Podcast Appearance: Praxis Behind the Obscure, Ep. 41

I was delighted to be a guest for a third time on Praxis Behind the Obscure: check it out!

Progressing in Magick

So this is a question I’ve given some thought to: how quickly should one progress in magick? How far, how fast? What should you get into?

Having tried several things in magick, I can recommend the following:

1. Meditation (at the beginning and throughout your journey, perhaps to be foregone towards the end). Vipassana & Raja (one or the other), once or twice a day. I also recommend using simple pranayama techniques to relax one’s mind and emotional state, and then mentally confronting emotional triggers (i.e., “Why do I get angry about this? Is this really me, or am I just attached to [XYZ]? Does my emotional intensity match the situation?”) at least once a week for at least a year. Don’t be afraid to go deep. This will start clearing your mind of identifications that do not match who you are, and the best part is, you’re doing the clearing, so you are in control. It’s also good to talk through your insights with good friends.

Allllsoooo…therapy, especially as you get to the weirder stuff: find a therapist who doesn’t judge the woo.

Congratulations, your mind is now on a path towards healing.

2. Groundedness practice. (added) I recommend also doing some groundedness meditation (such as imagining roots growing from your feet into the earth and drawing in from the infinite amount of energy available that which you need). To complement this, spend time walking outside, gardening, etc., to stay in touch with the real world.

Congratulations, you’re able to live in reality.

3. Hatha yoga. The mind and body are intimately connected. In general, you will want to be in excellent physical shape, so if you can, Hatha yoga regularly, do cardio at least twice a week, and add in strength training (always talk to your doctor about exercise). Give yourself a couple of months to get in good (or better) physical shape. Obviously this depends on whether you are disabled, but think about how you can get in touch with your body.

Congratulations, you’re working on integrating your body and mind.

4. Sigils (as needed). After about a month of meditation, teach yourself to make a sigil (the Austin Osman Spare method is easy to learn, but others exist). They are easy, they are cheap, they will work with beginner’s luck. Start with something simple at the “5% probability” level and charge it the easy way (look at it during the “big O“).

Congratulations, you’re empowering yourself.

5. Learn (and DO) banishing (regularly, but eventually to be largely eschewed). A few weeks after your sigil, note the degree to which it was successful (you can do more, but for serious things). Then learn the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP). After you have started a daily meditation practice, for at least a month, start learning the LBRP. It’s not that complicated. Use flash cards to memorize directions, angel names, and the like.

Then do it for the first time. Don’t be surprised if you experience some clairaudience: I definitely did my first time and I had a huge WTF moment! Once you have it memorized and can perform it fluidly, it should not take more than five minutes. Start off doing that on a weekend, then add it to your “stack” and do it once a day (ideally before a meditation), then twice a day (morning and night). If you’re not in your own place, do it silently. If space is an issue, you can do it imaginally. Later, learn the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (LBRH).

Congratulations, you’re starting to determine your circumstances.

6. Study the elements and astrology. The classical elements are fundamental to the LBRP, and now is the time to understand what they are about. It’s good to learn about them in conjunction with astrology, because there is some overlap. For that, The Astrology Podcast is excellent. Take their significations of the signs (parts 1 & 2), the planets, the houses (parts 1 & 2), then the ones on sect, essential dignities, and then look into the aspects. This will help you understand the LBRH. It will also help you understand the astrological forces, whether they are “good” for a working and invoked, or whether they are bad and should be banished. This will take some time, definitely no less than three months, probably no less than six.

Congratulations, now you understand how circumstances can arise.

7. Raising & balancing consciousness. (added) At this point, I also would recommend slowly adding in the Middle Pillar Ritual at this point. Once a week, then twice, then daily. The idea is to start raising your awareness. It’s very important to balance this with the groundedness meditation I previously mentioned.

Congratulations, you’re developing perspective on circumstances.

8. Start thinking about your True Will. Your understanding of astrology will come in handy now. Jason Louv offers a course on this, which is excellent.

Congratulations, now you know how you want to change circumstances.

9. Holy Guardian Angel ordeal. By now you should at least have a couple of years into your studies. I really can’t recommend this enough, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this for someone who hasn’t yet had their Saturn return. Knowledge and Conversation of your Holy Guardian Angel is the first great feat of the Western magickian, according to Crowley. I recommend the Abramelin operation (I was told by my HGA to forego the demon-binding portion of the operation, as was James Eshelman). It is an ordeal, and should only be undertaken when you can. Modify it as you can for your circumstances: the original presumed so much wealth but a sincere effort to have the key aspects of the ritual (isolation, prayer, etc.) is vital. Congratulations, now you have an ally in reaching towards your true nature.

10. Enochian. Having done all of this work, you might decide to take up Enochian. It’s complicated. It’s a lot of work. But it’s worth it, soooo worth it. I’ve written before that I consider it the key to plugging in to the great Western and Eastern accomplishments (such as a Chokmah initiation and the rainbow body–a Tibetan Buddhism arising–respectively). Congratulations, you are now on the path to reaching your true nature.

You may be surprised that I have left off this list other things such as talismans (I do them, but these are not necessary), alien contact, past-life regression, and so many others. I just don’t think that they are necessary, and may even side-track from paths to some core insights. I’m willing to change my mind on this, and I’ll let you know if I do.

Enjoy!

Updated Rainbow Body Enochian call; Addition of empty mind Enochian call

This post has been updated: here is the latest iteration.

I continue to mix-and-match Eastern concepts with Enochian techniques because I believe that at the core of these traditions is the same structure of reality. In my last post on the topic, I called upon a specific part of heaven, but I decided to change it after doing some chanting to Padmasambhava. My preparation was to do the Supreme Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (I modded to add invoking-spirit pentagrams after banishing all 5 elements). This was followed by an Expanded Middle Pillar ritual (of my own devising) to call all four Kabbalistic worlds using the correspondences 776 1/2. Finally, I did a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram, followed by a Greater Invoking Ritual of the Hexagram of OM. Because this is beyond the Tree of Life proper (i.e., associated with Ain, Ain Sof, and Ain Sof Aur), I chose to use the “color” of clear for drawing both the hexagram and the Sanskrit word–similar to the camouflage effect from Predator (but in a good way!), or heat vision waves as seen in Smallville.

The new call is phrased:

MADRIAX DSPRAF MAOFFAS QAA DE TON DAMPLOZ OLPIRT DE OI, A MANIN DE AFFA OLPIRT…[complete remainder of the call to the Aethyrs]. (“O you heavens which dwell in the measureless garment (body) of all variety of light of this, in the mind of empty light”).

I dropped the “of me” in favor of “of this” (sidestepping ego issues by referencing “me” in the call). I also linked the rainbow body to the clear light mind.

There was a nascent sense of the actualization of the lesser rainbow body afterward; this is uncharted territory for me. The vision included eclipse imagery (note the date; I was comfortable doing this magick because this was aimed at the supernals), but also Christian imagery. The message was that the cross was not to be thought of in the vertical position, to lift up the sacrifice, but rather the horizontal (emphasizing the accepting of the fulfillment of the law, so to speak). From this horizontal cross emerged a being, or perhaps a scaffold, which resembled me, who locked in around me. There was a shift, but the shift seemed to be one of awareness, as well as a subtle body shift.

I was told at the end to use a separate call for the clear mind itself, which was much simpler (and more directly referring to Ain):

MADRIAX DSPRAF AG (NOIB, AFFA MANIN)… (“O you heavens which dwell in nothing (yea, the empty mind)”).

This evoked a very peaceful state of the clear mind and I recommend trying it out.