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BRPs

To: alt.magick.serious,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick
From: bloodofenoch@goddamnfruit.com (Andralphus)
Subject: Re: BRPs
Date: 1 Jun 2002 23:14:35 -0700

Grrr  wrote in message news:...
> On 1 Jun 2002 16:50:39 -0700, bloodofenoch@goddamnfruit.com
> (Andralphus) wrote:
> 
> >The SRP's are one of the more underused aspects of the GD legacy, so
> >far as I can tell.  Part of the reason for this could be that many
> >people cut their magickal teeth on Modern Magick, wherein Don Michael
> >Kraig introduces the SIRP and then hardly (never?) mentions it again,
> >instead using the Watchtower Ritual as a one-size-fits-all invoking
> >solution.
> 
> Glad you raised that.
> 
> What is your sincere opinion of the Pentagram and hexagram rituals
> over, or with respect to, the watchtower one?
> 
> After all, there's only so much time you want to devote to the
> groundwork when conducting a ritual.

Well, it all depends on what you want to do.

My first and only experience with the Watchtower opening was this:

I read it - sotto voce, aloud but only whispering, on the subway home
from work one day.  At the point of the abbreviated First Enochian
Call, I was completely overwhelmed by overpowering visions.  This
convinced me that:

a) magick is really f@cking cool. and,
b) it would be a long, long time before I would ever do a Watchtower
opening again.

Don't get me wrong, the watchtower opening is a *great* ritual.  But
at this point in my magical career, I really don't have any use for
that much force, let alone the proper equilibrium with which to
control it.  Right now I don't have any needs that an invoking
hexagram ritual can't take care of.

When, however, I am done with my exploration of the hexagram ritual
and the Mass of the Phoenix (my current projects - the one nicely
complements the other) I plan to start on the Bornless Invocation. 
Just as a good Solar Invoking Hexagram gives tons more juice to a
MotP, so - I think - a Watchtower opening would supercharge a
Bornless.  That being said, I wouldn't add the opening until I was
pretty far along in the invocation.

As always, your mileage may vary.  But the basic point is, choose the
right tool for the right job.  If all you need to do is charge a
talisman or something, using a full watchtower opening would kind of
be like using a sledgehammer to bang in a nail.

One more thing I will say about the Watchtower opening: it's got
style.  Although there's a lot of stuff to memorize, it all flows off
the tongue and sounds good, in contradistinction to a lot of rituals. 
Like the analysis of the keyword in the BRH?  Try as I might, I can't
find a way to do it that doesn't sound stilted and contrived.  I've
taken to using the signs of NOX instead of LVX, in no small part
because they don't have any awkward text associated with them.  Ben
Rowe's modifications are an improvement, but still not up to the
standards of any of the GD temple openings.

> >Slightly off the topic of your question,
> 
> But not, with respect to the point of my question

Cool!  Glad you liked it.

As Gnome is wont to say,

Good magick!

- A.

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