Again with the practical magic!

Another ‘gonzo’ post – straight from me brain to the keys to the ‘publish’ button. Please excuse the typos

Sometimes I like to jump on an interesting bandwagon as it goes past. In this case it’s practical, material-focused magic. Recently there have been lovely posts on the subject by folk I admire – look at the blogs of AL, MDK and DMK for some great discussions. (UPDATE: some more cool posts on the subject: Nick, Alex, Scott).

As I discuss in this post on ‘Manifestation‘ even if we do jag a positive result and our practical magic “works”, it is but a small part of a vast interconnected and interdependent rollercoaster of causes and conditions. DMK in his post says it straight:

Still another reason is a misunderstanding of finances leading to guilt. Specifically, some people look at finances as a zero sum situation. The idea behind the zero sum outlook is that the world’s finances are fixed and therefore limited; if you gain, someone else loses. If my slice of the pie gets bigger, your’s gets smaller. So if you do magick to become better off, someone else is going to suffer, and you’d feel guilty about making others suffer.

However the reality is not a zero sum situation. The reality is that if you increase your wealth, everyone’s wealth will increase. In order to get a bigger slice of the pie, the entire pie gets bigger, giving everyone a larger slice. This, of course, assumes fairness in the financial world, something that often doesn’t exist if governments don’t make and enforce rules, much the way that football would be total mayhem without governance and rules.” (Italics, mine).

A Nice Piece of the Pie

I find this very interesting. As a read the Zero Sum Game concept, it may apply to the insubstantial concepts of ‘wealth’ but it does not apply to the material reality of elements of production – minerals, foodstuffs, etc.  Many of DMK’s readership (I assume) are Pagan orientated and therefore have some ecological understanding. One of the central tenets of the modern environmental movement is that the world does indeed have limited resources and can only take so much battering. Now we can invoke space mining and exploration to get over that in our heads, to remove the concept of ‘zero sum’, but realistically that’s way off and (with current technology) will cause more environmental damage than we can poke at stick at.

With respect to DMK, I think the zero sum argument is valid in some circumstances. There are limited material resources and what we do with those resources matters; who controls them and who has access to them. Even sustainable resources are created on land, which is limited.

Look at the example I refer to in this post, of a new age bookshop owner who was trying to ‘manifest’ a life where she could go travelling (across the globe) six months of the year because she “deserved it”. If the zero sum argument is bollocks, “the pie”, as DMK puts it, can expand so we can ALL travel six months of the year. By aeroplane. Think about that. Really think about it. At any time three billion plus people are travelling around the planet. Thinking about the pollution alone from this shows the zero sum idea is valid, at least in some aspects. I am sure none of you reading this would be happy with such a world (even if it could exist)  Therefore we do not accept ALL negation of zero sum.

A less extreme case. Just imagine the pollution and resources needed to let EVERYONE on the planet live as well as a well paid professional in the USA – with cars, iPhones, flat screen TV, etc. That alone would spell disaster for the world, even if there was enough terrestrial raw materials to make all these consumer products.

I hope this is making sense.

Let’s look at a crucial line from DMK: “This, of course, assumes fairness in the financial world…”. This shows the interdependence I am talking of. Specifically, let’s take the case of African American magician in Tennessee in 1933 and in 2013. Magic for a better job, house, food, life will be more likely to ‘manifest’ in 2013 than 1933 due to the inherent and legal, structural racism in the 1930s. We cannot escape context. We cannot escape interdependence. And to be perfectly frank, I think African American magicians are better off today because of political struggles than magic.

The same with anything we are talking about. If we want to work as if the ‘zero sum’ principle is invalid or limited, it is better to work politically and socially to make the lives – jobs, cars, houses – we are trying to improve by magic available to us, and to all. Again, specifically, without the changes in western society that allow a diversity of religious thought, very few of us would be practicing magic anyway. Our success in magic owes more to the success of the Enlightenment than our own efforts.

Morgan makes a very interesting and accurate point on this blog:

…the documented record of Western magic is all about–weather magic, power magic, legal magic, treasure magic, health magic, love magic–all about fulfilling basic needs in a hostile wolf at the door world. Even alchemy was about the practical nine times out of ten. Yet we in the modern world are not allowed to have these needs or desires.

This is because magic was reframed in the mid-late 19th century as a spiritual art, largely due to the efforts of Eliphas Levi. Now of course there were always elements of spiritual development within historical western magic, but as Ronald Hutton puts it: “Traditional scholarly magic was at basis an elaborate way of ringing for room service”. This has now all changed. Heck, even evocation of spirits, mostly traditionally undertaken because the little buggers had a handy knack for helping fulfil one’s desire, is now seen by many as a complex form of spiritual adjustment.

Now, PERSONALLY, I am very happy that western learned magic was reframed into a more spiritual direction. It makes sense to me. I am also of the opinion that is was the main driving force behind the founders of the major modern western traditions, the two most influential of course being the Golden Dawn (RR et AC) and the Inner Light of Dion Fortune.

In the latter, the requirement for admission to the tradition is succinctly put into the initiate’s mouth: “I desire to know in order to serve”. And entry to the Greater Mysteries requires the “unreserved dedication” to the Higher for life. There was and is precious little practical magic in this tradition or in the writings of Dion herself – except when required to serve the Masters.

In the RR et AC (ever remembering that the GD is not a magical tradition) where magic was taught, we find the Adeptus Minor is required to oath themselves to some pretty interesting things. They are to lead “a pure and unselfish life”. Nor are they to “debase” the practical magic they learn in the Order for evil or “self-seeking” or “low material gain or pleasure”.  They also, and crucially, at the Tiphareth point swear to (from memory):

Apply themselves to the Great Work – to purify and exalt my Spiritual Nature so that with the Divine Aid I may at length attain to be more than human and thus gradually raise and unite myself to my higher and Divine Genius.

Okaay. Now this is dogs-balls obvious. And if it is not so, it is also really clear that the RR et AC is a ROSICRUCIAN order – and the Rosicrucians profess nothing save to heal the sick – and for free no less!

RR et AC Rose Cross

So the problem lies in the simple fact that the root of much (if not most) modern magic, the Golden Dawn and the Inner Light, have clear and direct spiritual aims, not material ones. Yet the techniques, symbols and methods within these traditions are so bloody awesome, everyone – even those who do not approach magic with spiritual and service ideals – wants to use them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

There is thus a big tension inherent within modern magic itself. Now, as DMK says, there really need not be. Folk can take either take and practise both approaches or work within a framework that collapses the boundaries between material and spiritual magic, where an evocation of a spirit to make one more likely to find a sexual partner is seen as spiritual work in and by itself.

PERSONALLY this does not make sense to me. I think we should let the traditions speak on their own terms, and when we take an oath to apply ourselves spiritually and not to use Rosicrucian magic “material gain or pleasure” we should do just that. Or change the oath.

Magic for me is TRANSPERSONAL not personal, just as my Vajrayana and esoteric Christian practice are. This to me is the essence of modern magic. This does not, in any way, mean I condemn or look down upon those who see and practise differently. And while I not am in position to define what “is” or “is not” Rosicrucian magic, it does seem clear to me that the composers of the RR et AC and Inner Light corpora WERE clear themselves. Thanks

Read Full Post »

Book Review: the Magical Battle of Britain

There is so much practical magical and esoteric wisdom in this book, I am unclear where to start. So I will start with Dion Fortune herself, who remains a living force and presence within modern western magic. Today there are conferences, books, workshops, websites and discussion pages that explore her work more than ever before. The volume under review shows us exactly why she remains such a force. Consisting largely of her weekly and monthly letters to members of the Fraternity of the Inner Light during the early and middle stages of World War II, the book is exceptional in many ways.

Firstly, the context. What we have in these letters is a evidence, real and concrete, of how a magical fraternity functioned and even thrived under the most onerous and trying circumstances – that of a nation at War. And we must remember this was not a nation going to war on a distant front but rather a war where the distinction between civilian and military effort collapsed and the whole of Britain’s resources were part of the war effort. It is hard to imagine today, just as it is hard to imagine our magical rituals being interrupted by aerial bombardment, as what happened with Dion Fortune.

The context then is everything, and Dion Fortune’s incredible faith and strength shines through these letters regardless of this terrible context, no doubt inspiring and comforting many of the distant members of her Fraternity, unable to meet due to war-time travel restrictions. She is unwavering in her relationship with her Masters, the belief that spiritual principles will invariably overcome material based evil, that Britain will survive and the Axis powers will be defeated. She is completely sure of the efficacy of her magic, guided by the higher powers.

If we as a nation make ourselves a channel of cosmic law through realisation of the spiritual nature of the struggle we are waging, we become the channel for the manifestation of the power of God, and the stars in their courses will literally fight for us, as they did in the weather conditions attending the evacuation of the B.E.F. from Dunkirk, when the storm and the calm fell exactly as needed and even the military authorities talked of a miracle. (p. 34).

This book also unveils and reveals how Dion, acting on guidance from her Masters, chose a revolutionary course of action early in the war. In this time of national and world peril, with the group mind of the nation sensitive and open, non-initiates and initiate alike were taught the secret methods of magic and mind working. The book reveals exactly the instructions given, how the magic worked and the results that ensued. Even today with the nuts and bolts of magic plastered over the Internet, theses workings and meditations have a potency and presence on the written page. And it is of course, arguable that these actions that revealed the secret wisdom to non-initiates were the seeds for the spreading of the Tradition that grew with the likes of Gareth Knight and others during the 80s and 90s.

The letters here show collective and transpersonal magic in action; the bringing through of spiritual and evolutionary principles into the collective group mind, to produce actual changes in consciousness, religion and even politics. The results of the Fraternity’s efforts are evidentiary as time and time again the principle they worked for found itself manifest very quickly in the actual life of the nation. In addition the book reveals the workings for the Angelic Presences that patrolled the boundaries of Britain on the inner levels, keeping it safe from invasion.

A welcome feature of the book is the practical instruction on magic embedded within the letters. These include:

• Methods of meditation
• The function and use of astral imagery
• Seeding the group mind
• Contacting the Masters
• Psychic Protection

For these and many other reasons, this re-issue of these war-time letters of Dion Fortune by Skylight Press is highly recommended and ‘required reading’ for anyone interested or involved in western magic, paganism or wanting an overview of an esoteric fraternity at work.

Of importance also is the glimpses the book shows of Dion Fortune the woman as well as the magician. Revealing a reflective and philosophical side of the author, the letters show a person committed to service and truth, and more than once a countering the oft-repeated views of classism and racism we still hear today. Of the former, Gareth Knight as a wonderful and illuminative editor writes, “I have heard it said that Dion Fortune, in her social attitudes, was something of a snob. This would hardly seem to be supported by her trenchant remarks about social privilege in her hundredth letter”. Indeed, this and other letters show a classless, almost socialist viewpoint. Discussing the ‘new age’ Dion saw as being born out of the ashes of the war, Dion wrote:

Life values, not money values, will set the new standards, and there will be a drastic revision of the rights of ownership.” (p.98) and later, “The whole of the New Age turns on the concept of the ownership of the land by the people versus the ownership of the people by the land.” (p.121).

It is interesting to see Dion’s comments on race within these letters. While there seems little doubt her previous exoteric novels and occasional esoteric comments displayed the ingrained racism of her time, Dion surprises us here, supporting on the inner and outer levels …

…the abolition of the colour bar, which has been definitely laid down as one of the bases of the reorganisation of our colonial empire by the Colonial secretary. We must see it as individuals and as a group that this notable advance in Christian principle does not get sidetracked by the dead weight of prejudice, and the more dynamic activities of the tendency to over-compensate  our personal inferiorities by taking advantage of anyone whom circumstances have placed at a disadvantage. ” (p.109).

In a later letter she advocates that the occult still be practiced along traditional racial lines, seeing no good or point in the western traditions being practiced by other cultures. Within 25 years of her death though, as W.G. Gray would experience, her Fraternity would be initiating and training members of several races and countries. We can only speculate how Dion would have responded to this, and other post-war changes in Britain. Our speculation though should be guided by her own favourite saying, that “an ounce of experience is worth a pound of theory”. Though her mental speculations on these matters may have swung to one side of an arc, there is little doubt her practical experience in them would have outweighed her mental theories. Dion was never one afraid of change or unable to admit she was wrong, something that is also woven throughout these letters.

Another thing still occasionally heard about Dion Fortune, is that by the start of the war she had peaked magically and had retreated into a low powered Christian mysticism, that the glories of her Pagan magical days were over. This then would make the material under consideration a minor curiosity at best. Nothing could be further from truth, and really in one sense to even draw distinctions between Dion’s ‘Pagan’ and ‘Christian’ days makes no sense: she was ever committed to a threefold path that was both the source and the drawing together of all strands on the western tradition, as described in this post.

The letters in this book reveal an adept of great purpose, power and skill. Each sentence enriches us, as it enriched her pupils, transmitting more than the words and intellectual meaning alone. There is dexterity and fortitude here, and wisdom unlike most of today’s modern works on the same subject. Moreover during this period she also wrote the material collected into ‘the Circuit of Force‘, the most profound book on the dynamics of the etheric vehicle yet produced. Despite being bombed, despite all the travails of war and the dispersal of her adepts, Dion was clearly still on her contacts, still writing, still training and still serving the tradition that was her life. This was her finest hour.

The Magical Battle of Britain by Dion Fortune, Edited by Gareth Knight

• Amazon
• Book Depository
• Skylight Press

Read Full Post »

The Golden Dawn, the Inner Light and Leadbeater

Seal of the Theosophical Society

I recently read a very interesting article by the Rev Dr Gregory Tillett, ‘Modern Western Magic and Theosophy’ from the journal Theosophy and History (Vol XV, No. 3). Dr Tillett is an expert in a number of fields, including the history of the Theosophical Society (TS), so the article proved to be very interesting. It looks at how, despite Blavatsky’s misgivings and warnings about magic and theurgy, Theosophy went on to influence the course of western magic through the Golden Dawn and later traditions. Much of this is unknown to more recent magical students, which is a bit of a pity.

Now, Dr Tillett has probably forgotten more about the occult and theosophy than I know, and while there is nothing I would disagree with in his article, his analysis incidentally raised a few issues I wish to explore.  He begins rightly with the following statement:

The influence of the Theosophical Society on the development of modern western esotericism can hardly be over-estimated. Directly and indirectly Theosophy served as both a catalyst and a fountain-source for almost all in Western esotericism that followed the publication of the teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831–1891) and the establishment of the Theosophical Society in 1875. (17)

No one can argue with this fact. Mathers, Westcott and other movers and shakers in the Golden Dawn tradition were members of the TS or TS influenced groups. This is not the case for the majority of contemporary GD folk, but the influence our GD spiritual ancestors have on us is huge, and they were pretty much all imbued with Theosophy.

Leadbeater

With the ascendency within the TS of the main subject of Tillett’s paper (as well as his doctoral thesis), C.W. Leadbeater, this influence of Theosophy on modern magic increased. Many of the ideas we in the magical and pagan community take for granted had their western genesis or modern modification in the Theosophical or Leadbeater-Theosophical milieux: spiritual evolution through a series of incarnations, karma, astral plane beings and Masters, devas, Atlantis and more.

In fact, from reading and anecdotal evidence, I would say that the vast majority of magical practitioners in the west today – Wiccans, pagans, ritual magicians and others – practice within a mind set and worldview that is heavily Theosophical. We do not notice it, because it seems a natural and easy way to see the world, and more particularly the inner world, but it is there. I mean, we certainly are not practicing within a traditional esoteric Christian framework, which rejects the monism so easily assumed by most modern esoteric folk. We are not practicing within a classic or traditional pagan worldview, which had very little personal deity relationship at all and was responsible for a mindset which happily bred and sacrificed 8 million puppies for Anubis. And we are not thinking and viewing the world like the majority of cunning folk, who held a craft, not a philosophy and whom happily used a mix of pagan remnants and Christian motifs to get the job done, including combating those evil witchy poos.

There are a few dedicated souls and groups reconstructing  genuine Hermetic, Celtic and other non-Christian and pre-Theosophical based worldviews, but they are in the minority. Most of us hold unconscious assumptions about the interior world that, if we follow them closely, lead back to Theosophy. Not that’s there anything wrong with that. (If you want to argue this point, please go ahead, but do me a favour and read Dr Tillett’s thesis on Leadbeater first. It’s all on line and free and all.) 

Theosophical Ritual

So much for the worldview and in some sense the theory of modern magic, but what about the praxis? Did Theosophy and Leadbeater have a great influence on the practice of magic in our traditions? Initially, they certainly drew on the same raw materials – modernity, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, newly translated manuscripts and the western lodge tradition itself. Dr Tillett’s works are very good in tracing and exposing the early Theosophical use of ritual and traditional lodge practices, such as Masonic styled ritual, secrecy and signs, often unknown to modern Theosophists and others. These practices mostly died out early in the history of the TS, and today exist only in vestigial forms, with most non-Masonic Theosophical folk eschewing ritual entirely. But the ceremonial side was there from the beginning.

Later, Leadbeater would create or adapt a whole host of ritual and Masonic based ventures associated with Theosophy and fringe Christianity. Many of these, like the Egyptian Rite – created to be the most powerful occult order in the world – remain unexplored and secret to modern Theosophists and others alike. Again, most modern Theosophists and magicians know little or nothing about these ventures.

Theosophical Magic

Energy connection on Christian Altar

It is clear that Leadbeater believed passionately in the effectiveness of ritual magic, though he mostly avoided that term. Anyone who has taken the time to study his Science of the Sacraments will see what is essentially a ritual magic rationale being used to empower and explain both traditional Christian liturgy and Leadbeater’s own version of Christian ceremonial. A similar approach was used in Leadbeater’s revision of the Co-Masonic ceremonies, much of which remains unpublished.

Leadbeater’s rationale for and ideas about magical ritual are very similar in some ways to those of the Golden Dawn and later traditions. To quote from the article.

Leadbeater, however, went further: he claimed that the rituals themselves brought about (or at least had the potential to bring about) psychic changes in those who underwent them. The rituals stimulated forces on the inner planes and within the participants and invoked the participation of non-human entities.

Ultimately, Leadbeater taught that ritual magic could hasten the process of spiritual evolution in those who participated in it, and through the forces invoked in it positively affect those beyond, even if they had no knowledge or believe in the efficacy of the ritual, and indeed positively benefited the whole world. (31-32)

The same ideas are stated in several core texts of the Golden Dawn, the Inner Light and other modern groups. However, the similarity appears to be confined to the realm of ideas and principles, not the nuts and bolts of magical practice. Both Leadbeater-Theosophy and the Golden Dawn tradition seem to draw from the same source stock of lodge and esoteric ideas, but crucially there seems to something ‘extra’ within the early Golden Dawn, added before Leadbeater was any significant factor in the TS at all.

A classic example of the something extra are the Z Documents. To quote Nick Farrell, who recently published the earliest version of these crucial documents:

Z1, Z2 and Z3 are what made the Golden Dawn magical. Next to the Cypher Manuscript there is not a single bit of writing which is more crucial to an understanding of the Golden Dawn system of magic. (King Over the Water, 206).

These documents are still being explored by contemporary magicians and they are still yielding many treasures. The magical keys explored and outlined in these documents include:

• Internal transformation by the virtue of magical practice. Though Leadbeater would later re-state this, the GD was one of the very first groups to practice this principle in a coherent and systemised manner.

• The linking of the magical formulae that underlie group ritual initiations with personal magical and spiritual practice. This is a hallmark of the Golden Dawn and was an amazing innovation.

• The creation and utilization of Godforms in which the astral or interior presence of temple officers are cloaked. While the general mental level principles of an officer representing a spiritual force or being had been part of the lodge tradition for centuries, the Golden Dawn took the process much further.

• The use of colour in magic. Before the Golden Dawn colour was already a part of ritual magic, but without the depth and level of sophistication the GD would bring to it, with its Four Colour Scales. This was partly a result of the times: the range of paints and pigments needed for such an elaboration were not easily available before the Victorian era.

Leadbeater’s published works on  ritual magic show none of these keys to any degree. Nor does it seem they were included as part of any secret teachings he may have passed on to selected students. As Tillett first showed in his work, The Elder Brother, Leadbeater’s secret teachings, given to selected young male pupils only, were of a sexual nature. To quote from Tillett’s thesis:

In simple terms, Leadbeater taught that the energy aroused in masturbation can be used as a form of occult power, a great release of energy which can, firstly, elevate the consciousness of the individual to a state of ecstasy, and, secondly, direct a great rush of psychic force towards the Logos for his use in the spiritual development of the world. (p.888)

 Tillett traces Leadbeater’s sexual magic to tantric influences from his time in India and indirect or direct connection with the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) via Vyvyan Deacon. Since Leadbeater passed on these teachings to his pupils without the formality of OTO authorisation, it seems to suggest that that he would have done the same with Golden Dawn secrets, the ‘something extra’, if he was in possession of them. It is therefore probably safe to say that the GD did not unduly influence Leadbeater’s ritual magic, and that the two streams developed side by side.

Dion Fortune

Tillett’s article also briefly recounts the Thesophical influence on Dion Fortune:

…her writings on the inner effects of magical ritual can hardly be said to have developed without significant influences from Leadbeater’s work, any more than her attempt at the establishment of something very much resembling a church – the Guild of the Master Jesus and the Church of the Graal –  is unrelated to Leadbeater’s Liberal Catholic Church.  Fortune had been a tentatively enthusiastic Theosophist but the real reasons for her break from Theosophy, other than her desire to establish her own organization and give her own teachings, remain unclear. (44)

Dion Fortune

While this seems opaque and indisputable, I think a couple of points need to be made. Firstly, the motivations behind the creation of the Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) and Fortune and Loveday’s Guild of the Master Jesus seem quite different. In a nutshell, the LCC was created to allow Theosophists to continue to practice their childhood and historical religion without comprising their Theosophical beliefs. Basically, it was a case of having their cake and eating it too. The impetus and support for the Guild of the Master Jesus however, like all things Dion did, stemmed from her allegiance to her inner plane contacts. Further, the work of the Guild (later the Church) was but one part of the integrated threefold way, advocated and practiced by Dion throughout her Occult career. It was not an add-on to bring in a more religious approach and satisfy the emotional need of members for traditions remembered from childhood. (See this post for more on the threefold way).

Even though Dion first came to the mysteries via a Theosophical cafeteria, experienced her initial contacts with Theosophical imagery and obviously was imbued with the ideas of Leadbeater, her actual magic and that of the Inner Light show little influence. As an initiate of the Golden Dawn tradition and a member of two Orders, Dion would presumably have been exposed to the ‘something extra’ that provided the magic. From her own account though, this something extra would have been confined to the documents not the magicians, for she felt the spark had gone out of the GD branch she was initiated into. Her account matches up nicely with the research done by Nick Farrell and presented in his King Over the Water, showing indeed that for a decade or more prior to Dion’s membership, the Mathers were watering down the rituals and selling high degrees for higher fees. Dion was certainly not given oral instructions on practical magic to any depth, leading to her famous criticism of the consecration method for the Lotus Wand, as I recount and explore in this post.

Instead Dion developed her own methods of magic, being instructed and trained by her Masters year after year. While many of these drew on and belonged to the lodge and ritual magic traditions of the past, many were also innovations. She tended to present these innovations through her fiction. Her novels the Winged Bull, Sea Priestess and Moon Magic contain a number of these potent magical formulae and methods that owe little to the Golden Dawn and less to Theosophy. Her later projects, such as ‘the Arthurian Formula’, shows she continued this innovative approach until her premature death in 1946.

Wicca

Wiccan Initiation

So the Leadbeater-Theosophical influence on two major streams of modern magical practice seem very little. What about the source of most of modern magic, Neo-Pagan Witchcraft or Wicca? Here the influence is clear, though I would argue only partial. Though most Wiccans and pagans reproduce and accept much ingrained Theosophical concepts, their magic I feel is quite different. Aside from the practical magic techniques, originally encapsulated by Gerald Gardner in his Eight Ways of Making Magic, Wiccan transformative magic centres on the initiations, the religious-spiritual transformation brought about via Drawing Down the Moon and psychic linking to the inherent transformation of the Eight Sabbats.

Regarding the ceremonial initiations, Tillett correctly points out that the Gardernian rites were influenced by his exposure to Theosophical Co-Masonry and Rosicrucianism:

The Wiccan rituals contain elements that seem to be influenced by traditional craft Freema- sonry, but also elements that are not found in that form but are unique to the rituals of Co- Masonry as revised by Leadbeater. (36)

Gardner’s use of sex and sexuality within these initiations however is quite different to the approach of Leadbeater, being one of sacramental worship not the generation of power to accomplish spiritual aims and development. Moreover, the initiations are only one aspect of the transformative path in Wicca; the Drawing Down of the Moon and the Eight Sabbat system show little or no sign of Leadbeater’s influence. Thus we have a definite, though by no means major influence.

Sources of Magic

We can see then that Golden Dawn, Inner Light and Wiccan magical practices have little influence from Theosophy and Leadbeater. They contain crucial elements which are not readily found in the historical forms of ritual and lodge magic Leadbeater had access to and which he developed according to his own peculiar wishes. This is why they stand out from Leadbeater and other forms of magic. Where then do they arise, what is their source?

Doreen Valiente

Some of these are clear. There is no doubt that the majority of the Inner Light tradition stems from Dion Fortune’s relationship with her interior Masters. Much of Wiccan magic can be traced, but some aspects simply cannot. While there is little indication that Gerald Gardner was in touch with inner plane contacts, the other creator of Wicca, Doreen Valiente certainly was for a time, as she recounts in The Rebirth of Witchcraft.

As for the Golden Dawn, the need to create a charter based legitimacy back to a prior physical Rosicrucian Order seems to have muddied the waters a bit. Mathers and Westcott’s descriptions of the sources of the GD are ambiguous enough for modern folk to believe whatever they want to foist onto them, from physical Secret Chiefs to schizophrenic delusion. Sources of the tradition aside however, it is clear where the all important Z Documents came from – the inner realms. As Nick Farrell puts it, “Mathers got the Z Documents from [the Angel] Raphael”.

So we are left with the realisation that in some ways, the main progenitors of modern magic and the Theosophical patriarch C.W. Leadbeater have something in common: all relied upon and gained much from discourse with invisible forces and beings. A major difference though, I feel can be found in their approach. Leadbeater’s vision and interaction with the inner world was obviously corrupted by his own unconscious. This was examined by another Theosophist, E.L. Gardner and summarised in Tillett’s thesis:

Gardner’s basic thesis is this:  Leadbeater unconsciously created an entire, artificial system, based upon his own strongly held views, and, again unconsciously, used his occult power to visualize this system into a state where it had the appearance of reality, and appeared as an objective reality to him when he viewed it clairvoyantly. (p.890)

I would argue Dion’s interaction, though far from perfect, was not so corrupted, for the simple reason that even after 20 or more years of interaction with the inner planes she was known to at least once consult an outside medium to ensure she was not deluding herself. She questioned her material constantly, whereas Leadbeater was 100 per cent sure of himself and his visions. He even cheerfully declared he had got Christ’s own personal imprimatur for the liturgy of the Liberal Catholic Church without so much as batting an Episcopal eye-lid. From such surety delusion ensues.

So when it comes right down to it, Theosophy, particularly C.W. Leadbeater’s version of Theosophy, still has a major influence over the general tenor and worldview of modern magic, but much less so on its practical methods. This may be seen as exposing a discrepancy and mismatch between the theory and praxis of magic, a criticism often directed at modern magical groups, one which I must say most magicians happily ignore. It is after all an orthopraxy based tradition, which emphasis goes some way to explain the continued and hidden Theosophical influence.

Leadbeater Today

Church of St John the Divine, Perth

Leadbeater himself continues to be treated by some as a saint and others as a pederastic child abuser full of self delusion. Either way, his memory continues on. I live in Perth, Western Australia, where he died in 1934 and where a portion of his ashes remain, behind a wall plaque in the Liberal Catholic Church of St John the Divine. Many in the  local Theosophical community continue to revere him. At my first Co-Masonic meeting I was ushered in to meet a charming elderly woman based on the sole qualification that she remembered Leadbeater from her childhood.

Many Theosophical folk in Perth simply refuse to accept the evidence presented by Tillett and others of Leadbeater’s sexual activities with young boys at all. Years back when required to complete an assignment for library school I choose the Perth Theosophical Library. Nearing completion of my interview with the Lodge President she seemed to insist I switch topics from the Dewey Decimal Classification to something more esoteric. So I mentioned I had just finished Tillett’s biography, whereupon I was subjected to a tirade of venom and abuse about Dr Tillett, most of which was certainly un-Theosophical and definitely unladylike. So ol’ Bishop Leadbeater still arouses strong feelings and his presence remains very real for some. However, despite worshipping many times seated next to his ashes, I cannot say I have personally felt it.

Read Full Post »

On the inevitability of diversity (but not schism)

Back when I was a  youth first getting a handle on this magic lark, I had a vision. Well more of a fantasy really. Riding home on my scooter from a Pagan social gathering of many covens, I imagined a similar situation for my beloved Golden Dawn. I envisioned a time where there would be several (or many) different outer Golden Dawn temples in Perth, each approaching the tradition differently, even quite differently. However, there would be a single inner RR et AC College, where adepts would come to serve and deepen in the Rosicrucian magical tradition.

The other day I was reminded of this fantasy by the words on the Ba Iset Order of the Rosy Cross blog describing their Order: “Golden Dawn based in the Outer; Global Rosicrucian in the Inner”. I love the ‘Global Rosicrucian’ phrase, and while I have no idea if my reading of it is what BIORC means, it sounds like what I envisioned.

Though I was not consciously aware of it at the time, my fantasy-vision was based on the esoteric principles inherent in the GD and RR et AC. The outer order is concerned with balancing the personality, and the inner with the use of the balanced personality by the deeper self and the One. Outer order experiences can therefore be quite different for folk, though often following a broad theme. The inner order experience, in the Golden Dawn at least, centres around magic.

The aim of magic is to become ourselves, and yet in doing so we lose ourselves. We become more deeply a person with unique and strong characteristics, but these are subservient to our connection and service to the One. Metaphorically the light of Goddess / God / the One is shone down and focused through the lens of our personality (which is cleaned and purified by the Outer work). In this way the Light of the One reaches the earth unhindered and focused and magnified – which is why the Magnificat talks about Mary’s soul ‘magnifying’ the Lord.

Each of the various magical initiatory streams, through their practices and blessings serve to bring a person towards being more themselves, more real, more solid and present in the material world. So the various GD Orders imagined in my little fantasy would be serving the same ends, though by different outer means. At the same time however, the final aim is more inner than outer. It’s all in these words from the GD Equinox ceremony (or is it MR? AO? SM? – someone please correct me, as some folk are so concerned we get the right initials):

Fratres et Sorores of the Order, seeing that the whole intention of the Lower Mysteries, or of external initiation, is by the intervention of the Symbol, Ceremonial, and Sacrament, so to lead the Soul that it may be withdrawn from the attraction of matter and delivered from the absorption therein, whereby it walks in somnambulism, knowing not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth; and seeing also, that thus withdrawn, the Soul by true direction must be brought to study of Divine Things, that it may offer the only clean Oblation and acceptable sacrifice, which is Love expressed towards God, Man and the Universe. Now, therefore, I confess and testify thereto, from my Throne in this Temple, and I promise, so far as in me lies, to lead you by the Rites of this Order, faithfully conserved, and exhibited with becoming reverence, that through such love and such sacrifice, you may be prepared in due time for the greater Mysteries, the Supreme and inward Initiation.

…the Supreme and inward initiation Doesn’t that make you smile?

Now each of us is different and a unique form of the One. So we will experience our magic in different ways. This is why RR et AC  magic is more akin to exegesis than literal interpretation; we make our own magic by personal interaction with the tradition. It is why the RR et AC and other streams teach us by formulae, not complete unchanging rituals – we are to create new forms, new magic, new rituals. This is very important, as it enacts the mystical connection of the self and personality, the inner and the outer.

Sometimes, once we are connected to the inner and circling that ol’ “Supreme and inward Initiation”, we are directed and called upon to act in the outer in a different way to those around us. This is one reason why, after a certain period of unfoldment some folk are ‘moved out’ or have to leave their mother-lodge. As they become more themselves, they are directed by the inner to work with different symbols, themes, beings, motifs and mysteries. Sometimes, if they are unlucky bastards, the inner tells them to start a group to do all this.

Now a sensible mother-Order rejoices (or at least accepts the inevitable) when this happens, even if it means losing one of their best initiates. Apparently Dion Fortune did this when W.E. Butler started being the receptacle for a different set of inner contacts than the ones currently directing the Fraternity of the Inner Light. Elsewhere Dion writes about the need to give senior members their own tasks and duties to guide junior members, and so avoid any ‘stagnation’ of the ‘magnetism’ they have received from their initiations and practices. As they have received, so too they must pass on, to keep all in flow. Dion asserts this practice helped avoid any schisms in the Fraternity. I am not sure if there have been actual schisms following Dion’s death, but if there have they have kept their dirty washing away from the public eye far better than many GD groups

So, one form of ordered and healthy expansion of the magical tradition occurs via senior folk gaining a new commission from the inner and going off to form their own outer expression of the mysteries – hopefully at the same time remaining on the Christmas card list of the mother-Order’s leader(s). Really, a good Order would recognise this and even ‘charter’ the departing initiate(s). This is a wonderful thing as it reflects an eternal truth – diversity on the outer, unity on the inner.

Less wonderful is ‘expansion’ via schism which often occurs when senior folk have inner directions to form new outer forms but are not given blessing and support to do so. This has happened far too many times in the Golden Dawn for anyone to feel happy about. Another problem is when a senior initiate is persuaded or chooses to stay within a mother lodge, despite inner promptings, because they are waiting to receive promised ‘higher teachings’ and knowledge. To ignore inner directions for these reasons is very harmful. The senior initiate’s connection will be hampered, and at the same time the presence of new or differently formed currents and contacts, seeking to be earthed, will be introduced into the mother-lodges’ egregore. A messy situation indeed.

Now, since the greater mysteries, or Inner Order work is more concerned with inner experience (contained within the principles of the Rosicrucian tradition) there is a great wealth of wisdom to be gained from the inner itself, regardless of putative ‘higher’ or third Order teachings.

Recently a Facebook friend of mine wrote some beautiful words on this theme. After a certain time of unfoldment, specific spiritual and magical teachings become simply a framework and starting place for further deepening, guided by the inner. Adepthood is where there is no leaning on outer Orders, groups, teachings or masters. While all of these things assist and aid our service and unfoldment, they are simply there to assist our unfoldment not direct or constrain it.

In the GD tradition this is the stage of the completed Adeptus Minor. As I write in By Names and Images:

The Adept connects with the deeper objective forces of Yetzira, symbolised by the full elemental powers, the planets, the Sephiroth and the Zodiac. She learns to navigate and move into the various realms of Yetzira at will. By doing so she is able to connect with and draw down all the powers and blessings she needs in order to re-make her personality self and to promote healing and spiritual growth in others. She also has the ongoing expanded awareness of the Higher and Divine Genius and is more and more able to obtain whatever magical or spiritual instruction she requires without reference to an outside human agency. However, she may often choose to maintain a connection with the physical Order so as to work in harmony with other Adepts in their service to humanity.

The centrality of the grade within the whole schema of unfoldment reflects the centrality of the associated Sephira, Tiphareth on the Tree of Life. All is expressed and combined, reflected and distilled through Tiphareth, which connects to the Utmost via Gimel. This is why, when functioning fully at this grade, there is no need for external teachers. It is also one reason why, I think, when discussing the teachings at higher grades, Nick Farrell says: ” Any new information automatically categorises itself at the 5=6. If it is a system, new or not, it is by its very nature 5=6.”

This is not to say, of course, that there are not wonderful and deep teachings at the ‘higher levels’ – there are certainly some by now, though I am not sure how true that was historically. However, these teachings must be integrated and infused into one’s own individual communion between outer and inner, lower and higher, personality and self, circle and point. The Adeptus Minor can commune with the inner, receive all they need from the inner, so outward teachings from any external ‘higher’ sources or orders are secondary to their mystical Conversation – put simply, they are not needed. Waiting for external, ‘higher’ teachings when one is connected to the inner, and able to be held and guided by the inner (as will happen with the right motivation) misses the whole mystery of the Adept grade in the first place. Right-ho?

Read Full Post »

The personal and transpersonal in Golden Dawn magic

Recently Abhainn Rivers blogged about his responses to a discussion between myself and Dean Wilson on Dean’s blog, Mishkan ha-Echad. The discussion was sparked from my notes in By Names and Images on practical, or low magic – magic designed to cause changes in the physical ‘out there’ universe rather than the interior sphere of the magician. I’ve discussed this before and though I would probably re-state things today, this post still gives a good overview of my thought.

I am interested today in the broader concepts alluded to in this discussion – the concept of self – who we are, and what makes us who we are. Now, magic was traditionally taught only within the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn. There are many very good reasons for this besides the rather vacuous ‘magic is dangerous’ warning and assumption that the morals of those in the Inner Order are more developed than those in the Outer. A key reason for this structure, I believe, is that by then, especially after the experience of the Adept Grade, the magician has a different, a more expanded, more accurate understanding of themselves.

As has been noted before, the aim of magic is to become more who we are, more ourselves. Yet paradoxically this ‘self’ we find, this intensity of personality, this presence and realness of existence is, at the same time, known and realised to be interdependent and non-existent in essence. We discover ourselves, and lose ourselves at the same time. This is one of the deep mysteries of the Rosicrucian inspired Adeptus Minor grade. True adepts, like my Tibetan Tantra teachers, are some of the most intense and real people I know, having tremendous presence and power. Yet, like their Buddhist counterparts who insist the self is not real on its own side, these adepts are also humble, conscious and aware of the universe that supports their being. Their personal is wedded to the transpersonal.

When the adept initiatory process goes wrong, for whatever reason, the finding and forming of the self is distorted and disturbed. The personal finds and knows itself only through the personal realms, being unable to surrender and wed itself to the transpersonal. This would be fine and not too problematic on its own, as there are plenty of people who are self-focused out there. However, as part of the training and initiatory gifts of our traditions, the personal ego of the magician also becomes connected to the intense inner forces and currents the tradition provides.

The personal ego alone, unwed to the transpersonal, was never meant to be the focus or conduit of these forces, and hence enlarges and dysfunction results. While this is not the place to discuss the various forms this dysfunction can take, a typical result is where the ego seeks to source its power and validation from the personal level, not the transpersonal. Hence the magician seeks energy and validation from the lower levels, from outer praise for their personal achievements, ‘spirituality’, prowess and skill. The results can be seen in any of the self focused leaders around today.  Typically these folk are focused on what makes them (and by extension their groups) wonderful, unique, powerful, true etc. Naturally the whole plethora of outer symbols, grades and titles are used by these folk in an effort to give more self-focused ego feedback

Since my primary tradition has always been the GD / RR et AC, I think I my concern with practical magic is that a focus on personal (lovers, money etc) and non-personal (family friends etc) concerns may hinder the development of the transpersonal, which is the aim of the whole biz as far as I am concerned. As I said in my post referred to above:

In my experience the best and most successful forms of practical magic are those performed collectively for altruistic purposes and which work in alliance with spiritual beings under the presidency of the higher powers. These are keys elements: a collegiate experience to go beyond the self; altruistic and transpersonal intentions; working in harmony with beings in the other realms where we at best can but blunder around, and; an attitude of surrender to the One.

Now, I am not saying it is ‘wrong’ to be self-focused or that it is not spiritual, since as we have seen the personal and transpersonal ultimately should wed. I am just wondering if personal and even non-personal (family, friends etc) focused work partakes of a different mystery to that of the traditional RR et AC approach, which is transpersonal focused.

The majority of practical magic in the west is surely practiced by Wiccan or Wiccan inspired systems, most of which acknowledge and work the ‘path of the Hearth Fire’ as it is poetically called, the path of daily life lived spiritually. This term, I believe, stems from the work of Dion Fortune, who extended, went sideways and introduced a lot more into the magic she learnt from the Golden Dawn. Describing this path, she writes:

…as true a way of initiation as any of the disciplines imposed by the occult fraternities.

However, she also very clearly describes the importance of the transpersonal within this path, as much as the initiatory occult path. The personal work, focus and action must be directed towards the non-personal and thereby, with the right intention and inner direction, moved also towards the transpersonal.

If we rule our homes in a spirit of selfless love and serenity of heart, asking no return, but doing our duty for the sake of the need of those to whom we minister [non-personal], our house will be a true Temple of the Hearth-Fire in which we can receive our initiation [transpersonal].

…let us, in imagination, always put a chair at the fireside and lay a place at table for the Unseen Guest, and live our life and do our work in the light of that Invisible Presence [transpersonal]. (Training and Work of the Initiate, chapter four).

Any concerns I have with practical magic therefore seem to stem from how some people use their spiritual arts for personal or non-personal (family, friends) concerns without the development of the transpersonal. I have seen this happen on a regular basis. Now, as I have said, this may be a different mystery and approach to the RR et AC – not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just wonder if this approach has just sort off slipped into the Golden Dawn since its public expansion with personal and non-personal magic being practiced in the Outer Order. I also wonder how this affects the GD and those who practice magic in this way when they enter the transpersonal focused Inner Order. I use the word ‘wonder’ here specifically – I have no definitive answers and make no moral judgements. Responses appreciated

Read Full Post »