Pathworking is great. Many people, EA included, say that if you don’t pathwork different traditions & paths that you’re essentially voluntarily stagnating.
I disagree. Here are my reasons:
All magic is the same once you strip away the symbolism, mythology, and the historical lineage. It works the same way regardless of tradition, the only things that change are the symbols and the deities you work with. Sure, the method may be different as well, but methods in magic are essentially triggers for the mechanism which is always the same.
if the mechanism is the same for every tradition, why even bother learning new mythology and symbols? Why even work with other deities if it’s all the same? The reason “because I love to learn” does not count here. My point is that there’s nothing a new tradition can’t offer you, aside from symbolism, mythology, different deities, and a new layer for the same mechanism.
Plus, If you subscribe to the theory that spirits are omniscient, then there’s nothing Satan can’t tell you that, say, Odin or Legba can.
Also, to those who may say, “Well the spirits from this system are more powerful than that other one.” I’ve come to conclusion that this is quite subjective. If a path resonates a lot with you, the deities you work with will be more powerful.
An example of this was when I wanted to work with the Outer Gods, using the methods described in Necronomicon Gnosis by Asenath Mason.
Guess what, Satan, Lucifer & co. kicked more ass than the Outer Gods who are supposedly “one of the most powerful entities you can work with.” Why? Because the demonic path resonates with me more than the Lovecraftian one.
Other magicians I talked to reported the same effect.
The new path you might undertake may conflate with your old one. I remember watching a video by V.K. Jehannum how Odin was a dick to him because he was working with demons. I also talked to a magician with whom I’m in contact more or less often, and he reported the same thing. Freya, Odin, etc were hostile to him because he did not want to stop working with demons.
Scattering yourself too much across different paths might be counterproductive. If you dedicate yourself to too many paths, you might get a good understanding of them all, but you won’t master either one of them. There’s just not enough time for you to do that. Taking something from a path and trying to integrate it into your main path is fine as long as it’s something new, but flip-flopping between paths could be devastating for you. I remember The Cabal talking about this in one of their videos, and I agree with them on that.
As long as you find progress on the one main path you have chosen, I dont agree with this. With certain paths you can continue for life. With others it ends when you finish.
I agree that flip flopping and spreading yourself too thin is not only unproductive, but also very tiring. However I also believe that getting a different perspective on things is often hugely beneficial. Perhaps a similar concept is presented differently between several systems, and while you struggled to grasp it in one, it came as easily as breathing with another.
Ultimately it comes down to the individual and how they experience the world. Some may only truly know which systems resonate with them after jumping in and path working through it. Others absorb all the information they can on it and find a way to integrate beneficial ideas into their already established practices. Then you have those people who gather the most basic cursory information and completely write something off without ever going deeper.
As a hard polytheist my own views do often color things to better fit with that belief. The spirits, much like the different systems in my experience tend to have their own take on things. So while their area of expertise may overlap with that of another spirit, the information is delivered in a way that can completely change your understanding of it. I guess this is my very long and drawn out way of saying that you should never stop learning or opening yourself up to new ideas. Though at the end of the day you gotta do you.
Sure, but again, if you subscribe to the theory that spirits are omniscient, there’s nothing that the spirits you work with can’t tell you that others can. You can simply ask for a different perspective.
If not, then alright, but there’s still a risk. Many magicians report that some spirits don’t like other spirits, so it can come to a conflict.
As a hard polytheist, do you agree that changing systems can be damaging in this regard? A set of spirits from your new current may dislike your main current, so they may force you to stop working with the spirits you normally work with, etc.
I do not believe that spirits know everything, especially if it doesn’t pertain to what they specialize in. I do think that they have a vast store of knowledge and acquired wisdom, and are willing to share what they know once you build a relationship. Granted you ask the right questions, or they feel it would be useful or relevant to you in some way.
As for possible conflicts, of course it could come up. However it’s not in my nature to blindly obey. Any spirit that I work closely with is going to understand and respect that. However if they explain to me why they would prefer I avoided another spirit I would take that into a great deal of consideration. I obviously want to preserve my relationships with those I am close to, and their wants and emotions matter a great deal to me. If I felt like the request was hindering my ascension, I’d have a hard decision to make. But at the end of it all, I have the most power over myself and will act accordingly.
Alright, then you have a good reason to seek out other perspectives from the spirits.
Sure, and I am not talking about obeying the spirits. However, there are cases where spirits will outright attack you - like Odin has attacked V.K. Jehannum and my associate for working with demons. No conversation, nothing. Just straight up attack. What are your thoughts on that?
I think once some gods or spirits get attention, perhaps they think they have a new follower. So they follow the summoner and find him talking to a rival, even outside the pantheon. From a pantheon that had destroyed their civilization.
I could see them going full auto on the summoner, jealousy seems quite the rage.
I agree with someone saying a dabbler such as myself is staying a dabbler and might not make it to rock star or magus because I follow more than one system.
I used to think, well, I fucked up, I’m going to hell; I better make contacts quickly.
So now this dabbler is about to commence on a larger group project.
I don’t know, personal neuroses or not aside, I can see the focus for each will increase, then hopefully we look for blinds, come up with rare items, and jump into it. Then flit to a new system.
Sometimes you have to sacrifice most of them for where you think you fit.
I’ve never had the experience of being attacked by any spirit. I’ve felt anger or a strong feeling of not being exactly welcome, but never have I been attacked. I can’t speak on the Norse current. Despite making up a large portion of my heritage, I’ve always felt a strong aversion to it. I’m extremely intuitive and perhaps my draw to demons explains this ever present feeling of “eh, not for me.”
Some people may attack me for saying this but, I think many pagan gods are petty as fuck, and unworthy of worship. Especially Norse ones. Greek ones too (I’m never working with the Greek pantheon again…)
The Infernal Pantheon seems to be the most rational one, excluding Sorath, Atazoth, and Nihilifer.
Demons won’t tell you not to explore some path, in fact they’ll encourage you to seek out other wisdom.
never thought of myself as a worshipper of gods, more like a student of them. And the lot of them can be asshats at times but never been attacked by any. Had a few decide to use a moment of fuckery to impart a lesson.
Had this happen with odin a few weeks ago, and azazel before that. Michael not so much be his the impressions of his personality i got when i wormed with him was he didnt pretty flatlined, like he is all business.
The crawling chaos can be a vague and cryptic fuckbucket when he is trying to point something out, never a straight path with that thing but the title kinda implies that… But i am still growing so i still work with the bastard.
same, though there are LHP magicians that do worship. I understand their point of view completely. Though their idea of worship isn’t the same as a Christian’s idea of worship, for example.
True, myself i will give offering out of gratitude for lessons taught or cuss them out for fuckery and i make this very clear risks be Damned!
Once you have had Michael swinging that bastard of a flaming sword at you for defence practice not much gets under your skin for long. fuck that month…
Edit. As a side note if you ever go to an entity to learn to defend yourself prepare for fuckery to manifest when you get hit…
In my case it was stuff that was related to my procrastination getting taken out temporary through over heating issues that resulted in parts getting replaced. “Flaming sword overheated electronics go figure…”
Tv,game system, computer, internet. All went buggy as fuck to were i lost the majority of my distractions for just over a month. Not all at once mind you.
Definitely good to know. I find I just have no drive to watch TV or play video games anymore. Going from basically being addicted to it, this was a strange and very sudden switch. I do find many of the spiritual side effects funny.
I think single paths intertwine with other paths in one way or the other, and that includes the knowledges from the spirits we work with. It’s not about them knowing “everything”, but more about them mastering their knowledge through a ladder based system:
A sexual spirit master sex, because it knows how our minds work. And because it knows the functionality of our brain and it’s nervous system, they know how to trigger arousal. And by conclusion, they know biology and anatomy of the human body. If expanding that, for a succubus, common knowledge to healing and medical practices, some of them are also masters within that area, too.
It’s easy for an uninitiated multi-purpose black magician to look down on others following a single path, or someone not rushing things by summoning a lot of spirits. There’s plenty of layers to peel with one path, as I see it.
I work with Lilith and my succubus spouse, and I’ve been doing that for 7 years straight. Our foundation to be together is based of a threefold commitment of love, protection and support. If anyone outside tries to break that bond, they make sure to protect it, no matter what.
I’m not following a particular path, but I do follow my intentions of having a relationship with my spirits. I follow my heart, and it has lead me to awesome places with awesome experiences. They have giving me, and still give, exactly what I wished for.
never thought of myself as a worshipper of gods, more like a student of them. And the lot of them can be asshats at times but never been attacked by any. Had a few decide to use a moment of fuckery to impart a lesson.
but the title kinda implies that… But i am still growing so i still work with the bastard.