From science to ceremony

[VesicaVehicle]

Greetings -

This forum popped up as I searched for PDF resources to send a friend who is designing a ritual for a Bacchanal we are planning. This place seems like a great resource, so I am excited to contribute and to take as needed.

My magical journey has been quite winding. I was not raised with religion per se. Through my studies of science, I found myself in the temple of nihilism and at a philosophical, emotional, spiritual impasse. Concurrently, I was studying and practicing buddhist meditation and yoga in a secular manner in accordance with my studies of neuroscience. After reaching a breaking point, I 'tricked myself' into believing in the Buddhist cosmology and reincarnation, as an antidote to that pesky nihilism - the universe is much more interesting under that framework. This breaking point included a peculiar experience and vision which I now attribute to an early contact with the personal daimon or Holy Guardian Angel.

By and by, I became serious about my Buddhist studies and practiced outer tantras and started wondering whether there are any analogues in the west. Hermeticism and Alchemy came to be of interest, as they seemed to contain 'tantras of the west'. I have since been in contact with Thelemic (Estai-Meral) and Golden Dawn (Ciceros) currents, as they seem to be the most available and accessible, but have not joined an order. I have been on the fence as to whether the Crowleyania is for me, and whether Liber AL is something I can jive with - some elements are in line with my world view, while some give me pause. The Golden Dawn is somewhat more appealing, but I am taking my time in deciding.

As a practicing scientist, I owe my arts to hermeticism and consider my studies of ceremonial magic to be an homage to the roots of my tradition and profession. I say a little prayer to Lavoisier and go about my alchemy.

Curious to know if there are many other scientists amongst you and how you have found congruence between your practices.

 

[BBMage]

I am a scientist. Pediatric Cardiology for 15 years. I have been studying magic the past 10 years. Started with Golden Dawn adjacent training and RHP practices. It was a bit strange at first for me. It wasn't until I started studying Kabbalah that I saw how the two things connected. It still took me a few years to fully adjust and work through the cognitive dissonance

 

[beardedeldridge]

Not a scientist but welcome to the forum.

 

[Mh4419]

Welcome

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I'm technically a scientist (computer science) but I have spent much of my spare time investigating whether a scientific explanation of magic is possible, from our most successful theories of physics.

So my practice has actually proceded forth from my research, and yes, because of that, the two are indeed compatible.

 

[VesicaVehicle]

I am a scientist. Pediatric Cardiology for 15 years. I have been studying magic the past 10 years. Started with Golden Dawn adjacent training and RHP practices. It was a bit strange at first for me. It wasn't until I started studying Kabbalah that I saw how the two things connected. It still took me a few years to fully adjust and work through the cognitive dissonance

Pediatric cardiology sounds like challenging and noble work. I worked under a pediatric pathologist briefly in my histology days. Very particular guy- He was trying to do right by those kids!


How did the theoretical underpinnings from Kabbalah help with the cognitive dissonance? From my perusal of Kabbalah, seems like you just have to accept quite a few axioms before moving on to ritual structure

Post automatically merged: Monday at 4:59 PM

I'm technically a scientist (computer science) but I have spent much of my spare time investigating whether a scientific explanation of magic is possible, from our most successful theories of physics.

So my practice has actually proceded forth from my research, and yes, because of that, the two are indeed compatible.

What have you found useful in theoretical physics? Once upon a time, I swore off working with anything smaller than molecular orbitals. Too magical and spooky. So perhaps you're thinking in orders of magnitude that I consider quite magical.

Cool that a practice has blossomed from your investigation. I tried constructing practices atop study when I was a student of neuroscience, but it generated some bizarro thought forms and led to a big bungling in my life, so I left that behind too. I have not kept up with the field, so maybe the explanations for neural processes giving rise to consciousness have become more satisfactory since then.

 

[Swampdweller900]

@VesicaVehicle Welcome to the forum!

I have degrees in social science, with a focus on data analysis. So....not really a scientist, but I do rely on data-informed decision-making. That, along with personal experience, is what's actually kept me both firmly in line with magic as a thing, and then also brought be around to Buddhism, too. FWIW, I'm more of an eclectic practitioner with a lot of training in remote viewing in methods descended from the military program methods, as both offer a way to sort of test for efficacy, rather than rely on a single closed system.

Again, welcome, and I'm sure you'll find a lot of rational, albeit not materialist, folks here.

 

[BBMage]

Pediatric cardiology sounds like challenging and noble work. I worked under a pediatric pathologist briefly in my histology days. Very particular guy- He was trying to do right by those kids!


How did the theoretical underpinnings from Kabbalah help with the cognitive dissonance? From my perusal of Kabbalah, seems like you just have to accept quite a few axioms before moving on to ritual structure

Post automatically merged: Monday at 4:59 PM

What have you found useful in theoretical physics? Once upon a time, I swore off working with anything smaller than molecular orbitals. Too magical and spooky. So perhaps you're thinking in orders of magnitude that I consider quite magical.

Cool that a practice has blossomed from your investigation. I tried constructing practices atop study when I was a student of neuroscience, but it generated some bizarro thought forms and led to a big bungling in my life, so I left that behind too. I have not kept up with the field, so maybe the explanations for neural processes giving rise to consciousness have become more satisfactory since then.

The kabbalah system I worked with started out with rituals that were given to us by the mystery school I studied in. A lot of the method was to experience first and study afterwards so that is how I learned. We did the first year through kabbalah as mostly experiencial with light study and the second was mostly study and going through our journal entries to see how much we actually learned from the experiences themselves. It was really helpful because I didn't know what was going on the first time through. I don't know if that is possible without a teacher though.