Subject: NewT Magick and Christ's Works (was Christian Magick (1) (NT Form...)
To: silverchalice@hollyfeld.org (Silver Chalice)
Date: Mon, 16 Dec 1996 16:07:02 -0800 (PST)
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Orientation: House of Kaos, St. Joseph, Kali Fornika, US -- Kali Yuga

49961216 (chalice-1) AA1  Hail Satan!  (hmm, maybe this will catch after all)

may peace be with you, my kin!


nocTifer elaborating a formula for initiation of Christian Magick:
#>#> 		1) go to the place of baptism
#>#> 		2) get baptized by a mage
#>#> 		3) follow the Spirit of God into the place of
#>#> 		   barrenness
#>#> 		4) answer unto the Tempter/Adversary

[preferred anonymity]:
#># ...Would you consider these four things to be "sacraments", then, 
#># or are they simply the four parts of the "sacrament" of baptism
#># as you see it?

nocTifer: 
#> I saw them as 'the Formula of Preparation' for Christian work.  

I'm not really thinking in religous terms here, but I do understand
that the elemental-baptism(s) could well be considered 'sacrament(s)' 
by the standards you've elaborated, yes.


#> I don't really know what *makes* a sacrament other than one's attitude
#> (or the attitude of one's Church) toward a particular thing.

[preferred anonymity]:
#I was taught during my own catechumenate that a sacrament is an "outward
#and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace".  I am given to
#understand that the "outward and visible sign" in question is usually a
#public ritual, or at the very least a ritual that takes place in the
#presence of a priest.  

I don't think that this formula necessarily includes such religious rites.
my intent was the construction of a MAGICAL setup, something which I
interpret as having investiture of magical ability.  you can incorporate
this in the format of a religious group, institutionalize it, etc, or you
can do it on your own or with a few intimates outside the specific confines
of a church.  the idea is that it is an EMPOWERMENT (along the lines of the
Tibetan Buddhists, for example, who provide them for others also -- a kind
of recharging and connection to the pathway of power which makes magick,
especially solitary rather than congregatory, possible).


re: sacrament
#I go on at such length about it because I *do* think it pertains to
#Christian magick.  For Christians, physical actions and movements in
#ritual are reflections of graces that murmur within each individual
#participant, and if that's not magick I'm not sure what is.  :)

I'd like to hear more on this.  why does 'outward signs of the murmuring
of graces' speak to you of magick and how do these relate, precisely?
what do you mean by these terms which you've brought into the discussion?


#...perhaps ...the elements of ritual that you listed above are only 
#preparatory for the real sacrament, which is baptism....

that shifts quite beyond the context of my intent and original, but I 
think I'm following you.  my objective was the formulation of Christ's life
such that, since he is portrayed as a mage/Magus within the Gospels (esp.
as promoted by Hermetics like Crowley and others) and instructs those who 
come after him to 'follow me', we might do this and become mages ourselves, 
entering into this role/office/trail in a simlar manner as some Buddhists 
describe in trying to 'follow after the One Who Has Gone Thus (Gautama)'.

the baptisms (Water/Air/Fire/Earth) are PREPARATORY, initiatory to the
magical path of the Christian as demonstrated by Christ.  in this sense
my texts on the subject constitute but an introduction and a supposition
on how to *begin* such an enterprise based on the New Testament.

the meat of the discussion should revolve around of what Christ's life
and *WORKS* (imperative word here which I'd like to see analyzed as to
the usage in _The Bible_) consisted, such that we can have a better idea
what to expect as Christian magicians as we proceed.  to date I haven't
been inspired to research this (I'm not really a big fan of _The Bible_)
and hoped to receive some input or inspiration in the form of group-
discussion, so perhaps your interest will inspire my own.

one of the things he did was to 'fulfill the prophecies of the past',
which also appears to be a precursor or indicator of the rightness of
his journey.  thus I sought to identify those so as to get a handle 
on by whom they were written, of what they consisted, etc.  thanks for
the reference (_The Book of Bible Lists_).


#...This is what I saw:  you put together a formula for baptism based 
#on the pattern of Jesus' own actions in the Bible.  

actually my intent was as I related above: the promotion of the four-
aspected baptism as part of a rational *preparation* for magical work.
this could be done once and for all (as at least part of it is done 
by a majority of those religious who utilize it) or it could be done 
as part of ANY preparation for working as a Christian mage.


#Then you constructed a ritual based on that for your *own* baptism.  

my intent was to fabricate the preparatory procedures of a Christian
magical path by doing them in reflection of the Lord and Savior in
compliance with his exhortation to 'follow me'.


#In my message, I pointed out some of the interesting
#and unusual consequences of that construction:  for instance, you paid
#attention to the fact that Jesus' baptism fulfilled prophecies and I
#wondered if that was something about him that influenced your own ritual.

I was merely analyzing the content of the Gospels.  I hope eventually to
discover a means of isolating pertinent prophetic sources with the 
intentional carrying out of their fulfillment.  cf. _Dune_, by Herbert,
in which Paul Atreides succeeds in gradually fulfilling all the old
prophecies of that planet.  it depends on cultural formulae which could
point a way to empowerment (both personal and social).

another example would be that of the Thelemic society, in which there
are prophecies of 'one to come after the Prophet' (apparently Crowley),
who would resolve the numerial cypher of the prophetic work (Liber Al),
solve the geometric (line/cross), arrive out of 'neither East or West',
and a few other things.  there are some (Achad, others) who have set
about fulfilling just these prophecies in a similar manner.

Christ entered into the formula within a Jewish culture.  if we don't
live in a Jewish culture ourselves we have to discover the relevant
skeleton of his works in order to replicate the pattern.
 

#...Just exactly how much *are* we imitating Christ, anyway?  Etc.

my intent is NOT to imitate, but to discern the relevant pattern or
formula of the story of his life and apply this as part of the
entrance into the status of either 'Master of the Temple' (Binah,
the traversal of the Abyss) or 'Magus' (Chokmah, the Initiator of
Religions through the utterance of the Logos/Word, from what I can 
tell, but I haven't looked into it deeply).

in this way it can be helped by a slight familiarity with Hermetic
Qabalah and Rosicrucian Offices (especially these of the Upper Triad),
but need not require it.  looking at the Gospels and speculating on
what Christ *did* between Baptism (initiation) and Communion (which
appears to have been the culmination of a Great Work that inspired
countless millions) is what I'm after.

from there we can generalize about the principles involved in walking
the Christian magical pathway, what it includes, what features we can
spot in the Gospels, which we can infer from things Jesus says or is
written by others of our favor, etc.

and may peace also be with you,

nocTifer
tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
---------------------------
	PS, I've been reading quite a bit about Alchemy lately and
	note that within these texts 'Rosicrucianism' is sometimes
	advanced as the Protestant mysticism in the aftermath of
	the Reformation, incorporating riteforms and sacraments
	which might otherwise have been left behind.  in this
	context Christianity was thoroughly integrated, along
	with occult practices, with Jesus glyphed as the Stone of
	the Philosophers or the Universal Medicine.  big subject.