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Aleister
Crowley defined Magick as the science and art of causing changes to occur in
conformity with Will.
With
all due respects to Aleister,
Ritual
Magic is more an art form than a science. Scientific experiments, using the same
methods, the same data, the same constants, can theoretically be replicated. Ritual magic, on the other hand, can not be guaranteed to
produce the same experiences even though the ritual is the same. The
laws of ritual magic are not bound to the laws of cause and effect as are
scientific laws.
Ritual
magic uses all of the five physical senses and many inner senses as well:
Vision
is stimulated by
the symbols of the
deity that the magician will invoke. Example: if you are working with Kaballah
to invoke Thoth/Hermes/Mercury, you might want a picture or drawing of
the god; the color orange for Hod; the letter 8, signifying the number of Hod on
the Tree of Life.
Altar
candles of suitable colors also stimulate the visual field.
Taste is stimulated by wine and bread, if you are having a
communion.
You might use a pinch of salt and other foods
and drinks pleasing to Thoth as well.
Hearing is stimulated by the chants and the words of the ritual, as well
as any music that you might be including in the ritual.
Scent is stimulated by oils, perfumes and incense.
Touch
is stimulated by the physical movements of the ritual, by contact with others if
your working is a group working. A splash of water is felt as touch as well as
awakening. The entire setting should stimulate the emotions as well as the
senses. A silent (or chanting) meditative interlude before the climax of the ritual can
activate the third eye, the heart center, or various energy points in the
body.
Some
ritual magicians perform the ritual solely in their own head. No props. No altar
table tops. An onlooker might just see a person sitting in a chair or lying on
the floor. In the height of the bombings of London in the Second World War, Don
Fortune and her group assembled separately at appointed times and performed
their inner workings. Since the city was under siege, travel was not
recommended. Unfortunately, during one of Dion's solitary sessions, a bomb
struck the house -- well I warned you it wasn't a science! So a ritual can be all mental, it can be physical and mental.
Magick
can not be all physical with no mental!
MAGICKAL
INTENTION
Any
ritual has an intention or a reason for doing it. That intention should be
crystal clear and satiable in words. You can't mush over the intention. You have
to ask yourself, "What would have to happen in order for the intention to
be attained?"
It isn't the
worst idea to write the intention, put the paper on the altar, and burn it as
part of the ritual, burning so that it is purified, watching the smoke ascend to
the heavens (or to the direction of your smoke detector!)
An alternative to burning is to keep the paper under your pillow until
the intention is achieved.
PREPARATION
In preparing for your ritual (besides
assembling your ritual materials) you might want to do something a little
special: take a ritual bath to purify your body, adding special oils or
herbs to the bath water. Many magicians work in hooded robes. The idea of
these robes is concealment; during the ritual, you are not Harry Smith but a
special personage with a magical name. The woman working across the ritual
table from you is not your next door neighbor Sally Potter. She, like you,
is an instrument for the ritual. Magical rings or special jewelry that are
only worn for magical work helps the ritual magician to get into the magical
role and to leave the mundane role at the door.
In
working alone, I always like to exit the ritual room after I have prepared the
room, meditate to clear my mind,
and then reenter the room as though for the first time. I carry a key in my
hand, to symbolize that I have entree to the room.
In fact, I always carry an extra key on my key ring.. This is not a key
to any closet or door. I carry it as a symbol that it can open many doors that I
don't know about yet. When I find the door, the key will open it.
We
could all open many doors if only we had the key. The hardest doors to open,
those old doors that always stick or seem to be half painted shut, are those
doors that go within.
RITUAL
CORRESPONDENCES
In
our example we choose for our intention the attainment of increased spiritual
awareness. By referring to a set of "tables of correspondences" (we
will use those published by Dion Fortune in her Mystical Qabalah) we find that
this goal is governed by the activities of the sixth Sephirah --Tiphareth or
Beauty.
Thus
we may proceed to compose a ritual using Tiphareth's correspondences. Our temple
and altar, therefore, will be draped in yellow and golden colors, the color of
Tiphareth in Briah.(If we are working in another
of the four Kabalistic worlds, we
use the color of that world). Tiphareth is the sixth station on the Tree of
Life. The number six should therefore be used, perhaps in the knocks,
circumambulations, or the number of candles. Our incense would be olibanum,
frankincense or cinnamon, the incenses of Tiphareth and the Sun. We would wear
yellow robes and upon our breast we would display a golden (or gold colored) six
sided lamen, bearing the symbol of the Sun.
If our wardrobe does not include ten robes of ten main Tree of Life
colors, with sub-colors for the different Kabalistic worlds, we can imagine the
color of the robe and have a small patch of the appropriate color in the ritual
space.
We
would start our ceremony by meditating on our goal and by reading inspirational
writings on its theme. We would examine and display at the appropriate Tarot
card (in this case card 14, Temperance, assigned to Knowledge and Conversation
of our Holy Guardian Angel).
A
purification bath, using water and a little salt is helpful. Our intention is to
cleanse our mind as well our body in
preparation for our ritual. We then put on clean clothes, and then our robe,
remembering why we are doing it! Every act should be done with remembrance of
our Intention.
Entering
our Temple (or whatever prepared place we are using), we should state our
intention aloud. The following formula is an example; "I will apply all my
powers to align myself with the Divine powers of the Cosmos to achieve the
following aim: To gain further awareness of my Spiritual Nature, and I hereby
perform this Ceremony to this end." Whatever words we use, the intention
should be stated, with specified examples of the results that we are seeking.
There is no room for muddle-mindedness here.
THE
RITUAL
We
now proceed with the "preparation of the place." We want to
symbolically cleanse and seal the Temple. Our bodies are also a temple, so these
too should be cleansed and "sealed".
All outside worries, anxieties, fears, grudges, annoyances and apprehensions
must be left at the gateway to the ritual place, and it is good to vow to do so
as you enter. In doing a
ritual, all outer actions represent an inner process.It is essential that
we purify our inner consciousness in preparation for the ritual work.
We walk around the perimeter
of our working space purifying it first with Water, sprinkling towards the East,
then South, West, and finally North, with the intention of cleansing the
"atmosphere" of the place. Next we purify it with Air,
incense (or a knife/atheme) in
the same manner for the purpose of making
the area sacred. We purify with fire, circling our space with a candle. We
purify the space with Earth, perhaps sprinkling salt.
It is important, that in all of these activities, the ritual case gets
completely encircled. Finish where
you started, in the East, so that we will have walked a complete circle in each
of these operations. These cleansings seal the ritual space. Once the space is sealed, no one should enter or leave.
As
we walk to the four quarters of the space, we might evoke the Four Archangels:
Raphael, power of AIR; Michael, power of FIRE, Gabriel,
power of WATER and URIAL, power of EARTH.
We
could use the Kaballistic Sign of the Cross: "Atoh (touch forehead),
Malkuth,(touch solar plexis), va Gevorah (touch right shoulder), va Gedulah
(touch left shoulder), la-alam, Amen (fold hands in front).
Then,
facing east: "Before me Raphael, behind me Gabriel, to my right hand
Michael, to my left hand, Uriel, for before me flames the pentagram (see it in
your mind's eye) and behind me shines the six-rayed star (see it in your mind's
eye.)
With
this preparation having been accomplished, we now turn to the Invocation. The
Invocation is basically a prayer of petition, calling down the particular aspect
of power corresponding to our intention. In our example, we would feature the
Divine Name, Tetragrammaton Eloah Va Daath.
At
this point, we would visualize the Magical Image of Tiphareth, which is a small
child with arms outstretched, vividly standing before us.Tiphareth has another
magical image, the sacrificed king. The envisioning of the Magical Image should
produce great energy. After the Magical Image is summoned, one might want to
have a communion service (bread and wine), making appropriate
utterances as one eats the bread (which might be served on the shape of a
pentagram) and drinks the wine from the cup.
Close
with Kabalistic Sign of Cross, and close the 4 quarters, thanking the archangels
for having come and bidding them to return to their appropriate spheres. Touch
the ground and rub any excess energies into the ground, and open the Sacred
Space.
Often,
a ritual is followed by a modest meal. The purpose of this food is to get
yourself grounded, and "bring yourself down." The last thing you want
is to have people running out and jumping into their cars while still half on
the astral plane!
Then
we should sit down and write a record of our experiment. Just as exoteric
scientists keep careful journals of their work so should we, as esoteric
scientists, follow this practice. By doing this immediately following the ritual
we may catch many insights that, like dreams, will rapidly fade with the passage
of time.
In
the end, our awareness of the magical nature of all Life becomes enhanced. We
see and understand the Dance of Creation, Preservation, Transformation, and
Resurrection that goes on around and through us. Then we will experience
continually the miracle of Being --- the truly magickal experience.
Tehuti93
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