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Perhaps this should be subtitled “heresy for Chaos Magicians”?
NB: Please note it is not my intention to have a pop at anyone specific with this thread, I was a bit wary of starting it because I felt it might come over that way. I think there is some excellent writing on sigilisation on this site, but I just find the way it’s talked about sometimes rather unimaginative. I’m just putting out a few ideas for observation. Agree, disagree, critique or comment as you will.
Onward:
Absence of Gravitas,
in this thread :
And I'd propose that a reason that wanking over sigils and wanking over porn fit very well together is that they are, after all, pretty close to each other as an activity. You can do it 'safely' at home without having to risk getting involved with other people.
I think AoG has point here that’s worth expanding. Sigils often seem to be a first port of call for people getting into magick (well, Chaos Magick anyway). It’s my contention that both the strength and weakness of this method is its ease. On one hand this has been tremendously liberating – the re-discovery of Austin Spare’s work led to a critiquing of the whole way in which magick works, and a rejection of the elaborate hierarchies which were the mainstay of Western magick up until the ‘eighties – it spawned the whole Chaos Magick thing and put out the idea that you could do magick anywhere, easily whether or not you were and 8 degree magus with an Egyptian temple in a shed at the bottom of your garden.
On the other hand though, I think the sigil idea because it’s so easy to get, it’s become a bit of an easy “one size fits all” formula. In the thread linked to above, Beautifultoxin talks about creating hir own pornography. To me, this is a great example of magick in action – it’s a creative act, and as such requires time, effort and commitment. The dislike I have of the sigil method isn’t the method itself, it’s the way in which it’s become almost a cliché and as such, people seem to be dropping their imagination and capacity for effort at the starting gate i.e., it’s always bloody wanking for “entry into gnosis” – why? There’s so many other ways to do it! Is “entry into gnosis” even necessary? Y’know, critique, think about it! And while I’m moaning, there are so many other methods of sorcery to try and experiment with – what about candle magick, talismans, the qabalah…bloody Hawaiian Shamanism!! The list is endless. Is part of the attraction of sigils that they're so easy? You don't have to actually, y'know, do anything like learning or study, don't have to build an altar, prepare, fast or dedicate yourself. Just a post it note, a biro, a copy of last month's Club International, and the job's done. I find this approach about a inspiring as eating beans on toast every night for the rest of my life.
Pete Koenig has written a fine essay on The McDonaldization of Occulture, which is largely a critique of the Caliphate OTO, I think all his points about bite size digestibility could be applied to the sigil jackoff formula. The wanking analogy made above makes a lot of sense – sigils are the equivalent of having a quick one of the wrist, whereas magick to me, is more like a long term relationships with all the ups and downs this entails.
As I said above, it’s not my intention to have a go at people, be overtly negative. From my own experience, I remember being quite baffled when I read a book outside the Chaos canon. I remember being puzzled when I read a ritual which did not contain the set formula of banish – enter gnosis- fire sigil- banish again. But a bit of bafflement is good for us surely (Funnily enough, this book has become pretty much the centre of personal practice)? Discomfort and challenge make us grow. If you’re going to get into this stuff why not put your arse on the line, why not let your creativity out of it’s shackles? Anyway, rant over.
Thoughts? |
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and stare at them intently 