Part Two

The mind cannot discover the mind; that is the role of the spirit, which exists in the highest realm that is known as enlightenment. However, we can intellectually prepare for the discovery and moreover become aware of the metaphysical geography of the mind and methods known to have aided others in its explorations. Because all magick starts with a desire for something I will start there, but know that no aspect of the mind or soul is lesser or simpler than the others- some are merely subtler. There exploration of each part and their interplay provides the foundation to successful magick. There are of course issues that will arise when spiritual refinement is used for attaining lesser things, but they are small when one knows how to handle them.

A desire and a Will gives intent; emotional attachment or force provides a way to anchor the intent so it does not waver; spiritual refinement gives power and wisdom to use it effectively; action on this plain will help it along; and working with the way of things will further aid your chances. It seems to my experience all are needed to use magick well for practical results. But there is a contradiction in that to gain spiritual refinement one must avoid attachment to the material world. I believe this is best overcome by not wanting occult powers for the sake of having them, but to sublimate them to a “higher cause”. All too often people who seek occult powers for their own right do not have the endurance to attain them for they are looking to an aid to life and must then have an aid to magick. The Occult powers one needs to have practical results are gained or at least made more potent by spiritual refinement but working on spiritual refinement is dreadfully dull. Finding a better motivator than “I want it” or “it will make life better” will make the long hours of training bearable.

To further resolve the contradiction between spiritual refinement and practical results concentration is needed. Developing concentration will be hard and long but allows one to perform magick and train occult powers without thinking about being able to do fun tricks. Concentration is something that is often forced in magical training; “suppress any other thoughts” and “hold onto his visualization with all your will.” I am unconvinced on this point, for concentration in this exercise is a manifestation of will. To make the Will responsible for both making your intent and keeping your mind on the task at hand splits its effect: maintaining focus on both the ends and means. While the will is needed to make intent, it is not required for concentration. People often believe it is, because too often concentration is understood as a type of work. Concentration is only the act of focusing on a task. A person can be completely absorbed in the task or they can be shallowly involved. The more completely one is involved in the task the easier it is to concentrate on it. The brain has a lot of power and needs a lot to keep it occupied. If any available attention is uncommitted then that part of the brain will find something else to occupy its time.

Your brain manages your breathing, heart beat and automatic functions, coordinates waling and talking, filters the millions of sounds, images, feelings, sensations, and tastes we in counter every day, and still has plenty of power to think about randomness and have it pop in to your head at odd moments. The brain can do a lot, so is it any wonder that sitting and doing nothing is so hard to keep up? How dull it must be, and how foreign. I liken it to posttraumatic stress. You go off the war, get shot at for three years, then come back and now you have to remember that no one is trying to kill you. That takes a while. A long while. So too will relaxed concentration take a long time, for you must remind yourself over and over that for the time of your practice nothing is important. Dismiss all thoughts as unnecessary. It is not so much trying to keep thoughts away as realizing that they are not important when they do arise. After a time many thoughts that once seemed dreadfully important do not even arise. When you are quite happy with the few thoughts that then remain, concentrating on the complex magickal rites by which you seek occult power becomes very simple. Because they are important thoughts that arise about the rite need not be brushed away. Much harder are the Zen type of exercise where you simply don’t think at all. I am not a fan of this type of exercise, even though a few popular western occult manuals recommend it.

Zen has two very useful functions. First, attaining a very deep relaxation, and second it is an intermediary step to understanding the way the mind works. Esoteric Buddhist meditation holds that you are not your body, emotions, mind or a few other things I forget. To realize this each one in turn is stopped until only you remain. This is a useful proof of concept and will indeed help you to develop siddhis (occult powers), but its goal is enlightenment not power. Granted, a certain level of mastery over each of these is needed for magick, but the level is much less than to attain Buddha-hood, so there are better ways to go about it. For most people, it will suffice to accept the intellectual concept that you are not this that and the other things. Forewarned and informed you can conduct your training more quickly because you need not spend time coming to one new enlightenment after another. No, only concentration is truly required of the mage and that is hard enough.

Read about concentration and more often than not you will see sergeant training manuals requiring you to simply focus on something for hours at a time to build up your abilities at “one-pointed-ness”. That is very hard, but it will work. A more direct approach, however, is simply to see the thing you’re trying to concentrate on (work, magickal rite, what have you) for what it is, not what you think it is. We like to dismiss things not in our heads as this generic figure or that idea of a thing. We "know” what a pencil is and what a tree looks like so we give it a glance to assure ourselves it fits more or less in to a category of generic objects then move on. We all know what a tree is, but when asked to describe a particular tree – one we are looking at – it tends to be very similar to the idea of a tree. “It has green leaves and a trunk.” Forgetting the idea of a tree and looking at what is there in all its detail and many facets make it much more interesting. A tree, much like a painting, is unique to itself; try looking at a particular tree as you would a particular painting, then it will be just as interesting as a Rembrandt. Approaching a magickal rite in that manner makes even the dullest “stare at the sky and wait for enlightenment” exercise worth doing.
Having given some strategies which make the training of spiritual refinement and there by occult powers more congruent we are still left with the opposing ends. The classical occult powers (clairvoyance, clairaudience, passing unseen, reading thoughts, and the like) are linked to the development of something; will power, or soul, or faith, are common and depend on the system from which they came. While I don’t scribe to non-dualistic view of reality per se, I do see how it is useful. Being that all things are one, it is a simple matter to alter yourself, so by changing the world. But bothersomely enough this refinement requires and giving up some of the worldly pleasures that are the presumed ends of occult powers. I heard once that the progression of the spirit is a process in which one will find the some of the classical occult powers rather annoying. To be sure this is the case. More than one bad sifi show has shown that hearing peoples thoughts all the time is unpleasant. I can also see why the occult powers which are dualistic in nature (clairvoyance requires both a person to see and the seen) are bothersome to someone seeking the non-dualism. Conversely for the rest of us, who would not mind seeing the future, it is bothersome to strive for non-dualism when it is not what we want.

If one assumes that the universe is non-dualistic then the only thing one needs to know is oneself. I realize that many are not sold on non-dualism, as am I, but the approach works. Again the hang up is in opposing ends. You either want power in this “illusionary” world, or you want enlightenment. Yet enlightenment is useful to gain powers.
From my own experience I can tell of a few experiences with occult powers gained via minor enlightenment which might further clarify the point. There are seven elevators in the building I work in, and they take forever to get to any floor. They also are unpredictable and the one that is two floors away will still be there when the one 20 floors away gets to you. Yet, I always find myself in front of the door to the elevator going my way that opens first. More than once I have been talking and then tossed off “you would call it…” and the person responds that I named the word they were thinking. With I very close friend of mine I will often have a dream about her and know I should call. The last time this happened, the day before she experienced very bad relationship issues and was distraught. More particular to my own magickal tradition are the odd happenstances that contentiously make my life easier, which I attribute to living close to the Tao. For example, I will occasionally miss schedule and double book, then one appointment calls to cancel; afterwards I happen to run into that person later that day at a bar. More telling perhaps is that I live pleasantly in a bad part of town. I share a building with a group of hookers and the building next to mine has a crack dealer. We have a shooting/stabbing/mugging/brake in/theft every other week. Yet, in the two years I have been here I have never been bothered, packages have sat outside my door just off the street over a weekend away and not been touched, no one has even bothered to cut my window screens- something of a hobby for the local youth.

Occult powers make things easier, but can also be applied to make proper magick- what with spell and such- work better. The development of empathy which lies behind most of the occult powers is very useful as one can feel in a visceral sense what something means. Whether it is the desired outcome of a spell or the energies of someone standing around, feeling and being able to conjure within yourself the same, will allow you to understand and thereby alter what exists.

Part One

I write this in hopes that someone might find some use in it. I hear a lot about how some spell did not work or how people are interested in practical results, and then other who say how the practical results are not as important as the spiritual refinement. Here are my comments concerning such things. There are a lot of things that need to go right for a spell to work, and a great deal more needs to happen for the student to again many of the famed occult powers. A difference is called for because people often confuse the two. Clairvoyance is not divination, and charisma (the sort of that draws people to you and sways them to your will) is an occult power- they arrive by developing the spirit, body, and mind; they are part of you. A spell is made by you in accordance with some tradition and given power then released to accomplish a particular goal. Most people can do magick at some level but the occult powers are more reclusive, harder to attain, and less obviously useful. I write with the intent to show how magick without some level of occult powers is less effective, and also to dispel some of the misconceptions that prevent people from taking up this most useful endeavor.

Yet, first I will talk about spells: they need intent, will, power, direction and to work with rather than in opposition to events and people. A spell needs power, and a lot of it. The closer to the physical plane the intent is the more power results take. It does not matter where it comes from –gods, thought forms, auspicious arrangements of magickaly latent objects – but it is required that the power be of the right sort. Mostly this is done by correspondence and associations, though other more direct ways exist. Unfortunately, correspondence charts are not all the same and differ even within a single magickal tradition; wildly so between culturally different traditions. Some of this is no doubt refinement and differential usage, each tradition uses the correspondence it creates within a larger context of its founding culture, to work with a system of magick that it finds useful. They are classification schemes intended to link the user to the subtle aspects of reality by association. This is, as well, done by mediation on the aspect as by mixing parts of this and that. I find that there are relatively few objects that have a magickal nature apart form the associations attributed to then; mostly substances and plants that have an observable affect on the body- e.g. some medical herbs. To use magickal associations with out knowledge of their cultural significance lessons the chances of success. Further, and I know is will be unpopular, a magickal system of any kind will have its own philosophy in addition to whatever philosophy is present in its originating culture. That philosophic approach is every bit as important to the system as its copper daggers and magick ink. If you are not aware of, and understand the philosophy, you will lesson the chances of success. Just in the same way that using a computer will give you results some of the time if all you know about it is “to push some buttons and it works”; it will work most or all of the time if you know the workings, purpose, and limitations of each part and how they interact. Magickal associations are energy, but it is a particular energy which may not even come from the object itself but rather the conception of the object within the system. This does not imply a psychosocial explanation for magick, although that is a valid exploration. Instead, the conception may allow you to draw upon the correct type of energy from wherever you may- be within yourself, in the ether or some other pain. Fail to understand the systems view of something in a deep way and it will make you’re life difficult.

Because the associations are links to the subtle aspects of reality, they are important. They must represent as closely as possible the spells intent, otherwise it may work but not how you want. There is also something to be said about making it yourself. A lot of places will sell you this and that premix, but setting aside the skepticism that they even know what they are doing, the more time you put into something the more energy gets absorbed and the clearer your intent become. Soon the paraphernalia you’re making becomes the spell. Metaphysically the props no longer simply represent an aspect of the spell, rather having been imbued with the makers intent each prop is the spell and all together they become a grand working of your will where each element focuses your intent while also enhancing it with its own unique energy. Such a confluence melds separate energies in their chosen aspects with the strong intent on the mage one the tools whose purpose is manifest in their design.
Intent is therefore important to consider; it is all well and good to intend money to show up, but then you might find a penny. More power is not a guarantee either as you could just find that penny faster. Intent is where you want to define as precisely and simply as possible the outcome of the spell. Precise to insure you get what you want and simplicity to avoid confusion, ask of yourself “what do I mean by (wealth/power/luck/love)”. Power is vague and asking for “love” is like asking for “freedom”. Instead, focus on what sort of power you want, the sort of love you need, and freedom from what, and how they will manifest.

When your intent is clear the direction is obvious. A spell must work in some way, and depending on the intent you are attempting to manifest, your cause is best served in a way proper to the outcome. Bearing in mind you can cast a spell to rattle the rafters, but money, love, power, and everything else still is not simply going to fall out sky in to your lap. Magick is an active force and the mage actively shapes his world- armchair magick works less often. If you want money use magick to make money easier to get, to make people more agreeable to you, to find such and such a position of power or gain a reputation that influences. Still less effective is casting a spell and not seeing its effects. It amazes me to no end that someone will cast a spell and the next day someone offers them the solution to their problem as it where and they can’t comprehend that what they will has manifested.

It is also worth noting that abstractions like power and love belong to other realms, so if you want them to show up on this one, you had better think of its logical equivalent in this realm. The plain of existence you cast your spell on and what plain it was meant to work on also make a difference as events in one place will affect events in another. Generally, I find that the best practical results (money, love, power, ect.) come about by working in this plain. That being said, the causal sphere, the space of Wuji, and the sepherath of the Tree of Life are all useful as they are places where some particular energy presides and some things are made easier by its nature.
Knowing the nature of the person, event, or place you intend to affect is also important, as it will take more power to get someone to do something not in their nature, or make an event change the course of its development to suit your needs. It is also easier to change with events, and in relation to other people, than it is to change them. That is not to say I suggest a new age-y “all live in harmony” approach to magick, but if an event is already developing in a useful way, don’t go looking for something else. Discover how you can benefit from events already happening and use magick to help them along. Find the person best able to bring about your intent and use magick on that person. The more focused the spell the more efficient it is and the more likely you get what you want.

For each spell you must do all that, and do so affirmatively because if your mind gets jumbled with worry or discontent, your mind which directs your energy via will, becomes unable to perform. Ever have a complex issue to deal with that just sucked to work with to the point where you did not want to touch it? How well did that turn out? Occult powers on the other hand do not work that way. They are for the most part passive, a part of you that needs no more coxing to work than your fingers. The future will come to you in one form or the other, we call it clairvoyance; inner thoughts become like spoken words, we call it telepathy; people follow you, we call it charisma.

There is the view that all this and more will come to those that patiently cultivate the spirit and seek enlightenment, and as the student becomes enlightened the want for these lesser things dies. This is true to an existent, though I have never been one to ascribe to the Seek Perfection in the One approach. You can do every fun things going that way, but some of us need to live in the lesser world and not go wandering in the wilderness for thirty years and stare at the sky seeking perfection. Some of us need to make rent. I’ve always been partial to the understanding that enlightenment is the elevator of a very tall building, and one gets the most useful results by going up and down as you please. Though the same analogy as was conveyed to me also spoke of how most people never get off the ground floor, and others only make it so far while some make it to the top and cannot come down.

The advocates of spiritual refinement do have a point though. A student will find that the occult powers desired are available in the course of things so long as they do not think about them and diligently apply the prescribed method. Yet they presume a non-duality and while right or wrong makes it makes it hard to use by people who want to live in this illusionary world- it being not completely without its fun bits. To work practical results you must assume that there is in fact a separation of the object desired, the mage and the bar of gold he might desire. Systems that advocate spiritual refinement see no separation and so their systems weaken the intent of the spell. People who are spiritually powerful do not want material things and so there is no intent to manifest them. Some have taken advantage of this non-dual relationship in one form or another to gain practical results (Taoism, Mako, and Shamanism are the better known ones I have found) but on the whole they are rare.

On the other hand, systems that are designed to produce practical results require one to “really want something”, that is focus on intent, over power, direction, and sometimes disregard completely any environmental factors. This leads to magick that is imprecise, and often underpowered. Wanting is not enough; you need do something to manifest that intent. I all too often feel that magick is conceived of, or at least presented as a really strong intent that forces reality to change to fit it. That view was never satisfying to me being that intent is only a desire with a Will to give it shape, and there are a lot of people with that; magick should be more if it stands a chance of asserting itself amongst all those other Will backed desires. Often enough acting like something is, and doing so in such a way that forces people, spirits, and everything else to respond in kind will produce results. I will quibble however, and say this is magick in its very lowest form; only able accomplish small things. To do greater acts of magick and accomplish more you need a level of understanding about reality and what it is made of, how it functions, and how to apply that understanding. Unfortunately, understandings of reality come first from understanding yourself.

I am making an alter to serve as a focus for spirit work. Its Shinto in conception but incorporates aspects of Cree Indian fetishism, mostly in the form of a spirit stick and fetishes of my spirit animal.

I am thinking of a Yorishiro rock on a wooden platform used to attract and provide a physical "seat" for spirits that are asked for help or info. A fetish pot and spirit stick on either side. A few ritual items, including a singing bowl, bell, ritual knife, Incense, offering bowls, rattle and some pillar candles. As I've said elsewhere in the forums, I am eclectic so you can likely tell that I'm blinding a number of traditions based on what I have found useful. One of the things I have been contemplating is making it part of my astral temple so that my work will happen on several plains at once.

In a slightly less functional form I have made a Yorishiro from a dead tree branch that displays Mono No Aware. Shortly after setting it in place, a presence viseted while I slept. Beeing unused to things popping up as it were, I brushed it away. I am rather sorry I did and will have to find a way to get on better terms with spirits so they don't spook me in my sleep.

For awhile I was getting caught up in the steps to where I wanted to go rather than setting my sight firmly on my goal. It amounted to watching my feet, making sure I stepped in the right spot, and getting lost for it. This all came of a head recently and while brooding over a Cuban espresso I found my way back to where I was going. The poem relates the backward flowing style of thoughts leading up to the present moment.


"Lost and Found My grand Design"

Come! A ride with me to take
To blackened soul and land of dull ache,
Where all are free and toy with glee.
Unwant’ly at my side for waking dream
Where cross we temped lakes & broken streams.
My failures of spine and spirit for to see.

Ways do twist and wind away
And to us show perhaps spirit in decay.
Years ago once I thought, clad in crimson robes I’d be.
But in shallow marsh of discontent
I stopped to struggle and stay a stint.
Here to sit and at emptiness to sip as would I tea.

The currents slow and sluggy drag me ‘long;
Unwilling I to fight them- Oh! How something did go wrong.
If not it be but more of this I my life ought’ of rent.
At crossroads once foretold, with planted feet
I eat the dust of well trod’n streets.
Where hath been bold youth ‘n its noble feats sent?

At every chance and turn I try just a scant.
Is’t fear then that maketh me shan’t
A single ere commit or by wholesome way to fail?
Be that as it may well be,
I’d on oceans of life rather wander with thee,
At ease, to will, on winds to grandly sail.

Once the world to end would I,
What became of such grand design?
It did die under life’s great stones?
Methinketh it not’, it has only been forgot,
In muddled mires of nearer times t’was lost,
For but a moment in such a grand design.

I've been intending to do more shamanistic workings in my effort to expand my understanding of left hand Buddhism and its implications for esoteric Taoism. To that end I'm going to start up my dream journal again. I don't think any one really reads this blog but what the hell ratter type them anyway.