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To: alt.magick,alt.magick.order,alt.pagan.magick,alt.magick.tyagi
From: "Fr. A.o.C." 
Subject: Re: OSOGD: New Website Updates
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 17:45:11 GMT

Yet another Re O'Stat sock puppet, Milo Minderbinder wrote:

> > > > Fr. A.o.C. wrote:
>
> > > > > Clarification: we sold and are selling nothing.
> > >
> > > Just yourselves.

Really? How much did we get paid for ourselves?

> > > At least you're showing what your club is focused on.
> >
> >  Practical magic? We know what you're focused on...
> >
> >  Al
> 
> THE GD had for a goal to help members become "more than human"

As if that goal and practical magic were mutually exclusive.

Arguably the Arum Solis in it's original form was every bit as concerned
with theurgy and magical illumination, solidly based in the WMT, as any
incarnation of the Golden Dawn. But they also devoted a great part of
their Enochian system, "De Rebus Enochianis", to the working of
practical magic.

> Sam's Linuxed GD has for a goal making trinkets.

Well, Re, if you call that "making trinkets", then scrying in the spirit
vision is "scrunching up your eyes real tight and pretending to see things."

But hey, I come from a background in Chaos Magic myself, which has no
prejudice against obtaining results in noumenal reality.

'This is anathema to the more 'mystical' amongst magicians, particularly
the Christian and pseudo-Christian types, whose main demand of magic
seems to be that it never does anything concrete at all. Instead it
seems sufficient to shut their eyes, breathe a little differently than
normal, and then imagine a series of castles and caves until convinced
some entity or another has contacted them. This entity usually assures
them that they are on the right path (which of course proves the entity
is genuine) and then imparts some gem of wisdom that has them setting up
orders and working groups, until apotheosis arrives in the form of a
publishing contract.'

Seems the only time the old Order's members lowered themselves to
results magic is when they were pissed off at each other, like Mathers
and his magic rattling cans of peas. There's some "more than human" for ya!

There are also important aspects to practical magic that directly
enhance one's ability to work with high magic. The unfortunate tendency
of so many GD groups to regard "sorcery" as beneath them are missing
something important and useful. 

Obtaining results in the 'outside world' has a profound psychological
effect on the practitioner, particularly the lesser experienced ones. It
confronts the discursive mind head-on with the realization that MAGIC IS
REAL in a way that intellectual argument, inner "pathworking" and
"religious faith" cannot. This makes success with all other forms of
magical practice all the less difficult to obtain.

Practical magic also forces one to confront one's own ethics and
motivations on a personal level. An Adept must have a moral compass, and
the old normalizing influence of Church and State that was effective in
the 19th century of the classical GD has vanished in the 21st. In our
time, standing on the shifting sands of morality, having some practical
experience with one's personal ethics is of immense value to one who
would be an Adept.

Bringing about changes in one's Sphere of Sensation through the sheer
application of Will also brings about changes in oneself. There is no
better demonstration of the dictum, "as above, so below."

Another is the recognition that we always must exist in the real world.
There is no dichotomy between "profane" and "divine"; ALL is divine. The
unfortunate tendency to accept the illusion that one is separate from
the outside world and the "High Magician" is somehow "above" it -- that
he or she (and by extension, their Order) is divine and the rst of the
world is profane -- has led to all kinds of problems that manifest FAR
TOO OFTEN (*ahem*) in so many Golden Dawn groups today.

"Successful sorcery requires that we pay attention to the world as it
is, rather than how we would like it to be. One of the great pitfalls in
magical development is the tendency for people to, when the going gets
tough, withdraw themselves into a safe fantasy world and count
themselves kings of infinite space. Sorcery, which is concerned with the
everyday world, can help us keep our feet on the ground, which is very
important for those who would reach for the stars." -- Phil Hine.

So sure, our Order encourages the working of practical magic. It makes
for better, more capable Adepts. If anyone wants to denigrate the value
of it, well *shrug*... it's their loss.

> Whatever.

So much for intelligent debate.

- Fr. A.o.C.


"The Archchancellor polished his staff as he walked along. It was a
particularly good one, six feet long and quite magical. Not that he used
magic very much. In his experience, anything that couldn't be disposed
of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak was probably immune to
magic as well." -- Terry Pratchett