutionary change EXAMPLES: death, sudden irreversible genetic mutations, sudden knowledge/things you can't unsee (Subtle examples): Changing perspective and/or enlarging personal boundaries. Anytime you ask the question - what must I do for 'me'? Because at a certain point, the answer to 'what must I do for 'us'? is answered best by doing what one needs to do for themselves. THE NUMBER TWO Matter and spirit, mind and body, etc.etc., are not contradictions as the Cartesian rift would have you believe. The faster you unlearn this this easier it will be, this goes for all such "opposites" which should be seen as a sliding scale. Everything intangible has a tangible basis. Once you have this idea of existence as a kind of malleable substance that transcends time, space, form, density, vibration, etc then Magick becomes the only way forward, whether or not we know it, since we do it automatically in order to make sense of reality. Both types of change are present in our bodies. Each one of us is a whole unto ourselves. The first type of change (involution) automatically regulates heartbeat, breathing, and a continuous perception of reality / The second type of change (evolution) happens everytime we make a choice, grow or change, love or die. If you are a witch you might honor these forces as the Feminine and the Masculine aspects; if you are a magician you might use the pillars Boaz and Jachin. If you are yet undecided I would try working with the Moon and the Sun, Earth and Sky, the Northern and Southern hemispheres, or Mother and Father. Unlike some religious dogmas, this division is intended for the sake of union NOT for the sake of demonizing one or calling one good vs evil. Next class we will cover trinities, the tension of opposites, misinterpretations of the Yin/Yang, and how You, the pracitioner of magick, actually become the Vessel for magick, forming the Triangle. As we move from two dimensions to three, so to speak, You become that event horizon where theory is practice, and practice provides real, observable results in the world. *The first time you experience magick, it will be an act of evolutionary change. Like toast, you cannot become bread. If you do decide to start, know that you will never be the same, even if you put it away for the rest of your life. That said, I encourage everyone to learn, even if it is not their will to practice, and I encourage everyone to think/experiment for themselves in the purest sense of Living an Examined Life. THE TWO TYPES OF MAGIC(K) What a surprise, there are two approaches to magic(k) based upon the two types of change: NATURE-SENSORY-BODY (Craft, Thaumaturgy, "low magic") Transmutation of matter into another form of matter, dependent upon natural observable cycles by the pracitioner. EXAMPLE: I notice the moon is waning on a Saturday; experience informs me that the night is darker than usual, the night feels moist, cool, and most people are tucked away in bed. Perhaps it is just about to be spring. Intuition strikes me to scribble an intention "New Car" on a piece of paper, bury it into the darkness of the earth. A set amount of time passes and my intention comes to pass. So what happened? Did I turn a piece of paper and some ink into a New Car? Not exactly. More specifically for this example it shows the alignment of my will with whatever I felt the world was also doing at the time, and it so happened to "work." The thing to remember about low magic is that because it is dependent upon natural cycles, there is a perceived limited source of 'magical energy'/energy/potential in the ambient atmosphere. Even though You as the Vessel or pracitioner are unlimited. You can plant all the things at once but you cannot reap all the things at once. *Low is NOT a value judgment, it is referring to the low proximity between magical phenomena and our senses' abilities to apprehend them (the "lower" the magic the more obvious it is to our senses, the "higher" the magicK the more subtle its forms take and the less obvious/harder to communicate -- hence the need for elaborate symbols in ceremonial magic.) Low/High magic(k) has nothing to do with good, evil, power, "color of magic" etc., HUMAN-CEREBRAL-MIND (Work, Theurgy, "high magicK") Transformation of matter into force, and force into matter, dependent upon the natural observable cycles within the pracitioner. EXAMPLE: My boss is demanding more and more of me and I am able to cope less and less with the work load. I devise a ritual using symbols I'm familiar with and motions I've practiced that bring me confidence. I pick a day and a time that corresponds appropriately to the forces I wish to work with, then during the ritual I imbue a physical object with the confidence I need to stand up to my boss. I bring that object (talisman) to work and stand up to him; it is painful because I am literally changing into a new person, but it is rewarding because I am just a little bit more equipped to handle similiar situations in the future. Both approaches use timing, but in the first you are asking "Is it the right time according to Nature?" and in the second you are asking, "Is it the right time according to 'Me'? The second question is necessariliy difficult. The thing to remember about high magic(k) is that it uses a source that is perceived to be absolutely limitless, but you as the Vessel are limited at any given time in harnessing it; this limitation is a mercy. Traditionally speaking, this is why seekers of high magick are encouraged to find a spiritual lineage of teachers that have walked the path. Unlike low magic or nature-based practice, high magick is not forgiving -- It will not correct you; you have to learn to correct yourself, hence the need for initiation. Think about what you can do in Witchcraft; you can intend, devise, and execute extremely malicious, baneful things -- but the worst thing is it doesn't work. If there is fear, any fear at all, then there is dishonesty. When practitioners talk about backfire, they have already crossed the line between approaches to magick without realizing -- they have already answered YES to the question, "Is it the right time [to do something] according to 'Me'? In that specific case of backfire , they knew the answer was "NO" and erroneously believed it was YES. If one attempts high magick using the limited reservoir of low magic, they will suffer a burnout. Transversely, performing low magic (especially in contradiction with one's ethics) using an unlimited source will require a sacrifice.