Personal Magickal Systems

I have always been very interested in magick and all other subjects of the paranormal and occult. this has lead me in recent years to dive deeply into as much information on paganism, magick, occultism, spirituality, psychic abilities, etc, etc as i could possibly get my hands on, and as i do so the subject becomes more and more personal.

what i am intrested in is each individuals execution of their magickal rites and rituals. i know all the basics: tools, circles, herbalism, alchemy, and the likes but i seem to keep finding repetative information after that, nothing but circle casting and god and goddess.

what i am intrested is peoples personal practices, traditions, set-ups, information, techniques, execution, belief systems, ingrediants, tools, anything along those lines. ive waited 20 posts to ask this question so hopefully i get some good answers.

personally i use thought forms alot in my magick, meditation on the astral level, creating environments, entities, ideas, potentiality, and all that stuff. evokation of certain spirits is also used to empower or charge my spells or astral friends. also use teas made from scratch from fresh herbs almost everytime (usually chamomile, sage, bay leaves)

I practice a hybridized Eastern energetic / Western Hermetic tradition that centers around chakra work ( though in Native American fashion, particularly Lakota Sioux) , tarot reading (Thoth tarot as directed by Crowley in the Golden Dawn tradition) , pendulum work (kinesiology and somatic response) and sigil work as taught by Osman Spare.

For some reason, the imagery and tools I employ draw heavily from the steampunk - rockabilly movement and are pretty non conventional. Weird, but it has found its niche. Kinda reflects the whole Victorian Spiritualist movement.

reply to post by primoaurelius


I've got a rather eclectic system of approach. My personal studies included:

• The basics of Wicca (God/dess, 4 Platonic elements, Theosophical tools, basics of witchcraft and sorcery)

• A deeper sojourn into theosophical Qabala (as taught by the Golden Dawn and the Aurum Solis)

• A backtrack into Hermetic philosophy from the 1700s (As above/so below, law of vibrations, etc)

• An expansion into Hindu and Buddhist meditation, followed by an immersion into the 8-fold-path of Hinayana Buddhism.

• A small dabbling of Satanism, paganism (Babylonian religion), polytheism (Egyptian rites of living and dying), and Voudun (Veves and some earth-magic)

• A formal study of Aleister Crowley's Thelema, and a less-formal study of Chaos Magick

All of that made up my course of study for more than a decade. Along side all of that I've also learned: astrology and planetary magick, sigil-craft, goetic and thaumaturge summoning, spirituality (mind over matter / chakras / energy manipulation, etc), the Tarot (hermetic deck), palmistry/cheiromancy as taught by Cheiro, who pioneered the art, and dream interpretation.

My actual system of practice involves all of those, and more, in varying degrees based on what I'm trying to work, who it is for, and when it is being done. It's diverse, but it needs to be when you have people coming from all walks of life seeking to learn and expand themselves magickally and spiritually.

I'm also really into science, and things like neurology, psychology, quantum mechanics, astronomy, and others which I feel are all slowly erasing the lines between magick and science.

Good topic. Hope my response has been what you were looking for.

~ Wandering Scribe

wonderful information.

im curious about this info because i want to start my own "secret society"/coven/group/magickal tradition of my own.

on top of everything i already asked, im also wondering if anyone here has already founded their own magickal tradition or group.

for those of you who have founded thier own traditions or groups, it would be cool if you could give some info on the execution of your rituals, the basics of your gatherings, initiations, rules, anything or any information that you think would be helpful in the founding of my group.

i believe magick is one of the most personal things one can engage in, and i love to hear how others engage in it. it allows me to get more information, tools, or practices that i may implament into my traditions

reply to post by primoaurelius


Not that I frown upon the idea of starting your own school of magickal thought, but, it's a very difficult thing to do. For instance, you would have to find people who agree with, and think magickally, along the same lines as you do. Magick is a very personal pursuit and if every aspect of your school of thought doesn't agree with the other members, you're going to run into problems.

I tried starting my own "order" to carry on the traditions and techniques that I was taught. But the synthesis required to blend all of these practices is very, very time consuming. So I ended up settling for a teacher—student system. When someone wished to further study a branch that I was familiar with I would become their teacher until they understood the system enough to continue on their own.

I think the first step for you is to determine what kind of tradition you want yours to be. Hermetic? Qabalistic? Witchcraft? Wicca? Thelema? Mystery School? There are all kinds of magickal thought and if you haven't narrowed it down some, then your system will be too sprawling to be cohesive. So, tell me/us something about what your aims and goals are for this system.

~ Scribe

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


difficult or not im defenetly going to try. i know actually founding some kind of group may be a ways off, but where i live we have nothing like this, that i know of and it must be done. it certanily would be quite hard to get off the ground if we have no members, but i dont think im going to limit it to just magickal thought, i think im going to start creating another group with a broader spectrum of subjects, like esp, magick, parapsychology, cryptozoology, kind of like a mini-ATS in my town with people that can come together and talk about things that are truly important to us. then from there i can find a smaller more well definied group of individuals that are intrested and willing and start from there.

to start something like this is going to take alot of thought on my part, and even if it doesnt go anywhere with the people around here, i still have many personal journals, books, art, etc that i have created, that have etched out my beliefs and traditions, that i hope to pass on to my children. im defenetly going to raise my daughter along those lines, and maybe she'll decide to take an initiation when shes old enough.

untill then i will continue to record all my information in my journals, and find my magickal way in life.

reply to post by primoaurelius


I didn't mean to insinuate that it was not a good idea to try and start your own pagan, or magickal school of thought around where you live. I personally think it is awesome anytime someone takes that initiative and does so. I was just letting you know that it's very, very hard to actually get one of those things off the ground and onto it's feet.

There are so many people, with so many ways of thinking about magick, that you're bound to run into some trouble. What if you ended up having a member who espouses LaVeyian Satanism — they don't believe in any external-spiritual beings: no gods, no Chakras, no spirits, angels, elements, etc — and someone who practiced Hermetic Qabala — believes in a God, spirits, intelligences, angels and more — how exactly would you cause these two to reach an agreement in your magickal group?

It is the elements like that which you need to consider when trying to start a magickal-free thought-group.



Which brings me back to my earlier question: your own system and beliefs, and what they are. Maybe those of us who read this thread (me?) could help you hammer out a nice syllabus if we knew more bout your own beliefs and theories.

~ Wandering Scribe

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe
reply to post by primoaurelius

 

What if you ended up having a member who espouses LaVeyian Satanism — they don't believe in any external-spiritual beings: no gods, no Chakras, no spirits, angels, elements, etc — and someone who practiced Hermetic Qabala — believes in a God, spirits, intelligences, angels and more — how exactly would you cause these two to reach an agreement in your magickal group?

It is the elements like that which you need to consider when trying to start a magickal-free thought-group.

i think when it comes to magick, i want to teach somebody, if they dont like what i i want to teach then thats ok, maybe theyll enjoy another subject that i will talk about or maybe they will leave, which is also ok.

as for my beliefs i believe meditation and visualizations are one of the most important part of achieving your magickal goals. i also believe that prety much all the gods/spirits/creatures/etc in all our stories exist in one form or another on higher spiritual realms and that we can contact those beings thru the astral with visualizations, meditation, mantra, OBEs, ESP. if you know of any meditation techniques that i may not know of or that you find particually helpful let me know

i would like to develop techniques that can help to hone those skills, and to create a bond, and communicate with these beings as much as i possibly can. i would also like to perfect the arts of Evocation/Invocation any help with this is much welcome.

ummmmm, im also very interested in physical alchemy and any techniques/recepies/information that you can give me on alchemical things i can do or build at home would be much appreciated. how the make vitroil/aqua fortis/etc from household products and the like.

symbolism/sigils/glyphs/ancient or magickal alphabets and things like that have always been vary interesting and if you know any websites that are like a sigil dictonary or something like taht that i can go and find sigils for certain beings and their properties/uses.

theses are just a few of the things i would like to work on to incorporate into any group or tradition that i start

i think when it comes to magick, i want to teach somebody, if they dont like what i i want to teach then thats ok, maybe theyll enjoy another subject that i will talk about or maybe they will leave, which is also ok

Fair enough. A good teacher often comes prepared to teach a plethora of subjects, or to accept that this particular student is not in the right lecture hall.

as for my beliefs i believe meditation and visualizations are one of the most important part of achieving your magickal goals

Meditation I've always believed was central to achieving any magickal goal. Without some discipline in focus and centralizing yourself, I don't think any spiritual-magickal goal can be achieved.

Visualizations are important, in my opinion, for the beginner. That's not to say they don't have a purpose. Magick is often confusing and sometimes appears contradictory to a beginner. Teaching visualization techniques (like those taught by Raymond Buckland) are extremely useful to someone who is just beginning their magickal journey.

i also believe that prety much all the gods/spirits/creatures/etc in all our stories exist in one form or another on higher spiritual realms

This is a very open-minded approach to religious and mythological scripture. I too will teach that all of man's spiritual/religious/mystical history is kept on a sort of "hard drive" in another universe — most likely parallel to our own — which we visit from time to time.

What kind of spiritual world do you envision? Is it like the Hopi with their 5 levels? Or the New Age spiritualists who believe in just one Astral World? Is it Qabalistic, with 10 Sephira of divinity through spheres? Something else?

we can contact those beings thru the astral with visualizations, meditation, mantra, OBEs, ESP

Astral Projection, we'll have to discuss a little more before I decide whether or not I believe that the projection of the astral body can bring us into contact with spiritual beings. I've got a very archaic representation of astral mechanics. And I understand that to the New Age spiritualists it's become something of a "soul travel" which allows one to travel to see ghosts and gods and relatives who have passed on. What is your definition of the astral body?

See above for my explanation and stance on visualization techniques, as well as meditation.

Mantras are an interesting thing. I am big on Mantras (being Buddhist at my core, Mantras are important). I'm curious, as to your stance on how the repetition of a Mantra can allow us to summon and commune with spiritual beings.

Do you consider an Out of Body Experience to be something different from Astral Projection? If so, what are your definitions of these two forms of spiritual travel?

Extra-sensory Perceptions are something I don't dwell on that often. I've only ever been presented with minute evidence that I have any kind of supernatural power. So I try not to fill the heads of my student's with the hope that someday they'll develop clairvoyance, or any of those other gifted skills.

if you know of any meditation techniques that i may not know of or that you find particually helpful let me know

I actually started experimenting with Chakra meditation, then with simple breathing meditation. Afterward, I picked up a copy of Aleister Crowley's Book 4 which contains an extensive treatise on Eastern meditation techniques as the first half of the book. I would recommend following Chakra, breathing-control, and Crowley's meditation techniques if you're looking for some to try.

i would like to develop techniques that can help to hone those skills, and to create a bond, and communicate with these beings as much as i possibly can

In order to begin a journey like this, you need to hone in on a particular being who may be influential in your life first. It is very difficult to just "become close" to any being you wish. Most often, when we explore our history we'll find certain signs that show us an animistic guide has attached itself to us, or we'll realize we dream/envision a particular deity in times of trouble. The first step is to find out if you have a particular being in your presence.

Write back if you do, and I'll help you advance this avenue.

i would also like to perfect the arts of Evocation/Invocation any help with this is much welcome

Evoking and Invoking require you to first identify what beings you hope to summon. There are thousands of different techniques for achieving this goal. Hermetics, Theosophists, Shamanistic, Pagan, Neopagan, Thaumaturge, Goetia, and more. You'll have to identify what, or who you're seeking to summon.

Respond to the previous section (on which being/s accompany you) and we'll advance this one too.

ummmmm, im also very interested in physical alchemy and any techniques/recepies/information that you can give me on alchemical things i can do or build at home would be much appreciated. how the make vitroil/aqua fortis/etc from household products and the like

Unfortunately, I've never given much substance to chemical alchemy. I've accepted chemistry as the more useful branch to study. Instead, spiritual alchemy has become my branch of alchemy. Instead of seeking immortality, or to turn base metals to gold, I seek to balance and energize my own body through alchemical principles.

If you're seeking a master alchemist, you'll have to seek one from elsewhere.

symbolism/sigils/glyphs/ancient or magickal alphabets and things like that have always been vary interesting and if you know any websites that are like a sigil dictonary or something like taht that i can go and find sigils for certain beings and their properties/uses

Unfortunately, websites often let me down when it comes to this. I would recommend these books in this instance:

• The Magician's Companion
By Billy Whitcomb
• The Magician's Tables
By Alan Richardson
• Three Books of Occult Philosophy
By Henry Cornellius Agrippa
• The Golden Dawn
By Israel Regardie

Most of these should be readily available at most major bookstores. Hopefully they are helpful in this last request.

I am out of space though, so I will wrap this message up.

~ Scribe

reply to post by primoaurelius


I think if you want to start a school the easiest way to do it would be the Chinese method. Found a commune out in the middle of nowhere and indoctrinate people from birth.

well from my experience i can tell you that magickal rituals dont need to follow guidelines or previous practices. They can be created from scratch, you can create your own rituals. As long as you believe it is working and that what you are doing is ritualistic it will thus become a ritual. For example if I goto the beach, and I try to make the waves bigger by performing a ritual in the sand which involves me drawing lines in the sand, spinning in circles, and doing some other weird ritualistic stuff, the waves will become bigger. Its all in the mind, and the very act of performing a ritualistic act of some sort makes it a magickal ritual.

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe
What kind of spiritual world do you envision? Is it like the Hopi with their 5 levels? Or the New Age spiritualists who believe in just one Astral World? Is it Qabalistic, with 10 Sephira of divinity through spheres? Something else?

Could you expand on the Hopi Indians 5 levels ?

Would just like to say that anyone starting out with tarot would do well to start with Waite's deck and then after time and study, perhaps move on to Crowley's deck.

Peace

reply to post by destiny-fate


It is actually only 4, my mistake for not catching the typo of 5 in my original response. I can give you a little bit of information on them, but not too much. I'm not personally involved in the Hopi system, but I have dabbled with it some, for references. So I'll give you what I know about it Destiny-Fate.



The Four World's of the Hopi are a combination of ceremonial, ritualistic and mythological principles governing the religious and animistic practices of the Hopi. Each "world" is denoted by a direction and a color, and they stack on top of one another to build a model of Hopi mythological history. Each successive layer represents a period in Hopi time, and deals with certain important actions that occurred on that "world" before the next "world" was stacked on top.

So, essentially the worlds are a time line + a mythology + a foundation for rituals and ceremonies.



The worlds are mirrored in the Hopi sacred ceremonial lodge, called a Kiva. The levels of the Kiva represent the worlds. Here's the breakdown I was taught:

• The bottom of the Kiva is a deep fire-pit, which the Hopi call "The Place of Beginning". This represents the first world. The Hopi word for the first world is Tokpela. The first world represents an endless, vast space. Similar to the Abyss in Babylonian, or the Chaos in Christian mythology.

The direction is West, it's color is Yellow, and it is destroyed by a great Fire (which is why there's a burn-pit to represent it). I was also taught that the Hopi believe that humans were simply an aspect of nature during this time, we had not yet evolved.

There's a small hole next to the fire-pit, called a Sipapu which represents the umbilical cord of Mother Earth. This small hole represents where the first humans emerged from Mother Earth after the fire. It's not really a separate world on it's own, but it's important in the mythological aspects. So, here is me noting it for you.



• The second level of the Kiva is an Altar. This is the second world. The Hopi word for this world is Tokpa and it is represented by the South, and the color Blue. Humans were considered to be tribal villages and wandering bands at this time.

I was taught that this world represents human's attempting to get back in touch with their roots, and the Mother Earth. After the Fire human's crawl out and try to rebuild so they can survive. The second world freezes over, destroyed by the element Ice.



• Next to the Altar is a ladder, called a Reed. This is representative of the "ascent" the Hopi underwent as they moved from the second world, to the third world.

I consider it to be an evolutionary ladder, but there's no real "research" to back that claim up. According to Hopi mythology the human race went from living in villages and wandering bands (2nd world) to living in cities (3rd world).

The Hopi word for this world is Kuskurza and it represents the East. It's color scale is red. The third world is eventually consumed in Flood waters, destroying it, so that man can advance to the 4th world.



• An opening in the Kiva represents the fourth world. This world represents the present day of man, and the Hopi. The Hopi word for this world is Tuwaqachi. Its direction is North, and its color is Yellow-white.

There is not much else mythological known (or so I was taught) about this world, because we are living in it right now. Man's advancement is seemingly complete, we have been born from the Earth's core, born through the Sipapu, reached the Altar, climbed the Reed and are now free creatures.



I guess that throughout the year the Hopi would ritually reenact the ascent man makes from fire-pit, to Altar, up reed, and out of the Kiva. But, never having been a member of the Hopi, or allowed to view a sacred Kiva I cannot delve too much deeper into that aspect.

As I said, I don't know much about them, but I know a little. Hope this is helpful Destiny-Fate.

~ Scribe

reply to post by primoaurelius


I like to sit in a saltwater bath, in a room full of candles, with Buddhas, geneshas and shivas facing us, i have a female sit opposite of me, we each pick a crystal and place it near our root between our crossed legs. Then with the sound of rain on a radio softly playing in the background, we stare at each others eyes. Allow your eyes to go slightly out of focus, you may slip into the astral plane, or have an over welming feelings of oneness. Thats what happens to me anyway. You may also see your partners darker or lighter side.

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


Thank you - Yes the first world probably represented a primordial state -

When the Hopi were first created they had no name. They were created with everlasting life and placed upon the earth to live as one, spiritually.

All was provided for them; they did not work for their food, there was no illness, and they were to live forever.

They were given laws to live by, but they broke them. For this disobedience they were changed into body and soul, sickness came into their bodies, and they became mortal.

Adam and Eve ?

The first world was probably very similar to the Australian aboriginal dreamtime myths of spirit / dreamworld converging to create reality.

[edit on 7-5-2010 by destiny-fate]

Originally posted by Eonnn
well from my experience i can tell you that magickal rituals dont need to follow guidelines or previous practices. They can be created from scratch, you can create your own rituals. As long as you believe it is working and that what you are doing is ritualistic it will thus become a ritual. For example if I goto the beach, and I try to make the waves bigger by performing a ritual in the sand which involves me drawing lines in the sand, spinning in circles, and doing some other weird ritualistic stuff, the waves will become bigger. Its all in the mind, and the very act of performing a ritualistic act of some sort makes it a magickal ritual.

lol when i was a little guy, before i knew about anything like this, i used to believe that i could make wind just by looking at trees, and i swear every single time i looked at a tree that thing would start blowing

reply to post by destiny-fate


It seems like you've got a much deeper grasp of the Hopi then I do. Which is cool. I would love to just have some time to study any native culture and it's history. Unfortunately, I am neither an anthropologist, nor so financially well off that I can make such excursions. At the same time, I take everything I find on the internet with a grain of salt too. So, if your history of the peoples is valid, and from first-hand experience, thank you for teaching me something new.

The Hopi people seem to have some similarities to the Judeo-Christian Adam and Eve myth. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're both basing their mythologies off of the same thing. The Hopi believe in a divine Feminine force, Mother Earth; and the Judeo-Christians believe in a divine Masculine force, God the Father. That seems like a rather irreconcilable aspect of the two mythologies.

Thanks again though, for letting me know more about the Hopi, much appreciated.

~ Scribe

Originally posted by Wandering Scribe

i also believe that prety much all the gods/spirits/creatures/etc in all our stories exist in one form or another on higher spiritual realms

This is a very open-minded approach to religious and mythological scripture. I too will teach that all of man's spiritual/religious/mystical history is kept on a sort of "hard drive" in another universe — most likely parallel to our own — which we visit from time to time.

What kind of spiritual world do you envision?

Astral Projection, we'll have to discuss a little more before I decide whether or not I believe that the projection of the astral body can bring us into contact with spiritual beings. I've got a very archaic representation of astral mechanics. And I understand that to the New Age spiritualists it's become something of a "soul travel" which allows one to travel to see ghosts and gods and relatives who have passed on. What is your definition of the astral body?

Mantras are an interesting thing. I am big on Mantras (being Buddhist at my core, Mantras are important). I'm curious, as to your stance on how the repetition of a Mantra can allow us to summon and commune with spiritual beings.

Do you consider an Out of Body Experience to be something different from Astral Projection?

the spiritual world i envision is one with almost infinate levels or realms (or maybe better described as compartments/rooms/zones) but all tied together thru some higher plane of ultimate existance, like the mind of god, or the plank scale. i believe that any conscious being can create one of their own personal zones (many do without knowing) to visit, live in, create it for others to experiance (like the imaginarium of dr. parnassus); and then there are area/zones that many different people go to by default (because they are human, because of their level of consciousness, etc) like the astral, mental, emotional, etc. Now, just because there are infinate areas doesnt mean that they all have somekind of permanent place that anyone can go to. the higher realms are like a maze to me, with all kinds of doorways, stairways, twists and turns and to get to anyone of these realms would take time to learn to get there. to me, the higher realms are an infinate unending place of multipul universes, archetypal concepts, and storage place to virtues, ideas, powers, energies, and things like that.

i also defenetly believe you can come into contact with spiritual or ascended entities thru OBE's because i have personally seen them. one time i projected accidentially thru a dream into a crystal city, with all kinds of wonderful people all around, jesters, vendors, just happy people everywhere, not to mention the opal and labradite/florite castles. anyways at this time i was a herion addict (shame on me i know, but more power to me for kickin it), and i asked some guy for some herion, he told me he could get it and we took a small walk, all of a sudden sirens are going off everywehre and everyone runs in different directions, including me. next thing i know im being chased by a being of light. it was funny cuz i was trying to run but obviously this thing was faster than me, so i stop and turn around to face it. it looked like a giant pure white sun, with rainbow light rays coming off it; before i could say or do anything this thing zaps me with some kind of lazer that changes my astral form from me into some furry sort blue thing with a small elephant trunk insted of my nose, no mouth except a beak on both hands, funny cat ears, and a yellow fuzzy belly. the being then zoomed off leaving me stunned and totally confused, AND i couldnt change myself back.
i believe this was like a guardian of the crystal city. running out of room. beings DO exist on astral realm, speaking from experiance.

also quickly, mantras help me summon because the spirits hear my calls, and the repetition helps focus my will and my mind to speak to the spirits

reply to post by primoaurelius


"what i am intrested in is each individuals execution of their magickal rites and rituals. i know all the basics: tools, circles, herbalism, alchemy, and the likes but i seem to keep finding repetative information after that, nothing but circle casting and god and goddess. "

Unashamed plagiarism is the reason why things seem repetitive. I have become more interested in deepening rather than widening my reading. Ultimately every one reaches a stage where theydevelop their own system. Consider the range of techniques available to say charge a talisman yet of all the techniques each person chooses one..