The Efficacy of Magick

Pt. 3

The Importance of Ritual on the Subconscious

The mind of Mankind is vastly powerful, more powerful than the vastest computer yet imaginable, yet it only dimly realizes its potential and often disbelieves its own abilities. The conscious mind, which is the seat of self-conscious awareness, can be compared to the RAM (random access) portion of a computer. It monitors the physical senses, can input and output information, can process information for storage and retrieval, is able to formulate actions, solve problems, and execute abilities. It also has access to vast memory information storage, comparable to a hard drive, where information is stored and catalogued, available to the conscious at any time it may need it, This is the conscious memory. Also in the conscious memory are trained abilities, such as playing the piano or operating a computer, that are similar to “applications” or “programs” (such as word processing or computer drafting) that allow us to perform tasks. These plus the conscious memories of a lifetime constitute far more information than our conscious mind can be aware of at one time, so it is kept in a portion of the unconscious for easy access. Thus our conscious memory is actually a function of our “unconscious mind”

Also in the unconscious, comparable to the ROM, or read-only-memory of a computer, are the motor control, life support, flight or fight reactions, self preservation, and the means by which the conscious manages the mental processes, involuntary functions which cannot be altered by the conscious, or if overridden, revert to the same as soon as conscious control is relinquished. (Default values in computer lingoese)

The intuition is a faculty of the unconscious by means of which information is made available from the subconscious, or the collective unconscious, from peripheral or imperceptible phenomena, vibrations, the collective conscious, and the unknown. It can be accessed by the conscious, but is not directly under the control of the conscious as is the conscious memory.

The mind has other faculties or abilities, also, of a paranormal or non-physical nature that may be more powerful than anyone imagines, but which cannot be activated directly by the conscious mind. These include clairvoyance, seeing or knowing things at a distance, precognition, astral projection, astral communication, influencing the course of future events, and even impinging on the physical attributes of material reality, or telekinesis (poltergeist phenomena).

Primitive man had little information concerning the nature of the world about him. No science. No measuring devices. No theorem. Instead he approached the world as if it were the same as he was. He assumed that because he was conscious and could communicate that all of nature was endowed with this same faculty. Thus he projected portions of his own consciousness onto material objects animals, trees, etc., to act as spirits of the thing they were assigned to convey information from, derived from his own unconscious, the psychometrical and a-causal; synchronistic properties of nature, thus anthropomorphizing the world around him.

What is more, as he interacted with the spirit, he impressed his will upon it, which in turn seemed to influence the reality of the object. As he gained more knowledge of the physical nature the universe, he lost his belief in the animistic spirits embodying nature, and also to an extent, his ability to influence it by psychic means.

It is as if man has abilities to know things at a distance, know the future, influence future events, and affect physical reality by nonphysical means, but he no longer believes in his ability, He has forgotten that he is the same as the world around him, that he has come into being, as has the world around him, by his own innate powers of creation. He has forgotten how it activates these abilities. He attributes them instead to an all-powerful creator that has the power of life and death over him, whom he prays to for benefit and favor, deliverance from danger, to overcome obstacles, and to do miracles. Because he has fallen from grace, omnipotence, he is able by believing in a creator, a god upon whom he projects his abilities, to activate the faith principle and sometimes activate his powers through belief.

(It is the faith principle that activates the powers, but he cannot know it is himself doing it or the magic will not work.)

He has compartmentalized his consciousness. He can know events at a distance, but he does not believe he can. Therefore he must rely on another agency a spirit; one endowed with the powers he does not have. Therefore he assigns a portion of his brain cells, a few megabytes of his random access memory, a few microchips to act as an independent consciousness, an entity endowed with intelligence, able to think and speak freely, and obtain information from the collective unconscious. It must be endowed with free will or it will nit be able to obtain truthful information not colored or slanted by the wishes of the intellect. Therefore it acts as a living being, which grows, evolves, is conscious of itself, has an identity, and is able to present a contrasting opinion, in opposition to the intellect. This psychic entity once endowed with life by the creative desires and will of the conscious. has a desire to survive, to express itself, to live. It is also able to personify the abilities and faculties that the conscious mind cannot.

It matters little to the magician that he understands the actual mechanism by which the powers are take effect, or that he be conscious of their activity. These powers after all are a faculty of the unconscious. It only matters that they be activated. The practice of magick, is, then, after all, the science of activating these powers and using them to bring about the desires of the magician. To enact his will.

Prayer is one way to activate the faith principle, but dependent as it is on moral codes of behavior and individual unworthiness, it dissipates the energy and may equally neutralize or cancel itself out. Meditation is a more effective way of sidestepping the conscious mind and allowing the unconscious powers to act.

Because the conscious will not allow the unconscious powers to act. It will shut it down. The mind is a creature of suggestion. Suggestion followed by reinforcement creates belief. The suggestion is most strongly felt when the conscious faculties are at a minimum. The conscious discriminates, rationalizes, analyzes, and disbelieves. It lets logic and intellect disempower the faith principle. As strongly as magick is effective on the behavior of others, it is nothing compared to its ability to bring about profound change in its own self. The most profound uses of magick are those of initiation, enlightenment, and spiritual evolution of the personal consciousness.

The most powerful suggestions are those administered during deep hypnotic trance, when the conscious is entirely absent. And in deep trance, like sleep without dreams, unhampered access to the unconscious is available. The most effective suggestions are those which the conscious has no memory of, which imbed themselves in the reactive mind like ROM commands. That the conscious cannot counteract because it doesn’t know they are there.

The importance of magick ritual is that it provides a method to bypass the conscious mind and act directly on the unconscious, activating all co-conscious or autonomous entities or thought forms, and directs the powers of the unconscious.

Magick is an art and also a science. As an art, in enflames the imagination and uplifts the spirit. It lends the power of its aesthetics. It draws ceremonial pictures of animals for the hunt, that brings quarry, but it is as a science that it strings the bow and arrow.

For magick to be powerful it must be precisely enacted, It is not the mental power of the practitioner (which only results in inflated ego, self-delusion, and dissipated power) or the intense emotion of the operator. It is the skillfully constructed and precisely enacted ritual that brings true magickal results. A skillful hunter need not be physically strong or have to physically overpower the beast to spring the steel trap that captures his prey.

The purpose of magick ritual is twofold. From a metaphysical and philosophical point of view, it creates a microcosm in which all events and conditions are controlled by the conscious will of the magician. By Cosmic Theory, everything in the universe is part of the one thing, and no one thing is more important or less dispensable than any other thing, It follows that for conditions in the macrocosm, or all-that-is to be as they are, the smallest and most insignificant details must also be as they are. It is the mechanism by which I Ching hexagrams divine conditions in the outside world and predict the future from the fall of coins. By reversing this principle of microcosm/macrocosm, by controlling the insignificant details, controlling the microcosm, the macrocosmic universe comes under the will of the magician.

The ritual provides an area in space and time. It provides a location in space, a temple, or chamber. The setting (room) must be purified and consecrated to the purpose of the magician. (The chamber is tiled.) It must include all things necessary and exclude all things that do not belong. And it provides a duration in time, from beginning to end, during which it must be free from intrusion or interruption. It is not necessary to draw a circle, but a perimeter must be marked by the circumambulation of the magician when entering exiting, lighting and extinguishing candles. The text of the ritual must be prepared ahead of time; it should be memorized (at least rehearsed in advance). But is better to read something verbatim from a sheet than to recited it haltingly from memory, put it in your own words, or worse yet, to make it up as you go along.

When the chamber is prepared (with incense, dim lighting, etc.,) and the magician has prepared with a brief period of meditation, the ritual begins with the lighting of the candles. This marks a specific beginning or opening of the ritual. A ritual must have a beginning, a middle. and an end, or closing. During the time the ritual is officially open the magician’s word is the deed, and by tradition everything he says or does is assumed manifested as if it were the will of God -- and continues until the closing, when the candles are extinguished. The duration of the ritual is marked by the duration of the candle flame.

The second of the twofold purposes of ritual involves enlisting the aid of nonphysical entities, or spirits, to enact your will. The beginning of the ritual contains the opening, the invocation of elementals. The invocation of deities or absolutes (Higher Powers), and the identification and authorization of the magician by these powers. The middle is where the magician addresses his will to the subordinate spirits and commands them to carry it out. And the end is the banishing, or license to depart, where the spirits are assumed to have left to carry out their orders, and the closing after which the candles are extinguished.

The order of lighting and extinguishing the candles must follow a prearranged order as must all movements, gestures, and incantations. It all must have a point, be executed and concluded in an order that accomplishes something, if only in word and deed.

After closing the ritual, the temple must be cleared, appurtenances put away, utensils kept from being profaned, etc., although a period of contemplation and meditation, bathed in the spiritual energy or glow created by the ritual, is recommended.

From a psychological point of view, it is important for the text to be prepared ahead of time (and rehearsed) because it creates an environment where the conscious mind can be bypassed and the unconscious directly activated. The whole idea of ritual is something that is repeated, anyway, so it is important to know what is going to happen ahead of time. Then to enact it, or cause it to happen. A good ritual is one that is well prepared. The more times a ritual is enacted the more powerful it becomes. (It should be written out by hand [or typed] and either memorized or read verbatim). There is no room for spontaneity or improvisation. The prepared text is to avoid indecision, imprecise, or unclear elements. Don’t add things or leave things out. It is a good idea to place a text of the ritual on the altar during the ritual. Also any books you are using. Practice. Then the intoning of the incantation stimulates the proper state of heightened awareness or spiritually suggestive consciousness best for ritual magick. It creates a spatial and temporal structure for the suspension of the conscious mind and the liberation of the powers of the unconscious.