MAGIC AND/OR RELIGION ?
By AmbroseHawk

In many circles, I'm infamous for holding obtuse and contrary opinions that differ from those of my companions. In the following essay, I present just such a pebble for my friends' shoes.  Be aware that what follows is totally a personal opinion, however deeply researched or confirmed by experiment it may be, for it is built upon a cosmological viewpoint which is neither Gnostic nor neo-pagan nor Thelemite nor any other than traditional, "orthodox" Christianity.

Is Theurgic Magic basically just prayer?  Are prayers a form of spell work?  No; though prayers directed to the Deity to provide the Divine powers an opening to transform the world and the experience of the devotee can be quite magical.

In prayer, one requests another being to accomplish some task or grant some favor.  The being so requested has the right to respond according to their agenda and to their vision of the situation.  Thus, "No!" is an answer allowed under such circumstances, which are wholly and actively dependent upon the will of the other.

One can, and probably should, include prayer in one's magical working; but the essence of magic requires a vastly more active and dominant role on the part of the mage as compared to the role of the devotee.  Moreover, much magic, like any other act, can be done without consciously invoking Deity nor deliberately subordinating the work to the Godly Will.   Even in theurgic magic, the mage is like a
Pentecostal preacher "standing on the promises" and assumes the posture of authority and of responsibility for the shape of the spell and its outcome.

Magic involves many things, but for the purposes of this discussion, certain key features dominate.  First of all magic depends upon the will and the character of the mage as much as it does upon the nature of any tutelary being. Indeed, it can be accomplished without the active participation of such beings.

Magic acts on the subtle planes to bring about events there and also within the material realm according to the will and imagination of the mage.  The mage achieves this by creating a pattern and linking it to the patterns of energies and the desires of entities already active in the universe.  Then this pattern is empowered both by the power concentrated from the cosmos by the magic and by the power generated by the soma of the mage itself.

Thus atheistic magic can be remarkably effective.  Just as we walk, read, talk, eat, and sleep whether or not we directly and actively invoke the Creator; so also, we imagine, create, and generate our own energies quite "naturally."  Everything that exists thus possesses innate magical powers and affinities.

In this context, the viewpoint of my personal belief patterns can be illuminating. It is this capacity to imagine and to choose that distinguishes us as individuals from each other.  Further, I personally believe that this capacity demonstrates that our choices and actions are not God's actions.  The presence of free will means that the possibility of things which are not "of God" must exist.

On the other hand, existence itself depends upon the Primary Source (a fancy philosophical name for Deity).  However, it seems that a passive permissiveness within this existence is part of the design.  Charles Darwin himself noted that the great pattern seems ageless and impermeable, but the details
seem to be left to chance.  I would say that the preeminent reason why chance must be important is that without chance, there is no choice either.

In my belief, God wished to share love.  Love requires another.  Love, by definition, also requires a free choice. Love, also by definition, allows each soul to walk into its own heaven or hell – while doing what it can to help each walk happily.

Thus I strongly feel we are not God.  That we are not emanations of the Divine, but that we are a separate reality created from nothing and sustained in existence by the ultimate theogeny of magic.  Nor does our dependence upon the imagination, will, daring, and occlusion of God mean that we are mere figments of Her imagination.  The Cosmos is real, the mage is real, and the magic which the mage creates to raise bridges or to heal injuries is real.  Even before the picture leaves the vision of the artist into manifestation upon the canvass, it possess a reality.

In this context, as fire is fire so also magic is magic. With fire we can burn each other or save each other from the cold.  Our choices and creations mimic the actions and abilities of the Deity.  The power to do is already spun for any to help weave the cosmic fabric or to unravel it.

Of course, not everything that exists is nice, nor will it necessarily like the mage.   Whether a predator motivated by simple hungers or a malicious being, filled with malign intent and rabid jealousies.   There are things out there which can (and will, if they get the chance) hurt us.
 

The magic raised from different spiritual sources can seem similar in both power and responsiveness.  It is then that the devotions and spiritual direction become important; for it is through that devotion and orientation that the underlying patterns and energies evoked by a mage take their own character.

Consider the person who is always dour, selfish, or cruel. Their energy pattern, whether evoked from sympathetic beings or projected from their own agony, will become filled with such forces.  Ultimately, the destructive influence of such psychic clangor will erode the strongest will or the most disciplined mind into frenzy and folly.   From the coercion of others to their selfish will, they all to readily decay
into compulsive and erratic surrender to their own obsessions.

On the other hand, a person who is committed to seeking that nebulous happiness which is popularly linked to fair play, gregarious and unselfish attitudes, and true care for the dreams of other creatures will likewise fill their aura with such influences.  The cumulative effect of truly supporting such a psyche seems to be better health, more cheer, and also more voluntary participation by other beings in the
dreams of the mage.

Now, obviously, such situations are extremes.  There are universes of subtle shades which lie in between.  As Yeats pointed out, life as humans know it cannot exist at the extreme points.  Within a mage's own aura flicker both the harmonies of their happy dreams and the cacophony of their traumas and nightmares.

Into this clamor come the devotions and aspirations of the mage.  These devotions and aspirations attune the mage to those particular resonances and beings which are aligned with them and impede or dampen the effect of those which are disruptive to them.   Thus, even when said in anger, a prayer directed to a Being of healing and love will have some healing and cherishing manifest within its effect.

Within this dynamic, the devout mage will discover still another wonderful tool.  By focusing rather upon the healing and upon the cherishing side of their Tutelary than upon the person or elements which disturb them, they will find many of their traumas become transformed.  Similarly, fixating upon the anger or  pain will impede healing.  This, besides their desire to alleviate our suffering, is why modern
doctors prescribe pain killers.

Therefore, whatever a mage's view of the Deity may be, I always recommend that they follow the sermon of the old song: "Accentuate the positive.  Eliminate the Negative. Don't mess around with Mr. In-Between!"

In one's devotions, then, the mage fashions the shape and content of one's magic. Whether or not one invokes a Tutelary while putting together a simple charm or brewing an herbal infusion or casting commands for the kitten to leave the road or for the rain to abate while one dashes from one door to another ... the magic thus created will be imbued with the archetypes to which one's  cult aspires.

Be Blest,
Ambrose Hawk
18 November 2001

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IN HOC MODO MILLIS FRANGITVR .