~ René Descartes
Mage Music 30
Everything is possible in the infinite scheme of things, but from the very finite human viewpoint, there are limitations: Beginnings and endings, and sideways constraints, too. Magick is a way of tapping into the infinite but it isn’t infinite itself – possibilities may be endless, but human restrictions still apply.
Magick begins here – or not
The Magick equation always begins with desire. Desire provides the fuel of emotion, which can either cause a conflagration that lights the world or go pfft – not even a spark. Without powerful desire there is no Magick… but not just any desire will do.
Hope (wishing) is nothing. It doesn't bring enough power to fuel the Magickal process. Hope is just a statement of preference. On the scale of desire and will, hope carries little weight. The most painstakingly performed ritual will be empty and without impact if hope is used to power it.
Belief (faith) can be a powerful thing, but it isn't good enough for most Magick. That's because belief falls well short of knowing. Disagree? You may believe someone is in a room because you saw him enter and haven't seen him exit, but you don't know unless you open the door and look inside. The person you just saw go into the room might have walked right out a back door. Belief carries more weight than hope on the scale of desire, but nowhere as much as knowing.
Knowing leaves no room for uncertainty - it is about reality for the one who knows. Knowing is about personal identity and relationship to reality. Knowing carries 100% weight on the scale of desire. Knowing is what enables Magick to change reality.
To know is to manifest
To do Magick is to replace one reality with another. To do Magick a Mage must know the desired to be the actual reality – not believe it, not hope it. In a sense, this means that the undesired reality that exists and is known must be made "unknown" in order for the new reality to manifest.
This means that during the Magical process, a Mage cannot think about the existing reality, for part of unknowing something is to not focus on it. You know about "don't think about pink elephants"? That’s what it takes, and to not think about something, to not even thing about not thinking about something, to not even acknowledge the possibility of the old reality is a tough job.
But it can be done and it is done. Anyone with sufficient desire and will and attention to ritual can do Magick. If it was easy, of course, there wouldn't be a special term for those who can do it. "Mage" is a title about ability and success, not a description of those who try.
Magick ends here
The killer of Magick is doubt. When doubt enters into the equation, balance is destroyed and Magick cannot manifest anything. The most powerful will and the most painstakingly performed ritual will be undermined by the smallest doubt. To doubt is to not know.
Unfortunately, doubt is insidious and lives in us all somewhere, in some form.
Ritual: Doubt destroyer
The thinking mind is the Mage’s albatross, since thoughts can lead to doubt. Strong emotion displaces thought by engaging a primitive, survival-oriented part of the brain that literally shuts down the critical thinking facility of the human mind. It's an On/Off switch: Powerful desire, guided by a Mage’s will, provides strong emotion that bypasses thought. Without thought there is no possibility of doubt.
Ritual is the key to Magick – it is the catalyst that transmutes desire and will into the new reality. Music is the language of emotion - not thought - and as such it is one of the most powerful and accessible forms of Magickal ritual there is. It uses the seduction of sound to focus the power of a Mage’s desire and will.
There is no room for doubt: The human mind is hard-wired for emotion and for music. And, of course, this means that it is wired, also, for Magick.
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