~ William Burroughs, Essay in Contemporary Artists Magazine
Mage Music 75
Here it is, everything you need to know, the whole of Magick in one list.
- Understand what Magick is and can do
- Identify your desires
- Engage your will
- Prepare and execute the perfect ritual
- Step into the new reality
- Cement the new reality
What it is
Bare bones: Magick is purposeful use of the raw energy of the Universe. No, not raw as in bare-skin naked. Raw as in not pre-processed, pre-digested or pre-packaged. Raw as not things, but the stuff things are made of.
Bare as in without covering, without disguise. Unvarnished, without the trappings of mumbo-jumbo that cause confusion. The stark core of power and nothing else.
Magick at its most fundamental: That's where you start.
Honestly? Anything else is unnecessary. You might think all the people and organizations that speak of What Magick Is and say they know How Magick Works are going to tell you what you need to know, but they aren't. They're only going to tell you their version of things, their niche. And in doing so, they steal potential from you - they steal your power.
This is not to say that there is nothing offered by such groups, but of course the moment you take someone else's truth for your own, you have replaced your own pure truth with something less pure. A cracked, imperfect version, one that serves others as much as yourself. Or maybe serves them more.
Magick is an art, not a religion. Magick can be art. Knowing truth and expressing it doesn't require a guide. The truth is inside of you. You have direct access to truth and power, all you have to do is take it for yourself.
It's not easy walking that path, though. Everyone is eager to tell you where you're wrong and wants you to do what you're doing a different way. Everyone else is the expert, except for you - but it's your Magick and others can't make your choices for you any more than you can do so for them.
It's lonely walking that path. It’s easier to lean on others, even if their truth isn't yours. But the creation comes from inside you, not outside. If you are paying more attention to the outside than the inside, you won't be able to find, much less fan, the flame of your own muse.
So you start with the fact that you already know everything you need to know, that you have all the tools you need to have, that you can develop what you need by yourself by doing. You simply need to locate the path inside you and use it.
The more a person develops the skill set needed for Magick, the greater the Work can be.
Magick is purposeful use of the raw energy of the Universe
Magick is purposeful use of the raw energy of the Universe
Magick works the same for all living beings that have the ability to consciously make choices in this Universe. Where there is purposeful creativity, there is the potential for Magick. The law of Magick is the law of deliberate creation. This is different from the laws of other physical objects in the Universe, even of other living beings, because the law of Magick is one of conscious creation.
The law of Magick opens the physical self to the infinite energy of the Universe. Theoretically, there are no limits to what Magick can manifest, but in practice what is actually possible to manifest is limited by what a finite being can express of the infinite. Obviously the one can only contain a minuscule fraction of the other, just as cupped hands can only hold a minuscule fraction of the contents of the oceans.
But... a Mage pushes the envelope of what is possible.
The law is this: As above, so below; as below, so above. Think on that for a bit while you listen to the music of a Mage.
Oh, man, you never stop to surprise me. This is an huge taching, deep in his meaning. You has described the Magick as the pure element which is the basic component of the others. And so, it is also that thing inside of us that's not only our art expression, but our self expression. I mean, the tool we have to use to state a pure and original though, reasoning decision. Our deepest Magick allows us to not be manipulated. This is an important thing because in our short being we must live for ride the enormity of the time flowing, not to be momentary guests on the Circle of the Destiny. Even if we are nothing in relatio to the infinite, and made of the same substance of dreams (which i say is one of the primary components of Magick energy, i think) as Shakespeare said.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, glad to see the special guest of this week is Mr. Burroughs! :)
The energy that Magick connects with is the pure element upon which all else is based. The difference between Magick and self-expression is conscious control. Magick itself is the process of deliberate, purposeful and conscious access and use of the energy of the Universe to produce deliberate results.
ReplyDeleteVery often - most often - self-expression has little to do with deliberate and conscious thought. From a 2 year old's tantrum to a lovers' quarrel, it is estimated that 90% of human action derives from unconscious thought.
And yes, we cannot be manipulated if we are in conscious, deliberate control of our own choices, because "manipulation" is about someone else making choices for us and our accepting that at some level (on whatever level we accept it - consciously or unconsciously).
Thank you for reading - and thinking about - Mage Music!
Correction: it is estimated that 90% of human action derives from the unconscious mind, not unconscious thought!
DeleteWell, it's interesting wondering about our possibilities if we had full controll on our mind. Could it mean to can manipulate also other minds? Maybe. But i wish nobody could put wires on people's brains. Magick remains, on the contrary, the result of the control of an unconscious and primary instinct made the more conscious as possbile. Keep on rockin', Mage Music!
DeleteInteresting question, Zeppelin' On, can other minds be manipulated. The answer to that is, as far as I have understood, both yes and no. Another mind can be manipulated to the extent that the manipulated person is unconscious ("unawakened" is the way some people would put it), so that he/she is just reacting to life instead of making conscious, purposeful choices. The manipulation is just a matter of changing the reality around that person so that you are in effect directing the manipulated person's reaction *because* that person is reacting, not consciously acting.
DeleteAnd thus, a person cannot be manipulated through reaction if he or she is awake, aware, and making conscious choices.
An example that has nothing to do with Magick: Snatching one's hand away from the prick of a pin is an automatic, unconscious reaction. Not snatching one's hand away from the prick of a pin when it's a blood test is a conscious, deliberate act. The difference is the level of awareness and deliberate choice, is it not?
I would amend your comment about controlling the unconscious - I don't think that's possible per se. I do think that a Mage (or an artist or anyone who develops the abilities we're talking about) simply reduces the reactive influence of that part of the mind by expanding awareness into the places the unconscious dwells.
That is, use it, rather than be used by it.