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Questions of the Initiate

22:30 / 12.04.04

I know you guys get a lot of these questions so I will make this brief. Do any of you have any advice for a beginning magician?

02:16 / 13.04.04

Think big, start small.

No, even smaller than that.

04:06 / 13.04.04

mebbe pick up a couple broad books on magick, i like liber null and visual magick. chaos condensed by phil hine is also good.

i only name a couple because its good to learn the basic techniques then start experimenting on your own. i dont know how many people i know who are more interested in reading about magick and theorizing over it than they do actually using it.

like hakim bey says "the universe wants to play"

so my only advice would be learn a few basic techniques, some meditation techniques especially, then start experimenting on your own.

-See_Here(laddy)

13:45 / 13.04.04

1. Search this forum for other threads like this one.
2. Read around the subject
3. Practice. A lot.

I would also add 'keep a sense of humour', joyless dedication isn't what magick is about. All the best magicians are funny. Just look at Alan Moore's beard...

14:14 / 13.04.04

There's nothing wrong with reading round for a year or so, see if you find anything that especially resonates with you and attracts you. There's a lot of great threads in the archives here. Read and re-read (This is why I prefer to buy books actually, I refer to them over and over in a way I don't do with net stuff), but don't let it stop you ever doing anything. Perhaps keep a journal and ask yourself in there "Why does this attract me?", "Why Am I interested in this stuff anyway?" - and any other tough, painful or irritating questions that arise from your life. Keep on plugging away at it.

More than anything else, question received opinion - there's a lot of lazy thinking and dogma around - even (especially?) in Chaos Magick which prides itself on being so "dogma free". The only way you know when something is true is when it's worked for you, even the best written book is still someone's elses foray into what's in a lot of ways an irrational and unexplainable area.

I consider that I've made something work when I can twist it a little bit into my own design - when I feel like I understand something is when I feel I can start improvsing and making my own innovations. I know I've really got a grip on something when I feel I can pass it onto other people.

If you want a couple of practices to attempt, the one's normally recommended to start with are banishing rituals, meditation and dream journalling.

Oh, adn try and meet other practioners in the flesh, but don't assume just 'cos they've got a bit of experience or knowledge they're not bloody arseholes! This goes for everyone on here as well (especially me).

22:47 / 19.05.04

Thank you for the advice, though I have found it useful to use rituals from online sources such as ChaosMatrix.org and experiment with those. Though I was wondering some people do to come up with their own rituals.

Shanghai Quasar

01:25 / 20.05.04

My first advice is to ignore everything I have to say on the matter.

Magic only works because you want it to. It isn't about suspending disbelief for a while, it isn't about controlling the spirits, it isn't about washing the bed sheets. It's all about you and what you believe.

You have to understand that this business about mess with reality is real. If you don't believe that, give it up because you're going to fail. No amount of books, no amount of personal testimonial is going to change that.

Accept it and the rest just happens.

Oh, and, yeah, keep a sense of humour about yourself. This really is all a lot of silly toss. It's just magic, eh?

You'll do fine.

21:21 / 20.05.04

Though I was wondering some people do to come up with their own rituals.

I think you can invent your own rituals in the same sense that you can invent your own recipe for spaghetti bolognese. Everyone makes it differently and has their own personal flourishes, but ultimately you have to follow a certain broad pattern if you want the end result to be spaghetti bolognese.

At some point in the proceedings you're going to have to boil some spaghetti and make up a pasta sauce. How much basil you add, or whether you use garlic, or if you prefer mince meat or Quorn mince, or add optional extras like black olives or sun dried tomatoes is entirely up to you.

My advice is to teach yourself how to make a really brilliant spaghetti bolognese and treat that as a magical learning process, draw direct parallels between that process and you development as a magician. You'll probably learn a lot about yourself and how you approach magic.

20:34 / 21.05.04

I think the first thing to do is to make yourself feel safe. You need to create a mental and emotional space within yourself that is YOURS, that you can expand into and occupy. It might make sense to learn about circle casting -- it's dead simple, but it's deep.

Another really good tip in my view is to learn how to let energy pass through you. By which I mean, you should perhaps feel tired after a practice, but probably not drained of energy. When you're doing a ritual, you're sending energy somewhere, and if it's all YOUR energy, you're kinda going to run out quick. It's much more effective and comfortable to let (say) the earth's energy flow through you to your objective. Get used to this by sitting on the floor cross-legged and imagine "the earth's energy" (or however you want to conceptualise it) flowing from the earth, through the building you're in, into your spine, your belly and up through you're head.

And learn how to ground your energy. Otherwise you'll be irritated all the time. Try to eat something after a ritual, just a piece of fruit or a slice of bread would do. Works a treat.

Lastly: occultism tends to be a very "head"-oriented practice, but it's better if it's a physical (and emotional) one, so get some walking and swimming (or something) in.

22:48 / 21.05.04

remember that the best magicians hardly ever do any actual magic.

Epop Bastart the Justified, I

06:38 / 22.05.04

Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

Standard, clear, many excellent directions on the web (see the one by Benjamin Rowe which is online as a PDF) and completely fundamental. You might not like the Judeo-Chrisitan framework, but at least you're familiar with it and it's basic feel.

Also, when you're doing other stuff later, if you get into any kind of weird state, it'll bring you right back to where you ought to be.

Highly recommended.

17:28 / 22.05.04

There's alot of free stuff accessible on the net and I think that helps. Everyone finds their own niches before they can adopt others, if you catch my drift. It takes alot of practise and that. It's worth it, it can bring such a complexer view of how the universe(s) envelopes. And also have the courage to not take yourself too seriously, and admit mistakes when they happen. From here on up it's an upward learning curve. Initiation never ends.....