Greetings,
A warm welcome to the 8th
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.
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