As im studying different philosophies, theories, and paths. Im noticing how everything eventually ties together in most ways. Its just different roads to the same end goals majority of the time. Im curious what paths worked for you guys. Im moreso into the story for conversation purposes. How you got there what worked, what didn't. What was the best thing that happened as oppose to the worst. What have you learned most and the best advice. Have any of you tried to learn everything and create your own magical system using bits of everything? If so how did it work. Im one of those people whom admire the journey moreso than the end results. I love reading experiences and learning. Im also the type that studies and tries to learn everything before making a decision. Thank you for reading and the replies and conversation!!!!!
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- Thread starter vito41
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Hi! I think with magick is it’s kinda tough for me to define what “works” in the big picture. Did it get you the job? The date? Yes, but these things maybe turned out to be screwed in the larger view. Everything keeps refining as our knowledge grows. The master of supreme attainment may look like a raggedy monk.
For example, and to answer your question, the worst and best for me were states, not anything in life.
The worst came from hours of yogic practice many hours a day when young without a guru, and is known in the eastern tradition: Basically you are living your best life, all good things around, but you exist in this void of blackness, watching it detached from all of it, it’s a movie you’re showing yourself to distract from the fact that you alone exist forever in this void.
The best is similar, I call it supreme emptiness, you can be poor, miles from home, and you’re walking by some abandoned warehouse but absolute ecstatic bliss is blossoming out of you and everything like black flame. It’s something orthogonal to pleasure and pain, this glory where no worldly thing can ever affect you if you can hold it.
But neither shows outside, and they’re similar. In the worst hell I know I was living life in a void where I alone exist, the best heaven I know I was in the same, but without me (ego)!
So I found really “there is no spoon”. If a magician wants to see something the quickest path to bending themself in weird shapes is rigorous chaos magick without attachment to results. The something will actually shape the world, it isn’t just psychological, but it’s inseparable from self change.
The larger work of sculpting self (and thus world) into something desirable in my opinion requires self knowledge and personalization, because you have to start with what you already are. Is love your vehicle? Is thought? The reality more than fundamental than the world itself is your unique relationship to it.
For example, and to answer your question, the worst and best for me were states, not anything in life.
The worst came from hours of yogic practice many hours a day when young without a guru, and is known in the eastern tradition: Basically you are living your best life, all good things around, but you exist in this void of blackness, watching it detached from all of it, it’s a movie you’re showing yourself to distract from the fact that you alone exist forever in this void.
The best is similar, I call it supreme emptiness, you can be poor, miles from home, and you’re walking by some abandoned warehouse but absolute ecstatic bliss is blossoming out of you and everything like black flame. It’s something orthogonal to pleasure and pain, this glory where no worldly thing can ever affect you if you can hold it.
But neither shows outside, and they’re similar. In the worst hell I know I was living life in a void where I alone exist, the best heaven I know I was in the same, but without me (ego)!
So I found really “there is no spoon”. If a magician wants to see something the quickest path to bending themself in weird shapes is rigorous chaos magick without attachment to results. The something will actually shape the world, it isn’t just psychological, but it’s inseparable from self change.
The larger work of sculpting self (and thus world) into something desirable in my opinion requires self knowledge and personalization, because you have to start with what you already are. Is love your vehicle? Is thought? The reality more than fundamental than the world itself is your unique relationship to it.
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First: I think it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the starting point of all magic is always you yourself. It's not the system or the methods you employ, it's you, the fulcrum of anything that will or might happen. As this fulcrum evolves (or degenerates, which is also possible), so will your understanding of magic. To my mind, practitioners are much too outward-looking in this field - this works and that doesn't, this stuff is garbage and that one isn't, etc. People change over time, and some make it their principal concern to transform themselves, so what you believed to be impractical and absurd in the past may work for you after all, given time. On the other hand, there are some authors I used to worship and now I can't stand (as a forum staff member, I'm supposed to be impartial so I won't name names here). Right now, for example, I'm deeply entangled in the study of a belief system that I completely misunderstood and accordingly dismissed twenty years ago.
Second: Understanding something is still a far cry off from being able to use, control, or change it. Furthermore, it's beneficial to accept that not everything is knowable. If a doctrine say that Eyn Sof, the All, Nirvana, etc. is ineffable, we should be prepared to draw the line here - transcendence is transcendence, no progress possible beyond this point. Sorry guys, no peeking under the skirts of the universe.
Third: If your belief paradigm(s) recognises the existence of a higher self or a guardian angel, beware of narcissism. It's all too easy to inflate your faulty limited ego into an idealised version of yourself, only with superpowers and infinite wisdom that is accidentally in perfect harmony with all your present convictions. On the contrary, such a being (or psychological construct) should be far beyond everything you are and what you know at your present stage of development.
Four: If a book is fascinating, it's usually important (unless it's fiction or read purely for entertainment purposes). Of course, you can never be 100% sure but it's a good rule of thumb, in my opinion. If a subject really grips you, be grateful, for it's a precious gift from fate.
Five: Daily empty-mind meditation, not only on the pillow. Keeping your head free of chatter, ruminations, worries, etc. at all times will work wonders for your overall concentration faculty.
Six: Especially beware of the power of words and narratives! Examples and analogies, as apt as they may be, can only ever illustrate a point but never prove it. Particularly so-called 'holy' books of venerable age have a way of enmeshing you in myths, memorable quotes, gripping stories, etc. that it's hard to keep an open mind and some healthy sceptical distance. If something rings true, it's not necessarily the genuine article, it may simply mean that the author is a very talented writer.
I could probably think of more but that's probably it, for the time being.
Second: Understanding something is still a far cry off from being able to use, control, or change it. Furthermore, it's beneficial to accept that not everything is knowable. If a doctrine say that Eyn Sof, the All, Nirvana, etc. is ineffable, we should be prepared to draw the line here - transcendence is transcendence, no progress possible beyond this point. Sorry guys, no peeking under the skirts of the universe.
Third: If your belief paradigm(s) recognises the existence of a higher self or a guardian angel, beware of narcissism. It's all too easy to inflate your faulty limited ego into an idealised version of yourself, only with superpowers and infinite wisdom that is accidentally in perfect harmony with all your present convictions. On the contrary, such a being (or psychological construct) should be far beyond everything you are and what you know at your present stage of development.
Four: If a book is fascinating, it's usually important (unless it's fiction or read purely for entertainment purposes). Of course, you can never be 100% sure but it's a good rule of thumb, in my opinion. If a subject really grips you, be grateful, for it's a precious gift from fate.
Five: Daily empty-mind meditation, not only on the pillow. Keeping your head free of chatter, ruminations, worries, etc. at all times will work wonders for your overall concentration faculty.
Six: Especially beware of the power of words and narratives! Examples and analogies, as apt as they may be, can only ever illustrate a point but never prove it. Particularly so-called 'holy' books of venerable age have a way of enmeshing you in myths, memorable quotes, gripping stories, etc. that it's hard to keep an open mind and some healthy sceptical distance. If something rings true, it's not necessarily the genuine article, it may simply mean that the author is a very talented writer.
I could probably think of more but that's probably it, for the time being.
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All good points in this post, but this one in particular stood out for me. My own ideas say that for a successful magical act, you have to literally become the version of yourself that the success happens to. Which also means that there needs to be a possible path from A to B.