Certainty and the Death of Magic

Ol’ Bishop Leadbeater – he knew a thing or two.

Every so often I come across something of interest in the dark recesses of my hard drive. Yesterday it was an old letter I wrote to Communion, the magazine of the Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) concerning the ‘debate’ over ordination of women to the priesthood. For those who do not know, the LCC is an ‘esoteric’ church founded in 1915 by Theosophical folk who wanted to have their cake (Christian rituals and hymns) and eat it too (participate in the new and exciting Theosophical movement). The LCC’s reasons for excluding women from the Priesthood are therefore a little different than those of the Catholic or Orthodox churches: women’s subtle bodies are simply not up to the job of standing in persona Christi. Nice.

And how does the LCC know this? Well, to quote meself:

These [reasons] ultimately stem from the clairvoyant investigations of Bishop Leadbeater. Cynics would say they originate with Leadbeater himself, his clairvoyance being a fraud at worse and a spurious self-delusion at best. Believers in the pre-eminence of Leadbeater as a great spiritual teacher either argue for his clairvoyant accuracy or simply accept it and do not bother arguing at all. In any case, no matter what position we take, the fact remains the clairvoyant data stems from Leadbeater himself.

I doubt anyone in the LCC (these days) views the late Bishop Leadbeater as infallible. Indeed, with so much of his fallibility having been presented to the pubic via the meticulous work of Fr Gregory Tillett, this would be an impossible position to hold. With all the recorded mistakes and inaccuracies in Leadbeater’s clairvoyance, it is quite conceivable that the occult reasons for excluding women, as they stem from Leadbeater, may be wrong or at least a little garbled.

However, the veracity or otherwise of the good Bish’ aside, the most interesting and most relevant aspect of the matter to what still occurs in today’s occult world is this:

By insisting that it has valid esoteric reasons for excluding women from the Priesthood the LCC has painted itself into a corner. If it were to say it excludes women on other reasons, such as following tradition, it could modify its stance at a later date, as several Churches have now done. However, to say that women’s subtle bodies are not suited to being the vehicle of Christ’s blessings, it has defined an unalterable truth, approved, we are assured by Bishop Leadbeater, by Christ himself (after a meeting on the inner planes).

Also, despite its seeming lack of dogma, such a position leads the LCC into a very dogmatic strait indeed. If it impossible for women to be Priests of Christ, then by definition the Anglicans (and others) have got it wrong (or at least are not operating on all four cylinders). If the LCC were ever to admit women to the Priesthood, it must postulate some amazing esoteric theory that the evolution of the world has reached such a level that Christ will suddenly change Himself to suit the subtle bodies of women priests (or all the women in the world have had their subtle bodies changed overnight).

As soon as ‘esoteric’ reasons, or reasons derived from inner plane activity, are used to make a decision concerning outer activity, membership or exclusion, we magic folk have to be very, very careful. We cannot make these decisions on an ultimate  basis – affecting all time, all space and all people – only on a relative basis. If we make them on a ultimate basis we are falling into the same trap as the religious fundamentalists we so dislike. And really, the magic is thereafter dead. We might as well pack up, go home and play computer games. Sure we can still do all the rituals and invocations and get some nice energy and astral buzz. But once we have closed our minds, the transformation will cease. And like the LCC, we may present a seemingly non-dogmatic front but have core, unspoken dogmas and fundamentalist ideas hidden within.

Look at the logic sequence:

CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST

• Statement 1: Evolutionary theory, and all science based on it, is wrong.
• Statement 2: Our church is one of the few that truly represents the will of Christ.
• Proof: Personal interaction with and interpretations of words invested with authority (the Bible).
• Supported by: Members of the churches deigned to be ‘proper’ churches.

LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH

• Statement 1: Women cannot be priests because they do not have the correct subtle bodies.
• Statement 2: Our Church’s liturgy has the express approval of Christ himself following a personal (inner) meeting with a Bishop of the church.
• Proof: Personal interaction with and interpretations of words invested with authority (the writings of C.W. Leadbeater).
• Supported by: Members of the LCC and TS.

MAGICAL GROUP

• Statement 1: Our magic is better than that of other groups (it will transform you faster!)
• Statement 2: Unlike other groups, our group has the lineal descent of magic from the ancient world and/or Atlantis.
• Proof: Personal interaction with and interpretations of words of someone who says inner plane beings and/or other people told him so.
• Supported by: Members of the group and other groups deigned to ‘proper’ magical groups.

Take away the authority of scripture, and the magical group is behaving exactly like the fundamentalist church.

Order size DOES matter!

Unfortunately there seems to be a constant presence of groups like this, especially on the internet where one’s presence can be bloated up to make even the best puffer fish feel inadequate. To avoid making fundamentalist thought based decisions is why, traditionally, only those at the adept level could vote and influence the lodge’s course and policies. The theory being, of course, that adepts would know better and having experienced inner death (see the last post) would have more loose and open minds. Sadly however, history shows this is not always the case.

There are a number of ways around these problems, most of which can be found in any good book on group formation and leadership. Again, I recommend Starhawk’s Truth or Dare and Nick Farrell’s Gathering the Magic. However, in a nutshell the basic principles that keep me sane in all this are:

• Do not make ultimate decisions. Ever.
• We all have the potential to be fundamentalists.
• Magic attracts nutters. And it may be myself.
• Look for actual proof. Assertions and back up statements by unverified names or mottos on the internet is not proof.

And, finally, the wonderful Discordian Catma:

Convictions Cause Convicts

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The Invoking Pentagram

I was reminded of these concepts today when reading some soon to be published material by one of the better magical authors out there. The notes here were written, I think, in the early 90s while I was working both the Golden Dawn and some form of Starhawk inspired Witchcraft Pagan-thingy. I was also busily engaged in ejecting or at least befriending some bats in my belfry and others’ via an interesting combination of magical ritual, eco-breath work and Christian guided grief imagery. The language here shows this.

The interesting thing is that I saw the same basic principles in the traditional magical discussion I read this morning. Now, back in the 90s I thought I was doing something cool and new. But no – tradition is always directing our work, whether we know it or not. We cannot openly work with any symbol and not have IT work with us

Anyway, thanks to the brilliance of indexed file systems, I quickly found what I was looking for, re-did the diagrams, and present it now for what it’s worth – as well as nostalgia. It may provoke a few thoughts… thanks :

The form of the generic invoking Pentagram (Earth), top point to lower left point, shows the formation and interaction of the Fivefold Self.

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SELF  and KEYWORD

(1) GODDESS- SELF:  UNITY

(2) BODY-SELF: FORMATION

(3) YOUNGER-SELF: EMOTION

(4) TALKING-SELF: SEPARATION

(5) SEXUAL-SELF: CONNECTION

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These Selves correspond in part to the Four Elements and Spirit: Goddess Self to Spirit, Body Self to Earth, Younger Self to Water, Talking Self to Air and Sexual Self to Fire.

The inscription of the Invoking Pentagram shows the process of: Goddess Self responding to an impulse to embodiment (incarnation), and producing a Body Self.

The Body Self responds to her environment, and through the interactions formulates a Younger Self (also called Feeling Self).

Younger Self through her feelings and interactions learns to separate what is her and what is not, and through the medium of language produces a Talking Self.

Talking Self through her interactions and meeting of the Other, creates Sexual Self as a means for full connection.

Sexual Self when fully expressed provides and means back to Goddess Self.

This process also corresponds to the Neuro-Circuit Theory of Tim Leary and Robert Anton Wilson:

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CIRCUIT I – BODY SELF

CIRCUIT II  - YOUNGER SELF

CIRCUIT III –  TALKING SELF

CIRCUIT IV  - SEXUAL SELF

CIRCUIT V – VIII  -  GODDESS SELF

space

The Fivefold Self on the Pentagram also shows the easiest and most direct access to fully experiencing each self is through the two other selves connected to it. Thus:

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GODDESS SELF is approached by Body Self and Sexual Self.

BODY SELF is approached by Goddess Self and Younger Self.

YOUNGER SELF is approached by Body Self and Talking Self.

TALKING SELF is approached by Younger Self and Sexual Self.

SEXUAL SELF is approached by Talking Self and Goddess Self.

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Creation Spirituality, Wicca and the Golden Dawn

A retrospective introduction

One evening back in late 1992 I was rung up by a Witchy-Buddhist friend of mine (you know who you are ) to inform me Starhawk was planning to visit Perth to give some workshops and teachings. Naturally this excited me and I wanted to know more – “who’s bringing her out?” I asked, surprised I had not heard of this before since I pretty much knew all the Pagan groups in Perth back then. “A bunch of Christians”, came the reply.

Well, roger me rigid and call me Toby! Christians sponsoring the visit of a Witch?! I gave up dinner and rang the contact number to get the low down. And so I came in contact with the Perth Creation Spirituality Network, based on the work of the then Dominican, now Episcopalian Priest Fr Matthew Fox. The next day I scoured Perth for a copy of Original Blessing by Fr Fox, started reading and went to heaven. Here was both the Christianity I had been looking for as a child as well as a vision and overarching framework for all traditions of western spirituality. Swiftly co-opted onto the workshop team (being a real live Witch and them mostly ‘post-Christians’), I began to learn a lot about this vision of western spirituality.

One of the main features of Fox’s work is a critique of the traditional threefold path of Christian experience: Purgation, Illumination and Union, corresponding to the body (prayer of the lips), mind (prayer of the mind) and soul (prayer of the heart). Fox’s view was that this threefold path led to a spirituality of self, focused on personal Salvation. You know, making sure we get to heaven as our neighbours burn in hell, kinda thing. The same essential theme is found in western esotericism; crossing the Abyss, making ourselves immortal via a Solar Body or exempt from future incarnation etc. Ho hum.

This individualistic approach to Christianity, western spirituality and magic is so common that we do not even notice it as just an option, as simply one way of viewing the world. We, so the story goes, are individuals with individual minds and souls that are affected by what we do to our selves. However, from other perspectives, notably Buddhist, depth esoteric and certain mystic Christian strands, this individual existence, and therefore advancement or salvation, is a chimera, a false vision and something that distracts us from the real.

Thomas Merton, one of the most influential of Christian teachers in the 20th century critiques individualism as “primarily an economic concept with a pseudo spiritual and moral facade.” Richard Rohr, a brilliant and hoopy Franciscan author denounces the idea of getting our private soul saved, “me going to heaven” as the “best disguised narcissism” we can think of, and criticises the churches for letting centuries of Catholics and Protestants get away with it.

Fox’s way forward from this individualistic approach is to re-vision the threefold Christian path into the Four Ways or Approaches, described below (later on I will apply these to the Golden Dawn). In the mid 90s we successfully incorporated these Four Paths into our EarthDreaming Witchcraft tradition, some of the material from this time being available here. From then on I have never looked back and the Four Paths are always somewhere in my mind and soul. So muchas gratias to my Witchy-Buddhist friend

The Four Ways to the One

It is essential to grasp a few things before we continue. All Four paths are simply that, paths to the One. Though one may build on the others, none are more advanced or better than another. Also it is well and truly expected that experience of the Paths will be cyclic, that we will re-visit them all many times as we move through our life. That said, if we wish we can, in broad terms, assign the Paths to stages of the spiritual and magical life noting that sub-cycles of Paths occur within each Path also. In EarthDreaming we did not use this method, but ritually entered a Path at each of the four solar festivals and explored its dimensions within our life for that quarter.

The first two paths, the Via Positiva and Via Negativa are ways of being, the approach and interior consciousness we carry with us. The other two Paths, the Via Creativa and the Via Transformativa are ways of doing, the methods and approach to interacting with the world around us. In addition, the Via Creativa is linked to and builds upon the experience of the Via Positiva, and the Via Transformativa is linked to and builds upon the experience of the Via Negativa.

THE VIA POSITIVA – Loving Life

“Thou shalt fall in love at least three times a day.”

In the Via Positiva we find the One in new beginnings, within awe, by awakening to beauty, delighting in the divinity and mystery of the world and those around us. The Path is reverence and acceptance, the new vision of those newly fallen in love or awakened by spiritual communion, initiation, art or erotic beauty. It is the rushing forth of energy and excitement, seeing all things in the light.

From Walt Whitman:

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, Every  square  yard  of  the  surface  of  the  earth  is spread with miracles. Every foot of the interior swarms with miracles.

THE VIA NEGATIVA – Embracing the Dark

The Via Negativa is where the light of Positiva begins to wane and the darkness approaches. We move interiorly and enter the awareness that existence is suffering, finding the One within the suffering and the darkness. We embrace the dark, rather than trying to deny its existence. This means we embrace but do not wallow in our pain. We reveal hidden aspects of ourselves and above all we let go: let go of the need for control, to be OK, to be fine and perfect. We empty ourselves of falsehood and are still, and silent.

From T.S. Eliot:

Embracing the dark. Letting pain be pain.
I said to my soul – be still
and let the dark come upon you
which shall be the darkness of God.

THE VIA CREATIVA – Expressing the Self

In the Via Creativa we find the One through creativity, imagination, generation, and re-creation. Here we give birth to our true selves, and images of the self. We are powerful in generation and expression. The universe pours into us, seeking to be born through us and our art, our craft, our new way of being in the world. We are called to connect with the incredible divine creative potential within us and to express ourselves as the unique expression of the One that we, in essence, really are. We enter the unlimited and are re-made.

From Marianne Williamson (who was not quoted by Nelson Mandela. Really.):

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear
is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

THE VIA TRANSFORMATIVA – Enacting Justice and Compassion

In the Via Transformativa we find the One when we act to relieve suffering, work for justice and restore balance, to work for the Tikkun Olam, the restored world in Qabalistic terms. Here the insights from the other three paths are brought to bear on ourselves in a new way. We are moved to act beyond our own sphere, motivated by the deep desire that all may live fully and without suffering. We act in the world and through that action we are changed, no longer concerned with just our self and our own, but with the whole world. We stop being consumers and observers and become partakes and sharers of a new story that includes all, particularly the Anawim – those on the margins, those dispossessed and shunned by the mainstream. Matthew Fox calls this “erotic justice”, justice making motivated by the awareness of the sacredness of all life.

From the great man himself, oft quoted on MOTO, Martin Luther-King:

We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

Witching the Paths

A review of the Four Approaches in connection with western esoteric and magical spirituality is interesting. Back in the mid 90s I analysed the Wiccan initiatory schema in relation to the paths and concluded we needed a ‘fourth degree’ or something like that. I wrote about and promoted this idea but received little response. Looking at it simply:

First Degree – Light – Magic – Positiva

Second Degree -  Darkness – Death – Negativa

Third Degree – Great Rite – Union – Creativa

This indicates what generally happens. A person is initiated as a Witch, has all the classic Positiva experiences, loves life, gets into magic, finds their own inner divinity and generally lives in the Light. The second Degree has the powerful descent motif and the facing of death, where the serious side of being a Witch before the Gods becomes apparent. Again, classic Negativa experiences. Then comes the incredible power and co-creation of the Third Degree and the mystery of the Great Rite, Goddess and God enjoined in creative fusion. This Creativa force is now generally encouraged to expand itself outward into hiving off from the Coven, creating a new group. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

However, if this is all that happens (and in Australia it still largely is) we are missing a lot. In the early days of the Craft there was a need to create as many new covens as possible, to re-vitalise the tradition and share it wide. These days however, I think if people were encouraged to stay in the group and move to the Transformativa and take all the juice and power they have into social magic and actions, a more compassionate and directly useful Craft may result. Maybe?

The Golden Dawn

When it comes to the Golden Dawn with its more complex degree system, it becomes less clear. However, it seems pretty obvious to me that the new Neophyte mostly experiences the Via Positiva, just as the new Witch does, being injected with life, light and a new vision of themselves and the world. Somewhere from Zelator to Portal, or the entire journey if they are (un)lucky, they will experience the Via Negativa.  They will enter the dark, have themselves stripped of delusion, pretence and false self hood to some degree. They will know death.

Then, generally, sometime following the incredible Adeptus Minor initiation they will well and truly be in the Via Creativa. They will be re-creating themselves, creating new rituals and tools, co-creating with other Adepti, expressing their true self via the direction of the Higher and Divine Genius. All excellent stuff. And then…?

Now I have not had enough direct experience of other Adept Colleges to say if people are encouraged at the higher levels to form their own groups or not. Perhaps they are, perhaps not depending on their mother Order. However, it does seem clear to me that if a bunch of Adepti hung together at 6=5 and 7=4 they could do a lot within the Transformativa. I mean, the essential work of these grades, if it is understood correctly, is transpersonal in nature anyway. This is explained in my forthcoming By Names and Images from Skylight Press (here is one link - more later… an author has to do what an author has to do ).

So, the idea of applying the Four Paths to the Golden Dawn is not simply to add another paradigm of vision, but to hopefully show that the culmination of our spiritual tradition and journey lies in the Transformativa – the enactment of service, love and erotic justice via physical and spiritual means. I truly believe the actual makeup of our unfolding souls will, if we surrender well at the Via Negativa (letting go our falsehoods), move us towards this transpersonal vision of compassion. This is why I get confused when I see people banging on about personal magic, personal salvation, personal advancement and individual immortal solar bodies. If we look at the source Rosicrucian documents this focus on the transpersonal is readily apparent.

Once we are at the deeper levels of our tradition, there should be no self focused person at all. Now of course we are all still unfolding, still serving and none of us are Masters (except the ones over there of course). So this is all really a matter of inspiration and choice. Do we choose to fully surrender to the Negativa so we can really move beyond the self in the Transformativa? Do we quietly get on, unannounced with collegiate transpersonal work? Or do we post pictures of ourselves on the Internet listing a string of titles and grades? The choice of course is ours. From my perspective though, at true Adept level, the level of Unreserved Dedication, the choice should be no longer ours alone. Which is kinda scary and cool all at once.  Thanks.

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Practical or Low Magic

Sometimes I am so in love with universe I want to hug it. Not having arms that wide I tend to go for those close by me; my son, M, my toy rabbit Pooyan. This morning was like this. Driving to work while listening to a Bach Cantata was lovely and I was contemplating two things: this post on practical magic and my sadness that no one had responded to what I thought was a great post on Christianity, Magic and Politics. I get to work start jotting this post during my breaks, and lo and behold – a reply to the post by Stavros whose own post on the use of astrology for “political magic” (my description) is very interesting.

Speaking of doing “good works” – tomorrow my hair is shaved to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. You really need to sponsor me! RIGHT NOW – CLICK HERE.

Recently I have received a few requests from students, correspondents and former students on the art of ‘Practical’ or ‘Low Magic’. This is magic designed to create changes in our personal lives, to bring us better jobs, new lovers and so forth. Now, depending on my mood, the grade and mental state of the student, I can be quite curt in my reply. As I wrote in the much delayed By Names and Images, “If you are seeking instruction in this type of magic, stop reading now, as you will not find it here”. Sometimes I can even be quite rude as the Golden Dawn quite clearly views magic as a process of linking with the Divine and the natural forces of the universe. There are very few indications in the GD texts that suggest this wonderful tradition may be utilised to for practical magic or sorcery.

However, magic is one of those unfortunate words that have a number of different meanings and which elicit even more reactions when spoken about. Sadly there is no denying that both today and historically practical magic is often linked to the traditions of spiritual magic. I just wish it and other aspects of internal life, like “psychic abilities” weren’t. But they are, so there we go.

Rather than degenerate into a discussion that ‘high’ magic (that which is not for the self) is better than ‘low’ magic (that which is for the self) I want to point out something that is seldom mentioned: most readers of blogs such as this actually do not need any help from magic.  In a world where twenty thousand people will die from poverty and starvation each day, any westerner who can afford time and money to wander around the Internet must be counted as rich beyond measure.  To use our magical blessings, which stem ultimately from the One, to increase our station in life rather than to balance out the stakes a little for those who are literally starving to death says something for our personal magical motivation.  And in this vein, the profusion of spell-craft manuals and coffee table books bristling with all forms of sorcery says a lot for the general motivation of the esoteric and New Age communities today.

This is not to deny the real hardships, financial and personal difficulties we may find ourselves in. For example, poverty, even in Western countries, creates many social and personal problems. These are real, depressing and damaging. However, to reproduce from the sidebar the comments by a living elder of western magic, Gareth Knight:

For most of us however, we only think seriously of food or sex or money when it becomes a problem, which is to say when we feel we are not getting our share.  When we find ourselves in that situation then I regret to say that meditational visualisations are really not the best way to remedy the lack.  This is simply a way of trying to avoid rendering to Caesar the thing that are Caesars.  We are here in a physical condition in a physical world and while in that state we have to abide by the laws appropriate to it.

Magic is simply not the best way of solving or even helping to solve financial, sexual, vocational, familial or other personal problems. In the modern western world the community practicing practical  magic the most has to be the Wiccans. Now from personal and anecdotal experience over 25 years and in every survey I’ve ever read, there is nothing to suggest the Wiccans are better off than the rest of us. They are not richer or smarter. They suffer the same vicissitudes in love, health and work and are just as likely to have addicts and dysfunctional folk in their community as in any community. The richest Wiccan I know has made his money from sharp and aggressive real estate purchases, not from spells. Of course there is an argument that most Wiccans, despite their cones of power and sex magic are simply devoid of the solid magical skills which we of the GD persuasion have However, despite there being less data for the GD community there is nothing to suggest that we are better off either!

I am not saying that practical magic cannot work. I think it can, under certain circumstances. It is however, far, far more difficult than most people think. Tanya Lurhmann in her Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft describes how magical folk alter their own internal reality to make it seem like their magic has worked. This is something I have observed time and time again in the Wiccan and magic-Gnostic communities (since the only GD folk I mix with don’t do practical magic, I haven’t seen it there).

Basically, it is easier to accept our fate and alleviate our problems via material means than magic. We can go on Seek or a dating/casual sex site, attend family therapy or get some emergency financial assistance from an aid agency. We can do something real, earthed and solid.

Also to be considered are the dangers of practical magic. While many practical magic techniques are not in themselves more dangerous than those of spiritual magic, their practice lacks a crucial element always present in spiritual magic – altruism. As soon as we engage in magic for ourselves we are no longer activating the transpersonal, higher aspects of our beings. Our personal desires and wants, even if temporarily let go off for the performance of the ritual, ensures that our consciousness is not fully motivated and infused by the not-self. This means we are engaging in the astral realm without the protection our higher motivations provides us. While nothing dramatic may occur, over time repeated  self-focused practices will hinder our spiritual unfoldment and development.

In addition there are problems of technique that can be dangerous. As an example, Nick Farrell, who is very sensible and adept in the GD, recounts on a recent post how basically there are no listed angels in the western tradition that can ‘assist’ in money magic. One has to resort to the assistance of a demon. I never knew this. Now different people have different views of demons but even if we see them only as personifications of repressed areas of the psyche, there is no denying they are linked to a cultural egregore that is very unpleasant. The adept may have no problem with this but the novice or journeyman may and could come out worse for the wear.

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. Even then, depending on the action we often fail in achieving the desired and stated outcome. There is no doubt however that we, the magicians, are changed and transformed. Also the positive ‘energy’ is never lost, the altruism, which is a form of love continues on long after the ritual finishes. Examples of these forms of rituals are sadly lacking in the Golden Dawn and western magical circles, though I have posted one of them here. In this sphere the Pagans out do us so well as the work of the Blessed Starhawk and the Reclaiming Collective show (I’ve blogged about her too).

Finally though, I would be burying my head in the sand if I ignored the fact that there exist many competent writers and teachers who present Golden Dawn derived rituals and techniques as tools for bettering our personal and material lives.  Israel Regardie detailed one such approach in his Art of True Healing essay and recounts how he used such magic to ‘set himself up’ financially upon his retirement. I guess each of us must decide for ourselves on the validity or otherwise of attempts to magically improve our lot in life.

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Sexist Assumptions, Amazing Women and Tara.

In the last post I described myself as nothing more than ‘a jumbled mess of preconceived ideas’. The other day one of these preconceived ideas popped out again. M and I were discussing the likelihood of there being incarnated extant Masters with the Golden Dawn / RR et AC tradition. I opined that there could be such a Master, but he would keep himself hidden. Naturally M and I both picked up the sexist assumption of the Master being a man.

*Sigh* these things happen; despite being an ex-SNAG and delving into some serious feminist, revisionist politics, theology and herstory when young, my preconceptions are always there. This is why Buddhists and Hindus assert we never see the actual world, but only a illusion of the world, Maya, created by our personal interaction with the world. This is why Christians remind us we are born of Original Sin; meaning that which keeps us separate from God.

And, sadly sexism is still rife within the western traditions. Even those feminine focused Goddess traditions such as Wicca. It seems to have changed a bit recently, but the last empirical analysis I did still had male Pagan authors and leaders of traditions outweighing female. And just looking at this humble blog – where are the women?

So, to redress a little, just a few personal heroines and women of inspiration:

Firstly, of course, my mother.

Without going into detail here I am appreciating my mum more and more as I get older. As a young army wife she found herself with four boys under the age of five living in a foreign country with her husband almost perpetually away on exercise. Yet still she raised us and loved us, and this alone commends respect and admiration.

Dion Fortune

Dion was simply the most significant Priestess and magician of the 20^th century. In terms of volume her influence may be less than the naughty boy Crowley, but it exceeds all in terms of quality. As a Priestess she was magnificent, as an author she wrote the only magical novels of note, even now 80 years later. As a magician she developed and promoted the Three-Fold Path which sought to encompass several mystery approaches as one. As a medium she was one of the greatest; her ability to bring the presence of the Masters into this world was beyond par.

However, the main gift Dion has taught me is her very human honesty. She never speculated beyond her own experience. When she assumed something, she told us. She never created any false lineages or other little ‘fibs’ magicians are fond of. And even in death she continued to guide her school, which is the only long standing non-schismatic public esoteric school in the west. Today the ‘Dion Fortune’ contact is still very strong and available for those serving and working along her wavelength.

Starhawk

I first read Starhawk on a Monday. I remember it clearly. I had spent the last week and weekend devouring a mass of magical and Witch books I purchased from a Wiccan ditching her collection (see this post). On Monday morning I wandered into Wisdom Books and found ‘The Spiral Dance‘. Reading on the bus back home I died and went to heaven.

Starhawk was a radiant beacon. It was like she wrote the Spiral Dance for me: it combined my politics, my new found spirituality and my personal therapy work into one. I loved her. Back then I would have crawled naked over cut glass to meet her (today I’d wear some clothes).

Now Starhawk is probably the most influential witch in the world today, and with good reason. As an activist, poet, visionary and practical magician she still inspires and I see her and the Reclaiming Collective as continuing the spirit of the work Dion began in the 1920s. Her work has been highly valuable for so many reasons it’s hard to repeat here. To know more go to her website or her blog.

Sister Veronica Brady

Sister Veronica was my one of my early introductions to that face of Christianity that is so compassionate yet so strong it leaves an indelible mark. One of the first Australian nuns to teach in universities Sr Veronica’s politics is firmly based in compassionate socialism and she has butted heads with the church authorities over issues like contraception and homosexuality. I first came across Sr Veronica at a ‘Conference on Spirituality’ when I was 21.

Throughout the morning we heard from Witches and Sufis, green activists and bishops. Then Sister Veronica spoke: ‘Everyone’s been talking about spirituality’, she said, ‘but we have to realise there is good spirituality and there is bad spirituality. Good spirituality is obedient to God, and bad spirituality isn’t’. This was wonderful, and she went on to explain what obedience to God meant; the surrender of our individual petty concerns for the sake of others, seeing all equally. She is apparently still bouncing around inspiring and writing in Melbourne. You can see a transcript of an interview with her here.

Moina Bergson-Mathers

Moina was the wife of Golden Dawn founder, Samuel Mathers. Her life should have been overshadowed by his genius and madness, but she shone like the stars herself. Early in her life she sacrificed a promising artistic career to birth and maintain the esoteric work she and her husband were called to do. The more psychically gifted of the two she developed her abilities to the point where the couple were able to contact the Inner Plane Masters and bring through much of the Golden Dawn’ s Inner Order material. Most of this has still not been published; some of its existence not even suspected by narrow occult historians and modern magicians.

Moina was a Priestess of Isis, and every modern Priestess owes her a debt; for she was the ground breaker in the reinstallation of Isis into the western consciousness through the Rites of Isis conducted in Paris. Her life, magic and contribution to the esoteric (along with three other women) is detailed in Mary K Greer’s ‘Women of the Golden Dawn‘ – well worth reading J

Pixie Colman-Smith

See the Tarot image here? These and others have been reproduced millions of times across the globe, in books, decks, magazines and the Net. Now, Pixie was the artist, writer, mystic and magician who illustrated this ‘Waite’ Tarot deck. Uncredited, she took Waite’s basic black and white designs and transformed them with her own insights and colour. She also appears to have been the originator of the unique images for the Minor Arcana – previously having been little more than an image of the appropriate number of symbols. Never receiving credit or financial reward she is often overlooked today when the deck is referred to as the ‘Waite-Rider’ deck, Rider being the publisher.

Pixie was a gifted artist and storyteller, and while not much is known (publically) about her inner spiritual life it is known she was devoted to service. She maintained active esoteric links and work until her death. She also devoted much of her resources and time to offering a retreat space to ‘burnt out’ priests at a time when such things were rarely acknowledged to exist.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Ven. Tenzin started out life as a London girl in the 1940s. At 18 she had a profound spiritual realisation and became one of the earliest western Theravadan Buddhist nuns. Within two years however, her desire to be of compassionate help to all beings saw her move into the Mahayana path with its Bodhisattva ideal and she became the second western woman to be ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

She devoted herself to her path and retired to a cave for meditation and study for 12 years, the last three in full retreat (see Cave in the Snow for more information). Since returning to the world she has worked tirelessly to both teach the Dharma and promote the path of women in Buddhism, giving them the opportunities to study and practice the full Dharma. The Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery she founded has been one of our favourite charitable causes to support. You can too, if you would like by clicking here.

The Tara Vow

The ideal of the Bodhisattva Vow is pretty well known now; to develop oneself for the aid of all sentient beings and never to rest, incarnation after incarnation, until all beings reach an end of suffering. There is another tradition in Tibetan Buddhism that addresses somewhat the hidden sexism I am speaking of. It is part of the Tara Vow, named after the deity or Buddha, Tara. Here we not only take the Bodhisattva Vow but we also vow to continually return in female form to work for the aid of all beings. I am not sure how well this ideal will catch on in the West, but it is a wonderful thought…:)

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