There have been rumblings in the blogosphere the last few days over Christian Black Magick and Who Practices Magick. This is a topic that has interested me for a long time. Not so much that Christians or people of various other “normative” religions practice magick but the trend among “counter-culture” magicians to belittle and dismiss the magickal prowess of the practitioners of mainstream religions.
This brings to mind a statement once made by a follow Gnostic Bishop in a discussion about the Pentecostal Holiness Churches and ecstatic ritual (snake handling, etc.): “It is really too bad we can’t just take all of that energy. They aren’t using it.” I beg to differ! I consider myself a pretty kick ass magician and have yet to meet the spirit I was too timid to take on in a fair deal but I DO NOT have the cojones to French kiss a rattlesnake. That is some intense mojo right there! Snake handling in and of itself might not be a magickal act, it is debatable, but the magick behind it is the proof of unquestioning faith in their God and their own righteousness. When that kind of faith is harnessed into spirit channeling (speaking in tongues) or energy healing (faith healing) it is a force to be reckoned with.
I am a big believer in the power of ecstatic ritual but I have rarely met the magician who could muster the unwavering faith and belief of Holiness Christians. Granted, this is a pretty small section of the population. To find a larger population one needs go only as far as their local Catholic Church. Transmutation is the ultimate alchemy! Screw gold, they physically transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Not even Aleister Crowley, the most egotistical (“counter-culture”) magician to ever walk the Earth, dared to claim an equal feat. Jason Miller discusses Catholic saint magick in his blog post on the subject so I won’t go into that as it would be repetitive.
This only addresses magick use within a Christian context though. What about all of the people, everywhere, who practice simple sympathetic ritual magick on a regular basis completely outside of the context of religion? Baseball players who always wear the same socks because they are their lucky winning socks, for example. I have seen many an ex-Catholic cross themselves as a funeral procession went by. That is basic protective magick that is ingrained so firmly in their minds that no matter how far from the Church they stray the practices stick.
Scott says, “The remarkable thing is that if their philosophy is at all consistent conservative Christians should be condemning this guy, but so far I haven't come across any statements to that effect from any of the organizations that normally have harsh words for magical practitioners. Does this mean that if I call what I do "prayer" it suddenly becomes mysteriously okay?”
The answer to that is: If you are praying to the right God, yes.
Scott also says, “Normally conservative Christians don't have a lot of magical aptitude simply because the best practical magicians usually don't fit very well into non-mystical spiritual systems. . .”
Well, if anyone knows anything about non-mystical spiritual systems and who needs to be vetted from the ranks it is the O.T.O. Oh, sorry – bad blood slipping out there. Seriously though, Christianity began as a mystery cult. It might have buried those roots deep in the cellar but they are still there. Christ, (the man or historical amalgamation, no matter), was an amazing practical magician – if he had not been there would be no Christianity today. As for “conservative” or “literalist” Christians, they are best practical magicians because they hold tighter to the mythos, have a deeper faith, and most importantly hold to a stronger sense of righteousness than your everyday, run-of-the-mill, Easter Sunday Christian. That gives them tremendous power. It gives them the power to bond, to incite, to agitate, to motivate large numbers, and so much more. When was the last time you saw an E.G.C. mega-temple complete with shopping malls? How many magicians have their own public access television shows complete with devout followers who faithfully send in 10% of their income?
Eh. Reading over this I realize I got off topic. I am arguing their point rather my own, which is: Why do “counter-culture” magicians dismiss the magick of mainstream religious people? From my experience, it comes from an “us versus them” attitude toward their own communities and even their own past. Many have escaped the restrictive bonds of mainstream religion and need to hold on to the idea that what they left behind is impotent and powerless. They need to believe it is powerless against them and ineffectual against the world they strive to create for themselves. If what they are doing is, in essence, no different than what they left behind then have they really escaped?
Thelema (as trademarked by the O.T.O) is a perfect example of this. I was fortunate enough to belong to the O.T.O. pre-U.S. Grand Lodge. Thelema was a philosophy and the E.G.C. was a separate entity. We were more-or-less autonomous bodies of individuals. We saw ourselves as libertines, indulging in the pursuit of our True Wills. Today the O.T.O. will not stand for autonomous bodies, much less libertines. Thelema is quickly becoming a religion, replete with modern day saints, prophets, and martyrs, and the E.G.C. is its Church. (All hail Pope Billy and his Arch-Bishop Dave.) New rules have been passed about when, where, and how the official rituals can be performed (I am mainly referring to the Gnostic Mass, not initiations). Magickal experimentation has been thrown over for rigid dogma. Mediocrity is the new aristocracy. An order that was founded on the idea of personal liberty is excommunicating long standing members for pointing to the Emperor’s naked ass. All the while, die-hard supporters deny the similarities to the Catholic Church, or any other organized religious movement, and hold their magickal prowess up in defiance of the mainstream. I have news for you, when Grand Lodge signed the documents to incorporate as a 501c non-profit religious organization you joined the mainstream and became just another “rigid spiritual system.”
I am not trying to pick on the O.T.O. in particular; it is just the example with which I am most familiar. There are many pagan groups who have traveled the same road.
You just can’t be “counter-culture” and cry for mainstream acceptance and religious equality at the same time. I think this belittling of mainstream religion and the denial that “they” can practice powerful mojo too is a direct reaction to the cognitive dissidence caused by this new direction.
I, personally, prefer my libertine ideals and wicked ways to the evils of “normalcy.” I acknowledge their mojo and don’t give a damn if they acknowledge mine or not. This is not to say I don’t defend my civil rights to practice as I will but I don’t need to project a zero sum game attitude on them in order to feel empowered.
Love,
ZZ
There have been several topics pop up of late that I would like to address. I am going to start with the one that bugs me the most: The First (and Worst) Lie of Magick.
I cannot count the times I have read or heard people spread this horrible lie. It comes veiled in many forms but the root is always the same. It goes something like this:
“If you don’t it wrong it, it just won’t work.”
“If your intentions are not focused, or not truly what you want, it just won’t manifest.”
“You can’t call up anything you aren’t ready to deal with.”
Anyone who has told this lie needs to quit doing magick right now. Turn in your wand, don’t pass “Go,” and don’t collect your $200 – just quit. What you are really saying when you tell this lie is that you do not believe in magick or the manifestations of magick and you therefore would do better for yourself and everyone else involved if you just stopped pretending to know what you are talking about.
Let’s look at the facts.
To translate the above statements in the context of these facts:
Lie –
“You can’t call up anything you aren’t ready to deal with.”
Translation –
“You won’t be able to fit your fork into any socket with a current of greater than 100 mA (=lethal). Go ahead and try all the outlets in your house. Don’t forget the toaster. You’ll be fine.”
Lie –
“If your intentions are not focused, or not truly what you want, it just won’t manifest.”
Translation –
“If you shoot your ex-boyfriend in the head but it was only because you were angry right then (you actually still love him and want him back) he will understand this, scrape his brains off the wall, and return to you as soon as he is finished patching the hole in his head.”
Lie –
“If you don’t it wrong it, it just won’t work.”
Translation –
“If you are leaving a message for your wife but accidentally call her by your mistress’s name on her voicemail that message will self-destruct before she listens to it.”
I know this is rather melodramatic but the translations are really no more ridiculous than the original statements. The bottom line is that magick works. If you do it fucked up, it will work fucked up. There are too many newcomers, and some old-timers who should know better, out there trying to coat magick in new-age rubber baby bumpers. They don’t really want anything to work because things that work can inevitably be dangerous. They want to call up an “energy vortex” just to feel the buzz and then ground it out. What the hell was the point in that? Buy you a violet wand already. If anything ever produces real results it scares them so badly they run for the hills – only occasionally after calling someone like me in to banish whatever nonsense they have gotten themselves into.
Magick isn’t for everyone. Not everyone is ready for magick. That isn’t elitist or judgmental, just a fact. People who are serious about magick do it because it works and if it didn’t work they wouldn’t be wasting their time. If you need spirituality in nice, clean, pre-packaged, bite sized nugget you are in the wrong place. If you think that magick is about the light and love and that those dark corners will go away if you chant hard enough, join a support group. There is a difference between Magick and Magical Thinking (a psychiatric term that encompasses a range of things from the irrational belief in superstition to delusional behavior). That is a topic for a later post though.
Love,
ZZ
- wearing my curmudgeon hat today
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