There are quite a few, if not many occultists out there who disregard and even dismiss energy work when it comes to magical practice. While I see nothing wrong with their views and I care not how they perform their rituals and whatnot, it kinda pisses me when they start telling beginners they don't need energy work in magick, especially when the latter ask about it specifically. It is true that several magical systems in the Western Traditions focus solely on getting to call on and commanding spirits, systems which are at risk of becoming perverted due to certain contemporary teachings, and mention nothing of any need to work on any sort of energy whatever...
There are also systems of magick like that of the Golden Dawn and Thelema in which a person is being thought not only how to conjure spirits, which is something they will learn much later, but also self-improvement and self-mastery. They way I understand it from having discussed with people who are initiated in one of these systems and are thus members of established magical orders, the individual is being guided towards working on the self in the first place and is only introduced to working with spirits after he or she has attained a certain level - Adept. Besides the need to perform certain regular exercises and meditations specific to each initiatory stage, the person also has to perform certain rituals and techniques that will strengthen their personal sphere of consciousness.
I will not go too much into the benefits of having a strong sphere of consciousness. It suffices to say it allows someone who is performing magical actions to be more aware and focused, to sharpen their will to a degree, as well as to allow them to balance out disruptive patterns within themselves easier. I would go even further and say this might even make one more resistant to paranormal threats, whether in the form of curses, pesky spirits that might decide to trouble them for some reason, various natural energies that differ from area to area because reasons and that can cause certain disruptions within one's consciousness.
Stuff like the Ritual of the Pentagram (Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram for Regardian GD-ists) and the Middle Pillar are thus employed extensively by these people. This stuff became available to many others with the help of certain publications of the subject that arose over time, which made possible for anyone who was willing to start magical practice yet unable to join an order, do so based on certain elements found in the curriculum of magical orders. The Ritual of the Pentagram and the Middle Pillar thus became widely spread despite the fact many who made use of such techniques knew little of the symbolism behind them. I for one have stopped bothering to research and learn about it once I got the hang of them and I am aware of the fact I know very little of it compared to someone who is being taught in an order. I care little of this, as it is not my intention to start teaching people the symbolism behind magical techniques, either freely or otherwise. Here's my recent take on the Middle Pillar as a stand alone daily practice btw.
Yet I cannot but comment on how I have noticed them to work and more especially what actual techniques are involved. In the Ritual of the Pentagram you trace four imaginary pentacles in the air in the four quarters of the magical space. You visualize the four pentagrams in flaming light (white as per the original Golden Dawn, blue-white as per others, etc) while you are tracing them. This also applies to the other Pentagram and Hexagram Rituals, each with their own particularity of tracing and visualization. It was Frater B who at one point asked on fb what powers the pentagrams, or something the likes - I don't recall his exact question, to which I answered one's Chi. Or Qi, or however it's spelled. Frater B liked my comment, yet we didn't get to discuss the subject further on.
The way I see it you trace the figures (pentagrams and hexagrams) in the air using your Qi in the same manner a Reiki practitioner traces their specific symbols around a certain space and for a specific purpose - different symbol for different purposes from what I'm aware. The figures are then charged, or to my mind it makes more sense to say they're being activated and kept into place, at which time the person can feel a certain kick similar to how it feels when you fire a small caliber handgun. The kick can be sensed more intensely by others from what I've heard. To me that kick represents an energy impulse generated by the activated figure. The four figures are connected with one another in a circular pattern around the operant, creating a magical space made of energy - an energetic field. No wonder why Scott has named his specific ritual innovation as the Operant Field.
Having had an encounter with energy healing for a certain amount of time prior to starting on my magical journey, I have noticed the effects and benefits of energy work first hand. When I started practicing magix I encountered quite a few exercises from Franz Bardon's Initiation Into Hermetics and I quickly realized their uses based on what I was familiar with from energy healing. While Bardon is loathed by many in the occult community, quite rightfully for some reasons and otherwise for others, from what I know his work comes closer to Eastern Transitions when it comes to approaching energy work than any other Western techniques. I'm saying that while being fully aware I'm uncultured and likely to have said something completely stupid, but so far I have yet to encounter Western techniques that focus so intensely on the microcosm from the angle Bardon has done it.
Besides using those techniques for tracing figures in the air, an occultist can also make use of them in order to energize objects, living beings, and even non-corporeal ones if necessary. The first thing that comes to mind is a simple sigil, chaos magick style. Why waste your luv juices on it when you can blast it with specific types of energies? Candle magick can also benefit a great deal from them, as candles would be infused by such and such energies specific to the desired goal behind the spell. I can also think of cones of power witches usually employ to raise energy and how those magical structures can become even more powerful if at least one of the people who participates in their construction is able to add even more energy to it. Oh oh! Astral projection, anyone?! Yeah you'd have to be able to work with your energies big time for that imo. If you're not naturally gifted to going spook easily. Last but not least, artificial spirits can be constructed using specific energies the magician has raised themselves to a greater extent.
Even the future Lord Manticore, while hating Bardon to infinity and beyond, is aware of the application of energy work in magix and has constructed his muchly superior over the top woowoo by incorporating utterly adorable (and funny to some degree) energetic components into it. Although I'm "making fun" of Nick's techniques, I'm doing so simply because he's trying to force feed me his much too long rituals for my taste and not because I am ignorant of the importance of these components in ritual. I for one have learned much of what I know of lodge magick from Scott and he also proposes the addition of an energetic component to both daily practice and practical rituals.
Buy hey! Why bother? If you're an ignorant like these guys then you shouldn't care. The same applies if you're only adept of the spirit-only magical system - see Scott's article on the subject somewhere in here. However, it denotes extreme shallowness to tell a beginner you don't need energy work in magick solely because you're not using it, especially if you're not aware which system that person is willing to follow (probably because they are not aware themselves and are trying to figure out which does what and how)! So it would be best to avoid probable future ridicule, stfu and stick to your stuff, or ask the aspirant why the hell are they interested in energy work in the first place!
Edit: here's Scott's latest video in which he details on energy work.
Hate on dum-dums!
The Great Gazoo
Wow. It astonishes me that anyone who thinks they're doing magic doesn't recognize the value of 'energy work' of some kind. If they're calling spirits and spirits are answering, or if they're charging sigils or consecrating tools and talismans or whatever, then they're using energy, or chi, or something, and just mislabeling what they're doing. When the woman touched his hem and was healed, Jesus reportedly (in Luke) said 'Who touched me?' His disciples said 'We're in a crowd, everyone is touching you!' and Jesus answered, 'I felt power (dunamis) go out of me.' Huh.
ReplyDeleteYea but that Jesus fellow must've been some kind of superhero :) And if you're not a Christian or whatever what the bible says doesn't count anyway, not that I have anything against other beliefs, nor am I fond of what's being preached throughout the Christian world as dogmas.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, it seems there's some belief out there that if you're not using a system based on lodge magick then energy work is redundant. While that might might come across as being true, as neither the "Solomonic" system or others make use of energy work, there are other ways of performing energy work besides visualizations of colored light within and around yourself. There is one occultist out there who's a proponent of the fact "Solomonic" magick traces its roots to shamanism and although I consider that nothing more than his vivid imagination and beliefs, I think both of them have something in common when it comes to raising energy by making use of sounds. While this is more apparent is case of shamans who perform specific chanting, it can also be applied to "Solomonic" magicians who's magical system is based mostly on prayers. If you are to recite a simple prayer with a certain state of mind you'd likely feel you'll start to flare up as your subtle bodies become more energized. This applies to Eastern practitioners who make use of mantras and also to Western practitioners who vibrate words of power in their rituals. Here's a quote from the following article http://www.jwmt.org/v1n5/vibratoryform.html
"Vibratory Formula: A method by which divine names and words are intoned forcefully and with authority in a 'vibration.' Properly performed, the vibration should be *felt throughout the entire body* and imagined to be vibrated throughout the universe."
As the aforementioned article states "the techniques can be used by nearly any system within the Western Mystery Tradition." I found this to be true with PGM style invocations as well, for even though I have no idea wtf those barbarous names mean, I feel great energy bursts whenever I'm vibrating them during a ritual. Lord Manticore does instruct to vibrate the barbarous names in his Pagan invocations in Helios Unboud coz yea, he applied GD stuff to PGM stuff and vice versa, but those PGM invocations work very well by themselves too.
To conclude, I think it's best to try and seem knowledgeable using stuff you know about instead of spewing out comments just for the sake of it.