Benzodiazepines & Magick

I’ve got a prescription benzodiazepine (lorazepam, aka Ativan) for panic attacks and am wondering if it would be a good idea to use it before rituals to evoke spirits.

I find that my mind races during setup and execution of rituals and this may be hampering my progress. Lorazepam greatly helps my mind not to race. However, it is a global brain activity suppressant (it inhibits neurons from firing through GABAergic activity) and I worry that it could actually prevent the brain activity required for evocation.

TL;DR: Is lorazepam/Ativan a good or bad idea prior to rituals and evocations?

Read the Kybalion, stop being afraid.

If you have this whole “going to be a werewolf” thing, can’t you master ANY fear in your own life?

How much emotional control do you have?

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The only way to know would be to try the magick with and without the drug and note the effect on both you and the ritual.

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@Lady_Eva In theory yes, but there is a difference between understanding physical effects and learning not to fear them (however bizarre or arcane they may be) and understanding nonphysical spiritual effects existing abstractly apart from this world and learning not to fear those. Years of an unhealthy relationship with horror movies hasn’t helped either.

I don’t have much emotional control, which is a product of my combined anxiety disorder and major depression. Medication has helped greatly, but it doesn’t even come close to fixing the problem, and I doubt any medication could.

@DarkestKnight I suppose you’re right - as with any experiment, have to keep everything the same and repeat ± intervention (i.e. no drug vs. drug). We shall see.

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Interesting analysis, thanks.

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Could you formulate a “magickal self” and merge into it?

I’m thinking this is the killer app for your shapeshifting pursuits (at least, stage one), you’d need to be able imagine a You freed of this stuiff, move into “him” working to hold the control you do have for a short period, then anchor that using NLP, and visualisation.

At first “he” will be external, but later you can merge.

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@Lady_Eva I love this idea!! I’ve got a few questions though on how to go about doing it.

  1. Would this being need to have my own name, a different name, or my magickal alias?
  2. Could this be considered as an attempt to construct an egregore with which to later merge? If so, should this constructed thoughtform, my ‘magickal self’, be given a sigil?
  3. Would it be helpful and/or appropriate for me to involve another entity or set of entities - likely including my patron, Marbas - in this process to ask for help strengthening and forming my ‘magickal self’?
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