Burning Up

The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

~Alexander Graham Bell.

Mage Music 64

Magick requires that the Mage maintain a deep-set knowing that a desire will manifest in reality.  This knowing is beyond belief and beyond thought. It is a surrender, a giving of self to the idea that the process of Magick absolutely will result in the desire made manifest.  

Not so easy when the Magick involves something the Mage has never done before, or perhaps something that has never existed before. Or even something the Mage has tried before and failed at.

 
It’s no sweat to manifest when the path is well-worn. In fact, it is so easy that Magick doesn't need to be involved at all. Almost anyone can make a meal out of raw ingredients using a tried and proven process – why bother with Magick to cook those ribs when the BBQ will work?

Dedication of time and energy and fully giving of self to an end that has never existed before is a whole other kettle of fish, particularly when the events out there in the world seem so out of control. 

 
Yet the biggest Works are those that seem the most impossible, the ones that manifest in the midst of apparent chaos. These are the Works of a Mage that exude such an excess of energy that the rest of us can bask in the glow of the Magick.

Boldly going where…

Imagine being blindfolded, earplugs cutting off all sound, wearing boxing gloves so you can’t feel anything - and then stepping off a platform trusting that the guy on the trapeze will grab your hands before you plunge to the hard ground below. Imagine believing so powerfully that you are able to walk across a bed of hot coals without burning your feet. A Mage uses the energy of the Universe itself to change reality, which is a kind of miracle, actually, since manifesting the smallest atom of anything that did not exist in this time/space before makes messing with trapezes and hot coals easy in comparison - although they do have a lot in common. Trapeze artist, fire walker and Mage all must hold an unwavering belief and trust, a steady desire and will that admit to no hint of failure, no moment of doubt of the outcome.  

Imagine, however, that you have tried and failed before. How much harder, then, to hold the necessary state of pure and intense trust that will result in manifestation, to know success in spite of the past? 

 
The past can't, of course, be unknown. A Mage must rather dwell in a state where the past has never existed.

No foolin’

A Mage can’t fake the level of belief and trust needed for Magick. It isn't a matter of logic or words - it is a matter of creating a change at the seat of emotion in the brain, such that the body and guts and mind already know the new state of reality.  A Mage creates within himself a new state that exists in the Universe already - so that which will be manifested in the outer world is already manifest in the Mage.

Impeccable preparation, the patience that allows time to stand still, and performance of the perfect ritual provide a means for the Mage to focus on the desired manifestation and keeps pressure, doubt and memory of failure out of the process. The Mage steps outside of the current state of reality into a transitional space where the new conditions can replace the old.  Magick then burns a new path in this world.

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Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Albert Lee Burn Up 1967
Page/Plant Burning Up  1998 

No Fear

"A mirror reflects visible reality without judging it."
~ Gerd Ziegler, Tarot: Mirror of the Soul: Handbook for the Aleister Crowley Tarot

Mage Music 50

By far the most certain impediment to successful Magick is fear. Together with its other insidious incarnations (doubt, worry, panic, hate, anger and the full spectrum of negative emotions), fear inhibits the process of Magick. Fear in itself isn't a bad thing - after all, negative emotions are meant to be a natural and useful part of the human survival mechanism - however, if negative emotions are present during Magickal process, they will impact the outcome in ways that are most likely not desired. In other words, what a Mage fears, dreads, hates or is just plain worried about will be included in what the Universe delivers.

We all know about this - that's why we don't look in the closet where the Bad Thing is hiding, and why we don't talk about the monster that is under the bed. We are given to know from birth that we have the power to project thought in a way that the Universe will respond to. Even if we don't purposefully use that knowledge, we still have an understanding early on that we don't want to give power to our fears by even acknowledging them. For a Mage - a person who purposefully aligns desire and will and ritual so that the Universe will respond in a specific way - allowing any undesired emotions to color the outcome can have terrible consequences.

Spiritual but not holy

Life isn't perfect and while we are spiritual beings in physical bodies that doesn't make us holy.  After all, if we were, there wouldn't be any need for Magick.  As it is, there are probably no humans walking around who don't experience negative emotions of some sort, no matter how evolved they are.

Going forward with Magick in the presence of negative emotion is clearly not a good idea, but negative emotions can't just be pushed through or pushed aside during a Magickal ritual as if they didn't matter. There is no benefit for Magick in carrying on in the face of fear, no point in being brave - because you can't fool the Universe.  The reality a Mage manifests through Magick reflects his actuality in full, not just the good parts.

Clearly the business of dealing with fear is something that needs to take place outside of the sphere of Magick, but it must be dealt with in the same way that a mirror reflects reality - without judgment. Fear (using the term broadly to include all the negative emotions) is useful.  It is a product of holding thoughts and feelings that are not congruent with specific desires, and so for the self-aware person the presence of fear can help identify more clearly the areas of the current desire that are weak.  Identifying the fear rather than being ruled by it, and letting the emotion point to a more positive direction, will negate the power of the fear and strengthen the desire.

Transforming negative to positive

"In the past I used to think I was nervous but it's the adrenaline tap switching on really early." Jimmy Page, 2012 Absolute Radio interview

Jimmy Page understands how to redirect negative emotion into positive. Nerves and stage fright are no friends of any musician if those negative emotions are allowed to run amok long enough in the musician's psyche. Focusing and dwelling on negative emotions encourages reaction rather than action, and reaction to fear is not subject to conscious control. Desire and will and ritual cannot overcome involuntarilyy freezing like a deer in the headlights. A musician and/or a Mage must be in the zone, able to open to the Universe, not closed up in self-protection.

For the Mage, no fear is not the same as not having fear - it is a matter of not being ruled by fear.  A successful Mage will take fear and transform it into a strength, for the Magick will faithfully reflect all that a Mage is.  Practical alchemy in action.

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Listen to Houses of the Holy (Physical Graffiti) if you're feeling a need to be reminded to heed the music's call.