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21st Century Mage - Angels et al

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:15 / 16.06.03

I can't exactly remember if this has been discussed before - link and slam if so - but am considering purchasing a copy of Newcomb's 21st Century Mage (see Amazon here) and was wondering if anyone's read/used it and has thoughts? Or could you point me in another direction?

C'mon. Fill me in.

14:24 / 16.06.03

never heard of it, wassat?

The Return Of Rothkoid

15:11 / 16.06.03

Well, the link says this:

For the first time since its initial translation into English at the turn of the century, Jason Newcomb has reinterpreted the sacred magic of Abramelin the Mage into a completely relevant program for contemporary seekers. In the thirty-one chapters of 21st Century Mage, Newcomb has reinvented the Knowledge and Conversation of Your Holy Guardian Angel ritual. He lays out a course of practice and prayer -- and introduces a whole new generation to the Crowleyan esthetic.

15:41 / 16.06.03

Front cover makes it look like a breakfast cereal.

I'd be interested in taking a look at this, although from the reviews there's something vaguely unpleasant about it that I can't quite put my finger on, not sure what that is exactly, seems very self-consciously 'hip and modern' - and whilst it would be nice to see that carried off without dumbing-down the material, I'm not placing any bets. This could just be the way that the publishers are pitching it though.

Having said that, I'd definitely like to take a look at it, just because someone has had the audacity to re-package Abramelin as something that resembles Primal Scream's 'Screamadelica'. Which is quite funny in itself. This is by no means one of my specialist areas, but isn't Abramelin generally regarded as 'extremely heavy shit'? If I recall correctly, this is the ritual that Crowley fucked up on, went crazy in Boleskin Manor, couldn't carry through with the ritual, and ran screaming back to London in occult terror - or something along those lines, I'm sure it was Abramelin.

Also, I seem to remember that an integral part of the ritual is the 'magickal retirement' aspect - where you have to remove yourself from worldly affairs and approach the whole thing as a kind of monastic retreat that you eventually emerge from all HGA-ed up. So I'm not sure how this will be handled, seeing as the book seems to be marketed as something you can fit in conveniently around your life. I dunno, I wouldn't want to diss somebody's work without reading it, but Abramelin strikes me as a difficult one to make shiny and accesible without losing much of its spirit.

16:25 / 16.06.03

An interesting essay on the Abra-Melin schtick can be found here by Bill Heidrick.

I appreciate this author's approach more, because he's obviously got to know the original material really well in theory and practice. The whole kind of "repackaging occult secrets" thing gets my goat a bit, it ends up implying that there's something "difficult" or obscure about the original texts - y'know what wrong with a bit of scholarship and effort? That could just be me being a miserable git, I don't know.

As far as I know, the main difference between Abra-Melin and what preceded it, was the simplicity - the technique basically amounts to "invoke often" and "inflame onself with prayer". I don't know if this simple idea benefits from all the remarketing, but there might be something good in the book - probably some useful ideas to pick and mix from.

Crowley didn't flip out the first time he tried it, he quit to go to the assistance of MacGregor Mathers in London, who was having touble with other memebers of the Golden Dawn, IIRC. He later undertook it while walking across China, continuing it successfully on his return to England. Do I win the special pedant prize?

20:04 / 16.06.03

It's definatly got my attention, the cover looks like a box of tide, maybe following the techniques will make my whites whiter? Anyway I can't see how revamping the old shit couldn't help those who don't have time for deeply intense occult scholarship, and for the mage on the go, the HGA that flips out your mind and makes your brights brighter can't be all that bad...

10:13 / 17.06.03

i'm I the only one who thinks a concept like a "mage on the go" seems absolutely ridiculous? As i understand magic (and I'm not a practicioner, only a enthusiast, though I'd love to try some Crowley stuff when I have time for some real study), it's an intensive study of states of consciousness, with the goal of creating a more intensive, more vibrant, and hopefully more accurate set of symbolic associations and nural connections, which imbue and enrichen every aspect of life. Alan Moore (who I think has a delightful, unpretentious, and often extremely humourous, perspective on the whole thing) talks about the sorcerous consciousness seeping into one's everyday life, so that even walking down the street becomes a magic act, transfomring your life into a sort of living poem, if that makes any sense wahtsoever. The idea of being able to just insert this into your life, like a fad diet or an exercise routine, seems so at odds with the consciousness alterting nature of true magical experience as to be entirely useless.

14:11 / 17.06.03

This showed up at my local independent bookstore; I thumbed through it and decided not to buy it...

There was something kind of off-putting in the writing, but I can't quite remember what it was. He does talk about the sequestering yourself from the mundane world and how that's ideal, but I think he was of the opinion that you could still keep a job and stick with the program; that sufficient dedication and practice will get you to your desired results.
He didn't strike me as being particularly hip but stern and condescending, and the esthetics are definitely "Crowleyan" (although stripped of the florid language). Mostly, anyway - he sticks with the instruction to "enflame oneself with prayer"....

It seems like a pretty direct translation/adaptation into modern English but that may be its only virtue. It's still a very ascetic path that seems to follow the usual Western prejudice of "soul good, body bad" and I'm not willing to go that route.

19:46 / 17.06.03

ignatz wrote:
am I the only one who thinks a concept like a "mage on the go" seems absolutely ridiculous?

I agree to some extent - at least in the sense of "magick lite" or fashionable magick, carried around like any other pop ideology that is faddish for a while but never engaged enough to really cut through the fat of one's everyday existence.

That being said, I don't think it's necessary to withdraw oneself into hermitage. In fact the central aim of western esoterica is the spiritualization of matter - ie bringing the light of the absolute into the manifestation of nature (it is a corruption of this teaching that puts superiority on the Soul over the Body - both are two sides of the same coin). One of the first steps of attaining the HGA is control over the elementals. This includes keeping the basic needs of existence taken care of, paying the bills, putting food on the table, etc. The most advanced Thelemites I've known are very capable of moving between the worlds of Spirit & Matter, applying their skills to both work and practice. Indeed I'd go so far to say that it's much more difficult being a mage of the city type than being an ascetic in a cave free of the distractions and worries of living within society. Also consider that it's easier to wake up the inmates from within the prison walls than without...

So, yeah, I guess I'd like to check out the book just to see the evolution of Thelema.