Frater V. Magick in History, Theory and Pr actice. Volume 0: The Order of Revelation. Edited by Paul Hardacre

Transcription

1 Frater V THE MAGISTER Magick in History, Theory and Pr actice Volume 0: The Order of Revelation The Worker Enters the Workshop O.E.D. Neophyte Gr ade Material Publication in Class B Edited by Paul Hardacre Modern Magistery an imprint of Salamander and Sons Brisbane Chiang Mai

2 PREFACE One by one, we take them out of this world. This volume is the introductory work to a series of volumes on what is hereafter termed the Western Esoteric Initiatory System (WEIS). This authentic and relevant spiritual system, comprising of models of elevated consciousness and graduated practices, is presented here in overview and in subsequent volumes in detail. The Magister proposes a comprehensive, consistent and congruent approach to Western spiritual practice derived from a synthetic tradition at least 300 years in development. Whilst cheerfully admitting that there is no monolithic, singular tradition no one true path, no one right way for the sake of brevity and expression, we here refer to the tradition as we have found it over the course of 30 years or more of daily practice, research, discussion, and study. This series of volumes is to be considered the working manual of the Order of Everlasting Day (OED). It provides an overview of the initiatory schema, its history and practices, and avenues of discovery for initiates. It is not a manual of self-initiation, nor is it an academic treatise; readers are invited to enter the Order to unlock the work of

3 xxiv The Magister, Vol 0. this text, or use it as they may within their own work to comprehend their relationship to the universe. 1 Students of the OED are expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of the roots of our tradition and this first volume provides this essential background as a framework for their work. The remaining volumes provide much in the way of practical work for readers and initiates alike. The esoteric and occult nature of this approach to spiritual work is to be found in its inexpressible and ultimately personal revelation, and should not be confused with most cultural and popular references to the occult and conceptions of esoteric or the practice of magick. The Magister represents a fundamental ctrl+alt+del reset of Western occultism in its synthesis of academic assessment and contemporary practice. The path here given is one of an exhaustive nature that cannot be merely studied; it must be worked and lived. In that living for all that lives, lives the Sun can indeed be discovered at midnight, the stone of living water will grant you balm, and that which is dead will arise in the dawn of a new and truly everlasting day. In this and subsequent volumes we will cover the theory and practice of Western magick and mysticism in a contemporary manner, from both academic and practitioner perspectives. Our work will range across practices as varied as divination and invocation, astral travel and lucid dreaming, ritual and ceremonial magick; we will learn the language of Enochian and kabbalah, alchemy and astrology, Rosicrucianism and Gnosticism, Hermeticism and theosophy; we will encounter the secret masters and the Dweller on the Threshold, Thelema and Maat magick, paganism and shamanism, ancient Egypt and science fiction, mythology and symbolism, the New Age and the Golden Age, and walk the mystic stations of the cross, the rose and the key. 1 The OED offers apprenticeship and levels of engagement with this Work to candidates who may apply to us at:

4 Preface xxv In aiming for a comprehensive coverage of the tradition, much will be missed. If nothing else, this first volume will introduce the reader to the depth of material and its vast scope. We will also open more questions than provide answers as we commence our journey. However we do hope also to provide original materials and first publishing of primary source material, from the archives of private and academic collections worldwide. The Magister may prove an unusual publication in bridging both practitioner experience and academic research, and this volume, whilst stand-alone, is a zero volume which provides the context for the remainder of the series. If you read nothing onwards, this volume will provide all the bridge-heads you might seek for a lifetime of study and experience in the WEIS. It has been my personal privilege to be taught by so many diverse voices over the past three decades and I am honoured to be given the opportunity to present this work. I have often stated that I would exchange one moment of the magical life for a lifetime of a life without magick, and I trust that grace will be given for you to discover this singular secret it is all true. In many ways this book (and those following) is a re-visioning rather than a re-making of Western esotericism. It attempts to put the spiritual ambition (if such could be the case) back into the traditional materials in a contemporary manner. This sequence of books also provides the first publication of some of the working material of the private network of initiates known as the Order of Everlasting Day, who have developed this work over their own lifetimes.

5 The Herald of Everlasting Day (text version)

6 A Statement of Tradition, Lineage and Affiliation A tradition is only as old as when it was first invented, and innovation is only as new as what we have forgotten. I am not a member of any magical order or organisation, other than the Order of Everlasting Day (OED), a network of initiates who make their enquiries in the workshop of life. Whilst over the past three decades I have worked and corresponded with many practitioners, authors, teachers, and academics, the work here presented is a personal amalgam of a multitude of influences. It is apparent from experience that an initiate will pass through phases of fraternity and solitude, and each is to be acknowledged and honoured. I was initiated in 1983 into Gardnerian Witchcraft in the direct lineage of Gerald Gardner and Patricia Crowther, and worked with a High Priestess in that Craft for over a decade. I also practised and developed Golden Dawn ceremony in a fully constructed temple for many years.

7 xxviii The Magister, Vol 0. I was briefly a member of the Typhonian Order and corresponded with the late Kenneth Grant, who kindly gave me his patience and insight. I was also educated in correspondence and meeting with Chaos magicians such as Pete Carroll, and Maat magicians led by Soror Nema, and a host of other authors and teachers for many years whilst experimenting in intense practice. As the various versions of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) and the Golden Dawn consolidated over the past 20 years in particular, I was often involved in bystander incidents whilst never belonging to any group in a formal manner. Authors and teachers have been almost without fail amenable to my enquiries, and teach also by example, by living their work, whether it be tarot or ceremonial magick, Enochian ceremonial, Thelema, numerology, or astrology; I have found particular assistance and example in Lon Milo Duquette, Rachel Pollack, Mary K. Greer, Lyn Birkbeck, and Richard Abbot. I have also been most recently inspired by the work of tarot author (and inspirational listener) James Wells, and scholarpoets Camelia Elias and Enrique Enriquez. I have come to realise that the magical path is radically explorative and if it does not open you to more perspectives, diversity, wildly exotic and quixotic adventure and travel, you are likely already doing it wrong. It should, on the whole, be mainly uncomfortable and challenging most of the time. In 2005 I became an academic student of Western esotericism at the University of Exeter and was honoured to be the first student conferred with a Masters Degree in the subject. A small part of my own experience of practical magical work and mystical practice such as the Abramelin Operation can be discovered in my published journal, After the Angel (Forge Press, 2011). Whilst many discuss the importance of operating a fully contacted lodge or having Inner Plane contacts or an egregore and we will discuss these concepts throughout The Magister I prefer to go by the simpler route of by their works shall they be known. 1 Those truly in touch 1 See Greer, J.M. Inside a Magical Lodge. Llewellyn: St. Paul, 1998, pp

8 Tradition, Lineage and Affiliation xxix with such rarified beings can no doubt argue their own case, when they are not busy being under the tuteledge of their masters. Whilst this work comes to strip us of belief, some assumptions remain useful in directing our attention and activity. I do believe that if the Secret Chiefs / Hidden Masters do not exist, we would have to invent them anyway. I believe that there is a spiritual organisation transcendent of time and space whose members know each other through their work and do not need any other recognition. I believe each of us has a Holy Guardian Angel (blessed be they) who guides us from Rapture to Abyss. I believe, most of all, that this world is utterly and incredibly magical, and our time is short. Let us then herald in a new dawn, the dawn of an everlasting day. Marcus Katz The Lake District Summer Solstice, 2012

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10 Introduction The Western Esoteric Initiatory SYSTEM If only we could be a little bit more heroic. If only we could be a little bit more immortal. Then, and only then, might we realise more of what we dream. Lord A., Vampire Ceremony, Sao Paulo, Brazil, July The eclectic and synthetic practice of the Western Esoteric Initiatory System (WEIS) will take you to many uncharted places. It is the intention of The Magister to guide you through those realms, which ultimately will be unique to your own path in the labyrinth of the mysteries. We will provide you with a map and a traveller s 1 For Lord A. s writings and philosophy, see [last accessed 27 November 2012].

11 32 The Magister, Vol 0. description of the geography and culture of the land you are about to visit, although your own experience will be determined by a range of factors; the land is ever-changing, the people there have their own lives, and you will soon discover many routes that none before you have travelled. The reason we offer this work is because since the Reformation in Europe, the path of a personal ascent narrative one s own gnosis and salvation has been progressively excluded from mainstream Western spiritual practice. Once, words were magic, names were sacred mysteries, language was power. 2 Then came the mystery of architecture and space, the understanding of construction and the power of stone sealing a place. 3 Now the internet contains the mystery of communication beyond physicality a world where the currency will be imagination, and the powerful those who are free to imagine new realms. So successful has this denial been that even when released from previous social constraints, it was to the East that we looked for spiritual teaching; our own traditions had been rent asunder into two extremes of Christianity on one hand, and the evil occult on the other. Religion, science and magic have become divorced, and yet in magic we find our 2 See Abram, D. The Spell of the Sensuous. Vintage Books: New York, 1997, p.99 and, for a therapeutic approach, de Shazer, S. Words Were Originally Magic. W.W. Norton & Co, Inc.: New York, 1994, pp For the impact of the Reformation on magic, see Chapter 3 of Thomas, K. Religion and the Decline of Magic. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, In terms of the origins of mystical Christianity, refer to Louth, A. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition from Plato to Denys. Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1981 and earlier still for the roots of Gnosticism see Mead, G.R.S. Fragments of a Faith Forgotten. University Books: New York, 1960 and Petrement, S. A Separate God: The Origins and Teachings of Gnosticism. HarperCollins: New York, A fascinating analysis of the conflict between science and magic in the 18 th century can be read in Gaby, A.J. The Covert Enlightenment: Eighteenth Century Counterculture and Its Aftermath. Swedenborg Foundation Publishers: West Chester, An overarching view of the development of magic and witchcraft in Europe is provided in Ankarloo, B. & Clark, S. (editors). Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, The latter is a six volume treatise covering Biblical and pagan Societies to the 20 th century.

12 The Western Esoteric Initiatory SYSTEM 33 soul, in science we discover mystery, and in religion we unveil spirituality. The WEIS marries these streams back together in a fourth way, a synthetic enquiry into life as Crowley wrote, the aim of religion, the method of science. We will first introduce an overview of the architecture of the WEIS through personal experience, and then turn our attention to the magical orders which have carried this system to the present.