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Preparing for Takeoff
Aug. 24th, 2024 08:43 amPreparing for Takeoff
Approaching divine magic has some implicit requirements that often seem to go unacknowledged. Paying due consideration to not only what we believe about the nature of the universe, but also why we believe these things, is directly applicable to how we interact with divine entities. The ritual technologies of a Siberian shaman and a goetic magician may yield similar magical effects, but the motivation and experience of spiritual encounters will differ by a lot. Honest interrogation of our beliefs helps determine the divine methods we can and cannot tolerate.
As a modern person raised in America, I've been ingrained with certain values. These values include an essential right to freedom and happiness, governance through committee, animal welfare, conservation of natural spaces, scientific deduction, and a preference for free market enterprise. We can certainly argue the extent to which Americans live up to these values, but that does little to remove belief and its influence on practice. These values imply something about the forms of magic that will be difficult for me to embrace. Magic that uses coercion, assault, or slavery as its primary mode of operation will likely not work well for me. Magic that requires sycophantic levels of supplication or debasement will likely not work well for me. Magic that involves animal sacrifice, flagrant pollution, blind obedience, or excessive self-harm will also not work very well for me.
Luckily, modern witches have a lot more models of spiritual ecology and hierarchy at our disposal than our magical ancestors. As witches, we get to decide how we approach spirits and with which spirits we choose to work. I'm sure there are many important questions to ask, but I've given priority to three questions whose answers I consider requisite to approaching divine magic. 1. What's my conception of how magic works in a multidimensional sense? 2. How do I view spiritual hierarchies? 3. How do I personally fit into all of this?
Conceptually, I view magic as a game of association, also called "virtue." Whether via contact or similarity, like things exert influence over one another via hidden or "occult" forces. Divine magic involves an approach that recognizes that all things in the universe share a similar origin. Thus, everything exerts influence on everything via the monad of the universe. I personally draw a distinction between the universe and the ultimate hidden force behind the universe, which we might call "God", whatever that is.
From a practical perspective, it's usually more useful to work with differentiated versions of the monad. We might call these "gods." Gods, in my conception, are abstract and transcendent forces that underlay reality. We may encounter various spirits that convey or distribute the power of the gods (angels and daemons), but the gods are the ultimate source. They are both the well and the water. They are simultaneously our emotions, instincts, and inclinations as well as all the actions resulting from these primal forces. Understanding the interactions and "motivations" of these inhuman entities is something that can only be understood through direct experience. I refer to knowledge that can only be shared via direct experience as "mystery."
With regard to the self, I perceive the actions of virtue through the gods as constantly sustaining my presence here. My bones, blood, and breath are extensions of the gods of earth, sea, and sky. My emotions, intelligence, personality, and every facet of my character are vessels in which the gods have filled their divine essence. Out of this cocktail of divine influence arises a new entity as transcendent and strange as the gods from which it was birthed. Like Circe and Medea before us, modern witches are "Children of the Sun" who inherent all the powers and responsibilities that entails.
Ianvs
Approaching divine magic has some implicit requirements that often seem to go unacknowledged. Paying due consideration to not only what we believe about the nature of the universe, but also why we believe these things, is directly applicable to how we interact with divine entities. The ritual technologies of a Siberian shaman and a goetic magician may yield similar magical effects, but the motivation and experience of spiritual encounters will differ by a lot. Honest interrogation of our beliefs helps determine the divine methods we can and cannot tolerate.
As a modern person raised in America, I've been ingrained with certain values. These values include an essential right to freedom and happiness, governance through committee, animal welfare, conservation of natural spaces, scientific deduction, and a preference for free market enterprise. We can certainly argue the extent to which Americans live up to these values, but that does little to remove belief and its influence on practice. These values imply something about the forms of magic that will be difficult for me to embrace. Magic that uses coercion, assault, or slavery as its primary mode of operation will likely not work well for me. Magic that requires sycophantic levels of supplication or debasement will likely not work well for me. Magic that involves animal sacrifice, flagrant pollution, blind obedience, or excessive self-harm will also not work very well for me.
Luckily, modern witches have a lot more models of spiritual ecology and hierarchy at our disposal than our magical ancestors. As witches, we get to decide how we approach spirits and with which spirits we choose to work. I'm sure there are many important questions to ask, but I've given priority to three questions whose answers I consider requisite to approaching divine magic. 1. What's my conception of how magic works in a multidimensional sense? 2. How do I view spiritual hierarchies? 3. How do I personally fit into all of this?
Conceptually, I view magic as a game of association, also called "virtue." Whether via contact or similarity, like things exert influence over one another via hidden or "occult" forces. Divine magic involves an approach that recognizes that all things in the universe share a similar origin. Thus, everything exerts influence on everything via the monad of the universe. I personally draw a distinction between the universe and the ultimate hidden force behind the universe, which we might call "God", whatever that is.
From a practical perspective, it's usually more useful to work with differentiated versions of the monad. We might call these "gods." Gods, in my conception, are abstract and transcendent forces that underlay reality. We may encounter various spirits that convey or distribute the power of the gods (angels and daemons), but the gods are the ultimate source. They are both the well and the water. They are simultaneously our emotions, instincts, and inclinations as well as all the actions resulting from these primal forces. Understanding the interactions and "motivations" of these inhuman entities is something that can only be understood through direct experience. I refer to knowledge that can only be shared via direct experience as "mystery."
With regard to the self, I perceive the actions of virtue through the gods as constantly sustaining my presence here. My bones, blood, and breath are extensions of the gods of earth, sea, and sky. My emotions, intelligence, personality, and every facet of my character are vessels in which the gods have filled their divine essence. Out of this cocktail of divine influence arises a new entity as transcendent and strange as the gods from which it was birthed. Like Circe and Medea before us, modern witches are "Children of the Sun" who inherent all the powers and responsibilities that entails.
Ianvs