Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.pagan.magick,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.thelema Subject: Analysis of Crowley's Magic (Book Four/ABA) From: 333 Reply-To: spam@luckymojo.com User-Agent: nn/6.6.0 Lines: 264 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 02:48:47 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.242.18 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 1039488527 208.201.242.18 (Mon, 09 Dec 2002 18:48:47 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2002 18:48:47 PST Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:35222 alt.magick:328486 alt.pagan.magick:35143 alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic:35795 Orig-To: thelema93-l@yahoogroups.com 50021127 VII continued examination of the ToC of "Magick", transcribed by 333: >> ...here is the Table of Contents >> of "Magick in Theory and Practice" (Part Three of "Book Four") >> by Aleister Crowley, derived from that in "Magick" edited by >> John Symonds and Kenneth Grant, Arkana Books, 1973: ># MAGICK ># ># PART III (aka "Magick in Theory and Practice") ># ># ... ># ># 1 The Principles of Ritual ># ># *The object of all ritual is the uniting of the ># Macrocosm with the Microcosm -- in the language of ># mysticism, Union with God.* > > There is no mistaking where Crowley places God based on the above > statement - in the macrocosm, yet he contradicts the statement in > the same book by stating the existence of the Gods is within our > consciousness. I'm not sure that this is as plain as you're making it out. Crowley claims that "the uniting of the Macrocosm with the Microcosm" roughly equates to "Union with God", and yet there is no referent for the Microcosm within the secondary expression. if the Macro and Micro are strictly arbitrary or theoretical, for example, then the unification of these may be a conceptual/experiential feat that is ascribed the mystical experience "Union with God" by those who have no transcendental language with which to deal with the event. > The same contradiction can be found in most > western-hermetic systems. Their advocates claim to be uniting the > microcosm with the macrocosm, only to perceive magical effect as > little more than elaborately induced behavioral self-modifications. my impression, contrary to this, is that Hermetic magicians are more often speaking about putting oneself in the position of Cosmic Cause, such that anything possible becomes an option for the mystical adept. many attempt to generalize this to a description of all of magic, to less convincing result. ># 9 Of Silence and Secrecy: and of the Barbarous Names of ># Evocation ># ># *Instruction in the theory and practice of conjurations, ># ># 'The long strings of formidable words which ># roar and moan through so many conjurations, ># have a real effect in exalting the conscious- ># ness of the magician to the proper pitch.'* > > The statement is evidence showing Crowley considered successful > conjuring a process of consciousness-modification. my impression is that this may be more vague and inclusive than for what you're giving it credit here. "the proper pitch" to which the consciousness may be exalted, for example, may imply a transcendental objective beyond strict consciousness-modification. one may need, as part of one's mystical endeavours, to so exalt the consciousness in order to effect the Union with God described above, for example. it is also possible that the proper pitch may refer to that in order to obtain communication or connection with that which is conjured, prior to contracting with it in appeal as a cause (theurgy/demonic magic). ># 10 Of the Gestures ># ># *Instruction in the theory and technique of circum- ># ambulations, changes of position, and knocks or ># knells.* > > These instructions conceal a belief in cause and effect. By > performing a specific number of rotations, adopting specific > positions, and knocking in a specific detailed sequence, results > occur as a matter of sympathetic reaction. I'm curious why you considered this to be so important as to require a comment. without some system of cause and effect, all of magic would become useless, wouldn't it? even if the cause is strictly symbolic (no evident connections otherwise than symbolism or some previous interaction -- sometimes called Laws of Sympathy and Contagion respectively), it still implies cause and effect outside theurgic parameters (where the divine selects whether to respond). and these elements may merely be setting up a context within which the interaction with non-human intelligences or perceptual flux may be effected (thus effectively becoming a formula or dogma, depending on how wedded to the method one might be). ># 14 Of the Consecrations ># ># *Consecration is the active dedication of a being to a ># single purpose. Banishing prevents its use for any ># other purpose; but it remains inert until consecrated.* > > Consecration is problematic within a Qabalistic environment. If > every idea can be placed on the Tree of life, then every idea has an > ultimate and underlying nature as classified. that's one cosmology. another would be that the underlying association is tenuous and replaceable, reformattable, even though that to which the association is made may be unchanging (compare Platonic Ideas and their relation to the manifested world, perhaps -- a piece of furniture might be repositioned or refashioned to different uses over time, for example). > The instruction to > dedicate an idea to a particular purpose not only implies that an > idea's nature can be corrupted, or is variable, yes. one might compare the notion of dedication in this sense with reformatting of a disk in computer technology. > but also implies the existence of > forces capable of achieving such corruption. Cause and effect is > suddenly replaced with concerns of arbitrary interference on the part > of unknown parties. I think I know what you're talking about here: contrasting a kind of hard-association between magical objects and the Real (sephiroth of the Tree of Life, presumed to be at 'Ground') with a more ephemeral and less dogmatic psychospiritual reformatting model favoured amongst some of the magicians I've known. ># 16 Of the Invocation ># *The secret is 'Inflame thyself in praying.'* > > The process changes again to an act of calling upon a God through > religious manuevers, an act contradicting the belief in sympathetic > magick governed by cause and effect. I don't see this as necessarily so stark. the cosmology could include a more variable association-structure by the divine, complete with a system to establish the state of Action (uniting the Micro w/ Macro) through any of a variety of means inclusive of invocation, in order to effect Change (the exercise of the True Will, from a position of being aligned to the divinity). in this instance 'sympathy' may be a means of engaging the proper course of events necessary to cause such a Change (a cause-effect mechanism), whereas the prerequisite for engaging said sympathy may be invocation. > In *The Paris Working*, Hermes > instructs the parties involved to place violets on the temple floor > to aid in the next invocation him. He says nothing about praying > harder, which is evidence in favor of cause and effect dynamics. perhaps absent specific instructions by the god prayer is a good default? ># 19 Of Dramatic Rituals ># ># *Their object is the invocation of a God, and that God ># is conceived of in a more or less material and personal ># personal fashion.* > > Crowley utilizes three different theories of magical dynamics > simultaneously. A belief in cause and effect, the belief in direct > appeal to non-human beings, and the belief in perceptual > self-modification. * cause-effect -- what I would term here as 'Magic as Engineering' I don't see this as *necessarily* contradictory to the other two, but I do see your point; different kinds or levels of cause may be pertinent, for example, but if the mage isn't at ultimate Cause (whether through unification with some presumed Macrocosm or through some other method), then we're not talking about magic in the conventional sense any longer: we're talking about either religion/theurgy or make-believe (see below: Magic as Prayer, or Magic as Fantasizing); the notion of 'formulae' incorporates cause-effect no matter whether we are talking about summoning for assistance or attempting perceptual shifts, but the nature of the effects shift considerably. * appealing to non-humans -- what I would term 'Magic as Prayer' cause-effect could be incorporated into prayer without too many problems but it seems always to be one step removed from the result even if the non-human could be relied upon consistently (this is sometimes advanced by theurges as motivation for reliance upon the traditional formulae and cult membership); mystical results might be (and have been) described in terms of non-human coincidence at instigation of either the mage or the non-human ('uniting the Micro w/ Macro' might be the language indicating the former); that said, I can understand that "appealing" may be problematic as it removes the mage from a direct position of power (theurgy vs. thaumaturgy, Magic as Engineering vs. Magic as Prayer). * perceptual self-modification -- what I would term 'Magic as Fantasizing' the most modest of the paradigms described, this might be codifiable into a scientific enterprise with laws and principles of cause within a very limited realm of application (individual -- or group? -- perceptual field, aka 'the astral realm' or the realm of imagination); in the case of strictly internal and/or subjective effects, however, neither is one engaging magic in any observable sense (other than might be encountered in a role-playing game), nor is one attempting to persuade some other agency responsible for the configuration of the cosmos (one might, for example, try to link perception with deity-manipulation, but this doesn't seem common), especially if the entire method is internal. if Crowley identifies the Will as a kind of free-floating Change-Agent, then it may be the case that he doesn't think the form of practice (of those three above) is so important as is what he describes as the unification of Microcosm and Macrocosm: effecting the desired result regardless because of the nature of one's identity with the Causal Force of the Cosmos (directing the True Will). typically this kind of thought comes with its own self-restriction, in part severely diluting the promised results of the occult techniques instructed. e.g. the encounter of the Micro/Macro intersection/identity affects desires and magical goals, perhaps limiting what is in human thought mistakenly considered the 'omnipotence' of God even while in the state of Union -- the nature of the Union experience serves to 'corrupt' the magician away from hir previous motivations of greed or revenge toward something spiritual. > The worst aspect of his theories are the same as > all those of other magical theorists: subjectiveness. subjectiveness itself is not problematic as long as the knowledge which one may derive isn't confined to the subjective realm. if you're merely talking about how well such information may be used by the prospective magician, or how reliable it may be, my impression is that he wasn't doing a very good job of treating magic as science in this work so much as providing a general theoretical exposition of how it operates (metaphysics/psychophysics) and what practices are effective in achieving reliable results (formulae), whatever actuality may underlie it. indeed the actuality may be unapproachable in any practical or theoretical manner, one may only be able to encounter its varied perceptual manifestations and interact with these accordingly. whereas a comparable exposition on the Real may be had in any number of mystical expressions, such as that by Buddhists and Sufis, amongst others, these will not always detail the best way to interact with it to get what one wants (in part on account of the inferior character such magic is presumed to have -- this may also be observed amongst some Hermetic mystics). 333 ------------------------ Yahoo! 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