Is It For Me? Options

Personally, i cannot purchase any occult materials.

i am a minor, and living with my family, i know they would disapprove.

books are different. i can read all the books i want, but they are almost always ceremonial.

Ceremonial seems to be the most widely practiced path, and easiest to get into, but i cannot purchase the equipment.

So it raises the question, is ceremonial magick for me?

Greetings davisxmonster!

At the early age of 14 (according to you) decisions of a lasting nature are rare. I don't wish to dissuade you on embarking on a magical path but I will counsel you to approach the subject with a broader base. Perhaps you should begin by not only reading some good books on the subject but to also begin the arduous journey of self-knowledge. Practice breathing, learn how to meditate, realize the art of centering ones conciousness. Learn about your body, in all its forms, from physical to the spiritual. Strive to develope not only a spiritual self but learn to formulate a philosophical aspect. Now not all this will produce powerful visible effects (ie fireballs, lightening and levitation) but it will help you build a strong foundation that will serve you in ALL aspects/paths in life! Remember...your body is a temple and it behooves you to maintain it in good order. This doesn't mean all work and no play! Heavens forbid! You're 14! Be a kid! Try to retain the eyes of youth so that you find wonder in the strangest of places. Read for fun as well as for study. Stretch your mind and keep it open for as long as you live!

So much for the pep talk. There are many decent books out there that deal with ceremonial magic...but I wouldn't limit myself yet. Other members here with far more impressive pedigrees than I will help if you are earnest and reasonable in your search. And I'm always here to put you to sleep and bring alittle rain to parched earth. Good Journey! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

a few good authors: Dion Fortune, Bardon, Skinner, Bonewits, Gray, Regardie, Harner, Powell, Leadbetter, Bruce, Monroe, Cayce, Crowley (yes...in small doses), Mathers, Waite, Budge....the list is large! Check out the Book Review and other threads on/in the Forum! Become a paying member in our on-line Library (there are also free publications for download, as well)

I myself am in a similar situation... I keep my interest in the occult hidden. I'm also limited in that I can only perform ritual work at certain times (family is out of the house). So for now I concern myself with meditation and studying of the grimoires and other literature, much as bym suggested...

If ceremonial magick is your path to follow, you can always wait until you have established yourself in a situation that allows you to delve into the work...

lol, thanks bym and seeker.

I started meditating a long time ago and regularly engage in chakra meditations/ elemental meditations/ middle pillar, etc

this is my third topic, and have been interested in magick since i could speak.

the main purpose of the topic is:

I have been studying and practicing for a while, and would like to at least take my first step into a true path.

the majority of the sources i have are on Ceremonial, but have no access to the equipment or anything.

so is this path a good one for me?

WELL okay, maybe it's not, but there aren't very many paths.

from what i can tell, all magick can be divided into ceremonial and chaos, but i haven't found much info on chaos past sigils/servitors

Greetings!
I'm confused.

I started meditating a long time ago and regularly engage in chakra meditations/ elemental meditations/ middle pillar, etc

I have been studying and practicing for a while, and would like to at least take my first step into a true path.

OK. If you've been studying and practicing for a while...what's stopping you from choosing a path? First off...there are no 'true' paths. A path is something you follow or don't. Truth is relative to the person and their universe.

the majority of the sources i have are on Ceremonial, but have no access to the equipment or anything.
so is this path a good one for me?

It could be but in your case that will require time and growth. You will not always be in a state of depravation. What is the source of your immediacy in this area? Ceremonial magic can cover some rather broad subjects. Some ceremonial magic doesn't require many tools. I'm of the school that believes in making them. Doing that should occupy your next couple of years. Yes, I'm serious.

WELL okay, maybe it's not, but there aren't very many paths.

Oh my....yes, there are! Just look at the Forum(s) and they'll adequately illustrate that yes, there are MANY paths!

from what i can tell, all magick can be divided into ceremonial and chaos, but i haven't found much info on chaos past sigils/servitors

You are operating under some erroneous assumptions. Ceremonial Magic can include chaos within its boundaries and vice versa. *sigh* Occult scholars will and can argue this point ad nauseum. As far as chaos revolving around servitors and/or sigils you should try thinking outside the box. Again, this suggests that you spend more time honing those basic skills I alluded to in my earlier post. You may find that your interests gravitating to quantum mechanics and zen. You are young (I envy that) and you need to explore your options. Try doing some Tree of Life pathworking...or, betterstill, work on creating your astral working space/temple. Read some authors about astral projection, or Shamanism. Learn about sacred geometry and why the Egyptians built their Temples following some very specific guidelines that also correlate to the now invogue Feng Shui!
This response is to try to help you understand your options and is not a put down. Life is exciting! You haven't even come close to seeing all it has to offer! Good journey! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blablabla.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/connie_mini_oldman.gif)

I agree with Bym in suggesting that it is better to make your own tools. You may not have the materials now, but the effort that will go into acquiring them, especially at your age, is well worth it in the long run. I believe you'll be old enough to work next year, if you live in the states, correct? Unless you are already doing some yard work, etc., now? In either case, you are able, with some honest effort, to acquire the means to begin collecting materials now. You can either work on them in secret and hope for the best, and be clever, to keep your parents from interfering - or you can simply what to make them until you are more independent. The fact of the matter is, most of the grimoires you'll ever read state clearly from the beginning that a magician should be his own man before practicing magic.

This is for many reasons. THe most practical of which involves money - until you are raised, educated, and gainfully employed or otherwise acquiring assets, you are unable to work in peace, acquire the materials that must be bought - which can mean seeds, saplings, etc., for harvesting later on, metals and such like aside. There is, however, a spiritual/magical/energetic aspect of being your own person as well, and that is that you are in control of your energy more completely in the world. Currently your parents direct much of your energy for you, and that is energy that they will not give up to you until you move out onto your own, basically - and perhaps not even then if they are those kind of parents.

Just because you are unable to practice ceremonial magic in its entirety now does not mean that you can't prepare yourself to practice it later, or that CM path is not for you. You can practice the middle pillar, the hexagram and pentagram rituals, and they in themselves have enough potential to give you endless experience from which to grow and be inspired. It takes years of constant practice, attention, journaling, reflection, and study to master these seemingly simple rituals fully. Do not discount the basics because they aren't as fun or flashy as you believe the more advanced material to be.

You can consider a shamanistic path as well, the first several steps of which necessitate no tools - and, in a sense, this path never does, although they can be of benefit, and of course, traditions vary - but rather an observation and learning from nature, the development of the animist point of view, and the application of that point of view in evaluating the phenomenon of the world around you. IN short, watching, listening for, and observing Spirit in action in nature. And, for that matter, in people.

There are simple meditation and energy work exercises you can find in abundance here, other parts of the web, and in your local bookstore and possibly library. There is, of course, as well, much much much study and learning to be done regardless of which path you take, and there is absolutely no harm in spending all of the years until you are 'free' as your own man to build that knowledge base, theorize, flex your mental muscles, and of course develop the critical research, reasoning, memorization, and observational skills that will ultimately make or break your magical 'career' later in life. You have the chance to start correctly due to your age and interest coinciding at this early point, as well as this forum where we are willing to talk with you, help point you in the right direction, and if you wish, help you evaluate each step as you go - but you must do the stepping and if you do want advice here, then here it is - You have plenty of time, there is no hurry - do the work that needs to be done now, and in a few years you'll greatly appreciate that you did it in its proper time.

With the right beginning, you could be a great magician some day. You will not be a great magician tomorrow, or in a few months, or in a year no matter what you start doing right now. You could be deluded and terribly mistaken, but a great and powerful wizard you will not be. If you are patient, however, and if you study now, built that knowledge base, learn to observe the world magically, and learn to master your mind at this point, then one day you most certainly will be a great magician, if you choose to follow that path through.

Believe me, I felt the exact same way when I was your age. While I feel I developed well with access to no tools, only my mind, my books, and my energy, I wish that someone had said to me what I have said to you. There is no telling how much more I would have grasped and accomplished by now if they had.

peace

Thanks for all the help, much appreciated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Im probobly gonna focus on developing a closer connection to my energy system for a while, and continue reading.

Ill check out shamanism, and after a while ill try my hand at a servitor.


but i have some questions.

Make your own equipment? How would you go about that>

And i have read a few astral projection books, but what exactly is an astral temple?

PS any reccomendations on shamanism books while youre at it?

This post has been edited by davisxmonster: Nov 14 2008, 08:36 PM

One of the fascinating things about a serious study of magic is that you will actually learn something. I don't mean you will learn occult trivia, but that you will gain real knowledge and experience that can be used for things besides magic. Maybe you'll learn a different language, gain new skills, or develop an interest in foreign cultures. Eventually these interests can develop into careers if given enough attention.

There are few quality products for occult rituals on sale, so learning to make your own gear is sometimes essential depending on what you want to practice. If you do take the time to make your own tools (buy my workshop book! plug plug), you'll learn skills that you may not have known existed. Maybe you never considered becoming a metalsmith, a tailor, or a calligrapher, but a do-it-yourself pursuit of ritual magic will give you some familiarity with these things.

If your parents disapprove of you learning about demons, drugs, and tantric sex, I doubt they would object to you learning Latin, making engravings, studying primitive tribes of Japan, or some of the other topics adjacent to ceremonial magic.

i know this is kinda fast for this to happen, but my magick routine already gotten a bit reduntant.

every day, i do the lbrp (Dont have any idea why or what the point is, appearantly to banish negative energies, but i only really do it cause middle pillar seems incomplete without it.)

I Do the middle pillar (At first it was kinda what you'd expect, but recently i'v been seeing flashes of incomprehensible images during the final phases)

then i may read some occult books.

sleep.

the 2 rituals take only a couple of minutes each, but if i don't have enough time, I just do a chakra meditation while falling asleep.

i feel like i am ready for more, but my brain is telling me to grow a stronger connection to my energies first.

ITS DRIVING ME CRAZZZY!

A few thoughts on this. First of all, if you don't know what LBRP is for, then you should be writing it down, looking at the symbolism there, deciphering what it is for. There are books that discuss what it's about, but not many of them go into the depth of detail that you need to reach before that ritual is of real use to you. Do you have the same vagueness regarding the MP ritual?

Secondly, these rituals one after the other should take more than a few minutes. The LBRP can be a half hour moving meditation if you slow it down and really focus on every single movement, every word, on the vibrations in your head and chest when you intone the Names. You should be building up a sense of resistance when you carve the circle and the pentagrams, as though you were physically carving those shapes into some substance around you.

The MP ritual can last as long as you allow it to, you can chant each divine name until it's the only thought in your mind, and really you should until you achieve the proper focus to place your entire being into each of those names just by taking a slow breath in and vibrating the name.

The longer you take to do these rituals, the slower you take them in order to maintain the vibration, movements, keep the mind focused and pay attention to the experience all at once, the more powerful they will become for you.

Your magic routine sounds like it's becoming redundant in this regard simply because you aren't investing enough interest in the rituals. That's not meant to be a slight against you, just some advice regarding how to properly develop and use the rituals, as well as general advice for magic. To really unlock the secrets of the material you'll get your hands on, it takes more than rote memorization - you have to read the material again and again, learn it intellectually by heart, invest time into contemplating it in depth, writing it down again and again, deciphering, postulating, and observing it in action. It's redundant, there's no getting around that, but that redundancy will become like a path that is different every time you walk it.

Magic takes passion, the desire to really know, the desire to prove it to yourself, the desire to truly grow. If that passion isn't there, either acquire it, or you may as well give up magic now and save yourself the time.

peace

This post has been edited by Vagrant Dreamer: Nov 18 2008, 10:49 PM