Thanks for
your interest in magic and shamanism! Because the art and science
of magic are such vast topics, we offer you some basic
guidelines on how to study magic, including an outline of the basic topics
that are important to learn. This article includes the following topics:
Click each link above to jump to that section.
Included in each of these sections are links to ebooks and resources
for further and deeper study. If you have any questions about the
content of this article, please contact us by Clicking Here.
What is Magic?
Magic is a precision
science! It is also:
- The science of deliberate
creation.
- The science of effective prayer.
- The
science of manifesting Higher Will (God's Will) on the energetic and
material planes.
- The science of heightened awareness,
selective perception, and dynamic, harmonious
relationships.
- The study of intention (as per Aleister
Crowley, one of the greatest magicians).
- The system of creation, not coercion.
Note: The word manipulation
is often used in conjunction with magic, but manipulation simply
means the use of the hands. It should be an "OK" word without a lot
of charge, but currently it is used mostly to mean coercion. Look it
up!
Every intentional act is a magical act! Magic gives us
the ability to communicate with beings on all levels, and allows us
to understand, through direct experience, the actual workings of the
Universe.
Magic is the traditional path of spiritual
growth.
Magic is not extraordinary knowledge. It is the "normal"
way of life. We've just lost access to it. When you have this kind
of knowledge in your understanding, you have the ability to resolve
spiritual questions that otherwise become catechism. From a
magician's point of view, catechism is not acceptable, since a
magician must experience and verify everything for him or herself.
It avoids the trap of dogma. In past time, having a magical
foundation was essential so that we could go and talk directly to
God, the devil, etc.
Magic is necessary to effective religious
practice,
In religious practice, a priest is qualified to perform
rituals, but not to create them. Only the magician has the ability
to create because he has the tools of divination to test the rituals
he creates.
There is some confusion as to how to spell the word "magic." There are three different commonly used spellings: magic, magick and majick. Eliphas Levi first used the form "magick" to differentiate religious or ceremonial magick from stage magic.
Read more about Magic as your birthright as a
planetary citizen.
Return to topic list in How to Study Magic
Rules of the Road
Thanks to Reverend George Dew of the Church of
Seven Arrows for researching and putting these rules together. While
similar to the Wiccan Rede, we
feel these rules are stated more practically and pragmatically for everyday
use.
Rules of the Road are the set of Universal ethics that must be followed for safe and effective magical practice. The
Rules of the Road are not the same as morals (what our culture
teaches us is right and wrong) or ethics (what we personally believe
to be right and wrong), as both morals and ethics change over time.
Particular morals or ethics may or may not agree with the Rules of
the Road.
To practice magic safely and effectively you must know
and abide by the Rules of the Road since, as far as we know, the
Rules of the Road operate whether you know of them, believe in them,
or agree with them. Additionally, normal scientific physical laws
and principles must be followed.
Two Major Rules:
1. Whatever is done to the
environment or to other beings in the environment brings similar
effects upon the doer.
This is often called the Law of Karma. The Universe
doesn't care why some action was taken, or whether the doer is
trained in magic or aware of the Rules of the Road. Although many
different teachers have stated this law in many different ways,
including the Golden Rule, it is especially important for magicians.
A magician's acts are consciously and willfully directed, and are
therefore more powerful than the acts of untrained or unfocused
people. So the effect of this law in relation to a magician's acts
becomes much more powerful. This applies to both constructive and
destructive acts.
Note: While many religious and other practices
consider that Karma can carry from lifetime to lifetime, it is our
experience that the Universe operates under a system of "pay as you
go." In other words, the effect of any act upon the environment (or
upon beings in the environment) comes back to you within a
relatively short period of time - within hours to days.
2. The magician judges the "goodness" or
"badness" of his or her own acts, whether they are conscious or
unconscious acts, on the basis of what the Universe reflects back on
him or her. The same is true of judging others, entire communities,
states or nations.
On a practical level, one can judge one's compliance
with the Universe's standards of right and wrong, or good and bad,
in terms of one's level of health, soundness of social
relationships, luck with appliances, and sufficiency of food,
clothing and shelter. If your "luck" seems consistently bad, then
you're probably acting contrary in some way to the Rules of the
Road, regardless of what your intentions are.
Ethical Laws of the Rules of the Road
These ethical
laws will give you a more detailed standard by which to measure your
acts, or the acts of others, to determine whether they are in
accordance with Rules of the Road. Judge any act of magic by these
laws before doing it.
-
Do nothing that will harm
another being unless you are willing to suffer like or greater
harm. Note that what the Universe considers harm may be different
from what our culture teaches as harm.
-
Don't bind another being
unless you are willing to be likewise bound. This applies to many
love spells and some kinds of healing rituals.
-
Never use magic for show,
pride, or vainglory. Using magic to show off, to prove a point, or
from a place of injured pride usually results in side-bands
(undesirable side effects) to the operation that will bring very
undesirable backlash from the Universe.
-
Never set an extremely high
price for the use of magic (especially divination, healing, or
spells) based on your having special knowledge. With some
operations that take significant man hours, such as divination, it
appears by our observation to be appropriate to charge the same
fee as any other professional might charge per hour in your local
area.
-
Don't use any special word,
symbol, incantation, or spell unless you understand thoroughly and
completely its mechanics, content, and intent! Be very wary of
using other people's operations if you wish to avoid "frying"
yourself, either figuratively or literally!
-
Never do a spell without
first doing a divination to determine a) if you should do it, and
b) exactly what needs to be dealt with. Modern American social
values and overt appearances of a situation are not trustworthy
guides for a magician wishing to avoid bad karma. In other words,
there may be hidden factors in the situation, which cause the
doing of a spell to be against Rules of the Road.
-
TAKE YOUR TIME, THINK IT THROUGH, AND DO IT RIGHT!
Return to topic list in How to Study Magic
Where to Begin Studying
The art and study of magick is, as we've
mentioned before, a vast study that can take years. In our
observation and experience, the best place to begin studying is with
the four elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth. Because everything
in the Universe is
composed of the four elements, this study is literally part of everything else
you will study in magic. Thus, to start at the beginning,
start with the element Air. In addition, the lessons for each additional
element are based on the skills you develop when you learn
about Air (such as energy flowing and energy handling). Air is
a safe element to work with--powerful, but safe--so it's an excellent place
to begin. Here is a brief summary of what each of the elements
corresponds to:
AIR
Seeing, breathing, speaking, hearing, planning, thinking,
believing, memorizing, communicating, learning, teaching,
information, ideas, wisdom, understanding, worry, sensation,
awareness, opinions, data, memory, mind.
FIRE
Energy, power, will, desire, anger, pain, motivation,
radiance, passion, initiative, aggression, limitation, endeavor,
activity, creative, willingness, urge, inspired, excitable, courage,
bravado, compulsion, fanaticism, frustration, resentment, rage,
freedom.
WATER
Emotions, feelings, intuition, compassion, empathy,
sympathy, knowing, devotion, quest, aspiration, intention,
appreciation, integrity, harmony, beauty, balance, serenity,
fluidity, grief, apathy, joy, love.
EARTH
Strength, money, foundation, endurance, structure, mundane world, serenity of beingness, solidity, boundaries, permanence, land, commerce, products, confidence, loyalty, persistence, stubbornness, fortress, security, anchor, barter, substance, body, base, possessions.
Since magical tools, such as the wand, athame, chalice and plate, are extensions of the basic four elements and your own energies, they should be studied and handled only after you develop a working knowledge and understanding of the four elements themselves. The same is true of the more advanced topics of divination, tarot and spellwork, which are directly related to your understanding of the elements.
Click HERE to read more about the Fundamental Topics of Magic.
Studying as an Apprentice
The arts of magic and shamanism have traditionally been passed down from teacher to apprentice, with the apprentice spending years in the service of and under the guidance of the teacher. Since the tribal system no longer exists (for the most part) in our modern world, it is more difficult to re-create this relationship. However, it is still possible to study as an apprentice under a certified teacher.
The Esoteric School has created an Apprenticeship Program that adapts the traditional apprenticeship process to fit the modern world that makes use of the technologies of web, teleconference and multi-media.
Click HERE to find out more about the Apprenticeship Program.
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of this article, please feel free to contact us by Clicking Here.
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