Background, Introduction, and Purpose

Greetings,

A warm welcome to the 8^th day blog! You, curious reader, will find here the public journal of one Christian, neo-Platonic, ceremonial magician. I am writing this at a turning point in my magical career, when the nature of my vision, and my understood role in the Great Work, has changed.

When I entered this practice nearly a decade ago, my goals were motivated by the desire to unveil the mysteries of the self, community, and the wider universe. Of course, like most young aspiring magicians, the overall purpose and goal of this inquiry was rather unclear. Yet the sower had planted the seed of regeneration, hidden inside optimistic curiosity.

I didn't follow the path least taken. Like the vast majority of Magi in the last century I joined one of many Golden Dawn caravans and set out across the desert. There were more pitfalls than pathways and the journey was more perilous and frustrated with failure than I had imagined at the outset. There were various Orders, with aspects positive and negative. There were plenty of companions, with motivations as diverse as any community.

Each disappointment curtailed my vision of the Great Work, until this past fall I found myself rather directionless, with very little motivation. It was a period where I questioned every high and lofty ideal I had made for myself.

I admit, fellow seeker, that I almost gave up entirely. (More honestly, I did.)

And then I decided to try an experiment. I would continue to do the work, even in doubt and disillusionment, until God (not another person, master, Order, teacher, system etc) illuminated the purpose.

It took a couple of painfully confused months, but then it came. At the inspiration of several friends, and another blogger I follow but do not know personally, I began to really read the ancient Platonic, Neo-Platonic, and Hermetic texts. It should have seemed natural to begin this way, and I did read some of them initially, but outside the Chaldean Oracles and the Emerald Tablet, most of my reading came from modern Golden Dawn and related literature. Basically, I knew a lot of what to do, with very little why to do.

I had to be reminded that I was a friend of God and a co-worker with Him, and nothing did that better than the Neo-Platonic texts. From there, my Christian faith and my doubts about its efficacy for me as a magician were completely restored. I didn't have to destroy that exoteric aspect of my life. Far from that, I began to embrace its good news and its personal fulfillment of all Hermetic laws.

Suddenly, I understood my magical work to be as serious and fulfilling as any spiritual vocation. I had thought for some years when I was a young Golden Dawner that maybe a monastic life would suit me- I would give up my magic and pursue the Kingdom of God in constant prayer. But then I fell in love, and married the lady for whom my love only grows.

So, when I converted to Eastern Orthodoxy from my Catholic faith I thought, “Ah, this is the reason! My magic prepared me to understand Theosis, and now I should be a priest!” But that same magical understanding at the enchantment behind all life also gave me pause and deep conflict about getting a paycheck and working for the Church in an official capacity.

Yet now I understand, with an unsurpassed joy that only comes from God, that I am called to be a Mage. I am called to be a Wonder-worker on this earth. I am called to remember my Origin by the courageous exploration of the Spheres, and to remind all who cross my path of their inestimable Value.

And so, with this realization, the nature of my magical pursuit has changed course as well. While I still find value in the Golden Dawn, and continue to be influenced by its work, I will be primarily working from a more traditional grimoiric understanding going forward. My GD work gave me an adequate foundation to begin learning from these older sources, but I still felt overwhelmed by the vast amount of opinions, research and scholarship on those medieval and renaissance texts.

I decided to use the Rufus Opus series of courses to lay the necessary groundwork for my future operations in order to have a more defined way of learning the older methods. I am not drastically altering any of his methods (at least yet), but I am seeing his work as a kind of field guide while I find my way through the Forest. He has both maps, and a guide to the flora and fauna, which suits my needs perfectly. He is also a Christian, so we work from a similar religious cosmology. His blog and courses can be found here.

http://www.headforred.blogspot.com/

www.rufusopus.com

I endorse and recommend his work to all seekers.

I have several key goals I wish to accomplish through this blog.

Accountability:

Writing in this public way seemed unsuitable to me for a long time. I believed that the only folks who made their work public in this way were those who felt a need for self-exaltation and/or those who enjoyed arguing and conflict. It was through the blogs of a magicians who seem down to earth and practical in their work, that I changed my opinion.

I keep a private journal, I always will, and the intimate nature of my work will always be rather private. However, keeping a public record of my experiments and procedures, plans and goals, will give me an extra level of accountability to continue the work in diligence. I hope that other magicians see these notes and are also inspired to work faithfully as well.

Community:

I hope to make friends and contacts through this project that I could not make through the private Orders with which I am involved. Though this will never become a platform of recruitment, and any inquiries into my affiliations can be made and discussed in private.

Catharsis:

Sometimes you will get my unmitigated, unfiltered opinions and questions. Though this will benefit me in working through difficult issues by writing them down, it also ties into my previous point regarding community. Keep me in check, let me know what you think of my ideas, chastise and scold me, encourage and inspire me. In other words, feedback and criticism are encouraged.

Since I am a Christian and yesterday was Theophany, I expect to post on its more esoteric significance shortly.

I hope that you will continue to read and be challenged, and I hope most of all that you turn with all of your power to the Sun of Life and Light in unbridled laughter and rejoicing.

In invincible Hope, stalwart Faith, and Love complete,

Harmonia Sphæras