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To: alt.magick From: pstuart@aol.com (PStuart) Subject: Re: Drugs and Magick Date: 4 Nov 1996 10:05:40 -0500 93 WhtMagick writes: <<> Dear Alex: Sorry but you've fallen for one of Crowley's many fool traps. > (so did Gardner). Drugs DO NOT get you "Willed Manifestation" (Magick). > Drugs may get you high, but YOU are not in control, the drug is. > Pharmacology is not Magick. Drugs can't , don't and won't teach you > anything that you can USE in the REAL WORLD. >> Sorry, but you appear to be ignorant of the history of magick and somewhat head-stuffed by contemporary propaganda. Certain drugs have been allies of magickians dating back to at least Egyptian times, Cannabis being principal among them. According to A. Hoffman, LSD-like ergot derivatives were the essence of the original Rites of Eleusis, the initiation ceremony that actually formed the basis for most of our present philosophies. Nitrous oxide was probably key in the rites of the Oracle at Delphi. Cannabis was part of the sacramental incense of the Roman Catholic Church for hundreds of years (until it became scarce in the 1930s). The Amanita muscaria mushroom was a sacrament not only of the Greek traditions, but was particularly important in the rites of early Vedantism and in shamanistic traditions throughout Asia (see R. G. Wasson). AND... what isn't a drug? Different foods cause different altered states. Do you use incense? There are psychoactive components in most incense (for instance, German researchers recently isolated opiate-like chemicals in myrrh smoke). As well, you might be interested in reading the book "Intoxication" by Dr. Ron Seigel, one of the world's foremost pharmacologists. Seigel makes a strong case for the theory that intoxication is an innate drive in humans, equal to the drive for food or sex. My own take on that is that the drive to alter consciousness is a SPIRITUAL drive, and drugs form only a part of our response to that. The point, however, is not that drugs will create magick, but that a compentent magickian can turn almost any tool to their will. We are talking about INTENT and proper ritual structure here, NOT about random recreational use. Each of us has our own unique course through life, and blanket statements about what is good for everybody are generalizations that amount to nothing. I don't take the dogmatic stance that the original poster in this thread did that LSD is the key to magick. I think it might be key for some, but not for others. 93 93/93 Phil -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paradigm: Culture in Transformation http://members.aol.com/para93/paradgm.htm CyberMagick Center http://members.aol.com/hadit1/center.htm FUTURERITUAL: Magick for the 21st Century by Philip H. Farber "I found this book absolutely unique - the first magick manual entirely contemporary with modern science and the only one that will really prepare the student for life in the 21st Century." -- Robert Anton Wilson (Eschaton Productions, Chicago, 1995) ISBN 1-57353-107-3 ------------------------------------------------------------------
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