- Donald Michael Kraig
Via Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts
Thoughts?
Well I find that any magic you do is yours, magic is not in the ritual. The ritual is a tool to get you in the right state of mind. Magic it whats in you, it is the use of your will and lifeforce to manipulate the world around you in one way or another.
So his quote is right, use the ritual and when you make the connection with the ethereal tidal force that is magic, make it your own.
I’m with Kraig…But this book is full of magical patterns…I’ve read in one of Josephine Maccarthy’s books that when you do a ritual like the LBRP you connect with the power of the original one…The echo of the original ritual is still active in the etheric realms.And the fact that people are using it all the time gives the magician a stroger connection and better results…This is why sometimes is important to follow something by the letter…You’re not doing something new.You connect with what’s allready there.The ritual pattern is the specific connection with a specific outcome.
In simple words,every magical pattern has an egregoric current behind it but who cares?If it works,keep it.
There are others who don’t work with patterns and systems and they’ve developed pure magical abilities from the core of their being.Lady Eva is one of them.
I see the debate a lot between Chaos magicians and more traditionalists, if that’s the right word for it, on this very topic.
Traditions tend to be the most powerful and knowledgeable, those that are LIVING traditions that is. Kraig is correct. OBSELOTE, outdated, unchanging, fixed etc. traditions will be left in the dust. The truly powerful ones are those that operate within fairly general/slightly fixed guidelines with a wide variation within according to place, time, and culture.
Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t be powerful without adhering to a tradition. The furthest from the truth. But anyone claiming adhering to a tradition “blindly” (never done by those who properly work living traditions anyway) is wrong is simply ignorant.
A great many traditions must have certain things done a certain way to ensure the safety of the practitioner in relation to the spirit or the magic they themselves are handling. Obviously, it’d be dangerous to go in with an extremely fiery and unpredictable spirit without a backup plan. And traditions tend to provide for the safety of their adherents within that tradition (not including, of course, protective powers or charms gained through the tradition against any baneful magic).
a continuation:
“A magician is not locked into any form of dogma or conditioning. This is why a magician is a dangerous person. A true magician does not buy the semi-truths and lies told by religious and civic leaders to keep the masses in tow and in fear. A magician is always free, and freedom always frightens totalitarians.”
– Donald Michael Kraig (RIP)
I believe in learn the basics from research, then develop the rest on your own. The best kind of magick is that which flows outward from you in the spur of the moment. Trying too hard to follow guidelines only gets in the way. At least from my own experience, but that’s probably why I am finding myself connecting very well with the chaos current.
I think different people have different success in magical “currents”. Some are awesome at finding stuff within. I find the best stuff to come from the foundation of gnosis given by my spirits. Ultimately, so long as magic doesn’t keep you stagnant and helpless (ie, not working very well or correctly), it’s all good.